[PART 16]

OPERATION PRIME NUMBER

“To dance with the hybrids.”

Despite the ‘news’ reports we still had work to do. For weeks reports had been coming into the new Tango Headquarters of ever increasing criminal activity by hybrids. None of these reports crossed my desk but I became well aware of them from other Directorate briefings. Most of these were not directly acted upon as police authorities could generally handle these types of activities. However, interrogations and hybrid monitoring had given Tango additional information that members of the Martian Brotherhood had taken up residence in a warehouse in Manhattan as a local command center. What most members of the Committee did not know (including myself – ‘Tango classified’) was that Tango had been able to place a hybrid undercover agent inside the group with instructions to report back the next time the so-called ‘Primary Five’ were meeting. Only Tango members knew each Tango team had at least one hybrid as part of their attack groups. And let’s be clear on one critical point. These ‘men’ were all trusted completely, as they were all ‘Excalibur’ personnel. Later, a very special team consisting of hybrids only would be formed to perform “deep cover operations.”

Tango members from Teams 3 and 4 set up immediate surveillance of the warehouse where the Brotherhood was suspected of operating out of as well as several other locations. They were soon rewarded as hybrids were seen to come and go into a dilapidated building. Anyone in or out would be tracked (using other Committee special operations infantry team members and United States Marine recon teams) to establish who these hybrids were. Files were now being kept, and anyone who contacted these hybrids was in those files right down to the guy who served the coffee around the corner. ‘Operation Prime Number’ was underway. They had “a” meeting and operations location, but did they have “the” location? Was this the place where the Primary Five would meet? The undercover agent did not know and no one in the Brotherhood seemed to know either. Brotherhood operations were a closely held secret because only the Primary Five gave orders on operations. And for security reasons the ‘Five’ never announced where and when they would be at any one time.

In order to answer that question the teams set up a new series of radios developed by the Committee. By using the strength of the intercepted wireless signals they were able to establish that the Brotherhood was using radios inside the warehouse and their approximate location and operational status. The exact location of the wireless units within the building was then confirmed by the undercover hybrid that sent a message detailing their location as well as the general layout of the building. Now the teams waited. Before long wireless traffic picked up, and twelve hours later two large groups of hybrids made their way to the warehouse. They were heavily guarded so the Tango teams knew they were important members of the Brotherhood. When they saw five of them sit down at one table as all others backed away into the background they knew the Primary Five had assembled to meet. We had them and they had no idea that Tango was ready to make their first direct attack on the Brotherhood. What Tango did not know was there were twice as many of them than they had counted in the building and they had an escape route into the sewers of New York City. Many of them had gone to the building through the tunnel from the sewers. We had missed the tunnel that was not part of the underground cities program and it was going to cost us. We should have known or at least suspected that the Brotherhood would use tunnels just as the Martians did on Mars. What came next was also unexpected. The undercover hybrid sent a message, but it was not the one that had been expected. It was one word “HOLD”.

This message confused the hell out of the Tango teams who were ready to go and they could not figure out why they should hold knowing their five primary targets had entered their kill zone! Nevertheless, Tango members are highly skilled and very well trained. They held their positions and reported back to Tango Headquarters. (Needless to say, Committee Headquarters was monitoring the attack from the Tango Operations Center and were in full cable Morse code contact.) No one at headquarters could figure it out either, but orders were sent back to wait for 90 minutes. If no further communications came from inside the building or the meeting was about to break up the Tango teams were to go in and kill everyone in the building and hopefully not kill their operative in the process. At 82 minutes into the “countdown” the next message came into Tango from the agent inside broadcast in the clear. As it was being received, and even before the message could be repeated the Tango commander yelled, “Tango, GO! GO! GO!”

The message was “Martian A on board plus Primes. Martian A on board…”

From eight directions including the roof of the building Tango Teams 3 and 4 assaulted the warehouse. Tear gas was fired and within seconds a close-combat fire-fight was underway. Rounds were going off in every direction as they ricochet off of the steel and re-enforced brick areas of the building. From the southwest corner of the building three members of Tango 3 could clearly see the Martian A as it moved towards what seemed to be a hole in the ground. Their response was both immediate and lethal as newly designed hand-held machine-guns cut down the Martian A along with eight hybrids which had surrounded their Martian master. Before long several other openings appeared as hybrids made a dash for the escape tunnels. As they did several of them tossed out gas canisters that immediately began to disperse a black smoke that held to the floor like a milky liquid. All of the Tango team members knew what that was – deadly Martian gas! The call went out, “Tango – Bravo, Bravo, Bravo (i.e. get out fast).”

