by Saxon Andrew
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.”
Chris looked at her, looked up at the sky, and said, “Like, no!”
The Alphas tried not to smile and Jeff nearly bit his lip off refraining for showing any emotion. Jillian stood there scowling with her hands on her hips and wondered what it would take to get a rise out of this scoundrel. She looked at the two Alphas and said, “I’ll go get the carrier and come back for ole wheezy here. You might want to get him a walker.”
Chris said between his heavy breathing, “Take your time. A year or two works great for me.”
Bob looked up at the sky and Jeff bent down to tie his boot. Jillian knew they were trying hard not to laugh. That made her even angrier, and she stormed off. Chris watched her leave, “Gee whiz, I’ve see pit bulls with a better disposition.”
Jeff smiled and said, “Dr. Connor, I’d be careful with Dr. Gordon.”
“Why, for God’s sake?”
“Well, you know how well Alpha Agents are trained in hand-to-hand combat.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, she’s the trainer.”
Chris turned and watched Jillian get smaller as she moved away, and he said to Jeff, “Well, tell her to pick on somebody her own size.”
Jeff smiled and said, “Doctor, you are her size.”
“Not if you include that oversized ego of hers.”
Bob burst out laughing, and Jeff finally laughed with him. Jeff decided that this was going to be fun until Jillian blew her top. He looked at Chris and felt sorry for the professor.
Chris sat down and thought about a woman that was a Doctor of Quantum Physics and a hand-to-hand combat instructor. How did that happen? She was quite likely the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and obviously multi-talented. Why did she hate him? He examined his feelings and quickly determined he really didn’t have any attraction toward her. Usually a woman this beautiful would be high on his party-on meter. He thought about it some more, and determined that he was somewhat intimidated by her. The article she had written dealt with the dimensional variances of time distortion in an energy wave was above his understanding, and that bothered him. Could it possibly be that he was only attracted to females that were not as smart?
He looked up into an azure blue sky and took a deep breath. It was a really a beauti
ful day, and worrying about what was happening wouldn’t change anything. He was following their instructions so they probably wouldn’t send him to jail. What was this exercise that Ben mentioned?
He forced himself to relax. He moved to the curb on the sidewalk and thought about Jillian Gordon. It boiled down to control. He always controlled his relationships, what few he had been in, because of his brilliance. He knew there was no possibility of controlling Jillian. That was not a good thing. Manipulating her was just not going to happen. He looked up and saw a large military craft descending from traffic overhead. It landed and the port opened. Chris sighed, so she was a pilot as well. The Agents escorted Chris inside and led him to a seat next to the front bulkhead.
Jeff said, “Buckle up Doctor and pull the straps tight. I suspect Jillian might want to use a little extra oomph in take off.”
Chris pulled the straps, “Picking on me again, huh?”
Jeff smiled and nodded.
“Well, at least I’m glad Ben and I didn’t have time to eat.” Then Chris was slammed back into his seat and felt his stomach go into his throat.
Bob smiled and said under his breath, “Never let em see you sweat, Doctor.”
Chris had his eyes closed and tried to hold on the straps, “Easy for you to say; you’re not seeing your intestines wrap around your eyeballs.”
Bob and Jeff both howled their laughter, which only made Jillian furious. What was so frapping funny?
An hour later the carrier landed smoothly at the spaceport. Even Jillian couldn’t violate the flight protocols around that facility. Chris had a chance to compose himself and get over the dizziness assaulting him. He knew his shoulders were bruised from the brutal flight. Jillian stepped out of the cockpit and Chris said, “Can we please do that again? I want to be able to fully describe this fun ride to my twelve year old nephews.”
Jillian stared at Chris and said stiffly, “Follow me. You two can wait here.”
Bob said, “Yes Sir.”
Jillian walked toward the port, and Jeff held a thumbs-up to Chris. Chris nodded and said, “Are we going to another marathon? I need to change my shoes if we are.”
Jillian stopped just outside the port and put her hand on Chris’ chest to stop him. “Doctor Connor, I apologize for taking my frustration out on you. Quite frankly, you represent everything I detest about the male species. I blame myself for asking for you help. However, I’ll stop badgering you if you will agree to pay attention for a few minutes so we can get this over with. I’m just as impatient as you are to send you home and get you away from me.”
Chris smiled, “You have my undivided attention.” Jillian turned and started walking toward a huge building. “What are we going to see, Dr. Gordon?”
Jillian said, “The future as seen from the past.”
Chris was startled by the response, “My device sees the past from the future.”
“Then you should find this somewhat entertaining. I find it very frightening.”
Chris wondered what could possibly frighten Jillian. He wasn’t at all certain if he wanted to find out. He followed her through multiple security check points and arrived at a giant door that had a DNA scanner. Jillian breathed into the device and the huge locks slid silently out of their channels. The door smoothly swung inward, and Chris followed Jillian into a huge room that was almost a half mile long. He saw search lights in the ceiling of the building were shining down on a tall object in the center of the room. As he focused on it, he saw ten individuals at the base of the object staring up at it and writing on small computer tablets. As he drew closer, he saw the object was a huge tablet-shaped stone. It had to be twenty feet tall, five feet thick, and must have weighed more than a hundred tons.
