Swiss Alps near Zermatt, Switzerland
December 18, 1974
Waldo Schaeffer had just arrived from the Soviet Union to begin work on the Carthage Project. After a long hike he came across a small lodge, looking at his map he realized that this was where he was supposed to be. He went up to the lodge to find that he was not alone. A young woman with long pink hair was out back chopping wood. Waldo went up to her.
"Excuse me, miss." He said
"Emergency numbers and other contact information are on the counter." She said still preoccupied with chopping.
"I was told I was to speak to the caretaker of the lodge for further information." Waldo said "Would that be you?"
"Yes it would." She said "My name is Antea, I've come here from America just to get away from all the conflict. Why are you here?"
"Um… Business." Waldo said "My name is Waldo Franz Schaeffer. I come from Germany."
"East or West?" Antea asked
"East." Waldo said "But I come from West Berlin."
"Very well." Antea said "Come on, I'll show you around."
Antea then took him inside and gave him a tour. When she finished, she asked if he had any questions.
"Not at all, thank you." Waldo said "This will be perfect for my work."
"What sort of work do you do, anyway?" Antea asked
"Computers." Waldo spoke quickly
"Oh." Antea said "You know my mother works on computers. She's quite famous in that field, too."
"Wait." Waldo said "What did you say your name was again?"
"My name is Antea Hopper, and yes, Grace Hopper is my mother."
"What? No way." Waldo said "Grace never had any children."
"Not that you know." Antea said "Anyways, make yourself at home. If you have any questions, just ask me."
"Alright." He said pulling out a small book
"What's that?" Antea asked
"Oh, just some book I've been reading." Waldo said "It about two scientists who go to Mars and they become part of a huge uprising against the rulers."
"What's the title?"
"Aelita." Waldo said "It's the name of the Martian princess." (A/N: That is a real book, by the way, in case you didn't know.)
Back in East Germany, Noel and the others were starting on the supercomputer using instructions that Waldo had sent them from Switzerland. The work was done in Waldo's old bedroom, in a secret room carved into the wall. A few years later, they made significant process, but they were only halfway there. Meanwhile, Waldo had been spending a lot of time with Antea. They went out and talked a lot. Eventually, Waldo proposed to her and they got married and lived a happy life together. In 1980, Waldo was continuing his work and talking to his fellow scientists, Antea came in.
"Waldo?" She asked "Do you think you could take me to the hospital? I'm not feeling well."
Waldo immediately took her to the nearest hospital, roughly 70 miles away. When they arrived, the doctor then took her in.
"You can wait outside the room if you want to." The doctor said "It shouldn't take long."
"Okay." Waldo said. A short time later, the doctor and Antea came out.
"So, is my wife going to be okay, Doctor?" Waldo asked
"Do you want to tell him or should I?" The doctor asked
"I'll tell him." Antea said "Waldo, I'm pregnant."
Waldo seemed surprised "What?"
"Congratulations, Mr. Schaeffer." The doctor said
"Antea, this is great!" Waldo said hugging her. When they got home, they began talking about financial issues due to their new child.
"How much does your job make again?" Antea asked
"It depends on our effort and final product." Waldo said "Either way, we don't get paid until the job is done."
"How long will that take?" She asked
"For all I know, it could be another year." Waldo said
"Them I'm afraid you have to take a second job." Antea said "Unless you want to ask your boss for an early advance."
"You want me to travel 4,000 kilometers just to talk to my boss?" Waldo asked
"It was just a joke." Antea asked
"I'm going anyway." Waldo said "I want to know more about what I'm doing anyway."
"You don't even know what you're doing?" Antea asked
"Nobody's supposed to know." Waldo said "I even told you too much when I said I work with computers."
Waldo then rented an airplane and went all the way to Moscow. He then went to General Fedorov's office, only to find that he wasn't there.
"Mr. Fedorov?" Waldo asked "Mr. Fedorov, are you here?" No answer. Waldo then looked on his desk to see if he could find anything. He then found a folder on his desk titled "Final Solution of the American Question." He looked in the folder and he couldn't believe what he was seeing: It showed diagrams of a person stepping into a scanner and being transferred into a warship inside a circle labeled "Carthage Supercomputer." It then showed the warship leaving the circle and destroying another circle labeled "NATO Supercomputer." It then told about how if NATO's computers were destroyed from the inside, the Soviet Union could launch a first strike on the United States and nobody except the Warsaw Pact countries would see it coming and by the time they did see it coming, it would be too late. Waldo was horrified. He wasn't building beneficial technology; he was building a weapon of mass destruction.
Before he could speak, he felt someone come up from behind him. Waldo turned around to see Deniska Fedorov holding a hand gun to his head.
"How much did you figure out?" He asked
"Everything." Waldo said "You promised us peace!"
"Did you really think I was going to let us and the United States hold hands and sing?" Fedorov asked still holding the handgun "This is war, Mr. Schaeffer. There can be only one superpower standing and it sure is hell isn't going to be the Americans. They call themselves pure. No country who accuses us of attacking them just so that they can enter a war they were bound to lose should ever be considered pure. As long as communism's involved, the Americans have to intervene. We're just here to balance things out."
"You're going to kill millions of people just to prove that American society is flawed?" Waldo asked "How is that pure?"
"If you can't fix a flaw, and the Americans refused to be fixed, then you have to destroy it!" Fedorov said noticing that Waldo was walking out "Where are you going?"
"To East Germany!" Waldo said "I'm going to tell my scientists all about your plot, and then everyone else!"
"If you do, I'll hunt you down until the day I die!" Fedorov shouted "And then I'll kill you! You and every other traitor of humanity!"
Waldo then headed back to Switzerland. He had decided to tell his wife first.