The Time Has Come Part 5
Thursday, October 31, 2002

The group comprised of former contestants and one outsider, John Avery Whittaker, made their way down the stairway and found themselves in a large room filled with rows of folding chairs, a podium at the other end. "What’s this?" asked Jason to no one in particular. "Where the chairman gave his motivational speeches?" Eugene suggested that the group search for any evidence tying the building and its occupants, be they current or former, to the Andromeda corporation, so most of the group spread out across the room looking around for anything that could make for evidence in a criminal case, while Mitch and Richard stood with Monica and Barry to assure that they did not attempt escape or take action against the others.

"You’ve got to understand," moaned Monica. "I’m on your side now. I left Andromeda. Ask Jason!" But Jason looked warily at her. "That’s what I thought, but now I’m not too sure. How’d you get released after just a few months anyways?" he asked. "Mitigating circumstances, suspended sentence," she replied. "The judge was lenient because I was doing it to help my brother," she said. "A little too lenient if you ask me. Conveniently lenient," commented Jason, turning away and focusing on his search of the room. A brief search by the group turned up nothing and they exited the room via the main door and found themselves in a well-lit hallway. "Well, on to the next room," said Jason as he held a door for the others to enter the first room off the hallway. "We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us."

*******

Security personnel raced through the hallways of the United States Naval Observatory, frightening a group of naïve tourists. "Well I never!" gasped an older woman, looking to her husband. "Do they do this all the time?" A man, wearing somewhat tattered clothing that did not appear to be recently pressed, grinned broadly. "Go get ‘em, boys," he said. Then, "Wonder what they’s up to." The tour guide tried to keep the small group together, keeping the interested onlookers from following the security team and reassuring the frightened. "Is there a bomb?" breathed one man quietly, panic in his face. "We’re going to die!" sobbed a woman. "What’s going on?" demanded another, speaking for the rest of the group. Many were paralyzed with fear.

"Don’t panic," soothed the tour guide. "It’s nothing they can’t handle."

Meanwhile, Charles Gordon and his partner Ivan had finished installation and were packing everything up when the sound of an alarm pierced the building. "Let’s get out of here," said Ivan. "Come on," said Charles admonishingly. "If they were on to us, you think they’d sound an alarm and warn us that they were coming?" He laughed. "No, we’re going out the main door to this place." A moment later, four security guards rushed into the room. A look of amazement spread across Charles Gordon’s face. "How?" he whispered, then, pulling at Ivan’s shirt, he managed, "Run!" The two raced across the small room, ignoring the lead guard’s command for them to halt. "Quick," hissed Charles as the guards drew their weapons.

He nearly pulled the slow-to-react Ivan out of the room with him, then the two dashed across the narrow hallway, searching for cover or a quick exit. "This way," whispered Ivan excitedly, motioning towards a service room that housed furnaces and other equipment. "No!" said Charles decidedly. "That’s the first place they’d look!" He instead elected to choose the most simplistic hiding spot under the assumption that the guards would search for them elsewhere. "Hurry!" said Charles as he heard the footsteps of the men not far behind. They had about a ten yard lead on their pursuers due to their hasty exit of the room, but they knew it would be difficult to turn this gap into a true advantage.

"First time we’re out a’ site, we’ve gotta duck in somewhere," wheezed Ivan. Charles Gordon nodded as the two turned the corner and raced down another hallway. The second door on the left was a conference room, unoccupied. The two slipped in and quietly eased the door shut behind them. "How could they have got wise?" he asked rhetorically. "It was so well planned!"

*******

"Look at this!" shouted Jack gleefully. He held an envelope up triumphantly. "You know what this is?" he asked the others. They looked puzzled. "It’s our tickets home!" said Jack. "They were just sitting here!" The room erupted in excitement as the contestants realized that they were no longer stranded. "Great find, Jack!" congratulated Jason. He looked at the others. "Anything else in here?" he asked. Since none of the others had turned up anything of interest, the group advanced towards the next room.

