Chapter Nineteen

Late in the memorable day when the ninety-seven surviving MPs awoke on their native Earth-a day that reached a climax when the President, elated by the return of the abductees in so dramatic and public a fashion, assured Ruthanne Carter and Larry Tracker that he would honor the agreement in full-the engineer in charge of the preparations for transporting of the Entity's computer to the Cheyenne Mountain Complex agreed to a plan urgently advanced by Larry Tracker to insure that the compartment housing the quantum computer would remain threatened by annihilation during its transit there. General Huffman assured Tracker that the compartment would be encased within gear designed to destroy the computer should the Entity kill anyone or otherwise break the agreement. That forceful assertion produced profound relief in all twenty members of the group that had won the victory.

That evening, twenty tired but happy repatriates gratefully entered quarters hastily prepared for them at Malmstrom Air Force Base. General Huffman had arranged to have their wives, husbands, children, and any other relative, friend or significant other whose presence they requested flown to the base. A score of tearful reunions followed.

Caden Jordan and Stephanie Whitsun flew to Malmstrom at the invitation of Larry Tracker. Caden, Stephanie, Larry and Ruthanne spent a lively evening telling each other all that had happened during the past month over bottles of excellent wine.

President Avrason gave a ringing address to the nation in which he intimated that owing to his decisive and effective leadership, the enigma of the disappearances had not only been explained, the alien Entity who had caused the problem had been converted into a benefit to the nation.

Dreading the task of telling Duncan Gage that she was engaged to marry a fellow abductee, Marlene Hefter phoned her former lover. Stuttering a bit, Duncan revealed in a voice tinged with shame that he had thought her dead, and that he was now engaged to someone else. Elated rather than upset, Marlene gently informed him that she, too, was engaged to someone else. The call ended on a mutually friendly note, to the vast relief of both former lovers. On hearing the news, Gary Logan pulled Marlene into his arms and bestowed a fiercely possessive kiss on his bride-to-be.

Sharon Roberts' call to her former lover produced the husky admission that he had missed her badly, but that he had accepted a promotion that would require him to move to New York City shortly. Feeling certain that she would not wish to leave her job if she by some chance reappeared, he had decided that he would begin dating other women once he got settled into his new life. On hearing that she was engaged to another abductee, Owen congratulated her in a tone that seemed quite sincere. Smiling wryly, she ended the call, certain now that his feeling for her had been even shallower than she had suspected. Happiness surged though her when she rejoined the man she would wed within the month, and the pair enjoyed a few drinks before dinner.

Sara Chen had a highly emotional reunion with her parents. Her announcement that she intended to marry Arthur McConnell, a famous mathematician, caused shock that swiftly melted into joyous acceptance of the news. Arthur found himself happily comparing the warm family atmosphere her parents generated to that which he had enjoyed while living in close quarters with Sara and Saul. Sara's vigorous assertion that Saul Steiglitz, a famous physicist, had stood in the stead of an uncle to her during her exile on the alternate Earth won that beaming friend instant acceptance into the Chen family circle.

***

On the day following the reunions, most of the twenty victors in the struggle left for home. Larry Tracker, Ruthanne Carter, Arthur McConnell, and Saul Steiglitz, all of whom had volunteered to act as consultants to the team of Air Force engineers and technicians preparing remove the compartment housing the Entity's computer and transfer it to the Complex beneath Cheyenne Mountain, remained at Malmstrom Air Force Base, as did Sara Chen, now formally engaged to Arthur McConnell.

The Entity, speaking through Ruthanne, gave precise instructions as to how to ascend the staircase within one of the legs supporting the ship, open the hatch situated where the curved leg attached to the side of the cylinder, and identify the rather small-sized compartment housing his generative computer. No hitch ensued as a team of experts removed the compartment from the ship.

When the preparations for the transfer had been completed, the compartment rested on the flat bed of a large truck. An intricate maze of coils and other gear now encased it. These, Ruthanne had explained to the Entity, constituted insurance against treachery, once the compartment was no longer situated in the line of fire of a nuclear-armed missile. "If you kill anyone in a fit of vindictiveness, powerful laser cutters will bore into the walls of the compartment, allowing atmospheric pressure to replace the near-vacuum within," she warned. "Simultaneously, the coils will raise the temperature to a degree that will insure that your computer is destroyed. However, so long as you keep your agreement to answer the questions of scientists able to commune with you in the language of pure mathematics on the first day of every year, and kill no one, your computer will be as safe as human ingenuity can make it, in perpetuity."

The Entity replied in an icy tone that he would abide by the agreement.

Seated in a government vehicle in the convoy conveying the Entity's computer to the Complex where it would henceforth reside, Larry Tracker and Ruthanne Carter gazed in awe at the rugged mountainous terrain visible from the narrow, winding, elevated road forming the approach to the underground stronghold. At one point, the high elevation allowed a truly spectacular far view of the surrounding area. "Damned if you can't see Nebraska from here," Tracker muttered as he gazed at the distant horizon.

Finally, the convoy approached the opening leading into a long, winding granite tunnel carved in the early 1960s. The entrance to the Complex seemed tiny in contrast to the size of the mountain and the extent of the magnificent vista visible from the approach. The truck passed by the twenty-five-ton steel blast doors, which had not been closed for any great length of time since the early 1970s, but which had remained shut on September 11, 2001, for almost three hours, in response to a possible threat to the underground base.

The truck stopped at a point just beyond a stop light in the tunnel. The crew of technicians, using a highly maneuverable skid-steer vehicle, carefully conveyed the compartment encased in its overlay of coils to a chamber that had been prepared for its occupancy. There, they connected the coils to a control panel, integrating the container into a complex system that would allow instant destruction of the computer should the Entity break the agreement. Only then did they inactivate the remote control that would have allowed destruction had the Entity broken the agreement during the journey. When they finished that job, they departed, leaving Larry Tracker, Ruthanne Carter, Arthur McConnell, Saul Steiglitz, Sara Chen, General Huffman and the general's aide gazing at the end result of twenty people's traumatic adventure.

"I am the Entity!" the familiar cold masculine voice stated, issuing from Ruthanne's mouth. That peremptory salutation visibly startled the General and his aide. "I am compelled to admit... that you and the others in your group... have kept your part of the agreement... and that I am now far safer than I was... before you tricked me into teleporting my ship to your Earth. I shall now return... to the contemplation of concepts... far beyond your comprehension. I shall not speak through you again."

"I am Ruthanne Carter! I wish you well, Entity. But I won't miss acting as your interpreter. Good-bye."

Silence fell. "He's gone," Ruthanne stated calmly. "He's not keen on offering thanks, is he?"

"Hell, no, he's not," Larry growled.

"His mind isn't geared for that," McConnell offered gently. "Well! What do all of you say to joining Sara and me for a drink, when we get back to Peterson Air Force Base? Before my fiancee and I fly to New York to get ready for our wedding next Saturday?"

"My fiancee and I will gladly take you up on that offer," Larry replied with a grin, as he slipped an arm around Ruthanne. Chuckling, Saul nodded.

"So will we-but the drinks will be on the United States Air Force, by God," the General stated firmly.

Smiling broadly, the triumphant victors in a fierce battle with a murderous alien Entity left the chamber without once looking back.