Chapter 3

Thursday morning dawned clear and bright. The four Sergeants finished their breakfast by the time the sun came up at 0654. Leaving the Dfac, Navy Mess, they discussed their plans for the day, especially their testimony in front of the combined session of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees. The previous afternoon, a courier from the Pentagon brought each of them an envelope from the Secretary of Defense's office. Inside was a prepared statement for them to read at the start of the hearing.

The statement for Sergeant Michaels had an attached hand written note from the Secretary of Defense. The gist of the note was, do not deviate from the prepared text or you can forget the GS-13 job. Michaels had carefully folded the note and placed it in his wallet.

The previous evening, Sergeant Thomas told Sergeant Michaels about the command override she put in the 'Tubman's' computer. When Michaels asked her why she did it, her response was, she did not fully trust Commander Tilletson. She thought someday Michaels might need a little leverage to get him out of a jam. Sergeant Thomas had seen more than one bigot in her day, so she did not fully trust the Commander.

At precisely 0800, a Sikorsky VH-60N, one of the helicopters normally designated as Marine One, landed at Patuxent to pick up the four Sergeants. It took them directly to the White House. The Secret Service and the Protocol Staff parked them in a room with drinks and snacks while they waited for the presentation ceremony.

At the appropriate time, the Chief of Staff hustled the four Sergeants into the Rose Garden. As the Marine Band played "Hail to the Chief," the President entered the Rose Garden. This was just one of fifteen appointments on the President's schedule for today. This evening he had a banquet with the President of Mali. Glancing at his notes, he gave a short speech about the courage of the four Sergeants and their soldiers in the face of an alien hoard with superior weapons.

Sergeant Smith thought. He sure makes blowing twenty or thirty people to Kingdom Come sound grand and glorious. I wonder what he would have said if he'd actually been there.

After the brief speech he presented Sergeant Thomas with the Distinguished Service Cross and shook her hand. Then he presented each of the other Sergeants with a Silver Star while shaking their hands. After posing for a quick picture with each of the Sergeants; the President motioned Sergeant Michaels forward to the podium. Michaels moved toward the podium and stood on the Presidents left side. He had no idea what the man wanted.

The President said. "I have one more announcement. Robert Michaels will be leaving the Army to work as head of the Civilian side of the research team working on the Raznits technology he captured."

He concluded by thanking everyone for coming to the presentation ceremony. To the sounds of the reporters calling "Mr. President," he turned and left the podium, surrounded by Secret Service Agents. In less than a minute he disappeared into the White House without a backward glance.

When the reporters started to question Robert Michaels, he held up his hand, palm outward. "Ladies and Gentlemen of the press, I will be speaking to the Congress in about thirty minutes. If you want to know about my role in this, I suggest you come to the hearing. I think I can answer all your questions at that time."

After Michaels' short impromptu press conference, he and the other Sergeants joined their families. He was happy to see his parents again. His brother Phillip was back in Vermont taking care of the farm. The Secretary of Defense arranged for the Sergeants' families to attend the ceremony.

After about ten minutes, one of the aides for the Secretary of Defense gathered up the four Sergeants and herded them to a limo. The families all agreed to meet at the J W Marriott, after the Sergeants testified to Congress. After the hearing, three of the Sergeants would start two weeks leave with their families.

Michaels would return to Fort Riley and process out of the Army. He would spend the following week transitioning into his new job as a DoD civilian. The Secretary of Defense assigned Collut and one of the 'Tubman's' shuttles to Robert. This would allow him to move between Washington D.C., Los Alamos, and 'The Tubman'.

One of Michaels' first tasks would be to find a three-bedroom apartment near the Los Alamos National Laboratory. That would give both him and Collut a place to sleep.

With luck, he and Collut might be able to spend a three-day weekend on the Michaels' family farm, before interviewing the POWs at Guantánamo Bay. Commander Tilletson was scheduled to meet him there Monday.

