The Gemini Divergence (56 page)

Gus yelled, “Attention!”

Lemay stopped them, “Don’t worry about that
stuff if nobody else is around yet boys… Sorry I had to shanghai
you two into being guards, but the Overseers insisted that we have
guards because they wanted to bring their own, and I didn’t want
anybody else that didn’t need to know what the hell was going on to
be privy to anything they don’t need too.”

Gus asked, “Is Mr. Volmer going to be here
today?”

“No, he’s busy getting those new Blue Gemini
capsules ready; hopping back and forth between St. Louis and
Vandenberg. We’re going to launch the Air Force version of the
Gemini capsules from there.”

They all turned as an Army sedan pulled up
and a man in a poorly fitting suit stepped out.

The man threw a bag over his shoulder and
then grabbed an attaché case from the car and closed the door.

As the car drove away, the man walked up and
introduced himself to the General, in a thick Russian accent.

“General Lemay Sir, I recognize you from many
photographs that I have seen. It is a pleasure to meet you,” He
held his hand out to shake; “I am Gennedy Kasparov.”

Lemay instantly smiled broadly and gladly
shook hands, “Mr. Kasparov, I have heard so much about you… I hear
that you have been my Soviet equivalent since this whole thing
started during the big war.”

“Yes, it has been a great while.”

“We have to sit down and swap notes before
you leave; maybe after the Germans leave today.”

“Yes, that would be…” Suddenly, Gennedy’s
eyes were drawn to something over Lemay’s head.

Lemay turned around to see a saucer coming
around from behind to land in front of them.

Lemay chuckled, “What’s the matter Mr.
Kasparov? Is this the first time that you have actually seen
one?”

“It is the first time that I have seen one
actually being flown by the Raumsfahrtwaffe. I have been privileged
to touch one before, after we shot it down over Kapustin Yar.”

“Lemay remarked, “Yeah, I touched that one
too, after you boys ran out of vril and left it sitting on
Spitsbergen.”

“Yes, you managed to pick that up before we
could arrive to retrieve it.”

“Lemay leaned over and whispered, “No luck
reproducing the vril either, eh?”

“I don’t know if I could tell you if we did,
General.”

“Well, you just did; because if you boys did
reproduce it. You would have already been briefed to deny it,
“quipped Lemay as he winked.

Then Lemay turned and put his arm around
Gennedy and said, “Let’s warm our seats before the ice fairy comes
in.”

“Ice fairy?”

“You’ll see.”

*~*

As they walked in, they were greeted by
McNamara and General Taylor, who were already sitting.

General Taylor informed them, “President
Johnson will not attend today. He felt that he had more pressing
things to do.”

Lemay chuckled, “I knew he would get yellow
before he actually showed up.”

“I insisted that he not be here in person. We
have to protect our President.”

“You wouldn’t know how to protect your
privates from a two bit whore,” taunted Lemay as he sat down, and
then gestured for Mr. Kasparov to sit.

Gennedy smiled to himself as he thought,
I
see the American generals bicker like children just as Soviet
generals do.

*~*

Once the kugelblitzen had landed, and was
joined by another, four figures emerged from them.

A pair of guards stopped in front of the two
craft and stood their positions as two others started across the
tarmac towards Gus and Jack.

Gus could finally make out the figure of
Schwerig, now wearing much more pronounced epaulets than he had
seen him with before; Oberst Graff, again at his side.

As they approached, Schwerig started to
remove his gloves, “Well if it isn’t Sergeant Gus and his
shadow.

“The one with the horrible table manners,”
interjected Graff.

Gus looked at Graff and then to Schwerig and
quipped, “Wow… How did you teach your calliope monkey how to
talk?”

Gus’s crack caused Jack to laugh. Schwerig
even smiled slightly, but Graff was silently fuming.

Schwerig, as usual, got to business as
quickly as possible, “Are all of the invited dignitaries in
attendance sergeant?”

“Everyone that is going to be here today is
waiting inside, Mr. Schwerig.”

“Feldmarschall,” corrected Schwerig.

