by Chesla, Gary
The facility of last resort, to allow the government to continue to function in the event that the unimaginable had happened or was about to happen.
All Johnson could figure was that whatever the reason that Air Force one was on its way, it wasn’t anything good.
Cheyenne Mountain was a massive underground city that was two miles inside the mountain under twenty-five hundred feet of solid granite.
On a normal day, three hundred and fifty men and women were stationed here, except on the weekends, when there was only about a hundred and fifty people.
Their job was to monitor the operations of Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, maintain the facility and be prepared to take over all the duties of Peterson in the event of a major catastrophe.
The facility at Cheyenne Mountain was a combination of natural caves and man-made caverns and structures.
There were five man-made underground lakes, four filled with fresh water and one filled with diesel fuel.
The diesel lake was fuel to run the equipment and generators in the event the facility lost its electrical power that was being supplied by the power plant in the nearby city of Colorado Springs.
The other four underground lakes were to supply drinking water and water to cool the machinery and generators.
Johnson didn’t know what the purpose of the row boats on the lakes were for, that seemed strange.
He doubted they were for fishing or any kind of recreation with all the “Keep Out” signs posted around the underground lakes.
Fishing in a dark cave didn’t hold much appeal for him anyhow.
There were thirteen three-story buildings and another two two-story buildings, each building was built on a bed of heavy coil springs that were secured into the granite floor of the cave.
The buildings in the cavernous center of the mountain, the office buildings, control centers, supply depots, a hospital and housing units, were to house the personnel and all the equipment required to sustain and allow the facility to function if the worst-case scenario happened.
They were also constructed to survive any massive earthquakes that would be caused by multiple nuclear detonations on the surface of the mountain above.
The idea being that the buildings mounted on springs would sway with the vibrations and not be jolted apart and collapse.
Johnson had heard things about this place, but until he arrived here a few days ago, he never imagined how massive this place actually was.
His first clue as to its size was when he was met at the entrance by a bus that drove him and the others in his unit the two miles in to the center of the mountain and to their barracks.
The bus ride had lasted for ten minutes.
The lakes and tall buildings inside the mountain were completely unexpected.
It all reminded him of a movie set that was just too crazy to be real.
The windowless surroundings, after a few days, left him not knowing whether it was day or night, middle of the night or mid-afternoon.
This was man’s preparation for “Doomsday.”
The place gave Johnson the creeps.
This was his first assignment to Cheyenne Mountain.
It was a novelty at first, but after a few days, he hoped it would be a short assignment and his last.
His family had all been coal miners.
When he got out of school, he had tried his hand at coal mining trying to follow in his dad’s footsteps but decided that working under ground in close quarters was not for him.
He discovered that he was claustrophobic.
Even though the mountain was much larger than any coal mine he had been in, being underground remined him too much of his short time in the coal mines.
Even if Johnson hadn’t suspected that something strange was going on outside, being underground for any length of time would soon have his mind imagining things.
In fact, he was already beginning to feel paranoid.
But with Air Force One on its way, Washington apparently had a problem of some sorts or was worried about something that was developing, which meant that the entire country could soon have a problem.
From what Johnson had heard shortly after being assigned to Cheyenne Mountain, he knew that some strange things had been reported happening around the country. But the fact that Air Force One and the President was on their way, only confirmed his feeling of paranoia that something was wrong.
How bad or what kind of problem, he didn’t want to even guess.
Johnson’s unit had been selected for duty at Cheyenne Mountain a week before he began to hear the stories of riots breaking out across many of the country’s largest cities.
Since arriving at Cheyenne Mountain, he hadn’t heard much about what was behind the riots.
The last thing he had heard, the latest scuttlebutt, was that some kind of mystery plague was spreading across the country.
Those rumors were then followed by more rumors that the plague had been responsible for the death of thousands.
After the last rumor, it seemed that all contact with the outside had gone silent.
Whether the problem was equipment failure or if there was another reason for the sudden silence, Johnson didn’t know.
Had communications just gone silent or was there something going on that command didn’t want anyone to know about?
Johnson’s paranoia told him the second reason was more likely.
But bits and pieces of scuttlebutt continued to make its way around the facility, creating an uneasy feeling among the men.
Between the sudden break in communications and his claustrophobia, Johnson was afraid to take anything, rumors or the things that his mind would come up with in the middle of the night, too seriously for fear he would lose his grip on reality.
So Johnson just did his job and cautiously kept his ears open for anything that would prove he just wasn’t imagining things.
“Do we still have three blips of the screen?” Airman First Class Larsen asked as he came back into the control room.
“So far,” Johnson replied. “I know “A” is Air Force One, but who are those other two planes?”
