by Saxon Andrew
Jimmy looked at Summer, “You’ve kept this from me.”
“You have too much to worry about than where we are in our project.”
“You’re going to have to move this project to the valley.” Summer sighed and nodded. Jimmy looked at Patrick, “Do you have a supplier of the parts you’re going to need to build this?”
“No. I am going to build these in the machine shop when we arrive in the valley. Tom tells me that it’s finished and has all the things I’ll need to build the polymer cases, barrels, and electronics. I’m going to build these lasers into a solid enclosed, weather-proof package. Even the scopes will be inside a housing that is part of the receiver and stock. They are going to be pretty much hand made.”
“Why?”
“Because that will insure they are pretty much indestructible and sealed against water or soil damage. Do you know how many we’re going to need?” Patrick asked.
“I’m going to have to check with Juan about how many he’s found that pass our criteria. I think about five-hundred is our initial estimate.”
Summer looked at Jimmy, “Is Juan taking a risk recruiting inside the Special Forces.”
“No, he’s been promoted to Major and has a Battalion under him. He’s savvy about who to approach. How long will it take you to build five-hundred of these rifles, Patrick?”
“I’ll have that many done in about eight-months. I’m going to continue to build them until there are enough for everyone in the Project to have one. If you develop any new technology or an improvement on what you have, I need to be informed as quickly as possible.”
Jimmy smiled, “You’re looking forward to getting back to Europe, aren’t you?”
“I am. I’ve missed Ireland.” Patrick looked at Summer, “Who is going to assist you with the computer guided heavy lasers?”
Jimmy smiled, “That would be me and now that you’ve produced the small arms, we can start working on that.”
“If I can be of any help, let me know.”
“Patrick, if you would get with Suzette when you arrive and make sure the sites chosen for the turrets are optimum, I would greatly appreciate it.”
“No, problem. Do you know the range of the cannons?”
“We’ll not be using battery power so they should have coverage all the way out to the horizon.”
“What have you determined about the cloud coverage blocking them?”
Jimmy interrupted, “There are few clouds at both ends of the valley. Most of them are over the central region. There should be a clear field of fire from those two locations. We’re planning to install two over each end to protect our generators and water supply.”
Summer hugged Patrick and Jimmy shook his hand. He put the rifle back in the case and carried it out of the lab. “Does he think he can take that with him?” Jimmy asked.
“No, he’s shipping it to the Project in multiple boxes. He’ll pick up the battery and magnetic pack at the Project and the rest of the parts aren’t anything remarkable.”
Jimmy pulled the portal closed and locked it with the wheel. He looked at Summer and said, “It’s close to time where we will be leaving for the valley.”
Summer nodded, “I know.”
Jimmy went down to a knee and said, “Summer Reynolds, would you give me my greatest blessing by agreeing to marry me?” Jimmy held up a box and the ring was shining brilliantly in the labs overhead lights. Summer’s hands went to her mouth and Jimmy smiled, “We’ve been so tied up working separately, that I don’t want to continue doing that. I want to be with you every waking moment.”
Summer started nodding as her tears began to fall and Jimmy tilted his head, “I do hope that is a yes.”
Summer went to her knees and looked into Jimmy’s eyes, “Yes, I will marry you and give you my troth.”
Jimmy smiled and put the ring on her finger. He then leaned forward and kissed her tenderly.
• • •
“Sir.”
“What is it, Sargent?”
“I’ve been getting some funny kind of readings out of the weather satellites.”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Hawk-eye two is capable of detecting pretty much any kind of electronic transmission and it has been seeing some kind of magnetic interference in the weather satellite’s feed.”
“Which one?”
“Hawk-eye can only see the one in Europe and the Eastern United States and it doesn’t happen all the time. It’s pretty much intermittent but it is there.”
“What would cause a magnetic field around a weather satellite?”
“I really don’t know. It could just be a warning that something is wearing out electronically. Like I said, it’s intermittent and seems to appear in random patterns.”
“Who was the head of the design team that developed the components for those satellites?” the Lieutenant asked.
“Give me a moment.” The Sargent looked in a book next to his computer and said, “A Doctor Caspari was head of the team.”
“Send him what you’ve seen and tell him that something seems to be breaking down on the weather satellites.”
“I’ll send it to him in a protected email, Sir.”
“Let me know if they continue to have this field.”
“Magnetic field, Sir.”
“Whatever.”
“Yes, Sir.”
• • •
Jimmy and Summer were working in his apartment and he heard a tone and looked at his computer screen. He was entering the results from an experiment summarizing the data of how precise a mobile arm connected to a computer could be moved, when he heard it and he immediately saw it was from the Military. He stopped what he was doing and opened the email and shouted at Summer, who was working in the bedroom, “SUMMER, COME OVER HERE?”
Summer came running into the kitchen and Jimmy pointed at the email, “It appears they’re detecting our communications.”
