Annihilation Prequel - Psychic Beginnings (30 page)

“How can he be so sure.”

“He’s holding out some information to use until the very last moment where the one opposing him can’t do anything to counter it in time.”

“It must be some pretty damaging material.”

“It is; but it’s a lie. The press will eventually find out but the election will be over. The witness will mysteriously disappear and everyone will wonder if the opponent arranged the disappearance. It’s a good strategy.”

“Just how certain are you of his commitment?”

“Very certain. He’s not what he appears to be. His poor background makes him hate the rich in his country and he’d do anything to remove their influence.”

“Let’s assume he’s elected. How long will it take us to be ready to use him?”

“We’ve got some work to do on the technology to make it work but we have a few years to get that worked out. We can run trials against them as we move forward and they’ll do nothing to stop us. I am concerned about how this might affect us financially.”

“That is not something we’ve ever allowed to direct our actions.”

“I know but we’ve never had this much at stake before. Will everyone go along with this?”

“Like you said, we have years to make this happen.”

“Actually, we’ve got to do it in eight and four would be better.”

“You worry about a second term?”

“You just never know for sure.”

“Get to work. We can’t lose this opportunity.”

“I’ll contact the engineers immediately.”

• • •

Dr. Dodd, will you look at this?”

Jerry looked in the microscope and said, “What is this?”

“It’s a crystalline structure that I’ve been able to develop. It has some interesting properties.”

“Such as?”

“When a small current is run through it, it becomes transparent.”

“How strong is it?”

“Stronger than high grade steel. It’s also extremely light. A ten foot sheet of this material will only weight three pounds.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“No, it’s a unique structure.”

“Are we able to create this material in high quantity?”

“Once the basic compounds are brought in, it should be easy to mass produce it.”

“I’m going to move you to the project site and have you begin working on that right away. I know exactly how we can use this material. I’ve been hoping you would find an answer to the weight issue.”

“This material will also be invisible to radar.”

Jerry smiled, “Plan to leave tomorrow. Report to Doctor Gomez and see if his power unit will fill the bill for this.”

“When are you going to come to the project?”

“There are still some micro elements in the weapons that need work and the best place to do that is here. As soon as we iron out the mechanics of the wings, I’ll join you to put all of this together.”

“I’ll be looking forward to seeing what the end product does.”

“I will as well.”

• • •

General Bingham looked at his text message and pressed send. He waited for a minute and got a confirmation it had been delivered. He dialed a number and a voice said, “Yes General?”

“Are the circuits close to being completed?”

“Everyone is done except the ones for the Navy.”

“What’s the hold up?”

“We had some difficulty acquiring the most recent board with all the connectors in place.”

“What’s the issue?”

“Those connections must have an electrical load on them for the circuit to be accepted. We had to have the load and the variances that would be allowed before rejection by the system.”

“I trust the loads will not be active.”

“They will be self-contained.”

“How much longer until they are ready for movement.”

The voice paused and said, “Three months. You know that there are still three units that are not in the plan?”

“I do but I hope to have that handled within six weeks. You just make sure you hold up your end.”

“We are doing all we can make that happen. Don’t worry about us; it’s those three you should worry about.”

“Then there is nothing to worry about. I’ll make sure I hold up my end.”

“I never had any doubt, General.” Tao ended the call and shouted at his son, “Have you handled the loads?”

The tall engineer shouted back, “I won’t get this done in time if I have to keep explaining everything.”

Tao smiled. He was ahead of schedule.

• • •

The President looked at his successor and said, “You’re coming in at a difficult time for our country.”

“We will manage to do what needs to be done to ensure our continued prosperity.”

“With the debt that’s piling up, you’re going to have to make some difficult decisions. This can’t be continued.”

“The Chinese have assured me we will be given time to get it under control.”

“You’ve spoken with them?”

“I have and we need to improve our relations with them.”

“That’s a dangerous gambit. They are becoming increasingly aggressive in the region.”

“I can handle that. That’s what I’ve been elected to do.”

The President stared at the new comer and wondered what it was about him that set his nerves on end. There was nothing he could do now, so he stood and stuck out his hand, “I wish you luck, sir.”

• • •

General Slade looked out at the silo and took a deep breath, “I’m leaving a crew at each of those we’ve closed to perform routine maintenance. The warheads have been send to the disposal yard and we’ll get the trucks in to dismantle the missiles.”

The Chief of Staff said, “Don’t look so glum. This force reduction will make the world a safer place.”

“I hope so, Sir.”

“Get the job done, General.”

Slade saluted, “Yes Sir. I’ll get it handled.”

The Chief of Staff boarded his helicopter and left. Col. Jackson watched and said, “The team is coming in to remove the warheads.”

“Where did you put them?”

“They’re in the lower level of the first silo.”

“Is there enough in them to deceive the inspectors?”

“There is. Our team at the disposal facility will take care of the deception.”

“When will these silos be taken off the system?”

“They’ve already been removed, Sir.”

“Get the guards here and make sure no one comes that does not have my personal clearance. You also need to make sure the guards are ready at any moment to do what they’ve been trained to do.”

“They know their duty. The new communication links are in place.”

Slade looked at the ten silos and sighed, “I need to go make sure the other thirty sites are also prepared.”

“I’ll handle this one, Sir.”

Slade smiled, “I know. You remind me so much of your father.”

The young black man smiled, “He taught me what it means to be a warrior.”

“He was a great one.” Col. Jackson saluted and moved toward the silo’s control center.

• • •

“How are the cyber attacks going?”

“We’ve been able to penetrate some of their systems without being caught. They have been able to stop four of our intrusions.” The engineer looked at the Project Leader and said, “If what we’re planning is done, why are we wasting time doing this?”