“Sorry, Field Marshall. I am not that
familiar with your rank markings… Jack… Open the door and announce
our visitors, please.”

*~*

Once inside, Schwerig removed his coat then
draped it over his chair. Looking around the room, he could see
that Volmer was not there.

He addressed Lemay first, “General Lemay, It
has been a while. You look much …older.”

“I see that your uniform has picked up quite
a few Christmas ornaments as well since we last saw each other face
to face,” responded Lemay.

“I see that you haven’t picked up your fifth
star yet.”

Lemay, slightly disgusted, “Well, Congress
has decided that they aren’t going to hand out any more of those
since they seem to be under the impression that we are not fighting
you boys anymore.”

Schwerig chuckled in response, then asked,
“Where is our friend Doctor Volmer?”

“He’s busy developing new gadgets to
alleviate America from the burden of the Raumsfahrtwaffe and end
your space stratocracy.”

“That remains to be seen… What a pity, I
thought that I would get to meet another President today… Tell me
General Lemay. How many ‘Führers’ have you met?”

“I haven’t had the displeasure of meeting any
of them because every damn one of them has been running for their
mommas since I’ve been a general. How many Presidents have you
driven to suicide, Mr. Field Fairy?”

Schwerig quickly changed the subject, “Well I
am surprised that your sitting President is not here. I can’t
imagine what is more important at this time.”

“I don’t believe that this one has the jewels
of some of our more recent Presidents.”

Schwerig laughed as General Taylor snapped,
“Don’t you talk about our President in that manner.

Lemay responded by introducing, “Oh… This is
our new Military Chief of Staff, Army General Taylor.”

Schwerig bowed and announced himself,
“Pleased to meet you, I am Feldmarschall Schwerig.”

Lemay interrupted, “How did you get Field
Marshall anyway, twinkle toes?”

“Excuse me?”

“Did they give you that for having our last
President assassinated?”

“I don’t know what you are talking
about.”

“Then what super human feat did you display
to achieve Field Marshall?”

“That’s irrelevant.”

“Aha! You used the word irrelevant in that
same manner the last time I backed you into a corner,
Tinkerbell.”

McNamara suddenly stood, “Would you please
stop antagonizing the enemy, so we can get to business?”

Lemay removed his cigar in disbelief. He then
turned to Schwerig and introduced, “Field Marshall Schwerig, this
is Secretary of Defense McNamara.” Schwerig and McNamara briefly
acknowledge each other as Lemay continued facetiously, “Secretary
McNamara, I know that you have only been Secretary of Defense for a
couple of years now… Perhaps you haven’t had a chance to peruse my
job description.”

“I don’t need to read your job description. I
am the highest civilian authority over the military, second only to
the Commander in Chief.”

“Oh, I see… because I’m starting to wonder if
you’re aware what the military does.”

Schwerig and Lemay locked eyes and start
laughing.

McNamara shouted, “Stop fraternizing with the
enemy this instant!”

Lemay then wisecracked, “So you’re suggesting
that I must find a happy place between antagonize and
fraternize?”

McNamara and Taylor were both on their feet
now responding to Lemay.

Kasparov was looking at the scene in total
disbelief as Schwerig stuck his fingers into his mouth and whistled
extremely loud.

When the room was silent, Schwerig took
control, “Gentleman, I realize that I am the visitor, but for the
sake of sanity, I will step outside of normal protocol and bring
this meeting to order.” As he then sat, “We would like to know why
both of your countries have such a sudden interest in the
Caribbean.”

Lemay responded, “We were kind of wondering
the same thing about you guys. Our Naval vessels in the Central
West Atlantic keep reporting things flying out of the water east of
Puerto Rico as they sit waiting for our astronauts to return from
space.”

“We are merely watching and trying to figure
out what you are building in Arecibo and on Andros. We are a little
leery that you may be building devices similar to what you built on
French Frigate Shoals.”

“Well I think that giant bug zappers are not
the worst of your problems because the Soviets have grown even more
tired than us with your interfering with our capsules, and have
started launching their Polet killer satellites; isn’t that true
Mr. Kasparov.”

