Chris chuckled, “She really just likes me for my looks.”
Ben laughed, “Now that I might believe. However, most twenty-somethings that look like her don’t line up for men in their mid-thirties. You look ok, Dr. Connor, but she could pretty much have much prettier men than you.”
“How did you know I was that old?”
“I looked at your teeth.”
“Oh! And?”
“You take good care of them, which is surprising considering what you’re doing to the rest of your body. It appears you’re on a mission to die young and you take it seriously. It wasn’t only alcohol we found in your system. But let’s not talk about that. We’ll just keep that to ourselves, shall we?”
Chris sighed and said, “Where is this cafeteria, and I’m beginning to think something is rotten in Denmark.”
Ben stepped back with mock horror on his face, “Of course it is, the King abdicated last year to his mother.” Ben leaned in close and said, “I’ve been worried about that family for years.”
Chris shook his head and suddenly noticed the Special Forces troops that were moving around the building were stopping and saluting the Doctor. That was not good. He tapped his communicator and it didn’t even turn on.
Ben leaned back in, “The field around this facility blocks all electronic devices. Sorry.”
Chris looked at Ben and said, “What’s your rank, Doctor?”
Ben smiled, “I’m a Major General, why do you ask?”
“I just wanted to see how deep the crap is I’ve stumbled into. I thought I was up to my neck but now I know it’s over my head.”
Ben laughed and slapped him on the back, “You’re a very funny guy.”
Chris almost fell over, caught himself, and again noticed all the Special Forces stopping to salute as they passed. This was not good in a very big way. He wished he could call John, but even he might not be able to extract him from this situation.
Arnold looked at Jillian, “Ben tells me our boy is awake and conscious.”
“Notify everyone that I’m on my way.”
“Good luck.”
Chris looked at Ben as they sat down at a table in the cafeteria, “Why are you personally here with me?”
Ben smiled, “What do you mean?”
“Come on, Ben. If you’re a Major General, there’s absolutely no way I could ever get the attention of anyone with that rank. If I remember, Major Generals are usually one of the Joint Chiefs aren’t they?”
“You have a good memory.”
Chris stared at Ben. Finally Ben said, “You are going to be asked to take part in an exercise, and I wanted to see for myself what kind of person you are. I decided to see to your recovery from last night’s binge personally.”
“Are you going to have to approve this, uh, exercise?”
“No, the decision has already been made by higher authorities.”
“Higher than a Major General?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“Then why are you wasting your time?”
Ben looked across the cafeteria at the troops eating their meals and said, “You see those young men?”
Chris looked at the soldiers and nodded.
“I want them to have babies and grow up with their families. I’ve read the report on you, and it seems to me that you’re only concerned with partying or having a good time.”
Chris didn’t say anything.
“I had to confirm for myself that there was more to you than a raging libido coupled to drug and alcohol addiction.”
“And?”
“The jury is still out. You at least don’t panic easily. Most people in your current situation would be exhibiting a great deal more nervousness than you’re showing. I’m not sure if it’s courage or just stupidity.”
Chris tilted his head to the left and said, “You know, Ben. You really don’t have to sugarcoat it. You can tell me what you really think.”
Ben laughed out loud, “Maybe there’s more to you than I think.” Ben suddenly got a faraway look and stood up, “Looks like the cafeteria food will have to wait. We need to go now. The group has arrived.”
“What group?”
“You’ll see.”
“I was afraid you were going to say that. Can you give me a clue?
“No.”
“Have I met with them before?”
“No.”
“Do they have a sense of humor?”
Ben had started walking out of the cafeteria and suddenly stopped and looked at Chris, “Now that is a question I didn’t anticipate.” He turned and continued to walk.
Chris followed the General out of the cafeteria and watched as every soldier saluted him as they passed. How do I get out of this? Chris thought a moment, how the heck did I get into this?
Ben continued to walk.
