by Ira Tabankin
“I did. I hope that was okay.”
“Sure. I’m not sure I’ll be able to sleep in my own bed after sleeping in theirs, which again I can’t explain. Think about sleeping on air, but with support over every inch of my body and the temperature was controlled to such a degree, I can’t explain it. I wish I had the knowledge to help me explain how everything I saw and felt.”
“Go home. Liane has missed you.”
Everett unlocked his home, wondering how Liane was going to react his bald head. As soon as he began opening the door, Liane pulled it open and jumped into his arms, forcing him to drop his suitcase. Since Liane was so much shorter than Everett, he was easily able to hold her and hold her up to his face, “Hello lovely, I missed you so much.” She knocked his cap off his head.
Liane kissed him, then she began laughing, “Lose something?” She ran her right hand over his bald head. “You didn’t shave this, it’s completely smooth like it was polished. Even the hair pores appear to be sealed, what happened and where the hell were you?”
“I can’t tell you where I was. I can tell you there was an unusual level of radiation…”
“Oh, my God! It’s true! You found one. I know what Project Blue Book is. I know you’re searching for the answers to aliens. Tell me, I’ll keep your secret, did you find one? Is that where you’ve been? Is that why your hair was lost? It has to be.”
“We’re still on the front porch, can I come in?”
“Come on in and tell me the truth. You’ve been gone for months, and I received one message and that came from the White House? Why didn’t you call? Why did your message have to go through the White House? The only logical answer is he had to make sure you didn’t break the secret that we’re not alone.”
“Honey, please sit, I’m tired.” Everett couldn’t tell Liane his muscles weren’t yet used to Earth gravity. “I can’t tell you anything about my assignment except for what you already know. I don’t know why I lost my hair. I will check with the base doctor tomorrow. Let’s put aside where I’ve been and just celebrate that I’m home.”
“You’re happy? I’m so relieved you’re home safe and sound. I figured you’d be hungry, I got up as soon as your chief of staff called me.”
Everett noticed there were candles on the dining room table, he smiled the fresh coffee percolating and bacon frying in a frying pan. His mouth watered thinking of a home made breakfast. He hadn’t had any real home-cooked food in a long time. “The bacon and pancakes smells good and my mouth is watering. When will it be ready?” Everett thought, the replicator on Kalteck’s ship is good, but there’s something special about a real home cooked meal.
“Go up and wash up. Everything will be ready when you return.”
“I can’t wait.”
“Pot roast, potatoes and homemade biscuits with my apple pie, ice cream and coffee, and then a very special treat. We’re going upstairs to work off that dinner.”
Everett smiled, “Why don’t we go upstairs now and then have our breakfast…”
“Silly, because it will be burned. You were supposed to be here two hours ago. Had you been, then your idea would have worked. Now you better have a full appetite.”
“Believe me, I do, I do.”
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Kalteck had considered taking Everett with him to Moscow but decided what he had to do would be putting his friend in jeopardy with the President. Kalteck radioed the Kremlin, saying he had to see First Secretary Khrushchev as quickly as possible. When they were alone, an angry Khrushchev yelled, “What is it this time? And where is your American lapdog? Did you lose him? Maybe you ate him. I…”
“Shut up. We have a major problem. I’ll forgive you for again for wasting your resources.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Launching a probe at your second planet. I will congratulate you on being first to launch a man into orbit. That is a massive achievement. I am very pleased…”
Khrushchev smiled, “Would you like some vodka? Some caviar? I have some very rare black roe, which is very fresh.”
“Thank you, I would be happy to share both with you.”
Khrushchev quickly relaxed when he saw Kalteck’s mood seemed to improve, he was very pleased with his country’s achievements. He ordered the refreshments brought to the conference room attached to his office, once the aides left, he said, “Shall we move to the conference room?”
“Thank you. While we toast your achievements, I will then explain the problem and how I can assist you. My assistance will also give you something else to brag about.”
“I am definably enjoying this meeting much more than our previous one. It must have been that American you usually travel with who soured your mood.”
“General Yahnig is a close friend. I couldn’t bring him to this meeting because we will discuss your strategic weapons and using them against an enemy.”
Khrushchev’s eye’s glowed with joy. “I’m all ears, how can the USSR be of service?”
“This is very fine vodka and caviar. While on my last trip, my AI…”
“AI? I do not understand that word.”
“Forget it for now. It’s a type of thinking machine. My AI discovered a deeply hidden old base of our enemy. The base is on Soviet soil.”
Khrushchev’s face turned bright red, “There’s an enemy base on my soil? In the Motherland? I will destroy it, tell me where to find it and I will send the Red Army there tonight.”
“The base is on your island of Novaya Zemlya. It is deeply buried, more than two hundred feet down, surrounded by a material like ceramic which protects it from any normal attack. If you use your drills in an attempt to dig it out, you will trigger the base’s auto self-defense network, which will destroy your troops and maybe even your country. The destruction of the base will require a massive nuclear weapon.”
