Von Neumann’s War

“Okay, Mr. Deputy Secretary,” Danny said over the video link. “You’re set up. Advanced Research Testing and Scouting Team Alpha has been authorized with a manning of one field grade officer, two company grade officers and fourteen enlisted personnel as direct action specialists and a group of support and administrative personnel.”

“Translate?” Roger said, smiling as his brow crinkled.

“Shane’s got a new command,” Danny said, smiling in turn. “He requested certain personnel from his former command and they’re on their way here as we speak. I’ve drawn a few clerks and support personnel from my boys and girls. He’s only going to have about half his TOE personnel when those people are in, so he can pull for more personnel. Their primary mission is reconnaissance and analysis of alien methods and materials. Secondary mission is testing of new equipment and materials to analyze their utility for anti-probe defense. Tertiary mission is primary security for advanced design concepts personnel.”

“I thought we had lots of soldiers around to do that,” Roger said with a grin.

“We do,” Riggs said, still smiling but this time a bit darkly. “But if the redoubt falls, their mission is to get you to a remaining redoubt, with your material and knowledge, alive.”

Chapter 19

“You know what they say about Greenland, Top?” Major Gries adjusted the collar on his parka and pulled his toboggan down over his ears better as he tore open one of the new plastic-wrapped MREs and tried to eat the PowerBar without breaking his teeth. Even though he’d held the damned thing under his arm for the last fifteen minutes it was still hard as a rock from the extreme cold.

“Other than it being goddamned cold, no, sir, what’s that?” Cady asked as he bit down into some armpit-warmed granola.

“Well, Top, legend has it that there is a beautiful woman hiding behind every tree in the land.”

Cady scanned the horizon in front of him and didn’t see anything taller than a yellow poppy. He knew from the fifteen kilometers that they had already hiked that there hadn’t been any f’n trees nowhere.

“Right, Major.” Cady nibbled on the granola and worked his frozen fingers. Shane surprised him by handing him his new issue plastic field binoculars.

“Would you look at that?” Gries nodded to the west and choked down the bit of frozen PowerBar.

“Son of bitch. You think that tundra bird even knows what he’s sitting on?” Cady laughed at the sight. Specialist Nelms had crawled to the peak of the next ridgeline to take up the forward recon point and had remained so still that Cady and Gries were taking bets on if he was frozen to death. The specialist had been still for so long a small flock of tundra birds had wandered near him and one of them was presently perched on his head.

“Why doesn’t he move?” Gries asked.

“Look to the north of him about two hundred meters, sir.” Cady handed Gries back his binoculars.

“Hmmm.” Gries scanned to the north of Specialist Nelms and found the rest of his squad.

Staff Sergeant Gregory was moving fast through the tundra valley toward Gries and Cady, his fully automatic HE ball gun at the ready. Gregory stopped about halfway between Nelms and Gries and started making hand gestures and signals. The ground around him started to come to life as the rest of the squad rose from their camouflaged positions. Staff Sergeant Gregory continued giving orders to the seven soldiers and then suddenly he stopped, knelt, and became motionless.

“What the hell? Want me to check it out, sir?”

“Let’s hold it up, Top. Something’s going on here.” Surprise occurs in the mind of the commander, Shane thought. He scanned the edge of the ridge from north to south. Top had his binoculars out now and was doing the same.

“I don’t see anything, but something has them spooked, sir.” Cady didn’t like this damned tundra. There was nothing to hide behind. No place to take cover. There was an occasional yellow poppy, grass, lichen, or sedge bush, but nothing substantial enough to stop a bullet or just to simply lie low behind.

A flock of birds rose up squawking from the other side of the ridge, startling Gries at first since they seemed so much closer through the binoculars. Once his sense of distance adjusted he noticed the birds around Specialist Nelms take flight as well. Then a herd of reindeer crested the ridge. The reindeer ran at a ground-eating canter past the troops in the valley southwestward and did not appear as though they would be slowing down anytime soon.

Then Shane noticed more movement on the crest of the ridge on both sides of the specialist. And the ground continued to look as though it was moving. Gries focused the binoculars again, thinking they were out of focus, and then he realized what he was seeing as the sunlight started to glint and glare back at him from the ridge.