Timelines

by Bob Blink

  “You’re going back?” Naiya asked.

  “I’m ordered to head back after this meeting. The Air Force doesn’t want me as the interface now that they are going to be in charge. There is something my boss wants me to follow-up on, so I guess I’m out of the action from now on.”

  He looked a bit down-hearted. We had become friends, and I knew he had wanted to see things through to the end. There was also the chance we might take his advice and slip away, which would mean this was the last time we would see one another.

  “We’ll see each other again,” Naiya said confidently. “And we can all go out and celebrate instead of hiding out here.”

  “You mentioned preparations,” I reminded him.

  He thought for a minute trying to recall details. “The bombs you requested aren’t that common as I said a minute ago. Actually the devices they selected are roughly nine megaton devices, not the twenty you asked about. They will bring three, but in truth they think that’s pointless. They are simply trying to follow your requests to the letter.” He stopped making sure we were all following him. “The bomb is plenty big. I know you want to be sure to take out the facility, but what you really want is the super high temperature and the blast. A nine megaton can take out a city. Having several bombs won’t really buy anything.”

  “Redundancy,” I insisted.

  “And that’s about it,” he agreed. “Even if all three bombs are triggered by the same initiator, the small differences in the construction will mean one will go off first. In the nuclear timing domain, that means it will vaporize the others before they actually detonate. Having three just makes very sure you don’t have a dud.”

  “Why did they select this bomb?” Carol asked curious.

  “This is a Mk-53 which they have in stockpile. It is also a bomb as opposed to a warhead, and they feel it is more adapted to the task at hand. Anything bigger is very limited in quantity and a bit of a logistics problem.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Size. The bombs they are bringing weigh just under nine thousand pounds. The larger bombs are almost triple that weight. These are also almost four feet in diameter and over twelve feet in length. The others are even bigger.”

  “So that’s what you mean by preparations. We can’t simply carry something like that into the cave and through the tunnels.”

  I could see problems getting it up the inside ramp to the control area. I hadn’t realized the damn things would be so big. It doesn’t take that much uranium. Of course, these would be fusion bombs. You can’t get nine megatons out of a fission bomb.

  He agreed. “The pathway up to the cave is going to have to be smoothed and widened, and the cave opening made much more accessible. It would take a couple of days to do that before the bombs can even be brought into the center.”

  “They don’t have anything smaller?” Carol asked.

  “Not in the yield range you demanded. I would have gone with some of the one megaton devices. They would be more than adequate. They didn’t want to look as if they weren’t listening to you.” I could tell he just had a thought that bothered him. “When these go off, there isn’t going to be any blast detectable outside the tunnel is there?”

  I shook my head. “With the tunnel closed, the blast will all take place far in the future and in space. It will seem as if nothing even happens. The only indication we will have is the failure of the tunnel to open afterwards.”

  Other than the schedule for Colonel Sanderson, there was little more he could tell us. We spent the rest of the time on more personal matters, and when he left we all escorted him to the entrance. I shook his hand, and both Carol and Naiya gave him a hug. I didn’t think we would see him until this was all over, and even then circumstances might make it difficult. As he drove away, the silence and emptiness was even more pronounced.

  Chapter 53

  Time Complex

  [Seattle Time: Saturday, 7 October 2006]

  Almost two days had passed since Jeff had left for Washington. We had not heard from him since his departure, although there really was no reason to think we would. Thomas and his team were back, taking a break from their hunting of the missing alien. We were hoping for a change of plan when they went out again, hopefully later today. The creature had been staying within a specific area about fifty miles from the complex entrance the last few days rather than continuing to make its way back here. Unfortunately, it had a couple of valleys and more than two hundred square miles in which to hide in the area where it had settled. So far they had had no luck figuring out where it hid during the day.

  John was still uptime a few years, but had indicated he had just about everything we had been looking for. I assumed he would be back tomorrow or the next day. Mike and his team were finishing up their preparations. Another two days and they should be finished. The last piece of his plan to destroy the facility had been slow going. The men could only spend a limited time in the power room and the suits were not easy to work in, especially inside a confined space such as the crowded room. The initial suit design had been more toward a vacuum environment. Even with the complete cancellation of any damaging effects of the radiation by the special medicines we had available, we had agreed to limit exposure as much as possible. That meant the task was strung out over a number of days. It didn’t really matter. Not much else was happening inside the complex anyway. The count down calendar sat at seventeen days and counting. The displays showed no further changes in rate for the ship, so the expected arrival date remained firm.

  Naiya and Carol had gone shopping. Uptime. This was the second time that Naiya had gone to the time Carol maintained her other life. She was really the only person that Carol encouraged to visit. It made me a bit uncomfortable having them both away, especially at a time like this, but they could be back to the complex within a couple of hours if something came up. They promised to have the special contact communication phone with them at all times. As restless as everyone was, trying to keep them here would have had its own penalties. As was pointed out, it was the last opportunity they would have for such a visit. In two more weeks our out of town trips would be limited to other cities or countries, not other times.

