INGRID DOWS - AN ALTERNATE STORY PART 2 - THE JET AGE by Michel Poulin - HTML preview

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CHAPTER 1 – BACK TO SCHOOL

10:06 (Boston Time)

Monday, June 05

Registrar’s offices, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

‘’Next candidate, please!’’

Ingrid Dows stepped forward at the call from the Registrar’s Office employee and presented her fil ed registration form for the Summer session at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the top universities in the United States in term of engineering studies.

‘’Good morning, sir. My name is Ingrid Dows

and I want to register for the Summer session at the Engineering Department, as a first step to a four-year program in aeronautical engineering.’’

The male clerk discretely admired Ingrid’s youthful beauty and fit body as he took the registration form and started to examine it. Finding all the required information he needed, he then checked his registration roster, to check that there were enough student slots still open in the aeronautical engineering department, although he could already say that there was still plenty of slots still available: the war may have wound down in Europe but the Japanese had not yet surrendered in the Pacific and, as a consequence, many young men who would normally come to register as students at the M.I.T. were still serving in the Pacific, resulting in rather low registrations numbers.

‘’You intend to reside here at the M.I.T. for the duration of your undergraduate studies, Miss Dows?’’

‘’Yes, I do, sir! I wil also take my meals at the students’ cafeteria.’’

‘’Very wel ! How do you intend to pay for your tuition and lodging fees, miss? By cash or post-dated cheques?’

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‘’The government is paying for my studies through the new G.I. Bil , sir. I have fought in the war and am now on reserve status for the duration of my studies here.

Here is the authorization in my name from from the Army Department.’

The clerk was a bit surprised by that: he had seen already a few military members show up for registration under the authority of the G.I. Bill, which paid for higher level studies for military veterans, but this girl was the first female veteran he saw under that program.

‘’You already fought in this war? May I ask in what specialty, miss?’’

‘’You may, sir. I fought as a pilot and was commissioned in the field. Since a college or university degree is a basic requirement to be a commissioned officer in the Army and since the fighting has abated significantly, the Army Air Corps is sending me here to get my degree.’

‘’I see! May I see your military I.D. card, miss?’’

‘’Of course! Here it is.’

The male clerk took the card and examined it for a second to make sure it was in order and identified her correctly, then gave the card back to her. However, not being very familiar with the military ranking system, he only paid attention to her being an officer, missing the fact that the rank entry stated ‘Field Grade Officer’1, rather than simply

‘Officer’. Entering her personal data and course choices in his registration log and adding her registration form and attachments to the pile in his ‘In’ basket, he then fil ed a post-registration form and gave it to Ingrid.

‘’Here you are, miss: you are now registered for the Summer session in our aeronautical engineering department. You may now go next door to the students’

accommodations office, to get a room at the Bexley Hall.’

‘’Thank you very much, sir.’

Ingrid, satisfied, walked out of that office and went next door to the students’

accommodations office. She had given to the male clerk the minimum information needed to be accepted, while keeping for herself the details which could have pointed to him who she was really: the first ever fighter pilot in American history and one with the 1 Field grade/Flag officer: Designation for category of officers of General (Brigadier General, Major General, Lieutenant General, General) or Admiral rank levels (Rear Admiral, Vice Admiral, Admiral) in the American military. Other categories of American officers are ‘Senior officers’

(Major, Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel) and ‘Junior Officers’ (Second Lieutenant, First Lieutenant, Captain).

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rank of major general, attained at an obscenely young age. However, the reason she had given for registering at the M.I.T. was the legitimate one: to keep her rank and further advance in the Army Air Force as a commissioned officer, she needed to obtain a college or university degree. Since for her to go study at the Army War College would make no sense, as its doctrines and tactics she had proven to be irrelevant to modern warfare thanks to her own combat exploits, she had elected to get a degree in aeronautical engineering, something which would go nicely with her love of flying and, with luck, would one day make her fly a plane of her own design.

In the students’ accommodations office, Ingrid found a single female clerk serving a single female student, with no other students present. The low number of students at the M.I.T. didn’t surprise Ingrid much: this simply reflected the fact that many young men were still serving in the military, while university attendance by women was not what the future decades would see. The tone of the exchange between the clerk, an overweight woman in her late forties, and the female student, a teenager with pale brown skin and long black hair, immediately caught Ingrid’s attention.

‘’But a two-occupancy room costs a lot more than a single-occupancy room, madam. Can’t I pay as single-occupancy, even if I am in a double-occupancy room?’’

‘’No, miss!’ replied in an unsympathetic tone the clerk, a white woman. ‘’Either you find yourself someone ready to share your double-occupancy room in order to split the cost of the room or you pay the full price. As for single-occupancy rooms, they are already all booked.’’

Ingrid’s expression hardened on hearing the claims from the clerk: she had read in detail the rules, policies and list of amenities of the M.I.T. and she knew for a fact that a single student didn’t have to pay the full price of a double-occupancy room, even when there was no second occupant. She thus strongly suspected that the clerk’s attitude towards this black girl was the product of racism. Walking quickly to the clerk’s desk and stopping next to the young black woman, Ingrid put her registration form on the desk while giving a hard look at the clerk.

‘’I wil take the second bed in that room, madam. You may now register both of us together.’

The clerk threw her a nearly scandalized look on hearing that.

‘’You would be ready to share a room with this...girl?’’

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Now certain that racism was at play here, Ingrid bent forward while resting both of her fists on the desk.

‘’Did you mean to say ‘nigger’ instead of ‘girl’, madam? If that’s the case, then I will signal your attitude to your senior manager. We are in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, not in Mississippi or Alabama, madam. Please register us as dual occupants, now!’

While Ingrid didn’t raise the volume of her voice, she did put a tone of authority into it, something that she was accustomed to do thanks to her military service as an officer.

Understanding that she would not be able to screw around with Ingrid, the clerk took both her registration form and that of the black girl and read the names on them, then wrote them in her registry before searching in a large keypress on the wall behind her desk and taking two sets of keys, which she put in front of Ingrid and of the black girl.

‘’You now have Room 419, on the fourth floor of Bexley Hall. You may now pay for your room. Here is the bil for it.’

Not thanking the female clerk, Ingrid grabbed her set of keys before paying cash for her accommodation. Seeing that the young black woman, who was maybe nineteen years-old, was nearly emptying her purse in order to pay for her part of the room, Ingrid stopped her with a gesture of the hand and took more money out of her wallet, paying the full price of the room, to the shock of both the girl and the clerk. Ingrid shut up the girl in advance with another gesture of the hand and made sure that the clerk signed and stamped a receipt for the room, receipt which she grabbed before turning around to walk out with the black girl. The latter however stopped near the door of the office, time for her to pick up two large suitcases and a briefcase lying against the wall. Again, Ingrid came to her help by grabbing the biggest and heaviest suitcase while smiling to the girl.

