Brett finally spoke up. “Dr. Souse, I really am not sure what you are talking about, we have merely made possible a cure for some of the most dreaded diseases that infect mankind.”
Dr. Souse snorted and leaned back in his chair. It was easy to see his mind was rapidly working on interpreting what all of this could mean to his company.
Dr. Berkshire cleared his throat and spoke again. “Doctor Driskall, or pardon my Latin but shall I say Doctors Driskallae,” he chuckled at his lame attempt of humor. “Try to think about Dr. Souse’s perspective. He works for a pharmaceutical company that makes money making drugs to treat diseases. The drugs usually do not eradicate the diseases; they merely attempt to treat the symptoms for that patient who may have the disease. As cases of a particular disease keep popping up, the medicines will continue to be sold to fight them. Thus, the drug companies sink billions into research to develop new drugs that they can sell to treat disease. The companies recoup their cost and make a profit off of the sales of the drugs they develop. In one fell swoop you may have just found a way to completely cure these diseases; they can be completely wiped out. After everyone is vaccinated against a disease, there is no more treatment needed, poof, it is gone. Think about the process of wiping out Smallpox. We are on the brink of that accomplishment today, but it has taken decades and billions of dollars of research to develop a vaccine for that one virus. And now, in just a couple of years using a shoestring budget, you have developed a much more efficient, very economical process that could wipe them all out in just a few short years. Therefore, all the billions of dollars in stock in these drug companies is going to vanish overnight.”
Dr. Souse nodded his head in agreement. “You two could have just destroyed my career.”
Brett sat back and let out a whistle, and Jessica sat in stunned silence. Brett spoke after a minute or so to break the complete silence in the room. “Neither Jessica nor I had really thought about all the financial implications of our work or this discovery,” he said.
Jessica nodded her head and agreed. “I really had no thoughts at all as to what would happen after we completed our work other than helping all the people who suffer from these diseases,” she surmised.
Dr. Berkshire stood up and said, “Dr. Driskall and Dr. Driskall, please excuse Dr. Souse and myself for a moment while we have a private word. We shall return in just a few minutes.” They got up and left the room.
“Holy crap Jess, I had not thought about all the ramifications of our work. The shit is going to hit the fan big time,” Brett exclaimed.
Jessica gulped out a reply. “We are going to have lots of friends and maybe just as many people who do not like us very well. But, think of all the suffering and death that we can stop.”
Brett started to reply but Dr. Souse and Dr. Berkshire came back into the room. Dr. Berkshire looked over at Dr. Souse and spoke. “You two have fulfilled your requirement to notify your grant providers of your intent to publish your findings and work. You want us to help fast track a human clinical trial for your vaccine process. We will agree to attempt to do this for you on one condition. Due to the ramifications of your work, I need to talk to some colleagues about where this is going to go. Dr. Souse will need to talk with his company board about the financial ramifications of the announcement. So, in return for agreeing to help fast track your human trials, we ask that you give us two weeks to confer with our colleagues. In the meantime, you have to agree that you will not share your findings with anyone else. There is no legal ruling binding you to withhold publishing, but you will find that the process to get approval for human clinical trials can be very tedious and take years to complete. We can help you shorten that process if you will cooperate with us and give us two weeks. The choice is yours.”
Jessica looked at Brett and spoke, “So, if we agree to wait two weeks you will help us get fast track approval for human trials?”
Dr. Berkshire nodded. “You have my word that we will do everything in our power to get you your approval.”
“Well,” said Brett, “I guess we have a deal.”
Chapter 7
March 14th, 2016
Washington, DC
Mike Banscott woke up Monday morning much more refreshed than he had been over the weekend. After he had left David Honstein’s house Saturday afternoon, he had been going non-stop making up plans and a myriad of notes on a to do list for himself. Setting up a team and office to oversee the investigation of the Brown Dwarf was no easy task. He had called Eric Casselman Sunday morning and taken care of the situation with getting the wraps on everyone who knew anything about the discovery. Offering a position as an assistant to Peter Rockwell would not have been his first choice, but, if he was as bright as Eric said he was, he might just be a big help. At least this way he could play the “I’m your boss, do as I say,” card if he had to.
He understood the importance of keeping the discovery under the radar of the press for as long as possible. He also understood that they were operating on borrowed time. The data used to make the discovery was over four years old and it was amazing that no one else had picked up on it yet. It was only a matter of time though. Eventually, the Brown Dwarf would be easily visible by Earth based instruments and then all hell would break lose unless they were able to prove to the public that this was merely a scientific curiosity and not the end of the world. “Hell,” he thought, all the excitement this would cause might just very well work in NASA’s favor to get the space budget increased in size. It would be really nice not to fight for funding for once.
