Falling Star (42 page)

"Go ahead, Mr. President.  You can't appreciate the true significance unless you hold it up to the light.  Here, let me show you how."

"Thank you, Commander."

The President held the plate so that the light of the table lamp skipped over the surface like the rays of the rising sun.  The hologram rose out of the plate and the President saw what Johnny Thapaha had seen over the forty-some years he had welcomed the morning sunrise with plate in hand.  The effect was startling.  The President passed it over to Thurgood Bensen, who in turn passed it to the next man in the room.

The plate was finally returned to Mike who returned it to the velvet box and the box into his aluminum briefcase.  "We're currently translating other data that had been recovered from the crash sites.  Early indications are that we're finding out some very interesting information."

"Where are these aliens from?" said Director Gooding of the CIA.

"We believe that Thebes is a planet much like ours, circling a dying red star near Alpha Centauri," said Admiral Oliver.

"What are the implications of what you just said, Admiral?" said Senator Thurgood Benson.

"So far, this is just speculation," said Oliver.  "Our analysts haven't had the chance to interpret all the documents found on the alien craft in our possession.  However, we believe that the Theban people are concerned with the ebbing power of their sun and have determined that our planet is a potential alternative."

"Damn."

"What about Watch Station Three?" said Bo Reddington.

"Let me turn this over to Admiral McHugh."

"Watch Station Three was deserted, as was reported earlier," said McHugh, as he walked to the map on the easel that had been set up in the office.  The station is located here, about 100 miles off of Santa Catalina Island."

McHugh pointed to the location of the Watch Station on the map.

"We inspected the site.  The object appears to be as tranquil as always, but the station was empty.  The Coast Guard found debris from
Benthic Ranger One
.  We found what remained of
Benthic Ranger One
and its crew.  It's best to leave them there, it wasn't pretty."

"What about the second Benthic Ranger?" said Bo Reddington.

"
Benthic Ranger Two
is missing and, with her, the remaining crew from Watch Station Three.  Part of the Watch Station had imploded, leading us to suspect that Messinger abandoned the Watch Station, taking his crew with him.  Carlton Messinger -- you probably know him, Admiral Smith -- was the inventor of the Mess-I reactor.  We were looking for a lot out of that guy."

"Damn shame, he was top in his class at the Academy.  I taught him mechanics," said Admiral Smith.

"Messinger did have the presence of mind to enter a fairly detailed report into the station log.  Fearing that the attacker might intercept any messages or take any information in the memory of the computer, Messinger had the memory erased and destroyed.  The message he left was encrypted by manual means and was found during our inspection of the command module by Captain Mannington.

"What did Messinger say?" said the President.

"Messinger described the earlier events already reported to you.  However on the critical point concerning the abandonment of the Watch Station there was nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing, except an order to abandon the station, sir," said McHugh.  "After the search team got topside, we instituted a wide area search including the use of the latest Nematode, a towed side-scan sonar and closed circuit television package capable of extremely deep operating depths.  Nothing. 
Benthic Ranger Two
simply vanished.

"Apparently, Watch Station Three was attacked by a black unidentified submersible with an incredible weapon, a focused sonic pulse, which caused the stores module of the Watch Station and
Benthic Ranger One
to literally explode.  The focused sonic pulse is a theoretical weapon that both DARPA and the KGB's Scientific and Technical Directorate have been trying to develop for years.

"There is also a suspicion that the North Koreans might have developed this technology.  Some analysts at Central Intelligence believe that a core group of the KGB's Scientific and Technical Directorate staff may have defected to the North Korea following Glasnost and the dismantling of the KGB staff at Lubyanka."

"Why North Korea, Admiral McHugh?" said the President.

"Mr. President, we suspect that the core group at the Directorate were diehard Bolsheviks," said CIA Director Gooding.  "But even Bolsheviks enjoy the good life that the Arabic countries like Iraqi or Syria just can't supply.  Hence, the North Koreans."

"Why didn't we put in a bid for this talent, Mr. Gooding?" said Reddington, his already narrowed eyes piercing into Gooding as he talked.

"We did.  Their price was too high.  They disappeared before we could institute other measures."

Reddington just stared at Gooding.  Gooding sat down, obviously uncomfortable.

McHugh cleared his throat.  "Apparently, Messinger gave the order to abandon the Watch Station after the attacking vessel had destroyed
Benthic Ranger One
and was making another move toward the Watch Station.  If some terrorist nation were to get this weapon, we'd better get going.  Our whole nuclear fleet could be in jeopardy.  The unidentified attacker also withstood a direct hit with a uranium torpedo."

"What?" said Senator Thurgood Bensen, a proponent of nuclear disarmament.

"The uranium torpedo has a uranium head to help penetrate any metal that we know of.  The depleted uranium doesn't contain any radioactive material to speak of; it is used solely for its atomic weight.  Once the uranium head penetrates the hull of an enemy, the conventional explosives behind the head ignite.  Our experts believed that this weapon was invincible.  The crew of
Benthic Ranger One
even blasted the attacker with a blue green laser, an experimental weapon -- to no avail."

"Do we know what happened to Messinger and
Benthic Ranger Two
?" said Admiral Smith.

