by TS Paul
“Yes, Sir. Research and Development out at Groom Lake say they may have something that will penetrate the shields on the pods.” Lieutenant Buckley smiled as he read the report to his boss.
“They do? Give those boys a raise! This is exactly what we need right now. Did they say if they can shoot them down?”
Buckley read through the report again quickly. “Uh, no Sir. They say that they suspect the shield is an effect of the gravitic pulse engines that the pods employ. Or that is what they suspect they are. No one has been able to get something like it to work before now.”
“Get what to work? Do they have one of those engines in their lab? They swore to me last time that all the alien stuff was elsewhere!” General Vlákas barked his questions. This whole thing with both the President and R&D was giving him an ulcer.
Buckley looked at the General in surprise. He spread his hands wide. “Sir, I only know what they send me. Do you want me to ask them?”
The General scowled at his aide. “Arrange transport. We’re going to Groom Lake.” He would get the answers he needed if it killed him.
Unknown to either man a small red light blinked out on the top of the General’s computer as they left the room.
~~~~~~
“ADAM did you get that?” Gin and Amber, otherwise known as the tonic twins, responded at the same time.
“I DID. FLIGHT CONTROL HAS BEEN NOTIFIED. KEEP FEELERS ON THE GENERAL. HE IS OUR BEST WAY YET INTO AREA 51.”
The twins got together with several others of what many called ‘ADAM’s elves.’ They were the original twelve hackers recruited by the AI, and they were the best in the world at breaking into computers and communication systems. So far the Groom Lake Base, better known as Area 51, had been the hardest to get into.
If the US Government had a way to shoot down or damage the pods, the Queen and team BMW would need to know.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“Can anyone tell me at least ten of the greatest Engineering Achievements in modern times?” Jeo stood at the head of the long corporate style table. The members of Alpha Class, as well as Peter, sat watching him.
“No one has any clue, or you didn’t understand the question? If you don’t know, try guessing. This is not a graded test so don’t worry.”
Ron took a wild guess and went first. “Uh, the pyramids in Egypt?”
“At Giza. That is a good one but not for modern times. Now for time immemorial, it qualifies. Remember that one, it will come up again.” Jeo smiled at the group.
“What about cars?” Nestor raised his hand.
“Excellent. Automobiles are one. If we have cars, we have to have what to make them go or facilitate their construction?”
“You need power and machines to build it first.”
“Very good, Tina! There is a saying that Rome wasn’t built in a day. That is a good analogy for civilization. You have to build this to make that. Everything takes time. In the twentieth century alone more than twenty engineering feats helped to build the civilization we live in today. Electricity, the automobile, airplanes, radio, and television, computers, telephones, air conditioning, refrigeration, highways, the internet, spaceships, lasers, nuclear power, the list goes on and on. Before these things were invented man rode horses and traveled on steam engines. In a hundred years we went from horses to electric cars.” Jeo wrote on his virtual board many things from the list as he talked.
“Weren’t electricity and the telephone invented in the nineteenth century?” Ron spoke up again.
“Aha! You got me there. They weren’t in widespread use, however, until the 1920s, so it counts.” Jeo made his eyebrows jump eliciting a groan from the others.
“All the things that you see around you were engineered in some form or fashion. Yes, much of the technology that we use here in the Etheric Empire came from aliens but someone had to adapt it for human use. TOM… How many of you know who and what TOM is?”
Everyone raised their hands.
Jeo looked shocked for a moment. “I forget you have Tina to tell you things. TOM is a Kurtherian. He came to this planet over a thousand years ago to help protect humans and to gain allies to fight a galactic war. The enemy he fights is his own people. A difference of opinion separated them, and they have fought ever since. He accidentally created a race of vampires when he changed the first human he met. It was TOM that gave the Queen the secret to Kurtherian technology and using it she built all of this.” He spread his hands wide.
“Did she do this herself? No. Engineers interpreted the data TOM provided and built the machines that made the machines such as ADAM. The world's first AI is an engineering feat. Engineering is important to all of our survival. Just as you five are essential to the survival of the future.” Jeo paused for a moment.
“What I do for the Empire is tri-fold: Construction, mining, and technology development. That includes weapons development.” Jeo wrote each point on his board. “And spaceship construction. What we as students and teacher are going to learn is how it all comes together to make up the whole Empire. But we have to start somewhere. You need to see for yourselves the wonders of this thing we call engineering and achievement. So, where to first?”