‘’Let me help you with that, miss.’

The black girl was too stunned by Ingrid’s helpfulness to protest and spoke only once out in the hallway.

‘’You are too kind, miss. Why did you help me like this?’’

‘’I helped someone in need: it is as simple as that, miss.

Also, I can’t stand racism and I make it my business to combat it whenever I encounter it. By the way, my name is Ingrid Dows and I just registered to study aeronautical engineering.’

‘’And my name is Betty Woods. I came to the M.I.T. to study biology. Thank you so much for your help, Ingrid.’’

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‘’You’re welcome!’ replied Ingrid while shaking hands with Betty. ‘’Let’s go take possession of our room, so that you could drop those bags in it before we go collect our school books.’

‘’Uh, what about your own bags, Ingrid?’’

‘’They are in my car, which is parked near Bexley Hall, on Amherst Street. We will go to our room first and drop your bags there before I will go get my things out of my car. Then we wil go collect our school books. Let’s go!’’

Going down to the ground floor of the institute’s administrative building, they walked along the large main hallway until they went out via the entrance on Massachusetts Avenue. There, they crossed the street and used the sidewalk to walk to the nearby Bexley Hall, which was also situated along Massachusetts Avenue. Both teenagers looked for a moment at the four-story brown brick building, which formed a

‘U’, with a rather narrow central entrance ground.

‘’God, I hope that they have an elevator in this building: my bags are quite heavy and I don’t want you to sweat on my account, Ingrid.’

‘’Bof! Some physical exercise wil do us good, Betty.’

To Betty’s relief, they found out that the building had one elevator, an old model made to lift furniture and other cargo rather than passengers but which proved its usefulness then. Once up on the top floor, they found that Room 419 occupied the northeast corner of that floor and gave a view of both Massachusetts Avenue and of the adjacent student center in the Stratton Building. The room itself was of reasonable dimensions and contained two single beds, two work desks, two large closets, two chests of drawers, a bookshelf and a small but fully equipped bathroom. Dropping Betty’s suitcase in the middle of the room, Ingrid went to look outside through one of the windows.

‘’Alright, I will go get my things out of my car while you start unpacking, Betty.’

‘’Please, let me help you with that, Ingrid.’’ pleaded at once the black girl, making Ingrid nod in response.

‘’As you wish, Betty.’

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Going down via the main staircase of the building, both girls then walked to the nearby corner of Amherst Street with Massachusetts Avenue and turned on that side street, with Ingrid finally stopping next to a dark purple convertible with its canvas top up.

‘’My car, a 1940 Dodge Deluxe D14 Convertible.’ she said proudly. ‘’I recently bought it in a Boston’s used cars dealership. It is still in good shape and has only a low mileage on it. I was told that the dealer bought it from a young war widow who didn’t know how to drive and whose husband was recently killed in combat over Europe. It’s not the most sports-like car but it does an honest job at letting me drive around.’

‘’What a sad story.’ said Betty, obviously referring to the young widow. ‘’So many young men have died in this horrible war.’

‘’Way too many, in fact, with some women dying as well. I myself saw too many deaths while serving with the Army Air Force.’

Betty snapped her head towards Ingrid on hearing that.

‘’You fought in this war, Ingrid? What was your specialty?’’

‘’As a pilot. I flew many types of planes, including helicopters.’

Betty nodded her head at that, thinking that Ingrid had been a female ferry pilot. She thus didn’t ask more questions on that subject and watched as Ingrid unlocked and opened the big trunk of the Dodge, then started pulling out first a military kit bag, followed by a military-issued foot locker, a suits bag, a large leather briefcase and, finally, what looked furiously like a rifle case. That last item immediately attracted her curiosity.

‘’You own a rifle, Ingrid?’’

‘’Yes! I also have four handguns, all legal, of course. I will show them to you tonight, after supper.’

‘’Okay! What can I carry for you?’’

‘’You can take the briefcase and the suits bag.’’

Once the trunk was locked back, Ingrid and Betty, now quite loaded down, returned to Bexley Hall and used again the cargo elevator to get up to their room, where they dropped their luggage in the middle of the room. While Betty blew out air in relief, she noticed that Ingrid seemed not to have strained herself much. She thus looked up and down Ingrid’s lean and fit body, noting that her arms were quite muscular for a girl.

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‘’You seem to be quite fit and strong for a girl, Ingrid.’

‘’I am, Betty. I exercise every day and I certainly am going to use the sporting facilities at the M.I.T., including its pool.’

‘’Talking of pool, did you notice in our schedule that we will have to pass a swimming test as one of the conditions to be admitted?’’

‘’I have and I am not worried one bit about it. And you, do you know how to swim, Betty?’’

‘’Me? Of course? My parents often brought me to the coast or to a lake for some beach time in the Summer. Shal we go get our school books now?’’

‘’Yup! Let’s grab our briefcases for that.’

Getting their required school books at the M.I.T.’s book depot took a good hour, as the file of students there was fairly long. Going back to their room first, in order to drop their heavy briefcases, the two girls then went for lunch to the food court of the Students Center, next door to Bexley Hall. While getting served was no problem, many of the students eating at the tables around the table chosen by Ingrid and Betty fell silent and looked at them crossly when both sat together. While Betty did her best to ignore that, Ingrid didn’t and stared back hard at the three teenage boys sitting at the nearest table, who were looking scandalized at seeing a white girl sit with a black girl.

‘’Hey, busters, how about you mind your own business and stop playing the KKK2

cadets?’’

Two of the three teenage boys, while angered by her remark, did avert Ingrid’s stare but the third one, a big and muscular boy, did reply to her in a harsh tone.

‘’And what are you doing, eating with a nigger, girl?’’

‘’What I am doing is exercising my constitutional right of assembly, a right tens of thousands of our young men are presently fighting to defend, often at the cost of their lives. The M.I.T. is officially an integrated, private learning establishment, so if you don’t like seeing me with black people, then you are free to leave the M.I.T., you racist asshole.’’

2 KKK: Short for Ku Klux Klan, a notorious and powerful White supremacist and racist organization widely present in the United States from the mid-1800s to the late 1980s. The KKK

often intimidated, attacked and even lynched or assassinated the black people they accused of not keeping to their ‘proper place’.

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The big boy’s face reddened with anger at her insult and would have jumped out of his chair if not for one of his friends, who held him down by one arm.