Summer felt a spike of fear and said, “Do we need to shut it down!?!”
Jimmy read the email again and leaned back in his chair. He saved the work he was doing and pulled up another file. He stared at the diagrams on the screen and said, “Thank Moses for that.”
“What?” Summer asked.
“I think we’ll be alright.” Jimmy began typing and after a few moments sat back, “What do you think?”
Summer looked over his shoulder and read the email and shrugged, “That should do it.”
He looked at Summer, “Send out a message on the general frequency and tell everyone the military defense satellites are detecting our communications and to limit them to only essential contacts and tell everyone to keep them short. Let everyone know that we’ve deflected them from knowing what they are but we don’t need to take a chance.”
“Will do, Honey.
Jimmy pressed send and went back to his data.
• • •
Sargent Williams saw an email notice appear on his screen and opened it. He read it and turned to his immediate superior officer, “Sir, I just received an answer from Doctor Caspari.”
“Who?”
“You know, the one that was head of the weather satellite development.”
“He responded rather quickly!”
“He says that magnetic clamps are used to lock the focusing elements on the satellites’ lenses. He thinks what we’re detecting is a magnetic field from the clamps powering on and off.”
The Lieutenant stared at Williams and asked, “Would a small clamp cause a magnetic field strong enough for us to detect?”
“You know Hawk-eye is our most sensitive system yet. It must be even better than I thought, Sir.”
“Who developed it? Contact them to confirm it.”
Williams shrugged again as he pulled up a file, “Dr. Caspari developed it as well, Sir.”
The Lieutenant chuckled, “I guess that answers my question. Write it up in the end of session log so someone else doesn’t waste time on this.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Chapter Ten
Jimmy sat at the head of a table in a conference room located more than a quarter or a mile underground. There were windows that showed the valley through them but the images on the glass were generated by cameras on the surface. It felt like they were in a building in the center of the valley.
Every major player in the project was present and they had been arriving over six days. They went to Alem’s hangar and he ferried them out from Zurich to the valley. Many of them spent time organizing their offices until everyone one arrived. Tours were given by the contractors and most were surprised at how extensive the underground structure was. The mountain on the east side of the valley was close to being completed and work was being done to complete the four tunnels linking the western side of the valley. That was where the real work was going to be done. The construction crews had disguised the elevator shafts that connected the first floor with the underground facilities. If anyone came to inspect the facility they would be left thinking there was only one floor with a large scientific room with sensitive devices used to detect gravity waves. They wouldn’t see the levels below that ran the length of the valley.
Jimmy called the meeting to order and each person made a report of the status of their project. Jimmy and Summer had been married the year before in Texas and Summer’s parents were brought into the project at that point. Dr. Reynolds reported first.
“I have commitments from thirty-seven of the top Surgeons and Medical Minds in the country.”
“What did you tell them, Doctor?” Candice asked.
“Call me, John. I told them that if they ever felt that their life was in danger and they saw no way to escape, to contact me immediately.”
“And they accepted that?”
“You have to understand that those of us in the medical profession are under the constant threat of mal-practice suits and angry survivors of patients whose families blame the treating doctor for their deaths. Danger to us comes in more forms than just asteroids. If word gets out about the asteroids, these physicians will remember what I told them and contact me.”
“Once that happens, I don’t know if they’ll be able to do much in the ensuing panic,” Patrick said from the end of the table.
Jimmy turned and said, “Nicky?”
Nicky looked around the table and said, “The asteroids will be seen several years before they arrive. I’ve worked out that they are not comets but must be rocks that originate from the asteroid belt.”
“How were you able to make that determination?” Vinny Busciglio asked.
“Using what Jimmy saw in his dream, I’ve been able to pinpoint from what direction they have to be coming and it has to be within the plane of the solar system. Also, the nature of the crater in the US he describes makes it pretty certain it was made by a rocky impactor.”
Nicky looked at John and said, “If the government tries to keep information about the asteroids from the public, I’ll make an announcement of the danger and force the government to assure everyone that they’re implementing plans to deflect them away from Earth. Once the news is out, there will be around two years before the impactors arrive and whatever defense the governments decide to use to be implemented. Doctor, that will give you time to make sure all of those you’ve chosen to join us go on a vacation to Switzerland prior to the governments around the world implementing their plans.”
“Why before?”
“Because if the world believes those plans have failed, I suspect the ensuing panic would ensure no one is going to be going anywhere. anarchy will be the rule of the day,” Nicky answered.
Jimmy looked at Alem, “We need other ways to move people in here. Having them all coming from Zurich could raise some eyebrows.”
Alem looked at Nicky, “You say that there will be some time before the general population finds out about this event?” Nicky nodded. “Will there be several months?”
“Probably six months, why do you ask?”
