Overlord (55 page)

“Gentlemen, it’s time we show the general what he is here to protect. I believe the time for spy versus spy has passed, as we are dangerously short of time. You gentlemen have yet to install the power plant that is still in transit from McMurdo Station, and have even yet to see if the bloody thing will work with technology it was never meant for—after all, we only have the assurance from our small alien friend that the two systems are even compatible. Let us share with the general what it is Her Majesty’s government uncovered over thirty years ago and has spent the fortunes of six countries to develop and repair, shall we?”

Admiral Huffington slammed his palm down on the tabletop. The Royal Navy man was furious, but he was in a tight corner because everything the professor had said was true—they were out of time. He nodded his head in agreement.

“Well, General Collins, gather your staff and tell them to meet us in section 2287. It is a very long ride. And tell them to dress warm.”

Jack stood as well as Farbeaux and was soon joined by Sir Bennett.

“Shall we go and introduce you to Overlord?”

*   *   *

Sir Darcy Bennett, Collins, and Farbeaux met Sebastian, Tram, and Will at the large junction that had tunnels carved in the ice that ran off in differing directions like the spokes of a wagon wheel, with the exception of one. This one was closed off to the men and women of Camp Alamo and sealed with a large steel door. Standing guard at the door were five SAS soldiers in white camouflaged battle dress, with two fifty-caliber machine guns stationed on either side of the dual sliding doors.

As they waited a tram pulled up with Admirals Kinkaid and Huffington, who looked none too pleased at the filleting of their security precautions. General Collins’s outright refusal to add additional security, as per their request, probably did not help matters. Collins steadfastly refrained from answering, only saying that he was fearful that by breaking up individual teams from the 101st and 82nd, especially with their lack of Antarctic training, would muddy what little teamwork the two divisions had established during their original mountain training of six months before. To break up men who had at least that much training together, sending 10 percent of them to Overlord, would disrupt Jack’s command. As the defense leader he had that right to refuse—that’s why he had the two stars on his collar. Thanks to Sebastian, Tram, and Henri, the admirals never thought that Jack’s staff could find enough excuses to refuse them, and they were, to say the least, put out by this.

The two men waited inside the automatically driven tram as the men loaded in. The SAS watch commander checked the identification badges that hung around their necks; even the two admirals were questioned and then finally passed through.

The men were placed inside the tram in groups of threes and the final two rows of seats were reserved for four heavily armed SAS soldiers. Admiral Huffington nodded at the gate security and from a glass-enclosed booth the guard opened the automatic blast doors. Collins watched from the second row of seats as first one set of doors opened left to right and slid into the ice wall on either side; then just as rapidly a second set of heavier, thicker doors slid up and into the ceiling and floor. As the men looked beyond they saw that the track was concrete and that it vanished after only a few feet inside the large-mouthed tunnel. The tram started forward without any noise other than the wind rushing down the tunnel. The temperature dropped dramatically as the car moved in.

As they watched the crystalline ice slide by, the speed of the tram increased, creating an additional freezing wind that reddened their faces. Then the car angled down sharply. Jack heard Will Mendenhall yelp—Will was afraid of anything that moved without him being in control. That was thanks to Jason Ryan. Ryan scared the young captain any chance he got with his flying and the driving of any wheeled vehicle. Jack had always meant to talk to the navy man about freaking everyone out with his prowess with machines, but never had gotten around to it.

Professor Bennett, sitting next to Jack, started to explain that which he had already partially guessed, but never in his wildest imagination did he expect to hear the real story of the origins of Operation Overlord. Before Bennett started, a glass bubble came up from both sides of the tram and then a clear glass shield did the same at the front and the rear. The tram slowed while still on a downward angle and then came to a stop. Before anyone could even think about what was happening, the tram started straight down on an elevator the men never saw. It started traveling at a high rate of speed and then suddenly stopped, and then before that shock wore off the tram started forward once more, this time at a slower rate of travel. As the lighting came up at a higher illumination, Collins and the others could see that the strata of ice had changed dramatically. It was now mostly solid and transparent. It was literally a block of ice they were traveling through.