  Even though the planning schedule I had received called for the colonel and his team to arrive sometime in the afternoon, I made periodic trips outside to see if anyone had arrived early. It was simple restless energy, not any expectation I would find anyone. On the third such trip however, I was surprised to find the roadway alive with a convoy of military vehicles and the Colonel waiting patiently at the bottom of the incline. Now I was glad I had kept checking. He wasn’t going to like some of the restrictions we would be placing on his access to the complex, so I was glad he wasn’t going to start off by an extended wait outside. I could imagine the ill humor he would have been in if he had been forced to sit out here for a couple more hours. It was one of the problems associated with not being able to communicate into the complex from the outside. The problem would cease to matter much longer, but I wished we had been able to figure out how to use the special communicator devices.

  “Colonel,” I said trying to smile as I made my way down the incline outside the cave. I wished I knew more about this man’s boss, and where he stood with regards to the threat we were facing. I would have preferred the leadership had gone to the army, especially if it could have been Jeff’s boss. It wasn’t a decision I had any control over, so the only choice was try to make the best of the situation. Hopefully we were getting what we asked for, so that was all that mattered.

  He stood as I made my way down the hill, and seemed relaxed enough as he held out his hand. Perhaps things would go smoother than anticipated. “Mr. Crampton,” he greeted me formally.

  “Jim,” I suggested, although I doubted he would take me up on it. From the last trip he had seemed the type to prefer formality.

  “I have most of the team here, although a second group will be coming with the weapons a bit later. I want to get s
tarted, but we will need to have you move the vehicles before we can do so.”

  Secrecy no longer mattered, so we had made a habit of parking a couple of cars at the base of the hill. My BMW X5 was there, along with Mike’s Ford 4 X 4 and another car which normally was kept at the residence. It would only take a minute to get them moved.

  “Where would be out of your way?” I asked.

  “Probably best to move them about a quarter of a mile down the road to the small clearing. You could park up the road in the roadway as there will be no traffic allowed up here anymore, but I can’t promise that we won’t have things blocked down here. Parking below it will be a bit of a walk, but you will be more certain of being able to get out.”

  I nodded. “I’ll have one of Mike’s people relocate the cars in a minute. What about your people? How many do we have?”

  “There are a total of fifty-five here now. Another eighteen are coming later with the weapons.”

  That was more than I had anticipated by a wide margin. I wondered why such a large force was necessary. It would be interesting to see how the construction progressed and whether he had extra people around. I didn’t trust him, especially after the insight Jeff had provided the other day.

  “I don’t think we can easily accommodate that many at the residence,” I told him. “Perhaps if they are willing to double up?”

  “That won’t be necessary,” he assured me. “The construction crew will set up a temporary camp here. Since you agreed to park down the road, I think we will use the area just up the road. If we drag out a couple extra trees, it will do nicely. I’ll only need space for eleven at the residence. My key staff, my communications team, and myself for today. The rest will be the people coming in later.”

  “Meals?” I asked. We could easily increase the plan for catering.

  “Same split,” he replied. “My construction crew will be self sufficient. If you can provide for those staying at your facility, I would be most appreciative.”

  That seemed to settle the most important logistics issue. I indicated I would get someone to move the cars. He asked if it would be acceptable to get started, and give me a briefing of their plan after the crew got underway. I couldn’t see any reason why not. They had far more men and equipment here than I had expected, but even if they wanted to build a highway for some reason what did it matter? The location was a secret that would no longer matter in another couple of weeks to anyone.

  I had just started up the incline when he stopped me.

  “I have a group of Marines with us that I was told would be assigned to your people for some reason?” he asked. I could tell their presence hadn’t been part of the planning and that he was a bit surprised by his orders with respect to the group.

  Jeff had convinced us before he left that the team would be useful. We had been discussing the situation regarding the elusive alien that Thomas and his team was trying to chase down back in the eighteen hundreds. The idea of using night vision equipment had been raised, and maybe it was the proper approach. It was clear the alien was active mostly at night, and had become aware that it was being tracked. That put the team at additional risk. I warned Jeff the men would not be equipped with weapons that would stop the alien, but he pointed out that Naiya had brought one down without one of the special rifles. The team would primarily provide numbers and support with the special equipment. The primary responsibility of bringing down the alien would remain with Thomas and his group. I didn’t feel comfortable with leaving the alien loose when the system shutdown. Who knew how much damage it could do?

  “Good,” I said turning back toward the man. I had been told they would be coming today, but no one had specified if they would be with the colonel’s team or not. “I’ll pass the word to my people. They have been waiting for their arrival.” I decided it was good politics to answer his unasked question. “They are going to help try and track down the alien I told you about when you visited last week. With some of the special night vision gear you people have, our chances of bringing it down might improve.”