“Plane “B” is a group from the Pentagon, Plane “C” is loaded with additional men and security teams and medical crews from what I understand,” Larsen replied.
“What’s really going on out there?” Johnson asked then laughed, “I’m beginning to think something is seriously wrong or I’m losing my mind. Why are they coming here?”
“Hey,” Larsen chuckled, “You’ve heard the same things that I’ve heard. Maybe when the President and the Pentagon gets here they will tell us more. But I agree that it has to be something crazy for the President and the brass to be coming here.”
“I certainly hope they tell us something,” Johnson replied. “This place is enough to drive you crazy by itself especially after some of the rumors I’ve heard.”
“I know what you’re saying,” Larsen smiled. “I’m sure when someone feels there is something we need to know, they will tell us what is going on. You know how the chain of command works. In the meantime, just do your job and don’t worry about it.”
“But I just feel something is seriously wrong. Why isn’t there more air traffic on our screen? Why is the President and all the big wigs coming here?” Johnson replied. “If I understand the purpose of this place correctly, these kind of things should only be happening if the world was coming to an end. If the world is coming to an end it would be nice if someone would tell us.”
Larsen smiled.
“I know how you feel,” he said. “My guess, based on what I’ve heard, is that there is some kind of nasty virus that is driving people crazy. The President and the brass are probably coming here as a precaution. This place cost billions to construct, maybe they just want to get their money’s worth. Maybe it’s just an inspection to be sure we’re ready in the event that things get crazy out there.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Johnson replied. “
I guess that would account for all the activity going on over at the hospital. Maybe they are preparing a vaccine for everyone or trying to find a cure before things get out of control.”
“From the sound of things, I think it might already be out of control,” Larsen replied. “Why else would the President and the Pentagon be coming here? Otherwise they would be going to the Florida White House to soak up the sun.
But what do I know, maybe I’m starting to get paranoid like you.”
“How much longer before the planes start to arrive?” Johnson asked. “Maybe they will just be stopping for a quick inspection and then will be off to somewhere important? Maybe it’s all nothing.”
“About two hours,” Larsen replied. “Hopefully it’s something routine. But who knows, they don’t tell me anything.”
Just then the lights and radar screens flickered, then went out completely.
A few seconds later, the lights began to flicker back to life as the hum of the generators began to echo throughout the caverns.
“The Captain said he thought that was going to happen before much longer,” Larsen said as the men watched the equipment come back to life.
“Why would he say that?” Johnson asked.
“The Captain said that we lost contact with the power station two days ago,” Larsen replied. “Just about the same time that most of our communications equipment went down. The Captain said the last contact he had with the power station they said they were having a lot of employees calling off sick. He said he thought the entire plant was probably on auto pilot by now and would go offline as soon as the computer system had to react to any irregularities without any human input.”
“How long will our generators be able to keep us up and running?” Johnson asked.
“Until they drain the diesel reservoir,” Larsen replied. “That should be in about six months. I’m sure the power plant will be back on line long before that. What’s the flu normally run, a week or ten days?”
“From what I’ve heard, six months may not be long enough,” Johnson laughed nervously. “If this virus is killing as many people as I had heard, there may not be anyone left to run that damn place.”
“You sound like you believe all the rumors that have been circulating around here,” Larsen laughed.
“After spending a few days in this mountain,” Johnson smiled, “I’m not sure what to believe.”
Larsen paused for a moment as a conflicted look spread across his face.
“This is something that I just overheard, so you keep quiet about what I’m about to tell you,” Larsen said, his voice now barely above a whisper. “You’re going to find this out shortly anyhow. Besides maybe I got it all wrong, but I am about to go crazy trying to keep something like this to myself.”
Johnson looked surprised. “So, what did you hear?”
“When the President gets here today,” Larsen added, “the Captain expects him to confirm what we have been hearing. It sounds like things are a lot worse out there than we’ve been led to believe. I overheard the Captain talking and he plans to get all the troops together for an emergency briefing after the planes arrive.
Apparently, conditions are so bad on the outside that the President and the brass are coming here to keep from getting infected while they try to figure out how to get the country back under control.”
“Why weren’t we told about this before?” Johnson asked. “Why would they want to keep something this big under wraps and not even tell us about it? Having the President come here is a big deal, you would think they would have at least told us to clean the place up a little.”
“From what I heard the Captain saying, the government thought they could handle this and keep the severity of the situation under wraps,” Larsen replied. “But everything got out of control in a matter of a few days. That is why the President is on his way here now. The rumors we’ve heard are apparently more than just crazy scuttlebutt. When the President gets here, we’ll all be brought up to speed. The Captain didn’t give any details, but he seemed to be visibly upset about all of this.