“I’ve already opened an office in France, Germany, Italy, Austria, and Basil Switzerland with each having one helicopter. I’ll add three additional helicopters at each location during those six months and you’ll need to send the ones coming here to one of those locations. I’ll set up the offices as helicopter tours of the mountains and just pick people up and bring them here. They’ll need to have their luggage with them.”
“Who is going to fly those helicopters? And how can you be sure they’ll keep their mouth shut about what’s going on?” Tom asked.
Alem smiled, “Major Juan Alverez has already sent me ten former soldiers to work in my business delivering the supplies to be put in storage. They’re already trained how to fly a helicopter and, when the moment draws closer, others will be joining them.”
Jimmy looked at Juan, “Is that true, Juan.”
“It is.”
“Where do we stand on getting the soldiers here at the appropriate time?”
“I actually have a thousand that want to join us.”
The room was stunned at the pronouncement and Summer asked, “How did you manage to pull that off?”
“By telling them something they could believe and get behind.”
Jimmy stared at Juan, “What did you tell them?”
“I’m not sure if you know this but our finest warriors are made to march around parade fields wearing high heels to teach them sensitivity training. They are forced to accept soldiers into their units who are not capable of the physical demands their duties demand and, in most missions they go on, they are prevented from doing any harm to the ones attacking them. I’ve asked two of the finest soldiers in the Army if they would be willing to join an elite-fighting unit in Europe that will be hired to go out and remove the bad guys.”
Jimmy nodded, “And?”
“They immediately wanted to go then. I told them that the unit was going to be formed in five to eight years and I was just checking to see if they were interested. I told them to keep it to themselves because this new unit would only accept the best-of-the-best.”
Vinny smiled, “So they only mentioned it to the best warriors they knew and they contacted you.”
Juan smiled, “I told them that the information had to be kept absolutely secret and they’ve done exactly that.”
“Tell me what these men look like, Juan?” Candice asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Are we going to have to make room for their families? How are we going to get their families here during a time of unrest? You know? What are we looking at here?”
“Half of them aren’t married, or were married and are now divorced. A lot of women have difficulty having their husbands away more than half of the time. Of the others, some have girlfriends and about two-hundred are married.”
“How will we get them here?” Nicky Irozo asked.
“Pretty simple.” Everyone stared at Juan and he said, “Just give them the time and place you want them here and leave it up to them. These are highly trained individuals who can be dropped in a desert and survive. I’ll contact them and they will get here with whomever they want to bring with them. I suspect those who don’t have a significant other will end up coming alone.”
John Reynolds looked at Jimmy, “How many do you want here?”
Jimmy looked at Vinny, “How many living quarters are you going to build?”
Vinny shrugged, “You’ve said that the limiting number would be around eight-thousand. How many do you have now?”
“If you take all thousand soldiers and assume two-thirds of them bring someone with them, we’re at ten-thousand five-hundred or so.”
“If those asteroids don’t arrive within the next two-years, we should be ok. Cutting out the living quarters won’t be an issue. Increasing the air purifiers and making them large enough to handle the additional space as well as installing their channels will be what takes the most time.”
“What about storage, Vinny?”
“We’re ok with that. I’ve had landing platforms for the helicopters cut on the backside of the mountain outside the valley. They’ll land with their loads and they’ll be moved down into the mountain from there.”
“Won’t they be seen?”
“I really don’t think so, Mrs. Heller. The clouds extend over the tops of the mountains that surround this valley and the landing platforms are located about two-thousand feet up the sides of the mountains. The supplies we’ve been bringing in are transported down into the storage facilities by elevators.”
“Vinny, how are we going to move the livestock into the valley. Bringing them in by air is going to be a real issue.” Candice asked.
Vinny smiled, “Actually, that was the easiest piece of this giant puzzle. I had two of my giant Caterpillar Grading machines open the roads into the valley. We’ve bought herds of livestock from farmers in Austria and Germany and they simply herded them into the valley. We’ve planted a good forage crop to see them through the winter.”
Jimmy nodded and looked at Suzette, “What about the laser defenses?”
“They’ll be ready within a year. Patrick and I have also come up with another system I’ve wanted to discuss with you.”
“What is that?”
“We’ve been playing around with the magnetic packs and discovered something interesting.”
“Go on,” Jimmy said.
“We attached about ten of them to a laser-cannon barrel and sequentially activated them at full power with a one-pound steel ball in the tube.”
“What happened,” Nicky asked.
Suzette looked at Patrick and he said, “I think we might have shot it into orbit.”
Jimmy and Summer’s heads went back together and George Stallings, a top physicist working in the project said, “That’s not possible!”
Suzette shrugged, “Well, you know we have radar scanning above the valley, right?”
Jimmy said, “We don’t have it on most of the time.”
Suzette raised her shoulders and said guiltily, “Well, we turned it on to see if we could track the ball. I believe being high in the mountains with thinner air made a difference but the radar lost it at hundred-thousand feet and it was still moving at twice the speed of sound when it disappeared.”