Avalon- The Construction

by L. Michael Rusin

  “I sure wouldn’t want to be around if any of them did blow!”

  It was Penny.

  Mike and the others laughed but she was serious. Mike added to the bit of trivia by saying,

  “Mt St. Helens blew thirty-six square miles of earth up into the atmosphere, and if I remember correctly, the explosion went up thirty miles. It colored the sunsets for the next twenty years with spectacular colors. It was the most economically destructive volcanic event in the history of the United States. Fifty-seven people were killed; two-hundred fifty homes, forty-seven bridges, fifteen miles (twenty-four km) of railways, and a hundred-eighty-five miles (two hundred-ninety-eight km) of highway were destroyed. A massive debris avalanche triggered by an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale caused much damage. The height of the mountain was reduced by about fifteen-hundred feet.

  Nobody said anything; they just looked at Mt. Hood in silent awe.

  “There was a body of water on one side of the mountain called Spirit Lake. It disappeared when the mountain blew.”

  They continued following I-5 and in a little while Portland was visible on the horizon. As it came into focus there was a magnificent city still standing, but it was a massive ruin. Modern buildings that towered up into the blue skies and once stood in splendor to a civilization that had advanced from frontier days to modern splendor now resembled a burned out and wrecked derelict of no value to anyone. It was obvious that a massive fire once burned here above ground but was now only a blackened scar that revealed itself in the conflagration it once was. Ahead was the bridge that led from Oregon into Washington State across the beautiful Columbia River. Its green winding and sparkling path, usually full of boats with fishermen casually trying to catch a salmon, were not there, and the recreational pleasure boats were also nowhere to be seen. It was a river devoid of the movements of men or any other living thing.

  “That’s what’s left of Portland folks.”

  It was a hollow statement devoid of anything endearing. It was Beth. She could scarcely believe what she was seeing. She wondered what Los Angeles looked like. She had directed her comment to no one in particular, simply a statement uttered in disbelief.

  Mike said,

  “Yes, Portland is toast but cheer up folks our exploration has just begun. I’ll bet any of you anything you want we are going to find people where we are headed. It isn’t the end of the world.”

  He wanted to break the melancholy they were all feeling. That was America down there. It had been full of Americans and, no doubt, whoever was down there when the nukes hit were all dead. They were passing over a huge graveyard. It reminded Mike of the time he visited Pompeii in Italy. The city was totally destroyed by a volcanic eruption and lay under thirty-five feet of ash and soil for a few thousand years. People who had lived their lives as most of us do, and yet, in a horrific moment, they had to have been struck with stark terror just before they died as they were suffocated and then entombed by a layer of ash and eventually soil. They too died as the people in Portland, Oregon had. A different scenario, but in the end, it ended in massive death.

  Those in the plane looked out at what was left below.

  The miniature airliner flew along at 275 miles per hour, and in five more minutes Portland was just a speck on the horizon behind them. Mike was glad it was behind them for the time being. It was a gruesome sight to behold. A magnificent city left in war-torn ruin, and everyone down there was probably dead. That was almost incomprehensible. There were millions of dead; a number almost unimaginable. To say a town full of people wasn’t an adequate description. Then to say a city just seemed somehow inadequate, knowing there were no people in it anymore.

  Longview, Washington zipped by and sunken ships were laying on their sides in the water below them. Piers were destroyed wrecks and so were the buildings. At this altitude one could not see a lot of detail but enough was visible to observe the destruction left behind. It was surreal to see what was left of an enviable and magnificent infrastructure, left in ruinous abandonment. The passengers were silent, and each had his or her own thoughts. They all felt at a loss for what to say.

  Mile after mile of green trees and foliage lined both sides of the freeway until they came near the south end of Fort Lewis. Mount Rainier towered over to the right of them and the snow-covered peaks appeared calm and peaceful. Mike tuned in to 121.5 on his radio and began to speak,

  “This is Admiral Michael Reynolds speaking, United States Navy, can anyone hear me?”

  He waited for a reply but there was nothing but static. He repeated his message again speaking distinctly into the microphone,

  “This is Admiral Michael Reynolds, United States Navy speaking from Cessna 421, 3733 Lima. Can anyone hear me? I am approaching McChord Air Force Base for landing. Please respond.”

  There was a burst of static and a voice came over the radio and it startled Mike.

  “This is McChord Air Force Base. You are clear to land on runway 32.”

  Mike keyed the microphone and said,

  “Who am I talking to?”

  The voice came back saying,

  “I am Captain James Donovan. I am the Officer of the Day. You will be approached by armed men; if you have weapons with you, do not have them in your hands. Once your plane stops, come out with your hands held over your heads. Do you understand these instructions?”

  Mike keyed the mic and said, “We understand, but are you aware the war has ended?”

