“I found a small break room near the washrooms. There’s a refrigerator in there and a coffee maker. I’ll pick up some groceries and stuff to drink. Anyone wants something specific, make a list. I’ll go rent the van and pick up everything on my way back here,” Albert offered.
“I’ll start inventory when I get back. G2 and I can figure out the load out for the containers. There’s enough room to bring all the containers inside, too. I’ll drag them in and line them up so we can do everything under cover. Anyone else know how to drive a forklift?” Lena asked.
“I do,” Lucius answered.
“Me too,” said Neil.
“Good. This should be easy as pie,” she said. “How much running around do you think you have to do before we take off, Lucius?”
“I’m figuring if all goes well, about five days to gather up everything left on the list. By the way, did anyone find a safe anywhere in the other offices?” Lucius asked, holding up the briefcase he had hauled along from the colony. “I have a couple million dollars in cash in here and I would love to put it someplace secure.”
“No idea. I’ll take a look,” Neil said, getting up and going down the hallway to see what he could find.
“Cash?” Julius asked. “Are we really going to need it?”
“Better to be safe than sorry. Besides, I was planning to treat you all to a fine dinner tonight. I would like us to use the credit cards as sparingly as possible,” he said, opening the briefcase and peeling off a handful of bills for each of them.
“Is this from Chuck, Peanut and Chris’ legendary stash?” Lena asked.
“Indeed it is,” Lucius said, laughing.
“And you have your own stash here on Earth, right?” Albert inquired.
“I do, just not as much as the boys have at the colony.”
“I found a safe,” Neil announced, returning to the office. “There’s a combination lock that worked when I tried the combination taped to the top, but I don’t know how many other people know it.”
“If there’s a model number on it, I’ll have G2 find a manual that’ll show me how to change it. Whatever I set it to, I’ll let G2 know so everyone can get in. But it’ll wait ’til morning. What say we head over to the motel now?” Lucius suggested.
Everyone agreed, tired from the activities of the night.
Once they secured the warehouse, they took off at a leisurely walk in the direction of the motel. Off in the distance they could see Lake Calumet, and of course the scatter of light in the sky from Chicago’s downtown area behind them.
When they reached the motel, they checked into the rooms G2 had reserved for them and everyone wasted no time getting to bed.
* * *
The Jove crew began another day with no contact from the colony. They had little recourse but to wait. There was going to be some excitement when the Svoboda spacecraft arrived, but that was a day and a half off.
Over lunch Susan brought everyone up to date on what had transpired on Earth with the spacecraft from the colony.
“As it did the last time, it split into two separate ships over the Great Lakes. One took off for the east coast and one for the west coast. The one on the east coast disappeared somewhere in the Boston area where the one from ten years ago was lost, so speculation is that the separatists may have an agent or hideout in that part of the country. Then, the ships disappeared and no one has a clue where they might be or what they’re doing.”
“And here we sit with our thumbs up our proverbial backsides waiting to see what happens across the way,” David said, shaking his head.
“I still think they’re waiting for Svoboda to arrive so as not to look like they’re playing favorites,” Bianca said.
“That’s so they can tell us both to kiss their ass at the same time?” Chester suggested. “It’s really their only way to appear egalitarian, unless they really hold a grudge against American whites.”
“Chester’s got a point. What if they contact the Svoboda mission just to spite us?” John asked.
Bianca’s face clouded up at the thought. “It’s not just Americans here, I’m a representative of the United Nations! And what? They’re going to deal with the Russians? Do they know Russia’s history with nonwhites? Have they taken a look at the racism in Europe against anyone not white? To borrow from your language, that’s just bullshit!”
“Whoa there! I didn’t say they would. And I certainly didn’t mean to piss you off by implying—” John began.
“It’s not what you said, John,” she said, interrupting. “It’s just frustrating, taking so long to get here and once we’re here they completely ignore us,” Bianca quickly explained.
“Maybe whatever they’re doing on Earth is what they’re all about. We have to at least take into account the very real possibility that they have no intention of dealing with anyone on Earth, except for the fact that they sent a ship or two there. I’m dying to know what they’re doing. If it’s recruitment, then they haven’t severed all ties. Bottom line is until someone has a conversation with these people, we just don’t know jack about what they really want,” David said.
“Other than that rather definitive statement they sent as they waved goodbye to the whole planet,” Susan said.
“That was something. I reread it last night and they definitely sounded like they were through with Earth, and for damn sure the United States. They were angry, and I understand their anger. I also reviewed an inventory of the specialities of the residents of the colony, it was impressive. They even had a renowned ethicist. They thought out how they were building their community very carefully, and you have to believe self-sufficiency was their main goal. They have hydroponics specialists, agronomists, all manner of medical specialists, physicists, hell, it’s the most technologically advanced think tank ever assembled. No one’s really said it out loud, but the entire military’s scared shitless about the weapons they might have built, given their mastery of the fundamental force of gravity,” said Harriet. “As Susan reported, we can’t catch their spacecraft, even in the atmosphere. I heard we have a way to spot their gravity drive, but there’s no way to do it from an aircraft. And, as we saw, they made the same trip that took us almost eight months in thirty days.”
