Read Online Area 51: The Sphinx-4 by Robert Doherty - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Robert Doherty
Tags: Fiction, General, Science-Fiction, Action & Adventure, Espionage, Political, High Tech, Area 51 (Nev.), Ark of the Covenant
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trying. They had determined that it worked off the planet's magnetic field, and Turcotte knew from personal experience that the bouncers lost power if they were too far from the planet's surface, but beyond that, they could not duplicate or reverse-engineer a working model.
A hatch on the top of the bouncer swung up and a slight figure climbed out, then down the side of the craft. Turcotte ran forward and handed Duncan a set of goggles, which she pulled down over her eyes.
"The Cube isn't secure yet?" She was between the two men, their bodies giving her some relief from the dust storm.
"Quinn said any minute now." Turcotte held up a cell phone. "He'll call us when it's ready."
Duncan nodded. "Good, I Wanted to talk to just the two of you alone first anyway." She looked past them at the ruins of the hangar. "I had a private meeting with the President just before coming here. Cutting through the political double-talk the bottom line is we're on our own. The destruction of the two space shuttles has shaken the entire administration. Everyone's afraid to
-63-
find out how deeply we've been infiltrated by either the alien representatives—the Guides/Mission and The Ones Who Wait/STAAR—or the human group, the Watchers.
Losing Warfighter and having it used against us was the final straw."
"Who directed Warfighter to attack the talon?" Turcotte asked.
"The President acceded to the demands of his National Security Council to have Warfighter target the talon. Payback for the destruction of Columbia. It didn't work the way they had planned. Now they're afraid of two things. One is that Warfighter can hit any target on the face of the planet. I think the President has visions of a laser blast right through the roof of the Oval Office. The other is they don't want to admit Warfighter exists. There's already infighting at UNAOC and among the members of the Security Council. The Russians and Chinese might walk out if they know we put a weapon into space two years ago."
"So, as usual, they hide the truth?" Turcotte asked.
"Did you expect something to change?" Duncan asked. "I also met with Peter Sterling, the head of the United Nations Alien Oversight Committee, in New York, and he said pretty much the same thing as the President. He's trying to build a coalition, but he's fighting the Security Council the whole way."
The bouncer had lifted and floated past them, entering Hangar One, sliding between the large doors that just as quickly shut behind it. Turcotte felt very vulnerable- standing with Yakov and Duncan on, the edge-of the runway, the dust storm limiting their world to a small circle of concrete. He could understand the President's fear. A -weapon floating above their heads in space that could strike down at any moment was unnerving.
It went beyond that, though, for him. He'd expected bad news from Duncan's.
Washington and New York
-64-
meetings, but a small part of him had hoped that someone in the administration or at the United Nations would step forward and take the lead. Duncan's next words effectively quashed that hope.
"The isolationists control both the House and the Senate, which limits the President's options, and China has veto power in the Security Council, which hamstrings UNAOC from taking action. Since most actions up to now have occurred away from U.S. soil—meaning primarily the Black Death in South America, Qian-Ling in China, the Airlia at Cydonia on Mars, and the shield surrounding Easter Island—the feeling in the States seems to be that if we stick our heads in the sand, nothing bad will happen if we don't see it."
"You Americans," Yakov growled. "You entered the Great Patriotic War only after millions of my countrymen were dead at the hands of the Nazis, France was overrun, and England was teetering on the edge of collapse. And then it took a direct attack against your base in Pearl Harbor to get you off the fence and into the fight. What will it take this time? This is a world
A hatch on the top of the bouncer swung up and a slight figure climbed out, then down the side of the craft. Turcotte ran forward and handed Duncan a set of goggles, which she pulled down over her eyes.
"The Cube isn't secure yet?" She was between the two men, their bodies giving her some relief from the dust storm.
"Quinn said any minute now." Turcotte held up a cell phone. "He'll call us when it's ready."
Duncan nodded. "Good, I Wanted to talk to just the two of you alone first anyway." She looked past them at the ruins of the hangar. "I had a private meeting with the President just before coming here. Cutting through the political double-talk the bottom line is we're on our own. The destruction of the two space shuttles has shaken the entire administration. Everyone's afraid to
-63-
find out how deeply we've been infiltrated by either the alien representatives—the Guides/Mission and The Ones Who Wait/STAAR—or the human group, the Watchers.
Losing Warfighter and having it used against us was the final straw."
"Who directed Warfighter to attack the talon?" Turcotte asked.
"The President acceded to the demands of his National Security Council to have Warfighter target the talon. Payback for the destruction of Columbia. It didn't work the way they had planned. Now they're afraid of two things. One is that Warfighter can hit any target on the face of the planet. I think the President has visions of a laser blast right through the roof of the Oval Office. The other is they don't want to admit Warfighter exists. There's already infighting at UNAOC and among the members of the Security Council. The Russians and Chinese might walk out if they know we put a weapon into space two years ago."
"So, as usual, they hide the truth?" Turcotte asked.
"Did you expect something to change?" Duncan asked. "I also met with Peter Sterling, the head of the United Nations Alien Oversight Committee, in New York, and he said pretty much the same thing as the President. He's trying to build a coalition, but he's fighting the Security Council the whole way."
The bouncer had lifted and floated past them, entering Hangar One, sliding between the large doors that just as quickly shut behind it. Turcotte felt very vulnerable- standing with Yakov and Duncan on, the edge-of the runway, the dust storm limiting their world to a small circle of concrete. He could understand the President's fear. A -weapon floating above their heads in space that could strike down at any moment was unnerving.
It went beyond that, though, for him. He'd expected bad news from Duncan's.
Washington and New York
-64-
meetings, but a small part of him had hoped that someone in the administration or at the United Nations would step forward and take the lead. Duncan's next words effectively quashed that hope.
"The isolationists control both the House and the Senate, which limits the President's options, and China has veto power in the Security Council, which hamstrings UNAOC from taking action. Since most actions up to now have occurred away from U.S. soil—meaning primarily the Black Death in South America, Qian-Ling in China, the Airlia at Cydonia on Mars, and the shield surrounding Easter Island—the feeling in the States seems to be that if we stick our heads in the sand, nothing bad will happen if we don't see it."
"You Americans," Yakov growled. "You entered the Great Patriotic War only after millions of my countrymen were dead at the hands of the Nazis, France was overrun, and England was teetering on the edge of collapse. And then it took a direct attack against your base in Pearl Harbor to get you off the fence and into the fight. What will it take this time? This is a world
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