Legacy

11

Niles watched Virginia sleep.

Her eyes fluttered open and her vision fixed on Niles.

“What? Was I slobbering or something?” she asked weakly, as she tried with much difficulty to sit up in bed.

Niles reached out and placed a firm hand on her left shoulder, easing her down onto her pillows.

“Take it easy, and no, you weren’t slobbering,” he said with a small, worried smile.

Virginia’s eyes fixed on the clothing Niles was wearing and then looked up into his eyes. Niles was aware how he looked out of his normally dark suit and tie and figured Virginia would figure it out quickly enough.

“You’re going to be running things right from this bed, Virginia. We have nothing going on at the Group that will require anything more than a signature, so you shouldn’t have any difficulties. You can have all four of my staff.”

“Where are you going?” she asked as she sat up, forcing Niles’s restraining hands away.

“I’m going where everyone else seems to be at the moment-Ecuador. Alice and the senator landed there about six hours ago, according to Jack.”

“What?” Virginia asked, wincing at the pain that shot from her forehead to the back of her head. “He’s not dying fast enough? He has to go to Ecuador?”

“My thoughts exactly,” Niles said as he handed her a glass of water. “Anyway, let me catch you up on your plan. Two elements of Dark Star have been destroyed. We lost the Endeavour and the Discovery, all hands. Dark Star 3 is now in geosynchronous orbit over North America and is at the rendezvous point with the space station. The shuttle Atlantis was slightly damaged in the attack and has already docked with the ISS.” He saw the concern in Virginia’s face. “Yes, Sarah, Will, and Jason are fine, as are the rest of the crew. Atlantis, on the other hand, will never see the Earth again-she’s just too damaged.”

“So, we managed to retire the complete shuttle roster in one day,” Virginia said, thinking about the twenty-four crewmen lost on Discovery and Endeavour.

“My plan, my losses,” Niles said, then turned and looked away in thought. “The chairman of the People’s Republic is still uncooperative, and the Magnificent Dragon spacecraft is twenty-four hours away from a landing attempt.”

“Are the Chinese personnel still onboard with our plan?” she asked, trying to get Niles to tell her everything.

“Our sources in Beijing, along with the vice chairman, have assured us that the crew understands Earth’s plight and is sympathetic to our plan.”

“So we don’t know,” Virginia said as she watched Niles finally turn around.

“We don’t know. Won’t know until Dark Star arrives on the Moon and we find out whether we’re welcomed by the Chinese crew or fired upon.”

“And if they’re welcomed, what will happen in China?”

“A coup-when you say the words, it sounds so simple. But there it is. We’re hoping for a coup.”

“Why won’t the chairman listen to reason? He’s had five years to make up his mind. We’ve given him all of the evidence and information from Matchstick that we have and he still doesn’t believe there’s a threat. We need that technology, Niles. We’re desperate for it. Without it we’re a doomed race.”

“We may have a chance if the ESA spacecraft makes it. Otherwise, it’s all up to Dark Star.”

“When are you going to let Jack and the others in on what’s really happening?”

“The president has labeled this Black One. No one is to know. I hate it as much as you do, but we’re talking about the most guarded secret in human history. The words ‘Case Blue’-if any person says them out loud, it will get that person killed.”

“We need Jack’s thinking on this, or at least the senator’s while he’s still with us. I’ve said that since the beginning.”

“And I’ve argued the point since the start and you know it. The president won’t budge on this. You, I, the president, and the heads of state of Britain, France, China, and Russia are the only ones who know what’s happening. A few others may have guessed, like the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but that’s it. It was a brilliant ruse by the president to publicly slash the budgets of NASA, DARPA, and the rest of the space program. That alone should keep the press away from Case Blue for at least a year.”

“How are the people taking the Moon shots?” Virginia asked, watching Niles closely.

“The tide has turned for the good there. The polls are saying eighty percent of the people are now backing the space program. That means we’ll have a budget to work with after the mission’s complete-at least to start with. We won’t have to hide so much from the pencil pushers.”

“Too bad it took all of those deaths to get the people back.”

“It’s a shame. Anyway,” Niles said, placing a hand to Virginia’s cheek, “I’m off to see if we can uncover Columbus. that would go a long way to guaranteeing some kind of defense against what we know is coming.”

“Tell Jack, Carl, and the senator what’s going on,” Virginia said, her eyes pleading with Niles. “It’s bad enough that we have Sarah, Will, and Jason up there in the dark. Don’t do it to Jack.”

Niles removed his hand and turned away, moving toward the door. “Sarah knows. I told her.”

“Why just Sarah?” Virginia asked, watching Compton open the door.

“We need to know if that mineral can help us. And she needed to know why we wanted it. An explosive as powerful as nuclear fission with no aftereffects-” He turned one last time to face Virginia. “Besides, any alien technology we may find along with that mineral would be a godsend.”

Virginia watched her boss leave and then decided she couldn’t stay in bed. She sat up and, on wobbly legs, slowly walked to the door and opened it. She saw Niles stepping into the hallway that led to the bank of elevators. She didn’t care if the hospital gown opened all the way in the back as she called out to him.

“You have to tell them, Niles. They’re the only ones who have any experience in this. You have to tell them of the increasing probes and attacks. You have to!”

She saw Niles step into the elevator and the doors close. She lowered her head as one of the shift nurses came toward her. Virginia held up her right hand and fixed the young girl with a stern look.

“I don’t want any grief from you, young lady. Get me my clothes. I’m going back to work.”

As the girl turned to leave, Virginia turned away and went into her room. She sat on the edge of her bed, thinking about the events leading to this rush to the Moon and the reasoning behind it.

“If we don’t recover that technology and mineral, Earth and everything on it will die.”

Jack was looking straight at Garrison Lee as Alice injected him with a massive dose of morphine to kill his pain. The old man had held up well through their run from the capital city and thus far had handled the overnight stay in the forested area just below the Andes, but now the fare for their little ride was coming due and the senator was a little short.

They were now held up behind some ramshackle buildings off the main road in the foothills. Alice, in her infinite wisdom, had set up a rendezvous with Pete Golding, Charlie Ellenshaw, and the remaining German commandos at the remote location. Thus far the men from the plane were a no-show and the five of them were getting hungry.

“You have something on your mind, Colonel?” Lee asked, as he rolled his shirtsleeve down, flexing his arm as he did so.

“I want to know exactly why you’re here,” Collins said as he handed Lee a bottle of water.

The former senator from Maine accepted the water with a nod of his head. The fedora he was wearing was tilted at an angle that leaned toward his eye patch.

“Same reason you’re here. I want to know what’s under this mountain.” Lee looked from Jack to Alice. Then his eye fixed on the German. “It was a kind gesture for your chancellor to allow you to assist our boys here.”

Sebastian didn’t respond, since he felt Lee was baiting him for a reason he couldn’t understand. He studied the man a moment and then looked at his companion, the very capable Mrs. Hamilton.

“I follow orders.”

