by Ellen Clary
“Well, come down south and come out to the bar with us and we all can play then.”
He smiled, thinking. “Dog spies. The Intelligence Department and the military would be all over that.”
“They are to some degree, but we’re not entirely sure what they’re working on, unless they tell us—which is never the full story.”
He shook his head. “I’m sure they are not giving out the whole story. It would ruin their fun.”
CHAPTER 46:
Tomas Speaks with His Technicians
TOMAS REALIZED he needed to meet with his production manager, Karen, to check if there were any issues with the distribution channel.
One way the community created income was selling handmade wool products, like sweaters, blankets, and caps, from sheep on their own farm/ranch. The business, Tomasian Organicwear, was making quite a name for itself, and tourists were starting to find the farm. At first that was problematic, until Karen created a friendly front retail area. Visitors could watch someone weaving, spinning, or hand-carding wool, which was mostly for show as a lot of actual production was done by machine. Fortunately, parking was usually not an issue in their area.
Karen was a fabulous manager. She had kept her original name, which Tomas found he admired in the face of the peer pressure of the others taking biblical names—something that was not his idea. Tomas didn’t have to get involved too much in the business, except for the constant, “We need more people, sheep, and space.”
The Tomasians worked for room and board and community support, which put a limit on how many people they had. They could get more people, but Tomas would have to be willing to pay them, and that presented its own challenges. He would have to go on record as an employer, which would expose his organization’s records to governmental audit. Given that he considered the sweater business only an income provider, he wasn’t inclined to go in this direction.
After an hour of talking with Karen, he headed to what he felt was a much more important meeting. He was going to be explaining to his lab techs their new research direction. He knew they were going to be disappointed, as they felt they were just getting tangible results, and they were correct. He hadn’t let them in on his make-the-world-smaller plan and he wasn’t quite ready to start just yet, though he knew he was going to have to trust someone with the information at some point in time. He didn’t know how that was all going to work out.
They gathered in what they called the Small Sanctuary. Allegedly, it was a place for deep contemplation. It had an altar and some sculptures and paintings to go along with the benches. The benches were movable, writing surfaces were subtly attached to the pews, and there was a presentation screen that could easily be unfolded, but even that wasn’t quite the full story. It was in the basement, and when you shut the door, you could tell that you were acoustically isolated. There was also an impressive locking mechanism on the door. An observant person would realize that they were in a secure room intended to keep outsiders completely out.
Tomas looked at his technicians, Adam, Ruth, Sarah, and Isaiah. In their eyes, he saw an interested, what’s next? type of trust. They had followed him here and they would continue to follow. Knowing that helped give him the confidence that he could pull off what he was about to do.
He looked down at his handheld, which was mostly for show since he had memorized what he was going to say. “Welcome. We have received the data back from the outside nanobot experiment, and it was very successful.” He looked up, met each of their eyes, and said, “Congratulations, you have earned it.”
Everyone sighed, took a relieved breath, and then started applauding, saying “Yes!,” and patting each other on the back. Adam shook his fist in the air in a celebratory fashion.
Tomas went on, “I know you all wanted to be the ones conducting the experiment, but we had to verify that an outside party could do it. On human test subjects, they were able to use nanobots to lower” (in his mind, he thought: or raise) “heart rates, blood pressure, and anxiety remotely from a distance, which in this case was considerably outside of a building.”
They started to break into side conversations, and he said, “You have all done very well. Thank you,” which brought their focus back to him.
“In order to move forward with this, we need to secure the services of another researcher who is working in a similar field, and we’re currently in negotiation over that. Because of that, we’re going to pause this research and start in a new direction.”
There was a shocked silence. Adam said, “Oh man, we were just getting started.”
Tomas smiled at him. “Take good notes, as we will certainly return to this.”
After a beat, it was actually Isaiah who asked, “Okay, what’s next?”
“It’s one of the world’s oldest problems. Reproduction, or more precisely allowing people to better control fertility, to choose when they want to have a child, or prevent it if they don’t want to.”
Laughing, Ruth said, “We must be the only religious org that wants to help people not have kids.”
“Oh no, there have been plenty throughout time, but they died out from attrition, because they focused on controlling their own fertility by frowning on sexual enjoyment. I think this approach is consistent with our smaller, simpler world philosophy.”
Adam quoted a common Tomas refrain back to him, “Ten billion people.”
“Indeed,” Tomas said.
Sarah said, “But there are all sorts of ways to control fertility.”
“And nanobots will be another, possibly easier, one,” he said. What he refrained from saying was that it might be easier to force infertility on an unknowing someone by using nanobots.
Adam asked, “So, is this what the containers are about?”
“Yes, they are. It will be easy to work undisturbed, and we can move the entire project if we need to.”
Adam leaned back, his lower lip pursed. “So, if we’re having all the secrecy, then why are we bringing in an outsider?”
