Seated next to Stoneman was Major Amanda Kurstow. She had volunteered for the Marine Corps right after graduation from High School and had been sent to Officers Candidate School just two years later. Specializing in high yield explosives triggered by what she referred to as esoterica, she once fashioned a bomb made out of a ball point pen ink refill. The pen had a polymer covering reacting only in the presence of a specific DNA sequence. The vile son of an Iranian dictator was handed the pen to sign the death warrants of several Kurdish citizens. The explosion had left little to bury. On one mission to destroy a secret North Korean submarine base operating out of Barents Sea in the Arctic, she and her team had been dropped off on an ice floe seven miles from the submarine compound. They had used scuba gear specially designed for subzero underwater assaults and mini-subs powered by Heinbaum Kinetic Generators to reach their objective and plant magnetized high-yield explosives to the keels of three nuclear powered ballistic missile submarines. The explosives had been equipped with detonators triggered when the subs reached depths of 300 meters. Needless to say, the subs mysteriously sank soon after they left the hidden base. Kurstow had deep blue eyes and hair so light blonde it almost appeared to be white. Her thick-set body was composed of 6 feet of weathered skin covering the solid bone and muscle profile of a professional weightlifter. Major Kurstow was in charge of all land-based offensive and defensive facilities.
Sitting to Blunt's right was Colonel Alexander Fields, an African-American who had graduated from the U.S. Airforce Academy with a degree in aircraft design. He had trained as an Airforce pilot and after ten years of air campaigns in the Middle East and Northern Africa had thousands of combat hours in F-16 fighter aircraft. As the result of his experience as a combat pilot, Fields had been tapped as Airforce Liaison to Lockheed Martin for expert advice in the design of the new F-35 Lightning fighter. Fields was 5 feet, 10 inches tall and looked 10 years younger than his current age of 42. His hair was close cropped, and he kept a well-groomed goatee because he thought it made him look older and wiser. Fields was in charge of all air combat units.
The last person seated at the table was Major Rebecca Mae Chang, a vivacious, 5 foot, 6 inch tall sprite with coal black hair she wore in a complex twisting loop at the back of her head. Other than her last name, the only outward physical sign of her Chinese heritage was her almond shaped black eyes which sparkled as if illuminated by some internal flame. Becky Chang was Blunt's administrative brain trust. She handled all of his admin duties, keeping the daily humdrum minutia of running FORCE off his back so he could concentrate on larger issues like building the network and facilities necessary for defense against the coming invasion. Becky had a double major in Psychology and Sociology from Princeton University. She was expert with a bow and arrow, and in her senior year at Princeton had won the 1989 United States Intercollegiate Archery Championship.
Clasping his hands in front of him, Tom said, "Thank you all for coming here on such short notice, but the urgency of my news is of paramount importance."
Knowing he had everyone's rapt attention, he continued, "Less than 1 hour ago, Hubble received a burst transmission from Pioneer 10 alerting it had detected a large object traveling at or near light speed on a trajectory directly toward our Solar System."
Pausing momentarily to let the meaning of his words sink in, he said, "Voyagers 1 and 2 were immediately instructed to re-align in order to triangulate on the incoming object and provide more detailed analysis. Due to the distances involved it will be over 12 hours before we have any additional data."
Fields was the first to respond, "Should we issue an immediate alert to all our teams or wait for confirmation?"
Kurstow interrupted, "I believe we need to go on alert at once. Based on every projection I'm aware of, the object coming at us is right on schedule for the return of the lizards. Now think about the speeds we're dealing with from these alien spacecraft. At light speed, once the Chrysallamans cross the orbit of Pluto they'll be within 5 hours of reaching Earth. We can't afford the luxury of waiting for information from the triangulation."
In a measured voice, Colonel Stoneman inquired, "General, what was the distance from Pioneer 10 to the detected object?"
"The distance was calculated as a half light year," Blunt answered.
"Then I would cut that calculation in half as a safety factor and say we have 3 months to prepare our teams for the arrival. I see no reason to jump to full alert until we have confirmation from the Voyagers," Stoneman responded, looking around the table to see if anyone agreed with him.
Seeing quick nods from Kurstow and Fields, Blunt looked at Becky Chang and said, "Major Chang, you're being unusually quiet. What say you?"
