The Gemini Divergence (65 page)

He reported that as soon as he fired the
shots the vibrations stopped, the lights went out, and the craft
started making a sudden buzzing noise as it moved away over the
tree tops.

*~*

General Fitzpatrick was smoking in silence
under the stars outside of his Buckley AFB office.

He watched as the occasional shooting star
fell from the sky, and he wondered how long the public would accept
that all of these falling pieces of debris were actually just
shooting stars.

He wondered how many people actually knew
that it was in reality the shrapnel from a historic battle that was
taking place over their heads.

Suddenly he was horrified to see a dark
saucer appear over the base from the prairies to the east.

He sat silently on the picnic bench as he
watched the saucer appear to snoop around, but then, a crack of
lightning from the spacecraft connected with a large satellite dish
causing it to blow up.

His cigarette fell from his mouth as he stood
still as a statue.

He was helpless as he watched the saucer
hover from dish to dish, disabling them with crackling flashes of
light.

He realized that his first order of business
was going to be getting some anti aircraft systems installed in
order to prevent further attacks.

*~*

President Johnson, feeling irritated at the
Raumsfahrtwaffe, like a picnicker swatting at a persistent fly,
asked McNamara if firing a missile at the newly discovered base
would be a violation of the NTBT.

McNamara responded that, “Technically the
treaty banned the test of, not the deliberate use of, nuclear
weapons. Besides, I don’t know how the Soviets could complain since
they fired the first volley.”

The President then asked “Is the A-119
project still around?”

McNamara replied, “Yes Sir, Professor Sagan
tells me that they have converted from the original Redstone rocket
that they used in the 50s to the Atlas rocket, exactly like the
Mercury program did.

Johnson, then ordered General Taylor to
activate the A-119 project and destroy the target on the moon.

*~*

At Saddleback Mountain, Hughes had been able
to assemble a small airframe that looked more like a go-cart with a
cherry picker basket bolted on top.

He installed three of the kinetic impellers
in a triangular formation, knowing that 3 points would make a
geometric plane, and would allow him to control the craft as he
hovered.

He rigged the controls to work more similarly
to a helicopter than to a fixed wing aircraft.

Without the vril though, he could only make
the craft glide around the floor like a bumper car.

The Marines that were guarding him started to
make fun of the eccentric man, nicknamed him Jonny Quest because of
the floating chariot like craft seen on the new cartoon.

*~*

General Fitzpatrick was sitting in his office
talking to a NASA representative telling him, “I am very eager to
see the results of the launch next week… We are in dire need of a
new energy source in space…”

“ You want to know why we need a new energy
source…”

“Because it’s too damn expensive to lift the
fluids needed to power a fuel cell up into orbit, and the solar
power panels are just big homing beacons for the enemy to see. If
we had something similar to the RTGs that we use at remote
equipment operating locations; but that could work in zero gravity;
I think that it would be a perfect solution.”

There is a quick rap at the door as a captain
stuck his head into the room and said, “Excuse me, General Sir, but
we just got a wire from the White House…The President has OK’d the
A-119 for ‘Spectral Lunar Light’.”

“Hot damn!” cheered Fitzpatrick, “When can we
engage?”

“At soonest convenience, Sir.”

3 April 1965

NASA launches America’s first experimental
nuclear reactor into space.

4 April 1965

Before Schwerig had executed Major Gernstadt,
he had received the knowledge that the pilots on the ground in the
Everglades had witnessed the WC-130s from the 53
^rd
WRS
at Keesler.

Airmen at Keesler AFB were busy tying down
the aircraft before a fierce storm was to arrive.

They could see the giant thunder head coming
in from the Gulf of Mexico.

Some of the weather squadron’s men stopped
the frantic work to watch what looked like a disc that was popping
in and out of the cloud like a child playing peek-a-boo.

“It almost looks like some one sneaking up on
us, doesn’t it?” they laughed.

When the storm finally overtook the base, the
men ran indoors for cover until it blew over.

After the storm, the men were disheartened to
find that it appeared as though lightning had struck and disabled a
few of their planes during the storm.

From this point on the 53
^rd
WRS
would send ‘Hurricane Chaser’ aircraft to inspect the interiors of
every single tropical storm approaching the U.S. coast from the
Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico.

5 April 1965

The A-119 device detonated on target, totally
destroying its destination city.

Even though it was on the far side of the
moon, amateur astronomers saw the flash and the debris plume.

NASA was inundated with calls and letters
inquiring what the flash was. People also wanted to know about the
myriad of falling stars in the recent year.

NASA responded to all of the inquiries with
the explanation that the Earth and the Moon were experiencing one
of the most active and longest duration meteor showers on
record.

*~*

Von Sterbenbach was beside himself with the
news of yet another atomic annihilation of one of his cities.

He started to wonder if his city would be
next.

The Führer ranted at a stoically listening
Schwerig, “They were never supposed to be that much of a threat
using Von Braun’s toys. But they just send their probes… their
electric eyes… sent on those archaic rockets, and then when they
see us, they send nuclear bombs… I never in my wildest dreams,
growing up on a horse powered dairy farm in Bavaria, believed that
a hiding place on the dark side of the moon wouldn’t be far enough
away to be safe… I don’t see how it could get worse.”