After eating breakfast, he tried to call David Honstein but just kept getting his voice mail. He called the NASA administrator’s office but was told that David was in a very important meeting and had left directions not to be disturbed. It was too early for Mattie, his secretary, to be in his west coast office yet and since he had nothing more he could do at the moment, he decided to play tourist for a couple of hours. He grabbed a windbreaker and hailed a taxi to take him to the National Mall. He had never visited the national monuments in the spring when the cherry trees were just beginning to bloom and if he had time he might just take a walk through the Smithsonian Aerospace Museum. He was curious to see the exhibit for the retired space shuttle Discovery. He felt a moment of sadness. The Space Shuttle Program had started the downward spiral of NASA and the funding for future space programs. Even with the International Space Station, there was just not the excitement and public involvement that had been present for the Apollo Program and the subsequent race to the moon.
After arriving at the National Mall, he paid the taxi driver. The man was a foreign national whose extent of the English Language was probably limited to street names. Mike figured the man did not even know who Abraham Lincoln or Thomas Jefferson was. He was probably a recent immigrant to the country working under a visa and was only concerned with feeding his family. American history probably meant nothing to the man, only American dollars that would provide for him and his family.
He strolled down the mall, pausing at the war memorials, the Washington Monument, and he finally reached the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Just as he was about to enter, his phone rang. Looking down at his phone, he could see it was Mary Beth Davis, director of the Hubble Space Telescope program. He answered the call and said, “Good morning Mary Beth, how are you this glorious spring day?”
“It is very early in the morning here, Mike. Believe it or not, I have had no caffeine yet. I called your office and Mattie said you were in Washington. What are you doing there?”
”Actually,” Mike said, “I am sightseeing at the Air and Space museum.”
“Oh, I love the cherry trees there this time of year, but I thought you might like to know that I have something else you might be interested in seeing,” said Mary Beth.
Mike looked around and stepped away from the line of people waiting to enter the museum. “What did you find Mary Beth?” he inquired excitedly.
“Well,” she replied, “We f
ound something where there is not supposed to be anything. Have you happened to lose a Brown Dwarf recently? At least that is what it appears to be. It is so faint that Hubble can barely make it out. The best verification that we had in identifying the object was that it was doing a little gravimetric lensing of the visible light from a star behind it. My guys in operations are curious as to how you knew where to look.”
“Mary Beth, listen to me,” Mike said. I need that data sent to my secure government email with PKI encryption ASAP. Could you also send it to David Honstein? And one more thing Mary Beth, put a muzzle on your guys there in operations, we don’t want this to leak out yet.”
“Calm down, Mike. My guys have been with me on this project for years now. They know not to release data that has not been confirmed,” Mary Beth said.
“Listen Mary Beth, can you tell how far away it is? Does it having any bearing change? How long do you think before it is noticeable by other Earth based observatories?”
“Whoa, Mike, slow down! We only observed it for about six hours yesterday. I had to turn the scope back over to the people who had been approved observation time before they had my hide. I just cannot tell you much more than there is something there. It appears to be a Brown Dwarf. If so, it has to be within a light year of our sun, and I don’t think it would be visible to Earth based instruments yet, unless they knew exactly where to look and had perfect conditions. That really is all I can tell you. I hope this helps, and I expect you to let me in on this as soon as you can. You definitely have my curiosity stirred up.”
“Thanks a million, Mary Beth. If you will send that data to me ASAP, I will let you know more when I am able to,” Mike said.
“I am sending it now Mike. Enjoy the flowers. Bye now,” Mary Beth said as she broke the connection.
Mike wanted to get back to an office at NASA headquarters where he could access his secure government email, but he figured what the hell, while he was here he really did want to see where they had built the shuttle exhibit. From the sound of things, it may be a while before he ever got the chance to come here again.
He was on his way back out of the Smithsonian when his cell phone rang. This time, it was David Honstein. “Hey David, how are the pictures Mary Beth sent? I have not seen them yet.”
“Not much to look at Mike, but the fact that they found the object is important enough. Where are you?”
Mike laughed, “At the Smithsonian trying to find an exhibit on Brown Dwarf stars. They do not have one, although that may change very soon. Listen David, Mary Beth said under the right conditions this thing would be visible from Earth based instruments. We are on borrowed time here I think. Someone else is going to find this thing very soon.”
“That is exactly what I have been worrying about since I talked to you Saturday,” said David. “I need you to get back over here to the administration building right away. I just finished up a meeting with Donald Masterfield, the President’s National Science Advisor. The Hubble data arrived in time for him to see it. He is a believer now. He is trying to arrange a meeting for us with the President this afternoon. I need you to get over here and prepare a briefing at a technical level that she will understand. The President is a smart lady, but I do not think that astrophysics or astronomy is one of her strong points. So, make it detailed enough so that she understands the significance of what has been found, but simple enough we do not overwhelm her with minute details. Come see me when it is ready.”
“On my way,” David replied. “Wow!” thought David, “a meeting with the President today; this is moving faster than I thought it would.
David Honstein hung up his phone. He knew Mike was a good man and would get the ball rolling for the briefing with the President. What he needed now was some assets to be put at his disposal for studying this thing. Those assets unfortunately were just not under his control. Hopefully their meeting with the president would change that. In the meantime, there was one asset that he could take control of. He buzzed his secretary, Alice. “Alice, I need you to get me Mary Beth Davis in the Hubble office at JPL. Put her through when you have her.” He looked at his schedule for today. His meeting with the Senate Oversight Committee was going to have to be re-scheduled as well as a lecture to a group of visiting elementary school students who had won their school’s science fairs.
