by JC Ryan
All these months, since their house arrest, that was what Nigel and Esther hoped and prayed for, but now that it seemed as if their prayers were answered, they couldn’t bring themselves to believe it.
The Jeremy Project
Doug, Roxanne and the three children were having dinner in their quarters, when Doug asked the children to tell them about their day at school. The two girls gave a detailed account of the day that lasted almost fifteen minutes; covering everything from the time they left that morning until they returned home. Jeremy, the oldest of the three, said he had a great day and read stuff in the 10th Cycle library. His account of the day lasted an entire ten seconds.
“Jeremy, tell us what you read about the 10th Cycle?” Doug encouraged, hoping to get him to share a bit more.
Jeremy’s mind was occupied, and he didn’t hear the question. “Dad, I was wondering if those people had cell phones, and Xboxes, and the Internet like we have.”
“Son, that’s something I never thought of. It’s an interesting question. I think Raj or Roy may be able to tell us. What do you say we go and ask them after dinner?” Doug was just as curious as his son to find out.
“Cool,” said Jeremy and continued with his dinner. He liked those two. One day he was going to be just as clever as they were.
When Doug and his son arrived at Roy and Salome’s quarters, Salome invited them in. Doug asked Jeremy to explain to Roy what he wanted to know. Jeremy was a bit shy to speak in front of his idol, but in the end he succeeded in asking his question.
Roy looked at the boy in amazement and said, “You know, young man, that’s a very interesting thought you have there. That’s something I’ve thought about quite a lot, but I never had the time to investigate. Now you have me thinking again.”
Salome just smiled at Roy and the boy’s interaction. That boy is how Roy would have looked and acted at the same age, very shy and many questions. She was also pleasantly surprised to see how much he enjoyed talking to Jeremy; Roy was going to be a great dad for their children one day.
“Tell you what, let’s drink up and go and see Raj. I’m sure he’ll have an answer for us.” Roy was excited.
The three of them left and found Raj at his quarters with Sushma and their daughter, Aanya, playing a computer game to the great delight of the little one.
Roy smiled when he saw the three of them in front of the computer laughing at the frolics of the characters on the screen. “Raj, I can see Aanya is going to follow in your footsteps one day. I hope we are not intruding, but Jeremy has a problem, which I can’t solve. I told him if there’s anyone who could, it would be you.”
Raj laughed, “Roy, you’ve got me stressed before I even hear the problem.”
Roy asked Jeremy to explain what his question was. When he finished, Raj looked at Roy and then at Doug and back at Jeremy. “You know, that is an interesting question. I have thought about it in passing a few times but never tried to figure out how the 10th Cyclers would have communicated. You’ve got me stumped, Jeremy.”
The three surprised adults looked at each other wondering. How did the 10th Cyclers communicate?
Roy was the first one to emerge from bemusement, “Guys, I think Jeremy just gave us a lot to think about. This is an enormous gap in our knowledge, and it might very well be that the answer to our communication problems has been right in front of our noses all this time.”
Doug was a very proud father, “Roy, Raj? What do you think? Is it worth investigating?”
“Absolutely!” both of them replied in unison.
Within twenty minutes the four of them had the entire Steering Committee gathered in the library with the young Jeremy MacArthur the center of attention.
Sinclair smiled as he turned to Sarah and said, “Remember what I told you a while ago? It was just a matter of time before one of these kids came up with something big.”
Daniel took on the assignment of talking to John about putting Jeremy on a special assignment at school to allow him to work two hours a day with Roy and Raj. Jeremy was smiling from ear to ear when he heard that. Sinclair would get the entire translation effort focused on digging up and translating anything they could find on 10th Cycle communications. Roy placed the high altitude balloon ideas on hold and devoted his full attention to the Jeremy Project, as they started calling it, to the great delight of the boy.
Within a few days, the translation effort began producing useful results. The 10th Cyclers were masters of nanotechnology, and they had used that extensively in their communications networks.
When the researchers read the history of their communications evolution, it became evident that they went through more or less the same processes as our modern day society. They also used radio signals at some stage, but came to the same conclusion. It was slow, unreliable, and limited in its data transfer capacity. They also used laser beams, and found that to be far superior to radio signals.
Gemma, one of the translators, working on a piece of text describing a communications device, was struggling to find a meaningful translation for a few words and took her problem to Sinclair.
“I have an issue with this paragraph here,” she said as she handed him the tablet. “To me it seems as if it says that this device was built or sewn into the fabric of clothes. Is my interpretation correct?”
Sinclair looked at the translation, “Yes, you’ve got it. That’s how I would translate it as well.”
Gemma continued, “Ok, thanks for that. Now the next part I’m struggling with is that bit there. The best I can come up with is that it says the clothes were connected in a mirror with a ray, or beam, or something.”
Sinclair read the paragraph a few times, “Ah, I see what you mean. It is confusing. I wonder … wait here is something. You are right about the clothes, the mirror and the beam, but that word in front of the word mirror means sky, not in. In other words, it should be translated as sky mirror or perhaps mirror in the sky. My suggestion is that the full translation of that sentence should read, ‘The clothes were connected to the mirror in the sky via a beam.’”
