by Darrell Bain
"At any rate, the people gathered here, as well as Gene and Jennie--" he nodded to them where they were seated together holding hands-- "who I might mention were just recently married, are the sum total of our team but for one. We have contacted a physician who will soon be joining us, Dr. Lynn Lycaster, medical doctor, a geneticist and a psychologist as well. She just took a leave of absence from MIT in order to come to work with us. She will be arriving the first of next week."
He paused for the inevitable congratulations extended to Gene and Jennie, then his eyes opened wide as Jane held up her left hand with a new diamond ring on it. "From the way Jane and David have been looking so starry-eyed since arriving I believe they have become engaged, so let's extend our congratulation to them, too."
The well-wishing took several minutes since every female had to examine Jane's ring. Anton finally returned to the original subject matter. "Jennie will continue to compile Samantha's biography but will also act as the project historian. I expect in future years her work will be referred to as the seminal history of our alien contact. It will also be the official definition and description of Sammie's talent and other discoveries I feel certain she will be involved in during the course of our work."
He paused to pour a fresh cup of coffee then waited until he had everyone's attention again. "As I told Elaine and Ronald yesterday, meaningful jobs will be available for them. Elaine, do you want to go back to work again? I understand you've been mostly a housewife other than your time at the Sanctuary."
"Yes, I think I'd like to have a job. Sammie is old enough to care for herself if I'm not around, and if I'm understanding correctly, she's going to be one busy young lady for some time to come."
"She will be, I can assure you of that. What I'm thinking is that we are badly in need of some administrative help. If you want the job, you'd be working directly for me, helping to keep the project organized and performing as optimally as possible. It wouldn't be all that different from the job you held at the Sanctuary other than learning a fair number of new terms. I understand the Director there was pleased with your performance."
"You really have kept up with us, haven't you?"
"Yes, we have. Jennie and Juan in particular have followed your activities closely and since I anticipated bringing you into the inner circle, so to speak, you were all as thoroughly investigated as a potential presidential candidate." He grinned. "I said Juan is a polymath but apparently his talents don't extend to administration. That's one big reason we need help in that area. Besides Sammie, he's heavily involved in three other projects."
Sammie glanced at Juan. His handsome face held a small enigmatic smile. She wondered what else he was working on but then Anton began speaking again.
"Ron, you're an environmental specialist and a geographer. How would you like to take a year off work and get your doctorate in exo-environmental geography?"
He frowned. "Is there actually a need for that specialty?"
"With all the new planets being discovered by telescopic surveys, particularly the ones that we think are habitable, there is definitely a need for experts in the field. There certainly will be if we manage to initiate communication with the alien, assuming it returns."
"You've probably already communicated with it, Mr. McAllister," Samantha said deferentially.
"What do you mean?" The eyes of everyone in the room became fixed on her.
She pointed to the "paperweight" the alien had left behind. "If the progress of red color on the circle is an indication of the time that's passed since it left and what remains until it returns, then it has indicated a method of giving you a specific time period, which means that somehow you let it know you understood the meaning of the passing of time from its frame of reference. Isn't that communication? Couldn't you use it as the start of a language of some nature if it returns?"
"Out of the mouth of babes," Anton murmured to himself. Aloud he said, "Juan?"
"Damned if she isn't right and every one of us missed it. Sammie, how would you like to take over my job?" His dark brown eyes lit with humor.
"No thanks. I'll stick to animals." She patted Shufus. "And as long as we're on the subject, I may as well tell everyone now. I won't be a party to using or training animals for warfare. They deserve more from us." She had woke up that morning thinking of all that had happened to her and her family and friends the last couple of years, and especially the events of the last few days. It led her to a determination to become more assertive in the future when her life was being manipulated.
"Not to worry, Sammie," Juan assured her. "I haven't even given that a thought, much less initiated any studies on the subject. With drones and computer control so advanced and miniaturized now, there's no longer a need to use animals like that. It was never very successful when it was tried, anyway."
"Good." I really like him, she thought. I wish I was older or he was younger. Of course if that were the case I probably wouldn't be here. She discarded the thought with mild regret. On the other hand, she told herself, there was no bar to studying him if he was studying her. She had never met a polymath before. It would be one of the more interesting events in her life working with him, she thought.
"Now to Gene," Anton continued. "I hope we've heard the last of Jihadists and rogue NSA agents or others of their ilk, but I certainly can't guarantee it. So if you'd like to continue your job as security specialist, Gene, the offer is open."
"Even after the way I took my eyes off the ball when the murder and mayhem began?"
"You can't be blamed for that. It took us all by surprise. If anyone is to be blamed for the fiasco that almost got Sammy kidnapped and her parents killed, and did result in the deaths of two fine young deputies and Ray Zimmerman and his father, it's me. I should have brought you in sooner and Juan suggested as much to me."
Gene shook his head. "I still shouldn't have taken that two weeks off, even if it was to get married and have a honeymoon. Sorry, Jennie, honey, but it's true."
"I talked you into it."