“I’m listening, how large of a weapon? We have atomic weapons of over 5 megatons! Think about that, five million tons of explosive power in a single bomb! I can destroy an entire city with a single weapon.”
“Yes, I know; however, it won’t be sufficient. We will require a weapon that exceeds 10 times your largest weapon.”
Khrushchev’s face paled, “That’s impossible. Such a weapon can’t be built. If it could have been, we would have already built it.”
“It’s not only possible, but I will also show you how to build one that is one hundred megatons. We will try the first at around 50 megatons. If that doesn’t destroy the base, we’ll use the larger one as a follow-up.”
Khrushchev smiled, “I will call it the Tsar Bomba, and we’ll show the world we are the leader of the world and not the Americans. When can we start?”
“I am going to leave you the design for the weapon. Contact me when you have both of them completed. I will then double-check the targeting. Since your technology is so crude, you will have to modify one of your bombers to carry the weapon, which is going to be not only huge but massively heavy. Can you manage that?”
“Yes, the Red Army and Air Force can do anything.”
Kalteck slid a file folder across the table, “Here are the technical details. Handle this file with the highest level of security you have. Do not let the Americans or anyone else get their hands of this, am I clear?”
“I can promise you; they will never touch it.”
“Excellent. I will take my leave now.”
Khrushchev watched the alien leave while holding the black file folder and smiling, he picked up the phone, “Send me the Director of our atomic weapons agency and also the Director of the KGB and the General in command of the GRU, oh and the Commanding General of the Red Air Force.”
Chapter 8
Khrushchev looked at the pictures of his “Tsar Bomba” and shook his head. The Director of the USSR Strategic Weapons sat across from him. Michal Lenivich felt the sticky perspiration running down his sides from his armpits. His ill-fitting white shirt was stuck to his back which hung under his loose-fitting bla
ck suit jacket. He focused on trying to stop his right foot from tapping showing his nervousness. He had no idea where the design for such a monster weapon had come from. He assumed the KGB or GRU had stolen the blueprints from the Americans, but the weapon was a monster. There was no way it could fit into any known airplane the west owned; he had told the First Secretary such a device was useless as a weapon. He remembered the discussion well; it had almost cost him his life.
“First Secretary, such a weapon will use most of our inventory of plutonium. It will be so large it won’t fit into any of our bombers. A group of smaller weapons is much better to destroy a city, we attempt to map their effects, so they overlap…”
“We need the weapon to dig out an enemy buried base.”
“Mr. First Secretary, the best way to dig out an enemy or destroy the American’s new base into their hollowed-out mountain is to strike the mountain with multiple megaton class weapons. No matter how the buildings were built inside the mountain, nothing can survive multiple strikes. There is no need for such a weapon, we have no way to move it to America. I am begging you to please reconsider.”
“I am giving you a direct order to build two of the weapons.”
“Sir, the plutonium, we will…”
“You will use what you need to build the weapons while also making more in the new breeder reactor you begged me to have built for your labs. Do you remember you telling me such a reactor would provide you with all of the electricity you would ever need while at the same time providing the motherland all of the plutonium we would ever need? That was you, wasn’t it? I seem to have your report in front of me with your signature on it. Was it you who signed the request? Of course, if you lied to me, I will have you taken outside and shot, then your trial will have found you guilty.”
“I will produce the weapons.”
“Excellent.”
“Mr. First Secretary, how will we move the weapon as you can see from the picture of the weapon’s case, it is massive.”
“Let me handle that. When will it be ready for use?”
“I will need nine weeks to complete the assembly.”
“Excellent. What will the yield be?”
“We estimate the first one will be between 50 and 60 megatons, the world’s largest explosion ever created. The second one is untampered. It will be 100 or a little over 100 megatons.”
“Thank you. I’ll send you further instructions. You may leave.”
Michal Lenivich gathered his papers and left the conference room as quickly as possible. He was thankful he’d escaped with his life. He prayed the crazy weapon functioned as designed, or he knew he and his family’s lives would be forfeit.
He was stopped by two KGB agents on his way out of the Kremlin. The officer said, “Comrade Lenivich, there is no need to run. We are here to ensure your trip home is safe. We will be taking you back to your lab. We will remain with you until the weapons are completed and the First Secretary decides what to do with them.”
“Thank you. That is very kind of the KGB, but I can easily find myself to the train station and safely return home.”
The KGB officer grabbed Michal Lenivich’s arm, “Yes, yes, but a storm is due. We will ensure you have no delays.”
Lenivich knew he had no way to get away from the KGB, so he sighed and responded, “Thank you.”
Khrushchev asked his private security officer who knew about Kalteck to see him, “Sir, you called for me? Is there a problem?”