T
hey arrived at a door with two Alpha Agents on each side. They opened the door and Ben motioned Christopher to enter. He stepped in and froze in the entrance. There were three people at a table in the center of the room, and he immediately recognized two of them; Chen Suh, the current World President and James Carlyle, the President of the United States. Ben gave him a push from behind and he stumbled into the room. The Two Alpha Agents stepped in behind him and locked the door.
Chris noticed that the third person at the table was a striking woman. She was beautiful and he felt like he had seen her somewhere before. She was staring at him with obvious distaste. Well, she just didn’t know him. If she did she wouldn’t be acting like that. He saw Chen stand, indicate a chair in front of him, and say, “Please come in and join us, Doctor Connor.”
Chris thanked the stars he was sober. This was much more serious than he thought. He collected himself, walked forward to the chair, and sat down. Chen took his seat and said, “I apologize for bringing you here without a formal invitation, but I want to keep this meeting out of public view. I hope you’ll use discretion in talking about anything we discuss here.”
Chris nodded and glanced at the woman who was still staring bullets. He looked back at Chen and said, “Why all the secrecy, Mr. President?”
“We have been informed that you have created a device that is capable of viewing events that happened in Earth’s past. Is there any truth to that?”
Christopher shrugged and leaned back in the chair, “I received a patent on it yesterday and yes, it is capable of viewing past events. However, there’ll be no way to trial it until someone develops a faster-than-light ship.”
Chen looked at President Carlyle and turned back to Chris, “If such a ship was developed, how far back in the past could you view events?”
Chris just stared at Chen and wondered what was going on. The woman said, “You were asked a question!”
Chris looked at her and said, “I don’t know if that scowl is your normal feature, but he asked it; not you. I’ve been trying to make a quick determination and without a calculator it takes a few moments to figure out. Why don’t you behave yourself and not show such discourtesy to the President by interrupting our conversation. He was talking to me.”
Jillian turned red and Chris saw her anger. Good. She didn’t know who she was fooling with.
Chen looked at Jillian with a stern expression and she sat back fuming. “Do you need us to bring you a calculator, Doctor Connor?”
“No, Mr. President. I find that question difficult to answer.”
“Why?”
“Well, it depends on which direction you chose to take to view the light that left Earth. There are stars, planets, quasar dust, and other objects that could block it out if you chose the wrong path to follow.”
Chen smiled, “Just a rough guess would be fine. Could you see a hundred years ago?”
Chris smiled, “Well, if you went took a path out into empty space to view it, you could go back more than a million years. I’ve theoretically proven that the absolute limit is about a billion years.”
Even the woman was stunned. All three looked at each other and Chen continued, “Tell me, Doctor Connor, how you would be able to capture only the reflected light that came from our planet? Surely there would be much more than just the light from Earth?”
“Yes there would be, however, the light leaving Earth is reflected through an atmosphere composed of eighty percent nitrogen and twenty percent oxygen. Of course there are other trace gasses, and taken as a whole they would make that light different from other light sources. The frequency of that reflected light would fall into a very specific range, and only Earth’s light reflection would be on that frequency. The sensors of the system would scan for and capture only light on that waveband.”
President Carlyle said, “You say you can focus that light such that you can see individuals on the planet’s surface?”
Chris furrowed his brow and looked at the three intently staring at him, “Yes, but why are you so interested in the device? It’s worthless unless you can travel faster-than-light.” Chris paused, looked at the woman, and then he knew, “You’ve discovered a way to do it?”
Chen smiled, “Yes, we have, Dr. Connor, and we need you to trial your device.”
“Does that mean leaving Earth and going out into space?”
Chen and James looked at each other and Chen said, “Yes, it does.”
“Well count me out. I have no desire to leave the planet. Have you trialed this stardrive?”
Chen stared at Chris and said, “Yes, for a short jump out to Neptune.”
Chris began shaking his head, “I have absolutely no desire to jump on board a ship made with brand new technology and give it a trial. I’ll teach someone else how to use my device and they can go trial it.”
“Is it simple to use?”
“Well, no. But give me a year and I can bring someone up to speed on how to make the adjustments and calibrations.”
