Step Back - Part 19

In the surface base at Area 51 Benny Netanyahu had discovered netsurfing. In this case it was only the surface base network that he accessed from a workstation but the output was very illuminating.

The uptimers bad brought back a number of text and video files on the topic of the destruction of Jerusalem. This time he would click on the link labeled “Sonya Newman From Jerusalem.”

The widescreen image from a television network called Fox News appeared on the workstation screen. It was the local midnight and Sonya Newman was reporting live from Jerusalem.

Miss Newman’s hair was a little more frizzed than usual and she clearly appeared to be afraid of something on the air. But she was trying to do her job.

Benny would later read that after the Final Election the management at Fox News would give her a choice of assignments outside of the United States. In part this was to allow her to get away from escalating level of violence being carried out by followers of former President Null against those who were perceived to be opponents of his continued and now illegal occupancy of the White House.

Miss Newman had no idea what was going on apart from the local civil defense sirens sounding off. She had said that she and her camera crew were about to go down to a shelter when someone off camera shouted something. The camera shifted off of Sunny to something in the sky.

The view from the Fox News camera in Jerusalem showed three of the reentry vehicles dropping down on the city.

Miss Newman tried to describe what she saw. It was almost a play by play account as the locally based anti-missile battery tried to intercept the incoming warheads.

The first two warheads were killed on live television. The interceptor missiles failed to hit the third warhead.

Sonya Newman of Fox News made one final comment.

“One of the them got through.”

The was a very brief flash of light from the last warhead before the loss of the video signal from Jerusalem.

Benjamin Netanyahu sat back and thought about what he had seen.


In the Forbidden City of Peking General Tsien, the current head of the State Security Service, was admitted into the office of the Great Helmsman.

“Comrade Chairman,” he said, “I’m here to report on the operation to terminate the anti-communist author Ayn Rand.”

“And how is it going?” Asked Chairman Mao.

“It isn’t, Comrade Chairman.”

Mao blinked. To report such a failure was a very rare event, which was quickly followed by the order to execute the man who failed.

“Why not?” Said Mao.

“The man I assigned the task to has committed suicide with his service pistol, and he did leave a note.”

Mao shook his head and then spoke again.

“So?”

“Comrade Chairman, he said that the task was impossible.”

Mao raised his voice in reply.

“No task is impossible! And there is no excuse for failure! You will assign another man to the task! And the task will be completed!”

“Of course, Comrade Chairman.” Said General Tsien.

He had read the suicide note and came to agree with every point. If they could not find a way to perform the task in a deniable fashion there would be a blowback. Although the American government would be outraged they would likely refrain from performing a retaliatory action. But the Star People would retaliate for the termination of Rand. And they would very likely do so by removing the city of Peking from the face of the Earth with a thermonuclear weapon.

Upon return to his own office General Tsien made a decision. He would assign the most incompetent and politically foolish man in the relevant bureau to the task. Yes, the man assigned to the task would fail, and as a result General Tsien would keep his head.

In Dallas a late meeting was held at the headquarters of the William Grant Ministries. In the absence of her husband Katherine Grant, the widow of the Reverend William Grant chaired the meeting. She listened as a man from Nevada spoke to the group.

“We’ve found as a result of discussions with some of our parishioners that the Chief Medical Officer, Doctor Alice Boatman, is a lesbian.”

Mrs. Grant had heard the term before. But someone at the table hadn’t.

“A what?”

“A female homosexual.” The man from Nevada replied.

“A Sodomite,” said Katherine Grant, “a sinner beyond ordinary sin. And now those sinners have my daughter to do whatever they wish with her.”

She looked at each man and woman at the table in turn.

“And they must pay the ultimate penalty for their sins!”

At the end it was decided that Mrs. Grant would personally speak to President Nixon on the matter. And he would be made to understand the full consequences of his continued cooperation with the Uptimers.

In Pahrump, Nevada, outside of the Uptime base at Area 51, British Agent John Cross had finished his long cross country drive and checked into a motel for the night. He was clearly tried from the drive and had no time for extracurricular nonsense.

In Carson City, Nevada the two Soviet intelligence officers had encountered and clearly recognized the other as Soviet Officers. As a result they had a short discussion. Each had come to Carson City because it was the center of the state government and the equivalent Federal operations. And in discovering that each was also an effective card player they hatched a scheme to raise some extracurricular funds. They would use part of their operational funds as a stake in the locally held poker tournaments. Working as team they would move from venue to venue, never winning more than three hands at each location.

The GRU officer watched as his KGB counterpart cleaned out another table full of suckers. It was clear that as in warfare losses at poker, especially at Texas Hold ‘Em were inevitable. The trick as in warfare was to limit the effect of the losses.

The French intelligence officer was cooling his heels in the Las Vegas drunk tank. Drinking, even wine, did not mix with driving in this state.

Barbarians, he thought.