Legacy

Grandma’s house was in a small rural town of 250 people.  It had a filling station, a granary, a post office, and a grocery store.  Nothing spectacular.

The town was old and the houses were not much for size or condition.  The newest structure was a high school at the edge of town which served  the surrounding farms and town kids as well.

I had spent many of my formative years at  Grandma’s house.  We lived fifty miles away and visited every Sunday.  Many a good meal was  enjoyed there.  It was a very austere two bedroom affair with an outhouse and a potbelly stove for heat.

Since the last time I saw Grandma had been when I got out of college,  I  decided  to visit her.  I was surprised to find that her shack of a house had been built onto at the back and a second story added to that.  Grandma was sitting in her rocking chair smiling and happy to see me.

When I asked her what all the  house add-on was all about,  she gave a really wild explanation.  She said two weeks ago a  couple of nice looking young gentlemen in black suits knocked on the door  and told her she had been randomly selected by their home remodeling company to receive a free upgrade to her house so that other people who see it might want to do business with them.  Since it was a freebie, she agreed.

She said she had a fancy new bedroom on the second floor.  I couldn’t believe it because she can hardly walk and can not negotiate stairs.  She said   they put in a lift on the staircase so all she had to do was ride up.

Grandma took me up to see the bedroom.  It was pure luxury, furnished with the very best with an on suite  bathroom fixed up perfectly for elderly and handicapped people.   It was the first in-door plumbing that Grandma had ever had.  She was so happy.

I asked her about the lower level of the add-on as I didn’t see a door to it.  She told me it was because its only access is from the outside and is supposed to be a room for the night for their company representatives who might be traveling through.  It was no cost to her, so she wasn’t worried.

Needless to say, my eyebrows shot up and my nose began to twitch. Something seemed a bit cockeyed about the whole deal.  I concluded my visit with Grandma.   But before I went to my car I thought I’d have a look at this “room” for company representatives.

I went around back and entered.  It looked the same as a motel room.  except there was only one door in.  So what was the extra door on the end wall?  Maybe a toilet.  I decided to check it out, so I opened the door.  It certainly wasn’t a toilet;  it was a small elevator that could accommodate two.

I concluded something funny was going on and I was going to find out what.   So I  stepped  into the elevator and pressed the down button.  It didn’t travel too far, maybe  thirty feet, and opened into a well-built, well-lit  tunnel.  Heading down the tunnel, I came to a door.   I opened it and stepped into a well-lit room that was circular with seven more doors which looked exactly like the one I’d just came through.   In the middle of the room there was a spiral staircase that led upward.

After climbing up the staircase, I arrived at a five-foot square landing  with a door.  When I stepped through the door,  I knew instantly where I was because I’d visited there a time or two.   I was in the high school at the edge of town.   I turned around and looked at the door  and saw it was labeled “Janitors Closet.” Since it was Sunday,  no one was there.  At this point I couldn’t even guess the school connect, but it was getting more and more curious.

I headed back to Grandma’s house the way I came and decided I would return during the week when school was in session and find out what was going on.   Returning to the circular room below the school I saw eight identical doors.  Whoops!  Which one had I came through?.

I knew I needed to try one door. If there was a tunnel behind it, then it is probably the right one.  So I opened the door and, Bingo, there was the tunnel!    Trotting down the hall happy as a lark,  I saw the elevator.  So far so good.  I went in and pressed the Up button.   In a short time,  the elevator stops and I step out into the motel-like room and head out the door.

Wait!  The scenery has changed.  I thought,  What is this! It’s crazy!   I turned and looked.   Yes, it was Grandma’s house; but it’s not where it should be.  When I ran around to the front side, it  looked like Grandma’s house.  I went in and everything looked right.  Grandma was in her rocking chair.  But what?  It’s a look-alike dummy.  Not good.  What’s going on?  Grandma’s house is in Huron, Kansas.  Where am I?  I decided to look around, keeping the house  in sight for prudent reasons.