The attacking Tango force was soon making their way to the exits firing continuously as they went. There was no reason to stay. The Martian gas would kill hybrids just as easily as it killed full-humans and we suspected any other Martian As that happened to be in the area. As Tango exited eight hybrids burst out of a side door and began firing at the assaulting teams. Pre-planned exit coverage went into operation. The Tango team members dropped to the ground as pre-positioned Marine recon teams cut down the advancing hybrids with a withering volley of small arms and machine-gun fire. It was all over in seconds.

After the smoke cleared the teams reentered the warehouse. They had lost 18 members to hybrid bullets or gas, but the Martians had left behind 64 dead hybrids and one very dead Martian A. Tango had also captured one wounded Martian B who would soon be heading to a detention cell at Tango H.Q. Tango Teams had also lost one hybrid. The undercover agent was found slumped over the radio with his hand still on the transmitter. He had been shot in the back as he had been sending out the warning. In his other hand was a pistol with four empty chambers. Tango officers would report he had gone down fighting. Later, Tango members would carefully return his body along with other Tango members killed during the assault to be buried in a private cemetery in Lower-New York City near their headquarters by an honor guard from Tango. He had been one of their own and they were bringing him ‘home’ along with his fellow ‘Tangos’ in a secret ceremony.

Tango had one primary rule – ‘Everyone comes home!’ Their names would become the first to be listed in the classified records of Tango history and on the ‘Tango Wall of Honor’. No doubt the full history of Tango will eventually be declassified and the true story of their courage and dedication will be told. For now – all was classified. The ‘Tango Wall of Honor’ holds only the Tango insignia of the fallen members, no names.

Investigations into the operation later showed that Tango Teams had indeed attacked THE New York City Martian Brotherhood headquarters’ building killing three of the Primary Five, 61 other hybrids and of course the Martian A. Going into the escape tunnels, the teams sent in to clear the area also discovered five dead humans who had apparently been kidnapped by the Brotherhood, as well as four other dead hybrids who had apparently been overcome by the low lying Martian gas as they attempted to escape. It was suspected the humans had been held to feed the Martian A. In order to preserve their blood all five had been suffocated to death. The team recovered several Martian communication devices (at least we thought they were) as well as a device which was later shown to be able to do electric computations. Back engineering of these devices would prove invaluable.

Teams had also uncovered documents, which showed the Brotherhood was planning to conduct a series of suicide gas attacks on Lower-New York City. Clearly Lower-New York City was a particular target for this group so careful re-examination of all security measures was soon underway. It was also clear the Martian Brotherhood did not really know all that much about Lower-New York City and its many facilities, which included command and control centers. All they really knew was it was there, it was big, it was important and it was being built under New York City by humans.

As efforts to supply as many gas masks as possible to the people working on or in Lower-New York City accelerated, the Tango Teams went back to work tracking the Martian Brotherhood and planning for their next chance to, as expressed by one of the team members, “take out as many of those squid-loving bastards as possible”. With the tracking information they had gained on hybrids from Operation Prime Number, Teams 3 and 4 located, interrogated, and soon executed 18 more members of the Brotherhood.

Even before they had run out of leads the search began to fill the vacancies left open by the men who had been lost in the raid. Within eight months Tango was back up to full strength and ready to once again “dance with the hybrids.” It was at this time Tango leadership developed a yearlong training course for new members as a permanent part of Tango Command organization.

As for the three primary underground cities, they now had armed infantry forces walking L-streets 24 hours a day right along with the regular police who had been patrolling all along. There were new troops stationed at every entrance to these facilities. If the Brotherhood made an appearance they were going to get a very hot reception. The entrance guard forces had hand-held machine guns, grenades and newly developed ‘flame throwers’ (gasoline pump sprays which could be ignited) as an attempt to destroy the deadly Martian gas if it came. Their orders were clear – no matter what the cost the attacking hybrids must be stopped before they enter the complex! Naturally, Tango Operational Headquarters greatly enhanced their own security including internal and external armed patrols and newly hardened control points.

