2036 The Proof: A Thrilling Science Fiction Novel

by Speiser, Zvi

  After her momentary hesitation, Melissa sighed heavily and said, “I have to make a full disclosure that didn’t seem necessary up to this point.”

  Rick tensed. She’s about to confess. What would he do? Arrest her and take her to the precinct?

  “Well, I’m not proud of what I’m about to tell you, but that’s how things worked out, and I’m not sorry about it. Dr. Lester—Tom—and I have been lovers for about a year now. I’m well aware of his work, his family, and other aspects of his life.”

  Rick was quite surprised. He had not linked her, even for a moment, with Tom. However, at that moment, he had expected Melissa’s confession to concern additional business connections within her profession, rather than personal romantic affairs.

  “I should have mentioned it when we met, but I didn’t feel comfortable making this kind of disclosure in Will’s presence. You see, we were together for a long time. We broke up about two years ago, even though we loved each other and got along well. Our busy careers simply put a strain on the relationship. When I met him yesterday…actually this morning—this day has been so packed with events that it feels like I met him yesterday—anyway, during the meeting, some old emotions rekindled in me. I hope you understand what even I can’t quite understand.”

  “Wow,” Rick exhaled audibly. “And I thought our problem was complicated. Your life is no walk in the park, either. Anyway, since I’m no expert on relationships—I’m divorced, in case you didn’t know—who am I to tell you what to do?

  “To return to our own business here, it’s important that we go over all of the new information. We have lists of lab break-ins during the last year, as well as accidents or criminal incidents involving scientists that you, Will, and I compiled. We have the research topics the labs are investigating, and of course, the latest material you received from Jack. All we need is for you to identify the common denominator among all the events. I won’t bother you. I’ll make some coffee, and I’ve got some pastries I bought on the way here,” he concluded, heading for the kitchen.

  Rick’s matter-of-fact approach and his non-judgmental acceptance of her personal relationship helped Melissa feel much more at ease, allowing her to focus her thoughts. She didn’t require much time. Briefly skimming the new material from Jack at home, as well as everything she had learned thus far, allowed her to form quite a clear picture. Browsing the material again in conjunction with Rick’s list strengthened her conviction.

  When Rick entered, bearing a tray with cups of coffee and pastries, Melissa leaned back in her chair, smiling, and said, “I have a pretty reasonable and well-supported assessment of what’s going on here. Let’s both take a look at it.”

  “So quick? That’s great,” he cheered.

  “The broadest common denominator is human genetic research in general. Within that extensive field, the studies have focused on two more-or-less specific areas. The first is the hot topic of longevity enhancement, and developing general immunity to all varieties of cancer and various generative diseases. The second area includes research concerning the human genome and comparison of various human races in the past and at present, as well as comparing the human genome to that of various higher animals, mostly other primates. At first glance, it seems that both subjects interest the perpetrators of the break-ins and the murder. But if we assume that Jack and his gang are behind the break-ins and the murder, an interesting picture emerges.”

  “What makes you think Jack is linked to the break-ins?” Rick asked.

  “It’s much more than female intuition. Every assignment I got from him included a preface intended to guide my work, which directed me specifically to research concerning junk DNA. I don’t know how familiar you are with this topic…”

  “I’m fairly familiar with it,” he replied. “While Dr. Lester was being questioned after the murder and the break-in, he told me what they were researching, and also got into some of the scientific topics.”

  “Well, as you can probably guess, the majority of studies focus on the active sections of the DNA. The junk areas are largely ignored. All of the labs researching human DNA that have been broken into, including Tom’s, study the quite esoteric field of junk DNA, and as I said, Jack was interested in this subject as well. But—and this is a big but—those were Jack’s assignments to me until recently. The one that came when Jack already knew of my connection to Will is focused on enhancing human longevity.”

  “Well,” Rick sputtered impatiently, “what does that mean?”

  “It means that Jack is trying to divert me away from researching junk DNA to researching longevity enhancement! Don’t you see? Jack is interested in studies concerning junk DNA, and is now orchestrating a diversion to lure us away from his target and distract us with extending longevity.”

  Rick’s intense look did not disclose what was on his mind.

  What’s going on here? Does she think I’m stupid? Is she trying to divert me from the obvious direction? What kind of interest could any kind of violent group have in academic research, as opposed to studies with the sort of commercial potential that can’t even be expressed in words? People would be willing to pay any sum, and even commit murder, in order to extend their lives even a little.

  This was it. If, up to this point, he’d still doubted where Melissa’s loyalty lay, now the answer seemed obvious. Melissa’s not with us. The maneuver was too transparent. Perhaps she was the one who initiated or even sent herself this latest assignment from Jack. After all, logic dictated that after discovering her connections with Will the journalist, the last thing Jack would do would be to send her any additional material. Rick had to quickly decide how to proceed.

  Still immersed in her own line of thought, Melissa continued. “Research on junk DNA is so marginal, yet it was the focus of Jack’s interest, so it seems crystal clear that Jack is probably behind the break-ins and the murder,” she concluded triumphantly.