“That is interesting,” Gemma said. “It sounds like they had their cell phones built into their clothes? How nice is that?”
“Indeed, that’s what it sounds like, and that ‘mirrors in the sky’ is another mystery. Time to talk to the propeller heads. They might have some ideas. I’ll let you know what they have to say.” Sinclair smiled.
Sandpiper
The next morning after their interview, Nigel and Esther were anxious to get out of the house for their morning stroll around the farm. They had the earpieces and microphones set up as per the instructions in the messages by the time they walked out of the bathroom.
The agents were out of range of their whispered voices. They were startled when a voice spoke to them as if it originated inside their heads saying, “Diamond Horse.”
Nigel counted seven seconds and replied, “Fish.”
“Mr. President and Mrs. Harper. It is a privilege and a big relief to be able to speak to you. My name is Peter Scott, and I work for Sam Lewis.”
Nigel replied, “Peter, I am sorry about this, but my wife and I have been through a lot in the last few months. We don’t know who to trust and what to believe anymore. I am afraid that we will need some assurance that you are who you say you are.”
“Mr. President, I understand that, and I don’t blame you for being suspicious. Sam gave me three pieces of information he told me would convince you that I am indeed on assignment from him.”
“Please go ahead; I will decide once I heard what you have to say,” Nigel replied.
Peter continued, “The first one is; Salamander, the code word he used to let you know about the successful elimination of Ali bin Akbar. Only he and you knew that code word. The second one is; Pangolin, the codename you selected for a general inside the Chinese military who spied for the CIA. Again, only he and you knew and used that codename. The third one is Sandpiper. That is the codename he gave yo
u the last time he saw you and Mrs. Harper, in the foyer of the Whitehouse.”
A wave of relief washed over Nigel. He was convinced that Peter Scott was working for Sam Lewis. He looked at Esther, smiled, and showed a thumbs up. “Peter, I’m now convinced you are who you say you are and very happy to talk to you.”
“Thank you, Mr. President. Sam told me that would do the trick. I’m happy it did,” Peter said with the relief clearly noticeable in his voice.
“Peter, as you can imagine, we have many questions, but before we go any further, I have to tell you something first. Esther and I were both implanted with biomedical chips. Under the pretense of doing a medical checkup, we were sedated and the chips implanted without our knowledge or permission. Is it still safe to talk to us?” Peter could hear the distress in his voice.
“It’s a nightmare Peter. I can't describe how horrible it felt to realize they’d invaded our bodies, enslaving us to this immoral regime,” Esther said, clearly struggling to control her emotions.
Peter’s heart sank as he heard the news; but he understood that the primary aim of this mission was to encourage the Presidential couple to hang in there and assure them that help was on the way. “Mr. President and Mrs. Harper, I understand your torment, but the fact that you were chipped is not a problem at all. I want you to know that Sam and the Rosslers anticipated this. That’s the main reason they decided to get in touch with you now, so you know we’re working on a solution to neutralize those chips as we speak.”
The conversation continued for another half hour as Peter answered as many of the Harpers’ questions as he could. He then arranged the contact schedule and explained to them that once the the group had a way to neutralize the chips, they would be evacuated. Although their circumstances hadn’t changed, the Harpers received a mountain of hope and rivers of encouragement for the future. They were equipped to wait until the cavalry arrived.
The first stage of Peter’s mission was completed successfully.
Sky mirrors
Sinclair took his tablet, with the translation he and Gemma had just completed, and walked over to Roy’s lab, where he found all the technically minded, including Jeremy, hard at work.
“Ok, boys! Fasten your seatbelts! I’m going to show you a translation that might just throw you off your seats,” Sinclair said in a serious tone.
Roy and Raj were immediately alerted; they recalled when Sinclair and Nicholas discovered the translation that led them to the discovery of evidence about time travel in the era of the 10th Cycle. They’d seen the impact it had on the two old-timers.
“Sinclair, have you discovered more evidence of time travel?” Raj asked nervously, remembering all too well how he was the one who first saw the pictures and the dates and what effect it had on him.
Sinclair just laughed and said, “No, don’t worry. It’s not that. However, I think what I have could be significant.”
He read the passages to them and looked up, “What do you say about those clothes with a cell phone or some sort of communications device woven into the fabric?”
Roy replied. “That’s called electro-textiles; it’s been around for a few years already. They have cell phones, music players and all sorts of gadgets built into clothes. The clothes are wire-free, washable, and powered by body heat.”
Sinclair was half disappointed that the news didn’t excite his audience as much as he thought it would. He continued, “Oh, okay. So no surprises there then. So what do you think about the ‘sky mirrors’?”
Roy looked around at the others; the sky mirrors were obviously of much more interest to them. “Sky mirror, or mirror in the sky? What do you all think?”
Raj proposed that it could be a satellite. Sinclair thought for a moment and explained that 10th Cyclers used words for ‘sky’ and ‘space’ that were very similar. It could very well be that the translation should read, ‘mirror in space’. That statement had all of them excited.