Jeo chuckled to himself. He could tell he overloaded them just a tiny bit. “Let’s start with history first. Ron mentioned Giza. That will be our first stop.”
~~~~~~~
Peter looked up from the table in alarm. A trip? Now? Oh, hell no. “Jeo. We can’t leave today. I need to requisition the pods and check the security situation. Sorry.”
Jeo only stared at Peter. “But…” Peter shook his head no.
“But…” Jeo was completely without words.
“I really am sorry Jeo, but my orders come straight from the Queen. You and the students in this room represent far more than your job or class position. The future of our Empire and access to our technology lies within all of you. I can use a computer, but I can’t build one. Unlike your escapades with Delta Class, this adventure will have security and fewer pods. The countries of the world are not our friends anymore. They only want what they can beg, borrow, or steal from us. We can go, but not until tomorrow. I have to make a few arrangements first.”
“Well, hell. We can’t take even a small trip? What if it was to one of our allies?” Jeo looked at Peter with a puppy dog face.
Peter scrunched up his face and looked at Jeo. “What ally?”
“Schwabenland. What they did down there boggles the engineering mind. Isn’t the Queen in negotiations with them?”
Peter just stared at his new charge. For a moment, he pursed his lips and looked to one side. “How do you know about that? I was under the impression that those particular negotiations were secret. The technology those people are using is not up to our standards, but it is unique for something created seventy years ago. You need to tell me just how you found out about it, though. We have very few intel leaks and like to keep it that way.”
All five members of Alpha Class looked at each other. Schwabenland? What was that?
“Uh, I may have interacted with a scientist friend of mine trying to decide how a certain group used magnetic and steam power technology to lift and support their base. We were drinking and…”
A hand came up, “Stop right there.” Peter shook his head. “I swear the Queen should just put those three on leashes! If it were up to me, I would muzzle them too. I’ll take care of it. DO NOT talk to them about it or any other vaguely top secret projects without checking with the Queen first. Just don’t. I will contact flight control and have the experimental pods readied. We are only looking, not getting out and walking around.”
Jeo waved at Peter. “Fine. I appreciate it.” He turned toward the students.
“Now in the 1920s and early 1930s, there was a group of mystics in Germany called the Thule Society. They had a small group of women amongst them known as the Vril or Vril Maidens. They were mediums and claimed they were in contact with aliens that lived in Alpha Centauri. Th
ese aliens gave them technology that was far beyond anything on the planet at that time. Using implosive, rather than explosive, technology they constructed the first spaceship. With the aid of the Nazi’s, the Thule group built a base in Antarctica on territory that Germany explored and claimed in 1938.”
Peter looked up from his tablet and frowned. Someone has definitely been talking-out-of-school! He only knew about Schwabenland because he had been there. The background wasn’t something you could just find on the internet. Those three were going to be the death of him he just knew it.
“… so they were still there. In 1946 the US Government sent a military expedition to search for this hidden base. The public reason was investigating the territory, looking for threats, and doing cold weather testing. They were attacked by strange flying craft and Admiral Byrd, the leader of the expedition, went missing for over three hours during a mission. It is assumed that during that time period he made a truce with the Vril. In 1952 they came to Washington, DC to ratify that truce with President Truman.”
“Wait… Mr. Jeo, uh, sir? How come none of this is in history books? I mean, wow, flying saucers and Nazis? You would think a news journalist would be all over that one.” Rob spoke up.
“Just call me Jeo. It was in the papers. There were over four hundred reports of flying saucers and alien craft that year. It was in that same year that Project Blue Book by the US Air Force was starting to track the reports. Interestingly enough, there was an earlier project in 1948, after the Antarctica fiasco, doing the same thing. So, the Thule or Vril people were real. The base was real, and now the Etheric Empire is in communication with them. This is important to us for a variety of reasons.”
Tina raised her hand. “Jeo? Was it the Vril that attacked the Navy ships in Antarctica not too long ago?”
Jeo glanced at Peter. Peter raised an eyebrow and looked back at him. “Those were someone else entirely. If I say who, I think Peter over there might eat me.”
Tina and the others all turned to look at the Guardian commander. Peter was muttering curses under his breath and shaking his head.
