AMERICA ONE - NextGen II (Book 6)

by T I WADE

  Once the LED lighting was turned on, the interior was as clean as they had left it, apart from the same rotting smell they had found last visit. Several more of the freezers had stopped working and piles of dried remains or dust was all that was left of their contents. Pete and Lunar decided to leave the small entrance open to get rid of the smell overnight. There were no more secrets to the base.

  The fuel seemed useable. Sergeant Meyers whistled when he saw the remaining Bradley, arms and ammunition, and still enough real old food to feed a small army. That night they defrosted some steaks, a pork roast, and several frozen chickens to see if the food would poison them. They even found a freezer full of ice cream, something new the NextGens had become fond of on the island, and the next morning nobody felt ill.

  They spent the next day taking stock and, after wheeling out several generators to light up the base and turn on the large kitchen refrigerators and walk-in freezers, reckoned that they had enough supplies of everything they needed including frozen water to last a hundred or so crew for at least a month or ten.

  The large loading door was opened to work on, eventually start, and drive the remaining Bradley out, which was Mars Noble’s first verbal-only driving lesson, and why Captain Pete had flown with them. Mars had thought that he had seen the two Bradleys in the desert when he was younger, and Captain Pete told him that they had only flown out one from Nevada. The second was due out on the second flight that had never materialized. The second Bradley in the Sahara was an Australian one on loan. The Bradley was a powerful vehicle, and they hitched to a military trailer and drove out weapons, ammo, a dozen freezers, water supplies, and dried food by the ton, just in case.

  Sergeant Meyers was handed a machine gun and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and he kissed the weapon’s barrel sweetly.

  The four large generators were then pulled out by the Bradley driven by Sergeant Meyers and the old tow vehicle driven by Captain Pete that had towed around the “Dead Chicken.” To Mars, there was a very interesting group of vehicles down there, and he drooled over the beautiful but dusty silver Audi R8 Sergeant Meyers told him was his father’s. He knew which car he wanted to learn to drive on. Captain Pete laughed as he drove out the old Ford truck with the crane to unload the new thrusters out of the shuttles hold.

  “You need a few lessons before you drive that powerful beast. I suggest Joanne’s old Volkswagen first,” shouted Captain Pete as he drove the smoking old Ford up onto the ramp.

  The four large diesel military generators were on their own wheels, and once started, gave ample power to the whole base. During the second night, the entire base lit up like a small town once the generators were started. The battery systems were mostly dead, but several battery rechargers stored underground gave them life. Captain Pete reminded Lunar to ask Martin Brusk for a small Cold Fusion power plant. They should have a spare one available if Martin’s aircraft was powered with one.

  A really interesting find was the bounty from the missions to DX2014. Valuables from the asteroid mining mission Jonesy, VIN, Suzi and Maggie had brought home during their last flight to DX2014 were in plenty. Captain Pete knew that Ryan had given part of the haul to the U.S. government, Libya, Israel and Australia, but he was shocked at what was still down in the cavern. Three aluminum canisters were full of hundreds of small rough diamonds, about five to ten carats each. There were also a couple really massive diamonds that didn’t fit into a canister. He didn’t want to think what they were worth.

  There were several steel pallets of gold that had been melted into small 5-kilo bars in one of the hangars. The sizes were different, but he reckoned that there were a couple of tons of the yellow stuff. He now knew a way how to pay the incoming staff and to purchase supplies. A couple of dozen aluminum canisters held what looked like the rare earth metals. He was correct when he looked closer and saw tiny labels with the type of metal and the weight inside the canister. There was at least a ton of platinum, and a canister each of several others.

  There was so much in the cavern that it was impossible to take stock in one day, so he did what he could and, with the help of Lunar, Dr. Walls and Johnny, covered about a third of the cavern. The fancy automobiles could stay until the next visit, so Captain Pete closed down the cavern until they returned.

