THE CASSANDRA GROUP
Meddling with Future History
THE CASSANDRA GROUP: MEDDLING WITH FUTURE HISTORY
Based on the novella by Joseph A. Bonelli
Copyright 2019, Joseph A. Bonelli
Contact: James Clois Smith, Jr., Sunstone Press – 505.988.4418
LOGLINE: Historian Carlos Numantia, following in Cassandra’s footsteps, and with the support of his wife, Dr. Sally, his buddies Choe and Charley, and his mentor General Callahan (‘El Jefe’), tells his truths boldly and fearlessly thereby successfully meddling to improve the future history of the suffering North Korean people whom he has come to cherish.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: During the opening credits, the first scene is a nighttime shot of the Washington Monument, establishing the locale. Further shots show young man (Carlos) entering a rooming house, acting sick or drunk, locking his room door, and placing a heavy carpet against it (weighted by large books). He falls, fully-clothed, into the bed after giving a goodnight pat to a picture of George Washington on his wall.
Title card appears, ‘Some of what you are about to see is historically accurate, some of it is make-believe. Figure it out for yourself. That’s what life is about. Remember, Cassandra made true prophecies, but no one believed her. The secret is not caring.’
ACT 1:
March 2018. After the credits and title card, the first image on the screen is of the tiny and spooky showplace that is downtown Pyongyang, North Korea. A flash, a raging inferno, then a mushroom cloud. Millions are dead. “Is this a dream?” says a voice in Carlos’ head. Same images of Seoul and Tokyo. Same mushroom clouds. Guam and two aircraft carriers are scrap metal. Kauai is burning and there are nine black holes on the North American continent.
Carlos Numantia comes back to consciousness aware he has dreamed hideous nightmares that could be true. He calls his friend Choe who confirms the world is still intact and someone laced the cookies with LSD at the South Korean Embassy party last night. Choe and Carlos are both historians and old friends, as well as movie buffs and Tae Kwon Do black belts. Both have been hired to work at the Pentagon at the prestigious think tank called ‘The Cassandra Group’ on issues of concern to America’s future.
Carlos, who speaks Korean and is an expert on Korean history and international military tactics, comes to work at a time when President Trump appointed John Bolton as his Security Advisor and Mike Pompeo as his Secretary of State, as preparations begin to meet with North Korean President Kim for the first time.
Carlos is befriended in his first week of work by General Otis Callahan, an older man and fellow historian. Callahan has only a master’s degree in Military History, but his post-degree experience includes fighting in a real war where he learned both guerrilla tactics and Spanish. A strong bond soon develops between them and they often kibbitz in Spanish.
The fourth historian in the group is Charles Mandrake, a Brit athlete from Oxford. Choe’s Ph.D. is from Harvard after Seoul.
Carlos’ second week of work starts not with a whimper but a ‘bang.’ The Wheel of Fortune turns and Coyote howls. Carlos ends up in Walter Reed Hospital, the victim of an Antifa wheelchair bomb meant for the president. Carlos’ instinctive reaction cued the Secret Service agents early enough for them to keep the president unharmed. Carlos is grilled by two suspicious agents and a lady shrink, Dr. Sally Sarandon, who ‘reads’ people quickly and well. CNN hears rumors of the attempted assassination but believes it to be a practical joke and ignores it.
Dr. Sarandon has an immediate liking for Carlos and when he was being released from the hospital, she makes a pass at him by offering him dinner at the Red Dragon Chinese Restaurant, a local legend, whose location is known to few. She takes him home with her for several days of love and laughter. She falls in love with him, knowing he was both a genius and a nice guy, one thing more than her first husband.
General Callahan succeeds in attracting the president’s interest in a reorganization of the Cassandra Group which left it with three top historian scholars with the General in charge. In the first meeting, Carlos, Choe, Charlie and El Jefe (Callahan) meet directly with John Bolton, Mike Pompeo, and the president to brief them in depth about the North Koreans, i.e. their strengths, weaknesses, and well-known diplomatic tricks, ploys, and double-talk.