  “Yes, we do understand that, but this is a precaution, orders from General Walter Bentley. You will not be harmed if you pose no threat to us or the base. Simply a precaution, Admiral—Out”

  Mike was vectored by some obscure voice on the radio after tuning in to a different frequency on his radio. He mused to himself, Apparently, they have some of their radios working. That was good. The Cessna touched down and was immediately surrounded by Jeeps and two trucks that came from the side of the runway. He noticed there were .50 caliber machine guns on the back of the Jeeps, and they were pointed at his plane. Once the ground roll ran out of speed a man on the back of one of the Jeeps motioned for Mike to taxi in the direction he was pointing. All of the passengers on the Cessna crowded toward the cockpit and were looking out the wind screen. Mike didn’t notice, he was busy following the Jeep with the man signaling him. In another minute and a half, they taxied up to a scorched hangar which otherwise seemed to be in serviceable order. Mike looked at his watch and noted the time, it had taken two hours and twenty-two five minutes to get here from Avalon. Must have had some winds aloft.

  When the Cessna stopped, everyone waited for the door to open and they began filing out of the plane. Mike was first, and Beth was second. The rest came out and they all raised their hands. Several airmen with rifles approached them. They all had on uniforms; one of the men stepped forward and said,

  “Please, Sir, if you have any identification papers, let me see them.”

  Mike took his Commission letter signed by the president and Beth handed her ID over as well. The officer looked at them, stepped back and saluted the admiral.

  “Sorry about the precaution, Admiral but we’re all a bit spooked these days. Please follow me and I’ll take you to the general. We don’t get many visitors. You can all put your hands down.”

  Mike said,

  “What about the aircraft, will it have a guard posted on it? We have weapons and so forth in there.”

  “It will have a security guard posted, Sir and it’ll be moved into a hangar.”

  They followed the young captain toward a bunker located about 2,500 yards away on the other end of the tarmac. It was a rounded cement bunker which lay close to the ground with a Quonset hut type roof over it, except it was much lower and closer to the ground. There were several armed guards standing on both side of the entry which went down some stairs, turned ninety degrees left, then straight. At the end of this hallway they went through a set of heavy steel doors. Once the doors opened, they all walked in wi
th the captain in front. The soldiers who met them on the airstrip stayed out of the bunker. A man was standing to one side with a Geiger counter and passed it near all of them as they came in. It clicked but was not showing any abnormal radiation. They continued walking until they went through another large heavy door. Inside was a man standing with several others to the sides of him. The man in the middle was the general. He stepped forward. Mike noticed they all had service pistols on web belts around their waists. The general said,

  “We have heard about you, Admiral, through the grapevine. California, right?”

  He stuck out his hand and Mike and the general shook hands. The others were introduced by the general,

  “This is Colonel Dave Crow, my exec.”

  Mike and the colonel shook hands.

  “This is Colonel Raleigh Fields, our Base Security Officer.

  Again, Mike shook hands with this man.

  “This man is Major Taylor Spencer. He is our Communications Officer.”

  They shook hands and their eyes focused on another man who stood there quietly until he was introduced,

  “This is our weapons consultant. Mister Kelly Dunn. He is not in the military. He was here when the war started as an advisor for some of the new hardware, we were getting ready to test. Now gentlemen and Miss, if you’ll follow us this way, we can relax a little and catch up on the latest developments since the war started and ended.

  Mike’s entourage was introduced one at a time. When these formalities were finished, they were invited to follow along as they walked down a large hallway.

  ◆◆◆

  Upon entering the private office of the general, Mike and Beth were seated on comfortable chairs that faced another plush leather chair where the general sat facing them. An orderly came in and took orders for refreshments. The three of them chatted until he came back with the drinks. Once the orderly was gone, the general said,

  “We don’t want to be disturbed. Let everyone know. Show the others to the lounge or restaurant if they want to eat, but make sure we’re not disturbed. I’ll let you know when we’re done here.”

  “Yes, Sir, General.”

  He saluted and did an about face as left the room.

  “Now then, Admiral, mind if I call you Mike? You can address me as Walt. It’s Walter but no one calls me that.”

  He chuckled. His stare was directed at Mike. Mike sipped his soft drink. It was pleasantly lime flavored. The ice clinked against the inside of the glass as he set it down on the table next to his chair. These troops were living quite well, Mike thought, but didn’t say anything.

  “I’ll get right to the point, we retrieved a letter on two men who parachuted near our sister town of Fitch and our own small town we refer to as Avalon.”

  “Yes, we have heard about both places.”

  “You have?”

  “Yes, we have, Admiral. Please go on.”

  “The paperwork addressed a large conspiracy which implicates the new president of the United States. In it, although the president hadn’t signed it, it appears to point to him as the spear-point of this plot.”

  Beth straightened up in her chair. This was the first time she was informed of this. She was frowning. Mike noticed and reached over and put a hand on hers and squeezed it.

  “We didn’t tell you because we wanted to know more about what was going on, and also, we needed to do a little digging a bit deeper. That’s why we’re here.”

  She started to speak, and Mike interrupted her.

  “I know you feel you were left out of the loop, and I apologize for that; it’s just that the less people who were in on this, the less likely it was going to get out. Our very lives depend on what we do about it…”

  There was a pause. It was a thick moment. Beth felt somewhat betrayed by this news and she wasn’t pleased; after all, she was in charge of the FBI—for what it was worth!