  Several of the old crew were already on their way back to the base. At least Astermine had gold to pay them, but it seemed that the crew all had deep pockets. Several of the incoming crew suggested over the radio with the security team that they bring or pick up supplies on the way without even knowing if they would get paid or not. Sergeant Meyers told everybody to bring what they could. There weren’t many large retail stores open, but several told the sergeant and his guys that they could drive or find an old truck or two, and they all had enough means to pick up supplies on the way.

  The American population had been living hard and frugally for many years now, and in the land of opportunity the wealthy had ways, means, and friends with which to bring in supplies.

  Lunar and the crew were shocked to see the first massive 18-wheeler truck arrive two hours before they were about to launch. It was one of the experts her father Ryan had contracted from NASA when the shuttle missions had come to an end. He had been in command of Astermine’s thruster department, and he let down his tail gate to allow ten head of black and white cows out.

  “Joe Pullen, Ms. Richmond. I was your father’s chief thruster programmer. I have ten milk cows for you and enough feed stocks for the cows for a couple of months. I purchased a dairy farm for my eldest son from Ryan’s pay, and he has done very well. At least we’ll all have fresh milk. There are always more cows and feed stocks if we need to increase our supplies.”

  Joe was introduced to the four Russians, and it seemed they had all heard of each other. Immediately he was shown the new engines flown in from Russia, and Joe Pullen suddenly seemed the most excited man on the base.

  A second 18-wheeler arrived an hour later out of Northern California. This time the 40-foot shipping container on its bed would have made Suzi and her crew very happy. It was full of hydroponic vegetables and plants, and an older-looking Bud Small, part of the crew who had designed the spaceship space guidance systems, stated that he was ready to start work. He had invested into a new way of vegetation production based on ideas studied from Suzi and her team, and now he had a thriving company in California that worked hundreds of these containers and produced vegetables for city folk as far south as Los Angeles.

  Lunar shook her head, remarking to Mars and Captain Pete that this base would be humming within a few weeks.

  “Mars to wife. Currently cruising at 250,000 feet, heading 77 degrees, speed 3,600 knots, I’m above St. John, New Brunswick. ETA Tel Aviv, 1 hour 33 minutes, over,” stated Mars over the radio system and not the intercom so that Saturn could get a fix on his position.

  “Roger, husband. We are three minutes behind you, still over Halifax. Have your transmission fix, over.”

  “Saturn, didn’t this use to be the most frequently used flight lane in the world? You know, all U.S.A. flights going to Europe and back? I remember Jonesy telling us that most nights there were solid lines of aircraft flying in both directions. Remember that?” he continued but this time over the private intercom.

  “Well, I don’t see one aircraft below us as far as my radar reaches,” Saturn replied.

  “Me neither, it looks like this planet—or at least the northern hemisphere—has come to a grinding halt,” added Mars. “In Australia, there were always a couple of blips on the radar when we flew in or out.”

  “We haven’t seen very much movement up here either,” added Shelly Saunders, directing her communication through the intercom so as not to give her position away somewhere high above them. With all the blue shields active, they couldn’t see each other on radar either until the computer picked up a radio transmission and worked out from where it had originated from. This was why they always gave each other their positions relative
to the ground and did not fly in formation.

  “Unidentified aircraft, this is Canadian Air Traffic Control. State your intentions, over,” ordered somebody new over the radio. Mars had let the cat out of the bag.

  “Astermine spacecraft to Canadian Air Traffic Control, we are at 250,000 feet and I believe not in Canadian airspace. We are heading towards Europe. Give our regards to Defense Minister Mary Collins, over.”

  “Roger, copy that, Astermine spacecraft, out.”

  “Mars, we should keep our flights secret,” stated Lunar over the intercom.

  “I think it’s a positive signal to many that we are flying around the planet, Lunar,” stated Captain Pete from behind Mars. “We are free to orbit Earth. I believe we have few enemies down there, so we might as well fly around inside the upper atmosphere to show interested parties that we are confident to do so. At least we kept radio silence over the U.S. so nobody knows we were there.”

