Chapter 25: The Final Pitch

Norman was offered a slot in the new cabinet put together with haste by President Heatherton. He accepted and our affairs were turned over to their respective partners. Keith had finally taken things into his own hands. He confronted the recalcitrant plant managers in each of the Hundley plants in Great Britain and Europe and gave them a simple ultimatum, come aboard or be dismissed.

Only one tried to defy his edict. Keith broke his jaw and physically threw him out of the plant in France that made engine parts.

A fast audit of the books explained why the man had tried to fight our new general manager in Great Britain and Europe combined. He had stolen over a million Euros under the mistaken belief the Watkins people would protect him.

News clippings of the incident were sent to each plant under his authority. Everything was quiet and productive after that.

In Oklahoma we started two operations twenty miles apart. Charles Harwood purchased an abandoned zinc mine to supposedly turn it into a mushroom farm. Bobbie started a catfish farm on the land she inherited in her maiden name and a new corporation; Hundley Oklahoma Reclamation purchased all the useless farmland in between the two operations, mostly eroded gullies and weeds.

Then the serious work began. The mine was excavated and a series of tunnels dug between the two operations. The dirt was used as fill on the ruined farmland. It was an enormous undertaking from the first day.

All of the artifacts were smuggled into the US from Leeds and a new lab came into existence. We still had no idea the origin of the alien machines. We didn't have any idea what most of them did except they seemed to still be doing something or other after countless millennia. An office building and industrial complex were built to house our various enterprises in Oklahoma and provide cover for what really went on there.

Our son, Charles Victor Harwood, spoke his first word, "Son of a bitch!" After he spent the day yelling it at the top of his lungs, it was decided my vocabulary needed upgrading. Little Charley was black haired and violet eyed like me and stubborn like his mother. Mary Ellen, named after her maternal grandmother was the image of her mother. I even learned to let my guard down a little around her.

The professor came to see us at our Oklahoma ranch, built on the reclaimed land. He was very upset. "I am afraid we may be in grave trouble," he told us without the usual greeting. He sat down beside me on the veranda.

"What's the problem?" I asked.

"I finally deciphered the codes to operate one of the so-called machines. Any way, I got it to turn on. It has been teaching me a whole new language. There seems to be some sort of spacecraft in orbit around the planet Jupiter. At least I think it is Jupiter. The machine's construct of the solar system has two more planets in it than ours does today. The spacecraft, or whatever it is wants instructions on what to do next."

"Who have you told about this?" I asked tersely.

Bobbie had come up and heard it all. She didn't say anything.

"Only our Henry knows. He's sitting behind a locked door with the thing.

"Well, hell," I said.

Bobbie got to the heart of the matter. "What do you know about building a space ship?" she asked. It made sense to me.