by Don Koch
"I thought jail cells were one person per cell?"
"Ordinarily they are. Part of the intent is to prevent one prisoner from harming another. Since the tags prevent that, there is no reason not to use cells with multiple prisoners. By the same token, these prisoners are long term inmates so it is probably unreasonable to keep them in solitary confinement for the rest of their lives."
"Well, that sounds pretty good to me, lets run that by Josè when he gets here. He said he would be here today."
Aston added,
"That is really cool. Does anyone else want to help with this? We can finally put some on those work stations on the ship to some use. "
Everyone was curious about how this might work, so they all went up to the ship. Aston gave them a quick rundown on how the workstations operated and how they could produce a collaborative work product. They started working. When Josè arrived, Pat described what they were up to and proceeded to show them what they had developed. She explained what was needed. She suggested using the 1,000 captured containers as a start. Jose was entranced. "I had a discussion this very morning about the logistics of handling so many prisoners. This idea is a godsend. I am not sure how long it will take to get funding from our legislature, but this is workable."
"We have also been talking about that. We intend to fund this as a model of how it might be done. The model we have in mind would house 6 prisoners per container. Each stack would contain 90 containers. A stack would consist of two rows of 15 containers front to front and stacked three high. We can dress up the exterior for appearances sake and weatherproofing. A stack would house 540 prisoners. Each stack would have its own exercise yard. Four stacks would share a dining hall that would double as a training facility and recreation hall to form a compound. Each stack would have a conventional peaked roof to house air conditioning for the stack. Each stack including structures, yard and farm area would be about 150 meters by 150 meters so a compound would be 300 meters by 300 meters. With the number of containers we are talking about we will have new containers and we have identified firms what will modularize as many as we want and quickly. This structure will only be effective if the prisoners are tagged individuals. It calls for minimum guard exposure to the prisoners, so this will not work everywhere. You will be able to use trustees for food preparation, laundry and a number of other services. We are exploring business opportunities that can be done within the prison so that these facilities can become relatively self sufficient but without exposure to non-prisoners. Aston has prepared a visual for you that we have 'delivered to you' so you can see if the ideas will be accepted. We will also need to have a person to facilitate the things that need to happen so we can get started. For example, approval to start, surveying, land clearing and preparation, sewer system construction electrical systems, water desalinization plant and so forth. This will be a big project and we cannot afford to sit around idle with that many prisoners waiting. That is an invitation to other problems"
Josè looked over the plan and said, "This will work. I will return to my office now and get the preliminary approvals underway. Then I will be back to take another try at that giant Cutthroat Trout. I would like his photograph on the wall of my new home. Mexico truly owes you a debt of gratitude. Thank you, I will see you shortly." He left and went right to work. An hour later, Josè was sitting in a boat with Andy and Pat seeking the now elusive monster trout. "It is difficult to believe that one can accomplish so much in a day and still have time for this. It is so relaxing."
"It does help to change gears. Incidentally, Most of us are going to be watching those two ships dock at Veracruz. Aston tells me that all of the contraband containers now have tracers on them so we will know where they are going and can intercept at any time. Perhaps the appearance of a successful landing for these ships will assure that nothing alerts the ships heading for Altamira. Tonight before they get into Mexican waters, we are going to exchange our dummy containers for the ones with nuclear material in them. As for the rest of the cargo, we will be prepared to act as soon as those ships enter Mexican waters."
Chapter 10 - Surprise
# More Day Eleven at Turner Lake #
# Mid Afternoon #
Aston was updating Andy concerning the nuclear materials they were about to switch.
When the time came for the switch, the exchange went off without a hitch and no alarm was sounded. Photos were taken of the devices along with serial numbers and identification plates. The devices were Russian so that country would be advised where their weapons went.
# Early evening #
The offloading of the contraband was being carefully recorded with real time high-resolution video and photographs. Care was taken to carefully record anyone near or approaching the containers with contraband. Each individual in contact with the containers was tagged and photographed, particularly the customs officials that did not open the containers but did change seals. Aston determined that all of the containers were to be truck transported to a location near Sonoyta, Mexico.
Andy commented, "That gives us a bit of a breather while we deal with the ships at Altamira tomorrow morning."