Sir Bennett placed a small headset on as the two admirals frowned, and started telling the tale they all had waited to hear.

“Gentlemen, what you see all around you is a prehistoric inland body of water, named the Shackleton Sea. It was discovered approximately thirty-five years ago by a British survey team sinking test holes for volcanic activity. In the estimation of our science boys, and through the efforts of the University of California and the National Weather Data Center in the United States, we have come to the conclusion that the Shackleton Sea is well over 700 million years in age.”

Collins looked back and saw that his four staff members were duly impressed as the frozen sea whizzed past them at thirty miles per hour and was still traveling deeper as Bennett continued.

“Species of microbial life from the time before the continents separated have been recovered during excavation—animal life never before seen or documented. As the geology teams continued to drill for core samples, some very amazing things started to be brought up from this very, very deep sea. Things, gentlemen, that had no right to be anywhere on this planet at any time in its history—shards of metal, pieces of dense unknown carbon fibers, and, dare I say, even human remains.”

Farbeaux had his sense of wonder piqued as he looked from the green-tinted ice toward Mendenhall, who didn’t look like he was enjoying the tour one bit as the tram traveled even deeper. Bennett seemed to sense Will’s unease and added another little trivia fact.

“I dare say that we have one point eight miles of inland sea above our heads at this very moment.”

Mendenhall lowered his head and it was the small, very intrigued man from Southeast Asia that gave Will a sympathetic pat on the shoulder as the captain just realized that after his trip into outer space and his ride to the moon, he had developed an extreme case of claustrophobia.

“Through an accidental break in the ice in the eighties, a weather team of scientists discovered something rather bizarre that sent our world into chaos. After we achieved access we sent large teams down into the sea and started analyzing the find. Finally, after we analyzed the samples of composite fiber, plastic, and steel from an ancient discovery, we were shocked to see the artifact, to say the least, was viable to the point that it looked brand-new, despite the scorch marks and damage it had sustained during some confrontation or the other. Four years ago, after the moon missions and the discovery of alien technology in South America, we started to share our amazing find with our counterparts in America, and thus we learned about your little house guest in Arizona. We learned the tale of the tape, so to speak, of the ancient war between Mars and our common enemy, the Grays. Then it all started to make sense with the information of the finds on the moon and the magnificent technology uncovered in Peru.”

Jack knew the story, and hoped Will could come up for air long enough to explain to the others, as they only knew their little contributions to the entirety of the tale.

“Through the cooperation of entities inside of America”—Jack knew Bennett was referring to that little secret facility in the desert—“a deal was struck to give our government and others a certain amount of access to Mr. Mahjtic. His explanation of the disastrous war 700 million years ago sent us off in a new direction as far as excavating this site was concerned. But the current defense plan was not engineered until an old plan was taken from the files of Garrison Lee, a man I greatly admired and one who was familiar with the head of our MI6, Lord Durnsford. That gave Senator Lee’s conclusions instant credibility, at least in our eyes. It seems Lee, being responsible for the conclusions reached at Roswell those many years ago, came to the conclusion, rather quickly, that we hadn’t a chance of fighting such a war with the Grays. We would lose and lose badly. The obviousness of his findings was what led to the creation of Operation Overlord, with one vital piece missing.”

“The use of alien technology to fight,” Jack mumbled as he watched the passing ice sea.

“Correct, General, very good.” Bennett smiled over at the two stone-faced admirals. “Senator Lee’s conclusions were reached after he studied what remained of the evidence at Roswell. But, gentlemen, he never realized that an earlier war had been fought millions of years before the event at New Mexico. But when the mine system in Peru was discovered he became aware in the final moments of his life what the finds really meant, and passed this on to to your president while he laying dying inside Air Force One on the runway in Peru.”

