The Reply

CHAPTER 15

The going was very slow, but Che Lu couldn't blame Ki for taking his time. The image of Taizho being cut in half was ingrained on everyone's mind. They had turned left at the four-way intersection. They could have just as easily turned right, but Che Lu had acted on instinct and also the fact that right went deeper into the mountain. If she was hunting for the emperor and empress’s tombs, she would have gone that way, but the priority now was to get to daylight.

The tunnel had gone level for almost a quarter mile, as near as she could tell, then it had begun going up and very slowly turning to the right. Che Lu had a feeling they were following the outer contour of the mountain tomb, but at least they were going up. They had encountered no beam like the one that had killed Taizho, nor any holographic alien images.

Ki suddenly stopped, drawing Che Lu out of her thoughts. “What is wrong?” she asked.

“I must rest for a little bit,” he said. The stress of being point man in the dark tunnel was getting to him. Che Lu looked over the other students, then took the bamboo pole from Ki’s hands. “We will rest,” she said. “Then I will lead.”

“The word arctic comes from arktos, which is the Greek word for ‘bear,’ referring to the northern constellation Ursus Major, the great bear, more commonly known as the Big Dipper.” The old man paused, regaining his breath with the aid of an oxygen mask his withered hand pressed down over his face.

Major Quinn kept his face passive, not allowing his feelings about Werner Von Seeckt to surface. Quinn knew all about the German from the classified files in the Cube and from working with him ever since Quinn had been assigned to MJ-12.

Von Seeckt had been born in southwest Germany in 1918. He’d grown up in the turbulent years after the First World War. Von Seeckt had been studying physics in a university in Munich when the Second World War started and he’d been recruited by the SS to be part of an elite scientific cadre, studying better and more efficient ways to make war and kill people.

Quinn knew that Von Seeckt had been working at the rocket base in Peenemunde when he’d been recruited to go on a special mission to Egypt: the mission that had uncovered the Airlia atomic weapon under the Great Pyramid. Unfortunately for Von Seeckt, but fortunately for the Allies, Von Seeckt and the bomb had been captured by a British patrol. The scientist and his strange box had made their way to America and fallen under the jurisdiction of a classified program called Operation Paperclip.

Quinn also knew much about Paperclip; it was a program set up by the U.S. Government to bring what were considered valuable Axis scientists to the United States to “give” their expertise to America. The program was illegal, but that didn’t bother those who implemented it. In this manner rocket scientists from the Third Reich, chemical and biological experts, including some of the men who invented the gases used in the concentration camps, all were given safe passage to the United States and spent the rest of their years working for that government.

But Quinn knew Von Seeckt had been one of the very first brought in under Paperclip, captured while the war was still going strong. When the casing surrounding the atomic weapon had finally been breached, Von Seeckt had been assigned to work with the Manhattan Project, which was given a large boost by being able to examine the Airlia bomb. He was then assigned to the newly formed Majestic-12 and had been with it ever since.

Quinn knew Von Seeckt should be in Washington with the other surviving members of MJ-12, standing trial, but in the last few weeks Von Seeckt’s physical condition had weakened to the point where his permanent residence was the intensive care ward at Nellis Air Force Base. On the old man’s side there was also the fact that Von Seeckt had aided Lisa Duncan and those with her in thwarting General Gullick.

The reason Quinn was here was because he knew that some of the bouncers had been found in the fifties in Antarctica and he also knew that Von Seeckt had actually been there for the recovery. When Quinn had asked the scientist about Antarctica, the old man had launched into his etymological explanation of how the continent got its name. Quinn patiently waited, letting Von Seeckt work his way into useful information.

Von Seeckt pushed aside the oxygen mask. “On Earth, the region surrounding the north pole is called the arctic region on all maps. When the prefix ant, meaning ‘opposite’ or ‘balance,’ is added to arctic, the word becomes Antarctica, which means ‘opposite the arctic,’ or literally ‘opposite the bear.’”

Von Seeckt closed his eyes in thought. “I have studied this subject at great length. After all, I traveled there in the search for the bouncers. Even more than the wilds of the Nevada desert and the remoteness of Easter Island, Antarctica is isolated from the visitations of humans. No one goes there unless they have a specific purpose, and survival is difficult.

“Based on Airlia information we found in the mothership cavern during World War II, Majestic was the instigating force behind Operation High Jump, which ran from 1946 through 1947, looking for the Airlia artifacts we knew were hidden in Antarctica. We managed to locate the site but it took over eight years, until 1955, before an expedition could be mounted to try and recover the cache.

“That was when we had Operation Deep Freeze mounted. It was led by explorer Admiral Byrd. While the press release touted the eight bases built and the explorations made on the icy continent, a ninth, secret base, code-named Scorpion Base, was established over the site of the Airlia cache.

“In 1956, after four months of drilling, the men at Scorpion were able to reach the cache buried under a mile and a half of ice. They found a chamber hollowed out of the ice and seven bouncers inside.”

Von Seeckt’s body twitched under the white sheets. “With the bouncers recovered, Majestic ordered the closure of Scorpion Base and the entire operation was classified at the highest levels. I have heard no more of any operations in Antarctica.”

Quinn shook his head. “Someone’s down there now. The only clue I have is the word STAAR, with two A’s.”

Von Seeckt’s head twitched on the pillow. “STAAR?” He muttered something in German.

“What was that?” Quinn asked.

“I have heard rumors in the many years I was with Majestic,” Von Seeckt said. “Rumors of another organization. I have heard it called STAAR.”

“What is it?” Quinn asked.

“I don’t know. We knew at Majestic that someone was monitoring us. We also were under strict guidelines not to interfere. It was part of our founding charter.”

Quinn frowned. “Then why didn’t this STAAR step in when General Gullick was taken over by the rebel computer?”

“I can’t answer that,” Von Seeckt said, “because I don’t know if STAAR really exists.”

Quinn backtracked. “But they could be using Scorpion Station, couldn’t they?”

“Perhaps,” Von Seeckt acknowledged. “It would be a good place to put an organization you wanted no one to find. Certainly much better than we did at Area 51.”

“Who would know about STAAR?” Quinn asked.

Von Seeckt’s frail shoulders moved in a shrug. “I don’t know. Majestic was hooked in to all the intelligence agencies and none of them had any hard data on it. Just rumors and bits and pieces.”

Von Seeckt coughed and took another drag of oxygen. “The interesting thing is,” he continued, “that this STAAR, if it does exist, must not have been doing much, since it’s never come into conflict with Majestic, the CIA, or any of the other various government agencies that are constantly bickering with each other.”

“Then what is its purpose?” Quinn wondered out loud.

“Maybe it is just to wait and watch,” Von Seeckt said.

“For what?”

Von Seeckt lifted his hand at the TV mounted on a wall bracket in his room. It was turned to CNN, the sound muted. The screen showed a picture of Mars. “Maybe for that. You say STAAR is taking action now?”

“STAAR’s got someone in Area 51 in charge of one of the bouncers,” Quinn told him.

“So STAAR is coming awake,” Von Seeckt said.

“But who could they be?” Quinn asked. “A branch of the CIA? NSA?”

“Why do you think they are American?” Von Seeckt asked.

“Because Scorpion was built by Majestic and Majestic was American.”

Von Seeckt cackled a laugh. “Ahh, let me back up, young man. What makes you think they, whoever they are in Scorpion Base, are human?”