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Chapter 5:
General Hunter, a tall Marine in his late fifties, stood from his desk and greeted the Commander.
“My apologies for pulling you from your family on Christmas day, but as you will see this situation will not wait,” he said, as he shook Straker’s hand.
“Does this have anything to do with the alien threat, General? You spoke of security concerns over the vidlink.”
“In a manner of speaking,” said Hunter. “Please, have a seat Commander.”
Straker sat down in front of the General’s desk.
“Have you ever seen this document?” asked Hunter, handing the folder to the Commander.
Ed quickly scanned through the file, finding a scientific paper on faster than light travel. It was a translation of another document, a document he recognized immediately when he saw it.
“I’ve already seen this. Almost seven years ago. I trust this isn’t the reason I’ve been summoned here.”
“Of course not, Commander, but the paper you have in your hand is the genesis of another project. Have you ever heard of Operation Oracle?”
“No. I can’t say that I have. General, with all due respect, I’ve been pulled away from my wife and children, on Christmas Day, on a supposedly urgent matter. I would very much appreciate it if you would get to the point.”
Hunter leaned back in his chair and eyed the Commander, a hard expression etched in his face.
“I was told that you’re a hard ass. All right Commander, here it is, straight up. In 1936, an alien scourge came to this planet. They collaborated with the Nazi’s, during World War Two, and altered the natural history of this planet. As you are aware, the Nazi technology, some of it alien, was brought to the United States for study. After the war, a group of scientists and military leaders embarked on a project that was originally meant to correct that problem. That project is known as Operation Oracle.”
“I don’t understand General, how can you affect a historical event. It’s the past. It’s over, done with.”
“Operation Oracle is a time travel project, Commander.”
“I think you’ve been reading too much H.G. Wells, General,” said Ed, chuckling. “Time travel to the past is impossible.”
“That’s an interesting opinion for someone who has supposedly read Einstein’s paper on the subject. What would you say if I told you that we have a viable design?”
“I’m listening,” said the Commander, his voice carefully neutral.
“I see that I have your attention, good. The problem with our design is the power requirements. Forgive me if I don’t get all the details right, I’m not a scientist. From what I understand, it would take more power than the country produces in a week to accelerate enough neutrinos to open a portal in time.”
“Assuming I believe any of this, why are you telling me this now?”
“Two reasons, Commander. Operation Oracle is Eyes Only. It is never discussed over any electronic means. The second reason is my team is already in London to do an independent assessment of the alien craft.”
Ed’s expression became one of tightly controlled rage.
“You don’t have the authority to interfere with a SHADO…”
“The rules have changed, and now I do have the authority. Read this,” said Hunter, cutting him off.
Straker read the UN Security Council resolution which the General had handed him. He shook his head in disbelief, as he read the section granting the General the authority to oversee the study of any and all captured alien technology.
“Now, Commander, you will order your security staff to allow the Oracle team unfettered access to the captured craft. In addition, you will provide them with all of the research that has been prepared over the past six years.”
“I will strongly protest this with the…”
“Commander, this is not a discussion, and you no longer have such an option.”
Straker was stone faced as he considered all he had been told. Suddenly he realized what the General was leading to.
“General Hunter,” Ed began, trying to reason with the man. “Surely the originators of this project are not going to try to change history? You must be aware that any change in the past can have serious ramifications on the future.”
Hunter softened his look as he answered.
“You sound as if you speak from experience. Look Ed, as I said, I’m a military man, not a scientist. But I do know this much, millions died in a conflict that wouldn’t have, had our development not been tampered with. Operation Oracle was envisioned to fix that. Just think, if the Axis Powers been defeated early on, the Soviet Union, and The People’s Republic of China, would never have risen to power,” said Hunter, pausing. “You’re father in-law would never have been killed.”
“And my wife may never have been born,” countered Straker. “I can’t believe that this is even being considered.”
“There is another, more important, factor, Commander. The Soviet Union also acquired some of the alien technology after the war. Our intelligence reports indicate that they are working on a similar endeavor.”
“So, this becomes a new arms race,” said the Commander, in disgust.
“I understand your concern. I have been assured, that because of the amount of time that has passed, as well as the risk involved, the technology will be utilized only for historical research missions, or preventing the Soviet program from getting off the ground.”
Hunter stood suddenly and his demeanor was all business.
“You have your orders, Commander. That will be all.”
Straker got out of his chair and tossed the documents into his briefcase. He closed it and set the locks. He turned and left the office without saying a word.
