were at bay from the elements and geography. Like Dante’s concept of a frozen hell, the very thought of what they were about to confront was enough to send a shiver down Abbott’s spine. He had been there in the polar regions near the Arctic Circle. He didn’t think any place could be worse than that. He found himself blurting out, “What about logistical support?”
It aggravated General Korbett that he didn’t have a concrete answer to give to Abbott. He stroked his mustache again, and Abbott sensed his frustration. Bill Korbett always stroked his mustache when he had a problem. Abbott realized, though the others didn’t, that the General was formulating an answer to a compromising question.
“Logistical support,” Korbett answered, “will depend upon what you find.” He breathed a sign of disgust. “Gentlemen, I’ll be up front with you on this. We have our logistical problems with this project.”
For a moment, no one said anything. Lisk finally asked, “Do we have a contingency statement?”
Korbett smiled. “For what it’s worth, you’ll be out there looking for debris from a communications satellite.”
Even though the whole population of the continent knows what we’re doing , Abbott thought. Nobody had to say it. This was going to be a difficult operation. The only redeeming factor was the inaccessibility and remoteness of the region. Abbott just hoped that nobody got a real wild inclination to go out there on their own.
For the next hour, Korbett went over more data, including the itinerary, which would include a non-stop flight to New Zealand—aerial refueling included—on a C-5 Galaxy. Then an LC-130 Hercules flight—about 850 miles—right into McMurdo Station where they would pick up the mountaineering guide. Total flight time would be about 20 hours. Sleep would be minimal, as a team of survival school instructors from stateside would accompany them for a “crash course” on polar survival.
Before the group left, Korbett informed Abbott privately that the Department was getting pressure from NSF, which wanted to assign a few of their own people to go out on the glacier with them. Abbott said absolutely not. Korbett told him he’d take along whom he was ordered to take along. And if that meant NSF people, that’s what it meant. Korbett was fighting it, but at the moment it looked like a losing battle.
Abbott was curious as to who was on Korbett’s Washington team, but it was curiosity only. Like all intelligence projects, if you didn’t have the need to know, you were just one more link in the chain. And somebody else was always calling the shots. It didn’t matter how far up the chain of command you seemed to be.
Korbett’s other team had been watching the briefing in another room from a hidden video camera.That room was located underground, and it was equipped as a mini-communications center. Korbett had utilized this location numerous times in the past. They already had a link-up timeframe with McMurdo Station via satellite. When Abbott’s team radioed any information back to McMurdo, it would be e-mailed directly back to the command center here in Maryland during the window period when the satellite could make the link, which was only a few hours per day. Abbott was right. Even the best technology on the planet was at the mercy of the polar regions.
The decision-making process was set in place. That process would take only minutes when set in motion. The decisions themselves, however, would take a little longer. Few humans, including General William Korbett, have ever been confronted with what was to come. There are things that the human mind encounters that are so unbelievable that the human mind doesn’t know what to do.
Chapter 4
FEBRUARY 7, 20--
U. S. McMURDO STATION
ANTARCTICA
9:55 A.M. GMT
A s much as he had been looking forward to going home for a few months, Mike Ruger was more intrigued by what was going on with the discovery of the alien
It aggravated General Korbett that he didn’t have a concrete answer to give to Abbott. He stroked his mustache again, and Abbott sensed his frustration. Bill Korbett always stroked his mustache when he had a problem. Abbott realized, though the others didn’t, that the General was formulating an answer to a compromising question.
“Logistical support,” Korbett answered, “will depend upon what you find.” He breathed a sign of disgust. “Gentlemen, I’ll be up front with you on this. We have our logistical problems with this project.”
For a moment, no one said anything. Lisk finally asked, “Do we have a contingency statement?”
Korbett smiled. “For what it’s worth, you’ll be out there looking for debris from a communications satellite.”
Even though the whole population of the continent knows what we’re doing , Abbott thought. Nobody had to say it. This was going to be a difficult operation. The only redeeming factor was the inaccessibility and remoteness of the region. Abbott just hoped that nobody got a real wild inclination to go out there on their own.
For the next hour, Korbett went over more data, including the itinerary, which would include a non-stop flight to New Zealand—aerial refueling included—on a C-5 Galaxy. Then an LC-130 Hercules flight—about 850 miles—right into McMurdo Station where they would pick up the mountaineering guide. Total flight time would be about 20 hours. Sleep would be minimal, as a team of survival school instructors from stateside would accompany them for a “crash course” on polar survival.
Before the group left, Korbett informed Abbott privately that the Department was getting pressure from NSF, which wanted to assign a few of their own people to go out on the glacier with them. Abbott said absolutely not. Korbett told him he’d take along whom he was ordered to take along. And if that meant NSF people, that’s what it meant. Korbett was fighting it, but at the moment it looked like a losing battle.
Abbott was curious as to who was on Korbett’s Washington team, but it was curiosity only. Like all intelligence projects, if you didn’t have the need to know, you were just one more link in the chain. And somebody else was always calling the shots. It didn’t matter how far up the chain of command you seemed to be.
Korbett’s other team had been watching the briefing in another room from a hidden video camera.That room was located underground, and it was equipped as a mini-communications center. Korbett had utilized this location numerous times in the past. They already had a link-up timeframe with McMurdo Station via satellite. When Abbott’s team radioed any information back to McMurdo, it would be e-mailed directly back to the command center here in Maryland during the window period when the satellite could make the link, which was only a few hours per day. Abbott was right. Even the best technology on the planet was at the mercy of the polar regions.
The decision-making process was set in place. That process would take only minutes when set in motion. The decisions themselves, however, would take a little longer. Few humans, including General William Korbett, have ever been confronted with what was to come. There are things that the human mind encounters that are so unbelievable that the human mind doesn’t know what to do.
Chapter 4
FEBRUARY 7, 20--
U. S. McMURDO STATION
ANTARCTICA
9:55 A.M. GMT
A s much as he had been looking forward to going home for a few months, Mike Ruger was more intrigued by what was going on with the discovery of the alien
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