"You will find in your computers," the General answered, "a set of files that say 'Emergency Frequencies.' The code to open those files is 'Hallelujah break your neck!' Activate those frequencies and you will have tellemitry!"
The General walked over to one young operator and looked down at his console. "You're recording these proceedings," the General snapped. "No recordings are ever to be made when I'm on these premesis!"
The young man looked startled. "I'm sorry, sir!" he snapped. "I thought I shut that down! I guarantee you, sir, anything that has been recorded will be destroyed , if I must pull the hard drive and incinerate it myself."
"Very good!" the General snapped. "Make sure it's done, son!" He nodded to the army Captain and he came over. "Get going!" he snapped, "And in the name of The Gods, don't miss!"
"Have I ever?" the army Captain asked.
"I don't want there to be a first time!" the General answered.
The captain disappeared and Major West jumped. The marine Major giggled. "We should warn you when we do that!" she remarked. "We can move at the speed of light."
The Major stared at the woman for a moment. "Are you really a goddess?" she asked.
"I'm still worshipped some places," the woman answered, "though it's not something we really encourage. It's hard sometimes, to break people of old habits!"
The Major busied herself monitoring operations. The hours passed too quickly. The sea planes got air borne, got to the island, but had trouble making the people understand they had to leave. But they were finally air borne. They would be outside the circle at the appropriate time. The sub got the ship's crew but they too, were delayed. It was getting close to the time the General had set when he walked over to the marine Major. "I'm concerned about that sub," he remarked. "Even at maximum depth they might still receive too much of a jolt. Get out there. Get in position where you'll block part of the burst that will hit them. Give them a little bit more protection."
The Major nodded and disappeared. West came over "You look worried," she remarked.
The General smiled at her. "We're used to fighting as a team," he answered, "I don't like sending them out alone. But a Commander has to trust his subordinates. He can't always be everywhere! Sometimes they have to function by themselves."
The Major nodded. "Here we go, people!" the General snapped. "Five, four, three, two, one, NOW!"
All their instruments went crazy for a moment. The main screen clicked off then came back on.
"Holy cow!" one of the men cried. "That was the equivalent of a very powerful atomic explosion occuring some ways outside the atmosphere! That was no meteorite! That would have had to have been a mass of several hundred thousand tons!"
"Five hundred and seventy six thousand tons!" the General answered, "A fragment from one of our ships when we fought the final battle here on Earth. It was blown out into space and has just now returned."
The man looked up. "Sir! That battle was 500,000 years ago!"
"Yes," the General answered, "It was! Ladies and gentlemen, you may reactivate your satellites!"
The General's companion suddenly reappeared. The General looked at the Captain and remarked "Good throw!" He turned to Major West and saluted. "The post is yours, Major! Our job is done! Thank you, everyone!" The Major returned her salute. "Sir," she remarked, "I've heard sometimes you send people souveniers, little keepsakes. If you ever have anything available, sir..."
The General smiled. "See what I can find!" he answered. Him and his companions disappeared. The Major looked around and noticed the officer that the General had scolded wasn't at his post. She looked around for him. A few minutes later he return with a cart holding a replacement computer and began removing the one from that station.
The Major went over. "Oh, sorry, ma'am!" the lieutenant snapped, :"I should've asked your permisison first!"
"You have instructions from a higher rank," the Major answered. "Carry out those duties and as soon as they are completed return to your ordinary duties!"
"Yes ma'am!" the lieutenant replied and returned to his work. The rest of the night was steady routine. The cover story was that two asteroids had collided over The Pacific at such velocity that they had caused a magnetic pulse that had done no real harm. Everyone involved in the incident had been told it had never happened.
A few days later as the Major was coming on duty the afternoon man was all grins. "What?" the Major asked. Her counterpart held out a package.
"Would you mind?" he asked. "We're all curious!"
Major West opened the package. Inside was a battered G.I. belt. Its gold buckle still shone brightly, however, though it bore many scratches. There was a note inside the package that said "I hope this will do!"
"Oh, yes!" the Major remarked, wrapping the belt around her hand and carressing the buckle, "Oh, yes!"
"May I?" her counterpart asked. The Major held out the buckle and he touched it.
"The post is yours!" he remarked. "Wow! He likes you, Major!" The Major carressed the buckle again. The belt would soon be in a display case on her mantel. When people asked who it belonged to she would only answer "An old soldier, a VERY old soldier!"

THE END

The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not understand. ( Frank Herbert )

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