“That won’t be necessary.”
Talking over her shoulder, she said without humor, “Josh, that’s a direct order from your medical support team. Do we need to get Meadows involved?”
He frowned but started unbuttoning his shirt. As she came out of the bathroom, she saw him struggling and helped him pull the sleeves over his hands.
She shook her head as she saw his torso. “You look like you’ve been playing dodge ball with pipe wrenches.”
He couldn’t help but smile.
She opened her bag and put her stethoscope on. Frowning as she looked at his neck and head, she said, “Didn’t they put any bandages on these lacerations?”
“Yeah, but I took them off to take a shower—”
She finished, “And couldn’t get them back on by yourself?”
He shrugged.
She pointed at the giant black and purple bruise over the left side of his rib cage. “Let me guess, that’s a likeness of Petrov?”
He laughed, followed by an, “Ouch.”
She shook her head. “All right, this may hurt a bit but I need to feel your ribs. Sit down in that chair.” She leaned over and gently ran her hands across his chest, sliding them over his ribcage and pushing in lightly.
It did hurt.
Nodding, she said, “It’s your two middle ribs. They’re the ones most likely to break.” She warmed her stethoscope and told him to breathe deeply. She listened in several places on his chest and then went behind him to put it on his back. She whistled softly. “Yeah, that’s going to leave a scar or two.”
She didn’t sound very sympathetic.
Pulling two bottles and some ointment out of her bag, she said, “Your lungs are clear. We could wrap your chest but that tends to restrict your breathing and can increase the chance of pneumonia. I’ll put some antibiotic ointment on the lacerations.” She went to the sink. “You have some major hematomas. I’ll massage the tissue around the bruised areas to improve blood flow.” She came back with six pills and a glass of water.
“What are these?”
“Just prescription-strength ibuprofen for the pain and melatonin.”
“Melatonin?”
“It’s something your body produces to help you sleep. It’s an antioxidant, and it’s good for you. Doesn’t matter how tough you are, you still need sleep to heal.”
It had been difficult sleeping for several reasons. One of them was standing in front of him. He gulped the pills down, saying, “Pills don’t have much effect on me.”
Moving behind him, she rubbed the ointment into the cuts on the back of his head and neck. It stung a little. Then she started to massage his shoulders, where his body took a lot of the impact.
“You’re very tense,” she said. “If we’re going to promote circulation, you’re going to have to relax a little.”
It hurt at first, but the awesome sensation of her hands quickly overshadowed the pain. “Elizabeth, I need to tell you something.”
He heard, “Uh huh,” from behind him.
“I think I owe you an apology. There may have been a ... miscommunication.”
She didn’t respond.
“Sheri helped me understand that it’s probably my fault.”
He couldn’t see her face, and she still said nothing.
“I just learned that fine doesn’t mean fine.”
He heard her stifle a laugh.
Frowning, he said, “Sending that check without talking to you first was probably dumb.” The massage pressure suddenly increased. “Ouch.”
The pressure eased. “Apology accepted. Now shut up and relax.”
He closed his eyes. His pain diminished. His body didn’t hurt as much either. He forgot how good a massage could feel. It wasn’t sexual; it was just incredibly relaxing and comforting.
She slowly moved around to face him and worked on his shoulders from the front. A detached part of him realized that this was the first time this body had ever experienced any significant human touch. After several minutes, she worked on his upper arms and then slowly worked across his chest. Moving around his side and down his chest, she gently massaged his stomach. His eyes opened. The massage was no longer increasing circulation just to his bruises. He reached out and gently touched her waist to pull her in, and then suddenly remembered. “Oh! I forgot. I have something for you!”
She looked a little surprised as he stood up and went over to his suitcase. He said, “It was a present I was going to send with the check, but I decided to wait and give it to you in person.” He shook his head. “Not such a brilliant plan in retrospect.” As he opened his suitcase, he saw her pick up his tablet.
Sitting down on the edge of the bed, her face illuminated by the tablet, she asked, “Did you read all these since I saw you last?”
Rummaging through his bag, he said, “All but two.”
“There are hundreds of books in here!” Frowning and then giggling, she said, “You read a book on Cosmetology?”
He looked up and smiled. “Cosmology.”
“Oh.”
He frowned. He was sure he’d put it in there somewhere.
Reading from the book, she said, “Big Bang, that sounds ... interesting.”
He found it! Pulling the small box from his bag, he said, “Ah, yeah, it’s the theory on how the universe expanded from a tiny, infinitely dense point.”
Under her breath, he heard, “Speaking of infinitely dense....”
“What?” As he looked up, her eye roll quickly became an innocent smile.
“Uh ... I mean how do they know the universe came from an infinitely dense point?”
Setting the little box on the desk, he said, “They just looked at where the universe is now and kind of rolled it back in time. It’s like playing a movie backwards. Ultimately, the universe ends up collapsing into a tiny dot called a singularity.”
Frowning, she asked, “What was before The Big Bang?”
“Nothing, not even space or time.”
She set his tablet down. “Then what caused it?”
He looked at her curiously. It was almost the same conversation he had with Chandra and Jesse. Frowning, he said, “Why do you ask?”