But my guess is that with the President coming here, that virus we’ve heard about could be out of control. So keep this to yourself and watch your back until we find out what is really going on.
Something tells me they didn’t tell us everything that was going on was because they didn’t want us to know.”
“Shit, even if only half the rumors we’ve heard are true, this could be a damn nightmare,” Johnson said. “What else can you tell me? Why wouldn’t they want us to know the truth about what is happening?”
“I shouldn’t have told you this much, but I just thought you should know before those planes get here. I don’t think they wanted us to know the truth because they were afraid of how we would react. A lot of men have families out there. If it is as bad as I think, maybe they were afraid the men might try to leave to be with their families.
So for now just get your ass down to transportation,” Larsen replied. “You’re going to be on the security detail to bring the President and all the people from Air Force One into the mountain when they arrive. So when they get here just play dumb and act like everything is normal.”
“Thanks for the heads up,” Johnson said as he walked over to the door. “I hope you’re wrong about all of this. Surely this has to be some kind of drill to test our readiness in the event of a nuclear war. This other shit can’t be really happening, it’s just too damn crazy. It feels like some kind of psychological test to me to see how we hold up. Besides, I have tickets for the Rockies game next week.”
“I guess we will find out in about two hours,” Larsen said. “I hope I’m wrong too and just misunderstood what I overheard the Captain talking about, but I just have a bad feeling about this.
Now get out of here and thanks for watching the screen for me while I hit the head.”
“No problem, but I kind of now wish you would have called someone else to fill in for you,” Johnson replied. “Something tells me I would have been better off not knowing any of this. Now I’m going to worry my ass off. I’ve had a hell of a time sleeping around here as it is. In fact, I hope I wake up and find I was just having another one of my nightmares about this place.”
Chapter 2
August 11th, Granite Mountain
Rogers and Davis led Pete into the transportation bay.
“I don’t think we have any fuel in here that will work in the turboprop,” Rogers said. “The two helicopters we have here use some kind of compressed fuel that is stored in these large white tanks.”
“It smells like natural gas when you break the seal after fueling up the helicopters,” Davis added.
Pete looked over the large white tanks and focused his attention on the chemical formula etched on the tank next to the fuel nozzle.
“You’re close,” Pete replied. “This is hydrogen fuel.”
“That must be why our helicopters sound different than the helicopters we had back at the base,” Davis said. “They are a lot quieter. I just assumed that they were quieter because they were smaller and looked a hell of a lot different than anything I had ever seen before. I wonder why they chose hydrogen fuel? Isn’t hydrogen dangerous? I thought that stuff could explode, isn’t that what happened to the Hindenburg?”
“I think the Hindenburg was filled with Helium,” Rogers replied.
“Hydrogen stored like this is safe as long as you don’t build bonfires in here,” Pete laughed. “Hydrogen fuel makes sense. In a place like this, a doomsday facility, if the fuel was ever to be used, it would have been stored here for who knows how long. Regular fuel breaks down and after a year’s time it’s no longer reliable. Hydrogen fuel stored in these tanks could practically last forever. Whoever created and supplied this place, they put some thought into things and made good choices.”
“Is there any way we can use this hydrogen fuel in the turboprop?” Rogers asked.
Pete thought for a few minutes.
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�I’m sure there is some way, the engines could be modified somehow to use hydrogen instead of regular fuel,” Pete replied, “but there is no way I could do anything like that myself. I’m a pilot, not a mechanic. I know a few of the basics to keep the plane flying in case of a minor problem, but converting an engine to hydrogen use is way out of my league.”
“Welcome to the club,” Rogers laughed. “We have all this high-tech equipment stored here that is way out of our league too. None of us know how to use most of it.”
“So if you can’t figure out how to use this fuel in your turboprop, I’m afraid none us will be of much help with that problem,” Davis added.
“I guess we will just have to go out and find fuel that we can use,” Pete smiled. “How far is the closest airport from here?”
“The Salt Lake City airport is about thirty miles north west of here,” Davis replied.
“Have you been there?” Pete asked. “What condition is the airport in?”
“We haven’t been there,” Davis replied. “We’ve been holding up in here for the last few months just waiting for the infected to disappear. When we did go out, we have only been out to Stone, that’s where we found Abbey and Fran.”
“The airport is the only place I can think of where we might find the kind of fuel we need for the turboprop” Pete said.
“Then I guess we better go talk to Doc and the Captain,” Davis replied.
“If we can find the fuel we need there, we can rig up one of the helicopters to bring the fuel back,” Rogers said. “That shouldn’t be too hard to do.”
“No it shouldn’t,” Davis said. “But let’s go down and have Chervy give us a look at the airport before we make any plans to fly over to look for fuel. If the satellite images look promising, then we can run the idea past Doc.”