by M. Modak
The majority of people believed Aughra was the beast from the Book of Revelations, which, when the Phase Two Switch was turned on tonight, would end the world. That was why Kayla had designed the huge, stone fireplace and motion ceiling as a P.R. stunt, and it worked too. Now, the beauty of the fireplace rather than end-of-the-world prophecies involving Aughra filled the blogs.
Overall, he didn’t care about the look; give him a white walled lab with room for Aughra, and his work would go on. The changes in scenery had reduced the pressure on him because attention shifted to how much people loved or hated the look of the lab.
He walked over to the elegant refreshment stand Kayla had installed against the far wall. Scientist, engineers and public observers would soon surround it, all waiting for him to serve them their favorite morning drinks and foods. He opened the small refrigerator and pulled out the milk, half-and-half and a few other items then started assembling the antique espresso machine.
He was always the first one here each morning because he usually slept overnight, and making breakfast was the least he could do to show how much he appreciated their hard work and creativity. His team’s wellbeing was another, “key” to the success of this project.
With a smile, he flipped the espresso machine on with a whoosh!
Then he started a simple pot of coffee, pausing for a moment to pour himself a cup, before finally heating up some rolls, bagels and cakes. After a few minutes, he had everything laid out on the table next to the stand.
He looked up as the main doors opened on the far end of the large room. Kayla, followed by a stream of young and old, came in with the noise of their dying conversations. She gave him a quick smile. Then slowly, she took in the room as if it was the first time she had seen the large mahogany wooden trim, full-length hardwood floor and accenting warm colors that tied the room to the fireplace. He guessed today’s experiment was affecting her too.
Her gaze paused on Aughra’s slowly turning body. Everyone who saw her for the first time held their breath as their jaw dropped; contemplating the same question, what effect will such a thing have on this world?
He was no artist. He never intended Aughra to be so eye popping; it just worked out that way due to the specific needs for the experiment to work properly. It was her idea that it be the most out of place thing sitting in a room like this.
Kayla let the small group walk before her to the refreshment stand. When they arrived, he exchanged greetings and listened as everyone remarked on how excited they were about this evening’s test. Then they took their cups of juice or espresso and headed off to their desk or over to the observation lounge.
When he and Kayla were alone he said, “Hi beautiful,” then handed her a cup of espresso.
“Good morning doctor, how is Aughra behaving?” she replied with a warm smile.
His mood turned noticeably darker and she leaned in a little closer, “She seems normal today,” he answered.
Kayla arched an eyebrow, “Normal?” She frowned as she took another drink and sat her empty cup down on the table, “Did you get any sleep last night? You weren’t up drinking all night again?”
He clenched his teeth as he spoke, “I’m tired of you saying that. You make it sound like I drink every night. I haven’t drunk alcohol since we turned the magnets on two weeks ago.” He narrowed his eyes as he looked at her and lowered his voice, “I slept in my bed dreaming all night about a man, just like me, named Joshua. You remember that dream I tried to tell you about the other night?”
“Sorry, but I barely paid attention, we’ve been so busy lately. What dreams?” She asked as her eyebrows drew down.
He went on, “I rarely if ever remember my dreams, but I can’t forget these dreams. There’re vivid, gritty, and they kept that element of reality normal dreams lose when I wake up. It’s as if I’ve seen into another world.”
“Maybe it’s your subconscious mind trying to work out repressed emotions,” she offered with a smirk.
He ignored her, “Early last week Joshua applied to a prestigious company and now has an interview with the owner. He’s been preparing for the interview where I… I mean he, will be a consultant. It’s a strange job for him but…somehow… I think I inspired him to apply for it. I think it started when he became aware of my life as a scientist,” he paused and raised his eyebrows, “he’s even aware of my team. In my dream last night, he was talking with his wife about Aughra and me, as if he was a real person. He even knew about the speech I plan to give in an hour. It’s as if he’s changing some ideas about himself because of me.”
John had an epiphany; the dreams began two weeks ago. When Aughra started spinning, the dreams had started spinning too!
At first he had wondered if he could tell Joshua, warn him somehow, of the mistakes he had made on the way to becoming this great scientist. However, on second thought, he knew Joshua already understood who he was and what he wanted. His advice was unnecessary.
What intrigued him most about his dreams was how Joshua and his wife Rana had somehow stayed in love. Their love had grown over the hard years. They were truly happy together. It was that last thought about being happy again, which started him down the road of, “What if.” What if,...I had taken on a different course of study in college? What if,... I had given Elizabeth and the kids the time they begged me for? What if,... they never found that damn S-matter?
He told himself, I have Kayla now. Nevertheless, he knew that compared to the relationship Joshua was having with Rana, his life with Kayla seemed superficial at best.
