Preparation for War
Preparation for War
The preparations for war had slowly gained momentum since the beginning of the East German student riots. The Governments had tried secrecy at first, hoping that there was still a hope for peace. Working in the shadows, equipment was checked, food stores readied, and gold relocated, all according to pre-created plans.
Among these plans were a series of operations designed to preserve the cultural and political heritage of the United States.
Working closely with FEMA and the Smithsonian Institute, the National Archives had prepared CONTINGENCY PLAN TWAIN in case of the worst: nuclear war, mass pandemic, nor total civilization collapse would erase America’s mark on the world forever. [5] Detailed in it were locations for close to one million artifacts of varying degrees of importance and size spread throughout the United States. Some were relocated to basements. Others were placed in underground vaults and bunkers. And the most important were relocated to Site R.
CONTINGENCY PLAN TWAIN began, fittingly with the three most important documents in American History. The Constitution, The Declaration of Independence, and first edition copy of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
FEMA is readied to PHASE II.
*The Archivist hurried alongside the Signal Corps soldiers. He had thought of saying something about the importance of the documents, and extreme caution, but decided against it. The reverent look on the soldier’s faces as they gingerly placed the self-contained, atmospherically perfect, blacked out to prevent yellowing, and everything-but-a-nuke-proof boxes on floor of the helicopter were evidence enough. These men were honored to be selected for their job.
The Museums were closed, the schools were closed, and the country seemed to be grinding to a halt. Many predicted the end was near. A homeless man had ambushed him on his way in to work, begging to see the Constitution one last time…
Looking back later, if their helicopter were to crash on its route north the three boxes would survive the impact better than any of the people. Luckily enough for the passengers, there were no complications as the helicopters touched down.
They rushed past security guards, down impassive hallways, down number and color coded floors to a room deep in the complex.
The size of an aircraft hanger, and the deepest room in the bunker, its singular purpose was to be the safe-deposit box for the shreds of American history in the coming fire.
The three boxes were placed in their own room, hooked up to their own generators and left alone in the dark.
Around the cubicle sized room, other pieces of history were being placed.
The Wright Flyer sat in a crate, next to a cannon from Fort Sumter.
Records of Louis Armstrong mingled with the works of Emerson and Frost.
A boxed Edison light bulb sat next to an M-1 Garand, which in turn lay packaged across from Neil Armstrong’s boot and a sliver of moon rock.
The threads of American history all jumbled together.
Waiting for the end.
Gen_Patton’s Notes:
[1] My hypothesis, due to most orders having been given over radio, few if any written orders survived. Only fragments of battle plans are left from the pre-war days. However many of these have been met with large degree of skepticism since the famous Ronald Reagan’s Last Word to the Men has been revealed to be a forgery and a hoax.
[2] The National Archives has replaced most private museums since the days of fire, and is as this is written the largest museum and library in the world. Many public museumettes can be found in major towns, slowly rebuilding their collections from the days gone by. Many collections have been found relatively intact, if you are willing to brave the radiation, dig through the rubble, blast open the basement vault doors and then waste the gasoline getting the artifacts out.
[3] I figured no one would be interested in military fiction in this TL. War just ruined mankind. Looking at some of Tom Clancy’s non-fiction works, I came to the conclusion that he would take more of a military historian’s path ITTL. Perhaps he could co-author a book with Stephen E. Ambrose…
[4] With most brick and mortar libraries being converted into housing for refugees, and most their contents burned to keep people warm during the brutal winters, the only library left is a national system available through your local post office. You mail them a request; they mail you a card and a post back date. Not sending a book back is considered stealing federal property, much in the same vein as raiding a reclamation resource caravan. A capital offense.
