T-11O HOURS, 2O MINUTES "So, Mr. Mike Turcotte and Professor Werner Von Seeckt, are you the bad guys or the good guys?" Kelly asked. Her hand shook as she lit a cigarette. "You don't mind, do you?" she asked, indicating the cigarette. "If I was younger, I'd have one myself," Von Seeckt said. They were seated in her hotel room, belated introductions having just been made. "Why were you following us?" Turcotte demanded. "You didn't just happen to be in that parking lot." "I'm not telling you a thing, until you tell me who you are and why those guys were shooting at you," Kelly said. Von Seeckt was looking at a piece of paper he'd pulled out of his coat. "To answer your first question, as you Americans say, we are the men in the white hats." "And the guys back at Nellis," Kelly asked, "--the men in the black hats? Who are they?" "The government," Turcotte said. "Or part of the gov- ernment." "Let's try this one more time," Kelly said. "Why were they shooting at you?" Turcotte gave a concise explanation of the events of the previous twenty-four hours, from Area 51 to Devil's Nest, 152 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 153 back to the Cube, to the hospital annex and Doctor "Yes. And I've got a place in Phoenix that we can stop at Cruise's attempt to kill Von Seeckt. on the way," Kelly said. "Whoa!" Kelly said when he came to a halt. "You expect Turcotte sat down on the couch and rubbed his forehead. me to believe that?" He had a massive headache and it was getting worse. His "I don't give a shit what you believe," Turcotte said. side ached and he was tired. "No. We don't go anywhere," "Hey, don't get smart with me," Kelly said. "I saved your he said. ass back there." "You can stay here," Kelly said. "I'm going after "You only saved our ass if what I just told you was the Johnny." truth," Turcotte replied. To his surprise Kelly laughed. "We need to stay together," Von Seeckt said in German. "Good point." "Why?" Turcotte asked. "So, I've told you our story," Turcotte said. "Why were "Hey!" Kelly yelled. "None of this talking around me." you there?" "I was just telling my friend that we need to stick to- "I'm looking for a friend of mine who has disappeared gether," Von Seeckt said. trying to infiltrate Area 51, and you got off the shuttle "No," Turcotte said. "I'm done with this. I've done my plane from that place. I didn't plan on getting caught in a duty and now it's time for someone else to deal with this." gun battle. Have you heard about a reporter named Johnny He grabbed the phone. Simmons getting picked up trying to get into Area 51 two "Who are you calling?" nights ago?" "None of your business," Turcotte said. He began to dial "There was a lot going on that night," Turcotte said. He the number that Duncan had given him. On the eighth glanced at Von Seeckt. digit the phone went dead. He looked up to see Kelly hold- "If he disappeared trying to get into Area 51," Von ing the cord, which she had unplugged from the wall. Seeckt said, "he is either dead or he has been taken to a "It's my phone," she said. government facility at Dulce, New Mexico." "This isn't a game!" Turcotte slammed the phone down. Turcotte remembered Prague mentioning that place. "I know it isn't a game," Kelly replied just as loudly. "I "I don't think he's dead," Kelly said. "The man who was just got shot at. My best friend has disappeared. He"--she with him--a guy named Franklin--he was reported killed pointed at Von Seeckt--"almost was murdered. I don't in a car crash that night. If they were going to kill Johnny, think anyone in this room thinks it's a game!" it would have been just as easy for them to put him in the "Plug the phone back in." Turcotte spaced the words car with Franklin. I think he's still alive and that means we out. have to go to New Mexico." "No." "Wait a second . . ." Turcotte began, but Von Seeckt As Turcotte began to stand, Kelly held up a hand. "Lis- was nodding his head. ten to me. Before any of us does anything, let's get on the "Yes, we must go to New Mexico. There is something same sheet of music." there at Dulce we will need. Can you take us there in your "I agree," Von Seeckt said. car?" "Who said we were voting?" Turcotte asked. He walked 154 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 155 over to the room door and opened it. Screw these people, he "And if you run it, your friend is dead," Turcotte thought. He was tired and hurting and wanted nothing couldn't help throwing in. more than to forget all about Area 51 and this entire mess. "Your phone call doesn't appear to have cheered you He'd done his job and it had almost cost him his life. They up," Kelly said. couldn't ask any more of him. Turcotte didn't reply. He went down to the lobby and over to the first phone "We must do this ourselves," Von Seeckt said. booth. Using his own phone credit card he dialed Duncan's "Do what?" Turcotte snapped. number. It rang three times, then it was picked up, but the Von Seeckt looked at the piece of paper in his hand and answer wasn't at all what he'd expected. read. " 'Power, sun. Forbidden. Home place, chariot, never A mechanical voice came on. "You have dialed a num- again. Death to all living things.' " ber that has been disconnected. Please check the number "What?" Turcotte was totally confused. and dial again." "May I please use your phone?" Von Seeckt asked Kelly. Turcotte punched in the ten numbers again. He was cer- "Certainly," Kelly said. tain he had them right. And received the same response. "How come you're letting him call?" Turcotte asked. "Fuck!" he hissed as he slammed the phone down, earning "He said please," Kelly replied. himself a dirty look from a woman two phones over. "Wait one," Turcotte said to Von Seeckt, holding up his He went to the elevator. Had the number been bogus to hand. "I'm pretty much in the dark here, like she is. But start with? Or had he been cut off after going in? What the we're all in the same shit pile. I know what happened in hell was going on? Nebraska. And I saw what they tried to do to you at the He opened the door. Kelly barely looked up. She was medical annex. And I saw what they have in those hangars grilling Von Seeckt. "But how did the government get the back there at Area 51, but I don't know what the hell is bouncers? And why are they hiding them and pulling all going on. Before you make any phone calls, tell us what is this deception shit? And what was the small sphere that going on." made Turcotte's helicopter crash? And why were they try- "They are going to try to engage the propulsion unit of ing to kill you if you were one of them--one of Majic-12?" the mothership on the fifteenth of this month. I fear that "Because they have gone too far," Von Seeckt said. "Are when the engine is engaged there will be disaster." going to go too far," he amended. "In four days they will "I know that--" Turcotte began. cross the line." "Mothership?" Kelly cut in, which necessitated a brief description by Von Seeckt. "What line?" Kelly asked. "Welcome back, my young friend," Von Seeckt said. "How will engaging the engine be a disaster?" Kelly asked. "Have you decided to stay with us?" "I do not know exactly," Von Seeckt said. "But there is "I haven't decided anything," Turcotte muttered. He someone who might. Which is why I need to use the slumped down in one of the chairs by the window. phone." He looked at Kelly. "Let me have the address of "This is the biggest story in years," Kelly said. this place we will be stopping at in Phoenix." Kelly gave it 156 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 157 to him and Von Seeckt dragged the phone into the bed- Gullick moved on. "Two. This 'foo fighter.' Admiral room suite and closed the door behind him. Coakley?" Turcotte frowned but bowed to the situation. "Thanks "I have three ships en route to the location where it went for the ride." down. One is the USS Pigeon, a submarine rescue ship. It "Better late than never," she said. has the capability to send a minisub down to the bottom at "What?" that location." "Forget it." She pointed at the closed bedroom door. "Is "ETA and time to recover?" Gullick asked. he on the level?" "ETA in six hours. Recovery--if they find it and it is "Your guess is as good as mine," Turcotte said. intact--inside of twenty-four," Coakley responded. "Great." "What do you mean if they find it?" "It's a small object, General," Coakley explained. "It dis- appeared in deep water and we're not even sure it's still there." THE CUBE, AREA 51 "You will find it," Gullick said. General Gullick steepled his fingers and looked around the "Yes, sir." conference table. Dr. Cruise was holding an ice pack to his "Sir . . ." Quinn paused. temple. The other members of the inner circle were also "What?" Gullick snapped. there. Dr. Duncan, naturally, had not been informed of the "What if this foo fighter wasn't the only one? The re- meeting. ports we have from World War II indicate multiple sight- "Priorities," Gullick said. "One. Mothership run-up and ings. There were three flying with the Enola Gay." propulsion engagement. Ferrel?" "What if it isn't the only one?" Gullick repeated. "On schedule," Doctor Ferrel said. "We're analyzing the "The pattern we observed with this one that went down data from the run-up." in the Pacific indicated that it was waiting somewhere in "What about the physical effect that Dr. Duncan com- the vicinity here and picked up Bouncer Three departing plained about?" the Area." Ferrel shook his head. "I don't know. She was the only "So?" Gullick said. one affected. The only change in variables was that she is "Well, sir, then there might be another one of these foo female." fighters in the vicinity here and it might interfere when we "What?" Gullick said. run the mothership test flight. Obviously, the foo fighters "Maybe the wave effect of the engine affects females are clued in to our operation here in some manner." differently." General Gullick considered this. He had spent a lot of "Is it significant?" Gullick asked. time worrying about the test flight. This was