  All that notwithstanding, Rick thought, the logical sequence she was presenting was well constructed, and sounded convincing enough to warrant his attention. The only one who could solve his dilemma was Will, who knew Melissa well and who Rick trusted. However, Will had not been in touch with her for about two years. How would he know what she had been up to since they had broken up? At most, he could vouch for her trustworthiness and integrity. But, as he knew well, integrity could also be bought. In short, he would continue to treat her respectfully without relinquishing his suspicions.

  It was also possible that her recent confession concerning Tom might prove helpful. She had said they had a long-term, intimate relationship. Tom should be questioned as soon as possible in order to find out what side Melissa was on. Perhaps Yoni would find something out while following her, or else the answer might come by itself, as it often did, as a result of unforeseen events.

  He still had to address Melissa’s question regarding how she should reply to Jack.

  “Assuming you’re right,” Rick began, “the last thing we want is for Jack to suspect that something has changed on your end, that you’ve been monitoring the topics he’s asked you to look into, that you can discern a clear pattern, or that you’re linking him to the murder. It’s also possible that the assignment he sent you was intended to test your reaction and maybe, as you said, to feed you with bogus information in order to steer us away from the right direction. Your work now should match your work for him in the past, business as usual, while we keep going, regardless of recent events.”

  “Okay,” she said. “I’ll prepare the analysis for him and bill him as usual.”

  “That’s great. Okay, it’s getting pretty late. I suggest you go home and get on with your life as usual. I’ll talk to you tomorrow morning.”

  “Okay,” she said. “Is it safe for us to talk on the assistant? You know how easy it is to intercept those calls.”

  “Of course,” he replied. “We’ve installed security me
asures preventing any sort of surveillance on your assistant. Don’t worry.”

  Rick was the first to leave the house, pausing briefly as he pretended to tinker with his assistant and simulated making a call, when in fact he was watching the front door until he saw Melissa leave and enter her car. Immediately after she took off, another vehicle departed, followed by one more. He hoped Yoni was the second tail, rather than the first.

  This was interesting. If they were following her, this meant she was on the straight and narrow, and not their accomplice. Unless, unless, they had noticed her police escorts and were trying to clear her name by tailing her, a sort of reverse psychology. I really am paranoid, he found himself thinking.

  In any case, the surveillance would continue, and he still had to warn Yoni. He did so before setting out for home.

  Chapter 26

  Sheffy’s Stars

  California, Wednesday, July 23, 2036

  Lia suffered from insomnia that night as well, although she had still not overcome her fatigue from the night before. This time, her research in its entirety was about to be tested by another expert who was unbiased and who was not motivated by a desire for acclaim, like she was.

  If her conclusions regarding STA331047B and STA333654B were collaborated by another round of measurements, and if some of the stars Professor Sheffy had wanted to observe were to exhibit the same behavior, she would be in seventh heaven. At last, after many years of work, she would be the one who had uncovered another layer in the human race’s long journey to discover the secrets of the universe, and would go down in the pantheon of humankind’s greatest scientific pioneers.

  It was too bad Professor Sheffy couldn’t go over the results of the night’s observations with her. He was delivering his lecture this morning, and would then be taking part in a panel that was so long, they wouldn’t even be able to meet for lunch. He estimated he would only have time for their project this evening.

  As for her, she couldn’t sit around at the conference all day, although she was interested in the topics being discussed and truly wanted to listen to Sheffy’s lecture. After nine a.m., she would be able to access the telescope’s night observations, once the material had been sorted through and sent to the various astronomers who had requested observations.

  She didn’t wait even one extra minute. All she had asked was to receive the change in position for her two stars and Sheffy’s four stars, with the highest degree of precision possible from the STA. She had requested two measurements for the six stars: one at the beginning of the night’s observations and one at the end, so that all in all, she had to interpret twelve observations. Such observations, measuring the position of a star located hundreds of light-years away, at a level of precision enabling the detection of motion on a plane perpendicular to the line of observation from Earth, had not been possible with the telescopes preceding the STA.

  When she had first calculated the orbits and masses of “her” stars, she couldn’t believe the results, and had repeated the calculations again and again. She had worried that the minute variations in position she had found, which constituted the basis for her extraordinary conclusions, could have resulted from the STA’s stabilization system.

  In fact, this had been her main fear, and in order to eliminate it, she had studied the stabilization system in depth. Only then was her mind set at ease, as the time constants of the stabilization system were significantly different from those she had obtained for the motion of the stars. Nevertheless, she felt that she must receive additional confirmation from other researchers.

  The STA data, as well as many other measurements gathered by telescopes utilizing different spectral ranges, allowed her to assess her results from additional perspectives as well, to calculate the stars’ orbital periods and the mass of each of the companions. And indeed, the results confirmed what she already knew.

  Among the four stars Sheffy had cited, only two exhibited measurable position changes. The other two could be single stars or, if they were binary, could have long orbital periods that caused their changes of position over one night to be too small for the STA to measure.