‘’Don’t let her anger you, Rick: she’s not worth the trouble.’’

The said Rick did sit back but threw a last hateful look at Ingrid.

‘’Next time I see you with that nigger, then I will teach you a lesson, bitch.’

‘’Then you will be the one to be taught a lesson, buster. So, do your best to avoid me.’’

Both surprised and unsettled by her assurance, the said Rick then decided to move to a farther table, surprising both his two friends and Betty, who spoke in a low voice to Ingrid.

‘’Wow! You are one cool, fierce girl, Ingrid. That guy was nearly twice your size.’’

Ingrid looked back at her and replied in a near whisper.

‘’Here is something I didn’t tell you yet: I am a fighter pilot and I kil ed dozens of men in combat, so it will not be a cowardly bully like that guy who wil scare me.’

‘’You, a fighter pilot? Then you must have been part of the famous Fifinellas, right?’’

‘’Yes, I was, Betty. Wel , enough about that: let’s eat while our food is hot. Then we wil go back to our room and organize our things there.’’

With no organized school activity scheduled for them until next week, at the start of the Summer session classes, Ingrid and Betty returned to their room after the lunch and unpacked their things, storing them in their closets and chests of drawers and suspending their clothes. While she was suspending her dresses in her closet after taking them out of her biggest suitcase, Betty noticed that Ingrid kept the clothes she had in her suits bag in it, suspending the whole bag while keeping it zipped up, while she did suspend separately a few dresses and coats.

‘’Uh, you are not taking your dresses out of that suits bag, Ingrid?’

‘’No: my military uniforms are in that suits bag and I prefer to keep them out of sight.’

Seeing that Betty seemed ready to ask her more questions, Ingrid then took a decision and stopped her unpacking for the moment.

‘’Betty, I think that we need to talk. Let’s sit down on our respective beds.’

‘’Uh, okay!’

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Going to her bed and sitting on it, a curious Betty waited for Ingrid to do the speaking first, which she did while looking into her eyes.

‘’Betty, I told you the minimum about me at first for a number of good reasons, the biggest being my wish to be able to study here without attracting undue attention on me. First, though, you must promise me that you will not repeat anything that I am going to tell you or show you to anyone, including your family and friends.’

‘’I promise to keep mum, Ingrid.’

‘’Good! First off, I am a fighter pilot who is now on reserve status in order to pursue a degree, as required to become or stay an Army officer. I will be serving during weekends and holidays with the air unit based at Logan International Airport, in order to fly enough hours to keep my pilot’s aircraft qualifications. Once I will have graduated from the M.I.T. with a degree in aeronautical engineering, I will be fully reactivated as a combat pilot in the Army Air Force and will thus continue my military career. Second, I did not want to show you my uniforms because I didn’t want for you, or anybody, to see what rank I hold. Well, here is the big surprise for you: I am a major general, with two stars on my shoulder pads.’’

Betty opened her mouth wide on hearing that.

‘’You? A major general? But that’s impossible: you are way too young for such a rank.’

‘’Normally you would be right, however my story is not an ordinary one, Betty.

You said that you knew about the Fifinel as. What do you know exactly about them?’’

‘’Well, I read in the newspapers that they are the only female air combat unit in the United States and that they fought both in the Pacific and in Europe. I...’

Betty then finally realized who Ingrid really was and stared at her with wide eyes.

‘’My God! You are the famous ‘Lady Hawk’, right?’’

‘’Bingo! Now you know that I don’t get intimidated easily and don’t back up when threatened. So that big bully at the cafeteria better stay away from me...and you, for his own sake.’’

‘’Wow!’ could only say Betty. After a short pause, she smiled to Ingrid. ‘’Could I see your uniform, Ingrid?’

‘’Now that you know who I am, of course.’

Getting up from her bed, Ingrid went to her closet and took out her suits bag, then lay it flat on her bed before unzipping it, exposing her walking out uniform, complete

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with two stars on her shoulder pads and with multiple rows of medal ribbons on its left chest, with a pilot’s wings insignia above them. Fascinated, Betty caressed the medal ribbons while staring at the uniform, to then look at Ingrid with renewed admiration and respect.

‘’Ingrid, you are the stuff of legends, truly.’

‘’Even more than you think, Betty. I have another big secret to tell you about, a secret even more fantastic than being a fighter pilot and a general.’

‘’What could that possibly be, Ingrid?’’

‘’I can remember my past incarnations, all 7,000 years’ worth of. Only one other person benefitted from such a gift: my adoptive mother, Nancy Laplante, the Canadian time traveler from the year 2012, who was kil ed by the Germans in 1941. Don’t ask me how or why I got that gift: I simply don’t know. Those 7,000 years of past souvenirs make me able to speak dozens of languages, many of them extinct, like Old Sumerian, Attic Greek, Mandarin Chinese, Norse and Old English. They also make me a very mature girl, with many varied past life experiences and skills. That is partly why I was able to rise so quickly in rank despite my young physical age.’’

‘’Only partly? What else helped you to rise to major general rank?’’

‘’Something that is a talent of my own: without bragging, I am a certified tactical and strategic military genius, something I used to screw both the Japanese and the Germans in air combat. I also happen to have a genius-level I.Q., which was tested as being 151. But let’s drop this business about me. What about you, Betty?’’

‘’Me? There frankly is little to be said about me, apart from the fact that I have been interested in biology since my preteen years. My parents live in Boston, with my father working as a warehouse forklift driver and my mother staying home to raise my two youngest siblings, who are respectively sixteen and thirteen. I myself am nineteen.

That’s about all that I can say about me, Ingrid.’’

‘’That is enough for me, Betty. The fact that you passed the entrance exams and qualifications required to study at the M.I.T. proves that you are a bright girl, while I sense that you are also a decent girl.’

Somehow, Ingrid’s last remark created some mental turmoil within Betty’s brain, a turmoil Ingrid’s power as an empath picked up. That power, like other powers, had started to emerge after her mind had been opened to the souvenirs of her past incarnations in 1941 but she was still exploring its limits, as in the case of her other powers. However, Ingrid refrained from inquiring about the feelings she had detected

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inside her roommate’s mind and smiled to Betty while zipping back her suits bag in order to hang it back in her closet.

‘’Well, now that we know each other better, I propose that we start studying in advance of our first Summer classes the school books we signed for this morning.’

‘’A good idea, actual y. Having a head start is always useful.’