a new wrinkle, "No, sir." and he struggled to deal with it. "Do you have any sugges- "Any foreseeable problems?" tions, Major?" "No, sir." "I think we ought to check and see if there is another 158 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 159 one around. The last one reacted to a bouncer flight. If surviving members of the Nightscape mission debriefed at there is another one about, maybe it would react to an- the MSS via SATCOM. It appears that there was a civilian other bouncer flight, except this time we would be more contact just as Bouncer Three arrived at the objective in prepared." Nebraska and the foo fighter interfered. Captain Turcotte Gullick nodded. "All right. We can't afford to have any- was on board Major Prague's helicopter. Prague's bird thing go wrong on the fifteenth. Let's prepare a mission for stayed behind to deal with the civilians." tonight. Except have two bouncers ready. One as bait, the "There was no report of civilians. No report at all," Gul- other to follow and intercept. We'll also prepare some kill lick said. "I debriefed Turcotte personally about the mis- zones if there's one of those things about and it takes the sion and he didn't say anything about that." He was bait." shocked. "Turcotte lied to me." "Yes, sir." "We don't know who the civilians were, but there has "Three," Gullick said. He looked at Dr. Cruise, then been no report filed with local authorities about the night's General Brown, who was responsible for overall security. activities," Brown said. The right side of Gullick's face twitched. "The fuck-up this "Of course not," Gullick said. "Turcotte would have told morning." them to keep their mouths shut." He looked down again at "Von Seeckt is gone," Brown said. "We have his apart- the computer screen. "What's his background?" ment in Las Vegas covered in case he shows up there. "Infantry. Then Special Forces. We recruited him out of We--" DET-A in Berlin." "Von Seeckt is old and a pain in the ass, but one thing Gullick slapped the conference tabletop. "I remember the man is not, is stupid," Gullick said. "If I'd have known him now. He was involved in that incident in Dusseldorf you were going to fuck up a simple termination I'd have let with the IRA. I never saw him. We did the after-action nature take its course and listened to his shit for five more inquiry by secure conference call, but I recognize the name months, then let him die. Now we have him on the loose now. He was there. So why is he lying to us and helping with his big mouth and his knowledge." Von Seeckt flee? Is he a plant?" "He can't have gotten too far," General Brown said. General Brown shook his head. "I don't know, sir." "The term that comes to mind," Gullick said, glaring at "He might be," Kennedy said. The others at the table all Cruise, "is anal retentive. You had to have the death certifi- turned to look at the CIA man. cate typed up before you actually killed him?" "Clarify," Gullick ordered. "Sir, I--" "When we did our background on Dr. Duncan, my peo- Gullick silenced the doctor with a wave of his hand. ple picked up some information that she was working with "What about this"--Gullick looked down at his computer someone inside our organization or was sending someone screen--"this Captain Turcotte?" in to infiltrate us. The NSA had supplied her with a phone "He was new, sir." Brown had a file open. "He just ar- cutout to talk to this agent. That cutout was activated forty rived in time for the Nightscape mission last night." Brown minutes ago. My people disconnected it." paused. "Since the events this morning, I had the other "Could you find out who was calling?" 160 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 161 "Not without attracting the NSA's attention," Kennedy "I wonder why she helped Turcotte and Von Seeckt," said. "But whoever was calling on that line, and I do be- Quinn said. lieve it was Turcotte, given all that has happened, didn't get Gullick stood. "Find her. Then you'll know. While you're through." at it, find Turcotte and find Von Seeckt and terminate "Why wasn't I informed of all this?" Gullick demanded. them. Then we won't have to worry about the whys." "I thought I could take care of it," Kennedy said. "I warned Major Prague to be on the lookout and to check any new personnel extra carefully." "Obviously that worked damn well!" Gullick exploded. He threw a file folder across the room. "Does anyone in here believe in letting me know what's going on before we fuck things up any further?" The men of the inner circle of Majic-12 exchanged wor- ried glances, not quite sure what to make of the question. Just as swiftly as he had exploded, Gullick calmed down. "I want everything you have on Turcotte." He checked the computer screen. "And who's this woman in the rent-a- car?" "We've run the plates the guards copied. The woman renting the car is Kelly Reynolds. She's a freelance maga- zine writer." "Just great." Gullick threw up his hands. "That's all we need." "I'm working on getting a photo ID of her and her back- ground." "Track them down. Put out a classified alert through CIA channels into the police networks. No one should ap- proach them. We have to get them ourselves. Quickly!" "We also have a report from Jarvis," Kennedy contin- ued. "This Reynolds woman interviewed him yesterday evening. Jarvis gave her the usual story, but she was better prepared than most and penetrated his backstop cover. She specifically asked about that reporter that we picked up the other night on White Sides Mountain." AREA 51 163 "We are not going back into Area 51," Turcotte said 14 flatly. "Gullick will have our heads if we go back in there. And they'll find us here soon enough too." "The tablets aren't there," Von Seeckt said. "They're being held at the Majic-12 facility in Dulce, New Mexico. That is why / said we must go there." Turcotte sat down in an easy chair and rubbed his fore- head. "So you're agreeing with Kelly and say that we should go to Dulce. I assume whatever facility is there is highly classified also. So we're just going to break in, rescue this reporter Johnny Simmons, get these tablets, decipher LAS VEGAS, NEVADA them, and then what?" T-1O9 HOURS, 2O MINUTES "We make public the threat," Von Seeckt said. He "Who did you call?" Turcotte asked, as he toweled his hair. looked at Kelly. "That's your job." While Von Seeckt had been on the phone, Turcotte had "Oh, I've been hired?" Kelly asked. taken a shower and cleaned himself up. Kelly had run out "No, sounds to me like you volunteered like I did," and gone to a Wal-Mart to buy him a loose-fitting pair of Turcotte said with a sarcastic laugh. "Sort of like people pants and a shirt to replace his torn and sooty jumpsuit. He used to volunteer to charge across no-man's-land in World felt more human now. The stitches that Cruise had put in War I. Didn't your mother ever tell you not to pick up his arm were holding up well. hitchhikers?" "I left a message for a Professor Nabinger." Von Seeckt Von Seeckt's voice was grim. "None of us in this room held up the crumpled piece of paper he had in his hand. "I has any choice. We either expose what they are planning to believe he may hold the key to understanding the mother- do at Area 51 in four days and stop it or we--and many ship." others--die." "Who is Nabinger?" Kelly asked. "I'm not sure I buy into the danger this mothership "An archaeologist with the Brooklyn Museum." holds," Turcotte said. "Okay, time out," Turcotte said. "I thought I was half- Von Seeckt shook the piece of paper with the message way up to speed with all this, but now you've lost me." from Nabinger on it. "This confirms my suspicions!" "When they discovered the mothership," Von Seeckt Turcotte glanced at Kelly and she returned the look. For said, "they also found tablets with what are called high all they knew Von Seeckt could be a total crackpot. The runes on them. We have never been able to decipher the only reason Turcotte even began to believe the old man tablets, but it appears that Professor Nabinger might be was the fact that Cruise had tried to kill him. That meant able to." Von Seeckt's fingers ran over the head of his someone took him seriously enough to want to get rid of cane. "The only problem is that we have to get access to him. Of course, they might want to kill him because he was the tablets to show them to the professor." a crackpot, but Turcotte thought it best to keep that 164 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 165 thought to himself. He didn't feel on very firm ground; proposed had gone against the prevailing winds of the after all, his phone call had been to a number that was world of academic archaeology. disconnected, so his story didn't hold up much better than What had fascinated Nabinger was that a few of Slater's those of the other two people in the room. slides showed forms of high runes etched into the under- Von Seeckt had told him about Duncan being in the water stonework. He'd gotten copies of the slides and Cube. She might be legitimate, she might not. Turcotte's they'd helped him decipher a few more high rune symbols. training told him that when he didn't have enough infor- However, the chilly, in fact hostile, reception her presenta- mation he had to make the best possible choice. Going to tion had received had convinced Nabinger to keep his own Dulce seemed like a good way to at least accumulate more studies quiet. information from both Von Seeckt and Kelly on the way Nabinger wiped the sweat from his brow and adjusted there. his backpack. At the conference Slater had not seemed "All right," Turcotte said. "Let's stop yacking and get particularly perturbed at the attacks on her theories. She going." had smiled, packed her bags, and gone back to her island. Her attitude had seemed to suggest that they could take it or leave it. Until someone came up with some better ideas BIMINI, THE BAHAMAS and supported them, she was sticking to hers. Nabinger T-1O8 HOURS, 5O MINUTES had been impressed with that self-confident attitude. Of Less than a hundred