“Dr. Taylor Dristan,” the man to his left said, “Mr. Eller, before I say too much, we have been told to keep our mouths shut about what goes on here in our little world. We have all signed confidentially statements and they are in our files.”
“Doctor. I understand that. I assume it was General Devin who said that, right?”
“I would rather not answer that,” he said.
“Well, ladies and gentlemen, I am here because the President of the United States sent me. I have the highest clearance authorized by the President. Certainly higher than any of you I would suspect. I have been briefed on every project currently under development. That includes the CIA projects as well as all others. You may be unaware, but General Devin now reports directly to me, and I report to the President. When I ask you what you do, I would appreciate a straight answer. Is everyone clear on that?” he said, shoveling a large bite of scrambled eggs into his mouth and downing it with a drink of strong coffee.
Heads nodded around the table and there was a murmur of acknowledgement.
“Now, Dr. Dristan, what do you do around here?”
“Well sir, I was working on the Su–11. I am one of the engineers. Specifically, I work on the skin of the ship. The tiles.”
“Has a determination been made as to what caused the crash? The last report I got said it could be a combination of factors including pilot error or tile failure.”
“The jury is still out on that. It could not have been just one or two tiles that failed. It would take a whole block before it would cause enough damage to result in the destruction of the vessel,” the doctor said.
“Excuse me,” a young woman said.
“Certainly. You are?”
“Dr. Betty Sanders. I worked on the advanced stealth capabilities of the 11,” she said, dropping the Su from the name.
“Dr. Sanders, nice to meet you. What would you like to ask me?”
“Why are you really here?”
“Nice and direct. I have no problem with that. The President wants a full update of everything that transpires here at Groom Lake or whatever your name for the place is this month. He does not have the time nor the inclination to learn about all of the projects personally. I am the person he has designated to be his eyes and ears. If you’re worried about my being here to see if funding should continue for your projects, quit worrying. This is not about funding or cutbacks,” he informed.
He could almost feel a collective sigh of relief. They had been worried that he was here to report on what project should get funding and which should be eliminated. Now that it was cleared up, they could breathe again.
“Thank Mr. Eller. In that case, I don’t think you will have any problems asking any of us about what we are trying to accomplish. How much do you know about the 11?”
“Just what I read in the briefing and what I know about the crash of the prototype,” Raymond replied.
“Then let me elaborate. The Su-11 is our next leap into space. It can be launched like a regular plane but it has the capability of breaching the earth’s atmosphere and going into space without all of the complicated support equipment. It can hold up to twenty crew members and stay in space indefinitely, food being the only limiting factor. It can link to the space station or operate independently. The cargo space can hold roughly 125 tons. Calculations indicate that it could hold more, but for now we are working on the safe side. The 11 has been into space five times without a major flaw. Not one major system has ever malfunctioned. The stealth capabilities are many times more advanced that any radar station in the world. It can launch and return without anyone being able to detect it, even if they know the flight path in advance,” she explained.
“Very impressive. What is its real primary purpose? Not the politically correct answer, the real one he said.”
They all exchanged glances.
“What do you mean?”
“I may not be a rocket scientist like many of you are, but I can certainly see no reason to build a shuttle with stealth capabilities. Not unless…”
“Unless it was used to deploy other items that we didn’t want anyone to know about,” one of the other men said.
“Yes. Especially spy satellites or even weapons,” Raymond said, finishing the last of his coffee. “It has been a pleasure to meet you. I’m sure I will be seeing all of you again very soon,” he said excusing himself.
He could hear feel the eyes on his back as he went out the door. He got in the Hummer and after looking at the map, headed for the S-4 facility. He had only gone about a mile when a white Jeep Cherokee came racing up behind him with flashing lights. He slowed down to let it go around him but as soon as it passed him it slowed down, forcing him to break. Two military MP’s got out of the car, one holding a semi-automatic at his side and the other taking a position up by the passenger door with a shotgun.
“Sir. Can I ask what you’re doing on this road?”
“Sure. I’m headed to the S-4 facility. This is the correct road isn’t it?”