Jillian said, “This tablet was excavated at the Great Pyramid of Khufu in Egypt. It was deliberately buried more than a hundred feet down at the time the Great Pyramid was completed.” She turned to Chris and said, “You remember the stardrive President Chen mentioned?”
Chris nodded. He stared up at the massive stone block as they arrived at the base.
“We developed that drive from diagrams carved on the back of this tablet.”
Chris stopped dead in his tracks and looked at Jillian with shock on his face.
She looked up at the tablet and said, “The front of the tablet tells us that Earth is going to be destroyed within the next five to ten years. Nothing will survive.”
Chris looked at her with shock and amazement. Jillian saw his expression, smiled ruefully, and said, “Welcome to my world, Dr. Connor.”
Chapter Three
Chris stared at Jillian, looked up at the tablet, and said, “You’re not kidding?”
“No, I’m not. This tablet was buried under a chamber that appeared to be uncompleted in the base of the pyramid. We discovered it two years ago and we moved it here to do further work on it.”
Chris stared up at the giant tablet and saw row after row of strange symbols. “May I see the back?”
“Why, you’re not going to be a part of this project? Your fear is obvious and you need to go attend your next party.”
Chris looked at Jillian and then back at the tablet. He remained silent and Jillian wondered what he was thinking. “You’re certain when it was buried?”
“Absolutely. A body was buried with it that allowed us to carbon date it.” Chris continued to stare at the tablet and Jillian said, “You’ve seen enough. Let’s take you back to your college.”
Chris said without looking at her, “I think President Suh sent me here for a reason. I also think he might question me later regarding what my thoughts are about this tablet.” Chris looked at her, “Do you want me to tell him you showed it to me and then made me leave without answering any of my questions?” Chris stared at Jillian and saw her impatience. He felt his anger grow and then he exploded, “Frankly, I’m over your holier-than-thou attitude. I wouldn’t want to work on anything with someone as shallow as you are. Perhaps you should take me back.” Chris turned and started walking back to the entrance.
Jillian felt her anger but then realized that Suh was angry at her for her behavior during the meeting. It was possible she could be taken off the project. She ran after Chris and said, “You’re right. I agreed to stop badgering you and I didn’t. The truth is that without your help, my project is doomed to failure. I need you to help us. I’m sorry. Let’s try this again.” She stuck out her hand.
Chris stared at her, and after a moment shook it. He turned to the giant stone, “I don’t recognize those symbols on the tablet. It’s not any language I’ve ever seen. It certainly didn’t come from the Egyptians.”
Jillian was surprised, “How many languages are you familiar with?”
“I’ve studied all of the ancient languages and this comes from that period, if what you say is true about its age. If it was carved in ancient Egypt, I didn’t see any hieroglyphics on it.”
“That’s because they’re on the top five feet of the tablet. Whoever carved it put a row of hieroglyphics above a row of this new language. They deliberately created a Rosetta Stone so that whoever found the tablet would have a key to decipher it.”
Chris stared at Jillian and she tilted her head toward the right side of the tablet, “Want to see the back?” He followed her around the tablet and saw the back. This was absolutely impossible.
Jillian sighed, “Those diagrams appear to be made by someone who is an excellent engineer. The plans for a modern spaceship are less detailed than these carvings.”
“Is that a generator?”
“Yes, it is, and the material that powers it is a combination of eight different elements heated to 1,500 degrees and put together in a specified order and quantity. When put together at that temperature, the elements combine into a substance that will produce an energy field when electricity is passed through it. That field is what allows the stardrive to work. We combined this material with our nuclear fuel and it is a hundred times more powerful than the reactor
carved on the tablet or our modern reactors.”
Chris looked at Jillian, “How could this have happened?”
Jillian looked up at the tablet and shook her head, “I don’t know, but we do know that this was carved by one of the human pyramid builders.”
“Are you saying that non-humans took part in the construction?”
“Yes, but the only way to know for certain is to take your device and go see what actually took place. I know you’ve got to be curious about the Pyramid’s construction.”
Chris looked at Jillian, “I’ve always wondered about the pyramids. There are other buildings that are impossible, but the Great Pyramid is the one that has fascinated me the most. That’s why I built the device.”
Jillian suddenly looked at Chris and said, “Yes, Mr. President; he’s here.”
Chris looked at her and watched as she listened to her communicator. She looked at him and continued to listen. After a few moments Jillian said, “I’ll tell him.”
Chris looked at her, “Tell me what?”
“It seems there are riots breaking out at your university. The students have marched on the World Government Embassy and are demanding your return.”
Chris shook his head, “Has to be Dolly’s doing.”
“Why?”
“She holds me in rather high esteem.” Chris furrowed his brow, “I don’t remember much of what happened at the bar, but did you say anything to her?”
“I showed her my badge and sent her packing.”
“Well, I’m sure she didn’t go very far and she probably saw you take me away.” Chris thought a moment and said, “Is there any way to turn on my communicator?”
“What are you planning to do?”
“Tell her that I’m fine and that I’ll be back tomorrow.”
“Are you? Fine, I mean.”
“Well, you tell me. However, I don’t want to see my students injured by the riot police. I’ve been threatened with being sent to jail but I must make sure my students are not harmed. I’ll not use them to protect me.”