  An hour later Mars again broke radio silence. Martin’s control tower replied to his call seconds after a panicking Israeli Air Force wanted to know who and where they were, as the incoming craft were not on their radar screens.

  Martin’s airfield radioed the Israeli Air Defense Command telling them these visitors were expected and had pre-arranged flight plans into his private airfield. Then the radioman gave the two craft their coordinates for landing.

  The weather was clear and the sky blue when Mars descended vertically from 100,000 feet. The airfield became visible and grew as he brought the craft down. Thirty minutes after the first radio call, a Matt spacecraft landed on non-Astermine-controlled land for the first time. There were a dozen onlookers, Mars and Captain Pete noticed as the shield was closed down. No robot tow vehicle came out to meet them, as the Matt craft, like Martin’s aircraft, had legs, not wheels.

  “Matt craft to orbital patrol, we have landed. You have my coordinates. We need constant eyes on the two grounded craft once Saturn lands, over,” stated Mars into his handheld radio to make sure that everybody listening knew about their overhead protection. He and Captain Pete were sure that there were hundreds of radios in and around the Middle East listening to Israeli radio chatter.

  “Copy that. All Astermine craft orbiting Earth, take heed of the ground situation. All orbits need to be perfectly stationed. Mars, good luck. Out,” stated Penelope Pitt from far above.

  SB-III touched down five minutes later in the same location as the two previous craft. Mars thought that it was his wife’s joke to face him every time she came in.

  “Martin Brusk to our visitors, welcome. I understand your security concerns and would like to remind you that you are safe on my airfield.”

  “Copy that, Martin, but we have our orders from Ryan, and we take our orders seriously, over,” replied Mars, still sitting in the cockpit seat.

  “Completely understood,” replied Martin.

  “Martin, we need your word that our two spacecraft will not be boarded by any unauthorized personnel while we are on the ground, over,” added Lunar Richmond. “Any person or vehicle who gets within 20 yards of either aircraft will be immediately fired upon. No warnings will be given. Since we destroyed half the U.S. Air Force on our last visit, you know the strength of what we have in orbit protecting us.”

  “Copy that. I understand my friend Ryan’s orders perfectly, and I will tell all my personnel here on the airfield that it is certain death if their image of any type is seen from space while you are on the ground. Now exit and come over. I have some fresh coffee and baklava and a new space shuttle in a hangar for you guys.”

  Four members of the crew exited, and as the astronauts not wearing spacesuits walked away from the two spacecraft, the blue bubbles began to grow. Mars could control his ship mentally.

  Lunar apologized to Martin, and so did Mars when they shook hands in the airport’s small terminal building. “Fresh orders from your father?” Martin asked. Lunar nodded but said nothing, trying hard not to tell a lie. The orders were orders, only many months old.

  Lunar, Mars, Captain Pete and Saturn sat down to have coffee. Johnny Walls had reactivated the shield around SB-III. He and his father had been trained as many of the crew had been back on Mars and could fill many positions.

  Johnny Walls was happy. He was training to be an astronaut and this was training. Also, the young man was getting a precise world geography lesson flying around the planet sitting in one of the shuttle’s rear cockpit seats.

  As was customary in many parts of the world, the crew sat down to first eat and drink and chat.

  Mars carried his handhelds and was ready for any reports from space.

  “I thought our modern VTOL flight hybrid aircraft was the latest, but after seeing your two craft land vertically from what you told me, 100,000 feet, totally silent and in those blue bubble things you use, I think we are still decades behind Astermine here at Tesla Space,” stated Martin drinking a freshly poured cup of coffee. The good coffee brought back memories of the times they didn’t have coffee supplies on Mars, so most had drunk the stuff aboard the mother ship. “I will assume those bubbles are your stealth mechanisms to hide you from everybody down here? Do they hide you from each other?”

  “Yes, they work 100 percent perfectly,” replied Mars.

