“Kenny, you haven’t said anything.” Mac looked over at Keaton who seemed to be detached from the others.
“I don’t have anything to add.”
“What were you plotting just then?” Carl asked.
“I was, ah . . . I’d rather not say.”
“Oh come on Kenny,” Carl prodded. “You’ve got the best overview of the whole mission, something must come to mind?”
“I wasn’t thinking about the mission. I can’t get Hollsworth out of my mind.”
“Oh for Christ sakes Kenny, that crazy bastard,” Mac exclaimed.
“Who’s Hollsworth?” Spencer asked.
“The loon that was just on TV,” Mac said.
“The disheveled old coot that was howling about Revelations, that was Jedadia Hollsworth?” Melanie asked.
“The one and the same,” Mac answered.
“I used to take him serious,” Melanie said quietly, but obviously bothered.
“The Truth, something or other, right,” Spencer added, “My old man was never religious, but I remember him watching that guy and saying that he was someone that had something to say.”
“That’s him,” Kenny affirmed.
“Life hasn’t been very kind to him,” Spencer mocked.
“He was once a very rich and influential individual.” Melanie gave Spencer a dirty look.
“So, it’s not my fault he smoked too much good shit,” Spencer laughed.
“What’s all this about, Jedadia Hollsworth?” Carl asked.
“He was on TV, just about half an hour ago,” Denny said. “You know who he is?”
“Yeah, met him once,” Carl said smiling.
“Really,” Mac commented. “I never knew you had a thing for Evangelists?”
“Still don’t,” Carl said. “We were in this hellasious fire fight in Duc Duc Province, running low on ammo, water, a lot of KIA’s and wounded. The first choppers were just getting to us and we were still taking fire. About the third or fourth chopper comes roaring in, barely skimming the surface, the crew throwing out supplies. This really tall, skinny character comes gliding out the side, tumbles a couple of times, dusts himself off, a can of ammo under one arm and a Jerry Can full of water under the other. It’s Hollsworth, coming to see how we’re doing. The brass about shit because here’s this notable religious character delivering ammo to the troops. They finally got him out about an hour later.”
“I never heard about that,” said Kenny.
“They covered it up!” Carl declared. “Hollsworth bullied and coerced his way in, and they didn’t want to admit that someone could get away with that sort of thing.”
“You said you met him,” Melanie said kind of in awe.
“Yeah, like I said, he was down about an hour. Another guy and myself got put on him, like guards. He was fascinating to say the least. His contention was that praying was okay, when you didn’t really need to do something at the moment. He said it was a tool to relax and reassure. He said praying in the foxhole was a waste of time because a prayer couldn’t change the path of a bullet.” Carl looked at Mac. “What did he have to say today?”
“He seems to have taken on a rougher tone from when you knew him,” Mac said.
“Oh yeah,” Carl said.
“Yeah, not more than forty minutes ago, he was right there on the television telling us all 'that we be screwed'.”
Carl didn’t say anything, just had a puzzled look. It looked like the meeting of the minds had blunted everyone’s, so Mac spoke up. “Okay, we have failed for now, but I want each of you to compile an informal report covering this. Just thoughts, and we’ll meet tomorrow and see if we are any clearer of mind,” he instructed. “Denny, could you stay for a moment?” Mac asked the computer man.
***
“Have you gotten anything from Marge Grimmer?” Mac asked when everyone but Dennis had filed out of his office.
“No one could be grimmer than Marge,” Dennis said, “she keeps her work close.”
“That damn program she wrote, is it the cause of all this?”
“Of course!” Dennis exclaimed. “Now, is it fooling us into thinking something’s there, when it isn’t, or is it telling us that there is actually something to ponder? I have no idea, and either does Marge. This stuff of her’s was just an add on, no one expected it to be the focus.”
***
Carl caught Kenny outside the office.” Can I talk to you about Realms?” Carl asked.
“He is out,” Kenny simply stated.
“I’m not going to try and block your decision, but I want you to consider the facts.”
