Richard waggled his hand to say so-so. “The Nobel isn’t guaranteed, although I think we’d have a pretty good shot. But that’d be mostly Kevin, and could easily be a decade away. And again, that’s assuming the university doesn’t toss us out and keep the lab notes.”
“And the Nobel really isn’t that much money in the end,” Bill added.
“But what about patents?” Erin said.
“Yeah, maybe,” Richard replied. “But I don’t think this would be a mass-market product along the lines of the PC or DVD player, where we’d sell hundreds of millions of units. And anyway, if someone figures out a slightly different way to do it, a patent could be worthless.”
“And that’s assuming the military doesn’t just shoot us and bury it,” Bill added.
There was a short silence as everyone pondered the alternatives. Bill took the opportunity to signal the waitress for refills.
The table settled into one of those silences where each person was busily holding their own counsel. After a few seconds, Richard said, “I’d like to move this out of the university, as well. Lousy security and too many curious people.”
“Now you are talking theft,” Erin replied.
“There’s precedent. As long as we have paperwork for everything we take offsite, we’ll be good.”
“That would make me feel better if the paperwork wasn’t forged,” Erin said ruefully. Richard replied with a sickly smile and a shrug.
“And we need to build a second portal,” Bill said.
“What? Why?”
Bill glared at Richard. “Are you kidding me? What’re you, slow? Do you think nothing will go wrong? You’re like the guy who shrugs off concerns then gets eaten or blown up in the next scene. You’re the guy who goes into the attic alone, because that’s the smart thing to do.” Bill shook his head and held out his hands, palms out. “Dude, I’ve seen every sci-fi and horror movie known to man. I’ve seen people locked in, locked out, locked up, abandoned, lost, crushed, eaten, beaten, shot, disintegrated, or just stuck out on the street in their underwear, because they didn’t bother to take precautions. God exists, and he’s not only a nasty SOB, he’s also a B-movie director with a warped sense of humor. And I don’t want to be his next sight gag.”
He leaned back and crossed his arms. “So I am not going anywhere near that thing unless you have spare parts, a spare unit, spare batteries, and a spare generator. You want to skip all that? Fine! I’ll wait on this side.”
Richard made a wry face. “Well, you ain’t wrong.”
“And what about the original project? The one Keeting thinks you’re working on?” Erin said.
“Kevin and I will put together a report that fits entirely within the original parameters. It will even have predictable results. We’ll file that with Keeting. He’ll be happy he doesn’t have to do any extra examination, and he’ll probably just rubber-stamp it. From that point, we have maybe up to a month to return the equipment.”
“So we’re on a deadline,” Bill mused. “We have to get enough gold by that time to be able to pay for our own equipment, if it comes to that.”
“There’s something else,” Erin said. All eyes turned to her. “If we’re going to be actually travelling to the other side, we need to know what we might be up against. I have a friend who is a zoology major. She’s also very familiar with guns, which could be handy.”
Bill’s eyebrows rose. “Wow. Should we be afraid?”
“Absolutely. Monica’s been my friend most of my life, and I love her, but she has six older brothers, and they trained her well. You don’t want to piss her off.”
“Got it.” Bill looked over at Richard. “Dude, either you are sucking on a lemon, or you have a problem.”
“Yeah, just not happy about bringing another person in on this.”
Erin sighed. “Richard, do you know what kind of predators there are on that side? Lions and tigers and bears? Velociraptors? How about diseases? I’d like to know what might be wanting to eat me before we step through that thing. Plus, Monica might be able to offer an informed opinion on the question of human populations.”
Richard nodded, and Bill looked around at the others. “Anyone else want to add anyone? No? Then I think this is it. Six instead of five is no big deal, and it sounds like we need Monica. I, in particular, do not wish to be lunch.”
Richard sat back, a look of resignation on his face. “Fine. But I’m holding you to that, Bill. Membership is capped at six. Any additions come out of your share.”