She shrugged. “Just curious.”
Not wanting to get into quantum mechanics, he just said, “It’s kind of complicated.”
She smiled. “So, the universe started from absolutely nothing, blew up in a flash, and they don’t know what was before it or what started it.”
“Basically.”
“Cool. Then I totally understand.”
He looked at her with surprise. “You do?”
“Duh. ‘The earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep. And God said, let there be light; and there was light.’”
He shook his head with a smile. Of course, she’d bring it back to her simple religious beliefs. Then he frowned and shrugged. “I guess ‘without form and void’ isn’t a bad description of nothingness, and The Big Bang was an explosion of pure energy. Light is energy.” He smiled at her. “The physics description isn’t really that much more informative than the biblical one.”
Elizabeth patted his hand and said, “Be right back.”
As she went to the bathroom, he picked up the little gift box and sat down in the overstuffed chair. He hadn’t realized how big a hole there was in his life until he saw her at the door. His physical pain was hardly noticeable anymore. He wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice. Injuries or no injuries, he couldn’t think of anything better than holding her.
Elizabeth came out of the bathroom with a mischievous grin ... only to find him asleep in the chair. She shook her head and mimicked him quietly. “Pills don’t have much effect on me.” Taking the pillow and blanket from the bed, she tucked him into the chair. As she did, she saw the little beat-up gift box in his hand. There was no way she was going to wait another three months. She carefully slipped it out of his fingers, leaned over and kissed him gently on the lips.
As she drove home, she knew Sheri was right. It was all a dumb misunderstanding, and it was as much her fault as his. It was well past midnight, but she had promised Sheri she would call and tell her the outcome.
When Sheri answered, Elizabeth said, “You were right on both counts. Although brilliant, he is clueless and had no idea what he did. And yes, he lied about his injuries.”
“How bad?”
“Nothing fatal, but he’s a mess. Two broken ribs and probably fractured a couple more. He also has major bruising and lacerations covering half his torso. I gave him 800 milligrams of Motrin and 12 milligrams of melatonin.”
“You still with him?”
Elizabeth laughed. “No! By the time I came out of the bathroom, he was sound asleep.”
Sheri laughed. “Men.”
“Thank you, Sheri! Can’t tell you how much I appreciate your calling me and getting this straightened out.”
“Glad to help. I’d love to get into that head of his someday. He’s fascinatingly strange.”
“Good strange or bad strange?”
Sheri laughed. “Well, I wouldn’t kick him out of bed for eating crackers.”
“Sheri!” Elizabeth laughed. “I’ll take that as good strange.”
Sheri said, “He’s a keeper.” She paused. “By the way, would you mind if I gave your number to Carl Casey’s wife?”
“Carl’s the CIA guy, right?”
“Yeah, Carl told me Kelly had a similar situation to yours. She lost her husband in an aircraft accident after being married for only a year. I’ve met her and think you guys would hit it off and might be good for each other.”
“Sure. I’d love to talk to her.” She paused. “Sheri, thanks again! You are a life saver.”
“No problem. Get some sleep, girl.”
As she hung up, she realized Sheri was right about Josh being strange. There was still the question of who he really was and where he came from. If he was schizophrenic, he was very successful at it. On the other hand, if he was some type of prophet ... he appeared to be seriously theologically challenged. The whole thing was surreal.
After she got home, she opened the little gift box. Inside she found a painted Russian doll. Nested inside were seven progressively smaller dolls. As she opened the last one, she found a little wooden heart inside. Wrapped around it was a gold necklace. As she pulled it out, she saw a tiny handwritten note. “Thank you for helping me find myself and believing in me. I love you. Josh.” She tried not to cry as she realized he had written the note months ago.
32
MIRROR
Lopez saw the limo pull up in front of her house. She grabbed her jacket and went outside. The driver held the door open for her. As she slid in, she leaned over and kissed Musk on the cheek. “Sure you can’t stay for dinner?”
“Would love to but I’ve got to be in Ecuador tomorrow morning.” He gently shook his head. “Sheri, you’re more beautiful than when we met so long ago.” He frowned. “Why was it that we didn’t work out again?”
She laughed. “You’re kidding?” She shook her head. “We’re the exact same personality. Highly motivated and task-oriented. Eventually, we would have had to kill each other.”
He laughed, shaking his head. “Oh yeah, I forgot. Regardless, it’s good to be working with you again.” He paused. “On to saving the world. On the phone, you said you had a solution. I assume you were referring to how we’re going to break this to the public?”
“Yes.” Looking thoughtful, she started slowly. “We all have a fascination with the unknown. Did you know that the second biggest commercial holiday after Christmas is Halloween? People love mysteries and conspiracies.”
Musk frowned. “OK....”
“Instead of telling people directly what’s going to happen, we leak it, and then deny it. It’s weird, but people are more likely to accept something if they believe it’s a secret. The beauty of a conspiracy is that it can’t be proven wrong, because anyone who attacks it—”
Smiling, Musk finished, “Must be part of the conspiracy.”
She nodded. “It also allows people to get used to an idea a little at a time. Just like people, societies can go into shock if things happen too fast, which could be very dangerous.”