Ryan had an idea, “Ok, for the moment, let’s assume it was a mirror in space. Is there any doubt that it was a mirror they were talking about, not a receiver or sender?”
Sinclair thought for a moment and replied, “No, I am sure it is a mirror or reflector. There is no doubt about that. They used different words for ‘send’ and ‘receive’. What are you thinking?”
Ryan continued, “The Apollo and the Russian missions left mirrors on the moon. Although we call them mirrors, it’s actually corner cube prisms, also known as lunar retro reflectors. They’re still there today. Those optical corner-cube prisms would reflect light pointed at it back to the source. In other words, if you were to shine a light beam from a laser at those reflectors it would bounce the beam right back to you in seconds. The time it takes for the light to bounce back depends on the variable distance between the earth and moon. Scientists have been shooting laser beams at those retro reflectors to test the turnaround speed of the laser, measuring the distance to the moon, and conducting many other types of experiments ever since. I’m wondering if we’re looking at something similar to that.”
Roy jumped in, “You know, Ryan that could very well be the case. We know the 10th Cyclers abandoned radio waves as communication media because of its limitations. We know they’d been using laser, and that could explain the reference to a beam in that passage.”
Raj was excited, “I think we’re onto something here. I suggest we all start searching for ‘sky mirrors’ or ‘space mirrors’ and beams to see what we can dig up.”
They didn’t need any encouragement and were bubbling with excitement when Sinclair left the lab – exactly the effect he thought the translation would have on them when he first read it.
A visit to Nucla
Peter got rid of his Ferrari a few days after he left Levinson-Scott and bought a modest Toyota Camry Hybrid. Selling the Ferrari was part of the process of getting rid of the baggage that had been weighing him down the last few months.
He made a careful study of the surrounding areas of the location of the New York chip warehouse, located about seventy-four miles north of Manhattan. It was just a few miles outside the little rural town of Wappinger in Duchess County. It was an area of the New York City Metropolis sometimes referred to as the ‘exurbs’.
He packed his hiking gear and took a three-day trip through Duchess County.
On the second day, he took the eleven-mile Wappinger Greenway Trail encircling lower Wappinger Creek and Wappinger Lake. According to his maps, the warehouse was located on the north side of Wappinger Lake, in a tree-covered valley. He checked and was confident there was no one around before he left the trail and went into the woods and up a hill. From there, he would be able to view the buildings.
When he reached the top and looked down at the warehouse, he noted that he had just discovered the first nonconformity to the rules. No one was allowed within three miles of the buildings. From his location at the top of the hill, though, he was less than a mile from the warehouse.
He made sure he had enough cover and carefully studied the layout of the compound, the movement of people, guard towers, fences, access road and vehicles. He took photos and then unpacked one of the spyflies and sent it down to the buildings. Although he’d practiced controlling the spyflies in his apartment, it was the first time he had deployed one at such distance and in the open. However, within a few minutes, he had managed to get the first spyfly inside the main warehouse. He was amazed at the quality of the images and sound that was returned to the control panel in his hands.
Although the radar antenna was clearly visible on the roof of the building, it was a relief when it became evident that it was unable to detect the spyfly. That was the second loophole he discovered. He noted that there was an ongoing stream of heavily guarded trucks coming and going and he captured the entire process from the moment of arrival to departure.
Three hours later, he had a solid understanding of the layout and routine on the inside of the warehouse, as well as the picking and packing methods.
He would need a lot more information, but he had enough for the first day. He scanned the hills around the compound and noted a few more spots from where he would be able to do more observations the next day.
Peter wondered where the workers he saw on the premises lived. He was sure that not all of them were locals. Some of them, if not most, probably commuted. He retrieved the spyfly and returned to the trail to complete the first half of it with more visits to historic buildings and various parks along the route.
Early the next morning Peter drove to Poughkeepsie station to test his theory about the commuting workers. He arrived in time to see a train appear, and shortly after that, about twenty people getting into a bus marked Bio Lab Distributors. He’d seen the same emblem on the outside of the warehouse the day before.
After breakfast, he went back to complete the remaining part of the Wappinger Greenway Trail, this time starting on the eastern side of the lake. When he reached his destination on the northern area of the lake on top of a hill, he was on the opposing side of the valley from his previous location. There, he took more photos, studied the compound again, and deployed two spyflies.
He focused the lenses of the spyflies on the boxes. He took special care to note the shape, sizes, labeling and markings. Then he got images of the faces and nametags of every worker that came within close proximity of the spyflies. Two hours later, he had enough information and returned to the trail.
On his way back to Manhattan, Peter had a few brainstorming sessions with himself. It would be helpful to get tracking devices on those trucks to see which routes they followed. The radar didn’t detect the spyflies. Would it be possible to get something bigger than a spyfly in there? What were the chances of getting the help of someone on the inside?
The electric fences and security around the compound were intimidating, but not undefeatable. The biggest obstacle was the isolated location and the single access road, which would make an escape extremely difficult and dangerous. Would it be possible to have a box disappear without the staff or computer system noticing it immediately?