“I’m sure you do, son.” Lee looked from Krell back over to Jack and then Everett.

“Garrison, are you going to let them in on your suspicions, or are you going to play games all damn day,” Alice said, as she placed her small black bag on the backseat of the police cruiser.

“I don’t think I have that much explaining to do. I think Jack knows that something in this whole thing stinks to high heaven.”

Collins for his part was playing it cool. He did have doubts that people were being straight with him on what was happening, starting with his boss, Niles Compton. However, being the career military man that he was he had learned to swallow his suspicions about superiors and follow orders the best that he could, even though he hated going into a mission with only the smallest of details to assist him. He would let the senator do the talking.

Lee stood and placed a hand on Everett’s shoulder, nodding, as if saying he was glad to see him. “For me it all started when I learned that our good friend Niles was placed in charge of organizing the Dark Star missions.” He let out a small laugh. He removed his fedora and wiped the sweat from the inside brim using his handkerchief. He then placed the hat back on. “Niles is a genius, we all know that. But outer space, the Moon, and the equipment used to get people there is a little bit out of his field of expertise.”

“The president is his friend,” Everett volunteered. “He trusts the director. You know, to get it done right.”

Lee nodded again and sat on the edge of the police car’s backseat, as if standing would be too taxing on his failing system.

“Yes, that’s the key word here Mr. Everett-trust. But not in the sense you’re using it. When you’re out to keep a secret, maybe the largest secret in the history of the planet, you turn to people you trust. Keep that trust localized, within a small circle, if you will, I know. I’ve been there.”

“I’m not getting your meaning,” Everett said.

They heard a car coming and Krell stepped out from behind the false front of the old building. He saw an ancient-looking pickup and camper pulling up in front. He saw the crazy-haired Ellenshaw behind the wheel and he relaxed. He leaned back and nodded at Jack.

“It’s them.”

Collins was relieved they had made it from the airport without being stopped. Once more they were wanted men, being hunted by a very angry, very embarrassed Ecuadorian government.

“Get them under cover as soon as you can, and get that vehicle hidden.”

Krell left to get his men settled and find the food that they should have brought with them.

“Back to my meaning, Mr. Everett. There is far more happening than just the recovery of the technology that we believe is here and on the Moon. Why are Sarah and our people on that backup flight?”

“Yes,” Jack said beneath his breath. “Why Sarah?”

A voice from behind them said, “Because we needed Sarah on the International Space Station to analyze the mineral if it was recovered. Regardless of the first two Dark Star missions, we needed Sarah on that station as my eyes and ears, as well as for her expertise on the mineral. She’ll send back a report the president can trust.”

Everyone turned and saw Niles Compton. He was dressed in tan working clothes and his eyes were fixed on Garrison Lee and Alice.

“I should have known you would be getting suspicious. I told the president that you would suspect something,” Compton said. He turned to face Jack. “I also told him that you would be figuring things out before too long.”

“Can someone tell me what’s up?” Everett asked. Just then they were joined by Sebastian, his men, Pete, and then finally, Ellenshaw.

Niles walked over and kneeled down. He looked into Lee’s one good eye.

“What are you doing here? You should be at home and in bed.” He patted Lee on the knee. He looked from his former boss to Alice, who couldn’t hold his gaze for long. She looked down at her feet.

“One last romp around the park,” Lee said and looked at Niles. His eye never wavered. “No fool like an old fool.”

Niles smiled and straightened. He turned to face Jack and Carl.

“I’m sorry, I never liked keeping things from you and you know that. But this… this thing is far beyond my scope. I didn’t know what to do or where to turn. So I let the president talk me into secrecy. And I will keep my word on that. Until he gives me the go-ahead, I cannot tell you everything.”

The others looked down, as they understood Niles was just following orders. They could see in his face, his very demeanor, that keeping things from them was driving him close to the edge. Jack for his part watched the man and decided that he would wait to push him on the issue, but he also knew that the closer Sarah and the others got to the surface of the Moon, the more hard pressed he would be not to make Niles talk.

“What are we doing about the people responsible for the attacks?” Jack asked instead.

“The FBI and Interpol have arrest warrants out for your friend McCabe and the Reverend Rawlins. We also know that the good minister has ties with Iran through his ministry and McCabe has his al Qaeda contacts. Thus, we know where some of the manpower came from. The bad news is we can’t find them. They caught the attack team at Cape Canaveral, but they aren’t talking-three Saudis and one Syrian.”

“What’s the Pentagon saying about the forces covering Ecuador?” Everett asked.

“That’s a major concern and one of the reasons I’m here. The president wants to know what you’ll need to get into that mountain. If the mission on the Moon fails, Columbus is our only hope.”

“Again, not knowing the full details of the true mission here, I will only venture a guess,” Jack said, as he stood and paced inside the old building. “Either we need a full air assault element, maybe the 101st Airborne, or just what we have here. Either not enough or too many. How high a price is the president willing to pay?”

“He’ll mortgage the house, Jack. Whatever you call for to get in there, he’ll give you. Ecuador is our friend, there is no doubt about that, but the president will burn them down to get at Columbus, and the rest of the world’s leaders will stand by and do nothing.”

“Just what in hell is that important?” Everett asked. “That we’d kick the hell out of a small country for no reason other than they have something buried here that we want?”

“That’s the entire point, Captain,” Niles said, almost losing his temper. “We don’t just want it, we need it.”

“Well, we’ll see if we can avoid killing a bunch of innocent soldiers and get inside the place the old-fashioned way,” Collins said, turning Everett away from Compton. He looked at Sebastian. “What do you say, my German friend. Feel like preventing an invasion of Ecuador?”

“Can we eat first?” Sebastian said, and he and his men laughed.

“What did you bring us to eat, Doc?” Collins asked Ellenshaw.

“Beans and rice,” he said, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.

Jack and the others looked at Crazy Charlie and didn’t say a word.

“Hey, it’s not like they have a McDonald’s on every corner in Ecuador.”

Will and Jason eased themselves in through the five-foot round hatch. It had been several hours since they had not felt the free-falling weightless phenomenon known as the “floats.” The condition is relatively short-lived and the stomach usually falls back into its normal pattern after some time in the weightless world of space. As they entered the American laboratory named Destiny, they saw that Sarah was busy working with something she had carried in a small case the entire time they had been away from the Event Group complex.

“The colonel says we’re as ready as we’re ever going to be.”

Sarah looked up without really seeing Mendenhall.

“Hey, you with us?” he asked, looking from Sarah and then back to Ryan, shrugging his shoulders.

“He says we’re ready for that slingshot thing around the Earth,” Ryan said, watching her closely. “Hey, wake up,” he finally said.

Sarah blinked her eyes and then saw that Ryan was shaking her.

“Oh, sorry,” she said finally, smiling. “I was lost there for a minute.”

“Playing with rocks will do that to you,” Will said as he reached for the meteorite Sarah held in her hand. She pulled it away from him.

“Don’t do that,” she said, her face etched in seriousness. “We’re in an almost pure oxygen environment.”