  “If you want to be angry with anyone, direct it at me. It was my decision to not pass it around.”

  Beth was fuming, the situation needed to be defused, and the general jumped in. He had just been listening and felt he needed to insert some information that Mike wasn’t aware of just then.

  “Might I add something to this conversation?”

  Beth and Mike looked at the general and they both nodded their heads. Mike was grateful for an opportunity to divert the conversation away from him. He extended a hand and gestured and turned it over to the general.

  “As you both know, communicating anything on the radio is just impossible these days. There’re a number of reasons for this which you both are aware of. But, just for the sake of conversation, let me point them out to you. You folks at Avalon and the others at Fitch don’t have access to sophisticated encryption equipment. Sending you any kind of a message over the radio basically is out. We have to maintain the highest level of secrecy that we possibly can. We don’t have internet these days, but we do have limited radio. So, what we were getting ready to do before you showed up, Admiral, was this, we were going to send out a handpicked group to your town of Fitch to inform you as to what was actually going on behind the scenes.

  “We’ve been aware of the plot to basically seize the United States of America and turn it into a socialist/communist dictatorship for a long time. In fact, there were rumors before the war started that there was something in the works. Quite a few groups from the Naval Investigating Service, and the Criminal Investigating Division of the Army, to name only a few that were conducting a very quiet but intense investigation of a whole passel of people. It was categorically proven beyond any possible question there was a plot. We had to find out who the key players were, and our boys went to work. One of the key reasons we went to war was because of these leaks in our security, and the renegades behind it.

  “Our new president was consulted and informed about what was going on, and he authorized us to proceed. For the last three weeks we have been doing just that. About a week ago Military Police from all branches of the service have been searching out and arresting a number of high-ranking officials: inside our government, in industry, small-time politicians, such as those our local city and county, and not to leave out those higher up in our state governments, such as Senators and representatives. We also went after crooked judges, lawyers, and people in law enforcement such as chiefs of police, and so forth. The search went further. We began arresting key people in the news media. Altogether we have made upward of 30,000 arrests. They’re being held by the military and they will be tried in a Military Tribunal. As you know from the president’s radio message to you, lawyers are no longer a legal tool. So, the trials that are being conducted are being done under military law.”

  Mike and Beth could hardly believe it. What they were hearing was a conspiracy that many had talked about for a number of years, but nobody ever made any attempt to do anything about.

  “There have been some military trials, as well as a number of executions. It is a fitting price to pay for one of the most despicable crimes a person can commit a crime against one’s own country. I want to be the first one to extend my deepest apologies to you for keeping you out of the loop on this. But we were going to inform you very soon. You just beat us to the punch, Admiral.”

  Beth stood up and paced back and forth. She was shocked to the depths of her being by what she just heard. She had no idea. Her anger at Mike was subsiding. He had been left out of this loop as well. Mike and the general watched her pace back and forth and waited for her to make a comment. It was obvious she was getting ready to; she was just trying to formulate her thoughts.

  “I should’ve known there are good people working in our government. It’s just that, sometimes we get so wrapped up in our own little problems on a day-to-day basis that we don’t take in the whole picture. I want you to know Mike, I hold no hard feelings. Considering what I was just told, I’m just wondering, where we go from here.”

  “I think that we continue the rebuilding of not only California, but some
of the surrounding states that we haven’t had a chance to visit or be in contact with. So far, General, excuse me, Walt, I just want you to know I appreciate what you’ve told us, and what I want to know is, in our limited capacity, what can we do to help?”

  Walt smiled, he was expecting this answer. He kind of leaned forward in his chair, stretching out a bit,

  “Mike, Beth, you folks can continue on with your lives, we have things wrapped up, so far. I’ve been instructed by the president to let you know your work in California is just beginning. We have a world to rebuild, a country; you and your people, in your state, and surrounding territory, you need to continue doing those things that you have been doing since the war ended, and it is well known in a very tight little circle about the work you folks have done that is remarkable. And I want to be the first one to commend you, to congratulate you for your foresight and your ability throughout all of this terrible ordeal, tell you just how much we appreciate you and what you’ve done.

  “Mike, if you can stay a couple of more days, there’s more that we want you to know about, but it isn’t my place to divulge that to you right now. The new president is on his way from Chicago. He’ll be landing here the day after tomorrow, and he wants to meet you and Beth personally, and tell you some additional things that I’m not at liberty to discuss. Can you stay?”

  Mike was taken aback by this last statement. What could he say?

  “You bet, General Bentley, we’ll stay.”

  He looked over at Beth and she was smiling and nodding her head. It was settled.

  ◆◆◆

  In two more days, the president’s plane landed. About a hundred people turned out to greet him. He was escorted by six fighter aircraft that landed and were escorted to another area of the field. Once the formalities were behind the entourage, the general, Mike, Beth, and the president were shown into the general’s inner office. The new Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State accompanied the president. They all took seats, and everyone waited for the president to address them.