by Steve Hertig
Chapter 10
Minus: 20 Jun 2055
The transit into and out of the safe room at Peterson in Prime went smoothly and after arriving in Minus, the transit chief once more called out the current sat time: 20 June 2055, 0542 and began stowing the Prime TRs. This time a mission locker was in a corner of the room at Peterson. The major pointed at the locker with a look of relief and said, "After you Ms. Scott."
Jenny opened the locker to reveal a pad, two pistols with extra clips, emergency meal rations and a key code for the door. The pad activated at her touch, and Dutch's image explained they would recon the site again shortly.
"Hopefully, It won't be long," Jenny said uneasily as explosions rumbled in the distance.
The Plus technical team had removed their mission packs and sat down against a wall out of the path of anybody transiting in. The remaining military team members stationed themselves at the door, weapons ready.
John sat down out of the way next to the Plus team.
"So Captain, how'd you end up in the Army?" a young lieutenant, the Plus linguist, asked him.
"Mrs. Scott has her ways," he replied.
The team all chuckled and Jenny gave John a sideways look.
"Okay, so how'd you end up here?" the lieutenant persisted.
"I was on a transit mission to Martinique to find out more about 13-C, the TIA," John explained.
"There's no mention of your discovery in the Center," the Plus linguist said.
John sighed. "Our mission was cut short when the area where we found the TIA was full of people poking around, not sure who, but they didn't look too friendly," he said. "Just as we got back to the Mountain, the enemy attacked, and we escaped an RPA by way of an emergency transit to Minus. When we returned to Prime, we were captured by right-wing extremists but then escaped to Plus, your Center, using their TRs." He pointed to the TR set next to Major Timberin. "The rest you know."
John intentionally left out any clue about their rooks move.
"That's some crazy shit," the lieutenant acknowledged, and the others sitting along the wall agreed.
John listened as the soldiers talked about their home before the war and the war itself. It was a horrific, brutal war in Plus; a war, John grasped they had little chance of winning. This new enemy did not only disgust him, but made him mad as hell, too. A determined calmness swept over him, comprehending that any chance of victory would probably come at the ultimate cost.
It was an odd sensation to see someone materialize out of thin air two meters in front of you, but John immediately realized who it was. "Dutch!" he shouted.
"Captain Mackinac and Ms. Scott!" the Master Gunnery Sergeant said, immediately wary of the two solders at the door that had their weapons trained on him.
"At ease!" Timberin ordered.
Dutch and the major exchanged quick salutes as the others got up to meet their rescuer.
John grasped Dutch's hand and said with a big smile, "Good to see you Guns."
"Good to see you, too and your friends," he replied.
Jenny rushed over to him and asked, "Dutch why are you alone and how's the Mountain?"
"The Mountain is safe," Dutch said. "Four KIA, but it could have been worse. Material damage was minimal except for part of a physics experiment affected by the explosion. We've been checking all the nearby safe sites over a time span of fifteen years so there's shortage of transit specialists."
The major spoke up, "We had better get moving. There is a war going on."
"Aye, sir," Dutch replied and started to prep his TRs for their return transit.
Prime: 9 Aug 2068
Dutch was first back and stood down his security detail as the others arrived. He notified General West of the rescue as well as details of the unexpected, Plus representatives.
John checked the date, 9 August 2068. It was three days after the attack on the Mountain; luck or more quantum weirdness, he refused to guess.
"Additional transport will arrive in a few minutes," Dutch informed the group.
"Master Gunnery Sergeant, I have a mission for you," Jenny said leading him outside to finish her request.
"I'll get that taken care of right away, ma'am," he said as their transport arrived.
John noticed several of the Plus team looking out the darkened windows of their transport vehicle at the traffic along the way to the Mountain. The only visible signs of the attack were civilian crews fixing the road and the CMAFS entrance.
"We haven't had civilian support for years. Most of the population in this part of the United States has taken refuge in Mexico or are in hiding in the Rockys," the Plus lieutenant said somberly.
As they all entered the Mountain, General West was waiting for them. "Welcome back Ms. Scott. It's good to see you and Captain Mackinac unharmed. And it looks like you've recruited some help," he said looking at the others.
"More like they recruited us, General," she replied.
"All the better," he said making his way to each Plus team member for a personal introduction.
The general explained there would be a wide-ranging briefing at noon, and then the Plus team could start debriefing their Chronos counterparts.
West turned to Jenny and said, "You and I will meet with the SecDef and the President at 1500 in my office. The SecDef has been here since the attack and is anxious to see you. And Captain Mackinac, I hear there's a visitor waiting for you in your quarters."
"General," Jenny said, "first we need to check in our gear and get the Plus team's TRs secured."
"Of course," the general said and then left the team in Dutch's hands.
"Who knows I'm here?" John asked Jenny.
She just shrugged her shoulders at him.
John looked to the marine. "Dutch?"