Chen said, “What if we pay you to make the trip?”
“Sorry, you can’t spend money if you’re dead. I’m quite comfortable with my life exactly as it is.”
Jillian looked at Chris and said, “You just haven’t run out of Dollys to exploit yet, have you?”
Chris felt his temper flare. He looked angrily at the black haired woman and said, “You can say what you want about me, but the next time you make a derogatory remark about one of the finest people I’ve ever known, this meeting will be over and my device will not be used for anything. I’ll destroy it first.”
Jillian saw Chris’ anger and wondered about his defense of the blonde.
Ben Keenan said from the back of the room, “You need to let him see it.”
Chris turned around and saw Ben staring at him. “See what?”
Chen looked at Ben, and then turned to Jillian, “Take him to the site.”
Jillian said, “I was wrong to suggest we use Dr. Connor. We should try to find another way. He’s a waste of time.”
“Doctor Gordon, this is not a request. You will take him there immediately.”
Chris’ ears perked up. She was a Doctor? Doctor of what? Then he remembered, “Are you Doctor J.N. Gordon?”
Jillian looked at Chris and nodded.
“You’ve won a Nobel Prize.”
“You would have too if you could control yourself. It’s becoming clear that’s something you’re just not capable of doing.”
Chris smiled and tipped an imaginary hat, “Ya gotta have your priorities.”
Jillian was furious but looked back at Chen and saw him getting angry. She looked at Chris and said, “Come with me.”
Chris leaned back in his chair, “What if I don’t choose to go?”
James Carlyle smiled at Chris and said, “Then you will sit in jail for the next ten years under political protection. You will go with her.”
Chris jerked his head around and saw Carlyle was serious. He looked back at Jillian and said, “Lead the way, Dr. Gordon.”
Jillian stood and walked out of the room. Chris had to hustle to keep up with her, and planned to contact John to come save him as soon as he was clear of the facility. He heard a noise and turned. He saw the two Alpha Agents were following right behind him. Drat, now his plan to escape wouldn’t work. Even he wasn’t stupid enough to try and escape an Alpha. Jeff said, “Uh, I’m sorry Dr. Connor, but we have temporally disabled your communicator. We’re going to a top security site and no communications will be allowed until after your visit.”
Chris wondered how he was going to get out of the fix he found himself in. He started running trying to keep up with Dr. Gordon.
Jillian was furious and wanted to teach this pompous professor a thing or two. Well, let’s get this over with.
Jeff and Bob looked at each other and took bets on how long it would take Jillian to deck this meatball. Two hours was their longest guess. Jeff even bet on how many times he’d bounce when he hit the floor. Bob said that if it was concrete, he’d not bounce at all. Jeff thought about it and had to agree.
Chen looked at James and said, “The President of the university started calling before our meeting demanding that we return his professor. He’s threatening to go to the Human Rights Council.”
“We can just pay him off with a new library.”
“I don’t think so. It seems some students witnessed the agents taking him away and informed the student body of what they saw. More than eight thousand have started demonstrations for his return and more are arriving by the moment. The riot police have been called out at our local embassy.”
Carlyle stared at Chen, “I find that hard to believe. Who in their right mind would want someone that shallow returned?”
Chen smiled, “It’s those demonstrations that convinced me to allow him to see the tablet. Remember, he’s been nominated three times for a Nobel Prize. There’s something more than what we see in this professor. He’s obviously had an impact on a large number of people at the university, and that speaks volumes to me. Let’s see what happens.”
“Jillian might now be the problem. I can’t see her working with him.”
Chen smiled, “Let’s wait and see. If there’s something to this professor, she’ll see it as well. She’s a smart woman”
Chris was taking deep breaths, and finally bent over with his hands on his knees and said, “Look, if you want to run a marathon, go ahead. I’ll just go home from here and then we’ll all be happy. However, I am not chasing you anymore.”
Jillian turned around and sneered, “What’s the matter, the tough old college professor can’t keep up with a girl.”