Chapter 19: Going to the Arctic Circle

On Friday:

For the first time, 200 engineers were separated from the others. Among this battalion were the first group of twenty Willa and Tony worked with. For the first time, five officers stood before their men. It was obvious President Pusin was nervous. He had transported up to 20 several times, but knowing he was nervous, Tony encouraged him, “Mr. President, get the men excited. Get them laughing. It will be much easier. We are here to guide you. This will happen!”

President Pusin laughed nervously and turned to the group of engineers and then counted Demetri, Tony, and Willa. He knew Maya was standing behind him. She would not be denied, and both Demetri and Maya also wore Red Lanyards. Vid did a final count, for a total of 225 people.

“Fear not Vid, the universe will support you in this.” It sure sounded like Gaia. It was her voice only in perfect Russian. Vid turned to Tony and Willa and saw their smiling eyes and heads nodding.

“Engineers we are going to the Arctic Circle. New land to the North has risen out of the sea and we understand there is enough gold to put our country back together. Your role in the years to come will be as teachers to teach others what we know. Today I wear the Red Lanyard with pride as many of you do. I am to be tested, to see if I am worthy to wear the Black Lanyard. ARE YOU WILLING TO BE MY GUINEA PIGS?!” Vid screamed.

The men did not act very militarily. Their cheering conveyed that they were more than willing to be guinea pigs for their President.

“Everyone, gather tight and take a deep breath.” President Pusin pulled the scarf over his mouth and nose. He glanced at Tony and Willa to make sure they were ready. He glanced at the piece of paper Tony had given him with the longitude and latitude of where they were headed. The next thing everyone realized, the ground was frozen, and so were they. The wind was whipping, and the icy temperature meant that even with Arctic dress, everyone felt the cold being exposed like this to the elements.

Willa stepped forward, and, tilting her head skyward, she called out, “Angels of the wind, I am Willa, we are servants of God and in the name of Gaia and Jesus and John, we ask you to quiet the wind and open up the skies to allow the light of the sun to shine upon us.”

Everyone looked up as the wind slowed. It took a few minutes, but the dense clouds overhead parted and moved off to the east and west. The heavy clothes that everyone wore became warm enough that the arctic gear made everyone comfortable. Everyone stopped shivering.

Willa looked to the skies, “Thank you, angels.”

Maya wrapped Willa up in a hug, “Thank you. Watching you do that made this whole trip worthwhile. I didn’t know that could be done.”

“I didn’t either.” Willa laughed, “Jesus did give us an example.”

Tony patted his wife on the arm. Their eyes met, and she understood he was pleased. President Pusin was looking at her and nodding too.

“Engineers, my last act as your teacher.” Tony held up the Black Lanyard for all to see. There was total agreement.

Instead of accepting the lanyard from Tony’s hand, President Pusin took his hood off and one glove. He reached under the many coverings around his neck and dug out the Red Lanyard. He took it off and folded it and put it in his pocket. “We will need that for another.” He then came to attention and bowed to Tony.

Tony placed the Black Lanyard around the president’s neck. The president stood and held up his lanyard for all to see. As the men cheered, Tony could barely hear the president say, “Thank you, Tony!” President Pusin smiled.

“Time to find GOLD!” Tony yelled. He looked around but couldn’t see anything in the dim light, “I need to find a hill, so I can see more land.” Tony turned again and saw a small mound a short distance to the west. He was going to turn away when he realized that was what he was looking for. He caught the eyes of the president and nodded.

“Listen up, I’m moving everybody, towards that mound. There’s our GOLD! Ready? Now!”

When they got there, many of the men looked at each other in amazement. They had just been introduced to another ability for transporting.

The captain who had gone through the training came up to President Pusin. They watched as a man unfolded a metal rod to three meters long. He pushed it into the mound and hit something hard about two meters in. He went to another spot, and the same thing happened. The president and the captain talked for a few seconds. President Pusin held up his gloved hand with a finger pointing to the sky. The captain nodded and saluted and called together many of his men. They disappeared.

The men from engineering were only about twenty percent of the personnel of the entire battalion. The 150 men who’d left were to move everything they needed to secure the area and dig out the gold and then to transport it to Moscow.

Almost instantly supplies started showing up. Men showed up along with portable buildings, storage containers, motorized shovels, generators, big portable lights, and four small, tracked vehicles with blades on the front. There were a dozen trucks that could hold half a dozen yards of dirt; each with a box that could dump.

When a tent showed up, Maya shared with Tony and Willa that the sign on the front meant Coffee Service. They made their way over to it and a man wearing a white apron greeted them. He had coffee that had been made before it was transported. When Willa asked if he had hot cocoa, the man found a box and pulled out a package. He put it into a cup and added hot water.

The president turned to Tony, “Do you have any idea how the gold got here?”

“Yes. A meteor was traveling in the same direction that the earth was going. The earth’s gravity field caught onto it and slowly pulled it in for a nice soft landing into some mud.” It’s all right there. It came in almost half a million years ago.” Tony looked in the direction of the mound, “It’s over forty thousand metric tons. It may be almost fifty.”

“Tony Taylor, I would like for you to meet General Ivanov. You have been training part of his battalion.”