Before leaving the Pentagon building, the Commander ducked into one of the restrooms. He looked at his image in the mirror, noticing that the color was drained from his features. Ed splashed water on his face, trying to wake himself up from a bad dream.
My God, they are all insane, he thought as he dried himself. One of Ed Straker’s worst nightmares was coming true.
“Do you have a moment, Comrade Colonel?”
Colonel Ivan Filtov turned to see his aid rushing to his side.
“Yuri, this must be important,” said Filtov. “Let’s go into my office.”
The two men walked down the narrow corridor to Filtov’s third floor office. The Colonel handed his heavy coat to his secretary and strode into his inner office. A pot of tea was already waiting on his desk.
Filtov availed himself of the tea, offering a cup to his aid.
“No, thank you, Comrade Colonel,” said Kamorov. “I was able to find a lead on Operation Oracle.”
“Please continue.”
“This project dates back to the early 1950’s, Comrade Colonel. While I was unable to obtain any specific information, the project coincided with the American effort to reverse engineer and study captured Nazi technology. I suspect that there may be a correlation.”
Filtov reached for his intercom, “Misha, close my door please, and see to it that we are not disturbed.”
“Yes Comrade Colonel.”
When they were in private, the Colonel continued.
“What I am about to tell you, Yuri, is classified. In fact, most of the story is known only to the Politburo,” said Filtov, pausing to sip his tea.
“After the war, both the Soviet Union, and the United States, obtained technology from Nazi Germany. While it is generally known that German engineering was ahead of its time, some of the technology was radically advanced, too advanced to be of German origin.”
Filtov allowed what he had said to sink in.
“If it wasn’t German technology, then where did it come from, Comrade Colonel?”
“I never saw it myself, but I know some of the men who did. They described some of this as, quite literally, out of this world.”
“Certainly you do not believe this, Comrade Colonel?”
Filtov stood from his desk, and walked to the window. Outside, a late December snowstorm had covered the Moscow proper with almost a foot of snow. Once again, he thought of his family, one of his daughters was to marry in the spring. He turned back to his aid.
“I do not know what to believe, my friend. I do know that our military research team examined the artifacts. One of the items was what could only be described as a, highly advanced, propulsion system. The problem our team ran into was providing ample energy to the system to produce a sufficient amount of thrust, to be useful.”
“It sounds like the system is most inefficient, Comrade Colonel. What possible purpose could it have?”
“Picture this, Yuri. An aircraft, equipped with this system, could accelerate to its top speed in a fraction of a second, and it could stop and hover just as quickly. Furthermore, a craft equipped in such a manner could do so, without subjecting its pilot to the G-forces of combat. This system defies all known laws of physics and aerodynamics.”
“But what kind of energy system would be small enough to power such a craft?”
“That, of course, is the problem. In 1970, it all became a moot point. All of the captured technology was collected, by order of the Premier, and turned over to a multinational research agency, made up of the United States, Britain, France, China, Germany, and the Soviet Union. Do you see a correlation?”
“Yes, Comrade Colonel. With one exception, these countries are all permanent members of the UN Security Council. Hardly a coincidence, I think. I would assume that all of these members turned over any Nazi technology they had?”
“So I am told. In addition, all of the research was immediately classified and sent along with the equipment. The only reason I know that copies still exist is what I am about to tell you.”
Kamorov watched his boss lose the color in his face. Bozhe Moi! He is sweating.
“How many directions or dimensions can an aircraft move in, Yuri?”
“Three, Comrade. Yaw, pitch, and roll.”
“So I thought as well. But there is one other dimension, time. Granted, strange things happen when you approach relativistic speeds, time dilation slows things down. What would you say if I told you that this propulsion system has the ability to change direction in time?”
“I am not a physicist, but even our high school students know that time travel violates special relativity.”
Filtov chuckled. His aid was a well educated man and he enjoyed the intellectual exchanges they would often partake in.
“Have you heard the expression, the universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.”
“That’s Haldane, yes, and I agree. But time travel, how is this possible?”
“Thirty years ago, our research team experimented with that aspect of the drive. But like the propulsion system, the temporal manipulation component required enormous amounts of energy. In fact, the energy requirements for this section were well beyond our capability to produce.”
“So it doesn’t work, Comrade Colonel?”
“Practically, no, at least not yet. But theoretically, the mathematics work out remarkably well. If the energy required could be somehow generated, the system could, in theory, produce a stable temporal vortex.”
“You think this Operation Oracle has to do with time travel, and the Americans are really toying with this, do you not?”