Harriet sighed and shook her head. “As much as a technological marvel this ship is, it’s a toy compared to the kinds of spacecraft the separatists have shown the world. If I could move my family into their community, I would do it in a heartbeat.”
“What the hell, Harriet?” Rachel exclaimed. “You can’t be serious. Is living in America really such a chore? You’d give up the benefits of the air force, of NASA, and everything you have going for you to live in isolation?”
“You’re damn right I would. Don’t get me wrong, I know where my duty lies, and I would never do anything to jeopardize the mission, but the benefits for me and my family are obvious,” Harriet declared. “But to revisit our discussion when we set off; as good as I am, I have to believe that I wouldn’t have had to put up with but a fraction, if any, of the bullshit I was fed in the military if I were white, especially a white man. And if Susan, Chester and Judith were completely honest, to live someplace where racism doesn’t exist would be a welcome relief, if not an outright joy!”
“But doesn’t living with just your own kind smack of racism too?” David asked. “Come on, that colony is just as racist as the worst Southern town in America, there’s no whites allowed there either.”
Susan laughed. “Really? You don’t see the difference, David? The difference is that the separatists didn’t tell whites they weren’t allowed or persecuted them. They just moved somewhere where whites don’t exist.”
“And what if someone white wants to join them?” David persisted, as John wondered the exact same thing.
“Why would they? Oh, you mean so they could sponge off the advances the separatists benefit f
rom? So they can, once again, live off the labors of the black man? It’s funny, Harriet, when I was on President Bender’s Commission on the Separatists I said much the same thing. I was angry because I hadn’t been approached to join their community. And in the darkest reaches of my conscience I wondered if I wasn’t black enough. Or worse yet, not good enough or smart enough. David, you’re never going to be able to understand the deep-seated rage someone nonwhite carries around because of the bullshit they have to go through just to get through life,” said Susan. “Compared to us, David, your life has been a fucking paradise! You just don’t know!” she said vehemently.
The crew was silent, surprised at the obvious emotion in Susan’s words. Even Bianca had nothing to say.
“You see, even with my position as head of the department and whatever privileges it affords me at the school, it’s only with people who know who I am that the privilege exists. Anywhere else, even a block away from campus, I’m just another middle-aged, black woman. On this mission, I’m the commander,” she said, with an almost imperceptible glance at John. “But as far as the colonists are concerned I could just be an Uncle Tom installed as a cynical figurehead, and maybe that is what NASA and the president intended.” She paused to let her words sink in. “You see what I’m getting at? This kind of shit is so pervasive that we’re forced to live with it every moment of every day.”
“Look at it from my perspective, I would never have known any of this had I not come on the mission,” Sybil said, looking around at the others. “And I guess that there’s been little opportunity or example in my life where I had to see the issue up close and personal.”
“I suspect that with Susan leading the mission, and if we do get the chance to communicate with the colonists, the issue is going to be front and center for all of us, especially if we are granted the boon of actually visiting the colony itself,” Bianca observed.
“You think that’s really possible?” John asked.
“Why not? Until they deign to speak to us, anything’s possible,” Bianca replied.
“Should we nudge up closer to them? That would be an unmistakable move indicating our interest,” David suggested.
“Let’s just hold up and wait for Svoboda to get here instead of going off half-cocked,” Susan replied. “We have a plan. We stick to it.”
* * *
The precise track of the two separatist spacecraft that had violated United States airspace had been downloaded from Martin’s device and electronically sent to the Pentagon for rigorous analysis. The authorities were particularly interested in the spacecraft that had disappeared around the Boston area. The separatists’ second visit to the area only served to feed the mystery surrounding Boston and the reasons for their apparent destination.
The Pentagon flooded the area with troops conducting an extensive ground search for signs of the spacecraft. The navy was also sent in to search every square inch of sea bottom for any signs of an installation.
And in Washington, D.C., the FBI was combing through the files of anyone in the separatist roster who had either lived in or disappeared from the area. School mates were interviewed from colleges and universities attended by any of the group, with investigators going all the way back to elementary school friends. Family members who had reconciled their losses had their emotional wounds reopened as persistent investigators interrogated them again. The Bureau’s leadership was convinced that agents of the colony still resided on Earth, and the behavior of the visiting spaceships only served to feed the suspicion.
The navy was on high alert, and the many allies of the United States of America were beginning to find out through their own intelligence apparatus exactly what had caused the sudden flurry of activity and the increased alert status of America’s military forces. One of the key tipoffs to the allies was the fact that the heightened alert status did not extend to forces located outside the United States.
President Laughlin was receiving direct inquiries into exactly what threat the more belligerent military posture was in response to. So far, the chief of staff was running interference for the president, as he was still ensconced in the White House bunker for the duration.
“Hey, chief!” Dawkins said, breezing into the conference room of the bunker.
