25
Apol o 918 The trip of no return
26
Joseph Thomas
I was back in my headquarters in Virginia. I asked my
assistant not to bother me for a couple of hours. My
conscience could not bear the weight of the
responsibility that was given to me. At my desk, I had
more than 500 records, each of them had I had
commanded, all young brave Marines willing to give
their lives for this great nation. How was I to choose
only one hundred? I was sure that this was the most
difficult mission I had ever served in, would have
preferred that the order was to fly to the very heart of
our enemies and stop the madness that was coming,
but choosing one hundred of my men was putting to
death all the others. I could not take anything to
chance. I also understood the seriousness of the
matter, I just wanted to think for a moment that
everything was just a nightmare, I wished that at
some point the phone would ring with the news that
an elite group of soldiers had found the command
center of our enemies and destroyed the possibility of
a disaster. But I'm a career soldier I must follow
orders, I only had thirteen hours for return, exactly
five to choose and take the flight to take me back to
the maze where salvation was only for a few. I started
by separating women from men, I thought, at least, if
I chose the same number of each gender it would be
partial, or at least even, years of experience have
shown me that there are times when women have
more value, not counting with the fact that they are
much more determined and organized by nature, I
managed to separate the first fifty on merit and
missions accomplished, then twenty more for their
youth and their dedication. Of the remaining records I
should take twenty, I looked name by name, I
checked every history, personal details, if they were
27
Apol o 918 The trip of no return
married or not, they’re medical records, so I reduced
the list to choose just three, I had already chosen
ninety-seven good soldiers.
At that time, the office phone rang, it startled me. I
prayed that it was the call I had imagined, but no it
was the military hospital that warned that Ronald
Cadet's wife had just given birth to a girl. The soldier
had failed to be there, because he was on duty. Do not
know how or why I did it, I have never failed to fulfill
an order, but something inside me drove me to call
my assistant asking her to call soldier Ronald and
present himself to my office immediately. It took only
five minutes when a very young man, short red hair,
appeared at my door. Standing firm said.
- Excuse me Sir.
- Come in, cadet, have a seat. - I took off my beret for
the first time in hours, and by standing in front of the
soldier in a military fatherly tone I said:
- Soldier, I have for you a very important task, you
must fulfill and a mission of utmost importance and
cannot
have
the
slightest
error.
- Just give me your order sir, he said, the boy standing
firm and taking his right hand to his forehead.
- Take a military vehicle with the utmost discretion
and go to the military hospital, pick up your wife and
daughter and come back here, soldier, you have two
hours to fulfill this mission.
28
Joseph Thomas
The gleam in the boy's eyes and smile was evident of
the happiness that felt, when he tried to ask me why
that mission, before he was even finished, I did not let
him talk and in a stronger tone I said:
- Remember that you are a soldier of this nation and
you fulfill orders without question, go now, have two
hours.
I decided the best thing for me and my conscience
would not to walk again through the courtyards of the
barracks, I could not bear to leave those facilities with
the memory of the looks and greetings from many
guys that for years had served this nation under me, I
felt nothing but cowardice, and I kicked myself for
that, though I tried to find courage to do it, I could
not, I closed the windows overlooking the patio and I
was alone with my thoughts, people think that
military people are strong and never cry, in those last
two hours I showed the world they were wrong.
That time had come, I washed my face, put on my
beret, I went straight to the plane, my assistant had
everyone sitting in their seats, as I entered the plane,
my eyes were looking for soldier Ronald, I found him
in half way in the right row, I breathed easy, I gave
the pilot orders to launch, from the window to my left
I could see Lieutenant Colonel Ford, whom had left
me in command of the unit with detailed guidance. I
closed my eyes and left all my remorse behind the
tracks.
*********
29Apol o 918 The trip of no return
Once in the air I decided that it was best to talk to my
soldiers on the mission entrusted to us, I worried
about Ronald soldier girl, but it was the only chance I
had to survive, to stay in the hospital was to be
sentenced to death for Anyway, if enduring the trip to
the cave-hangar would be more likely that millions of
human beings. I stood up and came, holding, central
plane.
- Marines, - I said out loud to draw attention of all - is
it possible that a nuclear attack can occur within a few
hours, you were selected among thousands of soldiers
to protect the safety of what’s most precious to our
nation, never in the years that you have served may
lead you to such delicate mission, we are going to a
secret facility where we probably may never return,
there will be thousands of civilians for which our
mission is to care for. We will flying into outer space
on a ship designed and prepared by the best scientists
of our land, the plan is to remove the best of our
youth from a nuclear risk, we must watch that on that
ship no unpleasant altercations occur that may
endanger the life of any of its crew. Here are 100
chosen within our unit, I expect from you the utmost
discretion and the highest sense of duty. With that, a
murmur was heard on the plane, but for only a few
seconds, after that silence had reigned the four hour
trip. We got to the point of landing.
