Laura 02 The God Code (31 page)

“See the man I gave the bike’s keys to, he is maybe, what, 22? Did you notice how he was standing alone, not part of the group of older men on break when we arrived? Imagine how they are going to treat him when they find out he rode one of the bikes that was used to save the President.”

Ernest thinks for a moment then replies, “You see the world so different than me. I see a young inexperienced gardener, and you see opportunity if given the opportunity.”

“Exactly, if more people would give others an opportunity to grow, you and I will not be needed. Now come, we have work to do.”

Half an hour later both men are standing in the President’s office, Victor with a new shirt and a quick patch from a medical kit to his side.

“Victor, Ernest, I need you two to help me get control back of my submarine. It is vital that we do so before it disappears.”

President Abraham sits down heavily in his chair. Clearly the last few days have taken a heavy toll on him. Concern is on the President’s face and he avoids Victor’s piercing gaze. It is useless to try and hide things from Victor.

“What is so special about this sub? Why all the trouble to steal it and why the hurry in getting it back? What are you not telling us, what is on that sub?” Victor asks.

“We have orders Victor. We do not need to know what is on that sub,” Ernest snaps at Victor. Victor annoys him due to the way Victor is talking to the President, but Ernest secretly has to admit that he is burning to know the answers as well.

“He is your boss, not mine. If I am going to help out I am not going in blind, I want to know what I am up against and why I am risking my ass.” Victor does not take his eyes off the President as he speaks.

Abraham looks away. Victor is scanning him, looking for any betrayal of emotions, any hint that this is a suicide mission, which it is.

“Gentlemen, we need to work as a team here, time is of the essence.” Abraham slowly stands up before continuing. “Victor is right, you deserve to know what you are up against and why it is essential that you succeed.”

Abraham walks around his desk to sit on the front right corner of it before continuing. “I do not need to remind you that this meeting and all the information from it is highly classified, right?”

Ernest nods yes, while Victor just gives the President a sly smile, “Okay then.” Abraham turns around and presses the intercom button.

“Yes, Mr. President?” Dora’s voice is pleasant yet professional.

“Dora, can you please send Professor Jeremy in.”

“Certainly Mr. President. Anything else?”

Before Abraham can answer Victor chips in, “A Big Mac with cheese, and a soda. You want anything Ernest?”

Ernest spins around to face Victor, anger on his face. “Are you crazy?!”

“What? I am hungry, how do you suppose we start a mission with empty stomachs? Besides, then we can say the President bought us lunch.” Ernest wants to comment, but he just stares open-mouthed at Victor. Suddenly, the President bursts out laughing and replies, “Victor, you are exactly the man we need for this job. Dora, make that four orders please.”

“Yes, Mr. President.”

Suddenly someone knocks on the door and Ernest walks over to open it. A tall thin, partly bald man with round rimmed glasses is standing in the doorway. From the man’s body language it is clear that he is no stranger to being in the President’s company. Victor looks the man up and down. Concern is clearly visible on the man’s face.

“Jeremy come in. This is Navy Seal Commander Ernest Young, and Victor, a civilian and specialist in the skills we need for this mission.”

Jeremy nods his head and shakes each one’s hand before placing a number of folders on the desk next to the President.

“Jeremy, they have full clearance, anything they want to know or should know to ensure the success of this mission.”

“Understood Sir. Gentlemen, questions?”

“What makes this sub special? What weapons capability makes it so valuable that people will want it?” Victor goes straight to the point.

“This is a one of a kind super submarine; it was built for one purpose only, to defend America from nuclear attacks, and as such no expense was spared and the latest technology was installed to fulfill that mission.” Jeremy opens up a folder on the desk as he speaks. Carefully, he removes some pictures showing outside and inside views of the submarine.

“This is a big submarine, must have set you back a few bucks.” Victor shuffles the pictures around on the desk as he speaks.

“Try 40 billion dollars, over 10 times the price of an attack class submarine. She is 50% larger than the Russian Typhoon submarine.” Abraham stands up as he answers and walks to the water cooler in the left corner of the office to get himself a cup of water.