“Hey, that isn’t one of those Pop Rocks, is it?” Ryan asked as he floated backward.

“Yes, but unless you get it wet, it’s pretty safe. Sorry, Will, but if you had sweat on your hands… well, I don’t know if it would have set off the chain reaction, but being we’re in outer space and all…”

Mendenhall looked from the stone in her hands to her face. “Don’t worry about it, but we better get moving.”

Sarah closed her eyes and nodded. “Right, the old slingshot-around-the-Earth thing. Can’t wait.” She placed the meteorite back into its Styrofoam-encased box and then placed it in her jumpsuit. She pulled her Velcro-covered feet free of the floor.

“What were you thinking when we floated in here? It was like you were in another world,” Ryan asked, following Sarah out of the laboratory.

“The mineral-we’re overlooking something fundamental here and for the life of me I can’t figure out what it is.”

“Well, you’ve got two days to figure it out. The colonel has decided on a straight-in approach to the Moon, following the same path as Astral. One orbit and then bam, we hit the surface.”

Mendenhall nudged Ryan. “What do you mean, bam?”

“You know, land,” Ryan said with a wink.

“Have you heard anything about the Chinese?”

“Eighteen hours till they land,” Ryan said, as he slowed and waited for Will to slide by him in the companionway.

“Jesus, we’re so far behind,” Sarah said as she pulled herself into the exercise module where the rest of the crew was waiting.

“Next time I’ll just close up that hatch and leave you three here,” Colonel Kendal said as he stood poised beside a map of Shackleton Crater.

“Apologies, I was making some last-minute spectrographs on the mineral.”

“No excuse. When I call a meeting that means come running.” Kendal’s demeanor softened and he shook his head. “Now, with the docking procedures completed, and Altair joined with the Dark Star 3 crew module and capsule, we’re finally ready. You’ve all had a great meal of MREs, freeze-dried though they are, so we’ll leave now while we have a favorable launch window. In two days we’ll be where we want to be. Sergeant, are your men ready for whatever we may run into?”

“I believe so, sir. The Chinese, if it comes down to it, can’t be that much more prepared than ourselves. Loaded onboard the Altair we have ten compressed-air M-39 rocket-assisted projectile weapons. We are not carrying any explosive ordnance due to the instability of the mineral. Intelligence reports state that the Chinese forces, like the ESA team and the Russians, if they ever get there, will be armed with basically the same weapons.”

Sarah thought the Special Forces sergeant looked extremely young. But then again so did Will Mendenhall. She half smiled at Will when he gave her a sad look.

“That makes the odds pretty much even if the Chinese turn out to be unfriendly. Well, we do have one advantage. The Chinese have made their own mistakes. They cannot adjust their orbit because of fuel loss. So that means they have to land over a hundred miles from Shackleton. That gives us a fighting chance at getting there first. Ladies and gentlemen, we are going to land two hundred feet from the edge of Shackleton. Dangerous, but I think my copilot, Mr. Ryan, and I can do it.”

Ryan looked over at Will and Sarah and then smiled broadly. They knew that look as the we’re all going to die look from years past.

“Okay, the Russians have their systems back online, but they won’t be able to launch for another twenty-four hours. So, that leaves us the damaged Astral lander of the European Space Agency, and the Magnificent Dragon to contend with. I believe our Altair is the best craft running this little race. I know we can do this. So, let’s go to the Moon.”

As the flight team started to file out toward the docking collar, Sarah floated aside to let men and women pass her. She started thinking. She felt the small box with the meteorite inside and then she looked out of the small porthole. The Earth was there, and she could even see South America. She said a prayer for Jack, Carl, and the others. Still, the thought of the small rock she carried bothered her. The keyword she knew was “meteorite.” She said it over and over again. Then, Will Mendenhall pulled on her sleeve.

“Hey, you want to get left behind?” he asked.

Sarah didn’t say anything. She just floated by Will and into the sleeve that connected the ISS with the crew module of Dark Star.

“I was hoping you were going to say yes, because I would have stayed with you.”

Will watched as Sarah went inside. He grimaced at the thought of leaving for the Moon.

“Nobody ever listens to me.”

The hotel was virtually a fortress as the security element of Faith Ministries moved in. All sixteen floors were occupied by men paid half of what they were owed. Five hundred mercenaries from every continent on the globe had been assembled to augment the security force already in place. The Ecuadorian Armed Forces were still on the fence about falling in line. The president of the United States was bringing pressure to bear on the leaders of the small country through the Organization of American States to open up the mine for general inspection. Since the mine was privately owned by a German firm and another firm registered as an Ecuadorian mining concern, the legalities were such that Ecuador could debate the problem for years and still not come to a final legal determination of the rights of the owners. Little did anyone know the owners were inside the hotel and weren’t about to give up any of their rights of possession.

Samuel Rawlins, replete with white scarf, jungle boots, and tan working clothes designed for him by a prestigious tailor in New York, paced the large suite on the topmost floor of the Ambassador. He knew the time would come when he had to relinquish all his holdings, including Faith Ministries; he just never thought it would happen so suddenly. After seventy years of hiding the artifacts from the world, all of his work and all of his father’s work before him had unraveled so fast that he was having a hard time believing it had happened at all.

Former Special Forces Colonel James McCabe sat on the large couch and picked some nonexistent lint from his pants. He looked into the corner of the suite and saw the suitcases. They held a new life for him. As of this moment, he was no longer involved with the good Reverend and his scheme to keep mankind in the dark about its past. His job was done, his reward sitting in sixteen different banks around the world. His new uniform was tucked nicely into the brand-new suitcases awaiting him. Bosnia-Herzegovina, a nonextradition country with a deep hatred for the West, was allowing McCabe to take a new post in their government under an assumed name and with a new, surgically altered face. And they were allowing him to keep the $1.2 billion as reward for a job well done. He knew he would leave as soon as a loose thread was snipped away from the fabric of his new life.

“If I had the expertise, I would lead the defense of the mine myself,” Rawlins said, as he placed a hand on his daughter’s cheek. She covered his with her own and looked up at the ridiculously dressed Reverend. “As it is, I have to bow to the expert.”

“If that attack comes at all,” Laurel said as her eyes went to McCabe, who raised his brows and smiled.

“Oh, it’ll come. It will come just as sure as your death is imminent.”

“But the manner of my death will bring martyrdom to my cause,” Rawlins said, starting to go off on another tangent. “My two daughters will inherit my wealth, my ideals, and my love of the Lord. Why, they’ll-”

“Be dead right alongside you,” McCabe said. “Your wealth will be frozen.” McCabe stood and walked toward a large window that looked out over the city. “Your church and your industries will be destroyed and dismantled. Your legacy will be disgraced. The country-hell, the world-will not soon forget the murderer of heroes. It seldom ever does.”

“And you walk away clean? Is that it?” Laurel asked, looking far more confident than McCabe thought she had a right to.