"The submersible and its crew are gone, disappeared.  There was no trace of the submersible anywhere in the search area," said McHugh.

"Do we think the Russians have this sonic technology?" said the President.

"None of our intelligence agencies have been able to detect anything like that in the Russian arsenal," said Gooding.

"What if it came from the Sentinel?" said Tillingham.

"I would recommend some planning for that eventuality," said McHugh.

The President looked up toward McHugh, as if hearing the word for the first time.  "How's the integration of the military going at CSAC, Bob?"

"Very well, Mr. President.  As you know, we have been quietly building up our military response capabilities.  All Delta Force level men and, er, women under a unified command.  Couldn't have asked for a more dedicated team -- all seasoned troops, Granada, Iraq, Afghan, Bosnia, name it."

"Afghan?" said Secretary Littleton.

"Yes, Jason," said the President.  "Some things are better left unasked."

His face flushed at the last remark, but Littleton knew when to press a point, and this was not the right time.

"What about the attacks on our CSAC agents?" said Reddington.

Judge Alexander nodded.  "My agents uncovered a KGB ring of moles that had been sent to infiltrate American society.  The KGB colonel general and resident agent for this group, code-named Project Cicada, was acting on his own.  The leader, as he was called, didn't want his life's work to go down the drain with the rest of the USSR.  When the Kremlin fell apart, General Lechenkov decided to freelance, to demonstrate the importance of his group.

"His agent in the Pentagon, who incidentally was his illegitimate son -- a natural born American, had tapped into the CSAC communications network and knew the travel plans of our agent/couriers.  We believe that we've been able to eradicate the main force behind this cell of spies.  Lechenkov left some pretty good records, which we're going through at this moment.  We think that we can wrap up this ring in short order.

"One critical part of the ring, an agent with the code name Dimitri, did manage to escape, but we've alerted Interpol.  This Dimitri used an auto repair shop as a cover.  He is apparently quite good at what he does and may give us more headaches in the future."

The President turned to General Ryder who was sitting to his right.  "General, where do we stand with the strategic defense initiative?"

"Mr. President, the latest round of debates frankly has us scared.  It seems that too many people are demanding the so-called 'peace dividend' right away.  Although we anticipated some fall-out from the collapse of the Soviet Empire, we didn't expect that SDI would be curtailed so drastically.  We're doing our best, sir, but we need more funds."

Turning to Bo Reddington, the President said, "Bo, what are SDI's chances in Congress?"

"Not good, Mr. President.  The other guys are clamoring for the peace dividend just like General Ryder said.  It's become a hot topic."

"What about the strategy that we need this technology for Nemesis?"

"We've made some progress on that front.  Seems we struck a chord with some civilian scientists who have been monitoring asteroids and their orbits.  The theory that the dinosaurs were annihilated by a comet crashing into the Yucatan Peninsula has captured the popular imagination.  The possibility of a dark star, Nemesis, somewhere flinging comets and other debris at the Earth has also captivated the people.  But, with all candor, Mr. President, I think we need to have a high level meeting with Speaker Ronerson."

The President winced at the name of his own nemesis.  Speaker Mitchell Ronerson, the current speaker of the House of Representatives was from the opposition party.  He had made it his mission in life to make the President's life, to say the least, interesting.  The President did not like the portly gentleman from Montana and thinking that he would have to win his vote on this critical matter seemed abhorrent.

"Thank you.  What about the message?" said the President.

"Here it is, Mr. President," said Mike, taking the metallic file from his briefcase and handing it to the President.

The President ran the file through the encoder device held out by Mike and opened the folder.  He sat down behind his desk in the Oval Room and read the short message.

The message read:

Third Planet, NG-33 System, Galaxy 1530-G, 1300 Starlengths.  Planet under Severe Environmental Stress.  Despite Our Efforts to Stabilize Political Imbalances By Elimination of One Competitor, Species Unable to Unify for Environmental Action.  Ozone Depletion Approaching Critical Phase.  Species Can Not Be Depended Upon to Further Manage This Asset.  Council Has Directed Management of Resources To Be Fundamental Component of Utilization Plan for Third Planet.  Intervention Imperative to Preserve Resources.  Estimated 1300.2 Starlengths.

The President reread the short message several times, the import of the message sinking deeper and deeper with each reading.  Finally, he put down the slip of paper and looked up to McHugh and Mike.

"What does starlength mean?"

"Apparently, each starlength equates to one of our centuries.  Therefore, Starlength 1300.2 probably means 2013, about twenty years from this date," said McHugh.

Looking past McHugh and Mike to the assembled group, the President said, "Gentlemen, it looks as if we have our work cut out for us.  God, let's hope that SDI works."

- End -

The author of
Falling Star
is Philip Chen, like the character of Mike Liu, was involved with ocean research engineering during his early career and later moved on to other endeavors including trial law and investment banking.  This is his first novel.

Note:

Review comments on the back cover can be found in their entirety on the Amazon.com page for
Falling Star
.  The link for this page is:

http://www.amazon.com/Falling-Star-The-Watchers-ebook/dp/B003YCPK4C