He shook his head as he told himself; it’s all finally getting to me. These dreams are just an escape from the building pressure as I prepare for today’s second test. They are extraordinary, but I need to stop thinking about them. He took a deep breath; the real world is bringing me to the breaking point. I just need to keep it together for a few more weeks. After the experiment has run its course and the core data is in, my equations confirmed, then I will take a long break.
He noticed that he had been staring off in thought as Kayla was watching. She could see right through him.
He knew he couldn’t hide his feelings from her. Only how he felt two years ago, when Elizabeth left him, could compare to how much stress he felt now. She had an intolerant look in her eyes, he asked her, “I know dreams can seem weird but this tops everything. Have you ever had a dream where a person in your dream became aware of you, and then made lucid changes to their life?”
Kayla looked dumbfounded as she shook her head, “What’s happening to you? What are you talking about John? Never mind, I can tell you’re beyond stressed. It’s the threats the FBI warned us about yesterday. You look terrible; you have dark circles under your eyes. You know the entire world will be watching today.”
He turned and gave another round of pleasant smiles and, “Hellos,” as a wave of scientists came in. They greeted him excitedly, took their food and drinks then settled down into their workstations.
He had forgotten about that. How could I have forgotten about that? The FBI had surrounded the whole building yesterday. They came early in the morning, and they searched every car and room outside the main lab and its offices. It was in response to what they called, “A credible terrorist threat,” bent on destroying the project before it went on line.
The latest incarnation of the notorious Kikileaks revealed the whole project two years ago when, somehow, someone acquired a full report he had written on this project designated, “Top Secret for the President’s eyes only,” and put it on the web. The implications of a two-trillion-dollar government cover up were lost on no one. The S-matter’s secrets were now public knowledge but not all its possible uses were. Still, the use of the rarest of all known materials in the universe, now understood by all as being capable of interrupting the force that bound the elements of nature together, landed him on the front page of every flexscreen worldwide. It was the biggest story on the news for a full year, with congressional hearings and politic
al intrigue to fill two books. He thought, I’m more famous or infamous than Einstein had been in his time, and I hadn’t even turned the damn thing on yet!
He looked at Kayla again. After losing his family and then enduring the scrutiny directed at him, when Aughra first went public, she appeared in his life and gave him balance. She had been with him through some tough times. About a year ago, he had given up on masking his feelings from her. Until now, she had always understood what he felt anyway… He took a sip of his coffee and said, “I just have a bad feeling about this.”
“But today is the big day, this is it! You can’t quit now!” She had an annoying way of flexing her jaw and cocking her head with each sentence when she was upset that drove him mad. He hated when she was so forward and pushed with her voice just slightly too loud so others could hear. When he had told her that he didn’t like it she replied, “That’s what you need to stay focused.” He guessed she was right.
He said, “I didn’t say I was going to stop anything. It’s just that I have this bad feeling.”
She gave a quick laugh, “What do you know about feelings? All you do is calculate, project, speculate and run simulations. Since when have any of your feelings been important to you? You trust what you know and that’s what makes you great. {Leave the feelings to artist and women} John, as you like to say.” She pointed at Aughra as she finished, “Now go deal with the real problems in this world.”
John nodded slowly, but in his heart, he struggled. The door opened again and another group, all but one of his team came in. They saw him and Kayla talking and gave a quick, “Hi,” before quickly taking the last of the coffee and bagels and moved off to fill the remaining empty workstation’s that surrounded Aughra. Flashes of lights sparkled from around the dim room. Each light was coming from the up-scrolling flexscreens, which lit-up as they arose from small slits at the end of the desktops.
His team was ready to get started.
Then the door opened as his last team leader, from the software department, entered. “Good morning John,” Tim said cheerfully as he took a cup of juice and the very last donut and started to walk over to his desk.
“Morning Tim,” Tim paused and turned back around. John continued, “Will you assemble everyone by the fireplace in thirty minutes, I want to have a meeting. I have a speech to give before we start today.” Tim glanced at Kayla before returning to John, “Sure, we’ll be ready in ten minutes.”
“Thanks, but I won’t be ready for 30 minutes,” He looked at Kayla and smiled, “I need to make myself pretty for all my adoring fans.” Both Kayla and Tim laughed at that. Tim nodded, turned and walked away.
“Wow, a meeting,” Kayla said, “Not like you to give a speech. What’s this about?”
John rolled his eyes, “I need to take a shower, lighten up these dark circles under my eyes and get my lab coat,” he lowered his voice a little, “I’ll see you in a few minutes if you want to a have a special one on one, but it will have to be quick.”
Kayla gave him a mock frown, “I have a lot to do this morning, so you’ll have to take care of that yourself or save it for later.”