miles east of Miami, the islands that course, she didn't have a museum board of directors or an made up Bimini were scattered across the ocean like small academic review board for tenure looking over her shoul- green dots. It was in the sparkling blue water around those der, either, so she could afford to be aloof. dots that massive stone blocks had been found that had He looked down at the card she had given him at the fueled speculation that Atlantis had once been there. conference--a small map photocopied on the back pointed Peter Nabinger didn't have the time to dive to see the the way to her house. She'd given it to him when he'd blocks. Besides, he'd already seen pictures of them. He was asked for copies of the slides. "We don't have street names here to see the woman who had taken the pictures and on my island," she had told him. "If you don't know where then stayed to study them further. you're going, you won't get there. But don't worry, you can As he walked the short distance from the tiny dirt-strip walk everywhere from the airfield or the dock." airport to the village where Slater lived, Nabinger reflected Nabinger spotted a shock of white hair above a garden on the only other time he'd seen the woman. It had been at of green surrounding a small cottage. As the woman an. archaeological convention in Charleston, South Caro- turned around, he recognized Slater. She put a hand over lina. Slater had presented a paper on the stones in the her eyes and watched him approach. Slater was in her late shallow waters off her island home. It had not been re- sixties and had come to archaeology late in life, after retir- ceived well. Not because her groundwork and research had ing from a career as a mineral- and geologic-rights lawyer been faulty, but because some of the conclusions she had representing various environmental groups--the reason 166 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 167 she could afford to go her own way and another reason she Nabinger nodded. "Are you familiar with the Nazi cult irritated the archaeological old guard. of Thule?" "Good day, young man," she called out as he turned into Slater slowly put down her glass. "Yes." She was her drive. thoughtful for a moment. "Do you know that about ten "Ms. Slater, I'm-- years ago there was a great controversy in the medical "Peter Nabinger, Brooklyn Museum," she said. "I may community about using certain historical data to study hy- be old and getting a little long in the tooth, but I still have pothermia?" She didn't wait for an answer. "The best data my mind. Did you take a wrong turn on the Nile? If I ever documented on hypothermia was developed by Nazi remember rightly, that was your area of expertise." doctors immersing concentration camp inmates in freezing "I just flew in here from Cairo, via the puddle jumper vats of water and recording their decreasing bodily func- from Miami," Nabinger said. tions until they died. They also took some out of the water "Iced tea?" Slater asked, extending her hand toward the before they died and tried to resuscitate them by warming them up in various ways--which invariably failed to work. door and leading him in. Not exactly something your typical medical researcher can "Thank you." do, but entirely realistic if you're looking for accuracy. They walked into the cool shadows of the house. It was a "The decision the American medical community made small bungalow, nicely furnished, with books and papers was that data gathered in such a brutal and inhuman man- piled everywhere. She cleared a stack of papers from a ner should not be used, even if it advanced current medical folding chair. "Sit down, please." science and eventually saved lives. I do not know how you Nabinger settled down and accepted the glass she gave would feel about that issue. I don't even know how I feel him. Slater sat down on the floor, leaning her back against about it." a couch covered with photographs. "So what brings you Slater paused, then smiled. "Now I am the one circling here, Mr. Egypt? Do you want more photos of the mark- the subject. But you must understand the situation. Of ings on the stones?" course, I have read the papers and documents available on "I was thinking about the paper you presented in the cult of Thule and on the Nazis' fascination with Atlan- Charleston last year," Nabinger began, not quite sure how tis. It is part of my area of study. But there are those who to get to what he wanted to know. would violently oppose any use of that information, so, as "That was eleven months and six days ago," Slater said. eccentric as some of my theories do seem, I have had to "I would like to think your brain works a little quicker than keep that particular piece of information out of my own that, or we might have a long day here. Please, Mr. Nab- papers and presentations." inger, you are here for a reason. I am not your professor at Nabinger leaned forward. "What have you found?" school. You can ask questions even if they seem silly. I've "Why do you want to know?" Slater asked. asked many silly questions in my life and I never regretted Nabinger reached into his backpack and pulled out his a one, but I have some regrets about the times I kept my sketchbook. He handed her the drawing and rough transla- mouth shut when I should have spoken up." tion. "That's from the wall in the lower chamber of the 168 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 169 Great Pyramid." He checked his watch. He had to catch Slater talked as Nabinger looked at the photos. "They his return flight to Miami in an hour and a half. He pro- might have been part of the outer wall of a city or part of a ceeded to quickly relate Kaji's story of Germans opening quay. There is no way of knowing, with large portions cov- up the chamber in 1942, ending it by showing her Von ered with coral and other underwater life and the sea bot- Seeckt's dagger. He then described his efforts at deci- tom close by sloping off into unexplored depths. This phering the high runes and the message he had taken off section with the stones might be just a tiny part of a larger the wall of the chamber. ancient site, or may be the only site, built there thousands Slater heard him out. "This reference to a home place. of years ago when that area was above water. Built by a Do you think that is reference to a place on the far side of people we don't know about, for a reason we can't yet the Atlantic?" figure out. "Yes. And that's why I'm here. Because the Germans--if "The major pattern of the stones is a long J or more they did go into that chamber in 1942, which I'm not abso- accurately a horseshoe with the open end to the northeast. lutely convinced of yet despite the dagger--had to have All told it's about a third of a mile long in about fifty feet gotten their information about the chamber from some- of water. Some of the stones are estimated to weigh almost where. Perhaps the Germans found writing somewhere fifteen tons, so they didn't get there by accident and who- that got them to that chamber, if you follow my logic." ever did put them in place had a very advanced engineer- "I follow your logic." Slater handed the drawing back. ing capability. You can barely get a knife point in the joints "In the early days of World War II, German U-boats oper- between some of those stones." ated extensively along the East Coast of the United States Slater stood up and leaned over Nabinger's shoulder and and here in the islands. They sank quite a bit of shipping. pointed. "There." But they also conducted some other missions. There was a large, ragged gouge in one of the blocks. "As you have talked with this Kaji fellow in Egypt, I have "And this is?" Nabinger asked. talked to some of the old fishermen here in the islands, Slater shuffled through the photos. "Here," she said, who know the waters and the history. They say that in 1941 handing him a close-up of the scar on the block. there were numerous sightings of German submarines Nabinger peered at it. There were other, very faint, older moving here among the islands. And that the submarines marks--writing around the edges of the gouge! Very simi- did not seem interested in hunting ships--since we are off lar to what was in his notebook, but the gouge had de- the main shipping lanes here--but rather to be looking for stroyed any chance of deciphering it! something in the waters around the islands." "What happened to this stone?" Nabinger asked. Slater reached behind her and gathered some photos. "I "As near as I can tell," Slater said, "it was hit by a tor- think this is what they found." pedo." She touched the picture, running her fingers over She handed them over. They appeared to be the same the high runes. "I've seen others like these. Ancient mark- photos that she had presented at the conference. Large ings destroyed sometime in the last century by modern stone blocks, closely fitted together in about fifty feet of weapons." water. Nabinger nodded. "They're just like the ones I deci- 170 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 171 phered from the lower chamber. Not traditional hiero- bothers me--and why I have never made public my find- glyphics, but the older, high rune language." ings--is how can the same ancient writing have been found Slater walked over to a desk buried under stacks of fold- in such vastly separated places?" ers and books. She rummaged through, then found what Slater sat back down. "Are you familiar with the diffu- she was looking for. "Here," she said, handing Nabinger a sionist theory of civilization?" folder. "You are not the only one interested in the high "Yes, I am," Nabinger said. He knew what Slater was rune language." referring to despite the ,,fact that the prevailing winds of He opened it. It was full of photos of high runes. Written thought this decade blew in favor of the isolationist theory on walls, on mud slabs, carved into rock--in just about of civilization. Isolationists believed that the ancient civili- every possible way by which ancient cultures had recorded zations