Parallelogram : Day Two : Chapter 78
Five Days, Seven Hours, Twenty Minutes
Fortunately, the War Room had several conference centers. Stoddard walked in, instructing the technicians who had taken the room as a tactical ops headquarters to vacate and move upstairs, into the White House, in preparation for the inevitable news report. The President would need to review their data, he explained, and Stoddard wanted to give it his personal blessing. "Have a rough draft in front of me within the hour," he ordered as the last man walked through the doorway. Calmly, the chief closed the door.
"Dr. Vukavitch, Dr. Mentnor," he began, walking up to the small table and taking a chair across from them, "I don't need to remind you of your secrecy oaths, but what I'm about to tell you is only known to a very small handful of the President's most trusted advisors. Given the possible development in Alaska, I think it prudent that you have all of the necessary facts possible. Also, given the fact that Pendley doesn't appear to be coming to his sense, we may very well may need to make use of all possible alternatives if we're going to stop him … and that's largely why I want you to know about this."
Quickly, Olga glanced over at the senior scientist before she flatly stated, "Tell us whatever you like, chief."
Stoddard exhaled heavily. He glanced down at his watch.
"You know, it's funny how so much of our lives revolves around time," he began. "I would imagine that the President and your colleagues have already discussed the possibility of a Backstep to circumvent this whole affair. In point of fact, a Backstep was the initial suggestion of the NSA, but the President overruled it once we learned that Larnord wanted to speak with Mr. Parker." Shaking his head, he continued, "In any event, I want you to understand that this Administration has always supported the use of the Backstep technology to protect our interests around the globe. The more we used it, the more the President came to accept it as the ultimate offensive weapon. However … there are those within the elite military of our country who've long wondered about the possible defensive applications of this technology. Of course, the science advisors were always against it. They didn't rule it out as a possibility. Much to the contrary, they had already developed several prototypes." Calmly, he placed his hands on the table. "I think it's a safe assumption that what we're looking at today – this Doomsday weapon in the hands of Senator Pendley – is one prototype that's gone operational."
"Didn't you know which group within the military was developing the weapon?" Olga asked.
Stoddard smiled briefly. "I don't think any man or woman within the ranks of the current government knows everything that's in development. It's like the entire Backstep Program. It's part of the President's Black Budget, dedicated to the entire military … so, no, there's absolutely no way to ascertain all the facts." He nodded. "I have some of my staff investigating a possible paper trail, but I seriously doubt we'll discover anything of tremendous consequence between now and … well, let's just say between now and whenever Pendley strikes again."
"So this … what did you call it?" Mentnor interrupted. "This Halfstep Program? This was one of the projects secretly being developed?"
"The growing concern was that the more we had use of the Backstep Program, the more likely proof of its existence – proof of our ability to travel through time, however limited – would find its way into the global intelligence community," Stoddard explained. "Presently, I know that the Israelis are aware of the Sphere, as are the Chinese."
"But how?" Olga wondered aloud. "We've operated with the highest level of security!"
"Trust me, doctor," the chief offered. "There are those within our own government who seek to benefit from whatever technology they could offer to a foreign power. As President Lincoln long ago said, we're our own worst enemy, and Washington is full of opportunists seeking personal wealth, not public service." He shrugged. "There are members of the NSA who may've breached their oaths. There are even senators of the Senate Intelligence Committee who may've sold information to various governments in Europe. It's the reality I have to suffer each day.
"However, yes, Halfstep evolved out of our fear that another government would eventually locate NeverNeverLand and strike it."
"Militarily?" Mentnor said incredulously.
"Precisely," he answered. "What if a tactical nuke or a briefcase bomb were able to destroy the Sphere? With the timecraft gone, we'd have no means to undo the damage … and that's where Halfstep came in."
The two scientists leaned forward eagerly.
Stoddard cleared his throat. "Two years ago, agents within the Central Intelligence Agency acted on information they had received about an Unidentified Flying Object shot down in the jungles of South America. A covert ops team was assembled. These were our seven best soldiers. They were given explicit orders to locate the craft and retrieve whatever technology possible and destroy any other evidence they couldn't carry or ferry out of the area. Apparently, the craft had gone down in a relatively hostile part of the jungle where some rebels are fighting for what they believe is their own independence from several warring drug cartels. These rebels – they go by the name 'Libertad,' or Liberty – hold up in a very small village adjacent to the coordinates we had been provided for the downed craft, and satellite photography showed that several of these locals had discovered it. Fortunately for everyone, they didn't have any free press or any means to tell the world what they had found. Infiltrating their organization and locating the craft was no problem for our soldiers. However, much of the craft had already been salvaged … or destroyed. We managed to locate the reactor. I can only guess that the rebels didn't have the tools to remove the fuel rods. We did, so we took them, and we detonated several smaller explosives to eliminate any further evidence.
"These rods were brought back to the United States. They were very similar in design to what we found in the Roswell craft that powers the Backstep module, but they lack a high concentration of the temporal fuel. As a result, the timecraft that was developed is much smaller than the Sphere. Basically, it isn't much larger than an average human adult male. Also, it doesn't have the power to travel back in time seven days. During test trials, the Sarcophagus went three days, and that's why it's called Halfstep: it goes about half as far as the Backstep module."
Slowly, Mentnor nodded. "This was developed for us to use in the event that NeverNeverLand was attacked?"
"Exactly," Stoddard agreed. "However, while the President has long been an advocate of time travel, he firmly believed that the Halfstep Program should be kept only as a last alternative. Consequently, he ordered for the craft to be placed in hiding at some military base as far out of the mainland as possible."
"Zulu Base," Olga acknowledged.
Stoddard's expression hardened. "That's correct."
Mentnor drummed his fingers on the hard table. "So … if that secret attack helicopter was full of troops sent to steal the Halfstep Module … then it could very well be that Senator Pendley would be in possession of temporal technology for defensive and offensive purposes?"
"That," the chief said, "is also correct."
"Then Nathan has to be told," Olga insisted. "As it stands, Pendley can strike us whenever he likes. If the President orders it, we can have Channing flown back to our base. He can go back in time and have each of these targets evacuated to minimize the loss of life. Or … we can find out where Senator Pendley is hiding this weapon, and we can have Channing go back to stop it. Either way, someone needs to get back to NeverNeverLand."
"Why not Frank Parker?" Stoddard asked. "Unless I miss my guess, his Sphere is now in our timeline. Why don't we simply send him back?"
"Chief, it takes the module several days to fully charge," Mentnor explained. "Frank's module would've only just arrived at the base. It's presently in no condition to go anywhere. As it stands, Channing's module is our only alternative."
"I agree."
The three of them grew silent.
"All we have to do is convince the President," Stoddard concluded.
END of Chapter 78
