Unearthly Snowbound

by Waggoner, Robert C.

  Chuck leaned back in his chair and rubbed his white stubble chin and said, “Well Greg we probably were going to have to check it out sooner or later and now is as good a time as any.”

  Greg said to him, “Are you sure you are up to such a trip? You looked all in the last time we sent you out. It’s a long ways to LA and god knows what is there when you arrive.”

  Chuck sat up and took offense that he was getting too old for the job. He was a little embarrassed in front of his friends and told Greg he was more than up to the trip. He would ride in the passenger car and run the operation from their old dining car.

  Greg smiled and said, “Ok, if you think you can handle it I will send our security colonel with you and a company of troops.”

  He left Chuck to make the plan and schedule out for the trip and went back to his office.

  Arriving at his office his secretary told him Jenny had called and for him to go to her lab when he had the time. Greg spun on his heels and his driver was sitting in the cart smoking a rare cigarette. The driver stomped it out and they headed for the lab. Greg was holding onto the side of the cart as the cart was at full speed. Full speed was only ten miles an hour, but the air blurred his eyes a little as his mind raced with the thoughts of what he might find. He stepped out of the cart before it had come to a full stop and he hit the steel door on the run. The driver shook his head and was damn glad he was just a peon driver. He reached down on the floor and picked up the smashed butt and made a smoke able cigarette out of it. Cigarettes were a rare commodity around here and on the black market they were expensive. Food stuff mostly was traded for cigarettes. The boys on the train had raided the stash of tobacco and had a lucrative business going for the nicotine addicts.

  Greg tried to control his excitement as made his way thought he lab to Jenny’s station. She heard him coming and turned around again with a smile that would melt an iceberg. She picked up her notepad and showed him what she had: ‘Do not …… …….. despair…….. ……… we…….. ……. …… …….. ……… ……… …….. ………… ……….. ……. are ……. ………..with ……. save ……… begin.

  Greg studied the message and even though many words had been added he couldn’t for the life of him put the puzzle together. Jenny said, “We have the main frame plugged into this message with the gaps filled in with every conceivable word that fit into the blank spaces. Two ways were programming it: one is a friendly way and the other is hostile in purpose. In the end result only humans can determine what the message really says. Meanwhile we will fill in the blanks as time goes on for the real message. My first impression as it is Clarence’s that it is a friendly message of contact.”

  Greg stared at the notebook and realized an exponential amount of words could fit into the spaces. He looked into Jenny’s black eyes and asked her for a copy of this for his own use. She had already made a copy of it and handed him a photocopy inside a file folder with his name on it. Greg thanked her and left. He looked at his watch and by his stomach knew it was lunch time. He took his seat in the cart and they left for the mess hall. Greg still had a picture of the message in his mind and after a minute quit thinking about it. Later he would study it some more, but for now he would give his brain a rest. He walked into the mess hall and saw his wife with Ben and the kids eating lunch. He joined them and gave the kids a pinch on the back and sat down.

  Greg Jr. said, “Dad, I’m going to study space when school starts. And I want to be an astronaut when I get bigger.”

  Wendy said, “Never mind Junior, I will be a computer expert and marry a real astronaut when I grow up.”

  The table laughed and a hot bowl of lamb stew opened the eyes of Greg. He dug in and soon relaxed feeling full and warm with his family around the table talking a mile a minute. He looked at his wife in conversation with Ben and it appeared Ben had found his niche. Becky had told him he was a diamond and had the background and attitude to lead the schools.

  He talked to the kids for awhile and when Frank walked in he rose to meet him half way. It was obvious to Greg that the look on Franks face was meant for him. They moved to a quiet table and Frank ate lunch. Between mouthfuls he told Greg he had already picked up some scuttle from the brig where the colonel was held. Frank told him that the colonel had some faithful followers and he would update him when some of the loyal followers were identified. Greg sat there mulling it over in his mind and decided to pay a visit to the president. He thanked Frank and left him to finish up his stew.

  He flipped open his cell and called the president. She told him that she would be in the mess hall in ten minutes time. He told her he would wait for her at their usual table. Greg took out the file Jenny gave him and studied the message. He was still looking at it making a list of possible words when the president sat down and asked him what he was doing. Greg showed her the paper and told her the short story how the computer was putting in words and making possible answers in the blank spaces. The president studied it for a few minutes and handed it back to him. She said, “Way too many possibilities for me to look at it, let’s leave it to the experts and I know you didn’t want to see me about this document in particular.”

  “No you are right about that, ’ Greg said with real concern in his voice. “I want to brief you on a possible insurrection building from within. It would seem that our Napoleonic colonel is the leader of some guys who would rather see him at the helm.”

  “Madam President, I think we should fit you with a bullet proof vest just in case and if you could spare some secret service agents I would like two of them with me twenty four seven. What I don’t want for them is to know we are on to their scheme. I’m asking for your advice in this matter of a court date to try the colonel on treason charges and other infractions. Two ways to do this and one is to wait and flush the supporters out or two we put the guy on trial now and make an example out of him.”

