The Return of the Manhattan (9 page)

President Albee continued, “The box has an inner box which is set to open tonight with all of you present. In fact it cannot be opened unless the majority of you are present here tonight and authenticate by voice. I want each of you first to confirm the box is sealed. He pulled a small computer out of the box and turned it on. The voice authentication procedure which they were all familiar with began. The President, each member of his cabinet, and each congressman present was called and authentication was complete with a ten number combination given by computer voice. A panel slid open on the box revealing the code panel. The president keyed in the correct combination and the box opened. Another computer was removed from the box and turned on. Holographic images appeared in the center of the room, images of all those present from the other dimension. Each man’s image presented his case and each of those present was convinced.

President Albee’s image appeared giving final instructions, “Remaining in the box are documents from each of you in your own words telling the complete story, and instructions for each of you. Your mission is simple, build the Manhattan according to the plans provided. David Ashton should command the mission, assisted by Roger Dorn and Warren Baker. Laura Ashton will remain in the twentieth century to complete the mission as described. She should be prepared to introduce electro magnetic engine technology and assist President Dugan making this technology a reality in the twentieth century. The Manhattan should be completed and the plan should be executed on the prescribed time schedule. Each of those involved in the mission are not to be given full details to prevent any change in a mission that was successful!

In the twentieth century, President Dugan, at our suggestion, opened a trust fund administered by the Solar Magnetics Corporation. That initial fund was begun with a 25 billion dollar investment over a twenty five year period, provided for by hefty licensing fees paid to SMA. After that initial period, fees continued to be collected at a reduced rate and as you know, fees are still collected on every electro magnetic engine manufactured and that fund continues to grow. I’m sure you are aware of those funds, but had no idea why the fund was set up. Today that fund contributes trillions of dollars annually supporting the Federal budget. Over the years, several politicians have attempted to use the principle of those funds for other projects, but the strings are tight and that proved to be impossible. The Solar Magnetics Administration controls those strings and I’m not certain they even know why, but it’s in their charter. As long as the fund balance is sufficient for the Manhattan Project, then the excess earnings are available to balance the budget, and the fund will remain substantial even after the Manhattan Project is funded. Part of the trust fund has already been used to fund the Excalibur mission and of course has more than sufficient funds for the Manhattan Project! One word of warning—If you do not authorize the expenditure of these funds for the Manhattan Project, that fund will no longer exist and you will probably have great difficulty trying to balance the budget! And on top of that, we would then be faced with an acute shortage of oil. I don’t know how long it would take for the funds to dry up or our reserve oil supply to vanish if we do not fund the Manhattan Project, but I certainly don’t want to be the one to stop the cycle! I no longer need to practice any deception. What we have seen and heard here tonight is authentic and oh so real.”

CHAPTER 17

Laura, David and Brenda left for home with their own packages, but waited to be alone before taking time to read their instructions. They rode together as far as Brenda’s apartment when she asked, “David, do you want to come in for a few minutes?”

He followed her inside commenting, “You have a real nice place here.”

“Thanks to President Albee, I couldn’t have found it without him. You’re always welcome here with Laura.”

David sat down across the kitchen table from Laura, “Brenda, I’m puzzled, I understand almost everything that went on tonight except for your part. You’re a mystery. What is your role?”

Brenda answered cautiously, “I’ve known the president a long time, but really I just work for him. It’s convenient since I knew your wife and your mother in law; consequently, President Albee can get a lot of miles out of me. He knew Laura needed a top notch pilot, which I am, to get her prepared, so here I am.”

“Mom,” Laura hesitatingly began, “you know I couldn’t fly worth a hoot. Why didn’t you tell the president I couldn’t do it?”

“What did you say?” David exclaimed. “Have you allowed Brenda to take your mother’s place already?”

“Daddy, be reasonable. Brenda calls Grandmother Mom, and I think it’s a rather nice thing to do. Besides,” she rationalized, “if I’m going to be living with her, it’ll help with the other kids.” She turned back to Brenda ignoring any further objection from her father, “Well, what did you say to the president?”