It appeared that I was out in farm country.  There was  a highway about 100 yards away and I could see a sign next to it.  Figuring that might offer a clue,  I headed down to read it.  The sign said “Altoona, PA  30 miles.”

Panic set in and I thought Dorothy was right, this is no longer Kansas.  I ran back to the house as fast as I could, my heart pounding.  I hurried  into the house, down the elevator, and back through the tunnel.  As I approached the door from the tunnel side, I notice it was outlined with a dim blue light.  The first door I went through had no light of any kind.  This was worthy of note as I would soon  find out.

Now back in the circular room,  I turned around and used my ball point pen to mark the door frame so I wouldn’t go back through that one again.   Now, which one of the remaining seven should I pin my hopes on?  I  might as well go clockwise one by one until I found my way back to the right house.

I was hoping in the process not to run into anything unpleasant. I opened the door, stepped in, and turned around to look.  There was no light of any kind outlining the door.  Feeling relieved, I proceeded down the tunnel, took the elevator, and went up again.  I stepped out and headed out the door. Oh, no!  Wrong place again.  Where am I?  I pulled out my vest pocket notebook and made some notes as to what happened so far, and then went to see if I could figure out where I was this time.  I  stared at the door I just came through and saw that it was outlined in a dim orange light.  As far as lights go, it was a different color, different door, and different side from before.   No doubt significant, but beyond my understanding.

Again I seemed to be out in the country in a somewhat wooded area.  I walked to the crest of a small hill and looked down into a valley where I could see what appeared to be a camp and mining operation of some sort.  I didn’t know what was being mined but I thought there was a probable connection.

I headed back to yet another duplicate of Grandma’s house to return to the circular room.   I marked the door frame, this time with two hash marks to tell me it was the second door tried.  Then I sat down on the floor and tried to collect my thoughts to decide what to do next.  It was mind boggling and  I was having a hard time trying to understand anything that had happened.   Something was not what it should be.

After a while it became obvious to me I wouldn’t get anywhere just sitting there and stewing about it, so  I  went through the next door in the clockwise rotation.   This time I turned and looked.   There was no light on the inside of the door off of the circular room.  I thought I might have gotten lucky this time, but  I was wrong.  When I got to the elevator entrance door it was outlined in a purple light.

I stepped outside  and saw yet another copy of Grandma’s house.   This time it  was an eyeful.  Just a couple of hundred feet down  a street was what looked like a small  shack town from depression days.  There was a  three-story corrugated metal-covered  building with loaded ore cars coming out from a point about  fifteen feet above ground to a platform, and trucks were being loaded with the ore.

Next to that building there was a modern medium-sized, two-story structure that looked like it held offices.  I observed the trucks being loaded for a while.  After the last one was finished the workers went back into the  building and I moved in for a closer look.   I picked up a piece of the ore that had spilled over on the ground  and stuffed it into my pocket.  It reminded me of coal except  it was a bluish gray with a slight shine to it.

To get a closer look at the  office building,  I  looked in the front door.  There were no receptionists or  guards in view, so I went in.  Since I saw nothing was of interest in sight, I walked up the nearby stairway to see if I could get a better view of things from a window.

At the top of the stairs I could see it led to a walkway.  As I stepped onto it I immediately crouched down, for below me in a very large meeting room were people of every stripe, race, culture and religion.  I was not viewable from my crouched position and I was thankful for that.   For an hour I listened to what they said.  It was easy to hear because they used loud speakers for the  large meeting room.

I learned they were power brokers, bankers, and moguls from all over the world with one common interest that united them regardless of their  differences.  In a few years they intended to seize global power  and carve  earth up into five zones, each with its own form of corporate government.  The thing that would let them do this would be their total control of Albinite, which apparently was what was being mined in more than  one place around the globe.  It was supposedly very rare.   I gathered from what I heard it could be used  like nuclear  fuels but with no hazards.  One pound of it processed could provide the energy need of a large city for a thousand years.  No wonder someone wanted control.