When the president enters the room he walks over to Carlos and shakes his hand. He remembers meeting him at the hospital. Pompeo is accompanied by his Special Assistant Delilah Cummings, a statuesque brunette Amazon. Or as Carlos thinks to himself, ‘An Elemental!’
While discussing North Korean military capabilities, Bolton is apprised that the North Koreans might actually do a ‘first strike’ attack (of limited scope and for political reasons) under certain circumstances. It is fixed so that if all four in Cassandra agree the button is ready to be pressed some day, they are to send the president the coded message ‘Afghanistan Bananastand.’
Other discussions center on denuclearization, military sanctions for non-compliance, and finding hidden nuclear launch bases (for which Carlos has a lot of ideas). It is decided that Delilah will head a small unit advised by the Cassandra Group, whose purpose would be to find hidden nuclear launch sites. Delilah is brilliant and dynamic, as well as beautiful. Carlos and Charlie feel especially attracted to her. Though Carlos overcomes his infatuation with an act of will knowing that more than one woman in his life is a spoiler.
Choe and Carlos accompany Delilah to Seoul to help her set up a South Korean intelligence gathering base for their ‘gold coins for info’ program, aimed at defectors with knowledge of the location of unofficial hidden bases. They are also seeking old and current maps of North Korea. Francie Sansin is hired as Director; ‘Red Hand’ is hired as her assistant. To Delilah’s surprise, Francie turns out to be Choe’s younger sister. His nickname for her is ‘The Walking Brain.’ Also enlisted to help is an engaging scoundrel known as ‘Black Hand’ who is a North Korean black market operative (and Red Hand’s brother).
ACT II:
Back in Washington, Delilah’s work group ‘The Searchers’ discovers Karst formations in two interesting mountains. Two of the group’s beliefs are that hidden bases would be located in Karst formations where there would be caves and that the North Koreans in their current maps would try to hide the location of secret bases by ‘erasing’ roads, etc. off current day maps. Old maps would still show them as well as the local topographic features.
The Searchers enlist the help of a young CIA operative, Mark Canfield, and ask for surveillance of these two locations for helicopter or truck traffic. Bingo! The CIA wants in. Both sites show massive activity, mostly at night.
June 12, 2018. The president met with Kim Jung On today and they buddied up and signed a piece of paper, a sort of declaration of intent to negotiate. Delilah hires Darlene, a cartographer, who soon acquires the moniker of ‘The Ferret’ because she can sniff out quickly where old roads and buildings have been ‘erased’ off maps by the North Koreans.
Carlos, Choe and Black Hand accompany Mark to Mount Kumgang Mountain Resort and Paekdusan in North Korea as civilians to give him a feel for the terrain of North Korea and lessons on language and culture.
Carlos gets an urgent summons from his father, Gilberto, at the family rancheria near Santa Fe. Teresa, his mother, is not expected to live much longer. Carlos and Sally fly out to see her. Teresa gives her blessings to Sally and she passes away that night. On the flight back, Sally proposes marriage and Carlos accepts, immediately placing a huge diamond engagement ring (that Gilberto had slipped into his pocket) on her finger. It is one of Teresa’s great jewels!
September 2018. The first vague timetable for North Korea’s denuclearization was issued by Kim Jong On. They are to denuclearize ‘by the end of Trump’s first term.’ Delaying tactic? And Hidden message?
November 6, 2018. Midterm elections. Dems took the House. GOP kept the Senate. A perfect recipe for legislative gridlock. All Doctor Dolittle Mueller, the famed ornithologist, can say was “Quack! Quack! He’s a Muscovy Duck!” Comic book fans know better. The Donald is a reincarnation of Howard the Duck. If true, that’s deadly news!
The Cassandra Group, under General Callahan’s able leadership, continues to provide the triumvirate (Trump, Bolton, and Pompeo) with requested advice on international, political, defense, and even domestic matters when requested.