Becky had been perusing the log information from Pioneer 10 while the others had been talking. Lowering her dark eyes from the monitor screen above her head, she gazed back at Blunt and said, "The sensors built into the Pioneer 10 are based on 1970's technology. Heck, back then we still had 8-track tapes and computer memories boasting 128KB. I hesitate to place unquestioning reliance on the Pioneer reports. The very purpose of the Voyagers was to backup and verify Pioneer."
Pulling her cellphone from her pocket and laying it on the table, she continued, "My cellphone has more computing power and memory than the Apollo Lunar Landers and most university mainframes through the mid-80's. Even though it may be worrisome to delay, I think we should wait the 12 hours to see if the Voyagers confirm the initial findings of Pioneer."
Tom trusted the instincts of his Staff and decided to wait for the responses of the Voyagers before moving to a higher alert status for his FORCE Defense Network; however, his gut was screaming it was time to move forward with the Water System Protocol.
Pulling a USB mini thumb-drive from his pocket, Blunt inserted the drive into a slot on his keyboard and typed in the 16 character password that opened a specially encrypted file folder which popped up on his monitor. Getting up from his chair, he strolled over to a nearby credenza and picked up a tray holding an acrylic pitcher of clear water and 5 glasses. Settling back in his seat with the tray in front of him, Blunt pulled a small glass vial from his shirt pocket, emptied its contents into the pitcher of water and stirred the water with a spoon. Looking around the table at the curious looks on everyone's faces, he poured the glasses full from the pitcher and passed them around.
With a serious look on his face, Tom said, "I'm going to tell you about one of the most closely guarded secrets the United States Government has ever kept. It involves the original task force of experts chosen by General Matthew Collier back in 1948 to devise a plan to save the United States and the World from destruction at the hands of the Chrysallamans. The panel chose a two part course of action to prepare for the invasion."
Looking each member of his staff in the eye, assured he had their full attention, Blunt continued. "The first course of action you are already familiar with was to reverse engineer the portable power modules, cutter ray and heat ray that represented the principle weaponry of the aliens. Dr. Heinbaum and Lt. Jerome McPherson, working together in an initially stormy relationship that later became a close friendship, were able to duplicate the alien technology and then go one step further with the invention of the Heinbaum Kinetic Generator. We believe the kinetic generator represents a quantum leap forward in virtually limitless energy. The problem with kinetic energy is that it can only be used within 500 miles of a moving, planetary size body of significant mass, and the power generated decreases exponentially as the generator orbits farther away from the planet. We simply can't build space ships powered by the kinetic generators."
Seeing agreement on the faces of his Staff, Blunt continued, "Planning the general defense of Earth from a technologically superior alien race determined to conquer and enslave or kill all humans is an intricate combination of weaponry and people. The original analysis by Lt. Jerome McPherson on the best way to defend against the invasion of the Chrysallamans was reviewed and finally accepted by a team of military maste
rminds assembled by FORCE. McPherson was prophetic with his strategy. Even with all the advances mankind has made in technology and computer design over the last 67 years, the ability of humans to realistically defend against a race of beings with highly sophisticated space ships is still virtually non-existent. The Chrysallamans have an unlimited amount of room in which to maneuver. Earth defenders are bound in one place, sitting ducks on a planet with no place to run or hide. Since we can't fight a war in space with the aliens, there is no viable choice but to let the Chrysallamans land their major forces on Earth and wait for them to get comfortable with their takeover of the defenseless humans. Once we feel the timing is right, FORCE will initiate a coordinated attack, wiping out as many of the aliens as possible and capturing or destroying their equipment."
Settling back in his seat, Blunt said, "However, weaponry can't be our only option for defending ourselves. Based upon the reports from the 1947 capture of the Chrysallaman saucer, the lizards wear some kind of armor protecting them from small arms fire and enhancing their physical strength. One soldier was picked up bodily and his arm completely torn off by one of the damned lizards. My own father, James Blunt was mind controlled by a young Whatsit during the capture of the saucer. We have years of firsthand experience with the mind control powers of Whatsit. As members of my Staff, each of you was subjected to Whatsit's mind control so you could actually experience what we're up against."