13. Night Moves
June 23
Bill met Richard, Matt, and Kevin at the loading bay. A nondescript white panel van sat waiting.
“Dude, why didn’t you just bring your pickup?” Bill said to Matt.
“Or I could hang a sign around our necks saying ‘We’re stealing stuff.’ This looks less suspicious.”
Bill grinned at his friend. “That’s good, proper paranoid thinking. I may finally be rubbing off on you.”
“I didn’t need that image.” Matt turned to Richard. “Might as well get this moving.”
Richard nodded and pulled out his keys.
It took less than twenty minutes to move the equipment from the lab to the van. Bill felt an itch between his shoulder blades during the whole operation, as if he was about to be shot as a looter. But they ran into only one other person the whole time, and he barely looked up from his phone long enough to avoid a collision.
As they were closing the van doors, Bill looked around. “Great security. Did anyone even see a guard?”
“They always go for coffee about now,” Richard replied. “These aren’t elite security services. And the physics lab isn’t really a high-value target. Why do you think I picked this time specifically?”
“Fair enough,” Bill said. “And any thief with half a brain will be stealing bicycles, not lasers, anyway.”
A fifteen-minute drive took the group to a warehouse storage unit with an outside access door, where they reversed the whole process. In short order, the equipment was up and going through diagnostics.
“All good,” Richard finally announced.
“Sure hope so,” Matt replied. “I’m gonna want to be paid back for all this.”
“I appreciate you bankrolling this operation,” Richard said. “Although if this whole plan tanks …”
Matt glared at Bill before answering: “I’ll just sell Bill’s comic book collection.”
“Over my dead body!”
Richard smiled thinly. “I agree to those terms.”
The next day, Bill arrived at the warehouse to find the rest of the group, including Erin, already there.
“What the heck is that?” Matt said, pointing at the large box in Bill’s arms.
“Watch and learn.” Bill went to the kitchen area and proudly unpacked the contents, a commercial-grade coffeemaker, the kind that a restaurant or cafeteria would use. “Craigslist. Ten bucks. And for the record, I live not only for coffee, but on coffee.”
“Leaving aside,” Matt said, “the problem of stocking enough supplies for the thing.”
“Time to focus, people,” Richard said. “Status. Bill, you’ve been working on a couple of new gates. How is that going?”
Bill lost his smile as he got down to business. “I’ll have the medium-sized gate finished tonight. The larger ones will take a little longer. Supply issues, plus I have to book time in the fabrication shop. If we can pull in some money from this venture, I’d like to set up a small metal shop here, eventually.”
“One thing at a time. I’ve sourced the components we need for more gates and portals, but the distributor is in Omaha. He’s shipped what he had by priority courier, but he’ll have to order the rest. So for now, I’m going to ‘borrow’ ”—Richard made air quotes—“some items from the lab, then replace them later.”
Erin shook her head. “We’re criminals. Unbelievable. Mom will die if she ever finds out.”
Richard chuckled and continued, “We�
�ll need supplies as well. A generator, gold-panning equipment, possibly camping equipment … Erin, have you verified the Deadwood strike?”
“Yes, there was a lot of gold extracted by panning before they found the mother lode and started mining. We can probably get tens of millions worth if we keep at it.”
Richard looked at Erin with a disbelieving expression. “Is there that much gold at Deadwood?”
Erin nodded. “Easily.”
Bill waved his hand in the air. “I, uh, I volunteer to be the purchasing department.”
“Don’t do it, people,” Matt warned. “He’ll bankrupt us. Even after we get rich.”
Bill glared at Matt. “I resent the implication. Libel. Defamation. Calumny.”
“I’ve seen your room. You, sir, are a pack rat. And it’s slander. Libel is—”
“Don’t you dare quote J. Jonah at me.”
14. In the News
This is NBC Nightly News for June 23. Good evening.
