[Atrocities]

Part V - a

The S.E.D building is a handsome modern age quartz faced five story building on the out skirts of the Capital located at the former Mustafa Air Base, one of the largest air bases in the world. As Toms staff car approached the gate, his driver slowed and came to a stop. The drive exchanged some words with the guard before being allowed to pass. The buildings parameter was a one layer fence with razor wire tops. Tom knew that security was going to have to be improved in order to keep the crucial areas secure while allowing increased access to both the employees and the public. One thing Tom wanted was to make the Division open to the public for tours, and informational exchanges. In the past the SED has always been a military operation and ran as such. Times have changed, and it was high tide that some of those changes began here.

The drive in from the entrance gate to the underground parking facility only took about a minute. As he exited the staff car, Tom looked around. The garage was a vast complex which was already close to a third of the way full by five am. “I see people like to get early starts?” He asked out loud.
“No sir, those are the people who stay on campus. They most likely work in the Propulsion Design Bureau, and the Gravitational Studies Department. They love their work sir.” Responded the drive as he closed Toms door and stepped back around to the drivers side of the staff car. “I will park the car, then report to the motor pool sir. If you wish to leave, just have your aid or secretary com me, and I will be ready for you right here within five minutes sir.”
“Thank you.” Replied Tom simply as he slowly began to walk to the lifts. In the back ground as he walked he could hear the Staff car pulling away. It had been about a year or so since his Last visit to this place, and it felt really good to be back. As the lift moved silently to the fifth floor, Tom reflected back upon the incident at Pennington, and the man who gave the order to kill a thousand innocent people. His first order of business was to confront Carl Wilhelm and set the ground rules. If Willy boy didn’t like the new ground rules, or broke so much as one of them, Tom was going to boot him from the SED with a swift hard kick that he would not soon forget.

The lift stopped, and the doors opened. Tom existed the lift and looked about the floor. It was an open floor with many cubicles spread all about in a maze. The place looked much as it did when he worked here. His office was on the northwestern corner of the building overlooking the launch facility and run ways. It was a breath taking sight to say the least. The Launch complex was nearly fifty stories tall, and was still being completed. From this building, would come some of the first manned, and un-manned, space vessels to be launched into orbit over Pandora in almost eighty years. Next to satellites, nothing important had been launched into space for eight decades. Well that was all about to change.

***

“What?” Asked Nina Smith as she stood looking down at Dr. Bill Ramzies as he pulled himself out from under the Polaris Ground Transport. “What was that Dr. Ramzies?” She asked again.
Bill Ramzies simply looked up at her with deep sad eyes. He didn’t need to say anything. It was clear, the Polaris was finished and with it, the chances for their survival.
“Oh my god!” She said as she raised her hand to her mouth to cover it up. “We’re dead.” She said almost on the verge of tears. Dr. Ramzies had stood by this time. He grabbed both of her arms and shook her slightly.
“Nina, calm down, we are not dead. We still have the Ice Scrambler.” He said as he looked her directly in her eyes. “We can still make it to Davenport, but its going to be a very cold trip.”

She simply looked back at him and shook her head in acknowledgement. How could she have been so stupid she thought. Driving the Polaris right off that ice cliff. She should have been watching the forward scanners. She should have seen it. “Its all my fault.” She cried.
“No, it is not, the scanner was malfunctioning. If I had been piloting, the same thing would have happened to me.” Stated Ramzies as calmingly as he could. “Now we have to get going. I will need your help to free the Ice Scrambler.” With that they both set about the task of freeing the two man open cockpit ground hovering vehicle. It was small with limited in range, but it was fast, and reliable with good forward ground sensors that would hopefully keep them from running off another cliff.

Within an hour they had freed the Ice Scrambler and were on their way again. Ramzies figured that at their current pace, they would reach Davenport in just under two days, or freeze to death. The Ice Scrambler had the fuel to make within walking distance of Davenport, but without accurate satellite guidance, they could be heading in the opposite direction. ‘Thank god I took that Last reading before we went off that damned cliff’ thought Ramzies to himself as he maneuvered the Scrambler over the rough ice and snow surfaces of the Northern Ice Plains.