Prologue

 

A matter of historical record....

 

At 05.29.45 Mountain War Time, on Monday 16^th July 1945, thirty-five miles southeast of Socorro, New Mexico, the world’s first nuclear weapon melted sand into glass; the implosion was twenty kilotonnes: one trillionth the energy converted by the meteor which had ended the Cretaceous; the blast was visible from orbit.

On 6^th August, the B29 Superfortress Enola Gay dropped a similar weapon—Little Boy—into Hiroshima. Three days later, the Bockscar dropped Fat Man into Nagasaki.

On 15^th August—VJDay—the Japs surrendered, bringing the second world war to a close.

 

On 11^th June 1948, a year into the coldwar between the United States and the Sovetskiy Soyus, a Macaca mulatta named Albert flew halfway to orbit in a Vergeltungswaffe2 rocket, dying of suf­focation during the flight.

A year later, on 14^th June 1949, AlbertII reached orbit at an alti­tude of eighty-three miles above sealevel, only to die on impact following reentry.

On 16^th September, AlbertIII—a Macaca fasciccularis—was lost as his V2 exploded some six miles into the air.

On 8^th December, AlbertIV died upon impact, as AlbertII had.

On 18^th April 1951, AlbertV was killed after his parachute failed to open on reentry.

On 20^th September 1951, AlbertVI, also known as Yorick, survived his ascension to forty-four miles, only to die, two days later, of unreported causes.

 

In 1985, the Simian Immunodeficiency Virus was discovered amidst growing concerns regarding HIV; it would be another two decades before a positive link between the two was established.

 

On 25^th December 1979, during the Iranian Revolution, the So­viet 40^th Army were deployed to Afghanistan, which they would occupy until 15^th February 1989.

Their defeat gave rise to Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda, and ultimately to the end of the Soviet Union.

 

On 11^th September 2001, an unidentified object flew into a sky­scraper in Manhattan; within hours, it had been reported to have been the Boeing 767-223ER, N334AA.

Despite the evidence collected to support the object’s iden­tity, a fair percentage of Americans remained sceptical throughout the first decade of the century.

 

On 7^th October 2011—the tenth anniversary of the beginning of Operation: Enduring Freedom—the White House was destroyed by a weapon of unconfirmed origin; there were no survivors.

That was four months ago.