"What's the second course of action the committee decided to implement?" asked Stoneman.
"This is where things get a little more interesting," Blunt replied mysteriously.
Watching a range of emotions playing across the faces of his staff, Tom smiled guardedly. He recalled the time his parents had visited him shortly after President Clinton had appointed him commander of FORCE. His mother had been all proud smiles and teary eyes as she hugged him tightly. His father had given him a powerful bear hug that had bowed Tom's ribs. Tom distinctly remembered wondering how his father could be so unbelievably strong at the ripe old age of 65. His parents had taken him to lunch to celebrate his new position, and his mother had poured a clear liquid in his iced tea, telling him it was some new vitamins she was thinking about marketing. Tom had become sick with the flu that very afternoon, and his parents had insisted on staying with him, nursing him through the severe aches and pains he suffered through the night. The next day everything in his life changed. The mental and physical abilities he had gained were astounding. Now it was time to bring his staff into the reality of the second course of action.
Raising his water glass in a toast, he said clearly, "To the success of our defense of the planet Earth!"
And with those words, he drank every drop of his water and placed the empty glass on the conference table. Each member of his staff did likewise and then looked expectantly at him to tell them about the second course of action.
Gazing around the table with calm eyes and a relaxed look on his face, Tom said, "Everyone sit back and relax. I want to take you somewhere."
And in that instant, Stoneman, Kurstow, Fields and Chang found themselves standing on a windswept ice floe under a leaden sky. Seawater surrounded them on three sides, and as far as they could see, broken ice of varying sizes floated in choppy seawater. A sharp, stinging wind whistled past their ears, and their faces felt icy cold. Waves crashed against the low ice wall to their left, splashing to a wind born mist which quickly froze to their eyelashes. Looking at each other incredulously, they were completely startled when an enormous, dark brown walrus with tusks over 16 inches long suddenly crawled out of the sea onto a low lying lip of the ice floe and stared at them with beady eyes. Bellowing a warning, the walrus flopped back into the churning ocean and disappeared into the dark waters.
They all turned to look at General Blunt who stood on the ice floe with his arms crossed, an enigmatic smile on his lips, ignoring the biting wind and stinging mist of ice crystals thrown into the air by the crashing waves.
Becky Chang was the first to speak and shouted so she could be heard over the wind, "General Blunt, you could have chosen to demonstrate the new transporter beam by sending us to a nice warm beach instead of this God forsaken place!"
Amanda Kurstow had a very puzzled look on her face, and Blunt inquired, "Major Kurstow, you have experience with this sort of climate don't you?"
Kurstow peered at Blunt with a troubled look in her eyes and answered, "This place looks vaguely familiar, but the walrus," and she pointed toward the place where the beast had dived back into the ocean, "I've seen him before. I'm sure of it! On my mission to destroy the North Korean submarines, my team had mini-subs to transport us to the submarine base. We encountered a rather large walrus who apparently thought the min-subs were other walrus encroaching on his territory. We had to shock it with our electric prods to force it to leave us alone."
Stoneman and Fields were walking around the perimeter of the ice floe and seemed to be trying to determine the best way to reach a high point where they could reconnoiter their surroundings. Fields looked over at Blunt and shouted, "If we're going to be here for any length of time, we better find some shelter. None of us can survive very much longer in this cold!"
And suddenly everyone was back in their comfortable seats at the conference room table. Nothing from the icy environment remained, not even the thickening ice rime that had been building on their eyelashes. Jason Stoneman jumped out of his chair and backed away from the table, a look of wide-eyed surprise on his face. Kurstow and Chang each had deeply etched frowns on their faces and shifted their eyes to look at Blunt, their sullen gazes half angry and half accusatory.
Only Alexander Fields had a look of pure excitement on his face. Looking General Blunt squarely in the eyes, Fields exclaimed as he pounded the flat of his hand on the tabletop, "That was so cool! Take me again! Wow!"
When Fields slapped the top of the desk both Kurstow and Chang jumped in their seats and shifted their glare to him. It was probably lucky for Fields neither of the women had a gun, or he might have ended up in the hospital.