Schwerig grimaced, “I don’t mean to throw
salt on your wounds, my Führer, but the Americans are building more
launch facilities throughout their country for their Minute Men II
missiles and I recently authorized an attack on their Buckley ANG
base because I believe that they are converting it into facility to
control and monitor their satellite fleet.”

“What are we going to do about the new launch
facilities?”

“I have subordinates working on gathering
intelligence for attack plans as we speak, My Führer.”

“Well keep me posted. I want to know what
they are up to… How are our people in the surviving lunar colonies
reacting to the second bombing?”

“The general civilian population in all of
our remaining cities is panicking. People are seeking immediate
transfer to our space stations, or back to Colonia Dignadad.”

“Tell them that they are cowards, and to stay
the hell where they are.”

“Yes Sir, I couldn’t agree with you more, but
those with the authority, are removing themselves and those
without, are stowing away on anything that they can sneak
onto.”

“Countermand their authority and publicly
execute anyone that stows away on any Raumsfahrtwaffe vessel.”

“Yes Sir.”

“Feldmarschall Schwerig, do you believe we
should station ourselves even farther from the Earth?”

“I recently had a word with Dr. Heim about
the health subject, and he seems to believe that the people on the
moon are the sickest and that we would all be healthier on the
space stations… He believes that it is the lesser gravity on the
moon that is causing the atrophy… I know that people that live here
swear that it makes them feel better, but then, so do some
drugs.”

“So you think that we should all move to the
stations?”

“As we are able, my Führer, as we are able.
At the present time it would be impossible to accommodate the
population of the moon onto the existing stations, and we would
always need to keep a small presence on the moon in order to mine
its precious resources for our needs.”

“What about Mars?”

“We probably need to send an exploratory
team, but we have never sent anyone that deep into space. It could
be very dangerous.”

“Did danger stop us from sending test pilots
to their deaths on a daily bases when we needed to make the jump to
space in the face of certain doom?”

“No Sir, it did not, you are quite
correct.”

“Tell Dr. Heim to double his research. I
don’t care if we give ourselves away… What are they going to do,
nuke us? …And send that mars probe as soon as possible.”

~~~**^**~~~

The Gemini War / What’s This Fascination With
Our Power Grid?

18 April 1965

A saucer was reported snooping around the
Sandia National Nuclear Laboratories in New Mexico.

*~*

General Fitzpatrick was reading multiple
reports about the sightings across the country when he had an
epiphany.

Why are all of the sightings in the
Northeastern U.S. … power related?

“Captain!” shouted Fitzpatrick

“Yes Sir?” asked the captain as he came to
the office door.

“Call Dr. Volmer and ask him why all of the
saucer incidents in the north east seem to be related to our power
grid… I would like to know if he has any theories.”

“Yes Sir.”

*~*

The population of the moon swelled into mass
pandemonium as people clamored to remove themselves from the larger
cities of the moon.

Following Von Sterbenbach’s orders, Schwerig
had rounded up several of the recently apprehended stowaways and
had them tied up into a row of chairs.

There were ten of them; men and women.

The entire demonstration was being filmed to
be broadcast to all of the Raumsfahrtwaffe cities on the moon.

Von Sterbenbach had ordered Schwerig to
consult with Doctor Heim to come up with the most suitable
execution method to send the most effective message.

Schwerig told Heim that he didn’t care what
he came up with, but it needed to be filmed for broadcast to the
entire Raumsfahrtwaffe. There were to be no guns in the space
station, and he didn’t want to make too much of a mess, but it
should be shocking enough to send an effective message that stow
aways would not be tolerated any more.

On the sequence that they recorded; ten
prisoners, men and women, were tied up into chairs that had been
placed into a row… a narrator off camera announced their crimes, of
stowing away and abandoning their posts during conflict, and by
order of Führer Von Sterbenbach, they were all to be executed
publicly. He then read a list of their names.

The camera panned the ten condemned as the
list was read.

Then another voice screamed, “Ready!” as a
row of hooded men walked behind the row of chairs and positioned
themselves behind the condemned individuals.

You could see the apprehension in the faces
of the condemned, especially the women; many of whom were openly
weeping.

“Embrace!” as the hooded men place one hand
on the chins of the condemned and another of the caps of their
skulls.

“Execute!” as the hooded men twisted the
necks of the condemned until their necks snapped, then leaving
their heads dangling for the cameras to view their moment of
death.

The narrator closed with a warning that this
would occur to anyone that leaves the moon for the space stations
without proper authorization.

27 April 1965

“General Fitzpatrick has asked me if I have
any theories about how the north eastern UFO sightings all have
something to do with the power grid. Have you noticed anything
about this in your clean ups or your interviews?” Volmer asked Gus
as they ate their lunch in a park on McClellan AFB.

“I noticed, but that didn’t concern me as
much as all of the ones that seem to have so much interest in our
nuclear labs, or where nuclear weapons are stored or tested… and
now all this activity in space… I don’t even know why our
government bothers with the pageantry of a publicly known space
program. What purpose does it serve?”

“Oh, it would be impossible to hide the
military programs without it… How would we hide the rocket launches
and all of the effort it takes to man a space program?”

“But why are we still hiding this damn war
from the public anyway?”

“Oh, it’s all very complicated really. You’d
have to….”

Gus waved his hand to cut Volmer off and
pointed behind Volmer at a saucer that Gus just spotted hovering
over the Laboratory.