Chương 136: Chapter 135 – Operation Staple

Cole shook his head.

"Some secret squirrel project?" Bricker laughed and shook his head.

"What are they teaching you kids in history class these days? No. Operation Paperclip was a post World War II initiative to recruit as many German rocket scientists as possible, despite any… party proclivities, they may or may not have had. Clean slate, refuge in the United States. To excessively simplify a very long and nuanced story, the end result was America winning the Space Race." Cole sipped his own coffee.

"Hexighast is Nazi Germany, in this analogy?"

"Let's hope their values aren't that stark a contrast from our own, but yes. A very small, discreet corner of the State Department that interfaces with DOR is already in talks with us about offering refuge to skilled Hexighastans. Quid-pro-quo. There must be scientists, engineers, brilliant minds of their time that survived Hextant's attacks and the floods. People who have studied Lewis Fields for longer than we knew they existed, who understand them far better than we do." Cole straightened.

"That's true. Even their laymen have knowledge of it. Teachers taught about it in their schools. LouixCorp was experimenting with cross-dimensional contact. They built computers that control it. So this is what, like, Operation Staple or something?"

"I should be offering you something stronger than coffee," said Bricker, nodding down to his Styrofoam cup.

"We had a very limited understanding of the breadth of their knowledge and achievement. We assumed Hextant was the result of a fluke or an accident. After all," he winked.

"Anyone who's ever watched a sci-fi movie knows what a terrible idea it is to hand over the bulk of your defensive capabilities to an artificial intelligence, right?"

"I didn't see many movie theaters in Hexighast," said Cole. Bricker laughed in spite of the situation. Maybe in defiance of it. The massive man eased himself back down into his chair.

"This goes beyond the Department, Cole. Our mandate is to search and rescue, yes. We're the tip of the spear when it comes to otherworld incursions and abductions, which leads to ninety-five percent of our contact with other worlds. It's a reactive organization by design. It's not often that we get a real shot at learning enough about Lewis Fields to talk about prevention." Cole's eyebrows rose.

"You want to stop people ever being grabbed in the first place?" Bricker leaned forward, resting one elbow on his desk.

"Cole, it is my deepest, heart-of-hearts desire to make this entire department redundant. I will move Heaven and Earth if it means no more kids go through what I did, or what you did, or what anyone on your team did. When that day comes, I will fire all of you and then myself so fast they'll need a high-speed camera just to catch the pink slip." Cole laughed and raised his coffee cup.

"To that day," he said. Bricker mirrored his toast.

"To that day," the Director sighed.

"To that day…" he repeated softly. Then he shook his head and leaned forward.

"What's your read on Hexighast? I've seen most of the relevant helmet cam footage, but I want your impressions, not your shaky-cam." Cole considered.

"Tern Tower is good people. Families, grade school classes in the midst of the apocalypse. They helped us. But they're not scientists or engineers. At least, if they had scientists and engineers, we didn't meet them. But Therza did mention that it used to be a Hodges-Bridger Layer research facility so there's merit to preserving it." Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Bricker nodded.

"I agree. From what I saw on the cams, they already look ninety-percent self-sufficient. I'm not sure what we could offer them. I've already put a hard-stop on any advanced computing technology crossing into Hexighastan hands. The last thing we need is another world on technological parity. That's the one advantage we've still got to trump Lewis Fields." Cole recalled the sight of the F35s blasting a hole in the sky over the dreadnaught and dropping bombs with laser precision.

If Hextant had those, the apocalypse would have been long-over. He huffed in agreement.

"LouixCorp was the only other survival cell we interacted with. And that was briefly. But…"

"But…?"

"They're nuts," said Cole, shrugging.

"The fact they were right about everything doesn't eliminate the fact that they're kooks. It just proves what a fucked up, excuse my language, place Hexighast is." Bricker roared with laughter.

"A broken clock is right twice a day, eh? Well, being proven right does have a way of glossing over all the things you got wrong." Cole nodded, then put his serious face back on.

"But they had the scientists and the engineers. They were doomsday prepping and building bunkers before Hextant ever went online. And they'll be receptive, because they're kooky cultists that think they were calling angels. It doesn't sit well with me to exploit that belief."

"Nor to feed it," said Bricker. He cocked his head just a bit.

"Though, that is an approach we sometimes exploit. But I digress. Diplomatic inroads with otherworlds carry a great deal of risk. There are powerful people on the other side of those portals. And not just because of their enhancement levels." Wasn't that the fuckin' truth? LouixCorp had been a generational techno-cult. Bringing them over, giving them access to modern computers. Hell, Cole hadn't understood a quarter of the gobbledygook Elliot talked about.

But that kid had hacked control of half the world's firepower with a laptop and a USB cable. Bricker's concerns were founded. And while Cole was on that thought.

"Sir, what's going to happen with Elliot?" Bricker squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Son, I have no Earthly idea, as of yet. I'm over the moon that we got him back—though the jury's still out whether we can really consider that to be Elliot Werner. We've got that laptop plugged in at Medical for the time being, which is the only facility on post that maintains a 24/7 Lewis Field. His program can't run outside a Lewis Field. Something about six states of binary—one more brain twister someone from Hexighast needs to explain to me in very simple terms because I thought binary meant zeros and ones.

When we tasked you with bringing back Hextant's source code if possible, I didn't expect the rescue to come part and parcel."

"So what happens now?" asked Cole.

"Now?" Bricker leaned back in his chair.

"Now we weather the storm and sort through this mess. The Department's impending upheaval and work with the State Department will spur change and change carries risk. A lot of extractions are going to be put on hold. It will cost us, but being brash when we should be cautious and take the time to learn will cost us even more."

"What about my team?" asked Cole. Bricker raised an eyebrow.

"You and your team have pulled three extractions inside of six months, not to mention that business at Oak Ridge. While I appreciate the hard charging, you need to pull your noses back from the grindstone. Remember what it's like to live on Earth for a little while before you burn yourselves out. Go home and see your grandfather. Strategize and train where you're weak. Then we'll see about getting you back into it." That gave Cole pause. His grandfather. He hadn't seen him since before his Syria deployment.

Patrice Colton knew how it was. Knew what it was like to be in Cole's shoes from his own time in the Airborne. Cole also had other brothers to check on, other friends from the 82nd who would have rotated back to the States in the months he'd been with DOR. Cole controlled his own hours and his own travel. It was a strange feeling to not have to put in a leave request in order to just not show up for work. Cole stood, and Bricker pushed his own bulk out of his chair and extended his hand. Cole took it.

Despite the logic and sound reasoning, it still felt as though he was being sidelined. Part of him felt that he deserved it. But his team certainly didn't. Still, some time and distance would be good for everyone.