The Old Kobain Place Pt. 01

Editor's Note: this submission contains themes and scenes of violence similar to those in a horror movie or novel.

I want to start by thanking BlackRandi for giving me the opportunity to participate in the Hanging by a Thread event and for editing my story for me. I just hope that this story is worthy of the work Randi put into correcting my many mistakes.

This story will be posted in two parts. Part 2 should be available in a couple of days.

Prolog

The Big Bang

The following is a portion of an article that appeared in the New York Times on August 12, 1979, referring to an atomic bomb test carried out back in 1953 and is based on reporting by Wendell Rawls Jr. and A.O. Sulzberger Jr. and was written by Mr. Sulzberger.

Special to The New York Times

WASHINGTON - The atomic bomb was detonated at exactly 4:30 A.M., April 25, 1953, just as the 300‐foot steel‐skeletal tower it topped was becoming visible in the predawn darkness.

It was a big blast, almost twice as powerful as any previously tested on American shores, and the shock waves that spread from the barren, lonely Yucca Flat site of the Nevada atomic testing grounds that chilly morning carried more than fallout.

That shot, code‐named Simon, carried more trouble than any other in a series of 11 atomic bomb tests 26 years ago, according to newly declassified civilian and military documents as well as interviews with some of the personnel involved. It dusted the nearby mesas and rangeland with enough radiation to force the Government to throw up roadblocks and decontamination centers in a hasty, unplanned effort to minimize the damage...

There was more to the story, but nowhere in the entire article or in the declassified documents was the story of a clandestine experiment carried out by a small group of individuals looking to enrich themselves and one US Army soldier who was present for that blast.

Chapter 1

Michael Bliss never knew his father, and his mother died when he was fifteen, so for the last three years, Michael lived with his grandmother in Cincinnati, Ohio. Michael was a handsome young man with an athletic build, and at six feet five inches tall, he stood out in any crowd. In high school, Michael's good looks and friendly nature made him many friends, as well as many female admirers.

After graduating from high school, Michael felt a little lost. He didn't know what he wanted to do. He only knew that he wanted to get away from Cincinnati for a while. On October 14, 1945, three days after his eighteenth birthday Michael Bliss enlisted in the US Army.

Because of his size, when Michael finished basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, he received orders to go to Fort McClellan, Alabama, for Military Police training. Michael spent four and a half months at Fort McClellan, and on March 14, 1946, he completed his Military Police training and was assigned to the Provost Marshal's office at Fort Brag, in North Carolina.

Over the next seven years, Michael served at three different bases and had reached the rank of Staff Sergeant before being assigned to Camp Desert Rock in Mercury Valley, Nevada, in February 1953.

Chapter 2

On January 3, 1953, five men were attending a secret meeting in the basement of a soon to be retired Army Officers barracks near Las Vegas, Nevada. In attendance at the meeting were Brigadier General Horace Martin, Vice Commander of Atomic Weapons Research; Dr. Robert Baker, a Major in the Army and the lead medical officer in charge of the atomic weapons test site; Mathew Collins, Assistant Director of the CIA, responsible for gathering intelligence on Soviet weapons; Dr. Werner Schmidt, a former Nazi scientist, brought over from Germany after the war to do medical research on the effects of atomic fallout on health. The last member of the group was Dr. Jonas Bradshaw, a biochemist for a large pharmaceutical company. Dr. Bradshaw was researching possible treatments for radiation poisoning, and his company was supplying the financial backing for their project.

Assistant Director Collins called the meeting to discuss their secret project, code-named REORP, an acronym for Reduce Effects of Radiation Poisoning. REORP was created by Dr. Baker, Dr. Schmidt and Dr. Bradshaw. The three men were trying to develop a cure for radiation poisoning. They believed that combinations of specific chemicals introduced into a body shortly after radiation exposure could reverse the effects of radiation poisoning. The three men followed different tracks and came up with three solutions, believing that at least one would work. Major Baker was certain that the Pentagon would not allow them to do human testing of their solutions, but he felt it was necessary to push ahead anyway. Major Baker knew he would need help to pull this off, so he contacted his friend, AD Collins, and told him about their secret project. Major Baker convinced AD Collins that not only could their project save lives, but it would also be very lucrative for those involved. AD Collins brought General Martin into the project because they would need someone inside the Pentagon to help carry out their plan. Assistant Director Collins ran the meeting.