The first part of the hearings went exactly as planned. The aide delivered the four Sergeants to the hearing room right on time. They then waited fifteen minutes for all of the Congressmen to gather. The committee consisted of five Senators and five Representatives. As the junior enlisted man, Sergeant Michaels was the last to speak during the public hearings. Completing his prepared remarks, Robert Michaels stared directly into the eyes of the Chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee and added.

"Senator, before you start the closed door hearings I want to add one thing to my prepared remarks. In less than six years there will be a Raznits destroyer or cruiser entering this solar system. If we are not able to either capture or kill it, the people of Earth will become the slaves of the Raznits." As he spoke his eyes scanned the row of eight Congressmen and two Congresswomen. He wanted to make sure they were listening to his next statement.

"You and your children will not see this happen. Lieutenant Collut told me that when the Raznits take over a planet, the first thing they do is execute the planet's leaders and their families." There was an audible gasp from several of the Congressmen. Michaels continued. "If that is not sufficient incentive for quickly funding this project, then I don't know what is."

The Chairman banged his gavel, then asked. "Young man, are you trying to scare me into doing what you want?"

"No Senator, I am just telling you and the world the consequences of failure. The Raznits do not negotiate with slaves. The Raznits will not distinguish between the various governments of Earth so they will execute the leaders of every country. For the Raznits, the universe consists of the Raznits and slaves. We need to convince them that Earthlings are warriors, not slaves. If we don't, the Earth as we know it will cease to exist."

Looking thoughtful, the Chairman ordered the Capitol Hill Police to clear the room. Once they cleared the room, the members of Congress began to question Michaels. It took the better part of a half hour to convince them that he was not kidding about the Raznits executing the world's leaders and their families.

By the time the hearing was complete, the joint committee drafted a bill authorizing $100 billion for research starting immediately and continuing through the end of the fiscal year starting in October. By that afternoon the bill was presented and passed in both the House and the Senate.

Once the Speaker of the House, the House Minority Leader, the Senate Majority Leader, and the Senate Minority Leader realized the cost of not funding the research, they made the bill their highest priority. The desire to stay alive is a wonderful motivator. The leaders of Congress hand carried the funding bill to the White House for the President's signature. By ten o'clock that evening "Project Roadblock" was fully funded for its first year.

Thursday night, Commander Tilletson and Robert discussed the use of the 'Tubman's' shuttles and how to designate them. They agreed both the Commander and Robert would need a shuttle full time for travel between the 'Tubman' and Earth. Commander Tilletson and his wife owned a house in Norfolk, Virginia near the main gate off North Shore Road. Robert would need to move to Los Alamos to be near the civilian scientists researching the technology on the 'Tubman'. They decided the shuttle carrying Commander Tilletson would be 'Tubman One' and the shuttle carrying Robert Michaels would be 'Tubman Two'. Until they could train more pilots, the designation would extend to the shuttle's pilots. Rignow would fly 'Tubman One' and Collut would fly 'Tubman Two'.

The following morning, Robert Michaels and Trinig Collut left for Fort Riley in 'Tubman Two'. The three Sergeants and their families rode in the passenger compartment. When Robert offered them the opportunity to return to Fort Riley with him, everyone accepted. The thought of riding in a real space shuttle was too tempting to pass up.

Sergeant Ortiz's two boys and Sergeant Thomas' daughter were thrilled. Sergeant Smith's eight-year-old daughter Samantha spent the entire trip watching every move Collut made. She left no doubt in anyone's mind she wanted to learn to pilot a shuttle at the earliest opportunity.

The shuttle was making one small detour on its way to Kansas. Robert agreed to drop his parents at their farm in Vermont. This would take the shuttle almost 770 kilometers out of its way. For a regular jet, this would add an extra fifty minutes not counting ground time. Cruising at eighty percent of its maximum atmospheric speed the side trip would only add five minutes to the shuttle's trip. Cruising above 21,000 meters allowed the shuttle to minimize the effects of the sonic compression wave. The gravitronic drive allowed it to accelerate from zero to 11,000 kph in sixty seconds.

After a quick stop at the Michaels' family farm, the shuttle took off for Fort Riley. With a little encouragement from Robert, Collut even allowed Samantha to sit in the copilot's seat a few minutes. Twelve minutes after leaving the farm, the shuttle landed at Marshal Army Airfield.

