The words “Authorization granted” flashed on the screen, disappeared and an instant later were replaced by a red triangle bisected by three black vertical lines. Glowing beneath the symbol was a list of available historical files dealing with Dulce, arranged by date. She chose the one dated 12/20/2000, highlighted it and opened it up.
Her face remained a detached mask, but her heartbeat sped up and she had a difficult time discreetly swallowing the lump forming in her throat. The report had been prepared for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Defense Advanced Research Programs Agencyall predark institutions with a monomania about secrecyand presumably the incoming Commander in Chief, since it was dated only thirty days before the presidential-inauguration ceremonyand the nukecaust. Brigid scrolled down to an index.
I. Totality Concept Progression
II. Redoubt Construction
III. Archon Directive Perspective
IV. Appendix
She read each entry carefully, mentally cross-indexing them with information already secure within her memory.
Emotionally she felt like a bright-eyed child, eager to play with her new toys, while her intellect was coldly aloof, observing, recording, noting everything.
The third entry intrigued her on an emotional level, though intellectually she provided herself with a thumbnail explanation. She knew that archon was an ancient Greek term for the magistrates in many city-states. Presumably the Archon Directive Perspective related to the international police force that was being assembled prior to the nukecaust.
Of course, another and far older definition of archon came from an ancient understanding of the world in which the archons were forces lined up on the side of dark against the glory of light. And that was the source for the word archenemy also. She recalled that the recurring mythological image of Archons was that of jailers, imprisoning the divine spark in human souls.
However, due to her recollections of the references to it in the Wyeth Codex , she decided to heed her intellect and act in a thorough manner. She highlighted the first index entry, opened it and an organizational chart appeared on the screen.
TOTALITY CONCEPT
Overproject Whisper
Project Cerberus__________Operation Chronos
Overproject Excalibur
Genesis Project__Project Invictus____Scenario Joshua
Overproject Majestic
Mission Snowbird (re. Archon Directive),____Project Sigma
A ppendix (PTBE)
SHE RECOGNIZED Overprojeet Whisper, Project Cerberus and Operation Chronos from the Wyeth Codex , so she moved the comp’s cursor to Project Cerberus and touched a key.
Quantum Interphase Mat-Trans Inducer Operations
1. Subject scan/coordinate lock
2. Autoscanner initiation
3. Interphase matter stream transmission cycle
4. Subject transmission
5. Subject reception/rematerialization
Operational timeline 6.2 seconds
A diagram appeared, a jumble of geometric cones and ellipses and hexagons. Though she had to stare hard at it, Brigid realized she was looking at a schematic of a gateway mat-trans unit. It was a six-sided chamber, and the cut-away view depicted machinery beneath the platform of the unit. All the pieces of hardware were labeled, with arrow-tipped lines pointing to them emitter array, interphase transition coils, virtual focus conformals.
Brigid scrolled down to a column of digits, identified as destination-lock codes. Opposite them was a list of redoubt names and locationsthree in New Mexico, she noted right away, and number four in Montana.
A brief postscript indicated that construction and gateway installation on redoubts Tango, Victor, Yankee, Zulu, November, Oscar and Golf were expected to be completed by the first of the New Year.
The data permanently impressed itself on the photosensitive plate of her memory. As it did so, a riot of conflicting emotions exploded in her mindfirst and foremost was the wild ecstasy of discovery, then her twenty-seven years of conditioning kicked in and brought a bone-chilling terror that dried the saliva in her mouth.
Her eyes were seeing things never meant to be seen. Her mind did an insane pirouette, and she recalled the ancient myths of the Gorgons, and of Lot’s wife in the Bible. She waited to be turned either to stone or to a pillar of salt.
After a few seconds, neither occurred, and her mind stopped twirling. Brigid returned to the index and shifted the cursor from the bottom up, highlighting the Appendix. A page of text appeared
Para-Terrestrial Biological Entity (re. HE, Archon Directive Perspective)
The typical PTBE as represented by participants in the Archon Directive at the Dulce installation can be described as follows