“Sir, I’m only a commander. Nice to meet you, Mr. Taylor.” That was about it for English for the commander. He was a fourth-generation military and had a degree in Civil Engineering. Despite loving it from the beginning, he realized it was a dead-end regarding promotions. But now he’d just been made a very young general by the only man with enough power to do so at a whim.

The captain came in just as President Pusin was explaining, “If you can move that mound of gold to Moscow within a month or two, I will promote every man in your battalion, and I will make you a general.” President Pusin put his hand out to shake on his promise. Denver, Colorado:

Everyone knew instantly when four of their men had died. John, Peter and the 200 with them all wore green vests with ‘US MARSHALLS’ on the back.

The four had gone into a large opening. It was poorly lit, but it was clear the cavern went for some distance into the complex. Better lighting was 100 or so feet ahead. They were with 12 others who were exploring sub-level 6. When they had cleared the opening, the top of the opening crashed to the floor behind them and in front of them.

There was a hissing sound and the four men fell to the floor in severe pain. In minutes they were dead. When John heard, he called a halt to the search of the complex. Peter looked up the County Building Department. “Hang on John,” Peter shared.

They made their way to the Building Department. From there, they found the main info desk and were sent to the 4th floor where plans were kept in a vault of public buildings.

The place was almost empty. John and Peter found a counter and stood to wait to be acknowledged. A woman with a name tag that read Agnes Murphy walked up to them, “How can I help you today?”

“We want to review the plans for the Denver International Airport.” John shared.

“That takes a security clearance,” Agnes informed.

“How do we get security clearances?” Peter asked.

“I don’t know and if you don’t know then you probably can’t,” Agnes shared.

“Do you know who the president of the New United States is?” John asked.

“You mean the Western States?” Agnes corrected.

“We have petitions to join up again from all of the other states except for Louisiana which is 100% underwater, Peter shared.

“Oh, that is wonderful.” Agnes thought for a second, “I want our country back together. John Taylor is the new President. I have not met him or even seen him yet.”

“Ms. Murphy, I am President John Taylor. This is Peter Adams, my aid.” John laid on the counter a business card identifying himself as President and a Washington State Driver’s License.

Agnes looked at John in shock. She slowly looked down at the driver’s license and then smiled.

“Ms. Murphy, I as President grant myself and Peter Adams the highest security clearance in the nation.”

Agnes smiled, then nodded her head, “May I have your card, sir? And a picture?”

Agnes got three pictures, “Thank you, Mr. President.” Agnes started crying. John turned and hugged Agnes. When she settled down, “Thank you for my life, for my family’s life. We were at the end and hadn’t had any water for a week. My grandson came running in from next door and turned the TV on. A man was telling us that we have become part of the Western States and our money would be backed by gold and silver. I looked at my husband, he gave me a wink, and then he started thanking God. Come on, let’s get those drawings for you.”

The group walked beyond where the ‘Employees Only’ sign was. Agnes put a key into a lock and turned the handle. There on the floor was a young man lying in a pool of dried blood. Agnes screamed, then covered up her nose from the smell, “I think that’s Chet our intern. Oh God, Marlene may be here too. The two of them did not sign out on Sunday and left the lights on.”

“Chet’s been dead for four days. I get a no about bringing him back.” John looked around from his kneeling position next to the dead man, “Are the airport drawings here?”

“They are supposed to be, but no. There are only the drawings from the subcontractors. How important is this?” Agnes asked.

“We believe there are 40,000 tons of our stolen gold under that airport. We lost four men this morning and now here is another one,” John shared.

“Come with me.” Agnes turned right out of the room and went down about seven rows before turning into a wide one. She went to the end and unlocked a big metal cabinet. There inside were more drawings, “This is our second set. If we have duplicates, we keep them in here.”

“I found her!” Peter shouted, “We’re going to need water.”

“Agnes, can you get us a couple of bottles of water?” John read Agnes’ frown.

“Is it Marlene?” Agnes nodded, and John explained, “If we bring her back to life, she will be dehydrated and need water, or her body will shut down and she will die again.”

“Understood!” Agnes turned and moved back the way they had come.

John grabbed the airport plans and shut the cabinet and locked it. He took the keys and moved toward the main walkway, “Peter, where are you?”

Peter was only the next row over. Marlene had her eyes open, “Who are you?”

“That’s President John Taylor!” Peter shared, “I’m Peter Adams, his aid.”

“How are you doing?” John asked.

“My vision is coming back, and my head does not hurt so much.” Marlene shared.

“There you are. I got water.” Agnes had three bottles of water.

“Drink slowly. If you had something with electrolytes in it, better. You need to drink twice your normal water and fluids in the next 24 hours. If you start having pains in your kidneys or other parts of your body, give me a call.” John handed Marlene one of his cards.

“Marlene, who did this?” Agnes asked.

“Fred ... Fredrick ... Hobart. He’s on the Airport Commission Board.” Marlene shook her head, “He signed in.”

“That page has been ripped out of the book,” Agnes shared.

“Is Chet...?” Marlene asked.

“He’s dead. Looks like you lasted for three days or more before your body shut down.” Peter shared; Chet has been dead for about four days.