Quantum Times (33 page)

     It had taken Greene a little while through the CEO’s comments to realize his friend was sort of joking. But he also realized that the CEO was serious too. It was easier to believe that it all was an episode from the Twilight Zone then that the company he had built and loved could be doing so badly. And now Scarpetti probably wished he was in a Twilight Zone episode too. The world couldn’t really be in the huge mess it seemed to be in, could it?

     “I presume the President is not yet ready to change his position on doing something about Captain Ragnar and The Freya?” the general asked.

     “No, he’s not. He thinks Plato is the problem.”

     “That’s nonsense. Plato is our best hope….I think the problem is that Plato doesn’t have much confidence in the ability of our government, or any government for that matter, to actually deal with the situation. One way or another, I’ve spent a lot of time talking to Plato. One thing I’ve learned from him is that he always tries to simplify things. He doesn’t believe you can untangle complicated webs. You just have to cut through them.”

     The general paused to remember what Plato had said. “He likes the story of Alexander the Great and the Gordian knot. Supposedly there was a prophesy that whoever could untie this hugely complicated knotted rope would become the ruler of Asia. Alexander took out his sword and cut the knot off. That solved the problem. That’s the way Plato thinks things need to be done.”

     Scarpetti nodded, “If you see a snake, you cut its head off. Plato says that Captain Ragnar is the snake. So we have to cut its head off. I suspect he also thinks if you can’t tell the difference between your friend and a snake, then that’s a whole other problem.”

     General Greene sat there in the quiet of Scarpetti’s kitchen with a bone deep hunger to take action. As a soldier he wanted to fight something. With every terrorist event where Americans died, he felt more and more a need to strike back. “So, Hank, what are we going to do? We can’t just do nothing! If The Freya really is helping some terrorists to blow up something here, then we are in really big trouble. We saw what happened to our embassy in Tel Aviv. And we had no clue that was going to happen. Imagine shooting a missile like that one at The White House or the Empire State building – or worse, one of the new towers standing on the site of the World Trade Center. If The Freya is helping, I don’t know that we could stop it.”

     Scarpetti’s glum expression told the story, “I know. I know. I’ll keep working on the President. But I don’t know what advice he’ll listen to.”

     “Tell him to listen to Plato.”

     “He doesn’t like that Plato acts like he knows more than he does.”

     “Plato does know more than he does.”

     “Yea, that’s the problem.”

     In his small office on The Freya Captain Ragnar looked over at the man even he was starting to call Hasan. Hasan/Erickson had just confirmed that Khalil wanted to strike at the Americans soon. Now Ragnar had to make a big decision. Should he give all the help this man Khalil would need to strike hard. In truth for what was required, Khalil could at best just be the man who aimed and pulled the trigger on the weapon. The weapon itself and overcoming the transportation obstacles would all require the assistance of The Freya. That assistance would be very active and direct.

     If the role of The Freya was discovered, the United States would have no choice but to attack his ship. He might be able to evade the attack initially but he would be forced to leave this Earth immediately. Still if that was all that was lost, the reward would be worth that risk. There were other Earths that he could target. Still this one was so ripe for his plans.

     He knew he would only get one opportunity to strike the cataclysmic blow that would ignite the disintegration process. The old adage, “when you strike at a king, make sure you kill him” was to be remembered. His target was not a paper tiger; just a divided and weakly led and confused one. But a tiger nonetheless.

     His instincts told him he needed to be more cautious. He was getting ahead of himself. He needed to be more patient. Much as he wanted Khalil to go forward with the attack on American soil, he wasn’t certain the blow Khalil planned would be enough. There still needed to be more de-stabilizing events. For what he wanted, a nuclear bomb exploding over Washington or New York City would probably be required. That would take longer to arrange.

     But he would find a way to help Khalil. It would be an important link in the chain of events he foresaw. Then it occurred to him how it should be done. He could take advantage of the uncertainty that existed as to which of the Other Earths could be trusted. He needed to help Khalil destroy his target but make it look like Plato and the crew of The Bucephalus were behind it. Ragnar smiled; that plan would accomplish several goals at once!

     He turned his attention back to Erickson who had been sitting still while his Captain thought through the plan. “So here is what I want you to do,” Ragnar said and proceeded to tell him.

     Plato listened to David as he described his meeting with President Morningstar. It did not surprise him that the American President was not going to take any action against The Freya – or anyone else. Plato was not even surprised that the President continued to distrust him. Plato’s version of the unfolding of the future did not match with what the President wanted it to be. Plato knew too well that the challenge of leadership was in dealing with unpleasant realities. Leadership would be so much easier if the future would only behave.

     Plato was not unsympathetic to this President. His successors had squandered the resources and the warrior spirit of the United States on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that could not be won given the political and cultural environments there. The goal of punishing terrorism and eliminating destabilizing despots had morphed into nation building – an impossibility where no underlying nation existed, just disparate religious sexts banded together by accidents of geography.

     Yet past geopolitical mistakes could not excuse geopolitical weakness in the present. The costs to be paid in the future would be too great. The engulfing fires of terrorism unchecked would keep burning until the planet itself was consumed. Plato had seen that happen before.