"Where do we stand with the development of the chemical solutions," Collins asked.

"We've got three solutions, K-47, H-42, and N-68. Y0ou will find these chemical compounds described in the documents in front of you. All three showed promise when tested on lab rats, and we believe that at least one of them will work and possibly all three," Major Baker said. "We have color-coded the three solutions for easy identification. Solution K-47 is red, H-42 is blue, and N-68 is green. We are ready for the A-bomb test on April 25th."

"General, have you identified your test subjects yet?" Collins asked.

"I got their files right here," General Martin replied. "Private First Class Douglas Tally. Height six feet, weight 185 pounds. PFC Tally has no living family and currently has no girlfriend. Tally passed the Physical Training test we arranged last month.

"Private Andrew Steinhauer, height five feet eleven inches, weight 175. PVT Steinhauer has no living family and no girlfriend. PVT Steinhauer passed his PT test.

"Private First Class William Lach. Height six feet one inch, weight 182. PFC Lach has no family, no girlfriend. PFC Lach passed his PT test.

"Staff Sergeant Michael Bliss. Height six feet five inches weight 210. Sgt Bliss has no family, no girlfriend. SFC Bliss passed his PT test."

"Since we only have only three solutions to test, why do we have four subjects, and why use a Staff Sergeant as one of the subjects?" Collins Asked.

"Three of the test subjects will each be treated with one of the solutions. One will get Red, one Blue, and one Green. The fourth subject will not be treated and will act as a control. We chose Sergeant Bliss, so there will be someone in authority to make sure the other three do what we want them to do," Major Baker said.

"What happens to the one subject that doesn't get treated?"

"He will probably die after several weeks," Major Baker said.

"How do you plan to cover that up?"

"He will have an accident in the desert, and his vehicle will catch fire."

"That's pretty cold-blooded, isn't it?" AD Collins asked.

"Can't be helped; we have to have a control subject."

"How will this work?" Collins asked.

"We will have a tent set up in area two and a quarter miles from the test site. We have determined that the fallout in that particular spot will be high enough to exposed soldiers to the right amount of radiation for the purposes of our test. The tent will contain everything we need to treat the three subjects with the Red, Blue, and Green solutions. Two hours before the A-bomb test, our four subjects will drive out to the tent in a truck with a generator and some electronic equipment labeled 'Scientific Equipment' on board. Sergeant Bliss will have orders to start the generator and turn on the electronic equipment one hour before detonation. Once the equipment is running, the four men are to stand guard until relieved. The fallout from the bomb test will produce enough radiation to cause a mild case of radiation poisoning that we will treat immediately after the exposure."

"What scientific equipment will be on the truck?" General Martin said.

"Just an old oscilloscope and a power supply to make the scope display a wavy line so that it will look like the equipment is doing something," Major Baker said.

"I hope you all realize that if this turns to shit, all of our asses will be on the line. So what happens if any of these men die?"

"Dat's vie ve picked men mit no familien," Dr. Schmidt said. "Ve haben contingencies."

AD Collins didn't like the idea of having a former Nazi on the team, but he knew that Dr. Schmidt was a brilliant scientist, so they were stuck with him. AD Collins looked around the room and said, "I guess we are ready. We will have no more meetings before the April test. Just don't fuck this up."

Chapter 3

April 25, 1953

Early that Saturday morning, Twenty-five-year-old Sergeant Michael Bliss, along with PVT Steinhauer, PFC Lach, and PFC Tally, loaded a generator and two pieces of electronic equipment onto a two-and-a-half-ton truck and headed out into the desert. Their destination was a supply tent set up about two-and-a-quarter miles from the atomic test site in Yucca Flat. Their orders were to park next to the supply tent, then, at 03:30, start the generator and turn on the electronic equipment. With the equipment running, they were to stand guard around the truck and the supply tent and wait for the detonation at 04:30.

This morning's detonation would be the second bomb test the four soldiers would experience. On March 17th, the four of them sat in a trench two miles from the blast with 1,000 other soldiers for an A-Bomb test. This time they would be above ground during the test.