“Let’s discuss the reasons they are important to engineers before that happens. Remember this was the 1940s. Technology was limited to combustion based engines and very primitive electrical grids. The alien messages to the Vril gave them magnetic technology. The ship design and other tech used an enormous amount of energy and were not very efficient. Our Alien adviser TOM thinks this disparity in tech to energy is based upon the tech base of Germany. The Aldebaran aliens were trying to help the Vril build up to a stronger level. The base in Antarctica was to be the test base for new tech and also to be used as a refuge for those in the society. The German craft you found on the moon, most likely came from Schwabenland. If we were landing, we might ask them about it.” Once again he looked to Peter who now had a not so nice gleam in his eye.
“The base itself is composed of one-hundred-ton rock walls supporting thousands of tons of ice. How has it been constructed thousands of miles away from any form of construction equipment? When we visit, I will show you the wall I’m talking about. That is if Peter will allow it. Peter?”
Peter sighed. “I spoke to my boss and passed a message up the line to the Queen. We can visit Schwabenland, but no landings. In fact, we will have the local EI control the ships, so there are no deviations. The Empire is still in negotiations with the Vril, no reason to poke-the-bear and piss them off. Please inform the EIs where you specifically want to go.”
He went back to typing.
“Great! Go dump your stuff in the dormitory. Samantha can show you the way. Then meet me in the construction hanger in an hour. Bring your spacesuits and helmets just in case. Accidents do happen. I’m sure Peter will meet us there.” Jeo motioned to Samantha and then left the room.
Peter watched Jeo leave and shook his head.
This was not going to be a fun assignment.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“General Vlákas? We are almost there.” Lieutenant Buckley touched the General on his arm. They were on an Air Force transport plane rather than one of the more luxurious ones. Very few pilots were given clearance to enter what is known as Dreamland airspace. Even fewer landed at the Groom Lake facility. A daily cargo service did exist, and that was the easiest way to get there.
“What? Buckley is that you? Are we there?” The General had been napping and wasn’t all that awake yet.
“Almost, Sir. The pilots tell me that we will land in a few moments. They advise for you to have any orders available to be examined. The security is very tight.”
“Hmmph. We will see about that. They will answer my questions, or I will shut this place down.” The General stared out the small porthole at what appeared to be desert and small hills.
~~~~~~~
“Who did you say is on that plane?”
“General Vlákas and his aide. He bullied his way on board and ordered the pilot to take off. My spies in Washington say he’s here to investigate the anti-pod defenses as well as our research into gravitic engines. One of our people let slip that we had never been able to get ‘the’ engines to work before.” Director of Special Projects Kenneth Bigham rubbed the back of his own neck and shook his head.
Why did he have to work with idiots?
“I hope he is no longer in that department and we have had the loose-lips conversation with him?” His assistant director Charles Williams nodded.
Charles smiled. “He’s on his way to the research station on Little Diomede. They are conducting bird impact studies as well as oceanographic studies he can help with there.”
“Really? I thought he was a theoretical particle physicist? I had no idea we even had a current base way up there.” The Director is only worried about the base personnel. His assistant did the off base and more reclusive people.
“It’s not permanent. He will learn the meaning of loose lips really quick.”
“As long as it was taken care of. I don’t need to know the details. Is there anything here for Vlákas to find?” The Director looked out his office window at the flight line.
“The Majestic file and all the artifacts were moved after the last time he was here.” As soon as the word Majestic was uttered Director Bigham whirled around to confront his aide.
“Do not Speak that word here. It was slips of the tongue that got us here in the first place. Damn it, Charles! Do you want a visit from them again?”
“Yes, Sir. Sorry.”
“Show the General whatever he wishes to see. Play dumb when it comes to them or anything about TQB. Refer him to me if you falter. That should be fairly easy for you. Just act normal.”
Kenneth stared out his window after Charles left. All he ever wanted to be was a scientist. He took the director job with an eye to the future. Sometimes he wished he never heard the name Majestic or even met them before.
It was three administrations ago, his first week on the job and he could remember it like it was yesterday.
The new Director of Special Projects position came open, and he snatched it up. His schooling was in experimental engineering and development, but his parents had forced him to minor in business administration. Making the leap from hard science to leadership had not been a hardship. The money was better too. His first week was filled with documentation and light instruction by a veritable sea of government helpers and paper-pushers. Kenneth was tired and had returned to his office to rest and continue to read. There was a Director’s log book of sorts that kept track of the job and what it entailed.
“Welcome back Director Bigham.” Kenneth spun around to see a large, robust looking man sitting in the chair behind the door shaded in darkness.