The journey we had previously on sleds, was not
feasible this time, because we needed to take
equipment with us, we had to walk. Besides, someone
could be watching from a satellite, the journey would
be three hours away, as calculated by the guide that
30
Joseph Thomas
we expected. We were forbidden to use any
communication equipment, long weapons should stay
on the plane and returned to base, the guide handed
out special coats for the 12 degrees below zero that
were hitting our faces, we were given some
instructions and started walking. Though he was the
head of my platoon through the snow, from time to
time he would do a visual inspection of all the men
behind, especially soldier Ronald’s wife and
daughter, the youngest American marine.
When we finally arrived at our meeting point at the
secret passage, it was the guide this time who put his
hand in the stone and gave it the "open sesame" the
first part of the mission was accomplished and there I
was on time with my 100 soldiers and ready to begin
the second stage.
*********
After going down the elevators in groups of twenty, I
was taken by the guide, who never said his name,
with all my trained guys to a room where I would be
given instructions and drawings of the ship. entered
Through a side door, entered General Pot, followed
by the president, was saluted in unison, the two men
walked the line of marines, checking that everything
was in order and looking into the eyes of each and
every one, I was two steps away from them when
they came to where soldier Ronald’s wife and
newborn daughter were, the General turned around to
ask me, but before he could even ask me, I responded,
and said:
31
Apol o 918 The trip of no return
- It's my 100th soldier, sir - The President, who was to
At the right of General Pot and in front of me, could
not nothing more than laugh. We all laughed and the
General gave the ok and reaching out in a hand shake
congratulated me on the timely efficiency and quality
of the chosen men. He asked me to follow him to his
office where we would discuss here the strategy of
the plan.
My men were taken to a room where they would be
using computers, given new larger caliber rifles for
accuracy. A portable intercom mounted over their
ears, which linked with each other and receive direct
signal from the command post. New uniforms
equipped with antiballistic. The mission would be
explained in specific details and the responsibilities
they had. The chain of command, learn the ships floor
plans and learn to move within the ship.
All civilians chosen to board the ship were all in
military barracks prepared for this purpose, in a
restricted area of the underground facilities. The
second step of my mission was to lead them into
groups and housing them in the ship’s south-west
side, where six floors were divided in shelters, we
decided to separate the men from the women, and put
them up on the upper floors, minors and a few elders
who were each selected for their knowledge and
experience, all great doctors, in different fields of
science. Each floor would have military command
post, with ten of my soldiers. In the south-east side of
the ship were the workshops, machine rooms, areas
for the protection of animal and forest, a huge fish
32
Joseph Thomas
like pond with different species of marine life, one
with fresh water species.
And cloning laboratories that ensured food for all
crew. In the northwestern part of the ship were
grocery stores, hangars with about sixty exploration
aircrafts, a military department with reserves for all
the weapons available, drinking water supplies and
oxygen tanks, tanks for fuel, in this case it was
hydrogen in the six wings of Apollo 918, at the
northeast side the main control rooms, main operating
rooms, it was the only part of the ship that had large
windows or skylights installed which allowed us to
look into space.
I organized my soldiers and began to move all
civilians, with only five thousand remaining to board
the ship. According to General Pot, we had enough
time for the operation, but an alarm put everyone on
alert, the General on radio told me we had to leave,
according to the latest reports ten warheads could
suddenly be in the air, the ground troops in the area of
greatest conflict had captured an enemy commander's
son who had gone mad. There were only fifteen
minutes left to be in the air and through the
atmosphere.
I gave my soldiers the order to take all civilians left
towards the ship, there was panic and despair, all in
parallel formation marked the way for my soldiers to
bring them to the barracks and thru the main gate,
someone with the force of their body struck me
making me fall a few meters back, I pulled myself
33
Apol o 918 The trip of no return
together and finished the operation, when I made sure
that all of my soldiers were inside the ship, I pressed
the button to close the huge gate, I immediately felt
the gnashing of the powerful motors begin to run and
again my body was on the floor when the vast mass
of steel took off, my soldiers and I spent about 10
minutes trying to fight the inertia of our bodies, the
belt of our uniforms had a button where we could
press it and it would tie us securely to any side of the
walls of the ship just by pressing the button, so we did
and we merged with the walls of the immense Noah’s
Ark.
When calm was apparent and we could standing and
walk around, it was soldier Ronald saw blood on my
right arm.
34
Joseph Thomas