  With a rising sense of excitement, she activated the software she had developed to calculate the mass of the two new stars. The result she received for both was hair-raising. The mass for each was precisely 1.76 solar masses—exactly the same result obtained for the stars STA331047B and STA333654B!

  Cold sweat covered her forehead. She had discovered a yet-unknown physical phenomenon that allowed a star to gradually expand beyond the Chandrasekhar limit of 1.44 solar masses, a result that had never been observed before, and which also violated the reigning theory, found to be reliable for thousands of stars. This could lead to a real scientific uproar, one in which she would find herself center stage. Sounds pretty exciting, she thought, her face illuminated by a brief smile. Proper compensation for many hours of working in the dark.

  On the other hand, how could the reigning theory—which had produced numerous scientific discoveries, primarily the proof that not only was the universe expanding, but that its expansion had been accelerating for the last seven billion years—require reassessment, and perhaps even collapse? She might turn out to be the one to drive researchers to re-examine their assumptions. They might even reach the conclusion that the universe’s expansion was not accelerating, thus eliminating the need for the abstract, unclear concept termed “dark energy,” which so many scientists over the years had attempted to unravel, to no avail. Perhaps a simple solution to this quandary had now been found.

  What should I do now? she thought. Sheffy would only be free this evening. How would she manage to wait that long, with such an immense discovery at her fingertips? Actually, Sheffy would also want to know about it, even in the middle of the conference.

  That’s it. She would go to the conference and update him during the first break. And so she did. With uncharacteristic speed, she made the necessary preparations and drove to the main hall where Sheffy was scheduled to deliver his lecture.

  Based on the current content of his lecture, she must have arrived only a few minutes after it began. Sheffy started by presenting a succinct version of Chandrasekhar’s calculations, emphasizing the famous Chandrasekhar equation.

  Suddenly, she realized he must be laying the groundwork for a scientific explanation of her discovery. Did he know the results of the night’s observations? No, that was impossible. No external researcher had access to the data. But maybe, like many Israelis, he had some friend who was a member of the STA team and who had leaked the results to him. Or perhaps he was merely relying on her results for the two stars that she had presented to him only the day before.

  Lia was stunned. She had trusted him completely. He projected so much trustworthiness that she had not even bothered looking into his personal history. Feeling immensely upset, she disengaged from the lecture and was immersed in her own thoughts, when loud applause from the audience brought her back to reality. She couldn’t understand the first thing about the mathematical analysis on the board. Apologizing to the person sitting beside her for not paying attention, she asked what was going on. The man, who was also applauding enthusiastically, replied without stopping his clapping. “Can’t you see? He managed to derive the Chandrasekhar equation from classic thermodynamic considerations, rather than quantum mechanics. We’ve never seen such an elegant mathematical derivation. He’s a virtuoso who definitely deserves the applause.”

  Lia was certain everyone could hear her immense sigh of relief as her tension eased, and she blushed briefly. Sheffy hadn’t even mentioned their topic. She waited impatiently for the end of his lecture, delving into her own thoughts once more.

  Her hope of sitting down somewhere quiet with Sheffy and telling him about her findings soon faded away. From the moment he descended from the lectern, he was besieged by a crowd of scientists who would not leave him alone. At some point, after bei
ng asked by many of them about the mathematical proof he had demonstrated, they all climbed onto the stage, where, facing the giant whiteboard, Sheffy explained his lecture again, using more complex mathematical terms. Only then did the group seem appeased. It split up into smaller factions, which began to discuss the various points on the board. Only two scientists stayed with Sheffy, initiating a discussion that seemed quite volatile, judging by their hand gestures and their scrawling on the board.

  Lia sat down again, waiting for the arguments to subside. The scientists dispersed gradually. Hunger might have motivated them to take off, or perhaps Sheffy had promised to continue the discussion on a different occasion. The two last stubborn stragglers finally concluded their conversation with him, parted from him with a warm handshake, and walked away. He didn’t look exhausted in the slightest; on the contrary, he seemed refreshed and ready to return for another lecture. Apparently, the scientists’ reaction to his lecture had energized him.

  “Are the results in?” he asked the moment he approached her.

  “They are.”

  “Well?” he challenged.

  “Well…” she replied, asking with a smile, “What are you expecting?”

  “Come on, don’t leave me hanging. You wouldn’t have bothered coming here, sitting quietly with a mysterious smile on your face and waiting while everyone interrogated me to the point of exhaustion unless you had some interesting news.”

  “I do have amazing results, but let’s sit down somewhere and discuss them.”

  “This lecture hall is going to be the quietest place in the next hour. Everyone’s rushing off to eat, and no one will be here.”

  “What about you? Aren’t you hungry?”

  “Who could think about food now? Come on, what did you discover?”

  Lia instructed her assistant to display the results of the night’s observations, starting with her own two stars and proceeding to the two stars he had requested for which no motion was observed. Sheffy dwelled for a bit on the results for STA331047B and STA333654B, apparently not finding anything new there, but wanting to further confirm her conclusions. He didn’t seem disappointed by the lack of motion of the two stars for which he had requested measurements.