Driving through the tunnel entrance, the Lieutenant gave them a running commentary. “This was supposed to be the new command and control center for NORAD, so many of the design plans are similar to their current facility. The reason this is designed with an opening at each end is so that in the event of a nearby impact from a nuke, the pressure wave would literally pass through the mountain instead of slamming into it. If needed, the blast doors can shut in less than half a minute, and they weigh about fifty tons each. That's twice the size of the doors at the original facility.”

The Humvee stopped, and they climbed out. Cowan suspected a jetliner could sit in the tunnel he found himself in, with room to spare. In front of them was a huge hole in the floor, a platform visible about two hundred feet down.

“That's an elevator, similar to what you'd see on aircraft carriers. All types of vehicles will be going up and down on that thing all day long.” As the Lieutenant spoke, there was a loud humming noise and a slight vibration moved the ground beneath their feet. It took a full minute for the elevator to reach the top and riding the elevator up were two of the most enormous dump trucks Cowan had ever seen, each piled high with dirt and rocks. The trucks exited the tunnel through the larger of the two entrances and as soon as they were clear of the exit, two more were moving into the tunnel. They traveled side by side, stopping on the elevator pad. The elevator was descending before the trucks had completely stopped.

Cowan saw there were multiple recessed doors on either side of the tunnel. The Lieutenant directed them to the first door on the right. He pressed his palm and fingers firmly against a square of Plexiglas which was flush with the wall at chest level. Immediately the door slid to the left into a recessed hole in the wall, and a mechanical sounding voice spoke. “Good morning Lieutenant Parker.”

Parker rolled his eyes. “When they first got this system online, I thought the computer voice was really cool, but if you're going through these doors twenty or more times a day, it gets a bit annoying,” he stated.

They stepped through the door and started down a corridor. Cowan noted that the walls and ceilings were all steel. The floors were covered with carpeting, but he assumed it was steel under there, too. The passage reminded him of the ones you saw on a ship.