Tomas met his eyes with a gentle expression. “This person is further along in his research, and a collaboration with him would be helpful.” Tomas declined to mention that his collaborators had likely inadvertently completely ruled out Herman’s or Lincoln’s cooperation by orchestrating the attack on them and stealing their still-encrypted data.
“So, he can take credit for our work?”
“Now, Adam, I’m sure he’ll—”
“Why not? We’re all just unpaid drones anyway—”
“Adam—”
“He’s probably a devil-worshiping heathen who steals other people’s research anyway.”
Now it was Sarah who said, “Adam! That’s not very nice. We don’t know anything about him.”
Adam crossed his arms over his chest and looked down. “He’s probably a darkie.”
Sarah stiffened at the offhand slur and said, “Adam, come on, relax.”
Tomas took a breath and said, “I have prayed and spent a lot of time meditating on this issue. This new direction better fits our smaller world philosophy. If we were to publish our work, everyone involved would appear as an author.” Tomas got up, walked over to Adam, and bent down to his level. “Brian,” using his birth name, “you are blessed with beautiful light skin, but we have to be realistic and work with whoever is in the best position to help us. We are all God’s children, and we need to remember that.”
Adam seemed to be listening; he kept his head bowed, but he nodded.
Tomas stood back up. “If any of you have any questions, or just need to pray over something with me, please come see me. Let us pray.”
Everyone shifted a little and bowed their heads.
“Our heavenly Father, please offer us your love and support as we embark on this new direction. Guide us with your wisdom and help us to discern what is a problem versus what is a distraction. Please help us with this effort to assist those less fortunate than ourselves. We thank you for your continued blessings and abundance
. We as Tomasians say—”
And they all said, “Amen.”
To end the meeting Tomas said, “May God light your path.”
And they all responded, “And walk beside you.”
They all stood up and gathered their belongings.
Tomas touched Adam’s shoulder. “I mean what I said about stopping by my office if you have questions.”
Adam nodded briefly and headed out of the room.
Tomas hoped he would come by later.
CHAPTER 47:
Tomas and Adam Talk
SOME TIME later, Tomas was working in his office when Adam tapped at the door.
“Adam, please come in.”
Adam entered and, after a moment’s hesitation, shut the door.
Tomas stood up, motioning to the guest chair. “Please, have a seat. May I get you some water?”
Adam shook his head and sat down. There were worry lines in between his eyebrows and it looked like he’d been brooding for a while.
Tomas sat back down. “You appear to be deeply concerned about something. How can I help?”
Adam kept looking down. “I don’t understand why we have to change course right now.” Tomas took a breath as if to speak, but Adam went on. “I know the reasons you’ve said, but we’re having success on our own. We can help people already without another expert.”
“You are, but this is an excellent place to pause while we consider what direction we want to go with it.”
“We can help people right now, why should we stop?”
“Well, this researcher has made good progress in airborne transmission.”
“So?”
“Meaning it would be much easier to help the person without having to touch them.”
“I don’t get it. Who cares if it needs to be airborne?”
Tomas paused, considering. “Would you like to continue this project along with the new one?”
Adam looked up surprised. “Yes, please.”
Tomas put his index finger to his lower lip. “We might be able to swing that in both labs, but it will take considerable extra effort.”
“I think it would be very rewarding. We are now getting to a place where we can actually do some good for people.”
Tomas nodded. “And you’re right that it would help our group’s reputation. What do you envision happening?”
Adam thought for a moment. “We could run a stress-reduction clinic. Start small and go from there.”
Tomas smiled. He found Adam’s sincerity very touching. “Adam,” he said, refraining from saying “my son” since he didn’t care for that style, “what you are suggesting has such promise and it could help our group give back to the community, but unfortunately getting to such a place is a very long road.”
Adam inclined his head in apparent acquiescence.
Tomas continued. “We are a research facility. We do use human test subjects, but they have to sign away a lot of liability first. We have a lot of steps to get government approval to use our inventions on the general public since they’re ingestibles.”
“Yeah, that is a reality check,” Adam said, sounding disappointed.
“I am so touched that you think we might be able to do this, but it is a years-long process. If you’re up for it, we can set that as a distant goal.”
Adam looked up and said, “I would like that.”
Tomas decided that now was as good as any other time to level with Adam a little. “There are some very serious health concerns with the nanobots.” Adam met his eyes, shifting a little in his chair. Tomas took a steadying breath and met his eye. “It’s important for you to know that the nanobots can kill just as easily as they can help.” Adam just stared back at him, his eyes widening slightly. “Instead of lowering the heart rate, they can raise it to dangerous levels, or they can stop a heart completely.”
Adam now looked a little shocked. “Is there a way to prevent that?”
Tomas was a little puzzled, as Adam must have figured this out already, but perhaps he didn’t want to admit it yet. “Not yet, but it’s something we would have to add. Like many things, there isn’t much difference between something that can help and something that can hurt. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. First, I want you to think about how we can pursue both projects, and consider what the issues are about the current project and what steps we might want to take.”