On Wednesday, the Army had flown those members of the Sergeant's families, who were living at Fort Riley to Washington. By special orders of the Secretary of Defense, they used one of the Air Force's executive jets for the trip. This is why everyone except Robert had a car in the Airfield's parking lot.

Robert would be able to pick up his Ford Sport Trac on base. Until yesterday, his car was in storage along with those of the other single soldiers in the 311^th Brigade Support Battalion. A call to the Officer of the Day for the Rear D (Rear Detachment) supporting the 311^th corrected the problem. Sergeant Thomas agreed to drop Robert and Collut at the Rear D office.

Yesterday afternoon Specialist Rehnquist moved the Ford Sport Trac to the parking lot behind the building housing the 311^th's Rear D. The first thing Robert did when Sergeant Thompson's husband dropped him and Collut at the parking lot was circle the entire vehicle checking for any damage. After practically X-raying the gold paint job, he decided there were no new scratches or dents.

Robert bought the 2004 Sport Trac before his first deployment to Iraqi. For this reason, the odometer only showed twenty-five thousand miles. Like almost every other soldier, Robert took switching back and forth from metric to English measurements in stride. On Monday, he tried to explain the use of two systems to Collut. The Raznit found the thought of two measurement systems more confusing than the thought of multiple languages.

After checking out his truck, Robert entered the building housing Rear D with Collut in tow. Entering the office, he encountered a Lieutenant Colonel with Eason on his nametag. Lieutenant Colonel Eason presented him with three large envelopes. The first contained Robert Michaels' DD214, verifying that he was leaving the Army and eligible for an Honorable Discharge. The second contained a copy of the contract hiring Trinig Collut, a Raznits Citizen, as an employee of the United States Government. The envelope also contained a statement where Collut surrendered his commission in the Imperial Raznits Space Navy. As agreed, Collut's position was Technical Advisor with a salary level of GS-09, Step One. The third envelope contained travel orders for both of them.

Martha Goodnight sat at her desk in the Human Resources Department of Los Alamos National Labs rereading an email. Scrolling down she saw it originated with the Secretary of Defense. Because Los Alamos National Labs is part of the DOE (Department of Energy) the original request was carbon copied to the Secretary of Energy. What it requested was expedited hiring and processing of two employees, Robert Michaels and Trinig Collut. The email listed Robert Michaels as the head of Project Roadblock and Trinig Collut as a technical advisor assigned to the same project.

The next email in the queue was addressed to the head of the Budget Department from Martha's manager. This email requested assignment of a budget analyst for Project Roadblock. The third email in the group informed Martha that effective immediately, she was the Human Resources contact for Project Roadblock. This email also told her that the project would be hiring between thirty and forty scientists, lab technicians, and administrative assistants.

The email did stress that most of the hires would be internal. Like the Navy's nuclear reactor program and the atomic bomb projects, this would be a joint project of DoD and DOE. No one would receive a promotion moving into the project. In spite of this, her manager, Samuel Goldman, seemed to think there would be a flood of applicants once they announced the positions on the COL (Career Opportunity List).

Martha was used to all kinds of strange names for various projects at Los Alamos, but for the life of her she could not figure out why Mr. Goldman though the scientists would be rushing to join this one. One thing she did know was the first email indicated that Robert Michaels and Trinig Collut would be arriving from Washington D.C. either this afternoon or Saturday.

Just then her computer made a pinging sound indicating an incoming email. This one was from Security. It informed her that Michaels and Collut had authorization to land on the lab's campus and asked her to send them straight to security for ID badges and parking passes. The first part of the message made no sense at all. Unless these two were flying the entire way from Washington in a helicopter there was no place for them to land on the property.

All non-commercial aircraft, even DOE and DoD planes, landed at the Los Alamos Airport. Anyone arriving by commercial flights usually landed in Albuquerque. A few people flew into Santa Fe on United's commuter out of Denver. Somehow Martha doubted a GS-13 and a GS-09 had the clout to fly to Albuquerque, then commandeer a military helicopter.