“I told him that any daughter of mine would make an excellent pilot to fly twentieth century airplanes. You didn’t do as badly as you thought. Most of my students couldn’t get airborne by themselves the first time, let alone land it. You do have the aptitude Laura.”

“Thanks Mom. Now I think I will go to my room and read my package. Good night Daddy.”

“Good night Laura.” He stood and kissed her, proudly watching her leave the room before turning to Brenda. “What a kid, huh?”

She stood and led him into the living room where it would be more comfortable. “She’s the best and she will be a hero for all time. You have every right to be proud of her.”

“I guess since you are going to be her Mom, then I’d better see if you are the right person for the job.” He drew her into his arms, kissing her tenderly. The embrace grew more passionate as she responded eagerly to his advances. Suddenly he abruptly pushed her away, “I’m sorry Brenda; this won’t do. All I could think of, when kissing you, was Marie. Your face, your features, everything was Marie as if she only left me yesterday. Please forgive me.”

Brenda was tempted to throw him out and tell him never to come back, but she controlled her emotions putting on her poker face, feigning indifference, “Don’t let it bother you. You kiss pretty well, but you’re too old for me.” She laughed leaving the room allowing him to find his own way out.

Laura opened her package and began reading:

“Your package is the smallest which is indirectly proportional to your role which is the largest. The original mission featured a delicate balance between your intervention and preventable non-intervention. Your goal is to change only one aspect of the past which will have significant impact on the future without disrupting our world. The fewer details you know, the greater your probability of success.

Prepare yourself by studying physics, engineering, electro magnetic propulsion, aerodynamics, and medicine. Brenda Brockway will prepare you to fly and evaluate twentieth century aircraft, and will be invaluable to you during your time of preparation. In the twentieth century, you will assist an agent you and your father select to present electro magnetic engine technology to Aircraft and Automobile industries to enable them to conserve fossil fuel resources.

You are restricted from sharing any technology except in research and development toward the introduction of the electro magnetic propulsion units. Every action you take in the twentieth century could result in disastrous consequences in our time. From your study of history, you will know of momentous events in your new time that you could alter by issuing warnings. You must resist those interventions even though you will be tormented knowing a great many lives could have been saved, but instead, you must stand by and do nothing. That will be difficult as it may go against your grain of decency and compassion, but you must remain strong in this area. For example, if you grabbed a child to prevent him or her from running into the street and getting run over by a car. That intervention could start a chain reaction that could alter the course of history. We do not expect you to go to that extreme, but we want you to be aware that every one of your actions in the twentieth century could create paradoxes that would make tremendous changes in our life in the world. A better example would be the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. You must not interfere although you will suffer as the nation suffers on that day of infamy.

If you accept this mission as your own, then you must agree to remain single, never marrying any man from the twentieth century.

David found his way out and went quietly back to his hotel brooding on the loss of his wife, but remembering her more vividly than any time since the accident. He thrust the memories out of his mind as he began to read his instructions.

“David Ashton will command the ‘Manhattan’, a time ship built under Roger Dorn’s supervision, according to the plans provided in this package. You will assist in preparing your daughter to remain in the twentieth century to carry out the mission, as she has been instructed. Her directions are included in your package. The remainder of these instructions are for your own use and should only be shared with Roger Dorn and Warren Baker as you deem appropriate. Your daughter will need to be the only contact with persons from the twentieth century except as directed and she will not have any knowledge of the rest of the plan except for her conviction that the mission was and will be successful.”

David continued to read all the plans details before locking his plans in the safe in his room. He fell asleep wondering, “Twelve years here and four more aboard the Manhattan and then I will lose my daughter as I have lost her mother. The world is so unfair!”