Schwerig looked at Gennedy and interrupted,
“Excuse me… You are?”

Gennedy introduced himself, “I am Gennedy
Kasparov and I have been the main advisor for Stalin and Khrushchev
concerning the Raumsfahrtwaffe.”

Schwerig quipped, “You survived a cabinet
level transition of two Soviet Administrations?”

“Yes, I am thankful to a higher power for
that. I consider myself very fortunate.”

“Tell me about these Polet devices. Can you
order them to stand down?”

“No… They are designed that way to resist
hostile control. Once they are in space they are always active. We
can inform them and guide them towards targets, but they are always
on the prowl for unknown objects, that is, objects that we have not
programmed for them to ignore… I do not believe that one of your
Kugelblitzen would fare well if they were to come across one.”

“We have noticed them, but as of yet we have
not approached any of them, we suspected that they were aggressive
devices.”

Lemay interjected, “We both would like for
you to stop interfering with our space programs.”

Gennedy added, “Yes, and we are missing some
cosmonauts. We demand an explanation for their disappearance.”

“I can’t grant that demand any more than you
can grant us the right to fly into your territories for our
exclusive purposes, and as for the cosmonauts, I am sure they are
dead.” answered Schwerig.

“So the Raumsfahrtwaffe considers all of
space their territory?” asked General Taylor.

“Oh no… no… no,” responded Schwerig, “just
the space around the Earth and the moon.”

“That’s a tall order,” insisted McNamara,
“what gives you the right to claim the entire moon?”

“Because, we are there, and you are not… I
believe that has been standard maritime practice between nations
for centuries.”

“But space is not the sea,” insisted General
Taylor.

“We think that it is… Legally, that is. We
believe that it is the newest navigable substrate, much as a
navigable waterway. Your two nations already recognize it as such
or you would not allow each others orbiting space craft to fly over
your respective countries, now would you?”

“So what happens when we go ahead and land on
the moon?” asked Lemay.

“Do it at your own peril. I will not make any
guarantees what my superior’s reactions would be.”

“Well I don’t believe that the United States
or the Soviet Union will continue to stand by and let you shoot all
of our capsules down,” shouted Taylor, “we are going to start
shooting back.”

Schwerig jeered, “Oh, bring – it – on. I’m
trembling now.”

Lemay looked at Kasparov, “I’m sorry that you
came all this way for this. I don’t think that there is going to be
any agreement this time.”

“Oh, I will still have an epic report to
file. I think that my superiors will not believe it has been a
waste,” Then Gennedy turned to Schwerig, “Feldmarschall Schwerig,
who is the supreme leader of the Raumsfahrtwaffe at this time?”

“Führer Günter Von Sterbenbach… He sends his
thanks to the Soviet Union for allowing him to stay in one of your
Siberian Gulags for ten years after you captured him.”

“Is that the Feldmarschall that the Nemetskii
never admitted we had captured in Riese?”

“He’s the one… Actually the reason that the
Wehrmacht believed that he was dead is very amusing, but I don’t
have the time for that today.”

McNamara stood again and asked,
“Feldmarschall Schwerig, are we going to be able to reach any
agreement today? Is there anything on your mind that prompted you
to even bother coming here today?”

Schwerig leaned back into his chair and
calmly answered, “Yes. I have been sent by Führer Von Sterbenbach
to tell you in no certain terms, that we want all of the nations of
the Earth to stay the hell out of space… It is ours! We consider it
our nation and our territory.”

“Well, that is unacceptable,” insisted
General Taylor, “The most dominant Navies in history didn’t
absolutely prohibit travel on the oceans and seas. I doubt that our
President, or Mr. Kasparov’s Premier, would ever yield to that
nescient demand.”

“Well that’s my message, and now I’ve
delivered it,” Schwerig stood and started to put his coat on as he
gestured for Graff to follow suit, “If you wish to continue wasting
your resources, then I will see you in space.”

~~~**^**~~~