"Would everyone stop that, please?" Samantha said. "Things like that happen. I understand it now when I didn't right afterward. Sure, we might have done some things differently, but if we had it might have turned out worse, not better. Hindsight never helps anything that's already happened."
She wiped a lone tear that escaped and tried to trickle down her cheek as she remembered Fussy and Caw-Caw. She felt slightly guilty for feeling worse about their deaths than she did for Ray. She shook off the emotion as she realized the animals had obviously been closer to her than Ray had.
"She's right," Anton said. "Sometimes I think she's smarter than all of us when I see how well she's turned out. That's despite occurrences that might have gotten the better of anyone else. Let's move on."
"I'm for it," Juan said. "I'm assuming you've decided to stay?" he asked, looking at Elaine and Ronald.
"Unless we find something contrary to expectations," Elaine said. "I would like to know more about Sammy's schooling, though."
"Sorry, I should have filled in the blanks. Juan will be glad to tutor her. I told you we had almost two hundred scientists and seventy or eighty technicians working directly for DARPA, but except for our little group they're all located back east in Virginia. It's just we few who moved out here after I discovered the alien, but I'm straying. We're located near Palmdale Institute of Technology. It's a very fine university as is, but it's also affiliated with a number of other very prestigious institutions. It's quite a distance to the main university but we have a small complex of labs of our own, contrary to what is written about us, that we don't own any physical facilities. Ordinarily, DARPA doesn't own any property but an exception was made for us. We've accumulated testing facilities for just about all of what we want to do with Sammie since learning of her talent and that's in addition to the little housing complex.
"So far as her schooling, she is the only teenager within our circle but there are others in the housing development near here th
at helps disguise our presence. The ones of college age or educational level of Samantha mostly go to school at Palmdale Tech. That's when they need to. Many of them take on-line courses, but others commute to the campus or live in the dorms and usually come home on weekends. At any rate, she'll be meeting some of them if she wants to. There's a place Juan will show her at the other housing area that's been reserved for the young people. They can congregate there and do all those things that us old fogies don't understand."
"I'll point it out to you when I show you around, Sammie," Juan said.
"When will that be?"
"Well, if I'm not mistaken I'll bet your folks want a few days to do some shopping and get settled into their quarters. How about three days from now, first thing after breakfast. I'll drive you around."
"Mom? Dad?"
"I think we can spare you for one day," Elaine said with a smile.
"Thanks. That would be Friday morning, Juan?"
"Uh huh. About eight thirty. You might bring a light cardigan or a jean jacket; otherwise dress as you please. Elaine, we'll be gone most of the day. There's lots to show her and we need to get acquainted. I have to admit though, that after following her activities for two years I feel almost as if I already know her." He grinned, an infectious display he used often.
"What else do we need to talk about before lunch?" Anton asked the group at large.
"I think David and I need a day or two with Sammie, too, Mr. McAllister. We'll be working closely with her. I imagine Dr. Lysander will initially want to spend a good deal of time with her and her parents, too." Jane looked at Samantha and smiled. "Are we going too fast for you, Sammie?"
She replied quickly to the blond haired scientist. "No. It's a lot better than being shot at!"
She got the expected laugh for the remark.
"We'll all want to compare notes sometime the week after next, too," Anton announced after the laughter had died down. "Or perhaps the week after that. This will give us a general idea of where we stand and where and in what direction we need to go with our studies. Elaine, how soon could you come to work, even for just half days to start?"
"This is all going so fast I'm not sure. Why the urgency?"
"You've been listening. We'll need to coordinate the time everyone spends with Sammie with their other workloads and set up schedules. That means you'll have to meet all the scientists first and find out what their schedules are like. You'll also need to speak with the technicians at the testing facilities. Besides, I'm way behind on my paperwork and need some help. And those are just two problems that need working on."
Elaine thought for a moment. "Give me the three days to shop and get settled, then I'll come in for half days until we're comfortable in our new home. Will that work?"
"That would be great!"
Anton looked inordinately pleased, which led Elaine to think he really did have problems with organization, which happened to be her specialty. If Samantha was their primary goal they were going to get a bonus with her mother going to work for them, she thought.
"So right now I should plan to come in at about nine o'clock three days from now, the same day Juan gives Sammie the tour?"
"That's a Friday, so why not go ahead and take the weekend off, too. That way I'll feel less guilty. Just come in Monday. Okay?"
"Alright. I guess I was pushing it a little. I do need more than three days and at that, we're going to be eating takeout or at a restaurant a lot."
"Oh, boy! Pizza!" Samantha crowed. She had discovered pizza in Lufkin and could never seem to get enough of it.
Chapter Thirty Seven
Friday passed like a whirlwind for Samantha, with Juan giving her a guided tour of the little complex of labs and offices and housing where her talent would be studied. It didn't exist officially, although it was completely open. It reminded her of the purloined letter in a story by Edgar Allen Poe she had read in Alaska. The "Alien" project was hidden in plain sight. In fact, Juan even pointed out where the stealthed craft had landed and stayed for almost two weeks. The land belonged to the project now and had been left undeveloped. He took her for a short walk and pointed to the boulder where Anton had sat and tried to make sense to the alien, with no success whatsoever.