all developed independent of one another. Meso- their affairs. "Where did you take these photos?" Nabinger potamia, the Indus Valley, China, Egypt--all crossed a asked, his heart pounding with the thought of the potential threshold into civilization about the same time: around the information he held in his hands. He recognized several of third or fourth century before the birth of Christ. the shots--the Central American site that had helped him Nabinger had heard the argument many times. Isolation- begin his breaking of the rune code. ists cite natural evolution to explain this curious bit of syn- "There's an index in the folder detailing where each chronicity. They also explain many common points in the photo was shot--they're numbered. But, basically, several archaeological finds of these civilizations as due to man's locations. Here, under the waves. In Mexico, near Vera- genetic commonality. Thus the fact that there are pyramids cruz. In Peru, at Tucume. On Easter Island. On some of in Peru, in Egypt, in Indochina, in North America--some the islands in Polynesia. Some from your neck of the woods made of stone, some of earth, some of mud, but remark- in the Middle East--Egypt and Mesopotamia." ably similar to one another given the distances between "The same symbols?" Nabinger asked, thumbing those sites--all that is just because each society as it devel- through the photos. He had seen many of the same ones oped had a natural tendency to do the same thing. before, but there were a few new ones in there to add to his Nabinger himself found this a bit of a leap. It would have high rune database. been quite a genetic coup if all these civilizations should "Some differences. In fact, many differences," Slater an- also have developed this same ancient high rune writing swered. "But, yes, I believe they all stem from the same and then abandoned it, well before the first hieroglyphics root language and are connected. A written language that were being etched on papyrus. predates the oldest recorded language that is generally ac- The diffusionists argued the other side of the civilization cepted by historians." coin, and Nabinger felt more affinity for their stance. They Nabinger closed the binder. "I have been studying these believed that those civilizations rose at approximately the runes for many years. I've seen a lot of what you have in same time on the cosmic scale--and exhibited all those here before--in fact I was able to decipher what I did of similarities, including the high runes--because those civili- the wall of the chamber in the Great Pyramid using sym- zations had all been started by people from a single earlier bols from a South American site. But the question that civilization. 172 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 173 There were problems with the diffusionist theory, in South America. Stonework very similar to that at other though--serious problems--and that is why Nabinger kept sites, some on the other side of the Pacific in Oceania. He his views on the subject to himself. The strongest argument has in his possession hard evidence of a certain degree of against the diffusionist theory was that there was no way interaction among widely spread peoples many centuries for people from these different locations to have communi- ago, but he is basically being ignored by the mainstream cated with one another or have had any social or cultural scientific community because they simply do not believe it intercourse. Those early people would have had to cross is possible." the Atlantic and the Pacific, according to diffusionist the- Nabinger was aware of the find, but he didn't want to ory. They had a hard enough time even sailing around on offend Slater. After all, he'd come to her. "How does Jor- the Mediterranean at that epoch, never mind crossing the genson think civilization originated?" oceans. "He believes that there was an original culture of white- Slater's face wrinkled as she smiled. "And you know who skinned, long-eared, pyramid-building, rune-writing people the number-one spokesperson for the diffusionists is, don't living and flourishing at what he calls the 'zero point,'" you?" She didn't wait for an answer. "Leif Jorgenson. The Slater replied. "And that civilization spread out from that man who sailed the Atlantic in a Viking ship to prove that zero point at what he calls a 'zero time'--just prior to civili- Europeans were in North America long before Christo- zation developing simultaneously at all those other places pher Columbus. And who floated from Indonesia to the that we are now studying. Civilization came from the zero Hawaiian islands on a wood raft to support his theory that point." the islands were colonized from the west. "And where is the zero point?" Nabinger asked, even "But he's taken all that--and more--a step further in though he had a very good idea of what the answer would the last ten years. He's currently working the recently dis- be. covered ruins in Mesoamerica, looking at pyramids and the "It is the place so many legends call Atlantis." Mayan calendar and--guess what?--new high runes dis- "And that is why you are so familiar with his theories," covered there. Nabinger said. "Four years ago Jorgenson uncovered a massive site in "Yes. Because there are connections that have not been Mexico near Jamiltepec. Over twenty large earthen and adequately explained." She paused. "Let me put it this stone pyramids covering almost seven hundred acres on way. Most people dismiss Jorgenson's zero-point theory the west coast of Mexico, less than two miles from the based on physical impracticality. They say that there is no Pacific Ocean. It had been covered by the jungle and be- way man at that time--somewhere around four thousand cause of the mountains around it was accessible only by B.C.--could have made it from the zero point to the other sea. locations around the globe, regardless of where you place "At the site he found further evidence of cross-cultural the zero point. They would have had to cross the oceans. communication at a time earlier than traditional historians "Jorgenson's reply is that while there is not enough sci- say is possible. There was jewelry made with gems that entific evidence to convincingly support his theory, there is could only have been mined over two thousand miles away also not enough to refute it. // you assume there was a way 174 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 175 ancient man could have crossed the oceans and spread, the stroke of their pens, moved Lemuria to the Pacific, then the evidence falls into place. Thus all the sea journeys tying the legend in with the statues on Easter Island, which Jorgenson has undertaken in replicas of old sailing ves- loops us back to Jorgenson's large-eared race. The statues sels." on Easter Island are of, as you also know, a large-eared She tapped the translation Nabinger had given her. "I people." must give you credit, young man, for pursuing your study of Slater laughed. "I can tell you even better myths and the commonalities among the high runes, in defiance of the stories. In 1922 another German published a book about common theories. Obviously it has brought you success Atlantis and claimed it had originally been occupied by a that many other scientists and investigators have failed to genetically perfect people. But the perfection was marred find because they accepted the standard theories and could when an outside woman arrived and taught them how to not see the greater possibilities in thinking differently. I ferment alcohol. So much for the perfect society. Because have tried my own hand at translating the high runes, but it of this imperfection Atlantis was then destroyed by the tail is not my area of expertise." of a comet! The continent burned and only a handful of "Let's get back to the Atlantis idea," Nabinger said, people escaped." checking his watch again. "Where do these people get their ideas from?" Nabinger "Jorgenson believes--and as you know there is scientific asked. data to support this--that there was a major geological "Ah, ever the scientist," Slater said. "You want source event in the Atlantic Ocean somewhere around 3400 B.C. material?" She went to her crowded desk and searched for Pretty much every culture around the globe refers to a a minute, before pulling out a dog-eared hardcover book. great flood at about that time. Even the Tibetan Book of the Dead talks of a large land mass sinking into the sea at "This is the original mention of Atlantis from the Timaeus, that time, and they are on the other side of the world from a treatise on Pythagorean philosophy written by Plato. I the Atlantic. have it here in the original Greek. Allow a little bit of "And there are so many legends referring to the same leeway for my translation, as I don't often converse in the thing: a great civilization in the middle of an ocean, de- language." stroyed by fire or flood! The Mayans called Atlantis Mu. She turned several pages and ran her finger down the The northern Europeans called it Thule. There was also writing. "As is traditional with the Greeks, this manuscript the land called Lemuria--which a Madame Blavatsky takes the form of a dialogue among several persons, Socra- picked up for her own cult of Thule--which is the question tes being one of them. In this passage Solon is telling the you started this meeting with. story of some of the Greek legends--for example the flood "Lemuria was a land that scientists in the nineteenth of Deukalion and Pyrrha. He is rebuked by an older priest: century postulated must have existed because of the pres- ence on Madagascar of a certain type of monkey, the le- Solon, you Greeks are children. There have been mur, that was also found in India. They believed Lemuria and will be many destructors of mankind, of which the had been in the Indian Ocean. Blavatsky's followers, with greatest are by fire and water." 