“No problem, I need you to send a message to our alien friend. Please tell him the device he wanted us to build will be ready in nine weeks, but and make sure he understands they will be untested. I am having the Air Force cut apart a bomber to carry the weapon.”
“Yes, sir.”
Twenty minutes later, the officer was again standing in front of Khrushchev’s desk, “Sir, his reply is, thank you. He said if we can’t make it fit into a plane, why can’t we ship the weapon in sections and assemble it on site.”
“Damn him. I had a feeling he was going to suggest something like that. Okay, get me the Director of the Special Department of the KGB.”
After Michal Lenivich reported the weapon was ready, the KGB received the order to have Lenivich move the weapon to the attached coordinates in sections. He was to reassemble it on-site and it was to be ready to test in ten days.
Upon hearing his new orders, Michal Lenivich’s body shook. He didn’t know how he was going to transport such a massive weapon in sections and then rebuild it on site. Nuclear weapons were detonated by a series of triggers that exploded within nanoseconds of each other. The explosions around the outside of the core compressed the core of the weapon, plutonium, so it reached a critical mass, which created the explosion. The triggers have to be timed to all fire at the same time. If one exploded a fraction of a second from the others, the core wouldn’t be completely compressed, and the weapon wouldn’t explode.
He attempted to explain this to the KGB officer, who responded, “Those are your orders from the First Secretary. There is no debate.”
“But I cannot change the physics of a nuclear weapon.”
“I care not for your excuses. You have your orders.”
Khrushchev was swayed by his science staff, he issued orders to have a bomber’s bomb bay modified or cut apart to carry the weapon.
Lenivich’s staff slaved around the clock to fit the device into an airplane so they wouldn’t have to transport it to the specified location. Two Bear bombers were cut open to fit the massive weapon inside of one of The KGB called for a team of one hundred soldiers to support the engineers and provide them security. Lenivich was very pleased his staff was able to modify the bomb bay of a plane to carry the weapon. The bomb bay doors had to be removed, the inside of the plane was gutted to remove all the possible weight so the plane could get off the ground while carrying the massive weapon.
On October 29, Khrushchev was informed the weapon was ready for use. Khrushchev contacted Kalteck, who responded with, “Excellent, I am sending you the coordinates, plan to explode it tomorrow.”
On October 30, the Soviet Union announced it had exploded the world’s largest nuclear device, the “Tsar Bomba.” The explosion took place over the Novaya Zemlya archipelago in northern Russia. The explosion had a yield of 58 megatons, which was more than 3,300 times as powerful as the Hiroshima bomb. Just one second after the detonation, the fireball was already 4 miles wide, and the light could be seen at distances of over 1,200 miles. The mushroom cloud raised to a height of about 103 miles, over 7 times the height of Mount Everest. The first explosion was the tampered weapon.
Unknown to the world, Kalteck’s ship was in orbit over the site, watching and measuring the explosion. He measured the explosion and the effect under ground zero. His sensors confirmed to him the old buried enemy base had been destroyed when the huge nuclear explosion crushed the roof of the base and pancaked the base. He informed Khrushchev that the USSR had succeeded. He congratulated the USSR’s engineers, which pleased Khrushchev. “Since we’ve proved ourselves to you, I would like some additional technology transferred to us.”
When President Kennedy was told about the 58-megaton explosion, he wondered what the Soviets were up to and why that particular location. A thought dawned on him, the damned alien! He had something to do with the massive bomb. Why the hell did he help them develop such a monster? I’m going to grill his little friend that damned General to get to the bottom of what’s going on. I think the general is more loyal to the alien then he is to me and the country. It’s time for a general who will be loyal to me and not to the damn alien.
Everett received a secret order to report to the White House as quickly as possible. He was to fly in a two-seat jet fighter to have him in the capital within five hours from when he signed for the order from the President. Everett only had time to pack a small overnight bag, call Liane, and tell her he’d been called to Washington and should be back within forty-eight hours.
Everett w
as placed in the back seat of an F4 Phantom, which was capable of Mach 2.5 (two and a half the speed of sound.) The pilot told Everett he was in for a special trip because he’d been told to open her up and get to Andrews as quickly as possible. “I plan to go vertical as soon as we clear the runway, then I feel sorry for anyone under our flight path because I’ve been given permission to break the sound barrier en route to Andrews.”
The F4 shot down the runway. At the halfway point, the pilot pulled the plane vertical to gain altitude, the three wheels quickly tucked up cleaning up the bottom of the plane. The only item on the bottom of the plane was a fuel tank that extended its range, once the external fuel tank was drained, it would be dropped over a military base or a large lake so no one would be hurt. Once the fighter reached forty-five thousand feet, the pilot pushed the throttle into military power, which was as quick as the plane could go without using the afterburner, which would provide additional thrust by injecting fuel into the hot exhaust of the two large jet engines. The burning gas provided additional thrust but at a high cost in fuel use.