     David looked around the room where they were meeting. Out the sliding glass doors of the ground level room he could see the beach and then the Caribbean Sea. A steady rain cast a gloom over the island and kept everyone indoors or back on The Bucephalus. “So what do we do next?” he asked Plato.

     “I’m not sure that I know,” Plato replied. “If you wait and do nothing, the acts of terror will increase – and there will be a strike at a major target inside the U.S. As devastating as that will be, maybe it will be what is required to channel the energies and resources of your country to attack the central problems.”

     “But even if that is the case, I don’t know that we would know who to attack.” David interrupted. “The Freya may be the enabler and we could go after it, but the underlying problems would remain. And if we suffer another tragedy like losing the World Trade Center towers, I don’t know that our people will feel sufficiently revenged just by destroying The Freya – even assuming we can.”

     “I understand that.”

     “So I think we have to do something.” David looked down at his fist pounding the table in surprise. He wasn’t one who normally pounded tables.

     “Which ‘we’ is that?”

    David just shook his head, knowing he was out of his depth. “I don’t know. I wish it would be the government. But if it is not them, then us, I guess. If I have to do something to stop what is happening, I will. I know that The Freya and Captain Ragnar are stirring things up. And I know the embassy in Tel Aviv was destroyed with their help. The weapon used there came from them. So now we think that some minor terrorist with their help could attack and kill Americans in Washington or New York. If I can help stop that, then I have to try.”

     Plato looked at David both fondly and with respect. Over the months he had dealt with him he had watched David take more and more responsibility. But these were dangerous times and he hoped he could help David stay safe. David was treading close to what could become a killing zone.

     David was right. A major strike now against the Americans could only make the world more unstable. It would encourage other countries like Iran to be more aggressive against Israel and it would encourage al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups to increase their efforts. They would sense victory coming close. The path to a nuclear attack would be easier. Plato had seen it happen.

     Every generation of global leaders had to learn their own lessons about the use of power. Somehow they thought the lessons of history would not apply to them. They assumed that because they were rational and caring and well intentioned, that everyone else would be too. Yet every century for thousands of years had its share of major wars. The only way to maintain geopolitical balance was to match will with will, force with force. The ruthless and aggressive nations and peoples needed to know for certain that their every attack would be met by greater force and will. They could not be allowed to win even small battles.

     Plato looked to David, “I’m afraid you are right. We have to stop an attack facilitated by The Freya. If that succeeds, the U.S. will be weakened and the forces that fill the void will make the world much more dangerous.”

     “So how vulnerable is The Freya? Does it have the technology to make missiles disappear like you did?... How did you do that anyway?” David realized he had never asked Plato that before.

     Plato smiled. “I was actually quite pleased when those missiles were shot at us. It allowed me to show our capability while still being peaceful. Those missiles were redirected to a dimension of space where they could do no harm. As to The Freya…I do not know for sure but I think missiles would not work against them. Though missiles might chase them away. They can be destroyed, if they stayed, by a coordinated attack.”

     “I guess that is helpful to know,” David responded. “Only there is no one to mount one. The Freya is being allowed to create havoc and destruction and no one stands against them.”

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     Captain Ukita Terumoto went to the head of the conference table and took his seat. Four of his officers were sitting there already awaiting his arrival which was as always precisely on time. He felt energized from the exercise session he had just finished. He had just engaged the fitness master in a spirited sword fight with the wooden katana practice weapons. He had been bested but had pushed his old teacher to use his most advanced moves. Throughout the fight, even during the most energetic attacks, Terumoto had maintained his inner calm. He had been drilled to match the yin of mental stillness with the yang of aggressive physical movement. Now as he faced his officers, he wanted to bring that same balance to the challenge they faced in restoring this Japan to its rightful honor.

     “Kagekatsu, how are you progressing on your task to repeal the obnoxious anti-war provisions of the Japanese Constitution? Until that is changed, all our efforts will be for naught.” The Captain asked his chief political officer.

     “Indeed sir. I believe that momentum is building both within the government and among the people to repeal those provisions. As you had predicted, the destruction of the Koreas by nuclear weapons has strengthened our case – it showed everyone that there is no hiding from nuclear weapons. Only by matching strength against strength can Japan survive into the next century. It is plain that its army can never match the million man army of China, so it must use advanced weapons to fight off any invasion.

     “Also, the Prime Minister is convinced that Japan cannot rely on some nuclear umbrella provided by the Americans.  Should China rush onto the beaches of Japan’s islands, there is no one in the government who is certain that the Americans will commit their soldiers to defend Japan’s shores.”

     The Captain nodded his approval. “It amazes me that Japan could have waited so long to start standing on its own feet. For them to think that America would fight China to save Japan is ludicrous. And to think that China would hesitate a moment to attack Japan once it has risen to its full power is to ignore centuries of animosity between China and Japan. Two alpha male tigers do not sleep quietly next to each other.”

     The Captain looked at his other senior officers. “Yamoto, how are you proceeding with weaponry technology?”

     “I have been in contact, secretly of course, with key members of the military – the one’s most embarrassed at their country’s pacification. As you know, Japan has all the technology know-how and the industrial base to quickly develop nuclear weapons and delivery systems. I am showing them how to both speed up the process and how to increase the destructive power of the bombs. The power of the military can be increased substantially almost immediately if the will is there.”