Tom gestured for Stoneman to take his seat and tried to decide how best to begin his explanation. Finally nodding to himself with a half-smile, Blunt began. "What you have just experienced was my telepathic control of your minds. This is just one of the unique abilities each of you has lying dormant in your genetics."
Blunt could tell the Arctic experience he had dredged out of Kurstow's memories had profoundly shocked everyone. Well, everyone except Fields. So far his explanation had been met with complete silence.
Pushing the Enter key on his keyboard, Blunt opened the highlighted pdf file from the thumb drive and displayed it on all the monitors hanging from the ceiling. A revolving DNA strand appeared on the screens with various gene sequences colored in brilliant reds, greens, yellows and blues moving to replace existing genetic patterns. His Staff stared up at their monitors, mesmerized by what they saw.
"Do any of you remember being given the standard polio vaccine when you were kids? Perhaps some boosters as you got older to build your immunity to the disease?"
A couple of heads nodded affirmatively, and he continued, "What you didn't know was every dose of the polio vaccine carried with it a dormant virus which if activated is designed to impart the unique powers and abilities the human race needs if we have any chance of defeating the Chrysallamans."
Jason Stoneman had regained a modicum of his composure and asked in a low voice, "Just what are these unique powers you speak of?"
"Telepathy, mind control, the strength of 20 men, ultra-keen vision and bat-like sonic hearing."
Becky Chang thought silently to herself, "Okay General Blunt, why don't you tell me what I'm thinking about right now. My mother always told me I had inherited my father's inscrutable Chinese mind, so tell me Tommy-Boy, if you can decipher my thoughts. I like the color purple and my mother's birthday is September 23, 1951."
With an 'I've got you now' defiant look in her dark, almond shaped eyes, Becky
crossed her arms and stared at Blunt.
Turning his face from Colonel Stoneman to look at Becky, Tom said, "Major Chang, your mind is not so inscrutable as you might believe. Your favorite color is purple and your mother's birthday is September 23, 1951. And please don't refer to me as Tommy-Boy ever again."
For the first time in her life, Rebecca Mae Chang was rendered speechless. Her eyes became so round they almost lost their beautiful almond shape. She kept her mouth closed and her thoughts to herself for the remainder of the meeting.
"So what's the next step?" Fields inquired. "How is this dormant virus activated?"
Turning his face towards Fields, Blunt smiled thinly and said, "You've all been given the activating chemical."
Looking around the table at the shocked expressions, he said calmly, "You are all to report from this room directly to the infirmary. I have arranged special medical suites for each of you. Please expect a rough night, but by tomorrow each of you will be fully active and ready to begin practicing your newfound abilities. I need all of you fully prepared because if the Voyagers confirm the Pioneer report, we will need to begin the activation process for every person on Earth."
Chapter 17 - The Return
Six months from arrival on the outskirts of the Solar System of HG-281, the tireless computers operating the mother ship, VrrSilliac Xur, activated the sequence of stimuli necessary to awaken Hisspat Zeck from his stasis pod. The first thing Zeck did after his release from the pod was to run a full status check on all 250 ships under his command. As the master computers in each ship responded to his inquiries, a smile of satisfaction and anticipation curled up the corners of Zeck's mouth. All 50 mother ships and 200 mega-liners had crossed the 30 light year distance safely, and all stasis pods reported as active with no casualties.
Entering the sequence of symbols on his keyboard authorizing the master computers on all 50 mother ships to awaken their crews, Zeck turned his attention to determining his fleet's location. According to his master computer, his fleet was one-half light year distant from the target solar system. Activating the large monitor screen in the bulkhead above his control panel, he instructed his computer to display a graphic depiction of the HG-281 solar system and mark the location of any energy producing mechanisms within sensor range. He knew the information displayed would be a little over 6 months old, but it would give him an idea of the current level of planetary development which had occurred during the 66 years he had been absent. Instantly, the entire solar system with all its planets flashed onto his screen. As he expected, planet HG-281 was awash in energy signatures. He saw one small energy source on the 4th planet which he remembered the humans called Mars. Probably some small exploration device. Surprisingly, there were three small energy signatures floating in space outside the orbit of the ninth planet. One of the signatures was almost directly in the path of the VrrSilliac Xur.
The Origin of F.O.R.C.E. Page 25