Sifting through the pile of school books she had signed for; Ingrid chose a book on aerodynamics and went to lay down in a semi-sitting position on her bed before starting to read its introductory chapter. Since she had already done some studying on her own time during the war, she was able to easily assimilate that first chapter and continued to read the first few following chapters. A bit before six in the evening, she and Betty went to eat supper at the students’ food court. Thankfully, the bul y named

‘Rick’ was nowhere in sight, so they were able to eat in peace before returning to Bexley Hall and continue their studying there. At eight in the evening, Ingrid surprised Betty by going out in the main hallway and then starting to repeatedly run up and down the main staircase as a way to do physical exercising. That showed to Betty how fit Ingrid was, as she sweated just watching her run up and down the stairs. Ingrid then completed her exercising with dozens of push-ups and sit-ups before calling an end to it, her body covered with sweat. Going to her chest of drawers, Ingrid pulled out a fresh set of underwear and her hygiene kit, then started taking off her sweat-stained clothes, soon ending completely naked in view of Betty. That was when she felt again conflicting emotions from Betty, one of which was intense lust. Now starting to understand what affected her roommate, Ingrid didn’t say a word about it and went to take a shower in their small bathroom. When she emerged back from the bathroom 25 minutes later, she was clean and dry but still fully naked. Betty, who was still reading a biology book, couldn’t help stared at Ingrid’s body then, with her eyes eyeing in particular her closely shaved groin.

‘’You shave your private parts, Ingrid? Why?’’

‘’It’s a habit I took during the war, while I was fighting in the Pacific, in order to keep healthy and avoid catching body lice: it is not easy to avoid parasites and bugs in the jungles of Papua New Guinea and of the Philippines. It also helps cut body odor.’

As she spoke, Ingrid walked slowly to Betty’s bed, stopping a mere foot from her bed while smiling down at her roommate. She could see through Betty’s light T-shirt that her nipples were now fully erect as she stared up at Ingrid’s naked body.

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‘’You want to take your shower as well, Betty? I could help soap you up.’

The obvious meaning of that suggestion made the black girl look up, surprised.

‘’You are a lesbian, Ingrid?’’

‘’No! What I am is a bisexual girl, the result of having half of my past lives being those of men. Before remembering my incarnations, I was a purely heterosexual girl.

However, this must be kept strictly to yourself, Betty: the Army would kick me out immediately if it found out that I am bisexual, as gays and bisexual people are not accepted or tolerated in the military. You are a closet lesbian, aren’t you, Betty?’’

The black girl’s face reddened a bit at that question but she finally nodded her head.

‘’Yes, I am, Ingrid. I have been hiding that fact for years now and even my parents don’t suspect that I am a lesbian. If they found out, they would probably disavow me, as they are practicing Catholics.’

Ingrid then nodded her head, understanding the kind of mental torture this state of affair had to be for Betty, forcing her to exercise restraint constantly and ignore her deepest urges. Gently grabbing Betty’s right hand, Ingrid then guided it to her own upper left leg, near her groin, and let her caress her skin.

‘’Then, we both share a secret, Betty. Feel free to let go your inhibitions with me.’’

Not believing her luck, Betty slowly moved her hand to Ingrid’s genitals, where she started rubbing her erect clitoris. Ingrid soon returned the favor, slipping her right hand inside Betty’s shorts and bending forward to offer her small but firm breasts to her roommate. It didn’t take long before Betty undressed completely and invited Ingrid to lay down next to her in her bed. Ingrid, who had spent long months without sex while fighting in the Pacific and in Europe, in order to hide her sexual nature and show exemplary abstinence as a combat leader of a female unit, then used all of her considerable sexual experience from millenniums of past lives to satisfy Betty’s sexual appetite, concentrating on her roommate’s pleasure rather than on her own pleasure.

Betty had to keep in her scream of pleasure when she reached an explosive climax that left her panting.

‘’G...god, that was good! You are a true expert at this, Ingrid.’

‘’Like they say: practice makes perfect.’ replied Ingrid while grinning to her. ‘’I believe that you will now truly need to take a shower. Come: I will help you to soap up.’

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That shower was an excuse for more sexual play between the two of them for another half hour, leaving them both well satisfied. Betty tenderly kissed Ingrid as they were about to go to bed to sleep.

‘’Ingrid, you are the best thing that happened to me in years. I can’t believe my luck in meeting you today. To think that I will be able to have you for four years is like a dream.’

‘’Yes, but that dream must remain a closely guarded secret, Betty: no kissing, smooching or touching in public. My military career depends on it.’

‘’I understand, Ingrid. Don’t worry: all those years of restraining myself and hiding my impulses made me quite good at covering my true nature as a lesbian.’’

‘’Good! Let’s go to bed now: we have to pass our swimming test tomorrow.’

‘’Right!’ said Betty, who gave a last kiss to Ingrid before going to lay in her own bed.

09:40 (Boston Time)

Tuesday, June 06, 1944 ‘C’

Internal pool complex, Building # 57

M.I.T. campus, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Having learned before registering that a swim test was mandatory at the M.I.T., Ingrid had thus bought in Boston a one-piece swimming suit and a white latex head cap to cover and protect her hair. The royal blue swimming suit she had bought, while socially acceptable for the prudish American public of the 1940s, was made of a stretching material that enhanced at least a bit the curves of her body. As for Betty, she already possessed a well-used black one-piece swimming suit. When they showed up at the Alumni Pool of the M.I.T., they found that six other students, all male, would pass their swim test this morning. The test supervisor, a young man in his late twenties wearing swimming trunks and holding a clipboard and a pen, smiled to the group while greeting the students by the side of the large, olympic-sized pool.

‘’Good morning, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Alumni Pool for this swim test. My name is Jeffrey Bateman and I will be your supervisor for this test. For this test, you will need to jump into the pool and then swim a return trip along one of the lanes marked by buoys, for a total distance of one hundred yards. Your speed will not be considered, as the goal of the test is simply to show that you can safely swim for at

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least a hundred yards. You also can use whatever style of swimming you prefer during this test, as long as it keeps you safely afloat and makes you cover the required distance. Since there are eight of you this morning and since we have six lanes available, you will be split into two groups of four while passing your test. Again, this is not a competition, so no need to try to outrun the other three students who will be in the pool with you at that time. Are there any questions at this time?’

Ingrid immediately raised her right hand high.

‘’Could I ask you to time me during my test, mister? I am a good swimmer but I haven’t had a chance to time myself for over two years now.’

‘’I see no problems with that, miss, and I do have a stopwatch with me. Uh, may I ask why you couldn’t time yourself for so long, miss?’’

‘’Well, I was fighting the war in the Pacific at the time and they don’t have Olympic pools in Papua New Guinea or the Philippines.’

