by Jeff Yee
Despite the large numbers in the delegations by all parties and their representatives, the actual meeting itself between the leaders was small. Two guards on each end opened the double doors to the meeting room simultaneously as Cordeiros and his aide walked through the entry. Already seated were three members of the South Korean party and a matching amount from North Korea, including Kim Jong-woon and his two assistants. Cordeiros was the lone senator representing the United States, along with his aide, David Kim. The remaining members of each party, including a large staff of North Korean guards were excused to wait outside until the meeting was finished.
“Good morning, Prime Minister Song. It is good to see you again,” Cordeiros said as he shook hands with the South Korean leader first. Then turning to his right, he shook hands with Kim Jong-woon. “Good morning. I saw your keynote speech this morning. It was very motivating.” Cordeiros bit his tongue when he gave a compliment to the leader.
“Good morning,” Kim Jong-woon replied in English.
Cordeiros was introduced to the remaining members of each party before sitting down at the head of the U-shaped table. The two-member U.S. delegation sat in the guest position facing the doorway. To their right, sat the three North Koreans. To their left, were three South Koreans. Cordeiros and David were positioned in between the two delegations of each country allowing them to face each other.
“If I may, I will start our discussion,” said Cordeiros.
“Yes, please go ahead,” said Prime Minister Song, allowing the neutral country to open the meeting.
Cordeiros reached for a sip of tea to quench his thirst before starting. “I will speak in English, but I will pause to let David translate for you.”
He nodded to David that it was time for the first translation, which David did effortlessly. The Senator then continued, “It is an honor for me to represent the United States in our discussion today. Jointly, we have made a lot of progress to bring peace to Korea. But we still have a long road ahead of us.”
With a second nod, David translated again to Korean.
“Years ago, we opened the borders between North and South Korea. Since then, they have closed and we have moved backwards in our path to unity. As a representative of the United States, we disagree with the path that has been chosen. We understand the migration issues and challenges as the northerners fled south. The U.S. is willing to provide financial support and relief should we repeat the mass migration if the borders were to open again.”
David waited until there was a pause and then he translated into Korean.
Kim Jong-woon was visibly upset long before he replied. He tapped infuriatingly on the table with his fingers as David completed the translation. The North Korean leader did not look at David as he translated, choosing instead to look across the table at the South Koreans. When David was finished, Kim Jong-woon shouted comments in Korean that lasted minutes, directed first towards his southern neighbors and then towards the Americans.
David whispered to his boss, “He doesn’t believe that North Koreans fled voluntarily across the border. That would be an insult to his government. He believes South Korea tricked his people into staying once they arrived. He will not risk it again.”
Positioning was everything to the North Korean leader. The table configuration was strangely similar to the geography of the Korean peninsula, with his table on one side and the South Korean table on the other side. In between lay the space that represented the border operated in part by the Americans that refused to leave his lands. The Americans did not need to be in the room. It was a matter for the Koreans, and in his mind it was simple. The strong, powerful north would help to govern and protect the south in return for products that his country was not able to produce.
Hours of negotiating continued to no avail. Despite numerous offers from the Americans for assistance along with help from a skeptical but willing South Korea, Kim Jong-woon excused himself from the negotiations and left the room.
Cordeiros was disappointed that he had no concrete results to bring home after the meeting. It was status quo in the Koreas and the U.S. would continue to fear North Korea and its leader as the greatest international threat. Realizing that the meeting had ended abruptly, Cordeiros finished his tea, stood up and thanked the remaining delegates in the room. “Prime Minister, thanks to you and your staff for your hospitality and our discussions today. I will take this information back to Washington and we will notify you of our next intended actions.”
Senator Cordeiros and David Kim were escorted to the lobby where a handful of journalists gathered to interview the American diplomats. Cordeiros enjoyed the spotlight, but in this particular case he was not prepared with answers. The press meeting was not scheduled in his agenda and he had made no progress in his meetings.
“Senator, Senator. I am Sook Gwon with Korea Times,” exclaimed one of the reporters looking to capture his attention. “Did you discuss reopening the borders?”
“Sorry, I am not at liberty to discuss our meeting nor its results.”
The reporter tried again. “Did you discuss nuclear treaties with North Korea?”
Cordeiros answered again, “Sorry, I cannot give any information about our meeting.”
Nevertheless, cameras waved in his face taking pictures. It was obvious that the journalists would continue to write their stories and that they only needed a photo of the senator to accompany their articles.
