Amy realized who she was looking at! Mr. New York! He didn’t have a cap on this time. We packed all the cameras! Amy watched the man and memorized his face. He was younger then she’d expected, less than thirty, with short red hair, an attractive face and brown eyes. He was about five feet ten inches tall, the same height as Amy. Amy turned to her Dad, “What flight is that?” indicating the lineup for security.
“They’re likely for the 3:05 pm to Houston. Our time to enter security is after them. You look a little sad. Is everything OK?”
Amy gave Dad her best smile, “No, everything’s good. Just the end of a vacation. Having to say goodbye to everyone. That’s all.” Amy watched Mr. New York disappear on the other side of security. She'd recognize him if she saw him again.
* * *
There was a small bar outside security for Gate 40. The bar area went back to windows overlooking the tarmac. There were only a few customers, served by a bartender who was also serving and cleaning up tables. One man entered and selected a small round table with two padded bar stools in the back corner, a spot not covered by the airport’s video surveillance. The man, who Frank had caught on video, put his backpack and the cardboard box in the corner, and ordered two beers from the bartender. He was joined by a second man two minutes later. The first man drank half of his beer without putting the bottle down. “Well, Dave, I missed that!”
“That's obvious, Nick!”
Nick looked around. The bar was quiet and no one was sitting close to them. The noise from business travelers and tourists passing between the bar and the café seating should drown out any talk. Not that it mattered much, as they were going to speak in Galactic, but he didn’t want to raise any suspicions. Nick leaned forward to allow him to speak quietly; Dave responded by leaning towards him. “After I called you, I returned to the abandoned village on Tau Ceti, and changed clothes there. By the time I returned to Sirius A and crept through the ferns to the edge of the campsite, I was only able to observe part of what was going on. I was too far away to hear it all. When it got to important stuff, Hillseeker would start talking quietly, so I missed most of it.”
“What did you get?” asked Dave.
“The three students, the ones I asked you to do the background check on, have been chosen by Hillseeker to represent Earth. For some reason Hillseeker used the name Simon when dealing with the students. I don’t think he told them his real name, and I never heard them use it. He has told them to go to Quenlac Three, the secret base of the Wayfarers. He never said the sequences loud enough for me to hear them, but the students have memorized the whole route. Hillseeker must have access to a lot of addresses as I’m guessing that the route has 20 or more transits, from the time it took for them to memorize it. We can follow them, or we can interrogate them, the Board will have to decide that. No one else seems to know about his recruitment of these students, but I have seen Hillseeker use drop points for messages on other planets when I followed him, so the Wayfarers Guild could know. That’s why we have to be careful.”
Nick stopped to check his mental list; he followed the Society of the Book rules and nothing, ever, was written down. “Galactic has changed out there, and all of the planets I went to have a more modern dialect. We’ll all have to learn that.” Dave wasn’t taking notes, and wouldn’t as he was also trained to rely on his memory. Nick finished the rest of his beer and waved to the bartender for another round.
After the bartender left, Nick continued, “I don’t know why Hillseeker chose these three students. Our Board is really going to be mad; they thought that when the archways and pillars were reactivated, they would represent Earth. It’ll be interesting to watch their reaction. There was no one at the pillar when I came back, but they must have detected the use of the pillar, as the people in the town said the military were in the area looking for something. We should stay away from the pillar for a while.” That finished the second beer, but Nick decided to stop; he needed to keep his wits today.
“Interesting,” said Dave, “but why meet at Newark Airport?”
“You’re my deputy, so I want you up-to-date. The fact that I spotted someone following me before I left still bothers me. My identity could only have been revealed by someone in the Society of the Book itself. I have a job for your cell. With six field agents plus yourself, you should have enough people to do this.”
Nick added quietly. “I will tell the Chair and the Board everything, including the names of the three students, but I want to start surveillance on the students before that. Information known only to the Board has leaked, and you and I have to assume that there could be a traitor on the Board. I want your people there first, to watch, and if necessary protect these students. One of your field agents is to enroll in the same Duke University courses as Amy La Reine, the final year of a Political Science degree. Your group will watch her at Duke University, and have her followed if she leaves the university grounds.”
“What resources can I call on?” asked Dave.
“Off campus, have the field agents follow her. If you need more help, contact me in the usual ways.” Nick thought some more. “In fact, this is so important, that I want you to transfer to Duke. The political science courses will be an asset to you in your work for the Society, and you still look young enough to be a student. The other field agents can support you.”
“That makes sense,” Dave replied, “but getting registered this late will be a problem. Do we have contacts at Duke?”
“We do. I’ll get Miss La Reine’s course list sent to you. Send in an application to transfer to Duke, date it from four months ago and it will get treated as a lost application. We’ll set up a scholarship so you can pay your tuition and bills without suspicion.”
“What about the other two?” asked Dave.