Very quickly I realized  it was time to haul my carcass out  of there, and I did so with great haste.  On my way back to the copy of Grandma’s  house  I passed  a panel van with a sign on the side that said  “Istanbul  Catering Service.”  My immediate reaction was, If that means what I think it does, my word, where am I?

When I returned to the circular room I  marked the door frame.  I knew I had to alert the highest of authorities.  Would they think I’m nuts?  I had  to get back to the real Grandma’s house somehow.

Then like a light bulb turned on in my brain, I realized that the circular room was below the high school, the spiral stairs led up to the school, and  I could go out their front door and walk to my car at Grandma’s actual house in  ten minutes or less.  This is what I did, figuring the other four doors can be someone else’s worry.

I drove back to Topeka, Kansas, my home town.  All the way there my mind was in a whirl trying to figure out who I could talk  with who might somehow get me through to the President which is who really needed to know, and hopefully believe me.

It took about an hour to get to Topeka and by the time I got there  I had decided  the police would be a waste of time as well as the FBI office.  I wasn’t sure if there was anyone I could trust in Topeka.  However, since Topeka is the capital city of Kansas, the National Guard Adjutant General is located there.  I thought he would be my best shot.

His office was in the Statehouse basement, and was  a large complex that one would never expect to be there from the unmarked, rather austere entrance.  Since I had worked in the building  I knew where it was.

I went in and told the receptionist who I was, showed my I.D.,  and emphasized it was a matter of national importance.  She gave me the  “another nut case look,” but did get me in to see him.  He was gracious but somewhat condescending  when he asked what he  could do for  me.

I told him I had an unbelievable story involving Albinite and I held out the piece I had picked up.  Immediately he went to full alert and gave me his close attention.   Apparently he knew what it was.  He said it was the fourth known specimen in this country. Only a few scientists and high-ranking military personnel even knew of its existence.  A pound of it processed could safely power an aircraft carrier indefinitely.   It was thought its source was Mars from the formation of the solar system when an asteroid plowed into Mars knocking chunks into space, some of which plowed into Earth at various times and places.  How much of the chunks from Mars were Albinite or asteroid mix wasn’t sure.  But information from the Mars Rover pretty well confirmed the origin  source.

He  then got down to the next nitty gritty and asked, “How in the name of everything conceivable did you come by such a specimen?”  I told him that it will sound like an unbelievable shaggy dog story, but I shared with him all I had encountered.

I was afraid he would have a heart attack, his face grew so grave.  He said there had been suspicions for years about the existence  of such shadowy cartel groups that want to completely change and control  everything.

He said this was a matter of extreme importance to the nation and world, and the President needed to be alerted posthaste.   He said he and I would be on a plane in the morning, and he assured me  we would be expected at the White House.

I was stunned into silence for a few minutes.  It seemed impossible that all this was happening and it was too much  to try to process mentally.   But I was getting the idea.

Back at my apartment it was impossible to sleep that night.   In the morning as I bleary eyed  finished shaving, a loud knock on the door hurried me  up.   When I opened the door, there stood a man in a black suit telling me the General was waiting.

Why is it always a black suit no matter the country or group? I mused. That question would fill a book with the  answer.  Down front was a black (of course) limo with the General inside.  We hastily went to the Air Guard unit at the former airbase just south of town, where we boarded a small corporate size jet.  Four hours later we landed at a military facility outside of Washington, DC.  Another black limo with two  black suited escorts whisked us  to the White House.  Upon arriving the gates swung wide.   Indeed we were expected.  At this point even having no sleep I was alert, going on just nerves, I guess.

We entered the  White House where I expected to go to the Oval Office, but that was not to be.  Instead we went to a smaller office, wherein a hidden button was pushed and a bookcase slid back revealing an elevator.    We boarded it and went down for what seemed probably six stories worth of time.  I had no way of knowing.  It finally opened and we stepped out into what looked like a large War Room with more screens, computers, and phones than I’d ever seen in one spot.

