The Valenzetti Countdown Theory

His concerns were not allayed by the upcoming test of the Surveillance, Weather, And Neutralization system. The control of weather through electromagnetic directing and warming of ocean and air currents, and charging of atmospheric particles, had been achieved, despite some painful stumbles...but now the station had been fully powered--prematurely, he thought again--for a hurried test of it's object interception/repulsion capabilities. Not wanting to wait around for an incoming meteor to zap, the Pentagon had supplied a ballistic test missile for the SWAN to grab out of the sky. The tenor of the government's involvement had gotten entirely too martial for Alvar's tolerance...he knew what War was, and understood better than most the dark contingencies that drove world leaders to make less than noble plans, "just in case." The potential for misuse of the most dangerous Dharma projects could no longer be ignored. Ever forthright, Alvar wrote letters to his government sponsors, insisting on revising the agreements for organizational control of Dharma, and suggesting that the work should once again be returned to the world stage. He contacted the PR department about a new series of press releases to get the ball rolling.

The response was immediate, if not quite above board. Alvar, Gerald and Karen would be silenced during their next tour of the Pacific facility--a convenient, covert locale for disposal, and their travel there would not be on a public flight plan. The SWAN would be engineered to disable their plane during the interception test-fire, and their outside communications would be jammed until the government could arrange a cover story to persuade its colonist operatives to "eliminate the leaks."

But again, the hasty plans went afoul. Some time during its development, the SWAN had been reprogrammed to ignore a new Rohini surveillance and weather satellite, which the Indian government had inconveniently launched into a polar orbit that coincidentally intersected the position of the South Pacific Dharma Island. When programming the destruction of Alvar's plane, the CIA technician had inadvertently hooked in to the satellite "blinders."

This precipitated The Incident. After Alvar landed on the island and begin to tour the facilities with Gerald, Karen, and an entourage of his trusted senior advisers and scientists...the CIA initiated the program to spring the trap on Alvar. The agent actually pushed the button in full view of the executive visitors, during their visit to the SWAN. Other project members had assembled outside on the beach, some distance away from the station, anxious to watch the interception test play out in the sky.

The satellite swept by overhead.

The Island reverberated with a cacophony of dynamic and mechanical sounds. A hypo-sonic vibration saturated the ground and air, driving all personnel on the Island to their knees, and rendering the delegation and staff in the SWAN station instantly unconscious.

A paroxysmal eruption of EM energy, perceived by and overwhelming all senses, physical and otherwise, raked the Island. The devastation was horrifying, both physical and electronic, as would be discovered later after the damaged SWAN shut down and a survey team was dispatched for assessment and repair work. The project was set back considerably, but the threat of exposure was now fully contained (for the most part)...and the new leadership of Dharma would make sure it stayed that way. Of course, the research and technology program would have to be accelerated yet again, whatever the risk...and the recruitment efforts to replace the project operators and subjects would need to be redoubled.