Even though they had no plans to capture and hold any of the Martian Brotherhood for any length of time it was decided all three Tango groups should have their own small prisoner holding areas. Committee legal teams wrote new ‘secret’ regulations allowing Tango this extra-legal authority, which included the authority to use “any and all enhanced techniques and methods needed during interrogations” of Martian suspects. As would be expected these holding/interrogation cells (twenty in each original facility, with two additional cells especially built in the event a Martian A were to be captured) were one of the deepest held secrets within Tango. As for their “prisoners,” always referred to as “guests,” none were expected to come out alive at least that was the original plan. As operations grew and larger facilities were required that option was somewhat revised, but not very often. Over the door of each “L-prison” (known within Tango as the “hotel”) was a quote from Dante Alighieri’s Inferno which as the story tells was placed over the gates of hell set down in his poem immortalized around 1300 A.D. “Lasciate Ogni Speranze, Voi ch’entrate.” (“Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here.”) It was written in Latin, English, and as a special treat – Martian, at least as far as we could understand Martian at the time! Years later a much better translation replaced the original “Martian” version.

There was one other piece of information we had uncovered due to the raid on the New York City Brotherhood headquarters that was very disturbing. We had expected the humans who had been captured by the Brotherhood to be used as food for any of their Martian A ‘masters.’ What we did not expect to find was clear evidence the Brotherhood hybrids had also begun to feed on human hostages in exactly the same manner as the Martian As. The hybrids did not need to use human body fluids to survive as they could eat anything “full” humans could eat. Rather, they seem to have adopted Martian A eating behavior simply to be closer to their Martian ‘masters.’ Hybrid teeth marks on the bodies of two of the kidnapped humans at the site confirmed the behavior. This was something new and we needed to take a very close look at other hybrids to see if this was becoming a general situation on Earth. (Reviewing hybrid criminal records in several cities indicated this was not the case despite general fears at the time that a pattern may be developing. As far as could be ascertained only the hybrids of the Martian Brotherhood ‘took’ human blood!) It is perhaps not too surprising to learn this type of behavior was not reported to the general public. It was also left out of internal Committee reports that Tango members had decided among themselves that any hybrid they captured who was suspected of “drinking human blood” would be summarily executed on the spot! They would not be waiting for orders from above.

Naturally, when elite military groups such as Tango have a deep cloak of secrecy around them there is always the possibility of that special force going rogue. When one deals with low-lifes and bottom-feeders of society on a regular basis a certain attitude could develop by these men. This is why Tango personnel are regularly sent on ‘vacation’ to unwind and simply get away from the ‘work.’ During these periods members undergo psychological re-evaluations by members of Dr. Freud’s security advisory group in Directorate L. During their time off they are also briefed on exactly how far they can go as well as what little they cannot do. It is a very short “cannot do list!” It was expected to be followed to the letter. The document is still Tango classified.

Year’s later one group of Tango operatives did in fact go ‘rouge’. Within a few months these operatives were able to assassinate 143 non-Brotherhood hybrids as well as two dozen Brotherhood members in 14 countries before they were intercepted by a second group of Tango members. Three ‘rouges’ were killed and 15 others were captured, mostly wounded. During a most-secret trial held in the mid 1930s the accused were found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. However, before the sentences could be carried out the Prime Director commuted all of their sentences to life in prison. Three years later all 15 were released on parole once again by order of the seating Prime Director. Their names were never released to the public and are still considered to be Tango classified. At least one of the ‘roughs’ is said to have reentered Tango as a “special operator” and is reportedly “very good at his job.”

As for the dead Martian A it was taken to the Committee science labs to be dissected in order to extend our knowledge of Martian A anatomy. There was still much to learn.

Committee Report (S) 06-214 – Hybrid Distribution, 4 December 1906 2:15 p.m.

It has been established that there are from 12,200 to 14,000 hybrids presently on Earth (non-Excalibur). Of these the Committee employs 287. The nations ‘holding’ the greatest number of hybrids are the United States at 2900, England at 1100, Germany at 460, and China at 410. Files have been established for all known hybrids and are being maintained at Lower-New York with back-up copies held at Lower-Sydney. Exact numbers are expected to be available within 24 months.