Settling in to complete her latest priority job, Martha decided not to worry about how these two would arrive. With a little luck she should be able to fill in the requisite paperwork before the end of the day. Hopefully, they would not arrive until Saturday, and she could leave the entire package at the main gate for them to pickup.

At that moment, her computer dinged again announcing another email. She almost did not open this one until she noticed the subject line, "New Arrivals." Opening the email she found two attachments, one for each of her mysterious new employees. Opening the first attachment she found a pdf file containing copies of a standard military personnel file, complete with a DD214 showing Sergeant Robert Michaels being discharged at Fort Riley Kansas effective as of noon today. This gave Martha a sense of relief. If Robert Michaels was not leaving Fort Riley until 12:00 there was no way he could make all the connecting flights to arrive in Los Alamos before she went home at 5 o'clock.

Then Martha opened the file on Lieutenant Junior Grade Trinig Collut. The first thing she noticed was the picture of a grey faced vaguely humanoid individual staring out at her. At first she thought someone was playing a trick on her. Then she took time to read the information attached. It explained that Lieutenant Collut recently left the Imperial Raznits Space Navy to enter the service of the United States Government.

Next she looked at the header of the email to find out who sent it. She right clicked on the email address and selected properties. The address card showed that the person who sent the email was in DoD Personnel at the Pentagon. Picking up the phone she dialed the number listed in the address book.

A mans voice answered, "Roger, may I help you?"

"Roger, this is Martha Goodnight at Los Alamos. My boss just forwarded me an email from you. After reading the file on Lieutenant Collut, I want to know. Are you kidding me?'

"Do you mean is he a grey biped about 170 centimeters high?'

"Yes that is exactly what I want to know."

"Strange as it may sound, yes he is. In fact from what I've been told he looks pretty ordinary for a Raznit."

"A Raznit? Are you talking about those aliens some of our troops in Iraq captured?'

"That's exactly right. Until yesterday he was a prisoner of war. Now he's a government employee."

Roger spent about fifteen minutes filling Martha in on the unclassified details about Lieutenant Junior Grade Trinig Collut. When she inquired about the cryptic message from Security that they would be landing on the grounds of the Los Alamos Labs, the response she received surprised and thrilled her.

Roger said. "They must be traveling in one of the shuttles; if they are I'd expect them before noon your time. I've heard that thing can travel Mach 10 and stop on a dime."

Hanging up the telephone, Martha went back to work on the personnel documents for the pair. Now she knew they would arrive before she left for the day. She found herself planning how to convince the two men to let her see the shuttle.

Martha was a Los Alamos native who grew up dreaming of going into space. She never developed the math skills needed to be either a scientist or an engineer. Instead, after high school, she went to work for Los Alamos National Laboratories hoping to earn enough money to pay for college.

One Friday night two years later, she was invited to a party, where she met Jonathan Goodnight, a direct descendent of Charles Goodnight who blazed the Goodnight cattle trail. After graduating from Texas A&M with a Masters Degree, Jonathan found a job at Los Alamos. Like Martha, he dreamed of one day slipping the bonds of Earth and soaring among the stars. Six months after they met, they married at the Methodist Church on Trinity Drive.

Martha never did make it to college, however her son and daughter both did. Her daughter was in her sophomore year at University of New Mexico studying Electrical Engineering. Her son would enter Texas A&M on a full scholarship next year. He intended to study quantum physics.

Following a dream that started with their parents, both Sara and Bill Goodnight planned to enter the space program when they graduated from college. Although going into space started as their parents' dream, the two Goodnight children made it their own. Both of them insisted on learning to fly before they graduated from high school. Their original intention was to improve their chances of entering the space program. By the time they soloed, the Goodnight children discovered flying would be a lifelong passion.

By 11:45, Martha finished the last of the paperwork necessary to process in Robert Michaels and Trinig Collut as new employees at Los Alamos National Labs. Printing the last documents, she placed them atop the two piles in front of her. Picking up one pile at a time, she carefully slipped the documents into interoffice envelopes. This would keep the paperwork organized until the two new employees could sign them.

