The Gemini Divergence by Eric Birk Page A

balloons and even funded this aircraft.
He wants to be able to take scientific samples any where in the
world, at a moments notice, from now on. Right now he wants to know
what those things that Herr Arnold saw were, and he thinks we are
the best ones to figure that out.”
    “What was so interesting about the data from
that balloon?”
    “Oh, I am afraid that I am not at liberty to
tell you, my young airman. General Lemay has forbidden me to talk
to anybody about it… You should be proud enough though that he has
hand chosen you to be on this new secret team.”
    Gus sarcastically scowled his response,
“Yeah, these blanket orders are working swell, the rest of the Air
Force seems to be so understanding of them.”
    “What on earth do you mean?” asked Volmer,
when they were suddenly interrupted.
    A flight mechanic sergeant from the local
base stuck his head into the plane and asked, “Hey corporal, where
the hell is the NCO in charge of this fly by night circus?”
    Gus responded, “That would be me sergeant.
What do you need?”
    The sergeant started to laugh and exclaimed,
“What the… a corporal, are you kidding me? They woke me up to come
work on this piece of shit in the middle of the night, in the rain,
and now you are telling me that a corporal gave the order? What the
hell gives you the right?”
    Gus looked at Volmer with a facial expression
that said, see I told you so, as he pulled a folded piece of paper
out of his pocket and handed it to the sergeant and said, “Here are
my orders and authority.”
    The sergeant looked very peeved as he
unfolded the paper and started reading. He looked confused at first
but when he got to the bottom and saw Lemay’s signature, his eyes
practically jumped out of socket as he said, “Well, I see Lemay’s
signature, but I don’t see the part that says a corporal can boss
around a sergeant.”
    Gus responded, “They are blanket orders
sergeant. Do you see the part that says I have the authority from
General Lemay to use any available U.S. resources to complete my
objective?”
    “Yes, but.”
    Gus interrupted him bluntly and loudly, “Are
you, or are you not a U.S. resource in the eyes of the Air Force?
Do you want to call General Lemay yourself? Mr. Volmer here has his
personal phone number. He is also supposed to call General Lemay
first thing in the morning and tell him whether or not I have had
any trouble with the local base personal getting this damn project
done.”
    The sergeant started back peddling
immediately and stammered, “Oh, there’s no problem. I was just
checking things out.”
    Gus quickly interjected, “What did you need
in the first place sergeant?”
    “Oh, Yeah, I need to requisition some parts
to get this thing flight ready. I need somebody to sign the
forms.”
    “I’ll sign them, and when the parts room
sergeant gives you the same reaction that you just gave me, just
send him to me for ‘his’ enlightenment.”
    The next morning Volmer went into a nearby
hanger and called General Lemay.
    “Hello, General Lemay Sir,” started
Volmer.
    Lemay responded, “Yes Mr. Volmer. Is the new
platform going to be able to fly its first mission today?”
    “I believe so Herr General, Corporal Danuser
has worked through the night and ensured that everything has been
done. I think that you need to promote him. He does a fine job
leading men of higher rank.”
    Lemay interrupted, “Dr. Volmer, please try to
focus, I have more important things to worry about right now.”
    “But I don’t understand the urgency, sir?
“
    “Dr. Volmer, my superiors are very alarmed
that your balloon experiment proved that those German voices were
in fact coming from an altitude higher than the balloon and higher
than any of our aircraft can fly. Now that this Arnold guy has
given what seems to be a perfect description of the Nazi Horton
Bombers, skipping through the air like the Nazi Antipodal Amerika
Bombers, they are all fit to be tied, and they’re