A Glint In Time (History and Time) Read Online Free PDF Page B

I mean the scenario and Asians and the mysterious communications link and all of that!"
    "Oh. games, computer games, I guess." he replied.
    Sally settled back into her book. Apparently, the lights were out on some of Ted's floors. "A shame." she observed inaudibly.

SMOKE SCREEN
    August 11, 1995
In Flight Singapore to Jakarta
----
    Excerpt from the Personal Narrative
of Brigadier General Ted Arthurs
    Recorded May 2006
CLASSIFIED CONFIDENTIAL / TA
"The system worked fine. I had reliable contact with the team back at Hurlburt Field. But, even with that, I wasn't prepared for what I found."
----
     
    They changed planes in Singapore in a fog of fatigue, but they were grateful to be on the final leg. As they approached the airport in Jakarta, they crowded the windows for a peek at the country. Flying low over Jakarta on their approach, they saw a modern city with a large highway system.
    As their airplane taxied to the gate, Sally saw some small aircraft sitting along the runway. She nudged Ted, "Okay Mr. Airplane Guy, what are those?"
    Ted put a hand on her shoulder and bent to look out the window. "Oh those are Hawks. Two seaters, so they are probably the 100 series. That's a single engine trainer and
    ground attack aircraft built by the British. It's a nice airplane. Over there are some German-built BO 105 helicopters."
    "How do you know all these things?" Sally asked.
    "I like airplanes." Ted said simply. He sat back in his seat and started to get his baggage together.
    It seemed that it took the jet forever to trundle up to the jetway. People crowded forward in the aisles well before it stopped rolling. Waiting for the seat belt sign is pretty much a North American trait. As they staggered off of the airplane together, Janet said, "What's that smell?"
    The airport's hallway was waist deep in smoke. It wasn't dense and the smell wasn't familiar or threatening like burning wood or insulation, but it was a low hanging haze inside the building. As they trudged in the direction of the baggage claim, Sally noticed that the people in the airport seemed young and prosperous. They were dressed like middle class business people anywhere and while they weren't bustling like New Yorkers, the pace was good. But then she noticed many of the men, women, and some people that she would consider children, were smoking. The women generally didn't walk with a cigarette, but the men did. If a woman was sitting, she was smoking. But the smell was different.
    "Clove cigarettes." Ted said. "The people of Indonesia smoke cigarettes that combine cloves and clove oil with the tobacco. Smoking is popular. However, drugs are very carefully controlled and strong laws and social pressures
    hold down the abuse of alcohol. This is a very strongly Muslim country. So, I guess they smoke."
    "Wow, that's the smell and the smoke all right." Sally observed. "How did you know that?" she asked.
    "I read a book." Ted replied. "Actually, the CIA Country Guide."
    "How did you get that?" Sally asked.
    "It's on the Internet." Ted replied with a smile.
    Sally nodded and smiled slightly in return. Internally, she was shaking her head. Her image of this man just would not stay in focus.
    Bill added, "When Magellan set sail for the Spice Islands in the 1500s, he was aiming for Indonesia. The culture, climate, and economy of Indonesia are tied to cloves and other spices. Although the country also has oil."
    The only people in the baggage claim area were a trio of three men including a uniformed chauffeur holding a sign saying "Dr. Wirtz". Bill and the party were in the middle of a stream of passengers, but even before they identified themselves one of the men stepped out to intercept them and said, "Dr. Wirtz, I am Sanyoto Woo." The mysterious Mr. Woo turned out to be nearly six feet tall, younger than he sounded, and of some ancestry that wasn't Indonesian, but didn't fit any other pattern Sally recognized from her only source of reference, her friends at school.
    Her