176 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 177 She turned a few pages. floods, and on one grievous day the entire island of Atlantis was swallowed up by the sea and disappeared. Many are the truths and great are the achievements of the Greeks. But there is one that stands out above all "And now for an especially interesting detail," Slater the rest. It is in our history that a long time ago our said. state stopped a mighty host which started from a dis- tant point in a distant ocean and came to attack the Atlantis disappeared and the ocean at that spot has whole of Europe and Asia. For the ocean in that long now been made impassable, being blocked up by mud ago day was navigable outside of what we call the Pil- which the island made as it settled into the ocean. lars of Hercules--there, there was an island which was larger than North Africa and Asia Minor put together Slater smiled. "You know, of course, about the Sargasso and it was possible for travelers to cross from it to our Sea to the east of here. And the water around the islands land. here is relatively shallow in many places. If the ocean level were a bit lower, it would be almost impassable to most ships." Slater looked up from the book. "There are many who believe Plato is referring to North and South America, but "So you believe you are sitting on the site of Atlantis?" Nabinger asked. then those people run into the same problem that Jorgen- "I don't know," Slater said candidly. She pulled a vol- son has. The technology of the day rules out an ocean ume off her bookshelf. "Take this with you, along with pho- voyage across the Atlantic, so whatever Plato is referring tographs of the runes. It has more about the legend of to, if it is real, had to be closer to Europe. Of course, Plato Atlantis that you might want to look at. I hope I have given is also saying something that goes against conventional you the information you wanted." thought: that the ocean outside the Pillars of Hercules, the "That and more," Nabinger assured her, although there Strait of Gibraltar, was navigable to people at that time." was little she had told him that he didn't know and he She turned another page. already had most of the high rune images on file. He had just enough time to get to the airport and catch the hop On this island of Atlantis there was a confederation of back to Miami and continue with his trip. He hoped Von very powerful kings who ruled the island and many Seeckt had more. other islands and lands. Here, through the Pillars of "One thing," Slater said as they walked to the door. Hercules, they ruled North Africa as far as Egypt and "What do you think was in the black box that was taken out over Europe as far as Tuscany. of the pyramid?" The kings of Atlantis at one time tried to enslave Nabinger paused. "I don't have a clue." both the people of Greece and Egypt, but the Greeks, Slater nodded. "My reference earlier to the use of data in a noble fight, stopped the invaders. from the concentration camps: I did not make that idly. At a later time there occurred earthquakes and This man you are after, this German, Von Seeckt. If he is 178 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 179 part of what I think he is part of, then you might be getting that Americans were seen working the site after Jorgen- into something that you need to be very careful of." son's people had to clear out. He made a stink, but once "And that is?" Nabinger felt the minutes to his flight tick the Mexican government pulled his authorization there down. was little he could do." "Ask him when you see him," Slater said. "If he evades "Any idea what was down there?" answering, ask him specifically about Operation Paper- "Not a clue, my son. Not a clue. But you might want to clip." ask Von Seeckt." "What was that?" "Something I heard whispers about when I worked in Washington." Slater stepped back toward her house. "Is there anything else I should know?" Nabinger asked, poised at her gate. "I know you were humoring me," Slater said. "You knew nearly everything I told you, but you stopped by anyway. Why?" "It was on the way," Nabinger answered honestly. "But also, I hoped you might have some new information, since you keep up with this area of research. Your information on Von Seeckt might prove helpful." Slater was standing in the shadow cast by the peaked roof of the house. "They found something unusual at the Jamiltepec site in Mexico about eight months ago." That was news to Nabinger. "What did Jorgenson find?" "Jorgenson didn't find it," Slater said. "I have only heard rumors. Jorgenson was away lecturing. His people were deep under the main pyramid when they found a passage- way leading down. They were getting ready to open it when they were shut down. The Mexican army came in claiming that it was an historical site, but anyone with enough cash could have had them do that." "What happened?" Nabinger asked. "From the whispers I've heard, it appears that Jorgen- son's team had been infiltrated. Some say by the Mexican government, since it was their army that shut the dig down; others say it was the CIA. That's because there are rumors AREA 51 181 Kelly met Turcotte's glance across the front seat, then 15 returned to the backseat. "Another location? Where is that? Remember, you hired me, and my currency for pay- ment is information." Von Seeckt finally turned his attention inside the car. "I thought your payment was finding your friend." "Johnny Simmons is not here in this car," Kelly said. "I hope and pray that we find Johnny at Dulce and can get him out safely. But you are here in this car and the more information we have, the better our chances are of getting OUTSIDE OF KINGMAN, ARIZONA Johnny out of there." "The bouncers are back in Area 51," Von Seeckt coun- T-117 HOURS, 15 MINUTES tered. "Why are you concerned with their history?" Turcotte drove, Kelly navigated, and Von Seeckt sat in the "You said we're going to Dulce to find tablets that re- backseat, watching the countryside. They were in Kelly's lated to them," Kelly argued. rent-a-car heading southwest out of Las Vegas in the ap- Kelly was startled when Turcotte slammed a fist on the proximate direction of Dulce, New Mexico, via Phoenix. steering wheel. "Listen, Von Seeckt, I don't want to be Since there was only one road that went in that direction here. I didn't want this damn assignment from the start. out of Las Vegas--Highway 93 to Kingman Arizona-- But I'm here and I'm helping you people. So you help Kelly's mind was not much preoccupied with the map on back. Clear?" her lap. It was over eighty miles to Kingman with no turns "Your assignment?" Kelly asked, her reporter instincts in between. "You told me they found the mothership in its still working. The two men ignored her question. hangar, but you never said if they found the bouncers there "I took an oath of secrecy," Von Seeckt said to Turcotte. too," she said, turning in the seat and glancing back at Von "I am only violating that oath to prevent disaster." Seeckt. "It's a little damn late for that now," Turcotte said. "And "Ah, the bouncers," Von Seeckt said. "Yes, the mother- we're helping you. I took a few oaths of my own, and I ship was the first find the Americans made. There were violated one of those when I saved your life and the lives of also two bouncers found near the mothership in the same that couple up in Nebraska. You've crossed a line and you chamber." can't go back. Understand that. We're in this now. All "And the other bouncers?" Kelly asked. three of us. Whether you like it or not, and personally I can "They were not found there," Von Seeckt said. "They tell you I ain't too fucking thrilled, but I'm here and I were recovered and transported to Area 51." accept what that means." "Recovered from where?" Kelly asked. Von Seeckt pondered that for a few moments. "I know I "From another location." Von Seeckt's attention was on crossed a line. I suppose much of what I feel is just habit. I the desert flowing by. have been so used to being quiet and not speaking. I have 182 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 183 never talked to anyone outside of the program in all my life the information they were working with was highly com- since being recruited in 1942. It is quite strange to speak partmentalized. They didn't have access to all the data that openly about this. was available." "There are nine atmospheric bouncers. We know they "Where else were these runes found?" Turcotte asked. are linked to the mothership because of their technology "I will go into that at another time," Von Seeckt said. and the material they are constructed of and because there "When Professor Nabinger is with us tomorrow." were two buried with the mothership--Bouncer One and Turcotte gripped the wheel tighter until the whites of his Bouncer Two, as they are so elegantly called. knuckles showed. Kelly noticed that and quickly tried to "We also know the others are related to the mothership keep the flow of information going. "But even though they because it is through material discovered in the mothership couldn't decipher the runes," Kelly said, "they were able to hangar that we were able to track down the other seven find other bouncers?" bouncers. When they found the mothership in 1942 they "Yes," Von Seeckt replied. "As I said, there were draw- also not only found the first two bouncers, but several of ings and maps. There seemed to be no doubt that much the tablets we have already talked about. Although the attention was being paid to Antarctica, although the spe- people in the program could not decipher the symbols on cific location was not given. Just a general vicinity on the the tablets, there were drawings and maps that could be continent. We eventually broke it down to an eight-hun- understood." dred-square-kilometer area. "Wait a second," Kelly said. "You're telling me that the "Unfortunately, the few expeditions that were mounted best minds the government could gather together couldn't during the war years to Antarctica could not be fully decipher these high runes? We've got computers that can equipped, due to other, more pressing requirements for break