  He nodded his understanding of the answer, and started across the flat where his aides waited. I turned back up the incline and made my way back to the tunnel where one of Mike’s men waited just inside.

  Thomas greeted the eleven men that Jeff had somehow arranged for us on such short notice. Each was equipped with the special gear we had requested, and I could see that several extra sets of the equipment had been brought along for Thomas and the others. The men were armed, and I noted a number of grenades and a box of claymores as well. Each had a rifle, the standard M16 in the puny .223 caliber. It was just so much added weight in my mind, but the military just didn’t travel without certain gear. We had also asked that the men chosen be familiar with horses, if not experienced riders. I could imagine the interest that request must have generated, but it seemed from what I was over-hearing these men all had ridden extensively in their pre-military life. After explaining that they would be passing through this complex inside the cave and would be emerging in the 1870’s, a claim that raised a bit of laughter, he had the men follow him inside. I knew he would complete the briefing on the other side, including a full awareness of the alien, its capabilities, and the limitations of their equipment. I just hoped we weren’t sending them off to get killed.

  The colonel’s team was already at work, and the forest was suffering under their initial onslaught. The trees for more than a hundred feet in all directions, and all the way back to the dirt road were being felled. No care was being taken to be neat. The ground was already torn and mangled beneath the heavy equipment that cut, chopped, and simply pulled down the pines and smaller brush that stood in the path of the planned construction. The trees were chained and hauled off to the far end of the meadow where they were dumped as the crews headed back for the next victim. The normally quiet forest was filled with chain saws, heavy equipment, and men shouting and swearing as they went about their tasks.

  With activities well underway, the colonel and I started inside to discuss the details of the construction he had planned over the next couple of days. He noted Mike’s man who waited just inside the tunnel for us, but I didn’t explain who he was. I knew the first hurdle was waiting just inside and was curious how the colonel would react. He didn’t disappoint me.

  “This is outrageous!” he complained as I insisted he pass through the scanning equipment.

  “It’s a simple medical scanner that Doc uses,” I explained to him. “It’s a bit more advanced than anything available now, but it makes it very easy to see if any weapons are being brought into the complex. I can see you aren’t carrying,” I noted, and indicated he was free to step away from the device that was mounted just inside the tunnel room we had just entered. I noted him observing the armed men that Mike had permanently stationed in the room. They were there primarily to guard against an attempt form the alien should it try and re-enter the complex, but they also provided an armed force against anyone else coming into the complex.

  “None of your people will be allowed to bring weapons inside,” I explained to him. “That is something that you need to make very clear to everyone intending to enter the complex.”

  “What about the armed soldiers that you allowed inside a short time ago?” he asked, still annoyed.

  “Special case,” I replied. “They were watched as they entered, but all of them passed straight through. In one tunnel and immediately back out through another. They are just as much outside the complex now as are all the men you have outside. They can’t enter unless we allow them to.”

  “You don’t trust us at all, do you?” he asked.

  “Not much,” I agreed truthfully. “I know what this place offers, and from the previous visit it was very clear that there are factions within the various groups that want to control it. I’m not sure all of you yet realize how critical the situation we face really is.”

  “But you are counting on us to help you destroy it?”


  “You have the only devices we are certain can do the job. We hope you are smart enough to see the necessity. But we understand the possibility exists that you aren’t being truthful with us.” I looked at him carefully as I made the next statement. “For all we know the weapons you are bringing aren’t real. Maybe they are fake, or have been deactivated.”

  If I had hit a nerve I was unable to tell by watching his reaction. He was either a good poker player, didn’t know, or my claims were too far off the mark to affect him. “If that’s the case, let me show you the backup plan.”

  He followed me up the ramp to the control room. I showed him the explosives that had been wired into the consoles and into the wall of the walkway leading to the airlock. I also explained that we had almost completed wiring the power room so we could over-load the thermal systems.

  “When it comes time to arm the bombs, we will set the timer on our equipment for one minute after the nuclear devices are supposed to blow. If for some reason they fail to detonate, then a minute later our own equipment will go off, and we will do whatever damage we can. Maybe it will be enough. Maybe not. One thing is certain. We will do enough damage that all access to this facility from our time will be lost. The complex will no longer be accessible to us, or to any of you.”

  I could tell he had not expected this. His lips were tight as he listened to the details of our plan. I knew this was information that would make its way back to his superiors in Washington as soon as the opportunity permitted. Good! Maybe they would see that the options for them were limited. It might just defuse any attempts they were hatching to take control away from us. That assumed that such plans even existed.

  I wondered whether he wanted to finish up and make his way back outside where he had access to his communications. He was stuck for now. He had to play out his role, and go over the plan as though everything we had just disclosed to him didn’t matter. Maybe I was being unfair. Maybe it really didn’t matter. If he were on the up and up, then our extra precautions wouldn’t matter a bit to him. His negative reaction could have been just his response to our distrust of him and his organization. Just another slap in the face like the weapons check at the entrance.