Red the First (11 page)

“
Why would they try to kill
us with biological warfare,” Doc asked, “then save us from
disaster?”

“
Their goal wasn’t to save
us, but rather the planet. The survival of even that remnant of
humanity was an unwanted side effect of saving the
planet.”

“
I’m trying to keep an open
mind here,” Father Bob said. “God created a lot of biological
diversity just on our own world, so it goes to reason the universe
is full of creatures we’ve never imagined. Allowing as how your
story is true, General Moore—what is it that you expect us to
do?”

“
Stop it!” Veronica stood up
so fast her chair fell backward. “This conversation is ridiculous.
Don’t encourage him.” With a toss of her nose in the air, she
announced. “I will not be part of this nonsense. Good day.” With
that, she marched out the doors. Jerome followed. So did Professor
Linkletter, but she wasn’t as light on her feet and she tripped
over a chair. Farmer Morningside caught her, righted her and
offered her his arm to escort her out. The only ones left from the
council were the Wakelands, Dr. Patel, and Father Bob.

General Moore’s expression crumpled
into a scowl. He swept a hand toward the door, indicating the rest
of them were free to go as well.

“
General Moore, I appreciate
your concern for our well-being,” said Dr. Patel. “As a physician,
I am equally concerned about yours. I’d like to take you to my
office for a thorough evaluation.”

“
Do not patronize me,
Doctor.” General Moore said the last word with contempt. “I assure
you that I am quite sane. So take your phony concern and go bother
someone else. You’re dismissed.”

“
You can’t order me around
like I’m your soldier,” Dr. Patel said. He laid a hypodermic needle
on the table for all to see.

Elizabeth felt her face blush with
embarrassment. For the first time she felt shame at being part of
the council. Her eyes went to the floor as she could barely look
General Moore in the eye.

“
Don’t think I won’t subdue
you if need be,” Dr. Patel warned.

“
I’d like to see you try,”
General Moore stood to his full height, which was a pretty
impressive six-foot-three or so. Even though he was at least twenty
years older than Dr. Patel, she felt sure he could grind the
smaller man into fine powder.

Dr. Patel didn’t back down.

“
Men!” Father Bob moved
himself between them. “Please, sit down and hear each other out,
and if we disagree, let’s do so like gentlemen.”

The two stared each other down, but
finally took their seats.

“
These aliens sound
powerful,” Father Bob said. “What could a small primitive town like
Hewego possibly do to stop them?”

“
We cannot stop them from
coming, but we can stop them from taking what is ours.”

“
And how are we to do this?”
Dr. Patel asked testily.

“
A full-scale nuclear
attack.”

“
That’s it.” Dr. Patel
stood. “I’m out of here.”

“
I’m trying to be
open-minded,” Father Bob said, shaking his head. “I really am, but
this is too much even for me. You want us to save ourselves by
destroying ourselves? Or are we to launch the missiles into space
at the Celeruns as they arrive?”

“
Mayor, Father, Elizabeth,”
Dr. Patel asked expectantly. “Are you coming?”

Red shook his head no. Elizabeth placed
a hand on Red’s shoulder, indicating that she went wherever her
husband went.

“
General Moore,” Father Bob
said. “Try to understand how difficult this is for us. I don’t
dismiss the idea of aliens outright, but I’ve never seen any proof
that they exist.”

“
You don’t have proof God
exists either,” the general pointed out. “Yet, you
believe.”

“
The aliens, as you’ve
described them, can be proven to exist by mere sensory observation.
Proving the existence of a divine being that exists beyond the
physical realm is a bit more complicated—don’t you
agree?”

“
I suppose.”

“
Let me put it this way,”
Father Bob said. “If I see an alien with my own eyes, or hear about
it from a number of trusted sources, I’ll become your most faithful
convert. Until then, well, call me an agnostic.”

General Moore nodded as if he respected
the other man’s position.

“
How long are you staying in
Hewego?” Father Bob assumed the general would want to stay at
Hewego and took it upon himself to oblige. “You’re welcome to stay
at my place until we can arrange to find you a permanent
place.”

Dr. Patel’s face wrinkled with
disapproval. Elizabeth knew he was angry that the priest had
offered the general a place to stay. “Are you coming or not,
Father?” he said sharply.

“
No, thank you,” the priest
said.

Dr. Patel slid the needle across the
table toward Red. “If he gets violent, don’t hesitate to stick him.
Anywhere will do, and he’ll calm down faster than you can say
Vasudha.”

Red let the sedative sit in the middle
of the table as a show of trust; however, Father Bob strategically
placed his palm over it and slid it out of sight.

Elizabeth watched as Dr. Patel made his
exit. If only she could dismiss the general’s claims as easily as
her neighbors had, but she believed him, and the world had just
gotten a lot more frightening.

“
I’m sorry about the way the
town has treated you,” Elizabeth said. “They’re normally not so
rude.”

“
They’re not important right
now,” he said. “I don’t have time to convince everyone. Just the
few that matter. And here you are.”

“
General,” Red didn’t waste
time apologizing for the council, “does the United States still
have the means to create nuclear war?”

The General leaned back in his chair,
interlacing his fingers behind his head, as if he had just laid
down a royal flush.

“
Why, yes, we do. So do
China, Russia, and the UK.”

Red sat there, not making a sound or
moving so much as a finger, so Elizabeth interjected. “A full scale
nuclear war won’t save humanity, it will end it!”

“
Oh, dear, I never thought
of that,” the general mocked. “If you had been paying attention, I
told you that the world governments have been preparing for the
Celerun threat for a very long time. The governments prepared
underground bunkers, self-sufficient for an indefinite time period.
That’s why I’m here, to explain where they are and how you enter
them.”