A curious reporter from CCTV changed the subject. “Senator, we understand that a time machine has been developed in the United States and that you are now on a committee to investigate time travel. What are your timelines for your investigation and how do you think this discovery will change the world?”
Cordeiros didn’t expect the question. Nevertheless, he answered, “It is true that we are investigating the impacts of time travel and its ability to change world events. At this point, we have just started the process and we have no established timeline to complete the study. It will be a thorough investigation and I expect that we will draft necessary laws at the global level by working with world leaders. That is all for now.”
He got his point across and his name would be in the news once again. The fame-crazed Cordeiros and his aide walked away from the reporters – who continued to ask additional questions as they walked away. The journalists stopped following him once they realized that the prime minister had entered the lobby. In unison, they rushed to interview the South Korean leader and left Cordeiros and David Kim alone.
With the noise and clatter behind them, Cordeiros and David found a secluded corner near the entry of the building. The Senator first looked around to make sure that there was no one in range to hear his conversation. “David, this is where we split. I cannot risk being seen with you when you make the drop. And I remind you to be extremely careful. Use your alias. Make the drop and say nothing more. All of the instructions are in the package. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Do you have the package with you?”
“Yes,” said David as he opened his laptop bag and showed Cordeiros a brown envelope. “It’s right here.”
“Good. You have my trust. This is an unfortunate sacrifice, but one that is extremely important for our nation.”
“I understand.”
Cordeiros motioned to the door. “Go now. And meet me back at our hotel when you have completed your mission. I’ll find my driver and get back to the hotel myself. Good luck.”
David was already on his way towards the door before his boss could finish his last sentence. He disappeared from view within seconds as Cordeiros surveyed the lobby floor one last time to make sure that he was not being watched. His negotiations with North Korea and South Korea had failed, but it was not his main objective for the trip. David carried the contents of his primary mission and the purpose for agreeing at the last minute to make the trip to Seoul. It was now in the hands of his reliable assistant to make his journey a partial success.
Chapter 21
Kris Harrison had no insight to the meetings at the trade convention in Seoul nor was he aware of the significant exchange between two individuals that took place days earlier. It was early evening on a Friday night, he was tired from a long workweek and he just wanted to get home to his family.
In a windowless room inside the Los Angeles station of CNN, an assistant had just finished wiring a microphone to Kris’ blazer. Three video cameras, capturing different angles for the broadcast, were pointed directly at Kris, who sat behind an empty news desk filled with only a cup of water and a pad of paper. The room was rather dark, with the exception of the blinding spotlights that were centered on Kris.
“We’re on in one minute Mr. Harrison,” said the show’s producer. Fifty-five seconds later, the producer held his hand at eye level and counted down with his fingers. “Five, four, three, two.” With one second remaining the producer stopped talking and held up only one finger. Then, the light behind him turned red. It read… On Air.
Melissa Long conducted the remote interview with Kris Harrison. When the broadcast went live, Melissa instantly appeared on a plasma screen adjacent to the center camera in the Los Angeles office. Situated behind her Atlanta news desk, the talk show host was able to see and hear Kris in Los Angeles while she maintained her position at the studio’s headquarters. The popular anchor of the CNN show had a half hour one-on-one with the CEO of Tace Technologies.
She began the show, “Welcome to another exciting evening at In Depth. We have a special guest with us tonight in Los Angeles. Kris Harrison, the CEO of Tace Technologies. If you have not heard of Tace by now… well, I’m not sure where you’ve been this past week. We are very fortunate tonight to have the leader of the well-known time travel company. I’m sure that many of you have questions – please note that we will be taking your calls and Internet posts later in the show as we discuss time travel and its impacts. Kris, it’s good to see you.”
“It’s good to see you too,” replied Kris. “Thanks for having me on your show.”
Three time zones away, Melissa asked the next question. “I understand you are a busy man. My people tell me that this is your fourth interview today?”
“Yes, that’s right. The first three were warm-ups for this one. And so were the other six interviews in the past two days.”
Melissa laughed, “Ha! Well thank you for your time. With your recent announcement, I know you have significant interest from the public and we’re very grateful to have you here tonight.”
Kris answered into the plasma screen looking at the woman interviewing him thousands of miles away. “It’s my pleasure. It’s a great opportunity to share our story with you and your viewers.”
“Let’s start with the most important question that is being asked today. Is time travel really possible?”