Despite events swarming around us Andrew Carnegie was able to make his way to the new Carnegie Library in Bromley, England, for its 28 May 1906 opening. It was just one of hundreds of libraries built by Carnegie for his libraries and ‘Vaults for Mankind’ programs. He noted in his speech that in 1771 work had finally been completed on the very first edition of the now famous Encyclopedia Britannica. The work reported it was “A Dictionary of Arts and Sciences compiled upon a new plan by a Society of Gentlemen in Scotland.” Carnegie felt this new work was as important as that first encyclopedia in gathering information for the general public and generations to come. He also reported he had just donated his personal copy of the first Encyclopedia Britannica to be placed in one of the Vaults for Mankind facilities.

In late 1906 Mr. Wells published In the Days of the Comet, a work that reported to his many readers the gases and dust from a fictional comet would come into contact with the Earth causing world-wide peace and love. Several writers to Mr. Wells asked if it were possible to send the comet and its favorable gases to Mars! It is interesting to note in the years to come a comet would indeed visit Mars, but with a much different outcome. We would also see our own close encounter with a comet in 1910 as things astronomical began to once again play a greater role in the history of our species on this small blue/green world.

By now we had a fair idea of our human losses during the war. Incredibly some 800 million had perished during the First Martian War with almost every major city on Earth either destroyed or badly damaged during the few weeks of battle. (Cairo was the major exception even though it did in fact sustain some moderate damage during the war.) For mankind it had been an unprecedented bloodbath. We also calculated (guessed) we had lost an additional 50 to 60 million lives due to starvation and disease during the following four years after the end of the war. More than half of humanity had been lost. The total losses during these events would not be accurately reported to the general public for another twenty years. We had also been able to calculate the Martian losses incurred during the war. They were considerably less.

During active fighting the Martians had suffered nearly 35,500 dead Martian As, 14,100 or more dead Martian Bs, 2400 hybrids killed, lost 189 Martian Flying Machines and a little over 10,000 Martian Walkers. It was incredible learn how much damage they could inflict with so few fighting machines and operational forces. We did not dwell on the low numbers. What we would do was estimate that when the time came we could expect to be attacked by at least three times that number of Martians and their machines during the next war. We also expected they would have made advances in their tactics and weapons. Very few in national governments or Committee offices felt a second war would not come to planet Earth. However, for now it was time to test our latest developments in wireless technology. It was one of many areas we needed to fully understand and command on Earth.

Editor’s Note: These losses were very close to the actual losses other than Martian Bs which numbered 15,500 which of course were of little value to Mars Prime – Hybrid losses were of no concern.

THE CHRISTMAS EVE RADIO TEST

On Christmas Eve 1906 Committee wireless science team members were preparing final work on an experimental commercial wireless radio transmission. If successful it would be the first of its kind in the world. We already had a series of primitive wireless radios that could transmit and receive Morse code. Now we were about to embark on actual voice transmission over large distances. Dr. Tesla was on hand to observe this first test and, if asked, to lend any advice to the participants. (Actually, truth be told, the good Dr. Tesla would give advice whether he was asked or not.) Led by Canadian Professor Reginald A. Fessenden, a former assistant tester for Thomas Edison, an Alexanderson alternator and rotary spark-gap transmitter had been assembled on Brant Rock, Massachusetts. The team had built a medium-powered continuous-wave alternator-transmitter that would be used to send telegraphic as well as test audio transmissions. They had also built a high-power rotary-spark transmitter to test the potential for long-distance radio-telegraph service. This would be a test based upon the best humans could develop at the time. We had not yet had enough time to fully investigate the communications equipment we had captured during the Tango raid in Upper-New York City. Later, improvements would be made based upon our work as well as back engineered Martian technology.

