The Gravity of Anti-Gravity II

by Tim Blagge

  “Bill, let me be first,” Brenda requested. “It will give that brain of yours another few minutes to heal from the trauma it suffered yesterday.”

  The doctor wired Brenda for the procedure, had her lay down on one of the bunks and turned on the machine. Brenda’s eyes raced back and forth and rolled back in her head.

  “Doctor, is she okay? She doesn’t look okay!”

  “I don’t understand your language but if you are asking if she’s alright, she is. Her response is completely normal. Now go have a seat and wait your turn. This will take about a half hour and then she will sleep for another hour or two.”

  “Bill, if you want to ask the doctor anything, I will translate for you,” Stella said.

  “Yeah, I forgot he doesn’t have an English translation device.”

  A half hour later I was the one laying on a bunk with wires hanging from every part of my upper body. I don’t remember anything else until I woke up. By my watch, a little over two hours had passed. Brenda was awake sipping some water.

  “How do you feel,” I asked.

  “Fine, but I don’t think my mind machine meld worked.’ Brenda answered. How about you?”

  “I don’t think I got it either. It must be my gigantic intellect that blocked the machines information transfer.”

  We both looked at Stella and she was laughing. “I don’t know what you people just said but it certainly wasn’t English. You’d better rest a little longer. Remember it took Jerry’s brain a little while to resort the information. I’ll wake you both in a couple hours and I’ll have dinner ready.”

  While Brenda and I were still sleeping, someone burst through the door and started yelling. It was Rolf.

  “Grab your stuff. We’ve got to get out of here!”

  Still groggy, I stood up and asked, “What’s going on now?

  “I estimate a hundred Cromwells and several hundred Veladorian government traitors are searching for us.” Rolf said with an excitement he rarely displayed. “The enemy brought in reinforcements when they heard about our encounters with their people at the house. They know we are in the area and it looks like they are going to do a house to house search. According to the news they are planning on capturing us and making an example of what happens to anyone resisting their occupation.”

  “Great. So where are we off to now?” Brenda asked.

  “I haven’t planned that for ahead,” Rolf answered. “We must hurry! A group of the enemy is just over the next hill and is coming this way!

  We packed what little we had and ran outside. All that was there was one of Pops fighter crafts with a pilot and co-pilot inside.

  “How are the four of us going to fit inside that?” I asked.

  “There is a small storage compartment in the back. It was designed to hold munitions if they were ever to be used.” Rolf answered. “It will be tight but we have to fit.”

  First Rolf climbed in and then me. The girls slid on top of us, the door closed and our ship rose up. There was a small window in the cramped area allowing Rolf and I to see out.

  The first wave of the enemy came over the hill and saw our ship. They quickly raised their laser rifles and began to shoot at our aircraft. Our ship was moving and except for one glancing shot, all the other attempts to down our craft missed.

  “Let ‘em have it!” Rolf screamed.

  Our craft rotated ninety degrees and fired its laser cannons at the approaching troops. A huge explosion destroyed the top of the hill and all the men standing there. The enemy troops turned and started running away.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Rolf ordered.

  Our ship rotated and took off like a shot and we were gone.

  “Absolutely amazing!” we all heard the pilot say. I could tell by the man’s voice it was Chuzwit, the instructor from our class.

  “We are headed for our airship storage facility in the desert,” Chuzwit announced. “We know it’s safe for now. And because of the increase in the Cromwell forces, I suggest you execute your trip to Earth sooner rather than later.”

  Our trip to the Utah desert took less than twenty minutes. Considering our cramped traveling conditions that was about all any of us could stand. From what I could see though the tiny window, our ship flew into a huge opening in a large rock formation and landed. After we carefully crawled out of our small storage compartment I looked around and saw thirty plus of the Big Bertha ships that Pops had built at the California facility. People started coming up to us wanting to meet Rolf and Stella, the leaders of the resistance and Brenda and I. After we met the crews who had been patiently waiting for their opportunity to get into the fight, I couldn’t wait to get Chuzwit’s take on the new fighter aircraft

  “Tell me what you think about this ship, Instructor Chuzwit,” I asked.

  “This is an amazing fete of engineering,” he answered. “Its performance is absolutely unbelievable. It’s a little over powered and over gunned but that’s what we need right now. Now that I’ve flown one, I will be better equipped to teach my students.”

  “I think you are correct Chuzwit,” Rolf said as he took over the conversation. “We need to complete our Earth mission as soon as possible since it appears the Cromwells are increasing their forces on Velador. I was hoping to have more time to prepare. Let’s organize all our participants and set a schedule. The only person we are missing is Jerry. Chuzwit, go back to New Pasadena and bring Jerry here. I know it’s a little dangerous now but it will probably get worse before it gets better so go immediately.”

  Chuzwit and his co-pilot left and returned with Jerry an hour later.

  “Good to see you Jerry. Are you ready to go back home?” I asked.

  “At this point I don’t have much choice so get me up to speed on the plan and let’s get this over with.”

  Rolf explained the basics of the plan to steal nukes from the Russians but left the intricate details until we actually arrived back on Earth. He had requested his people there get about twelve additional men to carry out the mission.