He took the last sip from his cup and set it down in the sink, “Ok then, dinner tonight?” She flashed him a sly smile. After giving his cup a quick rinse he dried it and watched her sensually turn and walk away.
What a tease, he thought…
He placed the cup on the shelf and walked into his office. He was back in his bubble one last time. The door closed with an electric click sealing him off from the world again.
The phone rang and the lilting voice from the caller ID said, “Your son is calling,” he said, “Answer,” and the phone beeped once, “Hey Lawrence, what are you doing up so early this morning?”
Lawrence’s voice came through with not a little sarcasm, “Dad, everyone on the planet is up early today or staying up late, you’re about to pull the universe apart.”
John cursed under his breath, “Son, nothing’s happening today it’s just the secondary systems test. Phase Three, the real test, won’t start until tomorrow night, and then only after we have confirmed that everything is working properly.”
Lawrence’s voice took on a monotone, “I know dad, tonight the S-matter will mix in each pod after becoming entangled but nothing’s going to happen, yet. But...everyone at school’s saying you’re going to end the world today!” His voice deepened a little with pride, “You know it’s hard not to tell them you’re my dad. Half the kids think you’re the coolest person that ever lived.”
John did not want to know what the other half believed.
He was glad his whole family lived in the witness protection program after the death threats started coming daily. His former home had burned to the ground started by some radical fundamentalist cell. At least that was the official story; privately the FBI told him that it had been an attack from one of the opposing government’s secret agents looking for documents on Aughra. Luckily, his family was vacationing in South America at the time while he was sleeping in his office, on the couch over in the corner…
“I’m the luckiest person ever to live because I have you son.” He said the old line they had always shared but this time he spoke it with more longing than usual. A small voice in the background said, “Hey, what about me daddy? You love me too?”
He smiled, it was his little girl Lilly, “I love you both with all my heart.”
“I love you too daddy,” she said.
“Lawrence, I would like for you and Lilly to visit me in Atlanta next month for a week or two?”
Lawrence asked, “Would we have to sleep on the couch again, dad?”
He laughed, “No, maybe we could all go to Disney World and we’ll stay at a hotel down there, does that sound good?”
“That sounds great! Will I see Aughra before we go? The last time I saw it you hadn’t pushed it into motion. For the last two weeks, I’ve been watching it slowly spin on Aurgha.gov. Dad it’s amazing how she’s still going after all this time.”
“No son, what’s amazing is how smart you are, and if all goes well I’ll arrange it so that your sister and you can get a peek in here.” He looked at the time, “Ok son I’ve got to go now, but you’ll see me in just a few minutes on Aurgha.gov. I’m giving a speech.”
“Wow dad! It’s really happening! I’m so proud of you. Love you dad, I’ll be praying for you and your team. Bye, love you dad!”
He caught his voice before it betrayed how deep his feelings were. “No son, it’s I who am proud of you. But thank you, I love you too. Tell your sister I love her.”
There was a brief pause and Lilly’s little voice came through, “I love you daddy, I can’t wait to see you and Mickey. I have a new dolly.”
He broke into a broad smile, “A new dolly, does your new dolly have a name?”
“Yes daddy, her name is Aughra. And she is my best friend, too, like you have at your work.” His anger flared thinking her mom had helped with that name. That was her way of reminding him of all he had missed. Lilly asked, “Daddy, are you going to destroy the world today?”
“No Lilly, daddy is just going to make the lights on the computer come on, that’s all.”
She said in a pouty voice, “Ok daddy, Lawrence says we’re all going to die today. I told you daddy’s not going to kill everyone today!”
“Don’t worry baby it’s going to be alright, and Lawrence, stop scaring your sister.”
“Yes dad,” Lawrence said halfheartedly.
“Okay, children I have to go now. Don’t worry about anything, it’ll all be ok.”
“Bye daddy,” Lilly said, followed by a quick, “Bye dad,” from Lawrence.
“Bye bye,” he said as he pushed the hang up button. He took a steadying breath and let it out slowly. Then he went into the bathroom, took a quick shower and after dressing he dabbed some concealer under his eyes. He returned to his office, paused, and looked out the window. Something was still not right. Slowly, he took his white
lab coat off the rack and put it on. This was it.
He opened the door and walked into the lab...
4 Phase Two
September / 7 / 2035
8:00pm
John looked through his office window and into the shadows of the lab. Complete silence rang in his ears as he felt Aughra’s dominating presence. She represented the apex of his scientific career. Her creation had been the cause of worldwide social and political upheaval, not to mention what had happened to his family. Some people were for her and could not wait for the experiment to begin while others passionately protested her existence.
To many she looked beautiful and imposing as if he had magically transported Saturn here for their viewing pleasure. Even those who greatly opposed her had suggested she should be in an art gallery or museum. However, John did not care for art; science was beautiful to him.