“I already did! We can’t have personnel that question the policies or orders to act irrationally. Realms was considering jeopardizing the entire program from a selfish position.”
“Selfish, he was concerned about Donald.”
“He was emotional, concerned about his feeling of loss and there is no place for it. With all his training he knew Donald was killed instantly. My fourth grade daughter understands what happens when a space suit is punctured in space.”
“You don’t see a spot for Realms then?”
“Realms is in denial. If he can get past that, the story might be different.”
“That’s all I ask,” Carl said, as Kenny walked away.
Chapter 6
MAC WAS SITTING BEHIND HIS DESK - and Carl was seated in the corner. Jim Maddox, the man Amy had recommended, and a woman Jim felt could add some insight were sitting on the far side of Mac’s desk.
“Thank you for coming on such short notice,” Mac said.
“Gentleman, this is a colleague of mine, Alice Smithers.” Jim gestured to Alice. “I hope you don’t mind her tagging along? Alice is why I can stay focused most of the time.”
“Nice to meet you.” Alice nodded to Carl, then Mac, “But I can’t imagine what TSA could want from me?”
“I was wondering about that myself?” Jim added with a chuckle.
Mac picked a folder off his desk and removed some papers, then slid them across his desk to Jim and Alice. “Take a look at these and tell me what you think?”
Jim and Alice each took a couple and looked.
“What am I supposed to be looking for?” Alice asked first.
“We were hoping you could make some sense out of that material,” Mac sounded disappointed.
“I have to know what I’m looking for.” Alice looked up to Mac. “Are these someone’s dreams?” she added after a moment.
Both Mac and Carl sat forward.
“You recognize the data then?” Mac asked.
“Sort of,” Alice returned.
“Meaning?” Mac returned.
“It’s vaguely familiar, but I mostly asked that question because that’s my field, and why else would you want to talk to me.”
“Oh.” Mac sat back in his chair.
“Mac, I think in order to help you, Alice and I need to be informed,” Jim jumped in. “We have no idea what you want. Amy was extremely tight lipped about this meeting.”
“Yes, you’re correct, but this is such a sensitive situation and I must warn you, to continue any farther,” Mac sounded official and intimidating, “we must have some guarantees of absolute secrecy from both of you, and any indiscretion on either one of your parts could mean dire consequences for both of you.”
Alice sat back in her chair and smiled at Mac. “In other words, you were hoping that we could give you what you wanted, without informing us of the total situation.”
“It would have been much easier that way, yes,” Mac conceded.
Alice took one of the sheets of paper and pointed it at Mac. “Sorry, but all I can say about this data,” she looked at the paper, “is that it appears to be a brain scan. It could be a dog, a monkey, or a human. Any two year medical student could have told you that.”
Mac turned to Carl and spoke directly to him, “I’m not sure how to continue here?”
“Look Mac, we’ve got to figure this ou
t, and maybe they can help and maybe they can’t, but we aren’t getting anywhere this way,” Carl advised.
“Okay Jim, Alice,” Mac used a friendlier tone, “we might need your help, if only to eliminate possibilities, but can you accept our terms?”
“You don’t want anything leaving this office?” Jim asked.
“That’s basically it,” Mac returned
“Why the big meany speech?” Alice asked.
Mac was silent, trying to formulate an answer.
“It’s a testosterone thing,” Carl added quickly. “It’s tough to regulate.”
Alice burst out laughing. Mac gave Carl a peeved look, and Jim just smiled.
“I suppose I could stick my neck out a little,” Jim said, after Alice had quit laughing.
Mac looked directly at Jim. “You need to sign some papers and you had better take them real serious. Can you do that?”
“I’ll go for it; I only hope it’s worth it?” Jim answered.
“And you Miss Smithers?” Mac looked at Alice.
“Ah, I’m not saying yeah or neah, until I read what I’m going to sign.”
“Fair enough,” Mac called to the outer office on the intercom. “Bring in the contracts.”