codes in seconds." the men and ships required for such an operation--such as "First," Von Seeckt said, "you must remember that it is defeating Germany and Japan. extremely difficult to decipher a language or system of "In 1946, as soon as the material and men were avail- writing with so little material to look upon. That rules out able, the United States government mounted what was effective use of computers--not enough data. Second, we called Operation High Jump. You can look the mission up. did not necessarily have the 'best' minds, as you put it, It was well documented. However, what no one seemed to working on this. We had those who could be recruited and wonder was why the government was so interested in Ant- pass a security check and also sign an oath of secrecy. In arctica in 1946. And why did they dispatch dozens of ships reality that left many of the best minds out of the field. And and airplanes to the southernmost continent so quickly af- because of the secrecy of the program, those minds never ter the end of the war? got access to the data. Third, those who did work on the "It was a very extensive operation. The largest launched problem of deciphering the runes were limited by the con- in the history of mankind up to that point. High Jump took ventions of their discipline. They did not understand that so many pictures of Antarctica that they haven't all even these runes found near the mothership could be related to been looked at yet, fifty years later! The expedition sur- runes elsewhere. Fourth, because of security requirements, veyed over sixty percent of the coastline and looked at over 184 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 185 half a million square miles of land that had never before from the symbols on the tablets it looked like there would been seen by man. be more bouncers, so the priority of the recovery effort was "But the real success of High Jump occurred when they not as high as it might have been otherwise." picked up signs of metal buried under the ice in that eight- "You mean there were other sites and other symbols and hundred-square-mile box that special attention was paid to, other priority levels?" Kelly asked. which is what they were secretly after in the first place." Von Seeckt looked at her. "Very astute, young lady, but Von Seeckt leaned forward. "Do you know how thick the let us stay with the subject at hand. In 1955 the Navy ice is down there? At some places it is three miles deep! launched Operation Deep Freeze, under the leadership of The current altitude of the land underneath the ice is actu- Admiral Byrd, the foremost expert on Antarctica. The op- ally below sea level, but that is only because the weight of eration established five stations along the coast and three the ice on top depresses the continent. If the ice were re- in the interior. At least that is what was announced to the moved, the land would rise up miles and miles! Even with press and recorded in the history books. all the expeditions--High Jump included--only about one "A ninth, secret station was also established. One that percent of the surface area of Antarctica has been tra- has never been listed on any map. In 1956 I flew there in versed by man. the beginning of what passes for summer in the Antarctic. "Antarctica contains ninety percent of the world's ice Scorpion Station, as it was called, was over eight hundred and snow and it is a most formidable foe, as those men who miles in from the coast in the middle of--Von Seeckt were operating secretly under the cover of Operation High searched for the words, then shrugged--"in the middle of Jump found out. A plane with skis landed at the site where nowhere, actually. Just ice for miles and miles, which is their instruments had picked up the metal signal--which, why the spot was so hard to find in the first place. I was despite the aid of the drawings on the tablets, was found shown the location on the map, but what does it matter? only after five months of searching by thousands and thou- The ice sheet was two and a half miles thick at that point. sands of men. "They had taken the entire summer of 1955 to simply "But the weather down there is unpredictable and brutal move in the equipment they needed. They began drilling in at best. A storm moved in and the plane was destroyed, the 1956. It took four months to get down the mile and a half crew frozen to death before they could be rescued. A sec- to the target. They finally punched through to a cavity in ond mission was mounted to the site. It was determined the ice, which was very fortunate. We had been afraid that that the reflected signal was coming from over a mile and a perhaps the bouncers--if that was what was down there-- half down in the ice. We did not have the technology at the had been covered over with ice and were frozen into the time to do either of the two things required to explore ice cap. If that had been the case we would have had no further: to survive on the ice at that point long enough, and hope of recovery. But no, the drill bit broke through to to drill down far enough. open air. They sent down cameras and looked around. Yes, "So, for nine years we bided our time and prepared. there were more bouncers in the cavity. Besides, we had the two bouncers in Nevada to work on. "Then they had to widen the shaft, make it big enough We weren't sure what was down there in Antarctica, but for a person to go down and look. It was amazing! There AREA 51 187 186 ROBERT DOHERTY was a chamber hollowed out of the ice. Not quite as big as "I don't know," Von Seeckt said. "We would have to ask whoever left them." Hangar Two, but very big. There were the other seven bouncers. Lined up in a row. Perfectly preserved--every- "Go on with what happened in Antarctica," Turcotte prodded. thing left in Antarctica is perfectly preserved," Von Seeckt added. "Did you know that they found food at camps along "It took us three years to bring the bouncers up. First the coast that had been left over a hundred years, and it the engineers had to widen the shaft to forty feet circum- ference--and remember, they could only work six months was still edible?" "Is that why those bouncers were left in that location?" out of the year. Then they had to dig out eight intermedi- Kelly asked. "So they would be so well preserved?" ate stopping points on the way up, in order to bring them "I do not believe so," Von Seeckt said. "The two left up in stages. Then, it was necessary to tractor the bouncers here in Nevada were functional. The desert air is very good to the coast and load them onto a Navy ship for transport at preserving things also, and they were out of the elements back to the States. All in all it was a fantastic engineering job. inside the cavern with the mothership." "Then why Antarctica?" she asked. "Then we began the real work back at Area 51 trying to figure out how they flew. We had been working on the first "I do not know for sure." "A guess, perhaps?" Turcotte threw in. "Surely you must two, but with nine, we could afford to disassemble a few. After all these years we can fly them, but we still don't have an idea or two?" "I think they were left there because it is perhaps the know how the engines work. And even though they can be most inaccessible place on Earth to leave something." flown, I do not believe we are able to use them to anywhere "So whoever left them didn't want them found?" near the limits of their capabilities. There is still equipment on board the craft that we don't know how to operate and Turcotte asked. "It appears that way. Or at least they only wanted them in fact whose purpose we're ignorant of." Von Seeckt then found when the finders had adequate technology to brave told Kelly the story about the engineering mishap on the the Antarctic conditions," Von Seeckt said. bouncer engine. She found all this fascinating. If it wasn't "But they left the mothership and two bouncers back in for Johnny she'd be on the wire right now, breaking the Nevada," Kelly noted. "And that was more accessible than story. But she knew this is what Johnny would do for her if she had disppeared. Antarctica." "The terrain and climate in Nevada is more accessible to "What else did the tablets show?" Turcotte asked. man," Von Seeckt agreed. "But the cavern the mothership "Some other locations. Other symbols. It was all very incomplete," Von Seeckt said. was hidden in wasn't. We were very fortunate to stumble "For instance?" Kelly said. across it, and it required an effort to blast into the site. No, I believe the ships were hidden with the intention they not "I do not remember it all. The work was compartmental- ized very early on. I was not allowed complete access to the be found." "Why seven in Antarctica and two in Nevada?" Kelly tablets, which were moved down to the facility at Dulce early on in the project. Nor was I allowed to see the results wondered out loud. 188 ROBERT DOHERTY of the research at Dulce. The last time I was in Dulce was 16 1946. I do not remember it very well. I do not believe they have had much success with the tablets, otherwise we would have seen the results at Area 51." Kelly thought that was odd. Her reporter's instincts were tingling. Had they cut Von Seeckt out of the inner circle years ago? Or was Von Seeckt holding something back? "That is why we need to link up with this Nabinger fel- low," Von Seeckt continued. "If he can decipher the high runes, then the mystery may be solved not only of how the equipment works, but also of who left the equipment and MIAMI, FLORIDA why." T-107 HOURS, 15 MINUTES Kelly caught herself before the words came out of her mouth. This was not what Von Seeckt had said back in the With only fifteen minutes before his flight was scheduled to hotel room. Just a few hours ago he was focused on stop- depart, Peter Nabinger debated whether he should check ping the mothership. Damn Johnny. She was stuck in this his answering machine, but impatience won out. He car with these two because of him. Kelly slumped down in punched in his long-distance