“Wow, that is a massive amount to fork out for one submarine.” Ernest is now also studying the pictures, and looks at Abraham as he speaks. The expression on his face is clear, is it worth the money? As a grunt he runs the figure in his head and thinks of all the equipment his troops could have and the devastation they could do with it.

“A bargain at the lives it can save, not just American lives, but those of the enemy as well. Jeremy, give them the short version of the intended use of the sub.” Abraham’s voice sounds tired.

“Right, one of the biggest threats of mass destruction is nuclear bombs, especially intercontinental ones that can be launched from inside an enemy’s country and reach another country. Not just from current super powers, but from emerging governments and terrorists who hide among innocent people with mobile nuclear missile launchers. This is where the submarine comes into play. If we suspect an imminent launch of a nuclear missile, we can disable the nuclear site before the launch.

The submarine will approach the enemy’s coast and fire a nuclear missile into space over the country while still submerged. When the nuclear missile explodes, it creates an EMP wave similar to a massive solar flare from the sun and destroys all unprotected electronic equipment.”

“Yes, but you already have dozens of nuclear submarines that can do that, as well as a number of land based nuclear missiles that you can use for that purpose.” Confusion is on Ernest’s face.

“I think there is a bit more to this, buddy.” Victor is holding a picture with a top down view of the submarine and is about to ask what the massive launch tube hatches are for, including why there are large Gatling gun like weapons mounted on the top of the deck, when the phone on the desk rings.

“Yes?” Abraham holds down the intercom button as he speaks.

“Sir, the food has arrived.”

“Oh, cool, let’s eat. I will go and get it.” Victor walks to the door with a big smile on his face as he speaks. Ernest just shakes his head at Victor, who opens the door and takes the food from a delivery person. Victor then returns and hands each their food parcel. Just as Ernest is about to take a bite, Victor blurts out, “Are these things checked for poison? I would hate to be poisoned by a hamburger meant for the President!” Victor winks at Abraham and smiles, but Ernest misses the motion and the joke. He does not know about the history Victor and Abraham share, or that Victor had saved Abraham’s life on a previous mission.

“Yes, we have very strict control of where we get food from for the White House.” Abraham smiles back at Victor, remembering when he himself got deadly sick from drinking water that was poisoned and meant for Victor, when Victor was guarding him on a trip to Africa on his previous Presidential run.

Victor was brought in, due to threats received against the President, as an anti-sniper with local knowledge of the routes the President would take. Victor’s room adjoined the President’s, linked by a door, and the President had gone in to ask Victor his thoughts about the route they should take the next morning. Victor was in the shower, and the President took a bottle of water from the fridge as he waited for Victor, a bottle that was poisoned. Luckily Victor recognized the symptoms, and rushed to a nearby local herbal healer, who gave him a mixture of plant leaves and root extracts to counter the poison.

“You are such an idiot.” Ernest takes a bite of his burger after replying.

“Victor is right,” Jeremy continues. “The EMP wave only takes out unprotected electronics, such as cell towers, field radios, cars, and so on. Nevertheless, any devices protected by what we call a Faraday cage will be unharmed. Both mobile nuclear launchers and nuclear missiles that are inside thick bunkers will not be harmed as they are protected against EMP attacks.”

“What about aerial attacks such as a bunker buster?” Ernest is again only thinking of solving problems one way. If something does not work, get a bigger bomb.

“That is a possibility; however, very slim as they can shoot the missile down before it hits its target, and even if you manage to hit the target, there will be a loss of life. Remember, this submarine was designed to protect against mobile launchers that are hidden in populated areas.

“This loss of life can spark a bigger retaliation from the country that may not even know that a terrorist group is launching a nuclear attack against us or our supporters, and considering we do not know the exact locations of all the sites, and the difficulty of hitting all of them before one can be launched, it is not a viable option.” Abraham takes a sip of water after replying.

“Because of this, we came up with a different approach, nanotechnology.” Before Jeremy can continue Victor cuts him off.

