by Ira Tabankin
“Ah, an excellent way to honor her memory. What will your new name be?”
“Rhett McIntire”
“I like it, it has a nice historical ring to it. What problems do you see ahead of us with this plan?”
“There are only a handful of three-star generals in the Air Force, my records are going to have to be perfect because someone is going to check them when other general officers realize they’ve never heard of an LT General McIntire.”
“I think I understand the problem. Is there some assignment you may have had which placed you out of the normal line so the other officers wouldn’t become suspicious?”
“The only thing I can think of, yes, it will work, and it will make our work easier. Why didn’t I think of it before? Damn, I’m a fool.”
Kalteck looked confused and smiled, “My friend, while I have many attributes you may lack, mind reading isn’t one of them. What are you thinking of?”
“There are times the President or Secretary of Defense may offer a subject matter expert in certain technologies that they deem critical to the national security were given a direct commission in the military as an officer. Medical doctors do it all the time. I can be an industry scientist in advanced flight and missile technology. With all the things the teaching box has taught me and having it to answer questions it will provide me the background I’ll need if anyone questions my ability for such a position. All I’ll need is some public papers to publish or claim to have published to provide my background. I’ll ask the teaching box to create some papers which are classified on missile and weapons technology. Since they’ll be classified no one will give any thought why they haven’t read them.”
“See you thought of an excellent idea. This is even better than asking the Colonel to slip revised files into your Pentagon. I like this idea. I will have the box prepare a number of very technical papers that will impress even your experts. Once written, my AI will hack your systems and insert them into public records and a publication or two.”
Two weeks later, the local Las Vegas newspapers carried the story about how a heartbroken U.S. Air Force LT General Everett, who just weeks ago had buried his long time wife, had also suffered a fatal heart attack in his sleep and never woke, just as his wife, Liane did. Both passed away in the same manner. The Air Police took custody of the General’s remains, which will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. There is a story circulating Washington that the general was a friend of President Bush who will attend the funeral.
General Yahnig died and Dr. Rhett McIntire Ph.D. was born and secretly sworn into the U.S. Air Force as a Lieutenant General based on his many Top-Secret papers on advanced propulsion and weapon’s design. One such paper discussed the manner to increase the power of a laser to turn it into a useable weapon. Another classified paper discussed how to develop a hypersonic (Mach 5+, five times the speed of sound) missile.
The evening after his funeral, President Bush, Kalteck, and newly minted LT General McIntire enjoyed dinner at Camp David. President Bush smiled as he raised a glass of beer in a toast, “The general is dead, long live the general.” Rhett smiled and drank with him and Kalteck, who didn’t understand the joke. “I have to ask even though I know the answer. How long did it take you to change your face and grow your hair back?”
“It happened Thursday night while I slept.”
“How is this possible? Facelifts and plastic surgery takes at least a couple of weeks to heal and I didn’t know it was possible to grow hair back. You need to get a patent on whatever you did.”
Kalteck smiled at the President, “Mr. President, I don’t recommend this process for everyone. My friend got used to the process shortly after I arrived…”
“I knew it! I knew you had something to do with his not aging.”
“Mr. President, I’m sorry, but this is a process I won’t be discussing. Do you like his new face? I modeled it after an actor or model or whatever you call those people who get paid for pictures selling things.”
“The hair? Is it real?”
“Yes. He lost his from an accidental exposure, something I also don’t want to discuss. He looks completely different. Anyone who knew Everett wouldn’t know this is him. Even his eye color is different.”
“It’s frankly an amazing transformation. I like the idea of how the two of you thought up this method of Everett, Rhett getting drafted as a subject matter expert. No one will suspect anything and he’ll be able to live a normal life without worrying for a few years about his lack of aging.”
Kalteck nodded his agreement, “This time he will appear to age a little, he will turn gray in ten to fifteen years, and he may even develop age spots on his hands. It’s all built into the program. I asked my AI to execute. I had kept the secret of his long life but as we grow closer to the time the enemy is coming, you are going to learn about these technologies so I guess as his commander in chief you have the need to know.”
“You’ve used that term before, AI, could you please explain it again to me?”
Kalteck explained the concept of artificial intelligence computers to the President who was amazed. “Are they more intelligent than you or us?”
“They can be. We had a few problems with them thinking they should rule us, we fought a major war against artificial life, it’s something I’m hoping you don’t need to experience.”
At 3AM, Kalteck took Rhett into space where he carried Liane’s ashes. “Tell me when you’re ready, and we can place them in the airlock.”
“I think she’d like it out here, close to God, and it's so peaceful and beautiful like she was. I’m ready to say goodbye now.”
