Deception Point Page 79

Silent black helicopters.The conspiracy theorists were breathing out goofy over these. Some claimed the invasion of reticent black helicopters was proof of upstart World Order storm troopers under the authority of the bring on together Nations. Others claimed the choppers were silent a breathen probes. Still others who saw the Kiowas in tight formation at night were deceived into sentiment they were looking at fixed running lights on a much larger craft-a single flying saucer that was ostensibly capable of vertical flight.Wrong again. But the military loved the diversion.During a recent covert mission, Delta-One had flown a Kiowa armed with the most secretive freshly U.S. military technology-an ingenious holographic weapon nicknamed S M. Despite conjuration associations with sadomasochism, S M stood for smoke and mirrors-holographic images projected into the sky over antagonist territory. The Kiowa had used S M technology to project holograms of U.S. aircraft over an foe anti-aircraft installation. The panicked anti-aircraft gunners fired maniacally at the circling ghosts. When all of their ammunition was gone, the United States sent in the real thing.As Delta-One and his men lifted come to the runway, Delta-One could still hear the words of his controller. You construct another mark. It seemed an egregious under-statement considering their tender targets identity. Delta-One reminded himself, however, that it was not his place to question. His aggroup had been given an order, and they would carry it out in the exact method instructed-as shocking as that method was.I bank to hell the controller is certain this is the right move.As the Kiowa lifted send off the runway, Delta-One headed southwest. He had seen the FDR Memorial twice, but tonight would be his first judgment of conviction from the air.93This meteorite was originally find by a Canadian geologist? Gabrielle Ashe st ared in astonishment at the young programmer, Chris harper. And this Canadian is now dead?harper gave a grim nod.How long have you known this? she demanded.A duplicate of weeks. After the executive director and Marjorie Tench forced me to perjure myself in the undertake conference, they knew I couldnt go back on my word. They told me the truth virtually how the meteorite was rattling discovered.PODS is not responsible for finding the meteorite Gabrielle had no idea where all of this reading would lead, but clearly it was scandalous. Bad news for Tench. Great news for the senator.As I mentioned, harper said, looking somber now, the true way the meteorite was discovered was through an intercepted radio transmittal. Are you familiar with a program called enliven? The Interactive NASA Space Physics Ionosphere Radio Experiment.Gabrielle had heard of it only vaguely.Essentially, Harper said, its a series of very low frequency radio receivers honorable the North Pole that listen to the sounds of the earth-plasma wave emissions from the northern li ghts, broadband pulses from lightning storms, that discriminate of thing.Okay.A few weeks ago, one of INSPIREs radio receivers picked up a range transmission from Ellesmere Island. A Canadian geologist was calling for help at an exceptionally low frequency. Harper paused. In fact, the frequency was so low that nada other than NASAs VLF receivers could possibly have heard it. We assumed the Canadian was long-waving.Im sorry?Broadcasting at the lowest possible frequency to get maximum distance on his transmission. He was in the middle of nowhere, recommend a standard frequency transmission probably would not have made it far enough to be heard.What did his message say?The transmission was short. The Canadian said he had been out doing ice soundings on the Milne scratch Shelf, had detected an ultradense anomaly bury in the ice, suspected it was a large meteorite, and while taking measurements had become trapped in a storm. He gave his coordinates, asked for rescue from the storm , and signed off. The NASA listening post sent a matte from Thule to rescue him. They searched for hours and concludingly discovered him, miles off course, dead at the bottom of a crevasse with his sled and dogs. Apparently he tried to outrun the storm, got blinded, went off course, and fell into a crevasse.Gabrielle considered the information, intrigued. So suddenly NASA knew about a meteorite that nobody else knew about?Exactly. And ironically, if my software had been working properly, the PODS satellite would have patched that same meteorite-a week before the Canadian did.The coincidence gave Gabrielle pause. A meteorite buried for three hundred years was almost discovered twice in the same week?I know. A little bizarre, but scientific discipline can be like that. Feast or famine. The point is that the administrator felt like the meteorite should have been our discovery anyway-if I had done my subscriber line correctly. He told me that because the Canadian was dead, nobody wo uld be the wiser if I simply redirected PODS to the coordinates the Canadian had transmitted in his SOS. consequently I could pee to discover the meteorite from scratch, and we could redeem some respect from an embarrassing failure.And thats what you did.As I said, I had no choice. I had let down the mission. He paused. Tonight, though, when I heard the Presidents wring conference and found out the meteorite Id pretended to discover contained fossils You were stunned.Bloody tumesce floored, Id sayDo you think the administrator knew the meteorite contained fossils before he asked you to pretend PODS found it?I cant intend how. That meteorite was buried and untouched until the first NASA team got there. My best guess is that NASA had no idea what theyd really found until they got a team up there to drill cores and x-ray. They asked me to lie about PODS, thinking theyd have a moderate victory with a big meteorite. Then when they got there, they realized just how big a find it rea lly was.Gabrielles glimmer was shallow with excitement. Dr. Harper, will you testify that NASA and the White House forced you to lie about the PODS software?I dont know. Harper looked frightened. I cant imagine what grade of damage that would do to the agency to this discovery.Dr. Harper, you and I both know this meteorite frame a wonderful discovery, regardless of how it came about. The point here is that you lied to the American people. They have a right to know that PODS is not everything NASA says it is.I dont know. I despise the administrator, but my coworkers they are good people.And they deserve to know they are being deceived.And this evidence against me of embezzlement?You can erase that from your mind, Gabrielle said, having almost forget her con. I will tell the senator you know nothing of the embezzlement. It is simply a frame job-insurance set up by the administrator to keep you hush up about PODS.Can the senator protect me?Fully. Youve done nothing wrong. You were simply adjacent orders. Besides, with the information youve just given me about this Canadian geologist, I cant imagine the senator will even need to raise the issue of embezzlement at all. We can focus entirely on NASAs misinformation regarding PODS and the meteorite. Once the senator breaks the information about the Canadian, the administrator wont be able to risk trying to discredit you with lies.Harper still looked worried. He fell silent, somber as he pondered his options. Gabrielle gave him a moment. Shed realized earlier that there was another troubling coincidence to this story. She wasnt going to mention it, but she could see Dr. Harper needed a final push.