Delilah, Choe, Darlene and Charlie go to Seoul on business after weeks of self-defense training (by Carlos and Choe) because of Carlos’ premonition that something bad was going to happen to them there. Unfortunately, Carlos was right. They are unexpectedly set upon by a nasty mob of booze or drug-crazed youths. Charlie, as a novice, shows great skill protecting Delilah while Choe systematically puts his untrained opponents out of the fray. Meanwhile, Darlene single-handedly took on one male and two females. She cold-cocked the male with a smashing right left to the jaw and body slammed and pinned both astounded young women. She later fessed up to leaving out of her resume that she had been her school’s top wrestler and that her brother was a Golden Gloves champ.
August 15, 2020. The triumvirate meets with Cassandra. They are worried about the unsettled politics in South Korea. President Moon has listened to House and Senate democrats and believes the democrats can beat Trump. Cassandra tells them it will be close, but that he will win. His winning will put President Moon’s career at risk and squeeze Kim Jong Un as well. Carlos was of the opinion that Kim (under pressure from his gung-ho advisors) might switch to a provocative act, even a limited act of war to restore his country’s belief in him. He has failed to bring them prosperity. This despite the fact that Kim likes Trump personally. They have a strange Mutt and Jeff / Father and Son relationship. “Kim’s advisors might suggest a probe or test case,” Carlos says. “To preclude this adventurism you should warn them now that any attacks against the U.S. no matter how small, may result in total response. Let them think about what that might mean. However, if you don’t have a plan now for total response, make one up overnight. As part of your plan require military commanders to act without consulting headquarters under specified conditions when experiencing a military act of aggression. Speed! Surprise!”
ACT III:
September 13, 2020. Francie sends General Callahan a credible report that one of the hidden launch sites they discovered and reported to CIA has an ICBM named ‘Beijing’s Bane.’ General Callahan is dubious the CIA will believe them but he reports it and they respond instantly. CIA operatives pair up with a Chinese nuclear expert and try first to talk, then shoot their way into this facility. Chang Low determines the allegation is true and Satellite phones Beijing from the site. The Russians are informed.
October 4, 2020. The U.S. President asks Congress to approve a Declaration of War against the rogue nation of North Korea. The democrats denounce this as an irresponsible act and an attempt to hijack the election.
November 3, 2020. Election Day. President Trump is elected to his second term. The Russia-gate rubric is re-sent up the flagpole. Millions cheer and millions more groan.
November 25, 2020. Cassandra sends the “Afghanistan Bananastand’ message to the president.
November 28, 2020. Carlos sniffs Armageddon. It comes. The North Korean military machine is smashed, and ten million Americans are dead. The wounded are uncountable. But it could have been much worse. The world breathes a sigh of relief.
April 2021. The Cassandra Group assists with security issues related to radioactive fallout in the five civilian quarantine zones. It also consults on a joint operation by China, Russia, and the U.S. regarding the North Korea Food and Rescue Program. A U.N. plebiscite is planned for September 20, 2021 to determine if the North Korean people want reconciliation with the South or to remain a separate independent country.
Saturday before Christmas, 2024. The Red Dragon Restaurant. All Cassandra Group members and Delilah’s searchers/people helpers meet for a goodbye dinner. President Perez’s staff has informed them their services are no longer needed. General Callahan says, “I never doubted our democracy would survive Trump, it will survive Perez. We just need to continue to give our bosses the best information and advice we can, and not worry about their misunderstanding or not understanding fully. Most of you are smarter and better educated than they are. Try and help them to see better and give yourself a good life along the way.”
2050. Francie Sansin becomes President of North Korea. She asks Carlos to be Ambassador to the U.S. and he accepts.
November 28, 2070. Dedication of the Pyongyang Peace Garden. Two tired old men pushing a dying man in a wheelchair arrive just as the ceremony finishes, as was their plan. They place a wreath of greens at the memorial marker with a card that reads, “Good Life to Pyongyang. May Feng Shui favor you once again. With love from Carlos, Choe, Charlie, and Friends.”
END