Area 51: The Sphinx-4 by Robert Doherty Page B
Authors: Robert Doherty
Tags: Fiction, General, Science-Fiction, Action & Adventure, Espionage, Political, High Tech, Area 51 (Nev.), Ark of the Covenant
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nine hours to drift east on the talon's orbit, as the earth turns beneath it, to be in position over the center of the United States to deploy the nukes."
"Can't your government bring Stratzyda down before the talon gets control of it? Or change its orbit?" Turcotte asked Yakov.
"It is now out of maneuvering fuel. It has been just drifting up there for the past five years. We have no control over it anymore," Yakov said. "It was never designed to be able to reenter the atmosphere—the bombs, even unexploded, are simply too radioactive.
"You have to understand that things have changed in my country in the past ten years. There is no money, no working system. Only a quarter of our ground-based missile system is functional—the rest is falling into disrepair. For over two-thirds of every twenty-four-hour cycle, we have no satellite coverage of the United States and are essentially blind, as our surveillance satellites have degraded."
"Can we destroy Stratzyda before it gets close to the talon?" Turcotte asked Kincaid.
-96-
"We're a little slim on orbital vehicles right now," Kincaid said. "Lexina made sure of that. I'll check into it, but I wouldn't count on it. Also, we'd have to go through other agencies, most likely the Air Force, to get help and .
. ."
Duncan supplied the answer. "And there's a good chance any plan might be compromised, as the Atlantis launch obviously was." She shook her head. "Forty-nine hours until we die."
"Actually," Quinn said, "forty-eight hours and twenty minutes now."
"Is there a way to find Lexina? To stop her control of the talon?"
"It is possible there is a device that might control the talon," Yakov said.
"Where?" Turcotte asked.
"Section Four recovered an alien artifact that they believed might be some sort of remote piloting device."
"Wouldn't any archives have been destroyed when the base was destroyed?"
Duncan asked.
"The archive area was far underground. It might have survived intact."
Duncan nodded. "All right. You go to Russia and see if you can get control of the talon from Lexina. Any other ideas on what the key is or where it might be if Yakov doesn't succeed?"
"Obviously, the key would be an Airlia artifact," Major Quinn said. "I'll inquire throughout the intelligence community to see if anyone has found anything new regarding the Airlia or if someone has been holding artifacts in secret."
"I'll double-check the hard drives we recovered from Scorpion Base," Kincaid said.
"Anyone else?"
"Maybe the guardian on Easter Island might have some information," Quinn added.
-97-
Duncan nodded. "I've already thought of that. If the guardian is using Kelly Reynolds to send out information, maybe we can make a connection the other way.
I'm going to Easter Island to see if I can contact Kelly. The Navy has a new plan to penetrate the shield around the island and find out what is going on. If they can get through, maybe I can make contact with her."
The look on Turcotte's face indicated what he thought of that plan of action.
"The Navy already tried that once, and the Springfield is still sitting at the bottom of the ocean, trapped by foo fighters."
"I think Easter Island is important," Duncan said. "It's the center for Aspasia's faction here on the planet, just as Qian-Ling seems to the center for Artad's faction. We can't get close to Qian-Ling again due to the Chinese nuking it, but we can get close to Easter Island. As Yakov noted, maybe the enemy of our enemy can give us some information.
"Status of the Airlia base on Mars?" Duncan had already moved on to Kincaid.
"We're watching it," Kincaid said. "No visible activity. Communications between the Cydonia guardian and the one under Easter Island have continued on a pretty regular basis. The NSA still hasn't been able to decipher the code."
"Mike?" Duncan had made it around the table.
Turcotte shrugged. "I'm just the hired gun. Sitting around waiting for the next crisis. There's nothing new with me."
"Your
"Can't your government bring Stratzyda down before the talon gets control of it? Or change its orbit?" Turcotte asked Yakov.
"It is now out of maneuvering fuel. It has been just drifting up there for the past five years. We have no control over it anymore," Yakov said. "It was never designed to be able to reenter the atmosphere—the bombs, even unexploded, are simply too radioactive.
"You have to understand that things have changed in my country in the past ten years. There is no money, no working system. Only a quarter of our ground-based missile system is functional—the rest is falling into disrepair. For over two-thirds of every twenty-four-hour cycle, we have no satellite coverage of the United States and are essentially blind, as our surveillance satellites have degraded."
"Can we destroy Stratzyda before it gets close to the talon?" Turcotte asked Kincaid.
-96-
"We're a little slim on orbital vehicles right now," Kincaid said. "Lexina made sure of that. I'll check into it, but I wouldn't count on it. Also, we'd have to go through other agencies, most likely the Air Force, to get help and .
. ."
Duncan supplied the answer. "And there's a good chance any plan might be compromised, as the Atlantis launch obviously was." She shook her head. "Forty-nine hours until we die."
"Actually," Quinn said, "forty-eight hours and twenty minutes now."
"Is there a way to find Lexina? To stop her control of the talon?"
"It is possible there is a device that might control the talon," Yakov said.
"Where?" Turcotte asked.
"Section Four recovered an alien artifact that they believed might be some sort of remote piloting device."
"Wouldn't any archives have been destroyed when the base was destroyed?"
Duncan asked.
"The archive area was far underground. It might have survived intact."
Duncan nodded. "All right. You go to Russia and see if you can get control of the talon from Lexina. Any other ideas on what the key is or where it might be if Yakov doesn't succeed?"
"Obviously, the key would be an Airlia artifact," Major Quinn said. "I'll inquire throughout the intelligence community to see if anyone has found anything new regarding the Airlia or if someone has been holding artifacts in secret."
"I'll double-check the hard drives we recovered from Scorpion Base," Kincaid said.
"Anyone else?"
"Maybe the guardian on Easter Island might have some information," Quinn added.
-97-
Duncan nodded. "I've already thought of that. If the guardian is using Kelly Reynolds to send out information, maybe we can make a connection the other way.
I'm going to Easter Island to see if I can contact Kelly. The Navy has a new plan to penetrate the shield around the island and find out what is going on. If they can get through, maybe I can make contact with her."
The look on Turcotte's face indicated what he thought of that plan of action.
"The Navy already tried that once, and the Springfield is still sitting at the bottom of the ocean, trapped by foo fighters."
"I think Easter Island is important," Duncan said. "It's the center for Aspasia's faction here on the planet, just as Qian-Ling seems to the center for Artad's faction. We can't get close to Qian-Ling again due to the Chinese nuking it, but we can get close to Easter Island. As Yakov noted, maybe the enemy of our enemy can give us some information.
"Status of the Airlia base on Mars?" Duncan had already moved on to Kincaid.
"We're watching it," Kincaid said. "No visible activity. Communications between the Cydonia guardian and the one under Easter Island have continued on a pretty regular basis. The NSA still hasn't been able to decipher the code."
"Mike?" Duncan had made it around the table.
Turcotte shrugged. "I'm just the hired gun. Sitting around waiting for the next crisis. There's nothing new with me."
"Your
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