Only three people at the test site and a couple more back in Washington knew that Sgt Bliss and his men were placed intentionally in a position where they would be exposed to a small amount of fallout from the bomb. They wanted to expose their subjects to enough radiation to cause a mild case of radiation poisoning. Then they would treat three of the soldiers with the chemical solutions they developed. PVT Steinhauer would not receive any of the treatments so that they could compare his progress with that of the other three. They hoped that they could find a cure for mild cases of radiation poisoning.

If their plan worked, they would rerun the test against higher doses of radiation. If they were successful again, they would patent their treatment and make a great deal of money for the pharmaceutical company providing financial support for their test and enrich themselves in the process.

As instructed, Sgt Bliss fired up the generator and turned on the two electronic boxes. By 04:00, everything was working. He didn't know what the electronic boxes were supposed to do, but they appeared to be working the way he was told they should.

At 04:25, Sgt Bliss told his men to go inside the tent until after the detonation. When the men entered the supply tent, they were surprised to find four cots along one side of the tent, and on the other side were shelves with medical supplies. There were three large glass flasks on one of the shelves, the type you would see in a science lab, each filled with a different color liquid and sealed with a glass stopper. The liquids in the flasks were red, blue, and green. On a table near the shelves, there were three large syringes with long hypodermic needles. Sgt Bliss thought the tent looked more like a small emergency mobile medical center than a supply tent.

After studying the contents of the tent, Sgt Bliss closed the flaps and checked his watch."It's 04:27. It is three minutes to zero hour. Turn away from the blast and close your eyes until I tell you to open your eyes," Sgt Bliss told his men.

Just after 04:29, a gust of wind blew the tent flaps open, and before Sgt Bliss could pull the flaps back in place, there was a flash of light so bright that it disoriented the four men, followed by the ear-splitting sound of the explosion. In seconds they felt the heat from the blast. The shock wave from the blast threw PFC Lach against the shelves causing the flasks with the red, blue, and green liquids to fall. All three flasks broke and spilled their contents on the floor. The liquids mixing on the floor caused a chemical reaction, which produced a dense cloud of yellow gas inside the tent. Sgt Bliss told his men to get out of the tent, and in his haste to escape the fumes, Sgt Bliss slipped and fell in the slimy mixture of chemicals and broken glass.

Major Baker and his team were unaware that there had been a shift in wind direction, increasing the amount of fallout in the area of the truck and the supply tent. When the three doctors, wearing protective gear, checked on their test subjects, they found PFC Lach, PCF Tally, and PVT Steinhauer lying on the ground outside the tent gasping for air.

When asked where Sgt Bliss was, PCF Tally pointed to the tent. They found Sgt Bliss lying in the middle of a gas emitting puddle of chemicals and broken glass.

In a panic, Major Baker told Tally, Lach, and Steinhauer to get Sgt Bliss and get on the truck. Major Baker drove the truck while Drs. Bradshaw and Schmidt followed in their Jeep.

Chapter 4

Two weeks later, Major Baker, Dr. Schmidt, and Dr. Bradshaw were huddled outside a room in a deserted wing of the base hospital discussing the terrible situation in which they found themselves. REORP had no authorization by the Pentagon to perform their test, and it had become a complete disaster. Tally, Lach, and Steinhauer had already died from radiation poisoning, and their bodies were on ice in the hospital morgue, while Sergeant Bliss lay in the room behind them in a coma. Like the others, Sgt Bliss was exposed to lethal radiation levels, but he was also exposed to the mixture of chemicals on the tent floor and the gas they produced. Dr. Schmidt had spent two hours removing broken glass from the Sergeant's back when they first brought him into the hospital. If anyone found out that those four men had intentionally been exposed to a fatal dose of radiation, there would be hell to pay.

"I don't understand how he could still be alive," said Major Robert Baker. "The exposure to that much radiation should have been enough to kill him like it did the others. And the Sergeant was exposed to the mixture of our chemicals and the gases they emitted."

Dr. Schmidt, the German scientist, said, "No von can know vhat we haf done. Ven he dies, vee must make da sergeant's dizappear mit de others."