Earlier, in January of 1906, Fessenden had made his first successful wireless transmission of Morse code messages from which he received a message. The coded message had been made between his Brant Rock facility and one that had been built at Machrihanish, Scotland. Now it was time to test the audio transmission capabilities. Aided by Lee De Forest, who had added a fine control element to the radio, a three-element (triode) vacuum tube was heated up which would allow for much greater amplification of the wireless signal. The theory of modulation discovered by Fessenden was about to embark on its most ambitious test. The team was ready to test the first amplitude modulated (AM) radio carrier wave, sending out a signal over the Atlantic Ocean. Several ships on the Atlantic which had been informed of the test and equipped in advance would later report they had heard the ‘broadcast’ of voice as well as Fessenden playing on his violin the familiar strains of O Holy Night. Some inland receivers were also able to “tune into” the first ever broadcast which included the playing of a phonograph record of Ombra mai fu (Largo) by George Frederic Handel. They were also able to hear Fessenden reading passages from a bible. “Glory to god in the highest and on Earth peace to men of good will.” It was heard as far south as Norfolk, Virginia. Along with several other members of the Committee who had gathered on the roof of a building near one of the underground entrances in New York City, I sat with my crude hand-built radio with headphones on straining to hear anything I could. When I did it almost seemed magical. The test had been a complete success, and a second one was planned for the very near future. The fathers of modern Earth-based radio had done their work well.

Naval staff member Edwin J. Quinby would remember the first test, “The high-frequency alternators Tesla built between 1890 and 1895 produced up to 20 kHz, despite the critics who said it couldn’t be done, and who accused him of being an impractical dreamer. It remained for Professor Reginald A. Fessenden to demonstrate such machines could produce the required quiet carrier for voice modulation, thus eliminating the background roar of the damped-wave spark and arc transmitter with which others were experimenting. Fessenden agreed with Tesla, that the damped-wire transmitters were an abomination, and that the future successful radio development rested on continuous-wave generators.”

For Fessenden the rotary-spark device was only a stop-gap measure until he and others could perfect the continuous-wave transmitter (a pure sine wave on a dedicated frequency). The new continuous-wave transmitters could transmit good quality audio sound. With a greatly speeded up electric alternator the radio signal would be strong and steady when broadcast from an aerial. All he needed to do then was place a carbon microphone in the transmission wire and speak. The sounds were then ‘impressed’ on the carrier wave and sent out to be picked up by radio receivers. We really were moving forward on this cutting-edge technology.

On New Year’s Day 1907 Professor Fessenden and his team were once again ready at his Brant Rock facility. Using his high-frequency alternator supplied by Dr. Tesla’s team they broadcast a program of news and recorded music tuned in by hundreds of receivers along the East Coast of America. These primitive new wireless detectors were all using De Forests’s new Audion diode (audion detector) that would sharpen reception and become the basis for the advancing radio technology, until that is Martian technology was added to the mix. Dr. Tesla would say, “It’s a wonderful thing. Wireless is coming to mankind in its full meaning like a hurricane, some of these days. Some day there will be, say, six great wireless telephone stations in the world system connecting all the inhabitants of this Earth to one another not only by voice but by sight. By then radio will also be in each home to entertain and inform a well connected world.” As requested cards came in a flood responding to the request for information on how well the transmission had been received. Everyone involved seemed to have enjoyed the event. Naturally the Committee viewed it as a defensive success.

Towards the end of the test one anomaly had been noted by several of the observers. For some reason, as yet not fully understood, a continuous low pitch tone was heard for 35 seconds at the end of the test. The Committee team working on the demonstration was certain the sound had not been generated by their equipment. The Committee equipment had been powered down ten seconds after the broadcast ended. This ‘extra’ 25 seconds of wireless noise therefore had to have come from another source. What source that could possibly be we could only guess. Needless to say, the possibility the Martians were interfering with the test did cross our minds, but that was only a theory. We needed more than a theory, we needed facts. But when you think about it who or what else could it have come from? Continuing the thought it was decided that if the ‘extra’ time was an intentional broadcast wave why not use it to overload or block our test? We certainly had more questions than answers. One thing was certain – the Martians had nothing to worry about when it came to Earth based radio – at least not yet!

Tesla was so pleased with the results he took out a bottle of St. Estephe 1801 and poured some drinks. After the test Dr. Tesla was stopped on his way home by a reporter from the Philadelphia Times.

“I hear you have a wireless device that will communicate with warships one hundred miles away, Dr. Tesla.”

“That is true, but I cannot give you the details. One reason I cannot tell you just what my machine is, is that if it can be used on our ships it will give us an advantage; and I shall be proud to have been of so much use to the Committee and to my country.”