His intercom buzzed, “I have Mary Beth Davis on the phone sir, and you have the line now.”
“Hi David, this is Mary Beth, how did you like my vacation photos I just sent you?”
“I got them Mary Beth, but they were a little faint and blurred, is that the best your camera would do?”
“Sorry David, but this is not the best type of camera for that type of photography,” she answered.
“Well, at the moment it is the best we have, although I am working on that. I need some more photos though,” he said.
“David, the ESA has the instrument all this week. They will have a shit fit if I take it away from them again. They raised hell about the six hours I did take,” she warned.
“They will just have to get over it,” David replied. “As of right now the Hubble is broke and your guys are trouble shooting it. Tell the ESA guys that. Maybe they will buy that story for a little while. I want that scope watching this thing. I need to know how far away it is, and if it is stationary or moving. Mike Banscott is in charge of this project and the observation time is his alone until I say otherwise.”
“All right,” said Mary Beth. “You’re the boss, but when those ESA astronomers start trying to beat down my doors I am telling them to go talk to you. We’ll get the instrument re-directed as soon as we can. Talk to you later.”
“Ok,” said David to himself. “That wheel is rolling now.” Now he had to figure out how to convince the president that he needed some additional satellite assets. He knew that General Robert Preston of the National Security Agency was not going to want to let him play with his toys. We’ll just have to see how that goes. He went back to work trying to figure out how to shift around his schedule because he knew that the days ahead were only going to get busier.
Chapter 8
March 14th, 2016
Washington, DC
President Paula Montgomery sat back down at her desk in the Oval Office. She had just finished greeting a group of Girl Scouts that had won a tour of the White House by raising a large amount of money for the Habitat for Humanity Program. She smiled to herself. Fourteen thousand dollars was not much in the great scheme of things, but for a group of eleven and twelve year old kids it was quite an accomplishment. If only she could harness that same energy and enthusiasm, and get more like it, from everyone else in the country. Then, there would be nothing that the United States of America could not accomplish. Instead, she thought, we have this morass of individual agendas, greed, and self-serving people who want to do nothing unless there was something in it for themselves. It seemed that Congress was full of people who cared nothing for the people who elected them. The Senate and House of Representatives could not agree to disagree on anything, much less try and do something that was right for the country as a whole.
She thought about where she was sitting right now. She was the forty sixth President of the United States of America. She was probably the most accidental, and unelected president there had ever been. Her present position was one of pure luck and circumstance and not one she would have expected to be in a year ago.
She had been the running mate of Senator Malcolm Culverson, the Democratic candidate for the 2016 election. Malcom Culverson had chosen her as his Vice Presidential candidate not just for her experience, even though she had served three consecutive terms as a senator from New Hampshire. Her ultimate appeal as a running mate was the fact that she was a woman. Added to that was the fact that she was immensely popular with her constituents in her home state as well as many of the other citizens in the Northeast. Her popularity was widely based on the fact that she had sworn that she would never take a dime of money from
a lobbyist. And to date, she had kept her word. As a matter of fact, most of the leeches that were called lobbyists had even stopped trying to cozy up to her by her third term as senator and spent most of their efforts trying to support someone to beat her so they could have some influence with them.
She was what she felt a politician should be; free of the influence of the powerful lobbying groups that had corrupted Washington. The people voted for her because she tried to do what was right for her state and the country as a whole. She actually cared, and she was considered an idealist in the eyes of her fellow senators. To many of her political adversaries, she was Satan in female form, because she was the anti-thesis of what most politicians had become.
Malcolm Culverson did not have a chance in the election initially. After the countries experience with a democratic president for the previous eight years, Washington had been ready for another change. The big money in super PACs and the other powerful lobbyists had settled all their hopes and millions of dollars in campaign contributions on the Republican candidate, Senator Jason Retty from Texas. He was pro-business, and had no telling how many lobbyists and special interest groups sitting down to dinner with him nightly at fund raisers. They lined his pockets with money and practically slept with him every night.
Six weeks before the election he had a twenty three percent lead in the margin of votes over his Democratic competitor. It had looked like it was going to be a land slide victory and a huge embarrassment for Senator Culverson and his running mate, Senator Montgomery. Then, the unexpected happened.
It seemed that lobbyists were not the only ones that Senator Retty had been sleeping with. A reporter from the New York Times had stumbled on evidence that the very much married Senator Retty had been keeping a mistress for the past six years. Senator Retty had broken off the relationship when he entered the presidential race and either a supporter of his candidacy or Senator Retty himself had paid his ex-mistress six million dollars to quietly disappear and forget she had ever known him. The woman had eventually decided that the six million dollars was not sufficient to maintain her life style, and had demanded ten million dollars more from the Senator.
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