(Mt. Pony, former entrance. Photo USG)

Before lighting up a last smoke of the day, my attention was drawn to that bright star that hangs due east, just above the trees. Like you, the news of sights in the sky this winter has been entertaining and provided minutes of educational entertainment. The unusual juxtaposition of Saturn and Jupiter was a big deal, but it happened behind a tree on the western side of the house. They say it will not happen again for 1,100 years, so we have time to figure out whether to wait up for it.

In the course of our detailed examination, we talked about that bright star that flickers with life hanging in the east. It had been a source of interest since we first saw it late last year. Early confusion was about the planetary conjunction in the wrong direction. Then I noticed, over a satisfying Marlboro-length observation that the star was moving around more vigorously than most of the other ones. In fact, it seemed to lurch up in the heavens before stabilizing again. We considered our failing eyesight was at fault, but one night the star had hovered for an hour or so, and then departed to the south before disappearing in the tree line.

We tried common sense. Had stars evolved some sort of motility? That would have been mentioned on the internet someplace, so we suspended suspicion in that regard. Aircraft don’t hover in the sky, though helicopter might. Repeated observations over the next few weeks suggested the object might be of human creation. Transitioning from tobacco-fueled natural observation to conspiracy theory, we wondered who might be using an Unmanned Autonomous Aerial Vehicle (UAV) just east of the farm and for what purpose.

That string of thought took me back to my first examination of the county agricultural road that serves the properties out here under the looming presence of Mount Pony, the big lump of weathered soil and rock up at the junction. I worked in a placid office in a nice building in town as part of a mostly anonymous management organization overseeing various programs best left to themselves. The 9/11 attack had caused us to stop our normal work and suddenly assume duties only described in old documents. It had also renewed interest in strong hard places that could withstand severe impact.

There were a bunch of them around the capital, in Maryland and Virginia. Years ago, the Government had been concerned about the consequences of an atomic exchange with our old Soviet adversaries. It was serious enough that a fair amount of money was put into common-sense precautions. Mount Pony was home to one of them, a great underground bunker allocated to the people at the Federal Reserve as part of the “continuity” mission. By report, a couple billion dollars in small bills had been stored there to have a stock in case the government and the economy needed to get started after a public event of some drama.

(Mount Pony’s storage, back in the day. photo USG).

The end of the Cold War had signified an end to the requirement to maintain a credible backup to the normal chaos and the bunkers languished in budgetary support. The one at Mount Pony was actually posted in real estate ads before the Library of Congress snatched it up as a repository and processing facility for film-based media. It would have been a good one, since the reconstruction meant that most of the bathrooms would work. We found some places that hadn’t had much work done since the Cuban Missile crisis, so we had an appreciation for basics in emergency planning.

Long story round, I had been looking for a property west of the capital area, far enough away from large blasts to be survivable, low in human population with abundant wildlife and moderately fresh drinking water. Refuge Farm came on the market afterward and I told the realtor to make an offer without going inside. Having something remote but handy was a cool thing. So, that is completely in keeping with the rest of my accidental career. Great place, and deemed survivable by the government in case of trouble.

Anyway, that is why I am here. Having been through sudden government reactions to external events that don’t get a lot of press, I decided on an appropriate conspiracy for attribution. Someone up in DC might have stumbled on one of those old point papers or operating manuals and had an idea. There has been other interest there lately, allegedly for a big solar energy project of some 1,200 acres just southeast. There has been some local controversy about it, mostly by folks who do not want industrial grade development. It is felt that the new emphasis on wind and solar could turn that around.

Or it could be one of the Feds found an old book with some advice about how to deal with unexpected things. I have no idea, thank Providence, and am of course a strong supporter of any madness that erupts from my old hometown. But like everything else these days, it is interesting.

Copyright 2021 Vic Socotra
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