“Then you consider yourself a good American?”

“I, a good American? I was a good American before I ever saw this country. I had studied its government; I had met some of its people, I admired America. I was at heart an American before I thought of coming here to live. What opportunities this country offers a man! Its people are a thousand years ahead of the people of any other nation of the world. They are big, broadminded, and generous. I could not have accomplished in any other country what I have here.”

Months later The New York Times published an article about the test when it reported that the American Navy was installing such equipment on some of their front line battleships. If this proved successful other national navies as well as Committee ships would also be equipped. This would be one of many topics to be discussed at the First World Military Conference soon to be held in Lower-London.

The New York Times – 1 September 1907

TELEPHONING AT SEA

NEW WASHINGTON CENTER: THE Navy Department is about to install wireless telephone apparatus on all battleships destined for the Pacific, this fall. Practicable wireless telephony over a distance of five miles in all weathers is guaranteed by the company furnishing the instruments. Under favorable conditions, it is reported, a much greater distance for communication is possible. The Hertzian wave will penetrate opaque substances, and the amplitude and intensity of the waves may be so varied as to reproduce faithfully the vibrations of the human voice. Recently, the Fessenden wireless system demonstrated the practicability of transmitting spoken words from a tall mast at Brent Rock to Plymouth, twelve miles away. If this system proves successful it will be expanded to the Atlantic Fleet.

It was around this time the British battleship HMS Dreadnought made its debut. This was the first big ship to abandon the traditional practice of supporting engine power with a reciprocating engine. In its stead the British supplied one of the new steam turbine engines which had recently been developed. It was a breakthrough design which would allow the new ship to propel itself to an unprecedented 21 knots which made the Dreadnought the fastest ship in the world. As far as we knew there was nothing like her on Mars. Without an ocean or a substantial sea for many years on Mars a ship such as this would have been little more than a rather large standing gun platform with nowhere to go.

My notes from 17 April 1907 relate the Americans processed some 11,747 immigrants at their new Ellis Island facility on a single day. I wondered how these new people would live and what kind of work they would find as the Americans rebuilt their war ravaged nation.

THE FIRST WORLD MILITARY CONFERENCE

For many attendees it was the first time they had left their respective countries since the outbreak of hostilities with the Martians. Twenty-seven nations were able to send delegates. For a few it was their second visit to London as they had come to the first Committee meeting in Old London in 1901. For those individuals it would seem that a great deal had been accomplished in and around Old London with new construction in a good many areas. Nevertheless, Old London still had the look of a ruined city trying to do its best to host the event. It goes without saying all meetings were held in the underground Committee Headquarters. No one stayed above ground for any length of time.

The primary reasons for holding the meeting were three fold. First, the Committee needed to ascertain firsthand how far along these nations had come reforming their military forces. Second, the Committee wanted to establish a series of training exercises designed to aid in mutual cooperation in the event of a large-scale Martian attack. (Full-scale war was not expected at this time.) Lastly, the Committee wanted to push for standardization of weapons and other military equipment that would greatly simplify manufacturing as well as training of forces around the world. It was felt because these nations were just beginning to revamp their military forces it was still early enough in the process to standardize much of their efforts. It was not lost on the Magic Twelve group that standardization also meant huge profits for several members of the group who were well placed to take advantage of the situation. This was also the first time the Committee had the opportunity to brief many of these world leaders face-to-face on all aspects of Martian attacks, as well as their other known activities on Earth. For nearly six hours the Committee briefed these men on our activities to hold back their operations as best we could. Most were amazed with all of the activity of the Martians and their hybrid allies they had not caused more problems than they had.

There was one other question the Committee needed to have answered even though it was not officially on the schedule. How dedicated were these military leaders to the common defense of the planet? This question would be answered during after event dinners when these military and political leaders “let their hair down.” To get the answer to that question they were carefully questioned during and after dinner drinks by Committee operatives acting as waiters, servers, and general guests. By far the most effective ‘operatives’ turned out to be the females working for the Committee, several of whom went well beyond the call of duty (and orders) to acquire the information we needed. This set of data on these world leaders who, for the most part, were not directly involved in Committee operations, was the beginning of the files keep on all of them held at Committee security offices (Prominent Persons Biographicals, PPBs, which would number some 35,000 within two years). This file would eventually contain information on at least 180,000 prominent individuals around the world. (Naturally hybrid files were already being kept which would allow a roundup of individuals if and when the need arose.) This would become a very powerful tool whenever the Committee needed to push hard for their priorities. Naturally the words “black mail” was never used, but it may very well have. Director C held these files in a very secure location.