"Hey, there’s a light on," observed Richard. "Think someone’s in there?" Barry laughed scornfully. "That’s the general idea," he said. "Unless they’re just trying to rack up an electric bill the size of Uzbekistan’s gross national product." He chuckled. "Get it? Uzbekistan? GNP?" If the others "got it," they failed to let on, scowling at him. "I would doubt your estimate that the employment of this lighting would result in costs exceeding twenty-four billion dollars," said Eugene. "You know, you can really get on a guy’s nerves," said Barry.

"Well," said Jason, breaking up the argument, "should we go in or not?" He scanned the faces of the other contestants. Most nodded or responded in the affirmative, while Mary Hopkins and Margaret Faye expressed reservations. "It could be dangerous," said Mary, voicing her concerns. "What if someone’s in there and has a gun?" she questioned. "I’ve got a gun too, you know," said Richard. Mary stood aghast. "You mean you’d murder someone?" she demanded. "That’s not what I said," replied Richard. "I simply mean I’m capable of defending myself and the others here."

"Well, then, anyone who wants to stay out here, feel free to do so, but I’m going in," said Jason. "I will as well," said Eugene and Mitch, Connie, and Jack voiced their cautious, somewhat nervous and apprehensive assent. "Well, I’m not getting left out here," muttered Mayor Faye, joining the group. Mary stood firm. "You can’t make me go in there," she said stubbornly. "Suit yourself," said Jason, "but I’ll tell you this much. It’s a cowardly thing to do."

Whit looked more concerned than the rest. "Mary, I won’t ask you to come in. That’s your own decision, one that we all have to make individually, and I understand your concern. Do what you think is best." Mary looked at the others. "I am," she said. "And I’m not budging." Richard shrugged his shoulders. "Not like you were any help anyways," he said, glaring at her. "Let’s go in," he said, approaching the door and cracking it open to peer inside. He gasped and Mary shuddered. "It looks like someone’s being interrogated in here," he said, shocked. "Come on. Let’s see what’s going on." He waited until the group was behind him, and then swung in the door. Eugene caught his breath. "Katrina!" he shouted.

*******

"Bearing!" shouted the Captain of the USS Ronald Reagan. "Unknown, sir!" said a young sailor on deck. "Our navigational system has failed!" The Captain looked startled. "What?" he demanded. "Get that thing back up!" The man looked perplexed. "I’m trying sir, but I’ve got no lock on coordinates." Captain Nimz turned to his radio operator. "Contact neighboring vessels," he commanded. A few minutes later, a reply. "Sir, all ships reporting navigational failure."

"What was our last heading?" inquired the Captain. Blank stares. "Take a guess, lieutenant!" he shouted at an officer standing next to him. "Where are we?" The lieutenant cleared his throat. "We are seventy miles outside of North Korean territorial waters," he said. The Captain groaned. "Report the problem and get us out of here." The lieutenant nodded. "Bearing 135!" he shouted.

*******

"They didn’t get past here," declared the head of the security squad in the observatory. "Curtis, you stand guard in this hallway. The rest of you come with me. We’ll search every room in this place if we have to!"

Huddling inside a closet in a darkened room, Ivan shuddered. "They ain’t gonna pass us by," he said. "And this is the first place they’ll look. Charles was staring at a smattering of boxes stacked in the closet behind him. "Get these all stacked up," he said to his partner. "Get moving!" They stacked the boxes up into one column and steadied them carefully. "When that door swings open, slam against the whole column with your body," ordered Charles Gordon as he positioned himself next to the door.

Within ten minutes, the security team had entered the room wherein Charles and Ivan hid and had worked their way to the closet. Standing in front of the door to the closet, the head guard nodded and pulled open the door. "Now!" said Charles. Ivan slammed into the boxes, his weight toppling them over onto the guard, who fell back. Another man rushed in and when he got to the closet. Charles reached out and punched him. In the confusion, the two started to make their getaway.

"Stop!" shouted one, leveling his piece at Charles and Ivan. Charles Gordon sighed and lifted his hands into the air.

*******

A middle-aged man with a poorly groomed beard wearing clothing that appeared to be left over from the 1960s stared at the intruders. "Eugene!" shouted Katrina joyously. "Jack… Jason!" She looked over all those that had burst into the room. "I-I can’t believe it!" she said.

