Never Forsaken (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 5)

by Michael Anderle

  He sighed, and wasn’t really sure what to make of Frank Kurns. He had invited him to his house. It was the only appropriate thing to do. Wasn’t it?

  He usually relied on his wife to answer these types of questions for him. At 6’2” tall and only 190 pounds, he was your typical tall bean-pole thin bookish scientist, who often forgot where he placed his glasses even though they were on top of his head.

  He would take a shower first, that was it! At least he could remember to be clean for the interview.

  Miami, Fl - USA

  Patricia and Lance came back from a seafood place that had been located on top of one of the buildings on Miami Beach. The view had been fantastic, and the seafood was actually pretty good. Lance knew that they could have found better seats with other restaurants, ones that didn’t rely on the view to acquire patrons.

  However, Patricia was looking forward to seeing the sights. And Lance enjoyed being able to provide the view for her. He had even placed this dinner on his own credit card. Even though Lance knew Bethany Anne wouldn’t mind him charging it to the company.

  This dinner became more than a simple recruitment effort. By the time dinner was finished, he wanted to be the one to have paid for it and so he did.

  They found themselves back in the kitchen, as they had been when she first got there. They hadn’t been there 2 to 3 minutes when they heard a noise upstairs. Patricia looked up towards the ceiling, “Did we miss someone coming home?”

  Lance looked up and considered the location, “Well, I think the CEO must have been closer than I thought. It looks like your interview is about to happen.” Lance hoped Patricia would be able to remember the dinner after her talk with Bethany Anne.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Rancho Santa Margarita, Ca - USA

  Marcus was sitting down on the couch in the living room, staring at his reflection in the dark screen of the TV.

  He stood up and went to the door, his shirt a little wrinkled. He couldn’t find where the iron or ironing board were stored. Another one of the little things his wife used to do for him. He opened the door.

  There stood a middle 30s, maybe late 30s, gentleman in his doorway. He opened the door a little wider and stuck his hand out “Frank Kurns?”

  The man shook his hand back, “Yes, I’m Frank. You are Marcus, correct?”

  “Yes, yes I am. Here, I’m sorry, won’t you come inside?” Marcus stepped back, giving Frank a little more room to come inside and closed the door behind him. “We can step into the living room here and talk, does that work for you?”

  Frank looked around the house, while he wouldn’t say it was terribly dirty, it was certainly disheveled. On every flat service he could see there were books. Ones on metallurgy, chemistry, mathematics, space, a rare biology or two interspersed within them, and others he didn’t recognize stacked everywhere. “Certainly, that would work fine.”

  The two men seated themselves, Marcus on the couch and Frank on a love seat. Frank started the conversation, “Mr. Cambridge I represent a company that is looking to do rare research on very difficult to understand metals and propulsion systems that will eventually relate to both atmospheric and above atmospheric craft. I have been asked by the project manager responsible for small, three-man trans-atmospheric craft to acquire, and I quote, a ‘rocket scientist’ for his project team. After due diligence, I have decided that you might be the individual that he needs.”

  “Mr. Kurns, or may I call you Frank?” Frank nodded his agreement, “Okay Frank. Before we go too far I have to admit that I am getting a little old in my ways and I don’t need to go through this process if all you, or the team, are going to do is ask me to leave when I start talking about ‘aliens’. I’m not sure if you have done much research into my last two positions? I ended up getting tossed off the both of them because I have certain beliefs that are not universally held as truth and it embarrasses those I work for. Usually enough so that whatever benefit I bring to the team isn’t enough to overcome the embarrassment and they toss me off the team.”

  Frank thought for a minute on how to answer his question. “Marcus I am aware of why you were fired at Space-X and NASA. In fact, I took some advice from a general who I work with related to your situation and the comments about your ‘tinfoil’ beliefs. I can assure you that if you are hired, you will not be fired for these beliefs. However, I will have to ask some questions related to them to get a better handle on why you believe this and how it may, or may not, affect your responsibilities based on what our research already knows.”

  Marcus sat back in his couch, a little relieved to get this piece out in the open. Ever since his last wife, Martha, had left him he had been feeling a little adrift. He had even, for a few days, wondered if he should just let go of his belief that there were others out in the universe. That this man had flown all the way across the United States to come talk to him, even after knowing of his beliefs, left him feeling a little vindicated. At least for his professional capabilities if they were willing to overlook his personal observations. “Of course, that only makes sense. What is it you would like to know?”

  Frank opened up with the obvious question, “Why is it that you believe in aliens? Do you have any proof of their existence?”

  Marcus smiled. This was an easy response although not one that usually provided any sort of answer to that question. “The absence of proof doesn’t prove the absence of truth. I have never seen an alien, I have never seen an alien UFO, I have never been visited in the middle of the night or had any aliens stick their finger up my butt.” They both grinned a little at that comment; actually Frank was a little relieved to find Marcus had a sense of humor.