code and then his number. the passenger seat and the miles passed in silence. Two rings and the machine kicked in. After the greeting he hit his access code, then the message retrieval. "Professor Nabinger, this is Werner Von Seeckt re- turning your call. Your message was most interesting. I do know of the power of the sun, but I need to know about the rest of the message. Both what you have and what I have. I am going to a place where there are more runes. Join me. Phoenix. Twenty-seven sixty-five Twenty-fourth street. Apartment B-twelve. The twelfth. In the morning." The message ended. Nabinger stared at the handset for a few moments, then headed toward the gate with a bounce in his step. LAS VEGAS, NEVADA Lisa Duncan was in her hotel room in Las Vegas. Gullick's reasoning about the accommodation was that there were 190 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 191 no suitable quarters available at Area 51 for her. She who had left the equipment, or why the box had been thought that was a bunch of bullshit, just like a lot of what placed in the pyramid and the ships left out here in the she had seen and heard so far about Majestic-12, more desert. The other bouncers had been discovered in Antarc- commonly known as Majic-12. tica from maps found in Hangar Two. And they had been Lisa Duncan had everything that was available in the able to piece together that the Germans had most likely official files about Majestic-12, and it was a pretty slim been led to the hidden chamber under the Great Pyramid reading file. Majestic-12 had been started in 1942 when by maps they had discovered elsewhere. President Roosevelt signed a classified presidential order The MJ-12 program had remained the most highly clas- initiating the project. At first, no one had quite understood sified project in the United States for the past fifty-five the strange facts that were being uncovered with the trans- years, at first because of the atomic information. Then, fer by the British in the fall of 1942 of a German physicist, after the Soviets had finally detonated their own bomb-- Werner Von Seeckt, and a piece of sophisticated machinery using information stolen from the United States--the exis- in a black box. tence of the mothership and the bouncers was kept secret The British had not known what exactly was in the box, for several reasons. since they couldn't open it, except that it was radioactive. Duncan turned the page in the briefing book and looked Since, in those days of the Manhattan Project, nuclear mat- at the official reasons. One was the uncertainty of the pub- ters were the province of the United States, Von Seeckt lic's reaction should the information be released--a topic and the box were sent over the ocean. Dr. Slayden was supposed to cover in his briefing. At first, it had been thought that the box was of German A second reason was that once flying the bouncers had development. But Von Seeckt was clearly ignorant, and the been mastered, in the mid-fifties, the craft were incorpo- contents of the box, once it was opened, raised a whole rated into the Strategic Air Command on an emergency- new set of questions. If it had been German, then most certainly they would already have won the war. There were use-only basis. All of the bouncers were fitted with external symbols on the inside of the box--which they now knew racks for nuclear payloads to be used in case of national belonged to a language called high rune--that the early emergency. It was felt that because of their speed, maneu- Majestic-12 scientists puzzled over. One thing was clear, verability, and nonexistent radar signature, the bouncers though: there was a map outline of North America on would be a last-ditch method to get to the heartland of the which a location had been marked--somewhere in south- Soviet Union to deliver a fatal blow in case of all-out war. ern Nevada, they determined. Another reason, spawned by the Cold War, was simply An expedition armed with detecting equipment was sent security. The Russians had been able to develop their own out, and after several months of searching they discovered atomic weapons off of plans stolen from the U.S. It was the mothership cavern. The men of Majestic-12 had feared that, even though the American scientists couldn't quickly identified the black metal of the box container with figure out the propulsion system of the bouncers or even, the metal used in the struts of the mothership. They now for so many years, how to get into the mothership, the had more information, but were no closer to figuring out Russians might do a better job. That fear was especially 192 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 193 heightened after the Russians lobbed Sputnik up into some of the former Germans working on the NASA space space, beating the United States to the punch. project were highly publicized, the vast majority of the One thing the report didn't mention, though, Duncan work covered by Paperclip went on unobserved. When knew, was the existence of Operation Paperclip and its ef- news of the project became public, the government fect on the MJ-12 project. Paperclip was officially launched claimed that Paperclip had been discontinued in 1947. Yet in 1944 as the war in Europe was winding down, but Duncan had affidavits from an interested senator's office Duncan felt that Paperclip really began the day Von Seeckt that the project had continued for decades beyond that was shipped over from England to the United States. date. Paperclip--a rather innocuous name for a very deceitful One of the things that disturbed Duncan the most about operation. As the war in Europe was ending, the United the present state of affairs was not so much the work being States government was already looking ahead. There was a done at Area 51 with the mothership and the bouncers. treasure trove of German scientists waiting to be plun- What bothered her was what General Gullick was hiding. dered in the ashes of the Third Reich. That most of those She was convinced he was holding something back. And scientists were Nazis mattered little to those who had in- she had a strong feeling it had something to do with other vented Paperclip. aspects of the MJ-12 program that they weren't showing When Duncan had first read of Paperclip, she'd been her. shocked by the blatant incongruity of the situation. The The senator who had provided Duncan with information end justifies the means was the motto of those who re- on Paperclip was under pressure from several Jewish cruited and illegally allowed the scientists into the United groups to disclose the history of the project, with the possi- States. Yet at the same time, colleagues of those same sci- bility in mind of prosecuting some of those involved. entists were being tried for war crimes where the defense Duncan was concerned about the past, but she was more of the end justifying the means had been ruled immoral. In worried about the future. many cases intelligence officers from the JIOA, Joint Intel- While the German physicists had gone to MJ-12 and the ligence Objectives Agency, were snatching Nazi scientists German rocket scientists had gone to NASA, the largest away from army war-crimes units. Both groups were hunt- group of Nazi scientists involved in Paperclip had yet to be ing the same men but with very different goals in mind. uncovered: the biological and chemical warfare specialists. Despite the fact that President Truman had signed an As advanced as German rocketry had been at the end of executive order banning the immigration of Nazis into the the war with the V-2 and jet aircraft, their advancements in United States, the practice continued unabated, all in the the field of biological and chemical warfare had been chill- name of national security. ing. Majestic-12 had started with Werner Von Seeckt--an With plenty of human beings to experiment on, the Ger- undisputed Nazi--and it had continued over the years, us- mans had gone far beyond what the Allies had even begun ing whatever means were required. Several of the scientists to fear. While the Americans were still stockpiling mustard used in the early work on the bouncers and mothership gas as their primary chemical weapon, the Germans had were Nazis, recruited by Paperclip. While the names of three much more efficient and deadly gases by war's end: 194 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 195 tabun, soman, and sarin--the latter of which the American larly the mothership--is beyond what you can military immediately appropriated for its own use after the imagine from reading the papers and viewing the war. video briefing. Where were all these biological and chemical scientists 2. Security at the facility is excessive in light of the whom Paperclip had saved from prosecution? Duncan present world situation. wondered. What had they been working on all these years? 