"How did they change their schedule by that much?"
Everyone was doing a silly grin. Andy saw this and said, "I take it that is how you tell me all are ready to go now." He added his own grin to the mix. "Ok, Aston please alert the General and the various commands that we are doing this early because the bad guys are in position and just sitting there. As soon as everyone acknowledges, we can go. I want those ships shut down so they can't fire up and escape. Does anyone know how to do that?"
Jim and Bill said that they had been studying how to do that and it was relatively straightforward. Fifteen minutes later everyone acknowledged that they were ready. Aston applied the tags with the first three settings activated to everyone on the ship. The Mexican and American warships positioned to prevent escape or movement. Meanwhile the team absorbed the needed power from the sun and proceeded to move the containers.
It took 5 minutes to transfer all of the containers holding terrorists on the first ship to the cinder cone. Once there, the adult Solarans removed all weapons and arms. The terrorists were told to remove all personal weapons, knives, explosives and pile them where told. They were then told to stand in a formation in front of their container. The only thing left for the terrorists were food, water supplies and personal items such as clothing. When all of the containers arrived, Andy asked that the commander of the force identify himself.
The terrorist commander stepp
ed forward and announced " I am Ahmed Abbasi and I command this force."
"What is your date of birth"
"June 29, 1966."
"Where were you born?"
"Bagdad, Iraq."
"Who sent you here?"
"General Omar Khalaf."
"Well Commander, those are the questions we will ask everyone in your group, but for you, I have a few more. What are your orders?"
"We are to take the City of Los Angeles and several other targets in the area. We are to avoid San Diego and Camp Pendleton. We are to connect with our tanks and armored personnel carriers in Mexicali then proceed north"
"Why avoid San Diego?"
"That is someone else's target and I know nothing of it."
"Well, its time to start questioning the rest of your people."
"You can't do that."
"Commander, who is to stop me?"
"What will you do with us, shoot us?"
"Oh no Commander, nothing that pleasant. I am sending you back to General Khalaf along with a notification to your government. Because of your actions, a state of war probably exists between your government and the governments of Mexico and the United States. Good luck with that. You may return to your container now.
Andy pulled together all the primary implant holders and explained what had to be done. They all went up to orbit and gathered the energy needed and descended on the ship. Aston had tagged all of the crew on board the vessel. They had all of the terrorists from one of the containers redistributed to other containers. The crew members were removed from the ship and installed in the now empty container at the cinder cone. Then, starting with the nukes, they proceeded to place all 150 containers on the comet. The melting process worked as expected. 50,000 degrees of directed energy works wonders when properly applied. Andy notified the Navy at San Diego what had occurred and gave them the position of the container ship. He asked if the Navy would like to have the crew they had removed from the containership. The Admiral in command said they most certainly would. Andy explained how the crew had been tagged and the significance of the settings. He noted that all were suffering from radiation sickness but he was not sure how severe an exposure they had received. He noted they would need decontamination and early debriefing. He pointed out that they did not know where the materials came from but wanted to avoid a repeat. Andy suggested a security team in haz-mat gear and a physician to check for cyanide capsules. The admiral indicated where they could be safely delivered. They retrieved the crew from the crater and delivered them to the Admiral and his security team.
"Admiral, the Solarans are involved in a major project right now or I would do this my self. I need to know where those nukes came from and 146 containers full of nuclear waste is a bit more over the top than usual. I will check back with you shortly. I need to know the source of that stuff. Will you tell me what you learn from interrogating the crew?"
"I will do that. But for the Solarans, we would all be dead in a few hours."
"One thing more, that ship is pretty seriously contaminated. Tomorrow, we are going to put it on the moon. In the meantime we need to make sure it does not go anywhere. Would the Navy keep it in place until we can dispose of it?"
"You are not joking? You are going to move it to the moon. How is that possible?"
"Reasonable question. A number of our Solarans are capable of absorbing huge amounts of energy and re-channel how it is applied. We will use that energy to power a teleport of that ship to the moon. We have not tried something this big before, but our ship, Aston tells me we are ready. He has not been wrong yet."
"Wow, that is impressive. Would you mind if we had a few observers? We will remain at whatever distance you recommend."