The small canister was shot into space. Once it was one hundred yards from their ship, the top of the container popped open, allowing Liane’s ashes to spread into space. Rhett watched the fine gray ash spread on the monitors. “Goodbye my love, one day I will join you here where we’ll float together forever. Kalteck, promise me, when my time comes, do the same for me.”
“If I am here, I will. If not, I’m sure your space force will be able to handle your request.”
“Where will you be?”
“I don’t know how long you’ll live. As we’ve discussed you’re the first human that I know of who has nanites in them, so I can’t promise where I’ll be. I’ll try to be with you when your end comes, assuming I’m still around. Given the uncertainty of how the nanites function in humans, you might outlive me, and based on how slowly you’re aging, I’m going to guess you’ll be the oldest human and will have to change your name many times in your lifetime.”
“I’m not sure if I should thank you or not. Living so long can get very lonely.”
“You have the chance to find someone new and fall in love again.”
“I don’t think I’d like that…”
“Rhett, you may live a very long time, you don’t want to be alone all that time. It isn’t healthy, and by all that time, I’m talking about many lifetimes. Based on the data my AI collected while the nanites changed you, you not only haven’t aged since we met in ’47, you’ve grown younger. Based on the preliminary data, you will live well past your hundredth birthday and maybe even your two hundredth.”
“Two hundred years? I don’t know whether to thank or curse you.”
Chapter 20
The 1990s started out with the launch of Hubble Space Telescope. Kalteck was worried the large telescope would reveal things to the humans he didn’t think they were ready to learn, so he’d slipped a small change into the calculations for the telescope’s mirror. The small mathematical change was just enough to distort the images sent back to Earth. Kalteck told Rhett he would arrange to have NASA correct the flaws when a little time went by so he could ensure there wasn’t anything visible on Mars which could tip off the humans of his existence there.
The other major space event which Kalteck was very pleased with was the Magellan probe arrived at Venus to take pictures and measurements of the system’s second planet.
Kalteck hadn’t been pleased with the Vietnam war or the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, so he arranged another small war to test Earth’s great powers. In early 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, causing America to form a coalition to push Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. This time Kalteck was pleased. He’d told Rhett he expected the war to last at least a year and have a major impact on consumer prices. He was pleasantly surprised how well America had handled this event.
No matter how many times Rhett begged Kalteck not to create additional small wars as tests, he refused. Kalteck always said they were required to ensure the great powers’ militaries were prepared and well trained for the battles that were coming in the future.
Rhett always asked how a battle fifty to seventy-five years before the enemy arrival could teach the military how to fight the very advanced enemy when the current battles were very lopsided. “My friend, lopsided can tear both ways. If you’d failed in the Middle East conflict, what do you think the effect would be on your military?”
“We’d have to relive the post-Vietnam period again.”
“Yes, and you would have lost confidence in your leaders. Such tests are helpful and required to teach your military to look forward. They constantly have to be looking at how to fight the next war, not the last one. To many militaries expertly plan how to fight and win a war that already ended, then they are surprised when their enemy uses new tactics and weapons. Unless you constantly learn and improve, you won’t be prepared when the enemy fleet arrives.”
“But the loss of lives…”
“Is outweighed when you measure their loss against the loss of billions of humans or am I incorrect?”
Rhett paused while considering what he already knew, “Can you at least limit the size of the conflicts?”
“That is also a test, can your people learn how to fight a limited war without escalating them? Can you learn how to quickly locate and defeat your enemy when they fight unconventional wars? Remember your losses in Vietnam which should have been won within five years.”
“I understand why you’re doing this, but I don’t like it.”
“Of course you don’t. Neither do I, but can you suggest an alternative? I’m going to share with you that I’m going to undertake a massive change in the Soviets. No matter how much time I spend with their leaders, they aren’t changing. I am going to have to take a more direct approach.”
“You’re not going to involve America in your plan, are you?”
“No. Your country will be safe. I will show you my plan.”
Kalteck had managed to arrange a change of the Russian government. He arranged a major constitutional crisis of 1993 which became a political stand-off between the Russian president Boris Yeltsin and the Russian parliament.
Kalteck whispered to Yeltsin he should dissolve the country's legislature (the Congress of People's Deputies and its Supreme Soviet) because they were working behind his back to limit his powers. The Russian constitution did not give the president the power to dissolve the Congress, but this didn’t stop Yeltsin, who justified his orders by the results of their recent referendums. In response, the parliament declared the president’s decision null and void. They then impeached Yeltsin and proclaimed Vice President Aleksandr Rutskoy to be acting president.
