Needless to say, any Strand on which Magnus’s plan succeeds will have a very different future from the one we are living in. Tristan is of the opinion that DODO spy planes are probably flying high above Mexico City and Cuzco at this moment, looking for signs of GLAAMR indicating the temporal equivalent of a nuclear strike.
We all wish Melisande were among us to help us think it all through. Unfortunately she remains marooned. Mortimer, logging in to ODIN through Esme’s phone, has been able to pull up some message traffic confirming that Gráinne Sent Mel to Victorian London in the summer of 1851—only weeks before the eclipse that marked the end of magic. By that time, the few remaining witches who could do magic at all were much enfeebled, especially in London, as that’s where the Great Exhibition was, and thus there was an immense concentration of magic-dampening technology all amassed in one place. So there is great concern that even if Mel were able to land on her feet in that DTAP and make contact with a practicing witch, it would be too late to get her back. In any case, there is little we can do except try to provide a place for her to land. If she materializes in one of the existing ODECs, she’ll immediately be in Gráinne’s power. So we need to build or obtain an ODEC of our own. Frank, who has spent the last couple of years designing and constructing room-temperature ODECs, is of course the leading authority in the world when it comes to that. He seems to have had a premonition of what was to come (or perhaps he received a warning from the future?), for he has for the last few weeks been laying plans to improvise a room-temperature ODEC in our cellar. Many of the parts, he says, can be obtained from Home Depot, but others are highly specialized, including room-temperature superconductors that are easy to obtain with the resources of DODO at one’s back but almost impossible for mere civilians to acquire.
UPDATE, WRITTEN LATE SATURDAY
Television reveals that the siege has been lifted. The Walmart was stormed by SWAT teams after several hours had gone by with no sign of activity. The hostages were found bound and gagged with duct tape but otherwise unharmed. No arrests have been made; police are claiming that the perpetrators made their escape from the building by crawling along a sewer line, or some such nonsense.
On the television footage, which is all shot from a distance, using drones and helicopters with long lenses, it’s possible to see two different groups of officers inside the Walmart: the local police SWAT team, which is roaming all over the store, and DODO’s EFOT squad (whose existence we’ve all just learned about this weekend—sort of DOSECOPS on steroids), which has surrounded the tractor-trailer rig and is not allowing anyone else near it. Apparently the tractor and trailer were so badly damaged as to be unusable. Now, however, another tractor-trailer has showed up in the parking lot, as well as some sort of enormous forklift from Massport that is capable of picking the ATTO off of the one and transferring it to the other. I’m sure that the ATTO is about to disappear into the bowels of the military-industrial complex, never to be seen again.
Exchange of posts on “ATTO Operations”
ODIN channel
DAY 1949 (SUNDAY AFTER THANKSGIVING, YEAR 5)
Note: Posts recovered from a telephone belonging to Julie Lee, who had access to ODIN until the following day.
Post from MAJ Isobel Sloane, 00:16:
Here is yet another update—hopefully the last—from the Walmart. The obstructions that had been preventing the forklift from getting into the building were finally cleared away about an hour ago. We’ve had to work around the police crime scene teams. Since there is no particular urgency, we have taken a “go along, get along” approach, which is why it has been so slow. They were irritated by our insistence on padlocking the ATTO the moment we arrived and keeping people out of it, but thanks to some calls from on high (kudos to LTG Frink, I suppose) they eventually got the message that the ATTO was a no-go area on national security grounds.
The forklift is now maneuvering into position alongside the tractor-trailer and getting ready to move the ATTO.
Reply from LTG Octavian Frink, 00:21:
Thank you, MAJ Sloane, despite the late hour I am monitoring from my office at the Pentagon. What is the status of the ATTO itself? Has it suffered any damage?
From MAJ Sloane, 00:30:
It took superficial damage—one good reason for housing it in a beefy steel shipping container. From the fact that Magnus’s team were successfully Sent into it and later Homed, we have ample evidence that it remains fully operational. The external status lights all show green.
BTW I don’t know if you have video feed on this, but the forklift has removed it from the ruined rig now and is taking it into the parking lot. Should have it on the good rig in a couple of minutes.
From LTG Frink, 00:35:
Do we know how Magnus’s personnel were Homed?
From MAJ Sloane, 00:37:
Haven’t had time to do a full after-action report. Will analyze it. Presumably they had their own MUON in the ATTO and she Homed them one by one after they had the maps cut in their backs.
From LTG Frink, 00:40:
Is Dr. Blevins awake and monitoring this? I feel the need of some expert opinions. My understanding is that MUONs cannot Send or Home themselves; some other MUON must do it for them.
From MAJ Sloane, 00:45:
ATTO is now on the good rig and the truck driver is conducting routine inspection prior to departure. I’ll ride shotgun with him. There is a security concern around possibility of media vehicles tailing us back to DODO HQ and so remainder of ETOF squads/vehicles will block streets and run interference until we are clear of the area.
From LTG Frink, 00:49:
I have confirmed with staff here that air space has been shut down, so you don’t have to worry about media choppers. Drone frequencies being jammed.
From MAJ Sloane, 00:51:
LOL I see drones falling out of the sky all over the place. Very satisfying.
From LTG Frink, 00:52:
I have not seen a response to my query about MUONs being able to self-Send. Dr. Blevins must be out of commission.
From MAJ Sloane, 00:55:
Not an expert but my understanding is that they can’t self-Send.
From LTG Frink, 00:56:
In that case, when Magnus’s MUON had finished Homing all of Magnus’s other personnel, what did she do? Remain in the ATTO? She would be marooned in the present day, correct?
From MAJ Sloane, 01:01:
General sitrep: truck driver reports good to go, have deployed DOSECOPS personnel/vehicles for traffic management detail.
In answer to LTG Frink’s last question, hostile MUON did not remain in the ATTO.
From LTG Frink, 01:02:
How do you know that?
From MAJ Sloane, 01:03:
Well, when we first entered the store at conclusion of the hostage situation, I went into the ATTO to check it. It was empty. We then padlocked the door. It has remained padlocked since.
From LTG Frink, 01:05:
I would like you to double-check it before departure.
From MAJ Sloane, 01:05:
Roger wilco. Stand by.
From LTG Frink, 01:15:
Has anyone on site heard from MAJ Sloane? I would like a sitrep. It has been ten minutes.