Jeffrey Bateman grinned on hearing that, amused.

‘’I see! May I have your name, miss?’’

‘’Of course, mister. My name is Ingrid Dows.’

Bateman made a mark beside her name but then paused before looking up at Ingrid, some surprise on his face. Ingrid immediately put one index up across her lips, to signify to him to keep to himself what he had just realized. The swimming instructor understood her and looked at the rest of the group.

‘’Any other question? Yes, mister?’’

One of the male students, a tall and rather skinny young man with very short hair, spoke while pointing Betty Woods.

‘’Do we real y have to swim with that girl? She’s going to dirty the pool for all of us.’’

Ingrid, immediately angered by that ignorant remark, which was a common one from racists in the United States, was about to reply harshly but Jeffrey Bateman spoke first, eyeing the young man coldly.

‘’Mister, your ignorant and racist remark has no place here at the M.I.T. We are a private institution of learning and racism is not condoned here, while the Commonwealth of Massachusetts does not allow segregation in its schools. You either pass this test today with these other students or I will mark you as having failed that test and you wil have to explain yourself to the Dean. What is your name, mister?’’

‘’Uh, James Lee, sir.’

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Bateman wrote a note in the margin of his clipboard, then looked back at James Lee.

‘’So, wil you swim with the others today or will you leave now?’

‘’Uh, I will swim with the others.’ answered the young man, hiding his anger and embarrassment.

‘’Good! Are there other questions?’’

A tall blond teenage boy with an athletic body then raised his hand.

‘’Do we have to jump in the pool feet first or can we dive in head first. I would also like to be timed.’

‘’You can enter the pool the way you prefer. Since one other student has already asked to be timed and since I am alone to supervise this test, you will be part of the first group of four, while Miss Dows will be part of the second group. What is your name, sir?’’

‘’Peter Simpson, sir.’

‘’Right! I wil now make a roll call before we start the test.’

With that roll call taking only seconds, Bateman then split the group in two, with Peter Simpson and Betty Woods being part of the first team, with James Lee intentionally included by Bateman in that group, to the young man’s contained fury, while Ingrid was put with the second team. Setting his stop watch first, the instructor then had the first four students line up on the edge of the pool, each of them facing a marked swimming lane.

‘’I remind you again that you have to go touch the pool wall at the other end and will then turn around and return here. Your test will be marked as completed once you touch the pool wall at this end on your return. Lady and gentlemen, get ready! Go!’

Three of the first students chose to dive in head first and then started using crawl as swimming style, while the fourth student, a teenager who was markedly overweight, jumped in feet first, then started swimming breast-stroke style. Ingrid, watching all of this with interest, saw that Peter Simpson was a truly good swimmer and was speeding along his lane, while Betty was more than a decent swimmer but was markedly slower than the blond teenager. As for James Lee, his crawl technique proved to be quite poor and he finished third of the lot. Jeffrey Bateman nodded his head in approval while noting down the time recorded by Peter Simpson.

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‘’An excel ent time, Mister Simpson: you could qualify for the M.I.T.’s swimming team. All of your group are now marked as having completed this test. Second group, please come forward and take your lanes.’’

Ingrid and three boys stepped forward and prepared themselves as Bateman reset his stop watch.

‘’Alright, lady and gentlemen. Get ready! Go!’

On his signal, Ingrid dove in the water in a flash and started swimming energetically along her lane, using crawl. Bateman was immediately impressed by her smooth technique and speed and strangled an exclamation when he saw her time when she touched the pool wall at the other end and then rolled quickly into a ball before pushing with both feet, starting back on her return trip well ahead of the three other students.

Bateman’s eyes opened wide when he stopped his watch at the moment she finished her run and touched the pool’s wal .

‘’HOLY! She just broke the M.I.T.’s record for the one hundred yards crawl!’

‘’The female record, sir?’’ asked the male overweight student.

‘’That and the male record! She probably could make it in our national female swimming team. This is incredible!’’

Jeffrey Bateman then forced himself to calm down, remembering that he was here this morning to supervise all of the eight students assembled around him.

‘’Very well, ladies and gentlemen: you are all recorded as having succeeded your swim test. You may now go shower and dress. Thank you for coming this morning.

Miss Dows, could you stay for a moment.’

Ingrid smiled at that and nodded to Betty, next to her.

‘’Go ahead and change, Betty. I shouldn’t be long here.’

Ingrid then stepped forward to face Jeffrey Bateman from one pace away.

‘’Yes, Mister Bateman?’’

‘’Miss Dows, are you the one called ‘Lady Hawk’, by chance?’’

‘’That’s me! However, I would like that you keep discrete about that: I am here to study aeronautical engineering while on temporary reserve status from the Army Air Force.’’

Bateman eyed her in silence for a moment, admiration evident on his face.

‘’General Dows, you already possess a fantastic reputation as a fighter pilot and military leader but I was not expecting you to be as well a top athlete.’

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‘’Fighter pilots need to be in top physical shape, Mister Bateman. Apart from endurance to G stresses and high cardio-vascular capacity, we also need physical strength in order to fight our aircraft controls during dogfights. I train hard physically every day to stay in top form.’

‘’General, would you be ready to join the M.I.T.’s competition swimming team?

Your performance this morning was worthy of even Olympic standards.’

‘’It would depend on the training schedule requirements, mister. My priority is to my studies and I will need most of my personal time in order to study and complete course assignments and readings. I also will need my weekends free to go fly a few hours with the air reserve unit at the Boston Logan Airport, in order to keep my flying qualifications current.’

While his enthusiasm was a bit cooled down by her reply, Jeffrey still tried a bit more to convince her to join up with the M.I.T. team.

‘’With the level of performance and technique you just showed, you shouldn’t need much extra practice in order to be on our swimming team, General. Could I convince you to go talk with our sports manager about this?’’

‘’That I could do, mister.’

‘’Excellent! Uh, what other sports do you practice, in which you would consider yourself to be highly proficient?’’

Ingrid took a few seconds to mentally review the sporting and martial skills she had practiced during this life and during her past incarnations before answering Bateman.

While her physical strength had grown to that of a strong man since she had started remembering her past incarnations, along with her psychic powers, her past lives had made her proficient or even an expert in many sports and martial arts. In particular, her past life as Megaron the Spartan hoplite, who had lived from 514 to 481 B.C.E. and had died at the historical battle of the Thermopylae, had made her a redoubtable opponent in wrestling, as Megaron had been a top competitor in the brutal sports of Pankration3 and 3 Pankration: Ancient form of brutal Greek martial art mixing boxing, kicking, wrestling and submission holds. All the types of strikes were permitted, except gouging of the eyes, pulling on the genitals and inserting your fingers in your opponent’s mouth. The combatants fought completely naked.