  Frank continued his questions, “How can you believe so firmly, without proof, in something that has ruined two jobs, one of them with arguably the leading space company in America and if I understand my research, your last wife left you over this same set of beliefs?”

  Marcus shook his head, “She didn’t exactly leave me over my beliefs, truth be told I think she holds some of the same beliefs herself. However, she wouldn’t speak of my beliefs out in public where people could ridicule her. Unfortunately, I was willing to do so and the ridicule directed at me splashed over her. She couldn’t handle this and decided to go seek other pastures. Note, I didn’t say ‘greener’ pastures; merely other pastures.”

  “Okay, that explains your wife but what about your contemporaries? What about the other scientists and their beliefs?”

  “Those bastards? They wouldn’t believe something unless a committee had already blessed it and it had two articles peer-reviewed in a professional journal. Finally, someone would have to replicate the results in a third world country with subpar capabilities before they would believe it.”

  Wow, Frank thought, this guy was still a little hot under the collar about the situation.

  He wondered how Marcus would take his next couple of questions?

  —

  Patricia turned around in the chair, hearing steps, obviously from a woman, hitting the floor in the entryway. The woman coming through the door with a smile on her face had to have been the last person she would have expected to ever see in her life.

  “Bethany Anne?” Patricia was confused. The woman before her certainly looked like Bethany Anne; however, wasn’t she dead? “You’re the CEO?” She looked over at Lance who was smiling. She turned back, confusion etched on her face.

  Bethany Anne came up to Patricia and hugged her, “Yes; however, I can’t run the whole operation so I had to shanghai my dad to help run and organize the business side. Now, he tells me he can’t get along without your help. So here I am to make sure we get you on board and keep him happy. Why don’t you come with me upstairs, and we can talk about it without old fuss-bucket getting involved?”

  Patricia turned towards Lance, a questioning look on her face. “Lance?” He just nodded his head in agreement and waved her toward Bethany Anne.

  “I’ll be fine right here Patric
ia, I’m not going anywhere. Besides, if you girls don’t take too long we still have time to go out for drinks afterwards.” That helped settle Patricia’s feelings and concerns; that he would be here for her when this was all done. She hopped off the stool and went with Bethany Anne back upstairs.

  Patricia followed Bethany Anne through the suite’s doors and Bethany Anne closed them behind her. Patricia looked around in amazement. “This has to be one of the most beautiful rooms I have ever been in. You have simply got to tell me who your decorator is!”

  “Decorator?” Bethany and looked around the room, “The lady who helped me do the whole house is named Ecaterina, from Romania?”

  Patricia’s eyes narrowed, “Ecaterina? I have that name right, correct?” Bethany Anne was quick to pick up on Patricia’s annoyance.

  “Yes, she is presently helping me with a lot of different tasks around the company. Sort of like what you will do for my dad. Why, do you know her?” Bethany Anne was sure Patricia had no idea and had never met Ecaterina; however, it was obvious she was familiar with her name.

  Patricia tried to hide the annoyance she felt from showing on her face, “No, I have never met her. Lance has mentioned her a couple of times on the phone related to different business solutions. He happened to use her as a joke I think he was pointing my way. Honestly, I should be upset with Lance, not Ecaterina. No wonder that slime ball didn’t tell me who helped decorate downstairs. I swear, I will get that man back if it takes all night long.”

  Bethany Anne was starting to understand the situation, what she had here was a case of a woman loving a man who had no clue she cared about him. How very typical of her dad to not know how a woman felt about him. Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to be good enough for what they needed to accomplish.

  “Decorators aside, Patricia you have to understand there is a lot going on and for you to be involved could be dangerous…”

  “Yes, Lance already told me about the danger. I certainly don’t understand what it is yet and honestly I’m not even sure how you are involved. How did you disappear? How did he not know where you were for a year? Don’t you know how much pain you put that man through! My God, I feel like I want to slap you right now.”

  Patricia started walking back and forth in Bethany Anne’s room. Her aggravation growing with each step. “It was awful, watching Lance slowly degenerate in front of my eyes. Watching the life of someone I had cared about for so long just draining away and not being able to do anything about it!” Bethany Anne was pretty sure Patricia hadn’t realized what she had just divulged.

  Patricia continued, “He might be willing to follow you across the world, and do God only knows what, but if you want to know the truth?” She stopped to stare Bethany Anne in the eyes, “The truth is I will follow Lance, and not you, to the ends of the earth. I have been with him, I have worked with him, I have cried for him, and I would have died for him if it would’ve helped him get through his pain.” Patricia sat down on the small couch at the end of Bethany Anne’s bed. “Damn, did I just admit all of that out loud? In front of his daughter?” She sighed, “What am I going to do with myself now. I’ll just hop on the nearest plane and leave Miami. Maybe they have a waitress job back in Denver I can get.”