With everything finished, she called Dirk Johnson, the head of security. When he answered, she explained about expecting Mr. Michaels and Mr. Trinig sometime today. Then she asked if he knew when she could expect them to arrive.

Dirk responded. "As a matter of fact I do. They called here about five minutes ago to say they were just leaving Fort Riley Kansas. The strange thing is, they requested clearance to land on the helipad within ten minutes of the time they called. I directed them to the quad on the north side of Oppenheimer. I don't know what kind of chopper their using. I do know it's just under a thousand kilometers from here to there. Even a V22 would take two hours."

"Dirk, from what I hear the craft their traveling in can do Mach 10. I'd believe them if they say they'll be here in under ten minutes."

"OK, if you say so, Martha. I already told the roving patrols watching for them."

"I have some paperwork for them to fill out. Do you mind if I and a couple of other people meet them when they land?"

"No I don't mind at all. I'll tell the patrol to be expecting you."

Martha promptly dialed the number of her husband's desk in lab 27.

"Jon my love, could you meet me on the quad next to Oppenheimer in about five minutes. After I take care of something we can go to lunch together, my treat." The last was part of a long running joke between them. The Monday after they met Martha was so anxious to see Jonathan Goodnight again; she called him and offered to buy him lunch. Now whenever she wanted him to drop everything and come to lunch with her, she would invite him and tell him it was her treat.

"Sounds like a winner to me. I'll see you there."

"Jon, could you please bring that nice young Doctor Tapping along too? I think she's going to enjoy this as much as you will."

The Doctor Tapping Martha was referring to was Dr. Donna Tapping, who recently started work in Jon's lab. She just graduated with a PhD in high energy physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and promptly started work at Los Alamos.

Dr. Tapping was born in Rochford England, about a hundred and twenty kilometers east of London. Shortly after her twelfth birthday, her parents emigrated from England to Boston Massachusetts. After graduating from high school she entered MIT for a Bachelors degree in physics. Seven years later, she completed her PhD.

Dr. Tapping was a brilliant physicist who could hold her own in any academic discussion. In spite of this, she was a very shy person. After meeting Donna, Martha took the young woman on as a second daughter. She was determined to bring Dr. Tapping out of her shell.

That was not the reason Martha invited her. Like Martha and Jon, Dr. Donna Tapping wanted to fly in space someday. Martha figured that seeing a real space shuttle up close would be as exciting for Dr. Tapping as it would for Jon.

Robert Michaels sat in the copilot's chair on 'Tubman One, ' as former Lieutenant Junior Grade Trinig Collut brought the shuttle in for a landing at Los Alamos National Labs. While Robert was out-processing at Fort Riley, Collut was signing paperwork requesting separation from the Imperial Raznits Space Navy and surrendering his commission as an officer. Now Collut was free to become a U.S. Government employee. Along with that, he would be receiving a Green Card making him a permanent resident of the United States with a work visa.

Before the shuttle descended from its cruising altitude of 21,500 meters, Robert contacted Albuquerque flight control for clearance to enter Los Alamos airspace. Fifty seconds later he contacted both Los Alamos Municipal Airport and security at Los Alamos National Labs. Someone named Dirk Johnson gave them clearance to land at the Los Alamos National Labs. He told them to look for an open space with two sidewalks crossing it. Dirk told him the sidewalks formed an 'X.' They were to land on the north side of the 'X' next to the parking lot. Because they had clearance to fly in the restricted airspace over the Labs, airport control told them to descend to Angels 20 then go south of the airport. As Los Alamos is at 2,242 meters above sea level this put the shuttle 8,338 meters above sea level.

Once they were two kilometers south of the airport, the airport instructed them to turn to a heading of 312 magnetic for final approach to the landing area. At this point the shuttle was firmly inside the restricted airspace around the Labs and under the watchful eyes of security. As Robert confirmed the final turn before descending to the landing site, Dirk Johnson left the security office radio room and ran to his patrol car. Driving as quickly as the fifty-five kph speed limit would allow, he headed for the quad. He just had to see what kind of craft could cover 910 kilometers in less than ten minutes then land inside a 32 meter by 32 meter square.