  “Interesting,” replied Martin. “Mars, may I ask what sort of gas you pump into the bubbles to expand and contract them?” Mars looked at Lunar and Captain Pete to see if he could answer. Captain Pete decided that he would answer.

  “I will tell you this about the blue shields, Martin, no more. They are over 10,000 years old and work with electrical energy, using billions of nanites, and melting plasma. They have a vacuum inside the shield that can have a mix of atmospheric gases pumped in to mimic conditions and pressures similar to what we humans need here on Earth. They have a perfectly accurate and natural light spectrum, good enough to grow food inside an atmospheric shield on the Martian surface. If anybody walked through the shield into one of those bubbles right now, they would be walking into a vacuum and die. Also, the blue shields are the protection we have used against the cubes for the last two decades. Currently those two spacecraft are 100 percent secure. That is all I will say right now.” Martin nodded and thanked the captain.

  “The first craft—that is not one of Ryan’s? I don’t recognize it, Pete.”

  “Correct, Martin. That is a Matt craft, Supreme Ruler Roo’s spacecraft. It runs on ethanol and works on telepathic flight controls, something only Ruler Roo, VIN and Mars Noble can control. It seems to be hereditary. Dr. Nancy can telepathically speak to Ruler Roo, and VIN or Mars can hear her thoughts, but often Dr. Nancy cannot reply, except through Ruler Roo himself.” Martin shook his head.

  “I can’t believe it, Pete. A craft centuries ahead of our technology that flies on alcohol? It just doesn’t add up.”

  “It does if you hear the Matts’ history and what they had to power their craft, but we will discuss that at a later date.”

  “I knew that I would be shocked to the core today by you guys,” smiled Martin. “I’m sure you are not telling me ten percent of what you know.”

  “It will take a long time for us to bring you up to speed, Martin,” added Lunar. “I think that Captain Pete has said more than he should, but since you are one of my father’s best friends, you have our trust. All I ask is that you don’t break our bond of trust, as the information will stop dead in its tracks.” Martin nodded.

  “Whatever you have told me in this room will go no further without your prior knowledge. I still owe your father, Lunar, my business for helping me get it out of the U.S.A. when we did. I would have died there with much of the country’s business. Soon the time will come for all of us to go and rebuild the good old U.S.A., something I’m itching to do.” Everyone nodded.

  Now it was time for Martin to surprise them. They headed out keeping off the apron, and they headed towards one of Martin’s five large hangars. He stopped everybody and told them that what was inside
the hangar was his gift to Ryan, but since he wasn’t there, his crew were the next best group to hand it over to. He raised his right hand, and somewhere, somebody in control of the airfield opened the large hangar door.

  The crew’s mouths dropped when they saw what was inside. It looked like an exact replica of Ryan’s three shuttles, but bigger.

  “Exactly twice the size of your shuttles now. It doesn’t have to fit into the Dead Chicken, and by the way, Bob Mathews’ old darling is in the next hangar. We painted her white, since she doesn’t belong to the U.S. Air Force anymore, and named her the ‘Dead Chicken Freightliner,’ a joke for Ryan, Jonesy and Bob. Saturn, your father asked me to do it, so blame him when you see him, not me!” he laughed. “But let us back get to Sierra Bravo IV. She has four vertical thrusters behind her wings, two rear hydrogen thrusters and two rear xenon ion drives. The four center thrusters are multi-positional and can propel her upwards, forwards and backwards in five-degree imcrements. Her four rear engines are only forward-directional, and she has six small side thrusters along her fuselage for space travel alignment. She has been built with the same aluminum-lithium alloy outer body layer as your shuttles, but from a new company here in Israel. The outer skin layer is a full one-inch thick versus your shuttle’s half-inch outer skins. The alloy has cobalt, vanadium, silicon, tungsten, boron and titanium, except that we added a five-percent mix of both osmium and iridium and increased the titanium the same amount, all for extra strength. We are now very short on many of the rare earth metals and hope you guys can help us out. We need osmium and iridium for our next build pretty badly.”