“How are things going above ground?” Laughlin asked, as Dawkins dropped a stack of folders on the table, then went to draw a cup of coffee from the sideboard.
“Crazy. It’s no secret any more that we are hunting for a landed spacecraft from the colony. So far nothing’s been in the media, I think no one wants to look the fool in case the story’s a decoy for something else,” she said, sitting down.
“Nothing’s been found on either coast. Boston’s nearly in lockdown, with the suburbs and countryside around the city being examined inch-by-inch to find that spaceship. The FBI’s convinced someone connected with the colony is operating in the area. As for the west coast, we’re looking in the water from Baja all the way up to San Francisco as well as on land. Meanwhile, I have to cool my heels down here,” Laughlin complained.
“You spoke to Jessica, didn’t you?” she asked, “She’s not very happy. It’s not one of the stellar perks of being the president’s wife, being confined to a bunker away from her husband. Yeah, I got an earful all right!”
“In any case, the good news is that there’s no real push for you to have to get out in front of anything about those ships. Out of sight, out of mind. If they had come during the daylight and they’d been seen by the public, that would have been something else. We have some more good news in that none of our allies appear to know about our gravity wave detectors, something of a break. Anything new with the Jove mission?” Dawkins inquired.
“Nothing. Svoboda arrives tonight. They’re going to send the video in real time, except for the comm lag, that is. Can you stick around this evening and watch it here?” Laughlin asked.
“Sure. Are we letting it go out to the public live?”
“Five-minute delay. Close enough,” he replied.
“What if something happens?”
“NASA cuts the feed and only we watch. There’s not a damn thing we can do about it from here. I even had some asshole from the Pentagon suggest we should have armed the mission. I asked him was his resumé up to date because I was sure Kaminski needed help wherever he was working.”
“You didn’t!” Dawkins said, breaking out in laughter.
“If I let that kind of crap go for even one second, having seven SEALs stranded on the moon may be the least of our worries. Besides, arming Jove was never on the table, not once. It’s just asinine to think that the stupidities of this planet must leave the atmosphere out of either fear or military swagger.”
“I wish I had been there. Any word from Treasury how long you’re supposed to be parked down here?” she asked.
“The official word Agent Andrews passed along to me is until the separatists’ spacecraft leave Earth, or until we know their purpose is harmless. But I’ll tell you this, neither Treasury nor the military would believe what the separatists told them if they did get in contact with us, so I’m here for the duration,” Laughlin said, obviously resigned to his fate.
“Sorry to hear, boss. Here’s the files you wanted. Tell you what, I’ll come back and have lunch with you before I have to run over the see the senate majority leader.”
Laughlin visibly brightened. “You will?”
“Absolutely. I’ll be back at noon.”
“Looking forward to it …”
* * *
Chuck found a level section of the seabed in eighty feet of water and anchored the jumper securely, shutting down the artificial gravity and engines. He triggered the sun shield to cover the windows to prevent the light in the cabin from being seen from outside.
Once he was settled in, he made a sandwich and had G2 inform him whether any of the ground team were awake. Si
nce everyone was asleep, he called Todd to see how he had fared.
“Chuck, it was epic! There were over twenty fighters and a half a dozen helicopters out searching for me. G2 intercepted communications between the aircraft and the command center they set up on the shore of Boston Harbor. And dropping into the water from a thousand feet up worked like a charm! Once I was in the water I sank to about fifty feet, turned off the artificial gravity and dialed back the engines to twenty percent. I’m tooling south toward the New York area.”
“You’re going where?” Chuck exclaimed.
Todd laughed. “I’m not going that far south. I just want to get out of the military’s area of interest. I definitely want to pop up near Boston when we leave though, it’s going to drive them crazy wondering who we have in the area,” Todd explained. “You all picked up Lucius around here, right?”
Chuck laughed and said yes, then he told Todd the story of the pickup, and of Angela’s adventure as well, including her having to outrun missile-firing fighters above Atlanta. Then, after being prodded by Todd for any more stories about pulling the wool over the eyes of Earth authorities, Chuck told the story of Riley’s accident, and how they took the colony’s first jumper into a naval training base in Florida, and how one of Lucius’ many contacts got them in and out safely under cover.
“Those early days must have been one adventure after another,” Todd observed. “It’s pretty lucky that there weren’t any more mishaps than there were.”
“No kidding,” Chuck replied soberly.
“Even so, each loss must have been a huge setback.”
“Chris, Peanut and I still remember Riley every time we’re together. He was one in a million,” Chuck said sadly.
“I wish I had gotten to know him. You have any stories about him you’d like to tell?” asked Todd.
Chuck told several anecdotes illustrating the kind of fun, and trouble, Riley’s mischievous nature had brought about, including how they funded their early years playing the ponies. After a while the two were trading tales about growing up and the times before they had met. Todd was fascinated with how the original four went from high school buddies to the creators of the lunar colony. Chuck even told the story of their very first trip to the moon and how Christopher lost his mind in anger because he didn’t think they were taking the whole venture seriously enough.
Confrontation Page 41
