• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
Chapter EightThe Hero's eyes are opened. Partially
Ya gotta laughYa gotta laugh at this light at the end of the tunnel bullshit Of course there's light at the end of the tunnel  It wouldn't be a tunnel otherwise Between here and the light There are four alligators A mama cottonmouth and her hundred or so babies An endangered Southeast puma A pissed off bear Two rabid raccoonsUncountable vampire bats with tons of guano in their little colons And an old fuck of a farmer with a shotgun and a pitchfork Who hates people who come through his tunnel Sure there's a light at the end of the tunnel There's also gold up my ass
From an article in Cosmopolitan Magazine,
Sex Secrets to Dazzle Your Man,
 by MarianTerwilliger-Galley, who wrote the best-selling How-To book,
Man Secrets to Dazzle Your Sex.
It was late Friday afternoon when the Hero finally got to the ugly Navoceano building. Fortunately, the day shift guard was still on duty at the entrance, so herecognized Tony's badge, with only the number "13" unpunched. Other guards would probably not recognize classified area 13, since only Tony, Clark Ramsey, and this JohnHancock person would have admittance. Up until last week, there had never been, in thehistory of the building, a classified area number 13. This didn't make Tony feel unlucky.It didn't make him feel lucky, either.An army Major was waiting for Tony at the end of the long, dark hallway on thesixth floor. The fellow looked very serious. His nametag said "Hancock" in smaller thanusual letters. He had watched Tony all the way down the hall, and finally said,"Welcome, Major Gyro." He pronounced it correctly, as everyone had done since Tonyhad come to work for Pompeii Mudd. Tony still found it strange."Call me Tony. I'll call you John?""Good enough. Everything is ready for you. We started moving stuff into your vault Monday.""My vault. That sounds funny.""Well, it's all yours. Except I have to be around whenever you need to get into it."
 
"You're not going to stay here all night." Pause. "Are you? I might be that long.I don't know how much I have to study.""As long as it takes." Major John Hancock, United States Army, patted hissidearm, a uniform feature Tony had been trying to ignore. "This vault opens for no one but you, and someone has to guard it when it's open. The stuff Mr. Mudd wants you to goover is on the table. I'm not cleared to see anything but the covers, but it looks pretty big.We'll be in for a long night."Tony couldn't decide if he were happy or sad that he didn't stop for a double shotof dark rum at the airport bar. It was probably better that he hadn't. "You didn't bring athermos of coffee with you, I suppose.""No, I brought a whole jug. I hope you like it black.""You're going to make a great nanny, John.""I'd rather be a friend.""I'm sorry. I don't know you well enough to kid with you. Yet.""That's okay. But tonight you're not going to get to know me any better. Youhave a big job." He tilted his head toward the inside of the vault. Tony took that as asign to get to reading.For some reason, the Hero grunted as he sat down. Perhaps it was tantamount tothe first swing of the pick, at the start of a ditch-digger's day. There were three thick documents on the table, in a single pile. He picked up the top one. On the cover were thewords "Top Secret" in big red letters, at the top and bottom of the page. Then the boiler  plate for "Sensitive Material" and the declassification instructions. In the center of the page was the title,
 Kingdom Keys
.He was able to get through the first document fairly rapidly. It had someredundancy with both the optical spy satellites he was familiar with, (
What are all thosereccy sats called? Gully Peephole?)
and the ground tracking stations that he had learnedabout in his trips to the Airspace Center in Saint Louis. In this document, there appearedto be a transition from optical to radar wavelengths, with very high resolution achievedthrough polarization. It proceeded with a discussion of real time downlinking of theidentification and position of military targets to a field commander, or perhaps a cockpit.Tony was impressed but so far couldn't see how this pertained to his field of expertise, or to his mathematical abilities. This was advanced electronics and cutting edge physics, but not his favorite math. He drank coffee, and grunted for no reason at all. He perusedthis document until about eight o'clock, then set it down, grunted yet again, and stood upto stretch. He found John Hancock sitting in a more comfortable chair by the outer vaultdoor, reading. "Do you have a day job, John?"Hancock lowered his book. "I'm deputy for security at DMA Headquarters."
 
"So you work for Pompeii.""No. Somehow he got access to my services. I don't know how. I don't think I'min his chain, but then I don't know anybody who officially is. Except for you, and I don'tknow about you. Why your here, where your 'day job' as you put it is. This Pompeii of yours is a strange guy.""Tell me about it. The sad thing is, I don't know any more than you. Oh, maybe Iknow where my day job is, except I'm not sure that's really my day job. It didn't takemuch for him to have me drop what I was doing and rush back here.""Same here. I have to tell myself it's all legal and important and my duty, just so Ican spend Friday night drinking coffee in a deserted government building."Tony stretched again. "So, did you take your turn in Vietnam?""Been back a little over a year. You?""About three years. What did you do there?""Six months at a fire base. Six months as Security Officer at IV CorpsHeadquarters. How about you?""Agent Orange. I'm a war criminal.""And tonight you're doing your penance.""And I'd better get back to work."The second document had a cover marked the same as the first, except for thetitle, which was now
 Peasant Grinder.
Just two pages into it, Tony felt at home. Thesolution equations were similar, if not identical to those in his Master's thesis. It wasobvious that the math would work, but it was also obvious, still painfully obvious, that itwould require huge computational power to accomplish solutions in any practical timeframe. And it would require the placement of a number of sophisticated satellites which,as far as Tony knew, didn't exist. Except in his head, as science fiction. This was, it hadto be admitted, an official, classified, serious document, and it was fascinating. Now hewas glad he spending Friday night in an ugly building with an armed escort and a jug of coffee. Maybe he was looking into the future.Pompeii Mudd timed it perfectly. He came clacking down the hall just as theHero was finishing the second document. He shouted "Hello" to Hancock from about thehalfway point, so nobody was startled when he stuck his head into the vault. "How areyou coming along, Tony?""Two thirds done the first time through, Pompeii. Okay?"
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...