CHAPTER 18

Laura and Brenda were inseparable in the days and weeks that followed except during school hours, and David found very little time he could be alone with his daughter for any extended period. He accepted this new status with few regrets after seeing how Laura was blossoming under Brenda’s care and supervision. A few months later David asked Brenda to join him and Laura on a surprise vacation trip travelling northward along the East coast to Maine and beyond and then down the St Lawrence Seaway into the Great Lakes. Neither Brenda nor Laura knew what to expect, and he only told them to bring clothes enough for an extended sea cruise and any files or information she would need for the project in the next couple of months. He unconsciously welcomed Brenda’s presence whenever he wanted time to be with Laura. This was an unexpected bonus as he realized he would be able to spend more time with Brenda. He watched the gals chat as he imagined it would have occurred between Laura and her mother. A gradual change had come over him since Brenda came into their life as the natural healing process began working its wonder on David’s personality. He didn’t realize his progress, but had to acknowledge it as Warren and Roger both made comments to that effect. He gradually began to feel alive while doing something other than working on the project for the first time in years.

His paychecks from the last nine years had accumulated untouched, with interest. He found it hard to believe the total of his bank account balance. Laura’s expenses over the next few years in private schools would be considerable, but the government would pick up the tab for most of them since it was almost completely in preparation for the Manhattan Project. Each of the Excalibur crewmembers found themselves in a similar financial situation with money to burn. Kevin Haugen convinced David, Roger and Warren to join him in leasing a hundred foot yacht which would be a perfect vacation getaway vehicle.

Kevin Haugen and Warren Baker with his wife, Aimee would be along for the trip, but Roger Dorn decided he would sit this one out as he was preoccupied with checking out sources for materials needed in the construction of the Manhattan.

David watched with amusement as the girls explored every inch of the yacht with excitement. He wasn’t immune either as all the comforts of home were available, and it was almost like being back aboard the Excalibur with ample, but smaller living quarters. David joined the captain in the cockpit while the rest of the party sat on the forward deck near the bow while the yacht easily pulled out of her moorings under her own power and slid smoothly out into the Chesapeake Bay. They ran slowly while the captain got the feel for it making sure everything ran smoothly. Soon, he opened the throttles; the yacht responded rapidly getting on plane, rising a few feet above the surface on the hydrofoil. David soon went down on the deck and joined the rest of the group. He found Kevin standing close to Brenda sharing some little bit of information and felt a twinge of jealousy.

As he approached, Brenda threw her arms around David and gave him a lingering kiss, “Thanks for such a wonderful surprise!” She exclaimed. “It’s wonderful. Now where are we going?”

David, thrown off guard by that totally unexpected gesture, felt a stirring of memories of earlier, similar expressions from Marie. He couldn’t quite place those memories and after a moment answered, “We’re going to sail up the coast to Maine and beyond, then travel the entire length of the St Lawrence Seaway all the way to Chicago. We’ll stop at all the major cities and attractions along the way and relax and enjoy ourselves.”

Brenda was amused, “But, what about the project? Isn’t anybody going to work?”

“Sure! You are! We’ve got all the latest communication equipment aboard and you can work to your heart’s content.” He chuckled, “Seriously this will be a working cruise and although we may occasionally leave the ship and even take a shuttle back to Washington for a meeting or whatever; we will work hard. We will conduct business aboard ship, but we can take all the time we want to relax and enjoy ourselves. Roger is off working but will probably join us for at least part of the trip. Kevin and I will be going back to the Excalibur shortly helping the new crew get ready for another trip. The president okayed your absence as long you keep in touch with him on the video phone. I don’t know why except he wants to see your pretty face as often as he can.”

“He probably wants to be sure I keep you in line!”

“Probably.”

“Maybe I’d better go check out that equipment and you can have a few minutes with Laura.”

“Okay, but don’t take too long. The cook will have our dinner ready soon and we don’t want to keep him waiting.”

David let her go as he watched Kevin join her heading for the communications room. He took his daughter’s arm and began walking aft. Laura beamed with joy, “She’s great isn’t she dad?”