Musk nodded. “Sounds good, but how do we get international exposure without ending up in the tabloids?”
She smiled. “That’s where you come in. You’ve got a big reputable media department. We need you to start leaking some vague comet danger information to your media people. Tell them it came from a high-level U.S. government official on condition of anonymity. Coming from you, they’ll accept it immediately. Then we have the U.S. government deny it.”
Musk frowned. “Fuze was OK with this?”
“Yeah, he said government denial wouldn’t be a problem.”
He nodded. “Can do.”
She frowned. “By the way, after spending time with him in Antarctica, what do you think of Josh?”
“He threw himself off a cliff. He’s a complete lunatic.” He smiled as he shook his head.
Sheri nodded. “Yeah, I love him too.” Looking out the window, she added, “I have to admit, it’s kind of fun being in on a conspiracy.”
“In on a conspiracy? Sheri, you’re creating it.”
She smiled. “Yeah, there’s got to be a bestseller in here somewhere.”
It was late October, seven months since Josh woke up in the hospital and five months before they had to start deflecting the comet. As usual, he and Meadows were the first in the conference room. Sheri arrived next. He hadn’t seen her since their dinner in Kansas City. He gave her a quick hug and whispered in her ear, “Thank you, Sheri, you are a goddess!”
She winked and hugged him back.
The meeting came to order. Meadows said, “Katori’s still at Los Alamos, but he said work’s going well on the Comet Asteroid Tracking and Targeting Projector Beam Deflector ... dang, that’s way too long. What’s a good nickname for this thing?”
One of the Air Force engineers said, “Let’s use the Navy’s naming system and call it, ComAstTraTarProBeaDef!”
Everyone laughed. The Navy’s strange habit of using the first few letters of each word often ended in unpronounceable results. Without missing a beat, Meadows fired back. “No, no, let’s use the Air Force’s superior acronym system. We’ll call it ... let’s see ... that would be — CAT P!” There were groans and more laughter. A lively discussion ensued. Finally, by adding “Laser” and ignoring order and grammar, they came up with “CAT BLasTar.”
Josh said to Chandra, “Schrödinger would’ve been proud.”
Chandra smiled.
Meadows said, “OK, now that we’ve got the important work done, we can continue with the pesky technical details. Katori said they’re building the first scale model for testing, and it appears to be ahead of schedule. How are we coming on the power source?”
Shepherd said, “We found the perfect small nuclear reactor. Made by a Los Alamos spin-off company called Hyperion, it’s an easily transportable, sealed module about the size of a hot tub. With a small steam turbine, it can produce 25 megawatts of power and costs only $50 million.”
Meadows said, “Awesome! When can we get it?”
“The first ones are being built now and should be ready next year.”
Meadows, obviously holding back irritation, said, “Dr. Shepherd, we need to be feeding power to this thing in six months.”
Surprisingly, Bobinski jumped to Shepherd’s defense. “Shepherd’s right. They are perfect for our purpose, and we should put in priority order as soon as possible. Even offer bonus for faster production.”
Meadows frowned but nodded.
Bobinski continued, “Until then, there are two small graphite-moderated reactors in Chukokta, Russia. They’ve produced 11 megawatts each since 1976. They’re upgrading to newer reactors and will sell old ones to us with new uranium cores. They’re big, heavy and need more assembly and monitoring,
but they’re robust, and we can buy them now. They can fill gap until modular reactors are ready.”
For the first time, Shepherd didn’t have a rebuttal. Although still frowning, he actually nodded his head.
Meadows said, “How soon can we get these and, not that it really matters, how much do they cost?”
Bobinski smiled. “We can have in one month. Negotiated special two-for-one price, $15 million for both reactors, but need additional $2 million in cash.”
“Sounds great.” Meadows paused. “Do I really want to ask what the cash is for?”
Bobinski continued matter-of-factly, “Cash ensures reactors delivered in good working condition.”
Meadows asked, “Two million?”
“Offered two-week trip to Disney World to all plant workers and managers if reactors delivered on time and stay operational for 12 months. We also buy new computers and patrol cars for local police.” He smiled. “They help avoid unnecessary paperwork and escort reactors to airfield where C-17 picks them up. Also paid local — how do you say — mob?”
Meadows said, unnecessarily, “Mob?”
“Yes, we pay mob to protect shipment from criminals.”
Smiling, Meadows shook his head. “Glad you’re on our side.”
In a classified conference room at the National Reconnaissance Office, Northrop Grumman briefed the program status of their newest spy satellite. Dr. Jackie Jones wrapped up her PowerPoint presentation. The last slide highlighted the program’s recent and significant schedule slips. At the bottom, it simply read, “Lead Engineers Tasked with Higher Priority Program.” She knew that would stir up discussion.
The Deputy Director of NRO said, “What higher-priority program?”
Jones said, “We don’t know, sir. It’s black like ours, but it’s important enough that it pulled our lead engineer and most of his team away.”
The Deputy Director shook his head. “We’re a Defense Category One, Top Secret Program. Who could have higher priority?”
Impact (Fuzed Trilogy Book 1) Page 20