“Because plans can be changed. You just never know when things happen that force us to take another route. Your team will be responsible for ensuring we have multiple ways to accomplish our goals. Besides, there are others that we’ll need your skills to weaken as well.”

“I was wondering about that. Shouldn’t we be looking into their defenses as well?”

The Project Leader thought about it, “Could you do that an still keep your deadlines?”

“Absolutely, the other defenses are not as good and most of what we’ve done will work on them. We just need to run some trials to make sure.”

“Be careful; I don’t want to give away our intentions.”

“I’ll make sure we’re not seen doing it.”

“Then run your trials and inform me of the results.”

The engineer nodded and turned back to his computer.

• • •

AG sat in his office and thought about the retirement luncheon that was planned for him the following day. He was celebrating his seventieth birthday. Cynthia had retired and was running a free medical clinic in the communities but she was with him helping him pack his boxes. “I’m going to miss teaching, Cyn.”

“You’ll find something else to fulfill you. I’ve never had so much joy as helping our warriors. Accidents happen frequently on farms.”

AG’s cell phone rang, “This is Gardner.”

“The viruses have been delivered.”

AG sat down and said, “When was it done?”

“Yesterday.”

“How did they do it?”

“The President called for a test of the control systems and it appears they came from his system on Air Force One. The military was asked to make sure the system was functioning properly before he left for his overseas visit.”

“When does he leave?”

“In two days.”

“We are now activating Operation White Demon. Notify all of those on your team.”

“Already on it, Sir; they’re arriving as we speak.”

AG looked at Cynthia, who had been listening in on the conversation and said, “Send out your messages. We don’t have much time.” AG hit a number and said, “Jerry, White Demon is operational. Are the Dragons ready?”

“We’ll be launching them in thirty minutes. How long do I have?”

“Three days at the most.”

“We should be able to make it happen. I’ll send my messages now.”

• • •

Dr. Phillip Jackson was teaching a class at MIT when his cellphone beeped. He looked at the text and his expression changed. He looked at his class and said, “Work on the equations on the board and be prepared to discuss them on Monday. He left the classroom and called his wife and then his brother at Purdue. “I know; I just received the text. I’ll meet you there.”

“Try not to be noticed.”

“We have a trailer we purchased from U-Haul. It’s in the shed with most of the things we need to take. We’ll be on the road in less than an hour.”

“We have a private plane on call. I’ll be there waiting on you.”

• • •

An agent at the FBI went in to his supervisor, “Sir, we have an extraordinary number of people that are making reservations to Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Missouri. It appears most of them are high ranking college professors and Physicians. Most of them are also taking their families.”

“I’m aware of it. The three universities at the city in the center of the country are having week long conferences. Have you been able to find the terrorist we’ve been tracking in New York?”

“No Sir.”

“Then go there personally and take charge of the task force. I expect you there by this evening. Don’t come back without him.”

The Agent turned and hurriedly left. The supervisor went out and said, “Mary, I’m taking a few days’ vacation; call me if you need me.”

“Yes, Sir.”

The supervisor sent a helicopter to pick up his family and three others. They boarded a government plane and took off from Washington.

Mary looked up at the TV monitor on the wall and heard the President say, “I am going to China to resolve our differences. I am going to assure them that the discovery of the giant oil fields in Montana and Wyoming will allow us to repay our debt within ten years. Both of our countries will profit from this new discovery and our country will return to prosperity. I thank you for your support of this trip.”

• • •

The supervisor of the military satellites rushed in the room and said, “There has been a major mobilization of China’s military forces.

“Get the birds focused on what’s going on. Get moving!”

The supervisor and ten of his subordinates left their shifts and went home to gather their belongings. No satellite saw the millions streaming into the large community in the center of the United States.

• • •

General Huang sat in his house in Beijing and heard a knock on the door. He opened it and saw an envelope tacked to his front door. No one was in view. He took the envelope down and opened it. “Now is the time to stop what is coming.” He looked at the bottom and saw a small white ghost. He told his wife to call his children and waited for the helicopter to come and take him to the Premier’s location.

• • •

“Control, this is Delta flight 1220 en route to Hong Kong. We are having some kind of problem with our engines.”

“Say, what kind of problem?”

“We are not able to achieve our usual top speed. We are flying twenty miles slower than normal.”

“Are there any indications of engine malfunction?”

“No, our systems read green. The winds are with us so they don’t account for this problem.”

“We’ve had numerous planes report the same problem. It must be atmospheric. We’ve checked several planes that have landed and there is nothing wrong.”

“Please notify Hong Kong of our late arrival.”

“Will do, 1220, let us know if you discover any issues.”

Captain King looked at his copilot and said, “It’s almost like we’re pulling something.” The copilot shrugged and continued to monitor his instruments.

A passenger on flight 1220 stared out at the wing through his window and thought he saw something blow off it. He rubbed his eyes and looked again and didn’t see anything missing from the wing. He stared for two minutes and then closed his widow shade. The long flight was getting to him.

Something fell twenty thousand feet to the ocean below and then exploded a hundred feet under water.

• • •

The U.S.S. nuclear submarine George Bush moved silently under the ocean. The Captain was in his quarters when a radioman entered, ““It’s starting, Sir.”

Captain Dodd stood and went to the bridge. “Change course to the following bearing and run silent.” He looked at his executive officer and said, “Make the changes.”

“Yes Sir.” The executive officer stood and left the bridge.

• • •

Robert Adams sr. looked at the ground passing quickly below the large commercial helicopter he was in. Robert Jr came up and said, “Do you know what’s going on?”

“Not for certain, but I know we must go now. Is all of your family here?”