3. The President's concerns about the psychological She put the briefing book down in aggravation. There and sociological effects of revealing the project are were too many questions and everything was going too rap- to be addressed at a meeting tomorrow morning. idly. Not only was this whole Paperclip issue a problem, but 4. As for the upcoming test flight of the mothership, I she also wondered about the Mothership test itself. Was request that the President withhold authorization Gullick moving ahead quickly with the flight for reasons pending further investigation. There is some dis- that weren't apparent, and in doing so was he overlooking sension on the Majic-12 staff about the testing, and problems with the mothership and its propulsion system? while it may turn out to be nothing, I believe more She most definitely remembered the feeling of nausea time is needed. she'd had in the hangar during the test. 5. As expected, General Gullick and the other staff She'd been sent here by the President's advisers to check members are very evasive about the early days of on the situation and look into the potential problems that the program and any links to Operation Paperclip. revealing the existence of the MJ-12 project might create. The one who would know the most is Werner Von After all, the President had been in office three years al- Seeckt, but I have not been able to meet him since ready and his administration by default would be impli- my initial inbriefing. He has not returned my calls. I cated in any cover-up. will try to corner him tomorrow after the psycho- She flipped open the lid on her laptop and went to work, logical briefing. typing out her findings so far. 6. I have not received any communication from Cap- tain Turcotte. I assume he has not found anything CLASSIFICATION: TOP SECRET, Q to report of significance. CLEARANCE, ADDRESSEE ONLY END TO: Chief of Staff, White House CLASSIFICATION: TOP SECRET, Q FROM: Dr. Lisa Duncan, Presidential Observer CLEARANCE, ADDRESSEE ONLY Majestic-12 SUBJECT: AREA 51 Inquiry. She attached a cable from her laptop into a breadloaf- sized black box that she'd been given by a Secret Service I have studied the official inbriefing, toured the facili- man when she'd been inbriefed for her new job in Wash- ties at Area 51, and attended one meeting of Majic-12. ington. All she knew was that the box was supposed to Based on these initial inputs my impressions are: encrypt her message so that only the addressee could read 1. The technology that is present at Area 51--particu- it. She plugged the cord coming out of the box into her 196 ROBERT DOHERTY AREA 51 197 phone socket and waited until a green light glowed on the THE CUBE, AREA 51 side--apparently it did its own dialing. Major Quinn noted the alert signal blinking in the upper Duncan waited until the green light went out, then she right-hand corner of his computer screen. He finished the unplugged all the machinery. She walked to the window of order he was working on and transmitted it, then accessed her hotel room and looked out, watching the people scur- the signal that had caused the alert. rying about, going into and out of casinos. How would they Since the Cube had access to every piece of top-of-the- react if what was hidden in the desert beyond the buildings line equipment the government possessed--and access to were revealed to them? If they learned that, at least once all codes and encryption techniques--Dr. Duncan's mes- upon a time, mankind had not been alone in the universe? sage to the White House chief of staff had taken less than If it was shown that while their ancestors were still living in six seconds for the Cube computer to decrypt. Quinn read caves and struggling to make arrowheads, aliens were visit- the text. He connected the name "Turcotte" to the man ing the Earth in craft we still couldn't understand? injured on the Nightscape mission into Nebraska. Another Those were the large, theoretical questions. Of more im- complication he didn't understand. This was Gullick's terri- mediate concern to Duncan was to follow through on the tory. instruction she'd received from the White House chief of He printed out a hard copy and walked to the rear corri- staff. The President was concerned about what he had not dor, taking the message with him. Gullick wasn't in his been getting briefed on in the twice-yearly status reports office. The code above the handle to Gullick's private from Majic-12. Because the organization had been around quarters read DO NOT DISTURB. Quinn stood for a few sec- so long and had members from almost every major govern- onds in thought, hand poised to knock. Then he turned ment agency of significance, he didn't trust using normal and went back to Gullick's office. He clipped a top-secret channels to check it out; thus Duncan's assignment. She'd cover on the message and placed it in General Gullick's had Turcotte assigned to her based on the recommenda- reading file. tion of the President's national security adviser. Apparently Turcotte was some kind of hero for actions on a classified mission overseas. She'd briefed him personally, but he had not yet called with anything. Duncan rubbed her forehead, walked over to the bed, and lay down. She sincerely hoped the people out at Area 51 would give her some good answers tomorrow and that they'd be of a higher quality than the ones she'd been given so far. AREA 51 199 mation they were after; and he held the expertise to keep 17 them safe and acquire more information. "My story will have to wait until tomorrow," Von Seeckt said. He was seated near the window, looking down two stories at the parking lot. "Professor Nabinger will have the same questions, and I do not wish to tell it twice. It is difficult to tell and covers many years." Kelly looked over at Turcotte. "Well?" "I've already told you what happened. I just arrived in time for the Nightscape mission." PHOENIX, ARIZONA "Yeah, but you didn't come out of a hole in the ground prior to that," Kelly said. "How did you get sucked into T-101 HOURS working at that place? You said something earlier today "I've told you my reasons for being here and helping you. about an assignment." How about telling me your reasons?" Kelly asked. "I was in the army, and they cut orders assigning me They were holed up in Johnny Simmons's apartment. there." Turcotte stood up. "I'm going out to the store. Any- Turcotte was less than thrilled about being there, given that one want anything?" it looked as if Simmons had been picked up by Gullick's Without waiting for an answer he walked out and people. But Kelly had argued that no one knew about their headed for the stairs. Kelly was two steps behind him. connection with Johnny, so there was no reason for some- "You're not getting away that easy. There's something you one to come looking for them here in Phoenix. Besides, aren't telling. Why'd you help Von Seeckt? You were one they needed to stay somewhere en route to Dulce, and a of the bad guys. Why'd you change sides?" motel was out of the question. The apartment was on the Turcotte went down the stairs, Kelly at his side. "I told second floor of a modern complex, and it did not appear you. My commander wanted me to apprehend some civil- that anyone had been inside for several days. ians in Nebraska. I didn't like that. Also, they tried to k i l l Turcotte had expressed misgivings about stopping at all. Von Seeckt. I don't approve of kidnapping or murder, even He wanted to push on to Dulce and try to infiltrate it this if the government is the one sanctioning it." evening. But Von Seeckt had told them of the planned "Yeah and pigs have wings," Kelly said. "I don't buy it. rendezvous with Professor Nabinger the next morning at You--" this location, and Kelly had agreed that they ought to wait. Turcotte whirled and faced her, the action so swift that Turcotte had reluctantly accepted their decision. Kelly stepped back, startled. "I don't give a damn what you Turcotte was slowly accepting that they all needed each buy or don't buy, lady," he said. "You ask too many ques- other: Von Seeckt held the knowledge to get them out of tions. You let Von Seeckt have his secrets. How about let- their predicament; Kelly was to be the voice to the public ting me have mine?" that would ensure their safety once they acquired the infor- "Von Seeckt is going to tell us his when Nabinger gets 200 ROBERT DOHERTY A R E A 5 1 2O1 here," Kelly countered, stepping in closer to Turcotte. getting held hostage by every two-bit terrorist or wacko "Come on. You didn't just abitrarily decide to go against with a bomb, someone high up in the workings of NATO your orders and your training. You must have had a reason. got the bright idea that instead of sitting around and letting And I do have a reason for asking. I've been set up before the terrorists hit us, we'd seek them out and hit them first. by the government and I'm not going to naturally assume The only problem was that it wasn't quite legal." He that you're telling me the truth. We only have your word looked down the street and spotted a cafe. "Let's get some about what took place in Nebraska. For all I know it never coffee." happened." They walked over and took a corner booth. Turcotte sat Turcotte looked off past her toward the western horizon, with his back to the wall, watching the street outside. There where the sun was balanced on the edge of the planet. "All was a constant clatter of dishes and utensils overlaid with right. You want to know about me? I got nothing to lose the murmur of conversation from the other patrons. After anymore and maybe if we survive this mess, you can print it the waitress had brought them a cup each, he continued, somewhere and people can know the truth. speaking in a low voice. "I was involved in an incident at my last assignment be- "So, anyway, we fought fire with fire. To stop the law- fore coming back to the States," Turcotte said. "That's breakers we broke the law. I was on a joint U.S.-German what they called it: an incident. But people died in this team. Handpicked men from the U.S. Special Forces incident." DET-A out of Berlin and the Germans' GSG-9 counterter- He shifted his eyes back to her and the look was not rorist force." Turcotte poured a load of sugar into his cof- kind. "You're a reporter. You'll like it. It's a good story. I fee and stirred. "Ever hear that slogan: We kill for peace?" was assigned to a CT--counterterrorist--unit in Berlin Kelly nodded. "Well, that's what we did. when it happened. Everyone thinks it's all great over there "I didn't mind doing it either. We were wasting people since the wall went down, but they still have a terrorist who'd put a bomb in a train station and didn't care who got problem. Same as it was in the seventies and early eighties. caught in the blast. We pretty much broke the back of the In some ways worse because there's bigger and better remnants of the Baader-Meinhof gang in less than six weapons available to the bad guys from all the old Warsaw months. I was in on six operations." Turcotte's voice was Pact stockpiles, and there're a lot of people in those coun- flat. "I killed four people on those ops. tries who'd sell anything to get their hands on