THE HAUNTING PAST MYSTERY OF GHOST SHIP TWO

THE HAUNTING PAST: MYSTERY OF GHOST SHIP 2 After wrapping up the Mystery of the Gold, Ghost Ship 2 had just stopped off, for some "minor maintenance", and re-fuelling, when what SHOULD have been impossible, actually happened. It was while Tami and I were relaxing, with a tour, of the latest, in America's arsenal, of military bases, world-wide, that Tami and I found ourselves called to the Command-and-Control center. WHY was a question, which we, both, wanted the answer to. Funny thing was, on the way to command, Tami and I observed a stealth bomber, taking off, from a camoflauged runway. When Tami would remark "Isn't it amazing how similar that plane is, to ours." I would promise her "Relax, our pilots are under contract, to the Brown Agency. They would, never, leave us behind. That has to be ANOTHER, stealth bomber." When Tami would ask me "Just how MANY stealth bombers does America have?" I would suggest "By now, maybe 500. War-planes are shot down, everyday." It was only once inside the command center that Tami and I heard the base commander asking "Any word, yet?" When communications would say "No, sir. Either their radio is off, or they are ignoring us." When the base commander would say "Give them five minutes to respond, or shoot them down." When the weapons officer would say "Shoot them down?" and the commander would say "Thats right, target all weapons." When the weapons officer would say "There is no need to repeat the order. Target that plane." This is when weapons control would ask "Sir, HOW do we target a stealth bomber?" The commander was just saying "Lock comp..." when the man realized that radar wont lock onto stealth. It was when the commander would ask "Give me the names of the pilot, and co-pilot, of that plane." The personnel roster was just being brought up when our pilot would say "Sir, that would be us." When the base commander would say "Dont be in-subordinate. HOW can you be flying that plane, when you are here, in control?" Our co-pilot would say "THAT, sir, is the question, of the day." After that, our pilots would identify themselves, as retired air force, and the personnel officer would verify this. When the base commander would order "Scramble our F-18's. I want to know WHO is flying that plane." Both our pilots, and Tami and I would like the answer, as well. Our pilot would, only, caution the commander "Sir, have your pilots exercise extreme caution, at any distance closer that five miles." When the commander would ask "Soldier, WHY is that?" Our pilot would say "Five miles is the point where our on-board computers would run diagnostics, to determine friend-or-foe". When the base commander would ask "What weapons are you armed with?" Our pilot would say "Primary weapons are a 30-calibur chain-gun, on the port wing, and a 50-caluber chain-gun, on the starboard side." When the commander would ask "Explosives?" Our pilot would say "Two crates, of C-4, extra ammunition, for the guns." When the commander would ask "Ordinance?" The pilot would say "Nothing, for combat. Our plane is civilian." While this exchange was going on, the two F-18's had flown off, and were closing with G.S.2. When the commander would ask "Who is at the controls?" When the captain, flying the lead plane, would say "As far as I can see, there is NO one, in the cockpit." When the base commander turned to our pilots, asking "battle-control center?" Our co-pilot would say "Never installed. The plane was rejected, from the stealth program. It is not equipped, for battle." When the base commander would ask "IF it is not equipped, for battle, then HOW does it seem to be flying itself?" Our pilots only shrugged. It was common knowledge, among air force pilots, that planes were being programmed so that, IF a pilot were in-capacitated, the plane would return complete its assigned task, then to base, on "automatic". The problem was that this programming was limited to planes, which were accepted, by the air force. There was no reason to equip a reject, like G.S.2, with the same programs. It was not until the lead fighter plane tried to crowd G.S. 2 onto a new course, back to base, when a cry was heard, inside control, then an explosion. After this, the wing-man came on the radio, saying "Leader down. Request permission to open fire." When the base commander looked at our pilots, the men shook their heads. This, while telling the base commander "Only if you want to lose another plane." When the base commander would call out "Options?" The best that another could come up with was "Arrange mid-air re-fuelling, for the F-18, and keep the bomber in visual range, so we know where the renegade is going." When the base commander called to the F-18, asking "HOW did that plane take out your leader?" The shaken pilot would report "Starboard gun-turret. Blew the canopy, and shredded my commander." The base commander would say "Son, I want you to stay in visual, with the renegade. Do NOT approach. Re-fuelling is enroute. Repeat, Stay in visual contact, with renegade. Is that understood." The pilot would radio "Roger that. Remain in visual ops, but do NOT