“I consider it a very distinct possibility, Yuri. Granted, Oracle could mean anything, but if the Americans are following this line of research, it could have grave geopolitical consequences. I’m sending you to our embassy in Washington. I want you to ferret out any information you can on this project. The information we have discussed today is for your ears only. You are not to share it with anyone, other than myself, or General Popov.”
“I understand, Comrade Colonel. I will leave at once.”
Kamorov stood to go when his boss spoke again.
“And Yuri?”
“Comrade?”
“Exercise extreme caution, my friend. I wish to see you alive and well when you return.”
“As always, Comrade Colonel.”
It was after six in the evening, when Ed stepped off the plane at Heathrow International. Much to Ed’s surprise, the blonde woman waiting at the gate for him was not his wife.
“Barbara! Where’s Virginia?”
“Home, with the kids,” said his sister. “Since they always monopolize Aunt Barb’s time when I’m here, and we never get a chance to catch up, Ginny thought it would be a good idea if I picked you up. How was your flight?”
“Not bad. You don’t hit much turbulence at sixty thousand feet. So, was this Virginia’s idea?”
“It was. You married a smart lady, Eddie.”
“A smart lady with an agenda,” said Ed, snickering, as they walked through the terminal. “She’s been after me to boot Alec in the ass for you. I told her that I was staying out of it, that you could handle him quite well on your own.”
“Yeah, I know. She told me what you said,” said Barbara, somewhat wistfully.
Straker stopped walking and turned to her. Alec Freeman was his best friend, but Ed was well aware of his reputation as a lady’s man.
“Is everything all right between the two of you? Alec isn’t wandering, is he?”
“Oh, it’s nothing like that,” said Barbara. “Alec is a wonderful man. He’s everything a woman could want in a husband, except…”
“Except what?”
Barbara sighed, “Except being my husband.”
“I see.”
They started walking towards the exit in silence. Virginia was trying to tell me something and I missed it, he thought, as they approached the car.
“Have you talked to him about it?” Ed finally asked.
“We have,” she said, “on numerous occasions. You know, Eddie. I think he really wants to, but he’s scared. Someone must have done a real number on him.”
“I know he was married once, a long time ago. Alec doesn’t talk about it, except once.”
Ed placed his carry on and briefcase in the trunk and closed the lid. The pair got in the car and Ed continued.
“As I’m sure you know, Alec and I met, in Thailand, in 1966. One night, about a week before I was shot down, he asked me to take a walk with him. We ended up at this hole in the wall near the airbase. Alec started drinking. In fact, the amount of alcohol he put away would have killed me. I didn’t even try to pretend to keep up with him.”
“You? Drink? I don’t believe it,” said his sister.
“I only had one, just so he wouldn’t have to drink alone. It didn’t matter, ten drinks later he was still sober as a judge.”
“Yeah, he can hold his liquor, although he’s cut down a lot since he had the brush with cancer,” added Barbara.
“Earlier that day, Alec received a letter from home. It was a Dear John letter.”
Barbara Straker looked out the window as Ed pulled the car out of the lot. When they hit the highway, she turned back to her brother.
“I already knew most of what you just told me. What I didn’t know, was the way he found out. I can understand why he would feel dubious about marriage. When George and I split, we just wanted out. At least we didn’t hate each other. But Alec still harbors a lot of animosity towards his ex-wife, even after all these years. You can’t truly move forward unless you forgive and let go of the past.”
“It’s funny,” said Ed. “That is the same thing that Mary told me in a letter a few years ago.”
“You heard from her?” asked Barbara, very surprised.
“Virginia and I had only been married a few months, and we had just found out a few days earlier that she was pregnant. Needless to say, our emotions were running rampant. When I saw the letter I almost threw it out, but Virginia told me to open it. Mary apologized for the way she treated me the night Johnny died. That, and a few other things,” said Ed.
“I’m glad she was able to let go, I’m sure it helped both of you.”
“I let Virginia read the letter. It brought her to tears.”
They drove in silence for a while.
“Do you want me to talk with him?” asked Ed.
“I don’t want him to feel pressured. As things stand, Alec and I have a great relationship. Even though we’re not married, he makes me feel like I’m his wife, but I have always believed that marriage does pull a man and a woman closer than they would be otherwise. I don’t know, Ed.”
“As I recall, you and Dad just about twisted my arm to get me to ask Virginia to dinner.”
“Do you regret it?”
“I can’t imagine my life without her in it. The only regret I have, is not asking her sooner.”
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The Omega Conundrum (Read 2918 times)
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