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Greek Boxing4, to the point that Megaron had even represented Sparta at one of the original Olympic games held in Antique Greece. Megaron, like in other lives Ingrid had lived through as either a hunter or a warrior, had also been an expert at javelin throwing and at sword fighting. Other past lives of hers had taught her as well how to shoot a bow, even though she had not practiced that sport in her present life.

‘’Well, I can say without bragging that I am a very fast runner, am good at Greco-Roman wrestling and at javelin throwing. I once was good at sword fighting but never practiced with modern blades like sabers or rapiers. I suppose that mounted archery is not a sport that is practiced anymore, right?’’

‘’Er, not real y, General.’ said Jeffrey, taken aback by the wide range of her skil s.

‘’You do sound like a born warrior, if I can judge by your known skills. Would you mind if I would book a meeting between you and our director of sports, General? You sound like a very interesting prospect for a number of our competition teams.’

‘’Why not? As long as any practice or training session does not interfere with my engineering studies. My room is Number 419, at Bexley Hall, and I will be starting my Summer session classes next Monday at the aeronautical engineering department.’

Jeffrey frantically scribbled notes while listening to her, then grinned to her.

‘’Thank you very much, General. I will try to arrange a meeting for you with our director of sports as soon as possible this week.’

‘’I wil wait for his invitation, Mister Bateman. However, be advised that I will spend the day tomorrow at Boston Logan International Airport, in order to fly a few hours.’

‘’May I ask what type of aircraft you wil fly in tomorrow, General?’’

‘’You may: I wil be flying a photo-reconnaissance Lockheed RP-38N of the 33rd Air Wing.’

‘’Well, I hope that you will enjoy your flight time tomorrow, General.’

‘’Me, enjoy flying time? Always!’ replied Ingrid before turning around and walking to the female locker room in order to shower and change.

4 Greek boxing: Ancient Greek Boxing involving only striking with fists, with no close-body holds or wrestling techniques. Like Pankration, the combatants fought naked but had spiked gauntlets covering their hands. The fights often resulted in injuries and even death.

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16:39 (Boston Time)

Wednesday, June 07, 1944 ‘C’

Hangar of the 33rd Air Wing, Logan International Airport Boston, Massachusetts

Ingrid felt great as she climbed down from the cockpit of the RP-38N after flying it around the coast for a good two hours. The commander of the 33rd Air Wing, Brigadier General Thomas Rickman, was waiting near the foot of the ladder set against the left side of her cockpit and smiled to her as she set foot on the concrete of the tarmac facing the wing’s hangar.

‘’How was your flight, General?’’

‘’Like a dream! Flying is truly my life. Your plane also proved to be well maintained and I didn’t experience any mechanical problem. I would like to do some more flying this Saturday, if possible. I would in particular like to fly your UH-1 liaison helicopter, to keep current on my helicopter flying.’

‘’I see no problems with that, General. I will reserve my UH-1 for your use on Saturday morning. I also can reserve one RP-38N for you for Saturday afternoon: I received a request for a photo mission to be flown over the Nantucket area, in order to update our maps of the region. Would you like to fly that mission, General?’’

‘’Hell yes!’’ replied at once a happy Ingrid. ‘’I wil now go shower and change, then I would like to review your recent classified message traffic, in order to update myself with the present course of the war. Has anything significant happened lately, either in Europe or in the Pacific?’’

‘’Europe is stil mostly quiet, General, with the Germans apparently continuing to respect the terms of our armistice. The Soviets and Stalin did raise a stink at first about being blocked out of Poland, Romania and Bulgaria. However, Stalin seems to have understood at last that his forces were in no state to engage our forces and, particularly, our air forces. As for the Pacific, our blockade of Japan is continuing, with nothing getting in or out of Japan. Most of the activity and fighting is now centered on Formosa and China, where we are systematically bombarding the Japanese Army units still resisting us there. Unfortunately, the Japanese military shows no signs of wanting to surrender or stop fighting, despite being very low on ammunition and fuel. This could stil go on for many months, I’m afraid.’’

Ingrid sadly shook her head at that.

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‘’Those militarist bastards: they put more importance in saving their so-called honor than in the survival of their own country and civilian population. May they all rot in Hell!’

‘’That is probably where they will all end up, General. The reports say that the Japanese soldiers recently killed in China show signs of advanced malnutrition, on top of being nearly out of ammunition. Once they will run out of bullets and shells, then those Japanese can expect no mercy from the Chinese, may those be Nationalist soldiers or Communist guerrillas.’

‘’And in the Philippines?’’

‘’There are stil many tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers stil fighting in the Philippines, General. However, they are being contained into a few pockets across the country, mostly in the Northeast of Luzon, with our army units surrounding them and with our air units continuously pounding them. Your old 99th Air Wing is doing a lot of that air pounding, by the way. One development you will like is that many of our army units which were originally based in England have now been transferred to the Philippines, where they reinforced our ground forces there. Those Japanese who are still resisting in the Philippines will either die or will have to surrender during the coming months.’’

‘’My bet is that they wil continue fighting or wil commit suicide rather than surrender, General Rickman. Either way, they will get what they deserve: they committed too many atrocities and barbaric acts in this war to be pitied.’

‘’I wholeheartedly agree with you on that, General. Uh, once you will be ready to do some reading, there is a few highly classified reports I received recently and which you will want to see. They concern the British.’’

‘’The British?’ said Ingrid, surprised. ‘’What is happening with them?’’

‘’Not here, General: those reports are at the highest levels of classification.’’

‘’Very well: I wil go shower and change and wil then come to your office to read those reports.’

‘’I wil have them ready for your lecture, General.’

Some 35 minutes later, Ingrid showed up a Rickman’s office, wearing a set of civilian clothes and with her flight suit and other flying gear in a kit bag, to be greeted by the wing commander.

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‘’I have those reports right here on my desk, General. They are classified ‘Top Secret, NoForn5’. You may use my sofa while you read them. Would you like some coffee?’’

‘’Coffee will be nice, thank you. Now, let’s see what the British are up to.’

Grabbing first the classified file dockets pointed at by Rickman, Ingrid then went to sit on the sofa set to one side of the wing commander’s work desk, putting the pile of dockets on the low coffee table facing the sofa as Rickman went out to get her coffee.

Reviewing quickly the titles of those reports, Ingrid quickly felt suspicion and worry: those titles announced nothing good for the United States. Grabbing the report which sounded most alarming to her, she started reading carefully through it. It was an intelligence report from the State Department, with a supporting report from the Central Intelligence Agency. Just the reading of its executive summary was enough to alarm Ingrid.