“Let’s just say I walk away. You will not.” He turned to face Rawlins and Laurel. He placed his hands in his pants pockets, shaking his head. “It started coming apart when you decided to play assassin, a job you’re not very good at. I told you that attacking the president was a mistake, but you decided you knew better than me. No matter the politics of the time, Americans don’t care for people who try to kill a sitting president. Your second mistake was trusting in the Mechanic. By triggering his Jihad mentality, you have awakened a dormant desire inside of him to bring down the unbelievers.” He smiled and looked directly at Rawlins. “And that includes you. To him you are nothing but a wolf in sheep’s clothing, a user of the true believers-one who would kill his own people in the pursuit of placing your faith above that of all others.

“You still control the towel head,” Rawlins stated, his anger growing.

“These men here in this hotel, the ones at the mine, they’re not my men. They’re his.” McCabe placed a hand on Laurel’s shoulder and squeezed. “Amateurs, that’s what you are. Your zeal for protecting your faith against a real truth was never the real issue, just one that you could grasp. For the Mechanic it’s the only issue. The discoveries buried in those mines are what will drive him much further than even you could conceive. Bringing Operation Columbus into the light of day may be a casus belli for you to take upon yourself as an affront to your religion, your way of belief, but the Mechanic believes it is a true affront to God. And while you consider yourself a mouthpiece for the Lord, dear Reverend, he believes he is a true messenger of God.” He laughed and removed his hand from Laurel’s shoulder. “That is why he was so easily recruited by me. He lost his faith when his superiors lacked the willpower to take the fight to the unbelievers. He sought money, but then Laurel got him to thinking again. He despises you and your father so much that you actually made him whole again with your scheming.”

“I have him believing that he needs me and our resources,” Laurel said with a smirk.

This time McCabe laughed out loud.

“Needs you? My dear you are dealing with a man who was in on the planning for 9/11. Your pretty little face was mere inches away from a cold-blooded killer who ordered the decapitation of women and children for accepting food from American soldiers in Afghanistan. He is the man who has taken over your little plan, a plan that I conceived and made possible.” McCabe walked toward the suitcases in the far corner. “And now you’ll have to deal with him yourself, Laurel my dear.” He picked up two of the suitcases and turned. “Because there is a man on the loose who is relentless in his pursuit of what he thinks is right, and I just gave him something he wants and needs-a warning of your intentions. Colonel Jack Collins is an old acquaintance of mine, and besides wanting to see me again, he would truly love to meet you two and the Mechanic.”

“You have betrayed us?” Rawlins said as he stood aghast.

“Betrayed? Yes, I guess I have, but in the end I think we’ll all get what we deserve.”

Laurel stood and made her way to the door. She paused before opening it for McCabe.

“I suspect we will all get what the Lord has planned for us,” she said as she opened the door.

McCabe started to walk forward and then stopped suddenly when he saw who was standing in the doorway. The Mechanic had a pistol leveled at the American. He stepped in and closed the door. His eyes were dull, as though he were going about a task that was necessary but beneath him.

“I guess some of us will get what’s deserved far sooner than others,” Laurel said as she eased her arm around the Mechanic.

“What is this? Daughter, step away from that man.”

McCabe lowered his suitcases and looked from Laurel to the dull-eyed Mechanic. The man had shaved and his clothes were plain. Gone was the white suit and the white shirt. He looked like any Ecuadorian businessman after a day at work, and that was when McCabe knew he hadn’t moved fast enough.

“I guess his God wouldn’t want you mixing with a true believer,” McCabe said, looking from Laurel to Rawlins.

“Reverend, I am taking control of the mines. The Americans will not be allowed to view its contents before my people take what it has to offer for our own aims.”

“I hate to say I told you so, but-”

The Mechanic shot McCabe three times in rapid succession. The American took two steps back and then slid down in front of the couch. As he did, Laurel gasped at the suddenness of her former lover’s death. Panic gripped her when the Mechanic reached around and removed her arm from him.

“You will never touch me again.” He aimed the pistol three feet to his right and then he looked at Laurel, who had stepped back.

“What? I did as you requested. The accounts have been transferred to your banks, you have the money that McCabe was collecting from us, and you have my father’s money as well. You owe me everything,” Laurel said, looking at the smoking weapon held by the Mechanic.

“I suppose I owe you a debt of gratitude. You have not only awakened in me the true calling for which I was chosen, but also a sense of what the West is about. Your love of killing is not a thing that is warranted through the laws of God, but by the law and the need for money.” He leveled the pistol at Laurel. “You and your father are on the right track in dealing with your countrymen, but you must realize that the extreme has not yet been reached. The mine holds the scientific means to lead God’s children down their chosen path, the bodies you describe may give rise to doubt in his infinite word of how our world was created, but with the power of the ancient weaponry and a Jihad the likes of which the world has never seen, those untruths shall be destroyed and forgotten. My people will be the guardians of the ancient technology. Your father should have buried the truth long ago, but now it is far too late.”

“My father lost his way and tried to gain riches from the assemblage of weaponry in the ruins,” said Rawlins. “God, in his infinite wisdom, chose to destroy him, and bury him along with the heresy of that mine. Since his disappearance more than thirty years ago I have made sure that the truth of that place and its contents were well guarded, unseen by the unbelievers. If I had buried it, there are always little men with shovels who would come dig it up. You and McCabe promised me that you could destroy it and at the same time stop more of the technology from being found on the Moon.”

“And the mine will be destroyed once my people gain the knowledge hidden there. This is a gift from God himself,” the Mechanic said in his rediscovered zeal.

The Reverend stepped forward and placed his arm around his equally insane daughter. He pulled her into him and both sets of crazed eyes bore into the Mechanic.

“I would have the world burn before I allow my faith to be crushed by the release of more lies against the word of God.”

“Then you will be allowed to witness the start of the final Jihad against the lies of infidels.”

Without aiming, the Mechanic pulled the trigger and shot Laurel in the face. Then he shot her once more before she collapsed.

Rawlins stood shocked; his mouth was moving but nothing came out.

“At least the infidels, your countrymen, do not hide their true intent out of fear, but you, Mr. Rawlins, use God to your own ends. This is a sin you will not survive.”

Three shots into Rawlins’s face and neck sent him hard against the white-painted wall. He slowly slid down onto the floor next to his older daughter. The Mechanic looked at the two bodies in disgust and laid the silenced pistol on the end table near the couch. He picked up the phone and hit one number.

“Prepare the men. I want the mine shut down, and I also want the Americans who are in this country tracked down and killed. The mine shafts and the enclosure will be blasted into oblivion tonight after we remove the weaponry and the other technology.”

Jack didn’t like it, but the only men who knew their way around Quito were Pete Golding and Charlie Ellenshaw. Collins had placed Sebastian in overall command of the mission to bring in the two men from Washington who were being sent in by the president. Information was being doled out on a very strict need-to-know basis and that was starting to infuriate Jack.