There in the middle of it all at a large table sat the  President and all of the Chiefs of Staff.  I wondered where the Vice President and Secretary of State were, as I didn’t see them.  I ignorantly  asked and was told there were things even they didn’t know about.

The General showed the President the specimen and I related all I had encountered.  Everyone in the room looked extremely serious.    I didn’t find that too surprising.

The President said,  “The cartel/group of fanatics had been known to exist for several generations.  Their ambitions were also  known;  however, they thrived in a very secretive shadowy world.  Not until now did the means exist for them to bring such ambitions to fruition.  We must stop them and gain control of all mining operations.  That is the number one imperative.  The number two imperative is to recover what they have already mined.  It won’t be easy, but it must be done because  the amount you report seeing being loaded in itself is enough to give them power.  The number three imperative is to capture them if possible, if we’re fortunate enough  to find them all in one place like you saw them.”

I then learned that I was deep enough into this mess to become part of its solution.  Apparently all agreed that the Grandma’s houses  were like sign posts that all involved could recognize and then utilize.  It would be used to our advantage.

A well-trained Navy Seal was assigned to go with me to cover my back.   As I went back and through each door in succession, he would leave  under the bed of each motel-type room at the rear of the houses a GPS locater, and then get out quickly and unnoticed.  When that was totally accomplished, I would call in and the locations would light up all over the War Room screens.

All went well until we were getting to leave the last room.  Two individuals  stepped off the elevator before we could step back on.  The Navy Seal took them out so fast your head would spin.  They didn’t have a chance to go for their communication devices.  Not knowing  how quickly they might be missed, we hurried back to the circular room and made our call.

It would take us about five hours to get back to the War Room in the White House.  But on getting back out of the  high school, I had sudden panic.   What about my Grandma’s safety?   The  Navy Seal and I beat a hasty path back to Grandma’s house and much to my surprise I found a note on the door saying troops would arrive soon, that Grandma was safe and taken to White House to view  the award that was to be presented  by  the  President to me.  I was flabbergasted, but relieved.

The Navy Seal grinned and said,  “Probably by more men in black with a partial cock and bull story.”

“No doubt.   It’s always men in black.  By the way, did you notice the funny looks we got coming out of the high school?  Like in, ‘Who are you?’

The Navy Seal, whose name was Jake, no last name given, said,  “I always get those looks;  it must be my outfit.”

I arrived at the White House and saw  Grandma coming down the hall with the First Lady.  She looked happier than a kid with a new toy.  The President hung some sort of Citizen’s Service Medal around my neck and Grandma looked so proud I thought she would burst.  She said she could hardly wait to tell my parents.  Whoops, wrong thing to say.  The President quickly explained to Grandma that I’d be staying awhile to continue my work and she would be taken back home in the morning.  He emphasized that she could not tell anyone of this for national security reasons.  She looked like a whipped pup who had lost her best friend, but said she understood and would keep mum.  I knew Grandma always kept her word.

On the way back down to the War Room I asked the President if that medal was to simply complete the con on Grandma.  He said, “You are partially right, but the medal is real and you did deserve it.  Of course, you can’t display it or speak of it or anything else to which you will be privy.”  I told him I understood completely.  I now knew how Grandma felt.  Bummer.

We sat down in the War Room.  Information was coming in fast.  It  seems that there was only one other mining operation located to total  three. Five of the Grandma’s houses (including hers)  were no more than escape hatches in case of problems at any of the three mining sites.  The high school was also an escape hatch in the event the others couldn’t handle the flow.  When going up the spiral staircase one’s  approach would open the floor in the janitor’s closet which would stay open a few minutes then close.

Apparently from the  school side the floor would not open, and therefore  teachers or anyone using the school would never know what was built under it.  I figured the school was built by an anonymous donor in order for that to work.

I was told that waste not want not was in order and that crews would be dispatched to torch through the floor to give the school access.  The cock and bull story to go with that would be something to hear no doubt.  But the school would have space to put in a nice media center.