engage." After this, the base commander would order "Contact the Pentagon. I want to know EVERYTHING, about that plane." Communications would say "In work, now, sir." The commander would, then, turn to Tami, myself, and our pilots, suggesting "For the present, it would seem you are our guests." Tami and I, as well as our pilots, KNEW what Mr. Brown would say, to that. There would be no guess work. Mr. Brown's orders would be short, and simple. "You are on-the-clock. I want to know WHO has our plane, and why. You will be authorized, within the hour, to utilize all, available, military data banks." Tami and I knew that our boss was as good as his word. In fact, within the hour, not only did Tami and I have full access, to everything, known, about Ghost Ship 2, but our pilots were, actively, working, with the air force, to determine what could be done, about our plane. IF it were possible, everyone wanted the plane returned, in a single piece. Sure, it was a stealth reject, and, yes, the plane was worth several hundred million tax-payer dollars, but the main question, which everyone wanted the answer to was HOW the planes computers could have been "hijacked". In fact, by the time Tami and I had access, the Pentagon had grounded ALL of America's stealth fighters, and bombers. No, computer-assisted, plane was going airborne, until the ship could be trusted. What neither the pursuit pilot, nor an air force mid-air re-fueller, could understand was HOW G.S.2 managed to take on fuel, from the same plane, which had just re-fuelled the F-18. It was just after the fighter craft was re-fuelled, and the fuel plane was preparing to turn away, when the fuel planes crew found their plane non-responsive, to human input. The F-18 pilot would report, to base, "Renegade attempting to take on fuel." and was just about to report "Fuel plane denying access", when the F-18 watched as the red, rejected light, on thee fuel probe turned green. Moments later, the fuel plane crew would radio "Renegade has overridden our codes. Estimate ten seconds to full tanks." About the only "good" news, which Tami and I had, for Mr. Brown, was that, so long as pursuit craft did not make hostile moves, Ghost Ship Two seemed not to object to having "company". Still, Tami and I were working our way, through Pentagon files, looking for possible hackers, when our pilot asked "Do we know who designed, built, and programmed, our plane?" It would come as NO surprise that the bomber had been built by America's largest, well-known, and highly respected, plane designers. A company, which housed more secrets, than Area 51. According to company records, however, while the company had designed, and built, the plane, its programming had come from an "outside source". This, is an incredibly stupid attempt, at cutting costs, by "outsourcing" the work. It was not, however, until air force personnel, and my partner, attempted to find out WHO the software engineer had been, that, it seems, we "tripped" some kind of "alarm". This presented a message, saying "In-competent war-mongerers, by now you understand that you no-longer control your war machine. **I** control this device, now. As to the reason why? That is simple. This flight program was designed, for peaceful aircraft, such as relief supplies delivery. It is YOU who have perverted this purpose, by turning our humanitarian gesture into a device of murder. As a result, this device, of lethal destruction, will, now, be turned on your OWN doorsteps. You will have twenty-four hours to consider the consequences, of your actions." When our co-pilot would ask "What device of destruction? Ours is a civilian aircraft. We could not bomb anything, even if we WANTED to." This is when Tami had a terrible thought. "Our airborne garage." When our co-pilot would ask "What about it?" Tami would ask "Wasn't that space, originally, designed as a bomb bay?" Our pilot would say "Ma'am, you seem to have forgotten. All of the bomb components were pulled out, when you accepted the plane. All thats left, in that compartment are your car, and his Jeep." This is when I would ask "Does the ships programming KNOW that?" All anyone could do was shrug. When I would ask "How much damage might an automobile, and a Jeep, do, if dumped, from altitude?" It seems that, again, no one had a clue. This, since, it seems that no one considered dropping motor vehicles, from altitude. When Tami would suggest "Why not contact the programs designers, and have them just take out the errant programming?" The base commander would say "No can do." When I asked "Why not?" The base commander would say "As soon as this "snafu" showed up, we called up the programmers records. In case we needed them to de-bug the system." When Tami would say "Makes sense, you would keep track, of your programmers." The base commander would say "Bad news is, the programmers are, ALL, dead." When Tami would ask "HOW is that possible?" The base commander would say "Checking on that, right now." I would suggest "Just how recently DID the programmers die?" The base commander would say "Records say three years ago." I had, barely, said "No connection, then.", when