“You are basically using mechanical chemical warfare. Using nanites of minute size to destroy the electronics on the missiles and controls, right?”

“That’s right. Nanotechnology is nothing new, and we can program these nanites to do many things, like repair damaged tissue or build and replicate material. In this instance, the nanites will be programmed to attack any electronic components it comes in contact with, specifically silicon based as most microchip contains them. The submarine will launch special rockets over its target that will then at altitude release containers which in turn will disperse these nanites over the target site, forming a cloud of nanites. As they reach their target, they will immediately start to destroy all electronics they come in contact with, and then continue to search for more electronics for the 48 hours they will last. Some will be pulled into the air vents and attack the inside of the buildings.”

“Heck, just do not release it over Florida.” Everyone gives Victor a puzzled look. “These things attack silicon. Florida, hello, land of the breast implants.”

Ernest just shakes his head but Abraham smiles at Victor; he admires him.

“What will happen if you were to launch those missiles over a large city?” Ernest is slowly grasping the power of the submarine.

“All systems will be destroyed, all electronic data lost. It can range from crippling a country’s economy and way of life to if done on a large enough area, putting them back into an age before computers,” answers Jeremy.

“If they release some over Wall Street, you won’t need to worry about paying your mortgage, or about your retirement fund, mate,” Victor laughs as he slaps Ernest on the shoulder.

“Why do we not send other submarines to force them to surrender, or if needs be, destroy the submarine?” Ernest doubts how and why two men are tasked to retake a submarine.

“Because it cost 40 billion dollars, and because this baby has a few tricks up her sleeve and packs a punch, right Prof?” Victor holds out a picture to Ernest that shows the strange armament on the submarine’s outside.

“That is correct. The first problem is that this submarine is capable of travelling at 300 knots, way faster than the 25 to 30 knots of other fast submarines. It also has torpedoes that can reach Mach 2, and bullets that can be fired underwater.”

“How is that possible?” both Ernest and Victor ask at the same time.

“Supercavitation. One of the limiting factors of speed underwater is the great deal of drag that water has.

“On the noses of the submarine, torpedoes and special bullets are gas nozzles that continuously expel an envelope of water vapor around the hull of the object. This bubble of gas creates a super cavity that prevents the skin of the object from contacting the water, thus eliminating almost all drag and friction and allow the object to travel at great velocity underwater.” Jeremy looks at the two men before continuing. “This is actually not a new design. The Soviet Union used the technology in the latter half of the Cold War on a torpedo called the Shkval, or Squal. However, we did not learn of its existence until the 1990s. These torpedoes used powerful solid rocket motors that allowed the torpedoes to exceed 230 mph, more than four times faster than a normal torpedo.”

“Wow, did it work?”

“Yes Ernest, these torpedoes had a success killing rate of 80% at a range of just over four miles.”

“I take it there are some drawbacks to this design, else it would have been standard deployment on submarines?”

“That’s correct Victor. There are three major problems with the design. One is the range of the torpedo, as conventional torpedoes have a range up to 30 miles. That problem is overcome with better propulsion systems. The torpedoes on Pegasus have a range of 25 miles. The second problem you have is noise, the speed of the torpedo and the cavitation from the bubbles will show immediately on radar when it is launched.

“However, as shown by the Russian torpedoes that only traveled at 230 mph, few submarines have the time to maneuver out of the way or take action, and with ours running at over 1500 mph, there is no running away or defense. The last and biggest problem is maneuverability. The bubble of water vapor surrounding the hull becomes asymmetrical and breaks up along the outer side when the torpedo alters course significantly. At speeds, the sudden re assertion of water pressure and drag on the object will rip the object apart. The torpedo needs to slow down before it can change direction, and if the target is far, constant readjustments in course will have the torpedo run not much faster than a normal torpedo. We overcame the problem by having the gas-ejection nozzles pump more water vapor into the side of the bubble on the outside of the turn, providing a buffer for the turn without any parts of it exiting the cavity. In addition to magnetically charging the vapor used in the bubble coupled with a magnetic field coming from the torpedo or hull of the submarine to hold the bubble in place while it turns.”