"How I wish I could have been here," he said wistfully. He ran his hand through his already tousled hair and stared past the rock at the spot where the alien craft had rested. He couldn't help but wonder where it was now.
"But Anton didn't accomplish much, did he?"
"That was what we thought until you pointed out that we did have a common denominator so far as the passage of time goes."
"That's only if I'm right, Juan." She unbuttoned her cardigan and let it hang open. The day had warmed up considerably.
He glanced at her breasts for a second then looked away. "Well, yes. It gives me hope, though."
"And I suppose you're hoping that if and when it returns, the spacecraft or its lander, whatever, will come down in the exact same spot?"
"Yes, that's what we're anticipating. We've even kept the brush cleared to about the same level it was when Anton saw it."
"What happens if it doesn't return?"
"It wouldn't be a total calamity, Sammie. We still want to know how you manage that fantastic talent of yours. If we learn that, and if we can then teach it to others, all this will have been worthwhile."
"That makes me feel like you think I'm more important than I really am."
"Believe me, Sammie, you are important. If just one percent of the population could communicate with animals like you can, think what that would mean. Our pets could tell us when they're ill. We could manage endangered species. We would know how the animals we raise for meat really feel. Do they realize what's going to happen to them? What do you think?"
"They know there's a food chain and they know we're at the top of it. The more intelligent animals know, I should say. At the level of a rabbit or a mouse, they're mostly concerned with food and watching out for their enemies and sex when their mating time comes. A wolf or a wild pig knows, though. I talked to a feral pig once in Lufkin. They are much, much smarter than they're given credit for."
"How about dogs, like Shufus. How much do they understand?"
"Much more than people realize. When talking with me, even more. They've evolved to watch humans and try to please them. It's a survival trait for them, but they do know how to love--and hate. Shufus loves me, I know that. I love him, too, don't I Shufus?"
The German Shepherd looked up and nodded his head. Then unusually for him, he made a noise Juan hadn't ever heard from a dog but Samantha had.
"What did he say then?"
"He asked if you were going to be my mate. Not those exact words of course, but his meaning was plain."
Juan's face turned red. She could feel her own face blushing, too, even though Shufus had asked the same thing about Ray.
"I'm too old for you," he said.
"No, you're not too old, Juan. I'm too young. For now," she added sweetly, then tried not to admit to herself why she had said it. "Anyway, he asked me the same thing about Ray once, too. He knows I'm physically mature and he certainly knows what sex is. We let him breed with a neighbor's pure German Shepherd in Lufkin."
He didn't reply nor did either of them mention the incident again. However, they were back in his car before they had much else to say.
The rest of the day flew by with Samantha enjoying it all. They stopped at the place reserved for teens and stayed for a quarter hour or so. She thought some of the persons inside looked older than Juan although she knew he was twenty-four. She had decided the day after the meeting in Anton's office that if Juan was going to be studying her, then there was nothing wrong with her studying him. She had googled his name and was surprised by the number of references. She looked at Wikipedia and was extremely impressed by all he had achieved at his young age. She wondered how far he would go, what accomplishments he would make in years to come. He would be remembered, she thou
ght, like Einstein or Curie or Neil Armstrong or Watson and Crick. He would do something to give his name instant recognition. She had no idea why she thought that but she couldn't forget the idea, either.
"What do you think of me as a tutor for classes if you don't want to make the commute to the university?" he asked once during the day.
"You'd probably do better than any of those professors."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because you're a natural teacher. When you make a point about something it makes me want to remember it and think about it."
"For instance?"
"Oh, like when you told me about the object the alien left. You did it in a way that made me keep thinking about it. Do you know what that little spire in the center of the circle does? Or what it means?"
"You've wondered about that?"
"Yes."
"Do you have any ideas?"
"Sure. Like does it move? Is it an antenna? Does it point to a specific point in the sky? Is it broadcasting in a medium we don't understand so that the alien can come back to the spot where it left? Is it gathering information on us? You said the red area increases by fits and starts. Does that mean an alien craft is stopping at different star systems on the way back here? Is it going into hibernation those times? See, you made me think of lots of questions about it."
"Hmm. A couple of them I hadn't thought of. Just like I hadn't thought of the fact that Anton must have communicated the meaning of time passing to the alien, even if he doesn't remember how he did it. You're a very intelligent young lady, Sammie."
"Thank you. Where next?"
"The labs, after we eat."
The MRI and other diagnostic instruments were impressive. She made a note to herself to study up on them before Dr. Lysander arrived and began testing her. There was a community swimming pool and small club house for the DARPA employees. It was located inside the Skunk Works so that conversational tidbits wouldn't be overheard. Neither was in use at the time. "We try to entertain ourselves within the boundaries of the Skunk Works so we don't accidentally give away information we shouldn't. Even so, if you decide to come here, be careful of what you talk about. Everyone isn't cleared for knowledge of the alien."