“Thank you.”
“Anything else?”
“That’s all Commander,” Miller said.
“Good. I will tell Parker to come see you after I meet with him.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
“Congratulations on both promotions Number Two.”
“Thank you,” he said, standing and placing his cover back on his head.
He had almost saluted but caught himself once again.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Gimbel made the final adjustment. Everything checked out one hundred percent. Now all that had to be done was to button the weapon up and get it ready for testing. He could hardly contain himself. If the BlackStar worked as he had designed it to, this would be the dawn of a new era.
The only other obstacle was having a platform to test the weapon from, and that was General Devin’s problem, not his. After years of work his creation was finally ready.
The Su-11 would have made the prefect platform to deploy the weapon once it had been tested, but now that was being pushed back because of the crash.
Rumor had it that it may have been pilot error but no one was willing to blame him for the crash. All Dr Gimbel knew was that he wanted to arrange a test as quickly as possible. When he finished replacing the cover he called the general.
“General, BlackStar is ready to become operational.”
“Outstanding. We are actually ready to perform a preliminary test?”
“As ready as we will ever be. I just need a platform to test it from,” Gimbel said.
“I have been working on that and think I have a viable solution. I’ll be down in just a few minutes to go over my plan,” he said.
His voice was less gruff than Gimbel could ever remember. Gimbel went back over the weapon from top to bottom one last time, making sure that every part was securely in place.
“Dr. Gimbel, I am extremely pleased with the way you have performed. I can’t tell you how happy I am at this moment,” the general said, as he entered the lab.
It was the first time that any real praise had been handed out by Devin. Gimbel was a little taken aback by the total change in attitude.
“Thank you general. Here she is, and I am confident that it will work as designed,” he said.
“I have no doubt about that. You have done an amazing job.”
“I appreciate that,” was all that he could say.
“I want to do a low yield test as soon as we can. Here is what I have in mind,” the general said, waking over to a bench and hoisting himself up on it.
“I have a 6 x 6 flatbed standing by. I will need your crew to get it ready to be transported to the surface, but I want it covered. I want no one to see it but your crew. We are going to take it to a newly constructed site over at the South Base Operations Center. Once it gets there, I will have a rig welded to the truck so that it can be used for a test bed. I intend to have the BlackStar taken to the top of the Hump. That will give us a 5700 foot peak to test from.”
Gimbel scribbled down ‘THE HUMP’ and 5725 on a piece of paper.
The hump was a 5725 foot mountain that was situated between gate 700 and the Papoose Mountains and was just southwest of the main Area–51 base and landing strip.
“I have had three buildings constructed. One is traditional construction. The second one is reinforced and hardened and the last one is covered by ten feet of earth and rock,” he general said.
“And those will be our targets?”
“Yes, along with livestock that will be inside of each one. I will want you to work up a range of tests starting with the lowest power and working up to as high as we can go with the power available. That should enable us to evaluate the BlackStar.”
“And the power is coming from where?”
“I had a power generating plant built on top of the Hump. That will work for our low level tests and maybe a bit more.”
“All right, I will have my people begin crating the BlackStar immediately. We will need the necessary supplies, and I have to warn you, I doubt we are much good at being carpenters,” Gimbel said.
“You don't have to be. Just do the best you can. We will transport the BlackStar at 0215 from Level–1 to the South Base. We will have a thirty minute window before the Kronos-II satellite passes over. Once we get to the South Base we will have the braces welded on the 6 x 6 so we can run our tests,” the general told him.
“Well, I guess we had better get cracking. When can we expect the necessary supplies?”
“They are being loaded into the freight elevator as we speak. You will have them in just a few minutes.”
“Then if you will excuse me, I have to make the necessary arrangements.”
“Have at it,” the general said and left the lab.
It was actually going to happen. Everything was coming together. By tomorrow night he would know for certain how effectively the weapon would work. He didn’t even consider the possibility that it would not.
Within hours they were finishing up the crate that would cover the weapon. While it wasn’t top notch carpentry work, it wasn’t all that bad for a group of scientists who still referred to a Phillips screwdriver as the ‘pointy’ one.
Gimbel started working on how he wanted the series of tests to be conducted. He knew that each of the tests had to be scheduled during a dark window. That was the time when no overhead satellites were looking down on the test site. He called up the timetable on the NORAD government site and worked up a schedule from the information provided. He was thankful that he was proficient in reading the data.
Over 11,000 pieces of space junk were in orbit around the Earth. It included everything from nuts and bolts to rocket engines and nuclear reactors from Russian experiments. Most of the space junk was in the first 600 miles of the earth’s gravitational field but many of the stationary spy satellites were much higher up at almost 2,300 miles.
Once he calculated the dark windows, he was ready. Now all he had to do was try to shut his mind off and get some rest. He crawled into his bed with his clothes on to try to get at least a little shuteye before 0200.
Within minutes, or so it seemed, his alarm went off. He washed his face and went to the lab. The general was already there waiting for him. When the rest of the team arrived they shoved the dolly holding the crate into the freight elevator. Once on the surface at Level–1, it was apparent that Devin had made sure that no one was poking about.
It was eerily quiet in the giant hanger. Four armed guards and a fork lift operator were all that were present. The crate was quickly loaded and immediately set off for the South Base facility. When it arrived, the BlackStar was uncrated and welders went to work attaching a rig to hold it in place. The work was accomplished in less than two hours.
It was 0425 when the BlackStar, now attached to the rigging, started its trip to the hump. The 6 x 6 flatbed groaned as it threaded its way up the narrow dirt road. Even though it was only a 5700 foot climb it took nearly an hour and a half.
The sun had broken over the top of the mountains by the time they arrived at the power generators. The truck was quickly maneuvered into place and the drivers were shuttled back down to the base by a Hummer that was waiting for them. A large tarp was rigged to cover the entire truck. The scientists went to work and made the final electrical connections from the generators.
Gimbel set the positioning relay and aimed the weapon at the target area, 5725 feet below them. Devin was pacing around like a rat caught in a cage. While he didn’t say anything, they were all aware of his state of anxiety.
“General. I think we are about ready. I am ready to warm her up and put in the final commands,” Gimbel said.