“A magnetic what?” Jake asked.
“It’s a circular tube filled with mercury vapor around the passenger section of the saucer. We would magnetically spin the vapor around inside the tube. When it reached 50,000 rpm, the entire inner section developed an ionized glow. We discovered that gravity is not based on mass, but is a function of a subatomic electromagnetic field. The disrupter changes that field. The human body will stand an acceleration of only a little more than five times the pull of gravity, or 5 Gs. With the disrupter, we could accelerate the saucer at 45 Gs without damaging our bodies.”
“Please continue, Professor,” General Davies said.
The Professor took a handkerchief out of his sweater pocket and wiped his mouth. “Nineteen eighty-three, we made our first flight out of the earth’s atmosphere. In eighty-four we went to the Moon, and five years later we went to Mars. With the anti-gravity drive, it took less than twelve hours to get to the red planet. Your voyager satellites took four decades to reach the outer planets. We can get there in a matter of a few days.
“We began building our own space station in orbit around the sun. We perfected robotics to do the work on the station because of the high levels of radiation. We transferred materials using the saucer. By then we had our own fleet of saucers. We could go anywhere in the solar system. The feeling of being involved in something that elite was intoxicating, and addictive. We began to understand more and more about the sun, its energy system, its magnetics and its power.
“I wasn’t the only one to become seduced and addicted to the elite status and the superiority. I was enthralled with the knowledge and the power. But eventually I came to my senses. I could see where the elite status and the power were leading, and I didn’t want to go there. In 1964, a Russian astronomer by the name of Nikolai Kardashev theorized that civilizations could be classified by how they were able to extract and use energy. On his scale, we were a Class Zero civilization. He postulated that a Class I civilization would be able to use the energy produced by the planet. A Class II civilization would use the energy output of a star, and a Class III civilization would use the energy output of an entire galaxy.
“Drunk with knowledge and the thirst for power, the Phoenix Organization sought not to use the power of the sun for the benefit of civilization and of mankind, but to use it as a weapon. The damned fools believed they were becoming more civilized by developing more powerful weapons.” The Professor stopped and wiped his mouth again. “That’s when I left. I believe they have completed the space station and are now demonstrating their power over the planet. I don’t know how you are going to stop them. For me, it doesn’t really matter. I am old. I’m not going to survive much longer, either way. But I cannot stand to see the entire human population threatened and forced into submission by such madmen. I have told you my story. The rest is up to you.”
“Do you know exactly how they are producing the solar storms?” Jake asked.
“All I know is it is being done from the space station in orbit around the sun,” the Professor replied.
“Can you tell us the name of anyone you know who is in the Phoenix Organization?” Jake asked.
“Everyone I ever knew or worked for in the Organization is already dead,” the Professor replied.
“Thank you, Professor,” General Davies said. He turned to face Jake. “We have one more stop to make today, so if you will follow me?”
On the way down in the elevator Jake asked, “What about Senator Thornton? We need to take him into custody.”
General Davies smiled. “He’s not going anywhere. We have people making sure he’ll be there. I assume you would like to do the honors?”
“I’m so looking forward to slapping the cuffs on him,” Jake replied.
“That’s what I thought,” General Davies replied. “You need to fully understand the situation before you question him.”
The car traffic from the morning had dramatically subsided. Once people realized that the stores were empty, and because there was no electricity, they couldn’t pump any gasoline, they went home to wait it out.
The limo drove for two hours west into the mountains of Virginia. They passed through a heavily armed military gate and soon dipped into a long tunnel penetrating deep into the solid rock. When they stopped, General Davies led them to an elevator and down twelve floors to a command center.
The room was filled with the latest screens and displays, manned by people in Army and Air Force uniforms.
“Colonel, will you bring up an image of the satellite?” General Davies asked.
“Main screen,” the Colonel replied. “The satellite has been under construction for the last decade. It was constructed in folded up pieces transported by their space vehicles to the satellite in orbit, and unfolded in space. It reached completion six months ago.” The view was on an oblique angle, but it was clear the satellite was circular in nature and extremely large.
“How big is that?” Jake asked.
“Top to bottom?” the Colonel asked. “Approximately 110 miles. Area wise, it’s 9,500 square miles, a little bigger than the State of New Jersey.”
“How could they support something that big? I mean, it’s got to weigh tons,” Jake asked.
“It’s in orbit. Near zero gravity. Orbital period is seventeen days.”
“Of course it is. How does it work?”
The Colonel used a laser pointer and circled a small dot to the right of the satellite. “This is the Pulse Generator. An electromagnetic pulse is projected toward the Reflector satellite, which is a type of parabolic antenna. The pulse is then directed and focused on the surface of the sun where it creates a flare and a subsequent CME.”
“What about yesterday’s solar storm?” Jake asked.
“That was created by something we haven’t seen before. Approximately eighteen hours before the solar storm hit us, this happened.”
The screen showed a bright flash of white light that spread out, dissipated and gradually disappeared. To the right, a massive flare erupted on the surface of the sun, pulling a huge section of the corona with it. The CME had begun.
“What the hell was that?” Jake asked.
“We believe it was a nuclear detonation.”
“What size?”
“Yield?” the Colonel asked. “We are estimating 1,000 tons of TNT equivalent.”
“Oh, God,” Jake said. “The missing nuclear artillery shell.”
“The W79?” Stafford asked.
“Did it damage the satellite reflector?” Jake asked.
“No. For this type of antenna, there are two focal points. The primary focal point is the source of the EMP, the secondary point is on the surface of the sun. The distance from the primary focal point to the antenna is approximately 200 miles — too far away to sustain any damage. Here on the ground or in the air, the primary effect of a nuclear detonation is the fireball, the heat and the shockwave. In outer space there is no air, so the primary effect is an electromagnetic pulse.”
“Which was focused on the surface of the sun,” Jake said.
“Producing a Carrington level event and the damage we experienced yesterday.”
“So how did they get the W79 from here to the satellite?” Stafford asked.
Jake closed his eyes and frowned. “The Phoenix Organization has its own fleet of flying saucers They flew it out there.” Jake turned back to the Colonel. “What would happen if a 1.2 megaton thermonuclear warhead were used as the EMP source?”
“Theoretically? You’d be looking at 1200 times the size of the CME. If that hit us, you’re looking at an Extinction Level Event. Only people deep underground would survive.”