“I’m making similar arrangements for them. Paul Fortezza is the difficult one as we have only a few assets in Italy, but he’s enrolled at a military institute and we expect that he stays in one set of buildings in Turin except on weekends.”
Nick looked regretfully at the empty beer bottle. “Well that’s it; I’ll contact you by pager or encrypted cellphone on the normal schedule. If there’s some emergency involving Miss La Reine you know the procedures.”
Dave just nodded, finished the last few dregs of his beer, and moved off without looking back. Nick paid the bill with cash while he waited to be sure they wouldn’t appear together on the security cameras. He gave a tip that was neither too small nor too large; that way the bartender shouldn’t remember them.
* * *
From: Amy La Reine
Sent: Monday, 9:08am
To: Frank, Paul
Subject: Down to Earth
We’re all back to normal here. I’m packing up my stuff for university. Two piles now. One to take to university and one to box up and move to the garage as I won’t be coming back after graduation (I haven’t told them yet).
The reality has set in. I want to say, ‘that’s so not my problem’, but of course, now that we represent a multiple office organization, it is. I enjoyed the visits to the ruins, and look forward to going back and beyond. Who would have believed what we saw, and I’m glad we gave the slip to those nasty types out there. I saw Mr. New York in the airport but I didn’t have a camera! I can send you a good description of him later. I’m looking forward to getting those DVDs from you Frank so I can practice the language.
I haven’t video chatted with Paul yet. I didn’t think of the time zone differences from Italy to the US. I suggest we set a time to get on a three way video call each week; it will be a compromise for all of us. So we don’t ruin a weekend, let’s try Sunday at 6:00pm for me, that’s 7:00pm for Frank, and midnight for Paul. Let me know if that doesn’t work.
Good luck with your studies!
Love
Amy
“There's only one Elizabeth like me and that's the Queen.” - Elizabeth Arden
Chapter 10 – Outcomes
; Senator Abrams banged the gavel on the committee table, calling the Orbital Research Facilities Committee members back to their chairs. It had been a long morning, but there was only one item left. “Colonel Richards, it’s your turn.”
Dan stood up and moved over to the end of the table. He left the whiteboard doors closed so the committee members would focus on him. “The item on your agenda is called Gravitational Pulses. In the package, we distributed a scientific report on the possible sources of gravitational pulses. To save us the time of going through it, let me summarize it for you.” This brought out smiles; some of the committee members didn’t have a scientific background and hadn’t even tried to understand the report.
“Simply put,” he continued, “there are only two sources of gravitational pulses known to us. First are the astronomical events in this and other galaxies, usually involving collapsing, or exploding stars. The second is from nuclear explosions and high-energy physics equipment here on Earth, with that type of equipment located in two-dozen universities and research facilities across the planet. These are the only known sources. As you know, one of the instruments on the satellite was designed to detect those pulses for civilian and military purposes, and then take a series of readings on the waves of gravitational pulses to give us a direction to the event.”
“I understand that,” said one of scientists on the Committee, probably impatient with all the layman talk, “but what are these other gravitational pulses?”
“Senator,” said Dan addressing Senator Abrams as the Chair, hoping the Senator would keep his committee members under control. “If you look at the second part of the package, the blue pages, you will see a chart of the times of all the pulses we detected that came from this area in Mexico.” He opened the doors of the white board. Held by magnetic strips, was a large aerial photo of the area around the ruins in Mexico. The map included labels for the resort, the village, and an arrow pointing off the map to the nearest town, San Crecerlan. Also highlighted were a number of archeological ruins, including the ruins with the mural.
“This is an undeveloped area of Mexico, and apart from the resort, there are no modern facilities. There are no military or research facilities in this area, buried or on the surface. We had our deep penetration radar surveillance satellite check that. Yet, this area definitely was the source of the pulses. We checked for an equipment malfunction, but there was none. We had a university lab create a similar series of pulses to those in Mexico, and the satellite gave us the right location within five miles. We’ve had our Army Intelligence teams, CIA, and the Mexican military, on the ground during the time that the pulses originated, but nothing was found.”
“How about all these pulses, can you say they all came from Mexico?” one of the committee members asked.
Dan looked to the Senator, and he nodded that Dan should answer, “No, we can’t. We’ve assumed that. There was no other known source once we eliminated laboratory experiments,” answered Colonel Richards. “If you look at the timing of the groups of pulses you can see that some occurred before dawn and around dusk on a series of days, and then if you look at each group of pulses you see some small variations in timing. This tells us that some human agency was involved.”
Senator Abrams interrupted, “So Colonel, now that the pulses have changed from groups of three to single pulses, and now have not occurred for a week, what are your conclusions?”
Taking the hint to move things along, Dan summarized, “Sir, our conclusion is that the gravitational pulses are caused by a human agency, by some form of equipment that we are not aware of. Scientifically it is a curiosity, but there is no evidence at this time that this is a risk to the United States. We’ll continue to monitor any future gravitational pulses and report them to Army Intelligence, the CIA, the Mexican military, and the Committee.”