"Admiral, we would be happy to accommodate you. Bring whomever you wish. Aston tells me that 300 yards should be sufficient separation, but nothing larger than an aircraft carrier please."
"Nothing larger than an aircraft carrier, Oh, you are pulling my leg. I am glad you have a sense of humor."
"Sorry about that Admiral, it sort of slipped out."
"Actually an aircraft carrier makes sense as a viewing platform."
"You should know that this will be almost anticlimactic. One second we will be there and the next second we will not be there. If you are going to use a carrier, I will appear on your deck when we are done, which should be about 3 seconds after the containership disappears. How does 9 am sound?"
"Excellent."
"We will see you then. The rest of the group will be in invisible mode. Well I have to get back to our project."
From there they proceeded to the crater to continue working on that task.
Andy noted that they might find it easier to just return the terrorists to the person that sent them. He visited the commander of the containment forces and explained what had happened. He noted that as soon as they had the information from each terrorist, they would be returning them whence they came. The containment commander understanding the implications merely grinned and said, "just desserts or deserts if you like."
Andy told the commander of the terrorists to bring his personal effects with him. He was transferred to the holding facility for the Capos and placed in solitary confinement until he could be questioned further. As the information gathering was completed at each container the residents of that container were instructed to reenter the container for their trip home. It took 30 minutes to complete the data gathering from the entire group.
"Now the fun starts. Gotta make room for the next batch." He asked Aston where would be the best place to deposit the containers? Aston identified the location. Essentially, it was all around General Khalaf's residence and that could not help but be noticed. It only took six minutes to deposit the first 500 containers. Now it was time to clean out the terrorists on the second ship. Once more the crater was loaded with containers. This time there was no interruption and it was not a surprise that General Khalaf was named by all. By now they had the drill down to a science. They reported in to the Admiral of the 4th Fleet, the Mexican Navy and the commanders at the cinder cone. All in all, it was a very successful day. Aston let Andy know when the presidents of Mexico and the United States were available and he provided each with a report.
Chapter 11 - Demonstration
# Day Twelve at Turner Lake #
# Wednesday. June 22 #
They all went back to the lake and after a good night's sleep went to the contaminated ship about 100 miles from San Diego. The primary implant holders went up to orbit to absorb the needed energy for the teleport of the ship. Andy alerted the admiral that they were about to proceed. The admiral had two high speed video machines running at the time of teleport. Three seconds later Andy was in front of the Admiral on the carrier. "That went really well. The ship is now located about 1 kilometer north of the Apollo 15 Landing Site. We have positioned it in an East-West attitude with the bow to the East. We had no difficulties. How is the crew doing?"
"Unfortunately, two died." The Admiral handed him a folded index card. "But we got this for the source of the nuclear waste materials."
&nbs
p; Andy glanced at the card and handed the card back saying, "Damn!"
"I agree. It's a declaration of war and we can't prove the source. This is nasty business. We are going to have to check all ships coming in for more of the same. We can't afford not to."
"We will look into this, I promise. For now, we have much work to do. I will check in later to let you know what we find out."
They then removed the remaining containers from the two ships to the ordinance disposal site. That amounted to 3,000 containers plus another 492 containers at Vera Cruz about to be transported to Sonoyta, Baja California. Jeff was making cracks about the 'smoother movers." Andy explained his last minute decision to use the same containers was for expedience and to inconvenience the people who had sent them. The American ships had departed Mexican waters after the last of the containers had been removed. They did so with a fleet salute that was sincerely appreciated by the Mexican naval forces.
Jim and Bill met with the President of the country in which the General was living and provided evidence to him outlining the General's activities. They indicated that the evidence was sufficient for a declaration of war by the United States, Mexico or both. Jim spoke to the President, "Mr. President, we want this man tried in the International Criminal Court, but that takes a request from you as a member state. We can deliver him to you in restraints but you will need to assure us that the troops will defend you in that instance. Starting a nuclear war is something we will not tolerate. We have the capacity to melt all of your military equipment in less than a day. We can render your ports inoperable in the same amount of time but prefer to let you take care of your own problems. This is one in which we will intervene if necessary. Do you want us to deliver this man and if so where?."