  “Well Greg,’ she said with lines showing around her eyes from the stress of forming a new government, I think it is best to try the colonel now and make an example out of him. However, I will leave it up to you to make the final decision.”

  “I will think about it some and let you know what we will do with the colonel.”

  He got up and left for his office with his mind back on the message. He made a note to himself to ask Jenny how they would respond once the message was deciphered. Right now the only radio waves were in this base and nothing he knew of could send a message into space through this weather.

  Steve once again was waiting for him when he got back to the office. Greg wondered if he had something going with his secretary. She was attractive enough, but he didn’t think she was his type. But who knows. He asked Steve to come into his office and he showed Steve the file in the message.

  Steve frowned and looked at it for a little while and said, “Too many possibilities for me to look at it. Let the computer figure it out.”

  Greg then asked him, “Steve if or when we respond, how can we send a message through this storm to space?”

  Steve laughed and said we would have no problem sending a message. We have the most powerful sending unit on earth. I’m positive we can penetrate the weather with our communication system. We can send, but can’t receive due to the dead satellites.”

  Greg mulled that over and asked him why he came to see him.

  Steve said, “I came to tell you we think we know how this weather started and why it slowly enveloped the earth from north to south. We discovered another beam of energy directed at the North Pole.”

  Greg was shocked at the news. This in his mind confirmed the existence of ET. “Steve we need to crack this nut and make contact with whoever is trying to tell us something.”

  “I agree with you. Steve replied. “Let’s pull out all the stops and prepare ourselves for what might happen if we get a reply from our return message.”

  Greg and Steve sat there and brainstormed for awhile and two hours later they had a game plan. They agreed
to meet at Steve’s office first thing in the morning with Jenny and Clarence. Steve took off and Greg went for a walk. His driver followed some distance behind him in case he signaled for a ride. Greg was in deep thought when his CIA training took over. He instantly came alert and had the feeling he was being watched. He signaled his driver and got in and had the driver reverse his direction at full speed. For just an instant Greg thought he saw someone duck into a door way, but couldn’t be sure.

  They turned around and headed back to his house. Inside he found his wife and kids lying on the floor reading a book about the history of the old west. Greg kind of sticky from all day working decided to take a shower before dinner. He stripped down and thirty minutes later in a sweat suit and ski jacket he was ready for some dinner. The kids and his wife were waiting for him as was Jasper. Jasper had been hanging around the house all day following the kids wherever they went. Now he followed them to the mess hall trotting along beside the carts. They sat at their usual table with the president and her staff. Hilary looked at him trying to see what was on his mind. They had grown close and trusted each other implicitly.

  After a dinner of lentil soup with surprisingly chunks of pork was delicious. Homemade rolls with strawberry jam filled the belly nicely. Greg moved to Hilary’s side and told her what had transpired with the ‘contact’ message along with his suspicions of being followed. She told him when he got home tonight he would find two agents on eight hour shifts watching his place. Tomorrow morning two agents were assigned to Becky and the kids and two for him.

  Greg thanked her and said, “I made a decision and will try the colonel tomorrow after breakfast in the conference hall. He can ask for an attorney but he must testify himself. Twelve jurors will decide his fate. This trial will be cut and dried and sentence carried out immediately.”

  Hilary said she would testify and that should seal his fate.

  Greg woke the next morning with another killer headache. He remembered vividly a dream where by a voice was in his head all night long. He couldn’t remember anything about what was going on, but now his head was killing him. His hand flopped out the side of the bed and Jasper licked his hand. Through blurry eyes he looked him and the dog stared back knowing his master suffered from something. Becky woke up and knew instantly Greg had another migraine. She went to the bathroom and brought him one of his pain killers and a glass of water. Greg flashed back at the last time on the train when he had one of these and if he was not mistaken, a voice in his head was also there when he woke up. Strange things going on he thought.

  A half hour later he eased out of bed as the medicine began to work. He worked his way to the bathroom and took a long hot shower. Becky helped him shave and dress for the day. He looked like pretty much like every other day in his slacks and stripped shirt, tie and pull over wool sweater. On his feet were hiking military boots built for cold weather.

  His driver was gone replaced by secret service agents. By now he was coming around as they drove to the mess hall. Chuck was there and he wanted to cancel his trip, or at least postpone it for awhile. Chuck just smiled and said it would give him more time to romance the widow woman. Greg cracked up and slapped him on the back. Then with a serious look on his face asked Chuck to find twelve ordinary folks with Bubba to act as jurors; and have them be at the convention hall at ten am.

  He ate powdered eggs and toast with coffee and left for the office. Once there he called up Jenny and Steve and told them the activity for the morning would be a trial for the colonel at ten am. He knew the hall would be packed with people and asked his secretary to find Frank for him. She called his cell and reported back that Frank was on his way with Brad. A few minutes later sitting in Greg’s office he outlined his plan for the trial. A simple table for each the defense and prosecution and twelve chairs for the jurors was all that was needed.