‘ The British want all of our units to vacate Great Britain territory by January of next year? Are they nuts? They would throw us out after all that we did to help them in this war?’ she thought to herself.

Reading carefully both the State Department report and the CIA report, Ingrid started to see a possible reason for the British’ stunning attitude.

‘ The British are working on a top secret, very powerful weapon project?... The bastards! They must have stolen the data on nuclear weapons that Nancy kept on her computer and which she always had refused to hand to the British. With her dead, they had plenty of opportunity to break through her computer password and access that data.’

Thomas Rickman returned in the office at that moment, a service tray supporting a pot of coffee, two cups and small pots for milk and sugar. He immediately noticed the anger on her face as he put down the tray on the low table.

‘’You must be reading the report about the British wanting to boot us out of England, right, General?’’

‘’Correct! What a bunch of ungrateful assholes! Great Britain survived this war thanks to us sending them massive amounts of equipment and supplies across the Atlantic, at huge costs to us in ships and men lost to U-boat attacks. They were also able to keep India and Burma only because our desperate resistance in the Philippines diverted large numbers of Japanese ships and planes from attacking Burma and getting 5 Noforn: American classification category meaning ‘No Foreign Nationals’, which excludes all but American citizens from seeing them.

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to India. And this is how they thank us? However, I believe that there is a reason for this madness, General Rickman. Do you have a secure telephone line to the Pentagon here? If not, I would need to send an encrypted message to General Kenney.’

‘’I have an encrypted telephone right here, on my desk, General Dows. May I ask why the British are behaving like this, in your opinion?’’

‘’You may! You were courteous enough to let me read these reports and it is only just that I tell you what I think. However, what I am going to tell you must not be repeated outside of this office.’’

‘’I understand and accept your condition, General.’

‘’Good! The CIA report mentions a secret British program for a very powerful new weapon. Well, I believe that I know what that secret new weapon is: the atom bomb.’’

From the confused expression which appeared on Rickman’s face, Ingrid concluded that he didn’t know a thing about the atomic bomb, so continued after a short pause.

‘’The atomic bomb is a terrifying new weapon able to destroy whole cities in one shot. In the future, according to the history known to my late mother, Nancy Laplante, nuclear weapons put at risk the survival of our whole planet and of Humanity if they would be used on a large scale. Presently, the United States is working hard to develop the atomic bomb but is still a good year away from building one. As for Great Britain, it was also trying to produce an atomic bomb during this war, as did the Germans. In Nancy’s history, the British finally produced an atomic bomb but years after us. The problem here is that, when Nancy was kidnapped in the year 2012 by someone from the far future and was then dumped near London in 1940, along with her car, computers and historical data, she had with her some detailed information on nuclear weapons, information that was open public knowledge in 2012. She however refused to give access to that data on nuclear weapons to the British, realizing how unsettling to history that could be. I know that because she told me so in confidence before her death. What I strongly suspect is that, after her death, the British used that opportunity to break through the password on her computer which protected the access to that data on nuclear weapons. The results of the British gaining access to that protected data would be, according to Nancy, that the British could produce nuclear weapons before we could, possibly a year or more in advance of us. Then, if they became as a result the sole country to have nuclear weapons, the British would basically be able to dictate to the

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rest of the World, including us. With their delusions of imperial grandeur, I have no doubt that the British would then be willing to force us to obey their political wil .’

Thomas Rickman’s face progressively hardened as Ingrid spoke, getting visibly angry.

‘’We are not the stooges of the British Empire, General. The United States wil never give up its own interests in the World.’’

‘’I know, and I am not saying here that the British would be ready to directly attack us, but they could force us then to stand aside as they basically take control of the World. As the saying goes, ‘power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely’.

You only need to study history to know what the British would be capable of if they got the power to threaten and cower into submission the other nations on Earth. Remember what they did to their ally, France, when they attacked the French fleet anchored in Mers el Kebir and in Casablanca in 1940.’’

‘’Damn! I don’t like this one bit.’

‘’Me neither, General Rickman. That is why I am going to call General Kenney now.’

‘’Let me get out the list of secure telephone numbers at the Pentagon, General.’

‘’Thank you!’

Helped by Rickman, who showed her how to operate his secure telephone, Ingrid soon got a duty officer in the command center of the Army Air Force in the Pentagon on the line.

‘’Major Bertolli, Army Air Force command center.’

‘’Major Bertolli, this is Major General Ingrid Dows, calling from the 33rd Air Wing at the Boston Logan International Airport. I need to speak urgently on secure mode with General Kenney about a critical subject concerning our national security. If he could have a senior intelligence officer with him when he will take my call, the better.’

‘’Uh, let me get him, General Dows. This could take a few minutes, though.’

‘’I understand. I wil wait but make sure that this line is not cut off, Major.’

‘’Wil do, ma’am.’

As she was put on hold, Ingrid gave a malicious smile to Rickman, who was sitting on the corner of his desk, near her.

‘’At least, the Pentagon is not using elevator music when putting you on hold.’’

Rickman had a chuckle at that.

‘’I wouldn’t mind...if it would be good country music.’

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‘’Well, I wouldn’t mind if it was Enya.’’

‘’Who?’’

‘’Never mind, you couldn’t possibly know that singer.’

‘’Uh, okay!’

She had to wait a good five minutes before she heard the voice of George Kenney on the line.

‘’General Kenney here! What can I do for you, Ingrid?’’

‘’I need you to go ‘secure’ on this line, so that I could pass on to you some critical and highly classified information, General.’

‘’Very well! I am going ‘secure’ now.’

Ingrid in turn pushed her own ‘secure’ button on her telephone set. When the lights on it turned from red to green, she spoke again.

‘’Can you hear me, General?’’

‘’I can. Go ahead, Ingrid.’

On his invitation, Ingrid then spent a couple of minutes explaining what she saw in the classified reports she had just read and what she had deduced from her own knowledge.

Her words left Kenney quiet for a few seconds before he spoke, worry in his voice.

‘’Did Nancy Laplante tell you exactly what was contained in her secret files on the atom bomb, Ingrid?’

‘’She did, General. Those articles she had on nuclear weapons, despite being open to the public in 2012, described the general design of the two categories of nuclear weapons: atomic fission bombs and a much more powerful variant commonly called hydrogen bombs, or thermonuclear fusion bombs. They also described in layman’s terms how fissile materials could be produced, what was their molecular formula and what were the minimum critical quantities needed to achieve a nuclear explosion.