  Bethany Anne quirked an eyebrow, “Why do you believe anything you just admitted is a problem?”

  Patricia looked up at her, “It is obvious? Lance is on a mission, I am assuming that mission is because he loves you, whether or not he understands the bigger picture or not. He is more alive right now than I have seen him in fifteen months. Hell, probably years!”

  Bethany Anne studied the older woman, my God, she thought, am I about to play Cupid? “Why do you say he is more alive?”

  Patricia threw out her arm, “Have you seen how young he looks? It is like he went and got a damn facelift, a tummy tuck or something. I thought being seven years younger than him would give me an advantage, now I’m not so sure anymore. And look at you! My memory might not be perfect, but you are definitely looking substantially better than the last time I saw you. What did you do, get a breast lift? Are you wearing high heels? And you have got to be working out like crazy. How did you become the CEO of a major organization? Weren’t you working for the government or something? I feel like I’ve gone down the rabbit hole here and I can’t stop blabbing my mouth off.”

  Bethany Anne walked over to a Victorian era chair, and sat down in it. She faced Patricia, “I can understand that you feel overwhelmed. I can deal with the fact that you don’t know me well enough to trust me, and that you place your trust in my dad. Understand; however, that he does not have a misplaced trust in my mission. Nor, I trust, will you once you understand what it is and see the proof for yourself. However, your trust in my Dad is not misplaced. If it wasn’t for the fact that you will see unbelievable things in the near future, I would let you stay ignorant and blissfully happy. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to drop in here every time and give you an update as you need it. So, this is going to be your one big interview, and brain dump into the reality of the situation and you will have to make a decision tonight.”

  Patricia tried to smile and bring a little levity to the conversation, “Can we get this done before I lose the chance to go get drinks with him?”

  Bethany Anne smiled back at her, “I can make this happen quickly, or it can last for the next couple of hours. It all depends on how quick you can believe in something.”

  “Really? What is it you want me to believe?”

  From down in the kitchen, where Lance was nursing a beer, he could hear Patricia’s scream, “Oh my God!” He flinched a little, guessing that Bethany Anne had decided to show her something vampy. He took another sip, trying to calm his nerves as the discussion upstairs continued.

  An hour later, Lance heard one set of steps coming down the stairs. He walked around the bar and met Patricia at the bottom. He was hoping she remembered her meeting with Bethany Anne, but he had prepared himself that she could have had some of her memories wiped, as well.

  He was a little puzzled at the look of admiration on her face. She had stopped on the last step and her eyes were at the same level as his. She reached out and grabbed his head, planting a kiss on his nose. He looked at her, confusion written on his face.

  She smiled at him, “What? Was Russia, or China or even the terrorists not enough for you Frank? You had to decide to take on aliens as well?” Frank felt the relief wash through him. Patricia had passed Bethany Anne’s testing.

  “Well,” he grumped at her, “There are vampires to deal with.” Patricia shuddered right in front of him. Frank had noticed that reaction before, usually from anyone who had an up front and close view of Bethany Anne when she had gone all evil dead women on them.

  “I am perfectly willing to let Bethany Anne handle the vampires, if that is ok with you? Saving the world is enough for me.”

  Patricia stepped around Frank and started for the door. He turned to watch her as she walked with more of a perk to her step than she had when she arrived, he thought. In fact, he would admit as she reached the door, everything seemed a little perter than he remembered. Had she been working out since he had left the base? He grabbed the keys and followed her out the door, admiring the view.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Rancho Santa Margarita, Ca - USA

  Frank was starting to like this scientist. “Marcus, I have at least one maybe two more questions for you. You might be able to answer them together. The first one is if you were tasked with finding proof of alien life in another system how would you do it? The second one, which is the corollary, how would you confirm if aliens had visited the earth?”

  Marcus stood up and went to his window, looking up into the night sky, “Well, that’s the crux of the argument isn’t it? If one was tasked with finding alien life in another solar system, another universe, how could we even know unless the aliens were far more advanced than we are. For example, right now here on earth we are sending ou
t radio waves to communicate at a distance. Do you know the speed that radio waves travel? No? Actually, radio waves travel very quickly through space.

  Radio waves are a kind of electromagnetic radiation, so they move at the speed of light. The speed of light is a little less than 300,000 km per second. The reason that it takes so long for radio messages to travel in space is that space is mind-bogglingly big. The distances to be traveled are so great that even light or radio waves take a while getting anywhere. It takes around eight minutes for radio waves to travel from the Earth to the Sun, and four years to get from here to the nearest star.

  Do you know how many stars there are for us to check in the universe? If we use a pencil and try to figure out the answer on the back of a napkin, the number is about 60 billion. Remember, the nearest star is four years away using light speed or in this case radio waves.