“Oh, yeah. It’s a great boat and I want you to have a wonderful time. Maybe next summer we can take a cruise down to the Caribbean.”

“I wasn’t talking about the boat, Dad,” she replied indignantly, “I meant Brenda. She’s the best. It would be great if the two of you could… Well, I mean I would love to have her for a real mother.”

“Get serious Laura. She told me I was too old. Besides didn’t you see her walk off with Kevin? We will be going back in time and unless you change your mind, you’ll be staying there and who knows if I’ll ever get back.”

“Hmm…” she mused, “I suppose you’re right. That would be asking a lot. She already lost one husband.” Laura hadn’t given up, but would let it go for now.

“Has she said anything about what happened?”

“Nope, she talks about everything else except him. I don’t even know his name.”

“I suppose it doesn’t matter. She is rather cute. If she would take off those glasses and get her teeth straightened, she could be a real knockout.”

“Dad… . Don’t make fun of her. She said her teeth were damaged in the accident. I’ve wondered why she doesn’t get her eyes operated on though… Maybe I’ll ask her.”

“I’m not making fun of her. I would never do that. I like her too much. But it doesn’t make much sense. Teeth don’t grow bigger after an accident. Maybe she is trying to hide something…”

They met Brenda coming around the corner and their conversation stopped abruptly. She joked, “You must have been talking about me. My ears are ringing.”

David took her arm as they headed toward the dining room. “Nope, that’s the dinner bell.”

“Okay, keep your secrets. We’ve got more serious things to discuss anyway. Roger will be expecting our call in a couple hours. He said he has some business to take care of.”

After dinner, they met in the conference room. Roger gave his preliminary report via video conferencing, “David, I’ve got a line on all the structural materials we need. The same contractor used previously is available. They built the Excalibur and I’m sure they can build the basic airframe without too much interference from us. I think you can handle the airframe contractor, and I’ll concentrate on the electronics. The electronics, which is the heart of the systems, will have to be built from scratch and I want to supervise whoever works on it pretty closely. That ship, like the Excalibur, is going to be our home away from home for a number of years.”

David replied, “Good, that’s what we expected. I will insure the airframe is built like a tank. I don’t mean to have it armor plated, but it has to take whatever stresses we put on it without failure of any structural component. First we need to find a good location to set up shop. The president has offered a couple sites to evaluate. The first is an abandoned military base out in the middle of the Nevada desert. It’s out in the middle of nowhere, with no access except for an old interstate highway that hasn’t been used for years. The second option would require more work, but it could provide better cover. It’s an old silver mine in Colorado with underground space which could be enlarged to suit our purposes. We could re-open the mine since it has pockets of low grade silver and might be profitable using the latest equipment.”

Laura asked, “Why don’t we build it out in space like the Excalibur?”

Roger replied, “We could, but it would be difficult to keep secret. And of course that would mean it was manufactured differently than we did it earlier. I suppose that doesn’t matter, but we need to keep everything as close to the original as possible. We want the outcome to be exactly the same.”

David continued, “Roger, on Monday, Kevin and I are going up to the Excalibur. I’ll meet you in Denver on Tuesday morning at nine.”

Roger replied, “I’ve got the lab from the Excalibur dismantled and all the test equipment ready to ship. Kevin can shuttle it to the site when we’re ready. I’ll see you on Tuesday.”

David turned back to the girls, “We have a couple of days together. Let’s make the most of it. Do you want to go with us or would you rather stay aboard and continue your vacation?”

Laura laughed, “You go right ahead, Daddy. I’ve spent enough time aboard the Excalibur.”

“How about you, Brenda?”

Brenda shook her head negatively, “Thanks, but I’ll keep my feet on solid ground.” She chuckled as the boat hit a swell and rocked slightly. “I would like to see what it’s like aboard the Excalibur, but it’ll wait.”

“But the president said you would be available to shuttle us anywhere we need to go.”

