“Roger Fox Trot One Niner, we have you at one-one thousand. Altimeter is three zero-zero-one. Decision altitude four-niner-four. You are cleared for Bravo air space direct to 14L. Contact ground control on three-six-niner point five-five.”
The pilot made the callback and prepared for the landing.
“Two minutes,” he said over the phones to Eller in the back of the AE-18G Growler attack aircraft.
A short time later they taxied to the Jane Terminal. General Devin was not there to greet him this time but had sent one of his aides.
“Sorry sir, the general is unavailable right now. He said he would join you just as soon as he could.”
“That’s quite all right. I know my way around fairly well by now.”
“Here is the key to your transportation. It’s right outside. R-124 is the ID.”
“Thank you. I’ll just get my luggage and be on my way.”
“Your luggage is being put in the vehicle. Do you have your identification badge?”
“Right here,” Raymond said, taking it out of his pocket.
“Please remember to keep it with you at all times. Control knows you are on site and has alerted the SP units so we won’t have a repeat of last time.”
“Thank you,” Raymond said wondering if he was referring to the run-in with the Security Patrol the first time, or when he got lost.
He drove over to the officer’s quarters and unpacked. He set several items aside to take to his pod at S-4 as well. Once he had changed out of his flight suit he headed to Hanger 18. After passing security he walked in and saw the Su-12 for the first time.
It was massive and only vaguely resembled the original space shuttles. It was more angular, with upswept wings and a shorter vertical tail. It was totally black except for where the landing gear retracted. It had a deadly look about it that was hard to describe. Much more so than the F-111 Stealth Nighthawk. He walked around the shuttle and felt its textured skin. It was unlike anything he had felt before on a plane and he wondered what it was.
“Mr. Eller. You are back to visit us. Sorry I couldn’t meet you. As you can see, we are trying to get outfitted for testing,” the general said.
“This is quite some craft. It looks menacing.”
“Yes, it does have some really great aggressive lines doesn’t it?”
“What is the material covering it?”
“Something we borrowed from our friends in J’s world. It is a radar absorbing material and it can withstand the heat of reentry into the earth’s atmosphere. We were just able to develop it a couple of years ago. The Su-11 was the first to test it and it works incredibly well.”
“And these doors under here? What are they for?”
“Those are air brakes I believe,” the general replied.
“They look like they could cover a missile deployment system.”
“No. The Fastmover has no missile capabilities.”
“I see. It is a strange placement for air brakes. So, when is the first scheduled test?”
“Next week if we can stay on schedule. We are shooting for Tuesday or Wednesday,” the general informed him.
“That should be quite someday.”
“Yes. Yes indeed,” the general agreed.
“I just wanted to stop in and see how things were progressing. I’m going to head out to S-4 and check on the projects there.”
“Certainly. Doctor Yurris is definitely worth checking on,” the general said, and walked away to speak with one of the technicians.
What a prick, Raymond thought, but he was right, she was worth checking in on. He drove to the S-4 facility and walked quickly to Bay–1. He was disappointed to find no one in the hanger at all. He checked the control booth and it was empty as well. He considered going to Level-5 to see if she was there but decided that it was just best to wait.
Back in the Hummer he got out the topographical map he had brought with him and located the area referred to as The Hump. It looked to be about ten miles from his present location. It was as good a time as any to try to find where this place was.
He drove north along the edge of Groom Lake and then turned west after several miles. The road was a little wider as he followed the map. He could see a tall rise up ahead and surmised that it must be the Hump.
The Hummer had plenty of power to negotiate the climb and when he came to the top he was disappointed to see nothing really important. He got out and walked around. A concrete pad had been poured and two large generators were sitting under camouflage netting. Why have generators up here in this remote place, he wondered? The huge cables that came out of the generator were not connected to anything.
Maybe the generators were just installed and were waiting to be connected. Other than the film of dust they didn’t look like they had been there very long. He noticed truck tire tracks; they had been hauling something heavy. The generators maybe, or something else?