Since word of the attack on the Atlas and Dark Star 3 had reached him, he had been champing at the bit to get his team inside the mountain. He had calmed when Niles had passed on word that they now had two days before Sarah and Dark Star reached lunar orbit. He knew his reactions and anger at the helpless situation could very well get a lot of people killed; thus he was considering handing over all elements of the advance team to Captain Everett. Then he would have Sebastian take command of any assault elements.

They were now holed up in five small trailers purchased with cash from a small town east of Quito by Director Compton. Several laptops and a satellite receiver had been provided by the U.S. embassy there and now they were in constant communication with Washington and Event Group Center. Most importantly they now had a direct link to Europa. The trailer had been hidden among the thick trees that flourished at the three-thousand-foot mark of the lower Andes. They were well above the mine that held the secrets of Columbus, and the team had thus far only had one close call with a roving patrol of what sounded like German mercenaries. It had taken Jack and Carl over ten minutes to convince Sebastian that he couldn’t confront the patrol until they were ready and had permission from the president. That was one of the reasons they had decided to send the German commando off to Quito with Pete and Charlie.

Counting the ten German commandos, Jack could field six men besides himself, and that included the two Air Force pilots who had to abandon the 737 at the airport. Then there were Compton, Charlie, and Pete, not very good odds for facing the small force now guarding the mine’s entrance. The colonel figured there were now close to two hundred personnel at the main entrance, and at least another seventy at the waterfall where they had made their earlier escape. One thing was for sure-he suspected that reinforcements would soon arrive as the mission to the Moon neared its objective. If they didn’t get a go or receive an infusion of men from the president soon, they would lose the mine and everything in it. That would mean that Sarah and the others would actually have to land on the Moon in an untried and untested lander. Once they were there, they would face another landing team, one that might be hostile. These were the thoughts occupying Jack as he waited for the return of Sebastian, Charlie, and Pete.

Everett stepped up to the tree where Jack was sitting and kneeled down.

“Tough, huh?”

Jack shook his head slightly and tossed the stick that he was holding into the trees.

“You know, the thing of it is, if I’d been asked to volunteer for the Moon, and if I was as young as those three idiots, I would have jumped at the chance,” Collins said, shaking his head.

“You and me both.” Everett stood and looked around at the towering trees that hid their small camp. “But space is a young man’s game. That’s why we virtually attacked them before they left the complex. Our jealousy got the better of us, I think.”

“It seems like a year since they left for Houston,” Jack said as he too stood and looked around. He could see the three visible lookout positions above the mine and the road leading to it. He was satisfied that they were well enough hidden from any helicopter flyovers, so he turned and faced Everett again. “How’s the senator?”

“Sleeping. Alice keeps him pretty much doped up. I just can’t figure that guy,” Carl said as he looked toward the disguised trailer where Garrison Lee was sleeping. “He’s not content to spend his last few days at home with the woman he loves. He has to be out here on one last adventure.”

Jack smiled for the first time in many hours and kicked at a small pinecone.

“It’s unfinished business for him. The Columbus thing from the war, Alice’s husband. You know the story.” He looked at Everett and held his eyes with his own. “It’s also because he, like us, knows we’re being kept in the dark about what this is all about.”

Everett looked over Jack’s shoulder and saw the approach of Niles Compton, who was just leaving the senator’s trailer. He came on slow toward the high spot where Jack and Carl stood.

“How’s he doing?” Carl asked.

“The same. He’s drifting in and out of sleep-dreaming a lot.” Niles stepped up to the two larger men and placed his hands in his pockets. “I feel for Alice. She’s listening to the senator talking with her dead husband, living his death over and over.”

Jack remained quiet. Niles held the information he wanted, but if the director said he was under orders, he was under orders. Niles could tell him he would. The director wasn’t one for keeping secrets from his people. If he thought it would cost the lives of his friends and colleagues, he would talk. As it was, he figured Niles understood that whatever he, the president, and Virginia had planned out, it didn’t affect the immediate situation.

“Jack, if we had the manpower, could we take the mine and hold it long enough to make a thorough examination and evaluation of its contents?”

“If the people we face are mercenaries only, yes, I think so. But if the Ecuadorians join in, it would take the 101st Airborne to hold them off long enough. There are just not enough details about how large the mine is. The timetable would be all screwed up because of that.”

“I’ve been speaking with the president and he’s serious about securing that mine in the next twenty-four hours, by force if necessary. That means invading a friendly government.”

“Shit, Niles, there are too many variables in taking an area that we have no intelligence on. We don’t know who’s really securing that place, or the fervor with which they’ll defend it.”

“With what these maniacs have accomplished so far, I would say they are willing to go the whole route in either destroying that mine with explosives or fighting off a full-scale attack,” Everett said as he heard the approach of a car. He saw a hand appear on the vehicle’s roof with its fingers spread. He gestured back that he understood it was a friendly.

“I agree,” Jack said, looking from Everett to Niles. “Tell the president we need people in theater and we need them now. We have to have assets here in country, I don’t care if they’re dishwashers, military attaches, or CIA analysts and typists. It can be someone who works for the U.S. government or an American who just happens to be here on vacation. Get them here with anything they can buy, steal, or borrow. The same goes for any ally we still have who’s willing to back our play.”

Compton nodded and started to turn away. He stopped suddenly and faced Jack.

“I’ll see what I can do. Listen you two, the president was almost killed over this thing, but he also realizes that he’s expendable. As a whole, it’s something that this planet has never faced before, and Columbus is something that can actually do some good-for everyone, not just us. Please bear with me and try to come up with a plan to take that mine intact.” He started walking for the communications trailer. “Because without help, we-and I mean the whole planet here-could very well go under.”

“Boy, with all these doomsday hints, Niles just about has me worried,” Carl quipped, as he watched Niles hurry down the hill.

Jack watched Niles. He felt the director had meant to come clean about what he knew, but had kept his silence. He turned and looked at Everett.

“I have got to put my fear for Sarah and the others out of my head. We need to get to planning, and if you see me drifting away, kick me in the ass.”

Everett smiled and slapped Jack on the back.

“Now that’s an order I’ve waited for. For five damn years.”

Jack watched as Sebastian held the door open for two old men. They eased out of the jeep, looking as if they had been thrown into a bag and shaken vigorously. One was a short, balding man, while the other was tall and thin as a rail. Compared to these men, Crazy Charlie was a prime physical specimen. As the two men stretched out their limbs, which still ached from the rough driving of Pete Golding, Jack saw that he and Charlie were starting to look like old pros at running and hiding.

“How did it go?” Carl asked the German as he unslung the short-barreled automatic from the denim shirt he was wearing.

“The capital is closing down. Looks like there are federal troops gathering at the airport. They may be flying in from around the country. Maybe they’re antidrug teams that are being recalled. It doesn’t look good.”

“Anything else?” Jack asked.

“Yes, my friend. We were nearly caught by a small force about six miles from the main road. These men were what you Americans would call salty -looking. As we waited for them to pass through the woods heading for the mine, we saw a gathering five hundred strong. The same type, only these guys look like they’re ready for anything. Large caliber weaponry, I even saw mortars.”