“If you really want me to, I will, but he didn’t mean you couldn’t use other transportation.”

“I’d love for you to go with me, but I guess you should stay with Laura; I imagine we’ll get along without you. In the meantime, let’s enjoy our little cruise.” He put his arm around her and they took a leisurely stroll around the ship.

On Monday morning, David and Kevin left the boat while moored in the New York Harbor. Brenda, Aimee and Laura joined them in the runabout with the intention of doing some shopping in the Big Apple before continuing up the coastline. Warren decided to stay aboard and relax.

As David and Kevin boarded a shuttle to take them to Andrews AFB, David said, “Kevin, the president is offering you a choice. You can stay on the Manhattan Project with us or become the Executive Officer aboard the Excalibur.

Kevin reacted with surprise, “You’re serious! I was wondering what I would do during the construction of the Manhattan. I’m sure, for you, it’s an exciting project, but I don’t think I’d be satisfied being out of action. I need to keep my hand in the flying end of it. I’ll have to think long and hard about another trip though.”

“Take a good look around today and we’ll wait a couple of days for your decision.”

“Who is the commander going to be?”

“I don’t know. The president wouldn’t say. Would that have anything to do with your decision?”

“Maybe. If you were going back, there would be no hesitation. I would go in a minute.”

“Whatever your decision, the president will back you. The commander, whoever he is, has never travelled beyond the speed of light, so I’m sure he would welcome your expertise.”

Their visit aboard the Excalibur was short and everything looked to be in proper order. The ship was undergoing a complete two year inspection and preventative maintenance cycle and would be ready to depart immediately afterward. They were renovating one deck level to accommodate a much larger number of passengers.

The next morning, Roger joined David and they met with an agent for the owners of the silver mine. The site was isolated and the out buildings made it look like a ghost town from the old West. Although shabby on the exterior, most of the buildings were constructed using weather proof materials and were in great shape on the inside. The agents were highly motivated sales personnel, eager to unload this piece of property which had been highly unprofitable in recent years. They didn’t use any high pressure tactics, but were enthusiastic touting the value of the silver in the ground and the rising price of precious metals on the world market. As they approached the main shaft, one apologized, “Sorry, the electricity has been off for quite some time and none of the equipment has been inspected recently. Check your portable lanterns now because it will be awfully dark in there until we get the generators on line.”

David and Roger had been silent up to this point, but David couldn’t resist the jibe, “Looks like the owners should give this thing away. It’s probably a liability anyway. Other than the terrific view of the mountains, I don’t see much value in anything here. How much are they paying in taxes?”

“Minimal. If it was a working mine, it would be different. The last few years it operated was mostly at a loss. They aren’t going to give it away, but I’m sure we can come to agreeable terms.”

David and Roger didn’t reply as they were led deeper into the mine. After he turned on the power units and checked them out, the agent resumed his tour, “This is the main level. In its prime, millions of dollars’ worth of silver was taken out of here every day. This area has been cut out of solid granite except for the silver, and doesn’t need much climate control. It’s almost always a constant fifty five degrees in here with very little moisture.” He picked up a silver streaked rock, “As you can see from this sample taken from this area, silver was abundant. But look at the walls now, there’s not a trace of the metal. The company expected to hit a larger lode of silver, but never found it.”

David and Roger were more interested in the size of the excavated cavern and found it to their liking. Roger turned to the agent, “I don’t see any signs of support. Has the mine been tested for stability? I wouldn’t want to be in here if there is a chance of a cave in.”

“Not much chance of that. It’s been tested frequently with no signs of instability. The ore taken from here apparently was in a pocket. The remaining rock is solid. Deeper in the mine, there are signs of additional pockets of ore, but it’s nowhere as rich as was found here.”

David remarked, “It’s obvious the mine was well maintained, but I’m not sure that we’ll be able to find a significant amount of ore. If we do make an offer on the property and begin operations, we would require an escape clause.”