  “We are going a few days early so we will have to wait until all our members arrive at the base of operations building,” Rolf explained. “I’ll go over the plan in detail and show everyone the schematics as well as the security measures when all participants are assembled.”

  “So when will our ships be ready to leave?” I asked.”

  “Everyone and everything is ready now,” the facility commander answered. “The two ships that have the storage racking are up front and waiting.”

  “OK, we leave in an hour,” Rolf ordered. “Everyone be on board by then.”

  -Chapter 27-

  “Bill and Brenda, you should hang on tight when we go through the jump zone,” Jerry said. “There’s something about the adjustment for time that makes the transition a little more violent than when we came through from Earth space to Velador’s.”

  The pilot announced that we were entering the jump zone so we all grabbed onto some of the racking that had been installed in the cargo bay where we were sitting. About ten minutes of extreme jostling later the fog outside lifted and off in the distance we could see Earth.

  “We’ll have to wait here for about three hours until it’s late night at our landing site,” Rolf said. “I’ll contact our people on the ground and alert of our pending arrival and instruct them to get all the mission personnel assembled as soon as possible.”

  “Our people back home packed a quick lunch.” Rolf continued. “We might as well eat while we are waiting for the time to pass.”

  After we ate some unidentifiable food, Brenda leaned against me, closed her eyes and was quickly asleep. I closed my eyes too and was awakened by Rolf barking orders.

  “Okay people, we’ve just landed. Get your gear and get off the ship. A vehicle is waiting to take us to the meeting location.”

  We all jumped into the SUV style vehicle and were introduced to our other mission participants. The amazing thing is that all the introductions were done in
Russian. Communicating in that language felt as comfortable as English for us now. Brenda, Jerry and I engaged in some small talk with our hosts as we practiced our newly learned skill. We also got to know the leader of the Veladorian contingent in Russia, Choxerbus who was driving. He was the one who made the strange comment on Jerry’s first return to Earth.

  After a half hour’s ride, we arrived at our headquarters. It was just as Jerry had described it to me – small, cramped and cold.

  Just before we sat down, Brenda got a quizzical look on her face and asked Rolf in English. “Rolf, is there another, younger Brenda, Bill and Jerry on the other side of the world?”

  “Theoretically yes,” he answered. “But we have never gone and looked for someone’s counterpart from a different time. We have no idea what would happen if the same person from different times met up, so we have avoided that situation completely. Unfortunately we don’t have the time to do that kind of research now, even though the subject is a fascinating one.”

  Brenda turned and looked at the leader of the Veladorians, Choxerbus. She asked him in Russian if he had an international stamp. When he asked her why she wanted one she told him she’d written a letter to her parents and would like it mailed while she was back on Earth.

  The man dug through a cluttered drawer and found the stamp that Brenda requested. She took it, pulled an envelope out of her bag, licked the stamp and affixed it to the letter.

  “Is there a place where I could mail this on the way to our mission?” Brenda asked. “If I don’t make it, I want to let my parents know I was killed while doing something valiant.”

  The leader looked touched and said there was a post office in a town on the way to the nuclear complex and she could mail it there.

  “Thank you sir,” Brenda said. “Now let’s get our heads together, we’ve got some nuclear weapons to liberate!”

  We all either sat and stood surrounding Rolf and Choxerbus and studied the layout of the nuclear complex and the details of the plan. It took about an hour but Rolf impressed upon us the mission was fluid and we all had to be able to change the plan instantly. We were all given inner ear communication devices. Jerry, Brenda and I had to remove our Veladorian translator from our other ear to avoid becoming totally deaf. We were also given a wave gun and a laser pistol.

  The plan called for the use of the wave gun to neutralize the guards as we encountered them. Rolf had a laser cutting device that would open fences, doors or any other obstruction we felt we might encounter.

  Choxerbus has secured the proper Russian military uniforms and we put them on.

  “You look hot, Brenda.” I said as I inspected her new look. “I think I like a woman in uniform. I’m a lucky man and I’ll bet every other dude in this room agrees. But then again they’re not human so maybe you don’t look as good to them as you do to me.”

  “Too much thinking again Bill,” Brenda said with large dose of sarcasm.

  “It’s time to go,” Rolf announced.

  A chill ran up my body as I realized this mission was for real and it was dangerous.

  On our way to the Russian nuclear facility, Choxerbus pulled into a small local post office and Brenda mailed her letter.

  We continued on and our lead vehicle parked in the forest about a half mile from the nuclear facility. Choxerbus was to stay with the vehicle and control the electronics inside the compound. The plan was to temporarily disable the security cameras while we were in their view. He and Rolf had developed a code so Choxerbus would know which section of the building we were approaching. He would turn off the cameras and quickly turn them back on after we had passed. Six of our group were to remain hidden above ground and deal with any incoming soldiers in the event we were discovered. Six others plus Rolf, Jerry, Brenda and I were going inside.