“Thank you, Tomas,” Adam said, rising almost abruptly.
Tomas said, “You’re welcome, Adam. May God light your path.”
“And walk beside you,” Adam answered as he backed out of the door, almost bowing.
AS ADAM left, Tomas looked down at his desk and then over to a painting of Thomas the disciple he kept in the corner. Now he had a problem. He wanted more help with the new project and he wanted to fill Adam in on the real purpose of it, but Adam seemed determined to find a way to make the old project help others. That was admirable and would be excellent for creating goodwill with their community, but it wouldn’t help his particular goals.
He was also a little distressed. Adam was his most experienced and knowledgeable technician. He would be the obvious one to bring into his inner circle, but now he realized that Adam might not be the best choice for the role. Adam was completely onboard with the smaller world ethic, but mostly as a philosophy rather than a plan of action. Tomas realized that he needed to meditate on this for a while.
CHAPTER 48:
Amy and Adam at the Dog Park
AMY AND Adam were at the Choran Dog Park. They had mostly been talking about the wind that had been blowing for a few days and how it frightened the livestock where Adam lived. Over time, Adam had told her that he lived on the Tomasian Farm and Retreat where they made Organicwear woolen clothing, and he would sometimes tell her about the strange drama that happened when the ram would get into the wrong pen or when the sheep all tramped down the fence and went walkabout, which made for lots of exercise for both human and canine stock handlers.
Amy had just thrown the ball for Lars and Levi when Adam asked, “Have you ever tried herding with Larson? He is a shepherd, after all.”
Amy stared hard off into the distance, trying to think very casual thoughts and not succeeding. Yolanda had been bugging her for months to go herding with her, subjecting Amy to lectures on how the kelpie’s herding style was like the border collie’s in that they used their stare or “eye” to intimidate stock into moving. So far, Amy had demurred, as she saw how difficult it was for people to keep track of dog, livestock, and themselves, and then to call out directions while moving and not falling on one’s arse. Amy knew that even with her kickboxing experience, she’d be on the ground in minutes with her head spinning. Casual. Think casual. “Um, not really, I don’t know if he’d be interested or not.” She hoped that Adam wouldn’t hear the obvious lie.
Adam said, “Well, I know my fetch-a-holic wouldn’t be interested, but every so often at the farm we have herding-instinct testing for people with herding dogs. It’s a fun day. They pick some of the more mellow sheep and put them in one of the small pens and the person running the test takes doggy in to see what they think of sheep.”
“That does sound fun, someday when I’m less snowed with school. Does the dog ever lose it and start biting sheep?”
“Well, the handler running things usually has a stock stick, or a rake, or a paddle that they can use to get in between Fido and the sheep. It’s actually much less dramatic than it could be.”
“Sounds risky for the handler.”
“Well, they make it look easy. Speaking of which, here come the charging canines.”
Levi nearly collided with Adam, tennis ball in a death grip in his mouth. Lars just arced around them, barking and panting.
Adam said, “Want to walk some?”
“Sure, why should they have all the fun?”
Levi started pestering Adam with the ball. Adam tried unsuccessfully to ignore the golden but finally gave in and picked up the dripping, dir
ty thing Levi kept dropping in front of him and tossed it. “I hope he loses it.”
“Good luck with that.”
Though they hadn’t known each other for very long, Adam did seem pensive and distracted, even if he was chatty enough. She decided to take a chance. “So you know how much biology I’m buried under. How are you doing?”
“Um, okay. Work’s a little weird.”
Trying to channel her therapist mother, Amy said, “Oh?”
“Yeah, they’re changing projects on us and it just makes everything awkward.”
In as reassuring a voice as she could find, she said, “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Well, we were really getting somewhere, but they say we need to wait for outside assistance before we continue, which I think is BS.”
Watch while I screw this up entirely, Amy thought. “May I ask what it is?”
His face fell some. “I’m not supposed to be talking about it, but we could be helping out our community with it.”
Amy thought, Right now is where I’m supposed to say something like, “Your secret is safe with me,” but she couldn’t bear lying to him. “A community service project sounds like the perfect thing for a religious group.”
“Exactly,” he said. “Now they have us working in the stuffy shipping container, which I hate.”
“That doesn’t sound fun at all.”
“Well, I like the work, but shoving it all in a shipping container is a pain.”
“Why a shipping container?”
“Allegedly because it’s more secure, but our new project has to do with contraception and there’s nothing secret about that.”
Amy needed no acting to do a complete double-take. “Contraception?”
“Yeah, to help with the population problem. We apparently have a new approach to it.”
“Wow, fill me in sometime when you can talk about it.”
Adam threw up his hands. “Ask me in a few years, after we give up on it as redundant and overdone.”
“Sure thing, Adam,” she said, and found a cleaner ball to throw for the dogs.