THE ARK
Chapter 17

Day 929

The water pressure increased in Cowan’s ears as he descended. He stayed deep, swimming as hard as he could. At last, he broke through the surface and took a deep breath of the warm desert air. An evening swim was always his favorite way to relax when things were on his mind. After a few minutes, he made his way to the ladder in the deep end of the pool. The in ground pool was considered quite a bit larger than most. When Kathy had suggested getting it, their son was participating on a swim team at school and it made sense to get something that he could swim laps in.

As he was toweling off he heard a car in the front of the house. He waited until he heard the door close before calling out.

Amy Travers came through the house and out onto the deck where she stood next to the large gas grill. She wore a pink blouse and tight fitting blue jeans along with sandals and no socks. Cowan noticed that she was about twenty minutes early. This was not Amy’s first time at the Cowan’s home. She had been here several times since joining the Sleep Program. She and Kathy Cowan had become good friends and occasionally spent time together.

“Are you swimming tonight?” Cowan called out.

“No thanks, I have too much on my mind right now,” Amy answered.

“That’s when I enjoy the swim the most; it helps me clear my head,” Cowan said, as he climbed up on the deck

Cowan disappeared into the house and returned after a few minutes. He was now dressed in a polo shirt and shorts, with no socks or shoes.

He looked at Amy and said. “After today’s meeting with Matt, what could you possibly have on your mind?”

“None of it makes sense. There is a lot of stuff that he’s not telling us,” Amy Travers said.

“Yea, I think he wants to but can’t,” Cowan said

“I keep getting these crazy scenarios in my head. Whatever it is, it’s big,” she said.

Now Cowan understood. His friend who was never early for anything in her life had been early tonight for a reason. She had wanted to beat Matt Fitch in getting here to have time to discuss the situation that they had both been dragged into.

Cowan motioned her over to a couple of patio chairs and they both sat.

“He made it clear that while he couldn’t talk about it, anything he said would be the truth. From what he’s told us it seems certain that they want this in place immediately and for us to be able to sleep as many people as possible. The only explanation I can replace is that there is a clear impending threat and that they want an option,” surmised Cowan.

“How long can this possibly be kept quiet, there are more and more people getting involved. Nothing stays a secret long.”

Their conversation continued for several minutes, then there was another vehicle in the drive and Fitch joined them.

The General walked out on the porch, he had already gotten himself a drink as he came through the house. He had been here often enough to understand how things worked at the Cowans.

Matt looked at his two friends; “I can only imagine what you two have been discussing,” He said with a sly grin.

Amy felt her face flush. This was one of the few times she had seen her commanding officer out of the office. It was quite odd seeing him standing there without a uniform.

Cowan ignored the comment, “I’ll get the steaks on the grill, and after we eat we can get started.”

When dinner was done they all went into the house and gathered in the living room.

“I know you two are struggling with this, for now, let’s just proceed as if what I told you are all the details. Theorizing about this won’t get us anywhere. I have a blueprint of the new facility, and there are some things we’ll be working with other agencies on as this develops. We will initially be the core team, there will be others joining us as things get moving. Not only do we need to organize the implementation of the sleep systems. We’ll also be involved in designing training plans for the future sleepers. We’ll be assisting in determining what equipment needs to be stored for use after the wake-up. We’ll also assist in developing protocols for the team to follow once awakening. There will be plenty of other areas that we’ll be involved in but that should give us something to think about.”

Fitch then unrolled the blueprints, “Until early this week these were classified at the highest levels. Now they’re ours.”

The diagrams showed a massive underground complex. There were areas designated for offices, command and communications centers, a massive power station, and huge areas that were not labeled. There were miles of tunnels that proceeded through the facility. There were areas that were several stories high. There was even an underground water supply that was fed directly from the Colorado River. There were also massive open areas on the lower levels that were easily the size of five football fields.

“The Air Force’s current facility at Cheyenne Mountain was intended to survive long enough for them to make sure all our missiles were away. They could even survive a near miss. Some have speculated they might even survive a direct attack if the weapon had a very small payload but that’s always been doubtful. This newer facility was planned to withstand anything, and allow personnel to hole up for as long as necessary. We’re expanding on that and making some changes. We’ll continue to expand this place to allow for more and more sleep capsules,” explained the General

“This place is amazing,” Cowan said

“How much of this is completed?” Amy asked.

“It is mostly completed now,” Fitch explained. “There are several major modifications that 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 at the end of the week. Let the rest of 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 get 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 asked

“We can thank the Navy for that. They have a new small reactor that will be able to easily run that long. 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 a problem.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Cowan answered. “When will the reactor be operational?”

“They brought it online two weeks ago,” Matt explained.

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

“Exactly, that’s why we need to get moving. We will need to relocate the team too. You’ll start working on that Amy,” instructed the General