As she sat there, feeling stupid,
Father Bob asked the obvious question. “Why would the Celeruns
dismantle some nuclear warheads, but leave others
untouched?”

“
They disarmed the weapons
that they knew about,” General Moore explained. “The weapons of
which I speak, the ones which you would detonate, don’t exist on
paper, on computers, or anywhere except in the minds of those who
are verbally informed of their existence. They’re located so deep
underground that not even the Celeruns’ sophisticated instruments
can pick them up. Then there are the bunkers…” he paused for
emphasis. “Created to ensure humanity survives. And that’s where
you come in.”

“
I see.” Red slumped back in
his chair, wearing a thoughtful expression. “You want us to lead
Hewego to a bunker while you nuke the planet.”

“
You are partially correct.
I want you to convince as many people as you can to go to the
bunker, but I can’t do it alone. I need one of you to help launch
the fat boys.”

“
One of
us…nuke…Earth?”

“
Exactly.”

“
Why us?”

“
The problem is this. The
nukes are launched from the bunkers. But those manning them
contracted the plague and died like everybody else. There are
twenty-four bunkers located strategically throughout the world—and
I’ve lost contact with all of them except two. In order to initiate
the launch, we need at least five operating bunkers to coordinate a
full-scale nuclear war. I have no way of knowing how many of the
others are still occupied. My goal is to populate as many as
possible by launch time. That’s why I’m here now. That’s why I’ll
be leaving again shortly.”

“
But I don’t know how to
operate a bunker,” Red pointed out the obvious.

General Moore looked at Father Bob, who
quipped, “Just because I taught a course on the Apocalypse in the
seminary, don’t think I know anything about launching missiles or
running secret government bunkers.”

“
Don’t look at me,”
Elizabeth said. “I can’t even drive a stick shift.”

“
We’ll arrange for your
instruction if you choose to undertake this mission,” General Moore
said without even cracking a smile.

“
If we manage to figure it
out,” Elizabeth asked, “then what? People aren’t meant to live
underground like moles, especially children. It might be ten
thousand years before the surface of the planet becomes habitable
again after nuclear Armageddon. No underground bunker can operate
that long.”

“
The resourcefulness of
desperate people might surprise you.”

“
I dunno…” Elizabeth felt
nauseous thinking about the children of Hewego being sealed under
the ground for the remainder of their lives. “It’s like being
entombed alive.”

“
I assure you the Galatians
Bunker is nothing like a tomb. It will feel like home, a place of
refuge, both during and after the strike. It is deep underground,
designed to hold a maximum population of thirty-five thousand for
an indefinite period of time, and it’s totally self-sustaining. A
variety of energy sources power the facility. Arenas are designed
to mimic the outdoors. A gigantic biosphere, and several smaller
ones, with diverse plant and animal life and hundreds of acres of
arable land, take up half of the bunker. There are barracks and
individual housing units for families. A resourceful crew could
easily live out their natural lives underground, passing down the
information on how to run the facility to their children.
Considering the ease of life in the bunker compared to up here now,
even in a town as well-thought out as yours, I think many people
will be happy there.”

“
I can’t imagine that,”
Elizabeth said.

“
There’s electricity
24/7.”

“
There is?” She liked the
sound of that. “Are there coffee percolators?”

“
Yes, and a designated place
in the biosphere for coffee plants, plus a roasting oven, and
processing area for the beans.”

“
What about chainsaws?” Red
asked.

“
Yes, there are chainsaws,
but you won’t need firewood because the place is heated
geo-thermally.”

“
Really?” Red said, looking
hopeful.

“
Really. But don’t think
you’ll be sitting around idle down there. We’ve provided the tools
you’ll need to survive, but it’s up to you to use them.”

“
Hold on a minute,”
Elizabeth said. “Are you even sure that a nuclear bomb can kill the
Celeruns?”

“
Positive. In fact, the
original purpose of the Manhattan Project was to find an effective
means of deterring the Celeruns.”

As Elizabeth and Red absorbed the
latest information, the general kept on talking. “Our counterattack
will be so massive that the entire earth with be contaminated with
radiation. Clouds of dirt and dust will rise up into the air,
blocking out the sun, creating a nuclear winter. The next
aftereffect will be intense global warming. Not even the Celeruns
have the means to clean up such a wide-scale disaster. They’ll have
no choice but to move on to the next world. By the time our
descendants emerge from the bunkers, our enemy will be long
gone.”

“
But is living in a bunker
any kind of life at all?” Red asked.

“
I can’t answer that
question.”

“
All things are possible
with the Lord.” Everyone turned to look at Father Bob. “If God
wishes humanity to survive, it’s within his power to shorten the
horrors following an atomic war. The Book of Revelation speaks of
such things. But why do you call it the Galatians
Bunker?”

“
It was named after St.
Paul’s letter to the Galatians. All the bunkers’ names came from
books of the bible.”

“
What’s the significance
supposed to be?” Father Bob asked.

“
The construction of the
bunkers began in the 1950s,” the general said. “That was a more
religious era, if you know what I mean.”

“
When will you take us to
this the Galatians Bunker?” Red asked.

“
I will not be going there
with you. I started on the West Coast, filling the bunker in North
Dakota, and there are others in the U.S. to attend to before the
final countdown. I just pray that the all the participating
countries have done their part in filling their own.

“
You see, each bunker has
its own key. To begin the countdown, at least five of the bunkers
across the world must turn their keys at the same time. Once a key
is turned, each bunker has a unique launch code that must be input
into the system within ninety seconds of turning the key. If any
part of the sequence is botched, that bunker is out of the game. We
need at least five active bunkers that turn the key, and input the
code, or everything will self-abort. If done correctly, thousands
of nuclear weapons will launch across the globe.”