"Get out of the way," Richard ordered Katrina’s captor and interrogator. The man, seeing Richard pull back his coat to reveal a holster and pistol to go with it, quickly complied. "Hey, I didn’t do nothin’!" he declared. "Tell it to the cops," said Richard, keeping the man at bay as Eugene raced over to Katrina and begun untying the ropes that bound her to the chair. "Oh, Eugene, I thought I’d never see you again!" she said softly.

Emerging from the crowd was Whit. He smiled. "Good to see you, Katrina," he said. Many of the others concurred, and Richard again taking charge, said, "We need to get going if we’re going to catch our flight." Wooton then commented, "But Katrina doesn’t have a ticket!" Jack thought about it for a while, then took a ball cap that had been hanging on a peg on the wall and opened up his wallet. Placing two hundred dollars in the hat, he passed it on to Jason, who likewise emptied his billfold into it. After the cap had been passed around, Eugene counted the money contained therein. "Two thousand, eight hundred forty seven dollars," he said, holding back tears of joy and thanks.

*******

"This is your captain speaking. Please fasten your seatbelts and secure all bags under your seats or in the overhead compartments in preparation of our landing at Reagan International Airport in fifteen minutes. Weather in Washington D.C. is cool, with temperatures in the mid-50s. Thank you for flying with American Airlines."

Connie closed the book she was reading and placed it in her bag. "Well, we’re finally going home," she said, a smile on her face. And looking at Richard, she said, "And I may have wanted to go straight home, but this is one detour I don’t mind taking." Richard smiled broadly. "It’s great to be back in the United States again," said Jack. "I can’t wait to get back to Joanne. I wonder how she’s doing at the antique gallery," he pondered aloud. He smiled faintly, lost in his thoughts. "Yes, it’s been fun, but it’s great to be coming home," he said.

*******

The Secretary of the Navy read over a report on his desk detailing the removal of the unwanted "upgrade" to the United States Naval Observatory’s master clock satellite transmission system. He nodded as he read over the report. "Tillman," he said, calling in an aide, "Get the director at USNO on the line and give him the go-ahead to resume regular operation."

Aboard the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan and on ships and planes across the world, navigational systems began receiving signals again. "Adjust heading 162," commanded the Captain. "Let’s go finish those exercises." Twenty minutes later, a Tomcat screeched as it lifted off the carrier’s deck and soared upward into the sky, the blue hue of it’s afterburners penetrating the dark evening sky.

*******

"Good afternoon, and welcome to the White House. The First Lady and I are honored to welcome our recipients to the people's house. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civil honor our nation can bestow. We award it today to five outstanding individuals, men whose courage and bravery under an adverse situation served them and the United States of America.

"These five men, Richard Maxwell, Eugene Meltsner, Jack Allen and John and Jason Whittaker, were placed in a situation in which they could change the course of history and with courage and perseverance, they prevailed. While the details of their actions cannot be divulged, let it be known that Americans – and not Americans only, but men and woman across the world – owe a debt of gratitude to these men, who risked their lives to preserve freedom.

"I want to thank you all for coming to honor these remarkable men. The Presidential Medal of Freedom, established by President Kennedy in 1963, recognizes individuals who have made ‘an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, or to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.’ And I submit that today's Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients richly deserve their honor. May God bless our recipients, and may God bless America."

In Odyssey, Joanne Allen watched the televised ceremony with tears in her eyes. As the ceremony ended, a local announcer appeared on the screen, summing up the event. "That was the President of the United States awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to five men, all with roots in Odyssey, in an unscheduled ceremony a few moments ago. Government officials say that the exact nature of these men’s heroic acts may never be divulged to the public. And fifty years from now, their names will be forgotten, this ceremony forgotten. But perhaps, in echoing the words of Winston Churchill, we can say of these men that this was their finest hour. This is Carol Stevens reporting for Channel 10 in Odyssey."

AIO Mole is Over! Thank You Everyone for Following Along!