Yeltsin ordered and carried out the arrest of the leaders of the resistance to his powers. At the climax of the crisis, Russia was thought by some to be "on the brink" of civil war. The ten-day conflict became the deadliest single event of street fighting in Moscow’s history since the Russian Revolution.187 people were killed and 437 wounded. In the end, Kalteck had shaken the Russian government to the point of looking at the future. He had built the foundation that led to real change in Russia.
Rhett had a ringside seat to the changes. He was privy to all of Kalteck’s plans. President Bush asked Rhett if America should get involved in the crisis. Rhett told the President not to do anything unless Russia attempted to attack America. Bush agreed to stand by and watch the events unfolding in Moscow while he kept the American military on alert.
After Yeltsin settled the uprising, Bush asked Kalteck to visit him at Camp David, “My friend, please tell me you wouldn’t take direct action in American politics as you just did in Russia.”
“Mr. President, as long as the American government doesn’t change tactics and stop working its way towards defeating the coming enemy I promise not to take direct action. If I believe I have to, I’ll agree to first consult with the current President, but if he or she refuses to discuss the issues then I will take what action I deem required in order to save humanity. If your own people decide to change course, I will do all I can do. If I can’t change the course you’re on, then I’ll leave you to your own disaster and deaths.”
“Thank you. Do you believe the Russians are going to change?”
“I believe their people are going to suffer before things turn around, and in the end, they will be freer than they have been in a very long time. I’ve given them a chance to have something none of them know what to do with. They haven’t experienced freedom or what it means to really have a voice in their government. I fear their votes will be purchased for a few pennies, which are more than they had before. I keep trying to remind officials that democracy only works with a well-educated public. Once that public loses its education, they’ll sell their own souls for a loaf of bread. I suggest you reach out to help them, maybe the two of you can mend your many differences.”
President Bush and Congress sat too long on the sidelines of the Russian revolution. One the people weren’t prepared for. The country lost a large percentage of their GNP until a strong leader reappeared to begin merging the people’s newfound freedom and the leader’s love of power.
President Bush quickly began to cut the American defense budget, he called it the “Peace Dividend.” Such cuts went against the agreement he had with Kalteck who decided the President wasn’t going to have a second term.
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In mid-1992, Kalteck fought a large battle with the stealth ship that had destroyed the Challenger. The battle raged over three days. Kalteck was surprised how quickly the unknown ship could change course and how powerful the ship’s shields were. His AI suggested tricking the enemy ship by placing small antimatter pumped X-ray weapon on a comet that was flying through the system. “The enemy won’t take notice of the comet. We won’t need to use a large weapon, which will make it easy to place on the comet’s body. When it passes close to the enemy, the weapon will explode. The hard radiation will kill the ship’s crew and AI.”
“So, all we have to do is lure the enemy close to the comet and let our weapon do the rest?”
“Yes, as soon as they are close enough, we’ll jump away, so we’re not caught in our own blast, and our problem will be taken care of.”
“What happens to the comet? I’m sure someone on Earth is watching the comet. I don’t want them to see our battle.”
“That part is easy, we lure the enemy to cross the comet’s path while it is out of sight of Earth. When the humans next see the comet it will have broken up and based on the following course.” Which was displayed on the large monitors for Kalteck to trace. “See, the comet will get grabbed by the gas giant’s gravity, so there won’t be any proof of our antimatter weapon or any lingering radiation.”
“I like it.”
“I’ll start the process; we can intercept the comet in fifty-nine hours.”
Astronomers on Earth were excited when they had the chance to watch a newly discovered comet, one they named Shoemaker-Levy 9 (formally designated D/1993 F2) that they were never able to explain why it had broken apart sometime in July 1992. And then they watched it collide with Jupiter in July 1994 providing the scientists with tons of data as the comet was compressed as it entered Jupiter’s dense atmosphere and gravity.
Kalteck laughed as he listened to the reports from Earth about the comet. His AI’s plan was perfect. He’d gotten rid of the enemy ship while also igniting the
desire of the humans to look towards space again.
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NASA had a series of successes, with a lot of assistance from Dr. Rhett McIntire. In December 1995, the Galileo probe arrived at Jupiter. Kalteck had already previously ensured the debris from the destroyed alien refueling base had been sent into the gas giant’s atmosphere, which crumbled them into dust. The second major success NASA pulled off in the 1990s was the Pathfinder probe which was the first probe to land on Mars. Kalteck has given the landing coordinates on Mars to Rhett to ensure the Pathfinder probe landed in a wasteland where it couldn’t locate anything of value nor any remains from the old civilization.
Kalteck was the most pleased with the launch in November of 1998 of the first ISS Module Launched. He told Rhett; this is a great day. This is the beginning of a new age for humanity. Your first permanent space station, from this humble beginning, your people will learn how to live in space. I hope they begin learning how to manufacture in space.