The tunnels would be collapsed and the circular room doors walled up as if they never were.  I was told that the different colored light at points in each tunnel or at a door were the actual transport point from one part of the world to another or back to the circular room.  That was Star  Trek type technology that no government had actually been able to do in reality, but obviously someone did.  That would be information that would be squeezed out of somebody at some point most likely.

Come to find out, the mining site  where I had gotten specimen and where I saw the Istanbul Catering Service truck was indeed as I suspected, in Turkey.  Thinking about it raised the hair on the back of my head again. Spooky it was.  Another location was in New Mexico, and the other one I’d seen personally was in China.  It was mind boggling.

Then of the escape hatches, there was Grandma’s real house in conjunction with the high school, and the ones near Altoona, PA,  in Russia, Peru, and France. Very  interesting.

Apparently the troops dispatched to the points that turned out to be escape hatches encountered no one.  That meant the troops of our country, Turkey, and China had a flawless coordinated effort and took all occupied mining areas by surprise, encountering no resistance.

Good fortune was with us as the Turkish troops rounded up a full house in that meeting room.   Unfortunately it’s like cutting off a few top heads in Al  Quaida.  Other snakes still exist to grow new heads and become a new problem.  In this case, it would take the survivors,  their children and recruits ten or twelve generation before being able to make another attempt at world domination.

The next order of business will be gaining information, which may take some time and will be conducted by various persons in  this and other governments.

First off,  they will want to find out where the ore was shipped.  Then they will want to find out who and where the scientists and technicians are behind the transport portals.

Anxiously we waited  for information to come in.  The first bit was that 157 persons  were captured  in the meeting room in the large mining camp in Turkey as well as several hundred mine workers who probably don’t really have any answers but will be questioned anyway.  We might get lucky.

Interrogation  of the persons from the meeting room was not going well.  I was told that the answers are so critically important that nice-nice will not be part of the interrogations.   It sounded bloody to me, and it was.  When the report came in that they refused to talk,  we shot three, one after the other. Each had been given the opportunity to speak but they refused, apparently they feared something more than death.  Wait!  The next one in line blurted out, “Mercy, we can’t talk.  If we do our families will be butchered.”  What should we do was the next question that came in.

The President looked very grim and with great reluctance said,  “Tell them we can send their fingerprints to Interpol and get them identified, and then we too will know where their families are.”  The interrogators did so and reported back that that had made the culprits very nervous.

The President asked if any among them might be Muslim.  The response was that there appeared to be two or three possibilities.  The President than asked whether the interrogation  team had food for themselves and any ham.    The response was,  yes, they had ham.  The President said, “Offer a sandwich to the three possibilities.”

A few minutes later the information came in that two of them gobbled the ham but the third refused.  The President said,  “That’s the one who is key to unlocking what we want to know. Ask him if he realizes that through his fingerprints that we can locate his family.  If he says ‘Yes,’ then tell him if he doesn’t talk and sing like a bird  we will go to his family, force them to drink pig’s blood and execute them.”

A few minutes later a report came in that the subject was crying and spilling voluminous and enlightening information. The President said,  “We don’t like being forced to  take such measures, but with world security at stake there was no other choice.”

It turns out that some of the  scientists and technicians were living and working out of Altoon, PA.  That put another dimension to that particular Grandma’s house.  The others were in France.

The refinery for the Albinite was deep in the remote reaches of the Gobi Desert.  That will require a big expeditionary force to move quickly before it can be relocated.  Obviously, by now the refinery people have gotten wind of something, so time is indeed of the essence.

The plan  for the Albinite is to have the mines put under UN military supervision and the recovered ore along with future ores divided equally among the major powers for storage and safe keeping.

I was told that in spite of  Albinite’s miraculous  potential, development  must be slow and careful over many years.  Otherwise it could cause global economic chaos.

This has been one whale of an experience, and a tale I can never tell.

I’m heading back to Grandma’s house.  I’m sure she will be glad to see me.