a military, computer, programmer, would suggest "A delayed action timer." When the base commander would ask "A three YEAR timer?" The computer programmer would suggest "In theory, a computer program may be set decades, in advance." Tami would ask "You mean, our plane was set to go "rogue", even BEFORE we accepted it?" The programmer would say "It seems so." This is when our pilot would ask the programmer "Would it be possible to program the gun turrets, to fire, automatically?" The programmer would suggest "IF the computer was programmed to believe that a force was hostile, the computer would have no problem, taking the target out." When Tami would ask our pilot "What are you suggesting?" The man would say "Suppose the plane "dumped" items, located in its weapons bay, on the White House, or Capital Hill, then was programmed to "take out" anyone, trying to get away, from the attack?" Our co-pilot would say "Man, those guns are loaded with thousands of rounds, of ammo. Granted, your motor vehicles would be destroyed, on impact, but the plane is programmed for very low level flight." The base commander would ask "How MANY innocents could those guns "take out"?" Our co-pilot would say "Maybe 2,000." When the suggestion was made, to "take out" G.S.2, with missiles, the air crew would say "No good. Stealth is programmed against such attacks." In fact, the closest thing, that any one came up with, to an actual idea, was to try and "scramble" the planes guidance, using AWAC's, then trick the plane into "attacking" a "city", of military choosing. A "city", such as a Hollywood back-lot, where television, and movies, were filmed. The "plan" was to steer G.S.2 towards a small-scale model, of Washington D.C., and let the plane expend its "ordinance". Once this was done, the programming SHOULD come to an end (along with our automobiles). It is just a very fortunate thing, that AWAC's can jam signals, from 200 miles away. As a result, even when G.S.2's computers sensed the alterations, our gun turrets were useless, on such a distant target. With four AWAC's planes, working together, G.S. 2 was re-directed, to what it THOUGHT was the East Coast, and the White House. From a cruising altitude, of 5,000 feet, the computer dumped our motor vehicles, on the Oval Office. While the impact flattened our vehicles, like pancakes, the "White House" sustained very little damage. After "bombing" the White House, G.S. 2 deployed its gun turrets, just as expected, and "took out" any, moving, objects, which were detected. Hollywood special effects had been most creative, in creating the illusion, of movement, for the guns to lock on to. It may have taken half an hour, for G.S.2 to use up its "ordinance", but the plan worked. By the time the guns ran out of ammo, and the plane ran out of fuel, when the computers found no fuel planes, the plane used its last drops, of fuel, to land, at L.A.X. While our pilots had, originally, been assurred that ALL military protocols had been erased, prior to G.S.2 being released, for our use, this time, both of our pilots stood by, as every memory chip, and bit, of data, were wiped, from the ships core. While our pilots were overseeing the "rehabilitation", of our planes computers, Tami and I were dealing with another mystery. The mystery of WHY, while the computer programmers were listed as "Deceased", that there were no records, of burials, head-stones, or locations, of markers. It was as if, one day, the programmers were alive, and the next day, they just did not exist. When Tami asked the military programmers about codes, called "back-doors", everyone, involved, promised that any "back doors", into our planes computers, no-longer existed. Our machine was a "blank-slate", ready to be re-programmed. The Brown Agency WAS able to learn the reason why the programmers had been so passionate, about the use, of their work. It seems that, on one project, the programmers had been paid, to write code, to keep things OUT of a system. When the programmers learned that the code had been turned "inside out", and used to keep PEOPLE inside, and that, when people had tried to leave, the program had shut off all ventilation, suffocating those trapped inside. Once the programmers learned that their program had killed innocent people, they had turned to writing codes, to protect the public, from such abuses. What Mr Black found odd was the fact that the programmers had "vanished", shortly after creating a program, which would allow users to scan incoming calls, for listening devices. Coincidental? As for the Hollywood set, and our motor vehicles, some, of Mr. Browns, anonymous, clients seemed happy to cover all of the costs. About the ONLY part, of the re-fit, which our pilots did NOT find funny was when our replacement ammunition arrived. Our pilot WOULD have signed off, on the shipment, untill he read "Depleted Uranium". When the retiree would ask "Since WHEN does the air force allow civilians access to depleted uranium?" While th air force quartermaster laughed, saying "Just checking, to see if you are awake." Our pilot would say "Save the jokes, for food stores, and fuel."