"Dr. Schmidt is right. If anyone comes asking why we are hiding a dying man back here, we're sunk. We will have to dispose of his body along with the others before anyone finds him here," Dr. Bradshaw said.

"I tink ve should make sure dat da sergeant is not discovered," said Dr. Schmidt. "I tink ve should speed tings along."

"No, no, we can't be thinking like that. In this country, we don't do things the way you did in your country during the war. We will not add to our crime by speeding up his death. We have to find another way", Major Baker said. "He will probably be gone in a couple of days anyway, so we will wait. We will decide what to do then."

Unknown to the three men, Sergeant Bliss had wakened and heard their conversation. They said he should be near death from exposure to the radiation and the chemicals, but he didn't feel sick or even injured. Sergeant Bliss heard as much as he could stand and rushed into the hallway to confront the doctors.

"I ain't dying, and you assholes ain't gonna kill me, so how you gonna make it worth it for me to keep my mouth shut?" Sergeant Bliss yelled at the doctors.

The three men just stared at Sergeant Bliss in disbelief.

Major Baker arranged to have Sergeant Bliss moved to a more comfortable room, with a sign on the door saying 'Quarantine, Authorized Personnel Only.'

For the next three weeks, the three doctors, one general at the Pentagon, an Assistant Director at CIA, and their financial backers worked to find a plan that would protect them and keep Sergeant Bliss happy and quiet. When they finally arrived at the solution they believed would work, the conspirators negotiated with Sgt Bliss. It took them three days to hammer out a proposal that Sgt Bliss agreed to sign.

The main points of the agreement were that Sergeant Bliss would have to disappear. His name would be changed, and he would be moved to someplace where no one knew him. He had to agree never to tell anyone what happened at Yucca Flat, and also, Sergeant Bliss had to agree to meet with the doctors once every six months for a complete medical checkup. For his cooperation, an annuity would be set up for Sergeant Bliss that would pay him three thousand dollars each month for as long as he lived for agreeing to their conditions. The money would come from the pharmaceutical company and the CIA.

Sgt Bliss was happy to sign the agreement. $36,000 a year was a lot of money for someone his age. He saw himself living the good life for many years. On the other hand, the doctors and their backers never expected him to live more than three or four years. They anticipated that Sgt Bliss would develop one or more cancers that would eventually cause his demise. They were just happy that they could continue to study the changes in the sergeant health until the end of his life.

A week after Michael signed the agreement, General Martin and Major Baker came to see Michael.

"Sergeant, we have had a bit of luck. A wounded soldier sent back from Korea passed away yesterday. He was a close match for your description, so we have swapped your identities," General Martin said. "So, First Lieutenant Jackson Winslow will become Sergeant Michael Bliss, and you will become Lt. Jackson Winslow."

"So, I'll still be in the Army but now as an officer?" Michael said.

"No. You will receive a medical discharge with a disability. You will have a military ID that will allow access to any VA hospital, if needed."

The following week when Dr. Baker came to get Michael, the doctor found him looking at himself in a mirror and saying over and over, "Hi, I'm Jackson Winslow."

Before he said anything to Michael, Dr. Baker handed Michael an accident report from the Provost's office at Camp Desert Rock. The statement read, "On the morning of May 12, 1953. A truck carrying four soldiers went off the road and down an embankment and caught fire. The four occupants perished in the fire."

The report went on to list the four dead soldiers. The first name on the list was Sergeant Michael Bliss. The next three names were Lach, Talley, and Steinhauer.

Neither Dr. Baker nor Michael commented on the report. Dr. Baker handed Michael a large envelope and said, "Here are your medical disability and discharge papers. It's time to go, Sergeant."

"Shouldn't you be calling me Lt. Winslow now?"

Dr. Baker looked at Michael like he was some kind of bug under his microscope. "With me, you will always be addressed as Sergeant."

"So, where is my new home going to be?" Michael asked.

Chapter 5

June 1953

Jackson Winslow arrived in Brodricksburg, Pennsylvania, in June 1953 and rented a house on the corner of Quaker Street and William Penn Road. After settling into his new home, he went to the First Bank of Brodricksburg and opened checking and savings accounts and began depositing half of each annuity check into the savings account and the rest in his checking account. Michael was determined not to waste money because he didn't trust the people he made his deal with.