The U.S. Geological Survey today downplayed the increasing volcanic activity in Yellowstone National Park. A spokesman said, “Nothing that we are seeing now is unprecedented. The coincident increase in events can be explained as nothing more than a statistical fluke, a chance convergence of cyclical peaks.”
Critics point out that the alignment of seismic activity, ground movement, outgassing, landslides, and outflows is, in fact, unprecedented, since it hasn’t happened in recorded history, so no predictions can be made.
Christine Hanna, the FEMA spokesperson, assured reporters that the agency is prepared for any fallout. “We have experience with the results of volcanic activity based on past world events. This is well within the capabilities of our agency to mitigate.”
The public, however, appears to be less confident. Major retailers and retail warehouses report runs on products even marginally useful for stockpiling. And personal-weapon sales have increased significantly.
15. Checking the Date
June 24
Bill looked up as Richard and Kevin entered the warehouse. He gave them a wave, which Kevin returned awkwardly and Richard ignored. Bill found himself slightly annoyed. Richard had asked him to meet them here in late evening—the least he could do was be minimally polite.
“Okay, what’s up?” Bill asked.
Richard carefully put down a long, bulky carrying case and gestured to it. “Kevin wants to check out the whole question of the date in Wild Kingdom Earth. And it’s a good first test of your new gate.”
Kevin opened the case, and Bill tried not to drool. The contents consisted of a very high-end-looking telescope, complete with computer-controlled equatorial mount. Kevin began assembling it, and it was obvious from the lack of wasted motion that he’d done this many times.
“Very nice,” Bill said. “I am not ashamed to admit I’m envious.”
Kevin looked pleased. “It’s a Meade ten-inch. This telescope is more powerful than anything any pre-20th-century astronomer ever had access to.”
“Which makes me wonder what we’re going to be observing in a warehouse.”
“Kevin had a great idea,” Richard said. “We’re going to set up the new three-foot gate so he can aim the telescope through it at the night sky on the other side.”
“And then?”
“You’ll have to ask Kevin.”
Bill opened the box at his feet. He had completed a new gate, this one about three feet in diameter, and had brought it with him per Richard’s request. Richard took the assembled gate and attached the cables from the portal equipment.
“We’ll have to hold the gate in the air while Kevin does whatever he’s going to do. This will take two people,” Richard said.
“Just hold it in front of where the telescope is pointing?” Bill replied.
“Yes,” Kevin said. “Now turn the lights off. Use a penlight to see with—this one with a red filter.”
“Why a red filter?” Richard said.
“Red light doesn’t wreck your night vision.”
Richard switched on the portal generator and picked up the tablet. After a few seconds of his poking at dialogs, the gate faded into focus, showing a starry night. Bill looked through the gate aperture and smiled at the view—the night sky of Wild Kingdom Earth from within a dark warehouse in Lincoln.
Kevin made sure his telescope pointed properly through the gate, then bent over the eyepiece. He made a couple of small adjustments and asked Richard and Bill to move the gate a little to one side. When Kevin was satisfied, he started concentrating on the view through the telescope, with occasional breaks to make notations in a book. True to his instructions, he wrote his notes by the red light of a filtered flashlight.
Kevin worked without comment for several minutes. Despite the fact that the three-foot gate was really quite light, Bill was beginning to feel the strain from holding one position.
“Almost done, Kevin?”
Kevin held up an admonishing finger, and made a few more adjustments. Then, “Okay, I’m done. Gate off and lights on, please.”
Richard complied, and came back to find Kevin consulting a magazine and his notes.
Looking up from his work, Kevin turned to them and said, “No question. The other Earth isn’t the past. It’s present-day Earth. I compared the position of the Galilean satellites to the published positions in this month’s Sky & Telescope. Perfect match. Plus, Jupiter is in the same place in the sky, as is the moon. And finally, Barnard’s Star is right where it’s supposed to be.”