Collins now remembered that Alice and the president were the last to speak to Garrison Lee in the moments before his death and now he knew what was told to them by Lee: recover any and all Martian war material for use in the upcoming fight. He knew that man’s true ancestors, the very beings that made Earth their final refuge, had left the means to do battle.

The tram started to slow as they approached another, even larger gate system.

Bennett removed the headset and mic from his head, then leaned over to speak with Jack privately.

“As we expanded the archeological site surrounding the Shackleton Sea, we found something that confused everyone in the know on the events on the moon, in Peru, and here, General.”

“You brought up Carl Everett’s wristwatch containing samples of my blood,” Jack said, not looking at Sir Darcy Bennett.

“And that, coupled with what you are about to see, made us keenly aware that you and Mr. Everett had to be onboard the team no matter what, because the finding of the watch in such an ancient sea dictated your involvement in the project. Frankly, General, we couldn’t afford the chance that removing you would change our destiny.”

“Thus the secrecy and the need to know.”

“Precisely.”

The project leader stepped from the tram and turned to the other members of Jack’s staff.

“Our alien friend in Arizona struck on the Overlord plan after we found what you are about to see. He knew the ancient power source of a Martian engine would not be viable after seven hundred million years and knew we had to replace that source. The only thing that could do that, I’m afraid, died with the Martians before the continents separated.”

“The Grays had the answer,” Collins said as he watched the SAS security team advance on the tram and its occupants. “We needed the power plant from the downed saucer at Roswell. When we didn’t have that we had to turn to the two downed ships in Arizona six years ago.” Jack turned and faced the two admirals as they listened, trying to get under their skin as much as possible with the realization that their little secret was never as secret as they were led to believe. “When the damage to them was proven too great to repair and the fact you were having a difficult time reverse-engineering the two power plants, the search for other downed saucers throughout our history commenced. Then one was finally found, in Iran, and thus the small battle of a week ago.”

Sir Darcy smiled and looked at the two admirals, who were shocked that so much information could be delivered by Collins.

“Oops,” Bennett said in mock astonishment. “It looks like the secret is out, and only several thousand people besides the general have more than likely figured it out for themselves.”

“Okay, we were bloody wrong about security. You have made your point, General Collins,” Admiral Huffington said, defeated.

With his staff gathered around him, Jack continued to finish his conclusions.

“Now that the power plant is obviously enroute, you intend to fulfill Senator Lee’s and Mahjtic’s plan. All we need to know is what it is you found that gave our alien ally the slightest hope that we can be saved before the full-scale assault begins.”

Bennett nodded his head at the SAS guards, who turned away from the group and activated the large blast doors to their front.

Jack and the others stepped up as Sir Darcy placed his hands behind his back, and like his boss, Lord Durnsford, did at Schofield Barracks, rocked back and forth on his heels as the doors opened.

“Gentlemen, I give you the answer you have been waiting to hear and the means of defeating the invaders of our world. This is the heart and soul of Operation Overlord.”

The blast doors parted in their double-axis sliding fashion. The men stepped up to the brightly illuminated and enormous excavated cave, and the truth of their combined history was theirs for the viewing.

“My lord!”

Major Sebastian Krell summed it up for the staff of General Jack Collins as the doors opened wide. And even the normally silent Tram started talking in Vietnamese when the sight was finally revealed.

Jack took in the most unbelievable sight ever created by the hand of man—a Martian hand for sure, but a human too, nonetheless. At that moment the real truth of Operation Overlord overwhelmed his thoughts.

The object was so large that it had to have been built by the hands of the ancient gods.

“Gentlemen, I give you Her Majesty’s Ship,
Garrison Lee.
”

15

As the four-man staff of General Collins stepped forward and looked down upon the ship lying in a fog of thick condensation, they saw the immense cavern that encompassed no less than four square miles of excavated Inland Sea, which explained the large blank spot on the map of Camp Alamo.