“It's mostly completed now,” Fitch explained. “Several major modifications will need to be made. It's mostly tunneled, that's why we'll need to make the design changes soon. I'll get started tomorrow, and I need you both there by the end of the week. Let the rest of the team do the follow up at the end of the current experiment. As soon as they're awake, call me, and I'll have a chopper here to collect you.”

“If these people are going to sleep for ten years or more, what're we doing for a power source? We'll need massive amounts of power,” Cowan pointed out.

“We can thank the Navy for solving that problem. They have a new small reactor which will be able to run that long easily. It's still too large for their carriers, but the next generation will be smaller. This one is so large because of all the automation. It takes care of itself; the Colorado River will be used for its cooling. We'll have nuclear engineers as sleepers, and I bet you can come up with an automatic wake-up sequence in the event of any problem.”

“Sounds good,” Cowan answered. “When will the reactor be operational?”

“They brought it online two weeks ago.”

“Already! This thing is moving along quickly,” stated Cowan.

“Just wait. This is only the tip of the iceberg. There is lots more coming, General Fitch said.

Chapter Eighteen

DAY 928

Stanley Waldorf was feeling a bit uneasy, unable to stop thinking about the last meeting he'd had with the Administrator. The boss had never behaved that way before. He'd been expecting to get summoned back to the Administrator's office, but five days had passed and he'd heard nothing.

Williams had been friendly today when they passed in the hall. There was no agitation; it was almost as if their previous conversation never occurred. Stanley knew Williams well, and there was something in the man's eyes which made it clear all was not forgotten.

To top that off, Tony Jackson didn't show up for work today and no one had seen or heard from him.

Stanley pulled his car into the traffic and headed for the highway. It was time to head home, and he was going to try and stop thinking about work.

Approaching his home, his Android smartphone rang. “Waldorf here.” Stanley thought this was how important people answered phones, and he was a deputy director at NASA. That made him important.

His wife, Barb, was on the phone. “Stan, could you stop and get me a pound of hamburger on your way home? I'm making lasagna for dinner, and I just noticed I don't have the meat.”