“Fine,” Richard said. “So where are all the people?”
“There were no people on Greenhouse Earth, either.”
“Yeah, two-hundred-degree temps will do that,” Bill said. “So what’s the excuse here?”
“Who knows?” Kevin began packing up his telescope. “So many things could have gone wrong. Or right, depending. What we know is that Lincoln doesn’t exist on that side, there’s no pollution, and the flora and fauna look like what you’d imagine it must have been like before humans.”
“Which is the point I was making earlier,” Bill said. “If it’s the same date on that side, and we’re still looking at uninhabited wilderness, then there’s a good chance there isn’t going to be a human population to worry about.”
Kevin shrugged. “I guess. I’m still not sold on the whole gold-panning thing.”
“Yeah, I get it, Kev. So why was this so important to you?” Richard said.
Kevin stopped packing. “I trust my mathematical models. Really. But Bill made that comment about it maybe being a time machine. That might mean that this wild planet was the past and Greenhouse Earth was the future. I couldn’t get it out of my head. But I’ve proven that Wild Kingdom Earth isn’t the past, so it’s not a time-travel thing.”
Richard considered for a few seconds. “I’m not sure what bothers me more, that one out of three worlds so far has apparently never had humans or that on one out of two that had humans, we killed ourselves off.”
“If that’s what happened,” Bill said. “Eventually we’ll want to jump beyond these two to find out more, but that will take a lot of infrastructure.”
Kevin frowned. “How so? I mean, I’m not really clear on the engineering …”
“I talked to Matt about this,” Bill replied. “Since he wrote the feedback software, he has a good perspective on it. If we try to ‘throw out our fishing line,’ we’re always going to get the closest nodes, whatever closest means in your weird phase space. To reach a node that’s farther from us than Wild Kingdom Earth, for instance, I think we’d have to start from Wild Kingdom Earth. I don’t think we’d be able to reach it from here.”
“That actually makes sense,” Kevin said. “I’ll run some models, but I think you’re probably right.”
“Which means setting up beachheads on each Earth in order to move farther along to the next one,” Richard added. “Honestly, I’m not sure we want to be the ones doing that. It’s one thing to get an early shot at the gold rush. It’s a
nother thing to—”
“—create your own SG-1?” Bill finished with a laugh.
16. New Recruit
June 25
“What up, buttercup?”
Erin smiled at the familiar voice. There was no question about who was at the other end of that yell.
Monica.
Monica Albertelli had been raised in a large, traditional Italian home, always competing for attention and airtime with her six brothers. She had what some would call stage presence, which included a voice that carried and, when necessary, could shock people into astonished silence.
Erin slid into the booth across from her friend and grabbed at the nachos. “Thank God. If I never see another burger …”
“I thought you were tired of Mexican food? Woman, I’m glad I’m not dating you.”
Erin grinned at Monica, then stuffed a guac-laden nacho into her mouth.
“I don’t disapprove,” Monica said. She pushed a menu toward Erin. “Let’s get down to business. You sounded very mysterious on the phone. You been recruited by the gov’mint?”
“Yeah, that’s it. We have to save the world.” Erin settled back and opened the menu. “Remember I mentioned Matt was involved in a mystery science project? Well, it’s turned out to be very interesting. And I do mean like the Chinese curse.”
Monica cocked her head, and her tone became more serious. “Okay. And?”
“I think we have to show you before you’ll really believe us. Then, explanations. But the bottom line is we need a zoologist.”
“Zoologist for a physics project. This is going to be good. Or really stupid. Is it a Journey to the Center of the Earth kind of thing? Or more Jurassic Park?”
Erin tried not to sputter with amazement. That had hit way too close to home. Instead she laughed. “Y’know, I think you and Bill will get along well together. He has a case of referencitis that could put you to shame.”
“Them’s fighting words, woman. And you didn’t answer my question.”
“Been keeping up your weapons certifications?”
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