  Chapter 26

  Ten minutes before the start of the trial, Greg walked into a packed hall. He was lawyer in his own right. After law school he was recruited by the CIA and never practiced law. But that didn’t mean he had forgotten how to practice law, quite the contrary, his specialty was criminal law. He took his place at a table by himself. The accused was represented by a civilian lawyer found among the population. Clearly the lawyer was out of his realm. He shuffled a few papers around and talked to his client, Colonel Bullgorney. Greg looked at the twelve people that made up the jury and noticed they were a nice cross section of young to old and of different ethnic origins.

  A single chair sat in front of the two tables for the only witness called in this case: The President of the United States. Greg walked up to the front of the jury and said, “Ladies and gentlemen this is an official court of law sanctioned by the President under her State of Emergency declaration. That in of itself gives her the power to authorize a trial of this nature. I’m here for the prosecution and the United States has charged Colonel Bullgorney of one count of disobeying a direct order from the President of the United States and because of the fact we are under a State of Emergency a charge of treason is applied as well. The penalty for treason is death under our government’s laws.”

  Greg went on to say, “One witness will be heard and that is the President of the United States Hilary C. Blaze. One more thing, if found guilty by you the jury the defendant will be executed in front of a firing squad immediately after being found guilty. If he is found innocent of treason and found guilty of disobeying a direct order he will be confined to jail for ten years and dishonorably discharged with no benefits.”

  Not a sound was heard in the room of more than a thousand people jammed in everywhere and when Greg called for the President to take the stand, a low murmur could be heard. The president walked in from the side door of the small conference room and took her seat.

  According to custom Greg asked her to raise her right hand and swear to God she would tell the truth. In a clear voice she said, “Yes I will.”

  Twenty minutes later the trial was complete. The jury retired to the small conference room in the back while all sat or stood waiting for their verdict. Meanwhile Colonel Bullgorney sat there silent and stoic. He knew he was going to die soon. But his well laid plans would continue after he was gone.

  The jury came back in ten minutes later and handed Greg a piece of paper stating their decision. Greg read it out loud, “All of us jury members find the defendant guilty on all charges.”

  A military squad came in and took the prisoner away. Greg hoped that was the end of any insurrection. Little did he know a plan to take over the base was underway.

  Later that afternoon, after the execution took place, Greg sat with colonels Frank and Brad. Both had been working hard to find any plot of assassination or takeover of the government by dissenters. Frank said, “We are fairly sure we have located the core of the dissenters and have our man inside the organization. He will keep us informed and get a head count for us. It is only a matter of hours or days until we have them all locked up in the brig.”

  Brad added, “A meeting has been called for nine pm tonight of all the members and if it happens we will descend on them putting an end to the potential trouble makers.”

  Greg was happy to hear it and was glad he and the president were wearing bullet proof vests. He left his office for home and to spend some time with the kids. He found the kids in their usual place in front of the TV watching Roy Rodgers galloping across the screen on Trigger with his dog Bullet close on his heels. Greg laughed and sat down and watched the rest of the movie with the kids sitting next to him and Jasper resting his head on his lap.

  The movie ended with Roy putting the bad guys in black hats behind bars. Becky walked in just as the movie ended. She said, “Well, looks like you guys are doing your homework!”

  The kids dove for the books on the floor as she and Greg laughed at them. Thirty minutes later they headed for the mess hall and joked about having fried chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner. The president was right behind them as they pulled up to
the double doors of the mess hall. The secret service always preceded the president in the doors, but Greg’s kids ran through the door just as a man with a white servers coat came out the door with a gun in his hand and fired at the president point blank in the chest. Greg thought he was fast getting his gun out of his holster, but Janet had kicked the gun hand of the perps and it was all over in less than twenty seconds with the guy on the floor handcuffed including the legs.

  The president had the wind knocked out of her, but otherwise the bullet proof vest worked as it was designed. The agents helped her through the crowded door way with on lookers wondering where the shots were coming from.

  Big voices from the secret service agents quickly calmed the people down and helped the president to her table. Carol and Janet helped her out of the vest and examined where the bullet had struck. It was a perfect shot to the heart. The president was in a daze and sat there with glazed over eyes from the shock. Her doctor came up and looked into her eyes with a light and pronounced her in shock. They helped her up and with some help from the agents took her to her house.

  Brad came up to Greg and told him they would take the perps to the brig and question him. Greg nodded and said, “Keep me informed.”

  The kids were crying and Becky was talking quietly with them. Greg sat there wondering why someone would want to kill the president. Jasper sat alongside him staring towards the kitchen. Servers were starting to bring to the tables dinner and one server was coming towards Greg’s table with a cart and a large pot of soup on top. Jasper was watching him and when Greg looked and saw the server reach under the cart and pull out a gun, Jasper leaped at the guy and grabbed his arm with his teeth and the man let out a yelp and the gun fired harmlessly into the ceiling.