“Jesus, I hate being right,” Carl said.

“We have to move soon,” Jack said. Then he smiled. “Possession is nine tenths of the law.”

“It’s the taking possession part I’m worried about,” the large German said.

“Hopefully help is on the way, but we may have to move before it arrives.” Collins eyed the two strangers walking toward them. “Now, who is this?”

Sebastian stepped out of the way and allowed the two men to step up.

“Colonel Collins?” the smaller of the two men said, holding out his hand. “Jensen Appleby. I’m the director of the agency. This is my colleague from MIT, Franklyn Dubois. He’s the chairperson for advanced physics.” He took Jack’s hand and shook it. “We were ordered by the president to join Dr. Compton here. I believe he wants us to examine something.”

Jack released the director’s hand and looked at Everett and then Sebastian. He smiled and shook the other man’s hand, then faced both. “Do you know what you’re looking for out here?”

“Yes, I believe so. Some artifacts that may be comparable to those found on the Moon,” Appleby said.

Everett removed a nine-millimeter from his waistband and placed it in the hand of the small bespectacled man from DARPA.

“Almost,” Everett said, a small smile creasing his lips. “But you may have to use this before examining those items.”

“Oh, dear,” the tall, thin man from MIT said, looking at the weapon in Appleby’s hand.

“Gentlemen, the man you’re looking for is right inside that trailer,” Jack said, pointing and at the same time taking Carl’s weapon back from Appleby. “He’ll explain everything.” He turned and tossed the nine-millimeter back to Everett, then gestured for him and Sebastian to follow. “That wasn’t nice, Captain,” Jack said as they made their way to the third trailer in line.

“No, it wasn’t. But maybe the president should think about getting troops in here and stop sending us teachers and professors.”

“I agree,” Sebastian said, but then he saw Jack’s angry countenance. “Then again, I don’t know shit and now choose not to speak English.”

Six hours had passed since Niles had contacted the president and requested heavy assistance. Since that time Sebastian and his nine commandos had reported more Ecuadorian army personnel arriving at the mine. Thus far it looked as if three companies had been positioned in and around the old excavation. As it looked to the German commando, most of the army personnel were taking up station facing west, downhill toward Quito, defending a front where they thought their main threat would come.

“The president is in constant contact with President DeSilva. He is asking for the removal of Ecuadorian national troops from the area, stating that the mine is a privately owned venture and that Ecuador is not obligated to secure it. Thus far the Ecuadorian military is not budging.”

Jack looked at Niles and tossed his pencil down. He angrily looked at his watch.

“ Dark Star 3 is eight hours closer to the Moon than it was the last time we met. We’re running out of time. Did the president say anything about reinforcing our position?”

Niles shook his head and tossed his glasses on the map spread out on the table.

“We need at least a hundred more men for this plan to work.”

“We should have a minimal amount of help arriving any minute, assets that were already in country. That’s all I can tell you, other than that the president has ordered first strike elements of the 101st and 82nd Airborne units into the air. I do know that he has brought several other nations into his secrecy loop, and they may provide some sort of support. But I know you want the Airborne, and the president has approved.”

“How long?” Jack asked.

“As far as I know, Jack, they haven’t left their home bases yet,” Niles answered.

“Any air support at all?” Everett asked.

“There we got lucky. The Enterprise battle group is only six hundred miles away from the territorial waters of Ecuador. If the president can figure out the rules of engagement regarding the Ecuadorian military, we should have air cover.”

“Well, that’s something, if we’re fighting anyone other than the home guard,” Everett said, just as Sebastian’s radio sprang to life.

The German listened and then spoke silently into his radio. He looked at the three men watching him.

“You’re not going to believe this,” he said, and stepped toward the door of the trailer and opened it. He waved into the darkness and stepped back inside. A knock sounded at the side of the door and an average-sized man in camouflage greasepaint poked his head in the doorway. He looked up at the German standing before him and removed his bush hat.

“Are you Major Krell?” the man asked, in a slow Southern American drawl.

“I am,” answered the German.

“My compliments, sir, and compliments to your listening posts in the woods. We stumbled right into them before we knew they were there. They had my men cold.”

“And you are?” Krell asked, as he gestured for the man to come in.

“Gunnery Sergeant Alan Pierce, United States embassy security detachment. I have seven men with me with orders from the president and the American ambassador to Ecuador to report to Major Sebastian Krell, and a Colonel Jack Collins.”

“And you have found who you are looking for,” Sebastian said, turning toward Jack. “I believe this is one of yours.”

Collins stepped forward and held out his hand. Instead of taking the outstretched hand, the gunnery sergeant saluted the colonel.

“We’re being a little informal here, Gunny. Relax.”

The gunnery sergeant lowered the offered salute and shook Jack’s hand instead. Then he shook Everett’s and Sebastian’s hands as they were introduced.

“I take it you’re the help we’re supposed to get?” Carl asked.

“Well, from the U.S. side, yes sir, at least for the moment. However, we did come across a few more fellas out in the woods two miles north of your camp.” Pierce turned and ducked his head through the doorway. Three men stepped forward, all dressed in dark green battle fatigues and all made up just as the Marine was. Their faces were dark with greasepaint and all three looked just as fierce. “Colonel Collins, this is Captain Whitlesey Mark-Patton, of Her Majesty’s Special Air Service, currently on detached service to Ecuador for embassy security evaluation.”

The British captain raised his hand in a salute and this time Jack returned it.

“Welcome, Captain. A fortunate coincidence that you’re right in the country where we need you.”

“Well, sir, I’m afraid we’re not here in force, as I only have five men with me from my unit, and three Australian army, and two New Zealanders, for a grand total of eleven men. I have been ordered to follow your instructions, and have been given the all-clear to engage forces that have been termed detrimental to Her Majesty’s government.”

“Thank you. We’ll try and put you to good use,” Jack said as he turned and faced Everett. He took a deep breath. Then he turned to the other two men who entered the small trailer. They both saluted Collins as they came to attention.

“Okay, gentlemen, that’s enough. I think we’ll just start out a little less formal.” Jack again held out his hand to the first of the two men. “I’m Colonel Jack Collins and this is Captain Carl Everett, U.S. Navy, and Sebastian Krell, German army.”

“Sergeant Tashiro Jiimzo, Japanese Self-Defense Forces, stationed as military attache to Quito. I have four other men with me, sir.”

“Sergeant Huynh Nguyen, Vietnam People’s Army, reporting on behalf of my government to you. I have ten men accompanying me. We were on duty at our embassy, training security personnel, when the request from your president came through channels.”

As the men shook hands, Jack smiled. He had to hand it to the president; he was pulling in some serious favors from friends in other countries.

“Sergeant, Captain-welcome to our little band of invaders. Since this may be all the reinforcements for a while, we’d better get down to planning. It won’t be easy. We’re outnumbered two hundred to one, with the odds against us growing larger by the minute.”