"Sorry Captain, I've got orders," Dutch said grinning. "Major Timberin, temporary billets will be ready shortly for your team. Do you need anything else?"
"We're fine Master Guns; we'll be ready for the noon briefing, thanks," Timberin said.
John accompanied Jenny as she gave the Plus team a quick tour of the lab and TR lockup procedures. When they had finished, Dutch escorted the Plus team to their quarters several levels above.
"I better check in with the SecDef," Jenny said to John. "I'll see you at the noon debrief."
"Yeah. See you there," he replied as she left.
The ten-minute walk to John's quarters was comforting; he was starting to feel like he belonged at the Mountain. As he opened his door, a large furry mass leapt into his arms. "Angstrom, old buddy! How'd you get here?" John asked that cat, but only loud purring answered. "And you're fat. Get down now."
The cat jumped to John's bunk and sat watching him intently.
John saw a green envelop on his desk, inscribed with handwritten cursive was 'Dr. John W. Mackinac'. It was a letter from Mrs. Sitzer. She had to have a hip replacement earlier than she expected. She had called the number he left for her and those nice people took care of everything. She hoped he was having a good time and would let him know when she got home from the hospital and was up and around again. She post-scripted that a 'very nice lady' named Jen had come looking for him after he had left, but wouldn't leave any contact details.
An airman knocked on the open-door jamb. "Sir, the scheduled noon briefing has been moved forward to 1100."
"Thanks. I'll be there," John said.
"Hey Angstrom!" the airman said. "How are you today, huh?" He tried to scratch the cat behind the ears as it weaved in and out between his knees.
"Angstrom behave!" John said feeling embarrassed.
"It's okay Captain. He's really been knocking back the rats. Don't worry. Cook has him on a diet."
"Ah, good. Thanks," John said deciding he needed to sort out a litter box before heading to the briefing.
John saw the Vice President talking to General West in the hallway outside the briefing room. As he past them, he noticed the Vice President staring at him.
"Excused me, Captain," he said. "Do I know you?"
"You do now, Mr. Vice President. Captain John Mackinac, United States Army," John said extending his hand. "It's an honor to meet you."
The Vice President, still staring, ignored him and then abruptly left followed closely by his Secret Service detail.
John awkwardly stuffed his hands into his fatigue pockets as he entered the briefing room.
The room was almost full and John took the last unoccupied seat next to Jenny. Major Timberin, representing the Plus mission team, sat across the table next to Major Higgs, the chief scientist responsible for TR research. John recognized him from his briefing a few days ago.
John leaned over to Jenny and whispered, "Hey. You won't believe who I bumped into out in the hallway."
"What is this?" she asked. "High school?"
"The VP," he said.
"Bastard," she said softly.
"And have you been back to Ann Arbor?"
"No, why?" she asked.
"Nothing. Just a weird coincidence," John whispered noticing the general looking at him.
"The SecDef will join us later," the general announced. "Major, welcome to our Mountain. This is a monumental day. I've asked Ms. Scott to brief us on breaking events, but please feel free to interject."
Jenny stood up, "We've only started the analyses on the data we've received from Plus. It tells us of a war that has been crossing fractime for centuries. It has nearly destroyed Plus, and now it is upon us. The United States government in Plus is barely holding on." She looked to Major Timberin.
"General," he said, "our executive branch was completely taken out several months ago in 2075 by sleeper cells within our government. Our new President, from upline, was the only survivor in the line of succession. We also believe most of our allies have succumbed to the same fate."
"We are aware of several active terrorist cells," Jenny said, "but Plus' history suggests a pervasive infiltration of Prime."
The major added, "Given the temporal separation of our two universes, Prime is expected to have experienced thousands of transits from upline that began over seventy years ago."
The room fell silent as the consequences of what the major said sunk in.
"That would make 9-11 a candidate for an early extra-universal attack on Prime." John said dryly.
"Almost certainly," The major said. He turned to the general and continued, "We have limited attack capability in Center, what you call Plus. We've expended most of our stock of EMPs against the initial nano attack in '70, and we are currently preparing for the defense of the remaining unoccupied North America. Furthermore, we have just learned the enemy has hidden old nuke-tech for decades, and they are in the final stages of constructing launch platforms for what they call the cleansing." The major sat down to silence.
"The cleansing?" the general asked.
"The destruction of all organic life," Timberin replied.
"New intel from Plus indicates this war has been waged with the help of historical strategic and tactical analyses," Jenny said. "The collection of this information, the Prophesy, seems only a means to ensure property and material wealth as well as destroying society as we know it in the process."
"You're telling me it's all about money?" the general asked angrily.
"Not directly, sir," Timberin said. "Minerals seem to be the main motive. The enemy appears to be depleted of key elements."
John knew the lust for mineral wealth was responsible for most wars in history. This one was no different.
"This is incredible," the general said, "and Islamic factions are waging this war through time?"