With updated information in hand concerning which mining, oil production and other man-made facilities were now fully operational it was decided the Americans would continue to take the lead in weapons production followed by Great Britain, Germany, Japan and Brazil. Although all of these nations had been badly affected by the war they were the ones at this time which had recovered sufficiently enough in these critical areas to begin larger scale manufacturing of weapons and other military equipment.

Representing Committee manufacturing interests Andrew Carnegie reported that due to the massive relocation of people from eastern and southern Europe his mills now employed two thirds of his workers from these areas in his American facilities. He was concerned areas in Europe and Asia could become short of critical workers in the next few years. With this in mind it was suggested that immigration laws – which had been largely un-enforced, should now be addressed with much greater vigor. It was understandable that many people would like to move to the United States, but depopulating other large areas was not seen as a viable solution to local problems. People would from this point on be “encouraged to stay in their local areas and recover in place.”

It was also at this conference that Dr. Tesla took the opportunity to display one of his new devices that could transmit energy from one point to another without wires. With military units stationed in out of the way places this could be of great use to these commanders. One military observer noted:

Within the room was suspended two hard-rubber plates covered with tin foil. These were about fifteen feet apart, and served as terminals of the wires leading from the transformers. When the current was turned on, the lamps or tubes, which had no wires connected to them, but lay on a table between the suspended plates, or which might be held in the hand in almost any part of the room, were made luminous. These were the same experiments and the same apparatus shown by Tesla in London (to Committee members) about two years previous where they produced so much wonder and astonishment.

Attendees were also informed the Committee had developed a series of contingency plans not only for general military operations, but a most-secret set of special operations plans designed to place special operators (the designation ‘Tango’ was not used) and other highly trained personnel into just about any place on Earth including areas which are fast becoming lawless zones. These classified plans included infiltration routes, landing zones, local civilian contacts and expected areas of assault. The group was briefed on these plans excluding Tango operational areas. Specific infiltration routes and operational details were naturally left out for security reasons.

Combined defensive plans were given the most study during the meetings in order to coordinate city and regional defense in case of determined Martian attacks on any one area. We needed to build up our forces with as much mobility as we could muster than and with as much firepower as we could bring to the battlefield. It had been decided, even this early in our planning, to attack any lead Martian force with as much firepower and military personnel as possible as soon as possible so as to impress upon the Martians as much destruction as we could. We wanted to demonstrate how costly it would be for them if they continued to fight. In simple terms we wanted to “bloody them up” as fast and as hard as possible. Military forces had waited too long to attack during the First Martian War. We were determined to not let that happen again.

Germany reported on their major ship building program, which by this time had become the largest ship building effort in the world. One of their goals was to keep the sea lanes open and extend their military power well beyond their present boarders.

Britain was similarly building a great many capital ships including the new liners Lusitania and Mauritania. These new ships were able to cruise at 26 knots and could be adapted for war duty to armed merchant cruisers or medium troop carriers in short order. This combat ability had become standard procedure for all civilian passenger ships and would continue for the foreseeable future. The British also announced they would soon be building three new massive passenger ships in Belfast, Northern Ireland; the largest ever built at 882.9 feet long and 66,000 tons displacement. These new super passenger ships would be named after the gods the Olympic, Titanic and Gigantic (later renamed the Britannic). The ability to move large numbers of combat troops was also part of this ship building program.

Sixteen nations were prepared to report on how well they were doing in reestablishing their active military force structures. Added to military forces commanded by the Committee this group could field a little over one million men. When added to our estimated military forces in other nations around the world it was reported around two million men stood ready to defend the Earth. These were very small numbers from which to defend a planet. In fact it would have been impossible. Small numbers aside it was clear then with even greater numbers we had been unable to defeat the Martians in the first war due to many factors not the least the complete lack of cooperation by the great nations on Earth. Reserve forces were not included in the most-secret report which would have added something less than 500,000 more armed men.