However, she also told me that her information was only at the basic level and would be far from enough by itself to produce a working nuclear weapon. It could however help greatly cut the time needed by scientists to actually design a working atomic bomb, possibly saving over one to two years in basic research and design. I believe that, if the British indeed broke past the password Nancy had put on her computer, then they may well be on the verge of being able to test an atomic bomb, something that would explain their present hardline attitude.’’

Kenney was again silent for a few seconds before asking Ingrid a question.

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‘’Ingrid, how powerful can these atomic bombs be?’

‘’Sir, the atomic fission bomb has a power measured in thousands of tons of TNT

equivalent, or kilotons. A fission bomb, as made in Nancy’s past, could attain powers of a few tens of kilotons, enough to raze a medium-sized city. Thermonuclear fusion devices, which need a fission device to trigger their fusion materials, have powers measured in millions of tons of TNT equivalent, or megatons. They would be powerful enough to destroy completely large cities like New York, Paris, London or Berlin.

However, their blast and heat effects are only part of their frightful power. The use of fissile materials would also create extremely deadly radiations and radioactive fallouts, which would contaminate and render large regions unlivable for hundreds and thousands of years.’

‘’Dear God! Ingrid, I understand that you will want to stay in Cambridge in order to study for your engineering degree but I would like you to come to Washington for at least a day or two, so that you could brief in person the service chiefs and the Secretaries of the Navy and of the War. I promise that you will then be able to return to Cambridge afterwards. How fast could you get to the Pentagon?’’

‘’Uh, one moment, sir.’ said Ingrid before looking at Rickman. ‘’General Rickman, I am asked to get to the Pentagon ASAP. Could I have the use of your UH-1

right after this call?’’

‘’I will go have it prepped and fueled up right away and will get you a copilot for your trip.’’

‘’Thanks! Tell your pilot to have a small bag for one to two days in Washington.’

‘’On it!’ replied Rickman while getting on his feet, to then walk quickly out of his office, leaving Ingrid alone to complete her call to General Kenney.

‘’General Kenney, I can fly in by helicopter in about three hours at the most. I would need your permission to land directly in the central park area of the Pentagon, in order to be more discrete.’’

‘’That wil be arranged easily enough, Ingrid.’

‘’And if you can get the top scientist and project manager for our atomic bomb program to come quickly to the Pentagon, that would be very useful, sir. You will find them in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Ask General Marshall about them. A Hughes C-11T

fast liaison aircraft could then fly them within hours to Washington.’

‘’A good suggestion, Ingrid: I wil act on it. You may now terminate this call and go get your helicopter.’

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‘’Wil do, sir! See you at the Pentagon.’ replied Ingrid before putting down the handset of the telephone. Next, she got up and gathered the classified files she had been reading, then grabbed her kit bag but waited for Rickman to return before showing him the file speaking about the British and their secret weapon.

‘’Could you have your secretary to properly prepare and register this file for transportation by hand to Washington, General Rickman. Also, your copilot will need to be armed, as he wil act as my armed escort while I carry this file around.’

Rickman nodded his head once and took the file before leading Ingrid to his anteroom, where his military secretary sat, giving him the top-secret file and telling him to wrap and pack it with an official courier form.

Less than seven minutes, Ingrid, still accompanied by Rickman, got into the pilot’s seat of a UH-1 light helicopter waiting in front of the hangar of the 33rd Air Wing.

Putting her kit bag, which contained the top-secret file, in the passenger compartment, she then smiled to the young and quite handsome captain sitting in the copilot’s seat and shook hands with him.

‘’Major General Ingrid Dows!’

‘’Captain John Walker, at your service, General.’

‘’Are you armed, Captain?’’

‘’I have my pistol with me, along with a small travel bag, General.’

‘’Good! We wil first fly to the M.I.T. campus, in Cambridge, so that I could go change into my dress uniform and pack a suitcase for a short stay in Washington. I will do the flying.’

‘’Got it, ma’am.’

Strapping herself in, Ingrid then nodded and saluted back Rickman before powering up her engine throttle and taking off at the vertical. She headed westward at once, flying towards the M.I.T. campus, only a few kilometers away, and arriving there in a couple of minutes. Thinking for a second about where she would land, she chose the large sports field situated only some 200 meters from Bexley Hall: it was flat, without obstacles and would have few people around it at this hour. Starting her descent towards the grass surface, she checked quickly for the possible presence of bystanders, then landed smoothly on the outer side of the oval running track closest to Bexley Hall. Leaving her kit bag in the helicopter, she jumped out while shouting instructions to her copilot.

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‘’I have a highly classified document in my kit bag, Captain: don’t let anyone approach or touch it and leave the engine at idle power. I won’t be long.’

‘’Got it, ma’am!’

As she ran towards Bexley Hall, Ingrid couldn’t help think that her wish to stay anonymous here during her studies had just been blown away.

When she entered her room, breathing a bit faster from her running up the stairs, she found Betty about to go have supper at the students’ food court. The black teenager grinned on seeing her enter.

‘’Hey, Ingrid! How was your flying?’’

‘’It was nice but I now have to do some more flying...to go to Washington. I came to change into my dress uniform and to get a few things for a couple day stay there.’’

Betty’s grin then turned to a worried expression.

‘’Is something bad happening in the war?’’

‘’Sorry: I can’t tell you anything about my trip but no need to worry: we are stil winning this war, Betty. I should be back by Friday at the latest.’

Ingrid then went to her closet and opened it, then started shedding her T-shirt, trousers and running shoes before putting on her Army Air Force going out uniform, with shirt, slacks, jacket, low shoes and beret. She completed her attire by putting her ankle holster for her compact GLOCK 9 mm pistol around her right ankle and then covering it with the bottom of her trouser leg. Once fully dressed, she grabbed her leather briefcase, emptying it of the school books she had inside it, and packed a small travel bag with a set of spare clothes. She then ran out of her room with her briefcase and travel bag while shouting to Betty.

‘’SEE YOU FRIDAY AND HAVE A NICE SUPPER, BETTY!’

‘’PLEASE BE CAREFUL, INGRID.’ Coul only say her roommate.

While running down the stairs, Ingrid crossed path with a number of other students, who gave her surprised looks as she zoomed by them. More students and a few teaching staff also saw her as she ran to her waiting military helicopter. When she flew off the ground and took a heading towards Washington while gaining altitude, Betty, who had gone out to go to the food court, was able to see her UH-1 fly away and made a mental wish that things would go well for Ingrid.

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CHAPTER 2 – STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS

20:53 (Washington Time)

Wednesday, June 07, 1944 ‘C’