Timberin replied, "The war has been fought behind many ideological masks over the centuries. The enemy is flexible enough to take advantage of local cultural clashes; and unfortunately, it's our time for the enemy to use radical Islam for their purposes. It has been a very successful strategy in Plus."
"As you know, General," Jenny said, "they have already mobilized extremist factions here in the US, but cells high in our government are another matter."
"Let's keep this briefing clear of that issue, Ms. Scott," the general said sternly. "Major, any ideas regarding who is driving this campaign through time?"
"The Prophesy tells us the enemy is coordinated by a group known as the Leadership. We don't know much more, but the Prophesy has many citations from the distant future, many in unknown languages. We've brought a linguist who may be able to help. He has extensively studied those citations but now needs Prime's computing power and resources to progress the translations. Simply put General, we believe an upline malevolent force somehow became so adept at waging war, that it is now unstoppable."
The general cleared his throat and took a deep breath. "So there is a giant snowball rolling down the hill at us, and nobody has been able to stop it before now. Any ideas?" he asked the group.
Jenny spoke up, "We may have several advantages. The Prophesy is a cookbook for war and may have made the enemy complacent. They seem good at following the recipe, but how well will they react to a fundamental change. Can they think outside the fractime box?"
"The Prophesy has many citations for almost countless contingencies," the major cautioned.
"So we have to do something extraordinary," Jenny said turning to John, "The TIA, Captain Mackinac."
"The time-inconsistent artifact," John said, "known as 13-C or the TIA on the net, was not discovered in Plus. Major Timberin has confirmed this. In Minus, there is no mentioned of it on their net, but from our last mission to Martinique, we think the enemy is searching for it there. And major, it's my understanding that there is no mention of it in the Prophesy."
"That's right," the major confirmed, "but it's a big database."
John continued, "The discovery of 13-C appears to be an anomaly, unique to Prime. And because of its highly improbable discovery in '52, as everyone here knows, it was the extraordinary impetus behind early temporal research, which was spawned by the net."
Timberin added, "The Prophesy also tells us that most victims of our enemy never develop transit technology at all; they are simply corrupted from within and overrun."
"The TIA has given us the initiative, for the time being," Jenny said, "but we have to keep pressing the advantage." She placed the cylindrical object Timberin had given her back in Plus on the table in front of them. "This is Plus' universe detector or UD, it can reveal differences in fractal time geometries." She glanced around the room and said, "It can tell whether you are from Prime or not."
There was a swell of chatter at Jenny's announcement; so far, Prime's UD research was a dead end.
"That's fantastic," Higgs said looking closely at the device.
A pad's tone alerted the general's adjutant to an incoming com, and then he leaned over the general's shoulder and whispered into his ear.
"The President's briefing will be delayed until tomorrow morning," the general announced then stood up, indicating the meeting was ending. "Major Timberin, what were the reasons for the strict non-communication protocols between Prime and Plus?" General West asked as he pushed his chair under the table.
"The protocols seemed morally motivated at first. You now have a similar philosophy with Minus. The idea was to stop the enemy and preserve the timeline at any cost. It was a very naïve plan." The major's voice wavered slightly. "I have believed for some time it was part of the invasion tactics utilized by traitors; the UD proved this to be true." He painfully recounted the recent executions in Plus.
"Major you will join us tomorrow at 0900," the general ordered.
"Yes, sir," Timberin replied.
"And Captain Mackinac, you too." General West left without waiting for acknowledgement. The meeting was over.
"How about an experiment?" John said reaching for the UD in front of Higgs. "How does it work?" he asked Timberin.
"Just establish contact with the sensor and depress the touch-switch," the major explained.
John p
ulled a candy wrapper from his pocket and placed it on the table, pressing the end of the device gently on top of it. A green light flashed on the devices display.
Higgs leaned over John's shoulder to get a look at the working device.
"And the color code?" John asked.
"Yellow or blue are for adjacent universe origins. Yellow indicates upline and blue indicates downline. A recent modification, an additional red display indicates more than a single universe separation, like Plus-3. Green is for Center, our Prime," the major explained.
"Too bad I thought we had something," John said dejectedly, handing the device to Jenny.
"We have not calibrated the device's display to your universe. Green is my world, not yours," Timberin said solemnly.
"They were from Plus," Dutch said with conviction.
"Where did you get this?" Higgs asked picking up the Snickers wrapper.
"A bad guy dropped it in Minus Martinique back in '56," John replied.
"Ms. Scott," Dutch said, "I have your request. It's on your pad."
She brushed her pad and brought up the transmission. "I guessed as much." She showed John and Higgs the picture.
The words 'Kilroy was here' looked to be hastily scrawled on concrete.
"Proof positive and this removes a fare bit of conjecture. Good thinking," Higgs said.
John recognized the corner of the storage room in Colorado Springs. "Typical military brat," he said.
"Marine brat, thank you," Jenny said looking worried. "What else did we do back in '58, John?" she whispered to him.