A secretary walked into the office and handed Mac a folder. Mac opened it and took out papers, handing two to Jim, two to Alice. “Read carefully.”
Mac sat back and waited while Jim and Alice read. Jim finished and moved the paper down. “Is this thing that serious?”
“You sign, and then we talk,” Mac said.
Alice put the papers down on the table. “What guarantees do we have that you’ll be fair? This is some serious stuff, if you start playing games.”
“Why would we play games?” Mac was annoyed.
“Oh, say you don’t get what you want?” Alice said.
“Then you’re clear,” Mac snarled.
“What if we come up with something you don’t like?” Jim asked.
“We are looking for possibilities. We have no intention of holding anything against you,” Mac said frustrated.
“Make a notation to that effect, and I’ll sign,” Alice said, pushing one of the papers toward Mac.
Mac took the paper and wrote furiously, then pushed it back to Alice. She read, took out her pen and signed. “I’m all signed up, spill your guts.” She pushed the paper back to Mac.
“Maddox?” Mac looked at Jim.
“Oh, what the hell.” Jim put his paper on the table and took the pen from Alice and signed. Mac got up and retrieved the papers and put them in the folder. He put the folder on the desk and then turned to Jim and Alice. “This data is coming from a Colonel Donald; do you know who he is?”
Jim reached for the data and spoke at the same time. “Whoa!”
“Whoa is right!” Alice added, taking her share of the data. “I thought Donald was killed? We are talking about the astronaut, aren’t we?”
“Yes, we are talking about the astronaut, and yes, he was killed,” Mac concurred.
“This doesn’t make any sense. These readings are coming from something that is alive,” Jim said, fanning the data.
“That’s the problem in a nut shell.” Carl had gotten up and was walking up to face Jim and Alice. “Donald was killed, but we’re still getting this information from him.”
“Wwhaaat!” Alice kind of laughed. “You’ve most certainly got some malfunctioning equipment.”
“Not the case! Everything is working fine and those signals are genuine,” Mac stated.
“I don’t get it? He can’t be dead then,” Alice continued.
Carl looked at Jim and Alice with a serious look. “Believe us, he is. His life signs are all negative and remember that he has been out there ninety some hours. No oxygen, subjected to a total vacuum, well over boiling on the sunny side and minus two hundred degrees in the shade. His environment has been compromised, he is dead!”
“Now wait a sec, you said his life signs are negative, then where are these readings coming from?” Alice asked.
“As you can imagine, we have an extraordinary amount of sensors on our people out there,” Mac explained. “Along with all the standard sensors, we constantly add. Some we understand, some we just speculate on. The data is coming from a new Alpha Wave sensor.”
“What do you think Alpha Waves are supposed to be?” Jim asked.
“We don’t really know. We just get the signals. We know that they are probably part of the subconscious.” Mac Looked at Jim and Alice. “Maybe dreaming?” he sounded hopeful.
“I’m sorry gentlemen, but I must inform you that these are not consistent with a normal dream pattern,” Alice said and then moved close to Jim and pointed to the data on the paper she was talking about. “See here Jim, the pattern is to consistent overall. A person’s dreams are much more, ah, ah, I’m missing the thought here.”
“What Alice is trying to say is a dreaming person has very undulating graphs. We have many stages of sleep and dreams occur only in one stage. So the pattern of data would be inconsistent and in blocks, not like all this. This as you can see is very even and continuous as hell, which leads me to believe that this subject is awake and has been since the start of the data. Have you compared this with the data you were getting from him before the accident?”
Mac answered Jim. “The data you’re looking at is not consistent with the data collected before the accident.”
“What’s the difference with them?” Jim asked.
“The signals after the accident are much stronger.”
“What about the data?” Alice asked.
“It’s hard to say, we never really understood it in the first place,” Mac sort of chuckled.
“What do you mean by stronger signals?” Jim asked.
“The energy of the data increased,” Mac said.
Jim thought for a moment. “But the data was the same?”
“We’re not sure. Like I said, we didn’t understand it in the first place.” Mac shrugged again.