It was during this conference John William Dunne showed off the first British designed military aircraft. He and his staff would soon be working directly for the Committee.

At the time of the meeting the Committee executive staff was completing work on DR 10-20. This classified document would detail some of the work being done on various Martian related projects and what we had learned about Martians in general. It became an historic work on Martians and the First Martian War. Two small sections on Martian determination and military tactics found their way into the World Military Conference.

A Brief History of Martians

As a measure of their determination to continue their species, electric documents revealed that the Martians had decided to cull out a large percentage of their population – both Martian A and B. This major reduction of Martian population was conducted approximately 20,000 years ago, a critical time for the Martians who were just then looking towards Earth as their next home. It was decided that Martian resources in all areas could not sustain a large population for much longer. They had limited consumables, limited natural resources and limited time. They needed room to breathe. From this point on they also initiated a zero population growth policy which meant that too many “buddings” in any one year beyond zero growth levels would have to be culled out to acceptable and sustainable levels. Incredible as it may seem the Martians simply and deliberately destroyed 90% of their population! Some 30 to 50 million Martian As were sealed off from the surface domed cities as well as the underground cities and were simply allowed to die. Records show that many more Martian Bs were also killed, but the Martian records do not indicate any numbers as it was not felt to be necessary to do so. There is a Martian word for this ‘program’, which loosely translates into “The time of great loss.”

Strategic Lessons

Close military study of the Martian attacks indicated a desire to not go any closer to the Earth’s equatorial regions than 25 degrees north or south latitudes for any extended period of time. During several major Martian military thrusts against Earth’s military forces the Martian machines stopped major (but not all) military operations just short of this latitude even when there was little or no opposition in their path. As before, Earth’s atmospheric temperatures and pressures appear to be the major factor in this action and will be taken into consideration as Earth forces once again build up for the expected resumption of military activity by the Martians. However, this pause proved to be only temporary, which may be an indication that the Martians made some type of equipment change in order to continue their advances into warmer areas. This general pause may be a good time to attack in force if and when it occurs in future conflicts.

Finally, the military leaders were briefed on a new underground facilities project. The Committee had been searching for the best locations to build four or five underground military bases to be used as command and control facilities in the event of interplanetary war. The locations for these new underground bases would be based on available local resources as well as determining where the Martians had begun their attacks during the First Martian War and how they are likely to attack again. We were starting to think about defense in depth with as many independent sources of weapons, facilities and ground fighting forces as we could establish.

Towards the end of the conference representatives from each nation signed a mutual defense agreement stating if any one nation were to be attacked by any interplanetary force all signatory nations would immediately come to the aid of that nation. Regional support agreements were also signed. The representatives were also informed that immigration to the United States was at its highest levels ever recorded as America continued to lead the world in recovery efforts. Nevertheless, the U.S. needed to keep a close eye on immigration to ensure the United States did not become overwhelmed with new people with no place to live or work. The United States needed to balance compassion with available resources.

I remember after the conference I had a chance to speak with Dr. Tesla about the work he and his team was doing in back-engineering Martian equipment.

 “As you know we have made great strides in dismantling and studying many of the Martian machines both large and small. And even though we have a very long way to go we have begun to make real progress in many areas.”

“What has been the area which has given you and your teams the most trouble?”

“After we began to realize the critical connection between Martian and machine the most difficult task has been to understand how language is fully a part of most, if not all, of their equipment. The language teams up north are just now able to understand a fair amount of the language at least enough for us to have a somewhat general idea of what is being said, however, the language/machine interface has proven difficult to understand.”

“Then Nicola, you would say it will be next to impossible to fully understand or use Martian technology without understanding the methods of interface.”

“This is quite correct, my friend. Without understanding their basic connection we will still be able to utilize their equipment in the future, but not nearly to the full potential with it. When we do finally have a complete grasp of this problem I would expect there would be very little we will not understand, at least on a basic level. At this point much of our work involves finding ways to work around the language interfaces. The first true test of these work-arounds would come in the near future when we start test flights of a reconstructed Martian Flying Machine.”

[END PART 16]

Copyright © R. Michael Gordon, 2020

[NEXT WEEK: PART 16: POLAR AREAS OF EARTH AS AIRCRAFT TESTS BEGIN.]