General Hardisty had been sitting on one of the chairs at the side of the room, as he was not one of the committee members. He stood up and signaled to Senator Abrams that he wished to speak. Dan returned to his chair at the table.
Senator Abrams knew that General Hardisty’s presence meant trouble. He had little respect for the General as he had a habit of blaming subordinates for any problems, and he showed little respect for the civilian oversight of the military. “Please proceed General,” said Senator Abrams, but he couldn’t resist adding, “We recognize that Colonel Richards as well as being a scientist is also a member of the military, in fact, your subordinate.”
General Hardisty moved to the end of the table and opened his binder. The General smiled stiffly at Senator Abrams, but neither of them believed it, and started, “Colonel Richards has provided his scientific assessment of the situation, however, that is not the military assessment. I was travelling back to Washington and Colonel Richards did not clear his report with me before it was submitted to the Committee.” The Senator saw that the committee members were now intent on General Hardisty, wondering where this was going, as he was. “Colonel Richards is wrong in his assessment of this as a scientific curiosity. There are too many unknown factors in these events; therefore, the military will look on this as possible terrorist activity until the source is identified. We lost an opportunity to find the terrorists as the ground operation was poorly carried out by Colonel Richards.”
“But, General,” interrupted Senator Abrams, knowing his impatience showed in his voice, “both you and I received the operational plans from Colonel Richards. Why didn’t you say something then? You could have changed the plans. Colonel Richards’ report says that they are going to continue to monitor these events. Also, in the report it says that the destruction of minuscule quantities of matter is the only known source of gravitational pulses on this planet, apart from nuclear explosions, which this obviously wasn’t. The manufacture of radioactive materials does not produce gravitational pulses. Do you know of any other source?”
“That is the point,” said General Hardisty firmly. “We don’t know! If we don’t know then there is a risk that represents a real danger to the United States. We have under-responded in the past and that has cost lives, both military and civilian. We need to deal with this situation as a real threat to security until it is proven otherwise. That is the only reasonable course of action.”
“That’s all very well, General, and we appreciate your concern for the security of the United States, but we need proof of the threat before we consider action,” continued Senator Abrams. “For the record, this committee minutes will show that the report presented by Colonel Richards will be accepted along with the conclusions and recommendations, that the level of effort in the search in Mexico was appropriate, and that we will continue to monitor any future pulses in order to identify the source. If there is further evidence that should change that assessment we ask that General Hardisty and Colonel Richards present it to the Committee as soon as possible. Is that all right with you, General?”
Hardisty hands tensed into fists as he responded, “Mr. Chair, you have our written report on the military assessment. This situation presents too many unknown risks to the security of the United States. Therefore, the military must look on this situation as possible and increasing terrorist activity until the equipment producing the gravitational pulses is identified and destroyed. We had an opportunity to find the terrorists before, but Colonel Richards failed in his mission. Whatever these terrorists are doing, the activity is continuing, and therefore the threat.”
The Senator could not let this go without some resolution, “General Hardisty, You said ‘must take appropriate action’, what do you mean by that?”
“The risk is apparent and the military must and can respond in self-defense of the United States as permitted by the UN Charter,” answered General Hardisty, without courtesy, closing his binder with a thud.
Senator Abrams was so shocked he couldn’t respond for a second
Carl Davis, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, a temporary member of the committee, jumped in, “What evidence do you have t
o connect these gravitational pulses with terrorists?”
The Senator realized that Hardisty didn’t recognized Carl Davis. It was not a surprise, as Hardisty never cared to learn who was in what position at the Defense Department, but he should have known that Carl Davis was second in authority only to the Secretary of Defense.
“There are too many unknowns, and as this is probably terrorism, it requires the military to act,” was the curt answered from General Hardisty.
“Do you intend to take action on Mexican soil?” asked Davis.
Hardisty didn’t hesitate, answering, “As soon as we have a target. The potential threat is there. For the sake of the security of the United States we will act.”
Seeing where this was going, Senator Abrams decided he’d better jump in to get things on track. “General Hardisty, it is the role of this the Committee to determine if this situation currently may represent a threat to the United States, not yours. If we determine that a probable threat exists, then this Committee will refer it with some urgency to the appropriate authority. I’m certain that you agree with that.”
General Hardisty’s teeth were clenched, a look of frustration on his face, and his body held stiffly. His response was spat out one word at a time, “These decisions cannot be left in the hands of scientists, politicians and bureaucrats.” Everyone was shocked; those that weren’t looking at the General were looking at Senator Abrams as the Chair.
“General Hardisty!” interrupted the Senator. “I’m sure that you want to clarify that last statement, and maybe restate it for the record, so we can clearly understand what you intended to say. I’m sure you agree that the military follows commands given by civilian authorities.” He’d emphasized ‘restate’ and ‘intended’.