The small Vietnamese sergeant tilted his head when Jack mentioned the numbers. Then he smiled. “The odds are not unheard of, Colonel. It all depends upon the plan.”

Jack returned the smile and gestured for the men to have a seat at the map table. He knew the sergeant was schooled on long odds and short hope. That was how he was raised. Right now Jack needed men such as this if what he was planning was going to have a chance of working.

“Gentlemen, our plan is to scare the hell out of an army that’s not used to fighting crazy people. So, if I may ask, how much equipment were you able to take out of your embassies?”

The British SAS officer spoke first. “We have ten full-sized G3 assault rifles, 2 G3SG1 sniper rifles, and five G3 KA4 short barrels with collapsible stock, and also five thousand rounds of ammunition.”

“All we have is five M-16 automatic weapons with a thousand rounds,” Jiimzo said, looking embarrassed.

“The same with us, the New Zealanders and the Australians,” Nguyen said. “We have only what we could sneak out of the embassy without being observed by the Ecuadorians.”

“Oh, yes, I forgot to mention-ten claymore mines were found in the embassy armory. We liberated them from the politicos,” Captain Mark-Patton said with a smile.

Jack looked at the men in front of him. “I’m looking at thirty-six of the best soldiers in the world. Captain Everett, Major Krell, and myself are humbled, to be sure.”

“There, there, Colonel. I believe you are selling yourself quite short,” Mark-Patton said as he laid his assault weapon on the map-covered table. “I believe you were in on the rescue of that downed Intruder pilot in Iraq in ’92 and certain other exploits, including the training of my very own commanding officer on behind-the-lines infiltration. So let’s, as you say, be informal here. Yourself, Major Krell, and Captain Everett have more experience than any ten men in this room.” The captain reached over and took a field pack. He tossed it toward Everett, who caught it in midair. “Those are BDUs, green and brown. I suspect you would rather go into battle wearing something other than work shirts and Levi’s.”

Collins looked at Everett and shrugged.

“Okay, gentlemen-again, welcome. Shall we get down to business?”

The twelve-man capsule, dubbed Falcon 1, was attached nose to nose with the Altair lander. The crew module was roomy enough to move around in, but for real exercise the crew had to crawl through to the far more spacious three-decked lunar module.

During their downtime on the voyage, the entire crew, with the exception of the command module pilot, worked on breaking down the large M-39 rocket-assisted projectile weapons designed by DARPA, as well as the short-barreled M-4 carbine, the little sister of the venerable M-16 that each man would carry on any excursion on the lunar surface. There were also four Stinger missile systems and five LAWs armor-piercing rockets that Sarah and Ryan had to learn about. Each of the excursion personnel would also carry a Glock nine-millimeter pistol in a nylon holster.

After six hours of weapons training in breakdown and cleaning, Sarah gave the crew a quick but detailed course on the mineral. Water and air of any kind were forbidden within a dozen yards of the mineral if any was found. Information on the alien weaponry was sparse at best, with only a few grainy pictures of the items they were looking for. Most were rifle-shaped weapons, but Sarah reminded the men present that there could be larger, heavier weaponry that wasn’t discovered by the Beatles.

After the meeting broke up, the crew went about eating and exercising. Ryan went forward to speak to the command module pilot and learn about the systems. Sarah had been proud of Jason as he tried to cram everything he could learn in the two-day voyage of Dark Star 3. This was a shortened venue for all the training they had to undergo, since it used to take four days to get to the Moon in the old Apollo days, but thanks to the added engine power of the new solid rocket booster engines on the command module, the trip had been cut in half.

Sarah approached Colonel Kendal as he floated onto the exercise bike.

“Any word on the Chinese?”

Kendal started pedaling and looked around to see who was in earshot. Then he placed two small earpieces in his ears and paused over the play button for his iPod.

“The time frame will be right around the time Altair lands. We won’t know until we’re either ambushed or welcomed as an ally. Maybe we can get some chatter from the French, since they land five hours before us, but I don’t anticipate getting that lucky.”

“The Russians?” Sarah asked, leaning into Kendal.

“Our old friends are a full day and half behind us. They won’t get there until the shooting has stopped. Besides, I understand they’re having problems onboard their lunar lander Peter the Great.” The colonel tapped the video monitor next to the lander control station. There was a picture of a large craft that looked similar to their own Altair lander, only more base looking. Below the picture were the Russian words,

– Peter the Great Lunar Lander.

“That doesn’t help me,” Sarah said frowning. “What’s wrong with the damn lander now?”

The colonel hit his play button and started pedaling. “I guess they didn’t steal the right plans from us back in the eighties,” he answered with a wink.

Sarah turned away and bumped into a floating Mendenhall. “What was that all about?” he asked, as turned a complete flip in the air.

“Just more good news about the Russians being a day late and a ruble short.”

“Well, let’s just hope the Chinese have a good attitude when we land.”

Sarah floated past Will and stopped him from spinning before he vomited for the fifth time on the trip.

“That, my friend, is in serious doubt.”

Dark Star 3 was hurtling toward the moon at a record-breaking pace of 35,790 miles per hour. Altair 1 would attempt to set down in a possible hostile landing zone in exactly nine hours.

The ESA and Russian spacecraft were yet to be heard from.

Niles slammed the headphones down in frustration and was thankful he hadn’t been speaking to the president on one of the laptop computers Pete had offered.

“Unbelievable,” Charlie said behind the sweating back of Pete Golding. The two men had been steadily poised over a laptop plugged directly into the Europa system, which was being bounced off two satellites. One of these, the Event Group’s KH-11 bird code-named Boris and Natasha, had been retasked and was just now coming online for direct aerial views of the mine and the surrounding terrain so Jack could plan his makeshift assault accordingly.

“What is it?” Niles asked as he stood and walked over to the two scientists.

“Europa and our linguistics team have a promising link to the alien alphabet,” Pete said and turned the monitor of the laptop enough so Niles could see. “They’ve been studying the video from the crater-the flag, the lettering on the space suit, the number system on a few of the weapons, and so on. Europa has evaluated the writing and is comparing it with different symbologies that we have here on Earth. She’s come to the conclusion that it is a definite cross between a written language and a pictograph system similar to Chinese.”

“I don’t see how Europa can grasp their language from just a few words.”

“Actually, the number system was pretty easy, Niles. She just took every number that we had photographs of and repeated them through her system. As no number was higher than nine, she figured that the system was based on ten. Now, breaking down each number was a little harder. This is where Europa got extremely lucky. It all started with the very first find by the robotic Beatles, the skeleton itself-in particular, the air tank system on the spaceman’s backpack. The numbers were taken off and the size of the tanks evaluated by Europa as compared to a similar system of air tanks used by NASA, the U.S. Navy, etc. Europa figured it was twenty gallons or eighty cubic feet of air. She took the symbology for these numbers and deduced that what the writing on the tank said was air capacity of eighty cubic feet, the very same system we use, only it took our strange friends eight letters to spell out the word eighty and three numbers to indicate the numeral 80. The parentheses were easier.”