Slowing to 550 kph, Collut brought the shuttle down to 600 meters above the ground. He and Robert then began scanning for the landing site. They spotted an 'H' shaped building with a concrete 'X' about two hundred meters beyond it. Robert pointed out the 'X' to Collut. Seeing several people standing on the northeast side of the open area, Collut positioned the shuttle directly over the open pavement next to the northeast corner of the 'X.' Rotating the shuttle until the cargo ramp in the stern pointed toward the parking lot, Collut lowered the shuttle onto the grass.

Once he shut down the gravitronic drive, the two of them rose and exited the flight deck. Weaving their way past the wooden crate containing all of Robert's possessions and the Sport Trac they moved to the rear cargo door. Pushing a button at one side, Robert lowered the cargo door and the pair stepped out into the New Mexico sunshine.

With the air temperature at 20 degrees Celsius and a five kph wind, Collut was glad Robert purchased him a light jacket at the PX before they left Fort Riley. The IRSN maintained the internal temperature of its spaceships at a constant 28 degrees. After just under three Earth years in space, Collut almost forgot about the constantly changing temperatures on a planet. Also being born on Darius Two, Collut was used to warmer average temperatures than Earth. The average temperatures in Iraq were just slightly warmer than the average temperatures in Darius Two's temperate zone. Daytime highs of 44 Celsius were not uncommon in Darius Two's equatorial zone.

Walking down the ramp, Robert spotted three people standing on the sidewalk that paralleled the east side of open space. The woman on the end closest to him looked to be in her early forties, with light brown hair, brown eyes and a look which reminded him of his mother. Next to her stood a man about her age who had sandy blond hair, a strong chin, and brown eyes. From the way the two of them stood, it was obvious they were a couple. Looking closer Robert noticed they were holding hands. The look of total awe on their faces seemed out of place until he realized it was because they never saw a Raznits space shuttle before.

Turning his attention to the third person in line, Robert came to a full stop. Except for the fact she was a brunette with brown eyes instead of a blue eyed blond; the woman was the spitting image of Amanda Tapping on the Star Gate TV series. Looking closer, he decided the woman was a few years younger and couple of centimeters shorter than Amanda Tapping.

He was not sure what the real Amanda Tapping was like, but Major Samantha Carter, the character she played on the show, was everything Robert wanted in a woman. She was smart, good looking, and had a strong character that did not take anything off Colonel Jack O'Neill. Topping off everything else was the fact that he found her to be incredibly sexy. He had no idea if the real Amanda Tapping was anything like her character, but he hoped she was.

Clearing the ramp, Robert ordered the shuttle computer to close and lock the cargo bay door. With all his worldly possessions including his vehicle inside, Robert had no intention of losing everything because of carelessness. Like Henry Kissinger he believed in Trust but Verify.

Walking toward the three people, he noticed a car pull into one of the parking spaces on the north side of the quadrangle. Out stepped a man in the blue uniform of the Federal Protective Service. Standing about 196 cm tall and looking to weight 95 kilos, it was obvious that there was not a single gram of spare fat on him. With shoulders that looked to be almost 61 centimeters wide, Robert wondered where the man could find shirts to fit.

The look in his green eyes was one Robert had seen before. It spoke of total situational awareness, and something else. The man gave the impression he was doing a constant friend or foe assessment. The last time Robert saw that look, was in the eyes of a Ranger Sergeant Major he once met. If Robert ever went into battle again, he wanted this man at his side.

Spotting Collut, the man came to a full stop. In all his years in Marine Recon and the Federal Protective Service, Dirk Johnson never met a person whose natural skin tone was gray. Then he noticed the nose was not quite human and the ears were much smaller than most people's ears. Whoever he was, this person was not human.

Reaching out his hand toward the officer, Robert said. "You must be the person in Security I was talking to earlier. My name is Robert Michaels, and this gray skinned fellow is Trinig Collut."