For the next three days I would come to know and trust the two men who met me at the airport. Dave, the oldest, was a tall man of 27. His friend, Jonas, was only 24 and was shorter. Jonas' sister, Nicki, the driver of the Chrysler, was 31. The interior of the car was humorous. The seats, front and back, were covered with what appeared to be white polar bear fur, and the floor was littered with old 8-track cassettes that played in the antique player that was hot wired through the dashboard. In the back, the floor had empty bottles of JD and some Rolling Rock.

As the car warmed after having the door opened, we unzipped our parkas and introduced ourselves. Dave seemed to be in charge. He began by telling me that everything he was going to show me and tell me was secret and, by telling me, he was committing a serious crime. He told me that he had been stationed in Fairbanks with the Navy and had been discharged a few months back. Jonas, who sat in the front with his sister, had also recently been discharged. His sister, who Dave described as "real good people," had come to Fairbanks on a visit and later decided to stay. Both emphasized that she had nothing to do with any of what they were going to reveal to me but that we would all be "crashing" at her apartment for the duration.

Fairbanks was a disappointment. It was a small city with wide streets and lots of bars. Despite the time, we stopped for a drink at a place called "Mecca." Nicki seemed familiar with the patrons and I learned that the JD bottles in the car were mostly from her habit.

Dave wasted no time. He asked me if I had read the material about Eastlund, if I understood it, and if I had ever heard of something he called the HAARP. Jonas was an electrician by trade, and very bright. He had been trained in the Navy and now worked for the local cable television company. He was able to explain how radio waves traveled and how Eastlund's invention worked, in a way that made it easy to understand. They both drank Rolling Rock while Nicki did shots and smiled, glassy eyed, at me.

Maybe I was over-tired or maybe I had been alone too long. Nicki was cute. She was small and petite and looked more so in her large insulated parka. She drank her shots in one swallow and banged the glass on the bar as she finished them.

"Hey, man, it's late. Let the poor guy unwind and we can do all this tomorrow. Man, you are going to see something..." Jonas was interrupted by a wave from Dave's hand. The two of them excused themselves to talk to a friend that had entered the bar, leaving me alone with Nicki.

"They're really freaked, you know." She said. "They are worried that you will rat on them. You won't do that, will you?"

"Hey. No way. This sounds important. Besides I am not one to rat on anyone. I'm a no one really. I just want to help with whatever is going on."

Nicki was drunk. She stared in my eyes, "Yeah. You look okay. You have honest eyes. I can tell." She took hold of my hand. "I love my brother. He's a good guy and he just wants someone to know about all that's going on around here."

"You can trust me. Really." I tried to finish my Rolling Rock but it was already warm and I was tired. Dave and Jonas returned and announced that it was time to go. We headed to the car and then drove to a windowless apartment on top of a souvenir shop. It was Nicki's place and it was stocked with more 8-track tape players and half empty bottles of JD and wall to wall shag carpets. It smelled like the bar we had just left.

"So we'll be over fairly early. We'll get breakfast and then head up to the flats." Dave and Jonas left me with Nicki. In the background I could hear an old Jefferson Airplane tune. "When the truth is found... to be lies..." This was going to be interesting.