Niles shook his head. “And from this she has decoded their language? That’s hard to believe, gentlemen.”

“We won’t know for sure until we can get more detailed text, but I wouldn’t bet against Europa, Mr. Director,” Pete said as he pulled the screen back. He looked insulted that Niles had doubted Europa.

“Well, Jack’s going to try to get us in the mine as soon as he can. What about the flag and its symbology?”

“The four circles in elliptical form,” Charlie said for Pete, who had switched the view on the laptop from the writing program to the picture of the flag and the symbols described by Jack and the senator:

“Europa is very confused, as are most of the best astronomers in the world. She had been monitoring the study of the flag at every university in the world and most of them are of the opinion that it’s an elliptical orbit of the alien home world,” Charlie said, pointing to the animation of the flag.

“However, Europa does not agree,” Pete said, interrupting Charlie. “She seems to believe, and we are arguing with her on this point, that it’s a system of neighboring planets-perhaps a series of planets and moons. Of course I have asked her to explain and she states that the alignment could be two planets and two moons in the same orbit but on opposite sides of the sun. Personally I think the old girl’s guessing. There’s nothing remotely like this diagram in the solar system. Not even Saturn or Jupiter has moons that close to their own orbit. As for Europa’s theory that those two worlds and their moons could occupy the same orbit, but on opposite sides of the sun-well, we just don’t have a precedent for that scenario.”

“Simple. It’s not our solar system,” Niles offered.

“No, sir, I don’t believe that’s the case. It has to be close to our own system.” Pete changed the picture on the screen and they were soon looking at the space-suited skeleton. “Now this is purely speculation on my and Charlie’s parts, but the design of this environment suit is not that different from our own-or NASA’s, I mean.”

“I’m not following, boys,” Niles said, keeping his eyes on the monitor.

“Niles, the design of the suit is everything,” Charlie said. “It’s not that advanced. it would take an advanced civilization to get here from another solar system capable of sustaining life, because it would require that civilization having faster-than-light capability. This suit doesn’t demonstrate that kind of scientific and technological development. Okay, it’s thin, but it’s our theory. These beings have to be from somewhere nearby, not another system in the Milky Way.”

“Thin? Gentlemen, this theory is so thin it’s transparent. You have absolutely nothing to base this on other than a space suit. And one, I might add, that we know nothing about.”

Charlie Ellenshaw lowered his head and looked away. Pete Golding again shook his head and bent back to work. Both men were hurt that Niles wasn’t seeing what they were seeing. It was Charlie who refused to go quietly, because he was used to having his ideas and theories ridiculed by others.

“No, wait a minute here. I’ve been a space buff all of my life. That space suit isn’t that advanced. It’s common sense to assume that the civilization that designed it is not that far ahead of our own. Let me add, Niles-and the MIT and DARPA chaps can verify this-that we are at least two to three hundred years from even developing a decent theory of faster-than-light space travel and another two or three hundred years away from actually developing it. What’s the matter with you? You don’t take theory as a valued and viable scientific pattern anymore?”

Niles could see the anger in Ellenshaw’s eyes and the hurt in the way Pete refused to look up from the laptop he was working at. He knew he was projecting his own frustrations at the developing situation in space on the two scientists, and he was a fool for doing so. He shook his head and then removed his glasses. He turned and looked at the two men sitting in the corner, discussing the weaponry that the Beatles had sent via facsimile.

“Dr. Appleby, could you step over here and listen to what these men have to say? Apparently I’ve dropped some IQ points in the last few days. They’re speaking a language I can’t follow.”

Charlie nodded his head and smiled. Pete turned and looked at Niles. He too gave a halfhearted nod, knowing that this was Niles’s way of apologizing to the two men. They both knew that he was far more brilliant than either of them, but just wasn’t getting the fact that they knew nothing and had to start with theory first. To a man like Niles, that was a killer of rational thought in these pressure-filled times.

Niles turned away and thought about going over to the other trailer. Then he thought better of it and instead stepped out into the cool night air of the Andes. He took a few steps and that was when he saw a tall figure leaning against a tree. He could smell pipe tobacco and noticed a smaller figure in the moonlight standing next to the first. It was Alice Hamilton standing next to Garrison Lee and they were both looking up at the Moon, so Niles decided to let them have their time together, even though he was in the mood to converse with anybody about anything to keep himself from worrying about the fate of Sarah, Mendenhall, and Ryan. He turned away and started to go back inside the trailer.

“No need to leave, Niles my boy. Come and join us,” Lee said, half turning and holding a reassuring hand on Alice’s shoulder.

Nile turned back toward the couple and walked in their direction. He nodded as two Japanese soldiers walked past. They nodded politely at the small balding man in the tan work clothes and then moved off into the trees.

“Arguing with the boys?” Lee asked, puffing on his pipe. “I know for a fact you won’t get anywhere doing that.” He looked down at Niles, who had joined him and Alice. “I know because I tried to argue scientific points with you my, dear boy, for almost ten full years. It was like hitting my head against a wall.”

“I couldn’t have been that frustrating.”

“More,” Lee said, with Alice nodding in agreement. “And the maddening thing is, just like those two nerd birds in there, you were right more often than I ever admitted.”

Niles smiled and looked down at his feet. “I was a little hard on them,” he said. “I think they’re on to something, but what I need is facts that I can pass along to the president, not more theory.”

Lee removed the pipe from his mouth and tapped the bowl against the tree. He then pocketed the pipe and placed his hand on Niles’s shoulder.

“The burden of having the president’s ear is a large one. I can’t help you there, my boy. At least not until you can explain why that mine and its contents, along with the discovery on the Moon, are so damned important to so many people.”

Niles looked at Lee. That was when he realized that he and Alice had put their two heads together and had come to a conclusion-they had figured it out. He thought about calling them on it, but decided to let them go on speculating, even if they were right. He didn’t want to give his old friend the pleasure of gloating that he was still sharp as a tack even though he was knocking on heaven’s door. Even Alice had a nice, smug smile on her lips as she stared into the woods.

“You know, if it weren’t for you, our entire civilization would have been totally unprepared for what’s coming,” Niles said as he turned away from Lee and Alice.

“I don’t know what you mean, my boy,” Lee said. He turned with the aid of Alice and his ever-present cane.

“Oh, I think you do,” Niles said. He returned Lee’s crooked grin. “Now, why don’t you go in there and spy on Jack for me, then let me know what he plans to do, and then get some rest.”

“Oh, I think I know what Jack’s plans are, and I wouldn’t want to be the mercenaries down there guarding that mine. Have you seen the array of pirates the colonel’s got helping him lately?”

Niles laughed and then turned away.

Lee looked down at Alice and she knew by the look that he was in desperate pain. He closed his eyes, then opened them again and smiled.

“I think I’ll deny the request to spy on Jack. I think I’d better go lie down, old girl.”

Alice just nodded her head, knowing Garrison Lee was fast running out of time.