  As we approached the outer fence, cameras were turned off. Rolf used his laser cutter to slice through the chain link. A hole was cut in about three seconds and we all ducked low and climbed through. The last man had some zip ties and closed the fence behind us. In the event a patrol passed this entry point, the hole we made would be almost invisible in the dark.

  We approached the second fence and passed through exactly like we did the first. We continued up a dirt incline until we reached the main yard. We could see four guards near a door into the large concrete building that housed the nukes.

  After we confirmed the security cameras were off, Rolf pulled out his wave gun and fired at the men. They fell and we ran over and dragged the men near the door to the building. Rolf used his laser tool to disable the lock and opened the door. We dragged the guards inside the building and hid them in a nearby closet. Three of our men secured the side arms of the unconscious guards, removed their communication devices and badges and attached them to their own uniforms. These three men went back outside and replaced the four Russians.

  We proceeded down a long hall to a freight elevator. After the cameras were off, Choxerbus was able to remotely activate the door and we all stepped in. The door slid closed and started down.

  By the lights on the panel we went down eight floors. The doors opened and two more guards were there guarding this interior entrance to the facility. Another click and whoosh and these guards fell.

  Two more of our men removed their side arms, badges and communications devices and took up the positions of the two guards. We dragged the unconscious men and hid them behind some storage boxes nearby.

  Our remaining people walked down another long hall to a second freight elevator. After confirmation that the security cameras were switched off, we entered and descended another five floors. The doors opened revealing two more guards who snapped to attention thinking we were some unannounced inspectors. The wave gun disabled them. Just as they fell, two more men entered the area near the elevator and they too were put down. We dragged all four men to a small unoccupied room across the hall. Two more of our men took up positions at this elevator.

  We could hear a loud conversation from a lunchroom about ten meters down the hall to the left. We all moved quietly down the hall. Rolf moved into the doorway and the wave gun knocked out about fifteen people. Rather than remove and hide the unconscious people, Rolf closed the door and used his laser tool to melt the door handle so it couldn’t be opened from either side.

  The next room, about another ten meters on the right, housed the security personnel. There was a large window allowing those people to see out into the hall. Rolf peeked in and saw the personnel scurrying around looking at various monitors, probably attempting to determine why the security cameras were mysteriously turning off and then coming back on. Rolf and one other of our crew walked confidently forward to the door and grabbed the handle and gave it a turn. The door was locked!

  Rolf knocked hoping the technicians inside would open the door and let him in. When they held back, Rolf blasted the door handle and crashed through. He immediately fired the wave gun disabling everyone inside. He and two of the other men ran in to make sure no alarms were sent. As we were walking out of the room to our next destination, the phone rang!

  “Bill, answer it!” Rolf asked. “I don’t speak Russian.”

  I picked up the receiver and said ‘yes.’

  “Is everything alright there?” The man asked. “We just got an alarm from your position.”

  “It was a mistake,” I said. I knew I needed a name so I grabbed a man who had his face on the desk next to me and pulled him back to see his name tag. “Ovlenski had a little too much vodka at lunch and accidentally pushed the alarm button. We are resetting it now.”

  “Procedure says we need to send two men down to confirm what you are telling us. They are leaving now. Tell me, what is your name?’

  Another of our crew had anticipated the question and had pulled a different man back to reveal his name badge to me.

  “Grusskov,” I said.

  “Okay Grusskov. We will stay on alert here until our two men return after they have verified the alarm was a mista
ke. Let me talk to Irina.”

  “He wants to talk to Irina,” I whispered loudly as I held my hand over the receiver.

  Brenda took the phone and said “Hello.”

  “I just wanted to confirm our date tonight after work, Irina. The man said. “Are we still on?”

  “I’m looking forward to it. So how much time until then?”

  “Only an hour; I’ll meet you at the regular place, alright?

  “Fine, see you there,” Brenda said and hung up.

  While Brenda was talking, I relayed the information to Rolf about the alert and it would stay in effect until the guards returned to their headquarters. Rolf called our people positioned at the entrance and warned them that two Russian soldiers were coming. Our people were told to follow these men into the building and to disable and hide them.

  “Quick thinking Brenda,” Rolf said and followed with an assessment of our situation. “We only have about thirty minutes to complete this mission. If we run into any more problems, we will have to terminate the operation and get out, so let’s hurry.”

  There was one more vault door we needed to open and get to the nuclear storage room. The plans indicated it was on the same floor we’re on, down at the end of the hall. As we approached this last entrance, we found out there were no more guards posted. Rolf took his laser tool and quickly burned through the lock. We all pushed the door and it opened. Inside were racks and racks of battlefield nuclear munitions. Luckily for us, they were stored on rolling units designed to transport the shells to the surface if they were ever needed. I tried to push the first wheeled cart that had four large shells on it but it didn’t budge. I estimated that the racks weighed over a thousand pounds each. Jerry and two other men began helping me roll the first rack toward the door. It was obvious the racks hadn’t been moved in years but with four of us pushing, the first rack broke free and started to roll. We discovered it took four people to get a rack rolling and two to keep it moving. Since there were just eight of us left in the storage facility, we were able to liberate four racks of four warheads.