“You’re looking in the wrong place!” Jim stated confidently.
“What makes you think that?” Mac sounded annoyed.
“You don’t understand the data, you know that. Alice has devised an extraordinary program that might recognize this data if it correlates in any way shape or form to our research.”
“We need to know, either way, so if you can get us some answers, you can try anything you want,” Mac agreed.
“It may turn out to be nothing,” Alice advised.
“That’s still something.” Mac gestured with his hands open. “It would eliminate one idea and allow us to concentrate in other directions. Besides, you might come up with something and then you’d be my heroes. Get on with it and remember those papers you signed, they are for real!”
“I hope we can help,” Alice said. “Say, ah,” she hesitated “I didn’t know who you fellows were at first, or what this was all about, but now I’m curious. Am I allowed to ask a question?”
“That depends? You ask and we’ll see if we have an answer,” Mac returned.
Alice hesitated again, sitting forward. “Winston Adams must be driving you guys crazy. Am I right?”
“He’s getting a little out of line, yes. Why do you ask?” Mac looked at her seriously.
“Whinny’s always been a little troublesome,” Alice stated.
“Whinny?” Mac’s eyebrows rose. “Do you know Adams?”
“We grew up on the same block,” Alice said. “I’ve known him since grade school, but I haven’t seen him for years though.”
“Tell us what you know about him, please.” Carl was the curious one now.
“Oh, I’m not going to talk about someone like that. Winston is a little creepy, but deep down he’s okay. He doesn’t mean to be the way he is.”
“We need to know Alice.” Carl stood over her, trying to look friendly. “Winston has been causing us some real problems.”
“Look, you guys asked me here to discuss som
ething pertaining to my field and I will contribute with all my heart, but asking me to snitch, and, or smear an acquaintance is out of the question.”
“He might be stepping over the edge,” Mac warned. “If you can shed a little light, you might be helping him.”
“Hey, I know that Winston can be a real pain in the ass, but that’s your problem. He’s never done anything to me.”
Mac looked at Alice. “We don’t want you to smear him, but if you know anything that could get him out of the picture—”
“You Son-of-a-bitch!” Alice yelled, interrupting him. “You know, I liked you, but you just showed your true colors.
“Hold it, hold it!” Carl jumped in. “Goddamn Mac, what the hell’s gotten into you. We don’t need anybody to do our dirty work. Winston’s our problem and if he gets his ass in the shit, that’s his problem. I’m surprised at you!”
Carl turned to Alice. “You’ll have to excuse my colleague, Winston’s got him upset.”
“Winston has got everyone upset,” Mac sort of grumbled to no one in particular.
“Whinny can do that to people,” Alice said. “He knows things that he shouldn’t.”
“What, you’re saying is he’s physic or something like that?” Mac asked cynically.
“I don’t think it!” Alice stated emphatically. “I’ve seen it. He was a very strange kid, and like I said he knew things, and it scared the crap out of people. He doesn’t mean to cause you so much trouble. He’s probably just rubbing your noses in this thing. Whinny was always trying to help, to advise, because he knew certain things, but many people didn’t appreciate him and he got beat up more than once.
“In your opinion, he can see into the future?” Carl was interested in this new twist.
“I’m not sure what he does? He just seems to be able to know things, sometimes. You have to realize, I haven't seen him for many years, like I said.”
“How long?” Carl asked.
“Ah, let’s see, ahum, he was at my sister’s wedding. That would be, ah, twelve years. Yeah, we were both just out of college.”
“Did you talk to him then?” Carl asked.
“A little, Winston doesn’t talk too much.”
“How did he seem?” Carl continued.
“I didn’t really notice.” Alice stopped and looked at Carl. “Wait, you’re baiting me.” She jumped to her feet. “Now I don’t like you either,” she shouted at Carl. “Dammit Jim, I knew these gov types couldn’t be trusted! Fuck you guys!” Alice yelled at Carl and Mac, turning toward the door.
The Searching Soul Page 5