Despite three earlier interviews asking the same question, Kris kept his calm when answering for the fourth time. “Yes, it is absolutely possible. We have proven the ability to travel in time in many experiments and we had the opportunity to share this with the world a week ago when we allowed the media to record one of our tests.”
“There are lots of people out there that believe it was a staged event. They do not believe that mankind has the technology and the ability to change the world’s timeline. How do you refute their claims?”
It was another question that Kris had received many times since their public announcement. “No pun intended, but time will tell. We need to start simple with our experiments and be very careful. As we conduct additional experiments, including an exciting roundtrip to the future and back, we will have more data to prove our methods and convince those who do not believe.”
Melissa asked another challenging question, “What if the non-believers are the right ones? What if it is a hoax? Look at your company’s stock price over the past month. It has tripled in price. You have to admit that whether or not your machine works, the belief that it is true has made some people very rich.”
“Our investors have been patient with us through hard times and we intend to provide a good return on their money. We do so through development of useful products and intellectual property that generates meaningful revenue. I think one only needs to look at our company history to see that we have been honest and transparent with our numbers and there is nothing different about the way we are running the current business.”
Melissa needed a straight answer from the CEO. She asked again, “So you are not falsifying evidence in your tests that would lead an outsider to believe that time travel is possible when it is in fact not?”
“Absolutely not!” Kris proclaimed.
“Fair enough. We’ll take your word for it…”
Kris interrupted, “It’s not just my word. We have unbiased reports from journalists that understand the science behind the technology that attended the demonstration.”
Sensing frustration, Melissa quickly changed the subject. “Let’s get to the business side of things. I’m sure you’ve answered many questions regarding the technology behind the machine. So let’s talk about money now. How are you going to make money doing time travel?”
“Tourism.”
She had to confirm his statement. “Really? Tourism?”
“Sure. How much would you pay to go back in time and visit your old family and friends?”
“Probably a lot,” she answered. “But I thought you said it was not possible to go back in time?”
Kris had to clarify the misconception. “You can only go backwards in time to a point. When the machine was first developed, which is essentially today. This might not be much interest for you now, but many years from now it will be worth more for people who want to travel back to today.”
“Okay, so I get the tourism angle. What other ways do you plan to use the machine for profit?”
“How much would you pay to go into the future to know how long you live?”
Kris could see a concerned look on Melissa’s face, even though it was a video of a woman across the continent. She answered, “I don’t want to know when or how I die in the future. That would be depressing.”
“Think about it from the financial angle,” answered Kris. “If you knew that you were going to live to be ninety years old, it would make it very easy to plan your retirement savings. You don’t have the problem of saving too much or too little. You know the exact amount to save. This alone justifies the price of traveling to the future.”
“I get it. But it’s depressing. I still don’t want to know.”
It was refreshing to see a new line of questioning. Most of the questions in earlier interviews covered the conspiracy theory; that the Press Day demonstration was fabricated. Everyone also wanted to know who was going to be the first man or woman to travel. Kris had declined to comment on that question five times in two days of interviews.
The producer signaled to Kris to watch the monitor. As he waved his hand the picture went to split screen mode with Melissa Long on his left and a group of people protesting on his right.
Melissa changed the subject once again. “Let’s look at some live footage in Tokyo. It’s morning in Asia and we have another protest getting started.” As she continued, the split screen focused on a second gathering. “And here’s another one in Sydney, Australia. We’ve seen many protests throughout the world as well as here at home. They all share one thing in common. That time travel is unnatural and that mankind should not tamper with the laws of physics.”
“I’m very well aware of the concerns. In fact, there are scores of people outside of Tace Technologies every day voicing their opinions.”
“How do you deal with it?”
“Everyone has a right to voice their concerns. We have seen a lot of it this past week. From faith-based organizations that are concerned that we could find answers in history that challenge their faith, to physicists that believe we could disrupt the entire spacetime continuum and destroy the world as we know it. There are many grou
ps with different issues. Just like previous scientific breakthroughs in our history, we need to give it time to learn and understand the technology that we are dealing with.”
“Okay…”
Before she could continue, Kris provided an analogy. “Take the atom bomb as an example. How many protests did we have against the bomb? Yet we learned to harness nuclear energy for purposes other than destruction. We need to get past the uncertainty phase and educate the citizens of the world with the benefits of this technology.”
Melissa counter-argued, “That assumes that we use the technology for purposes that we can all agree upon. Otherwise, we will continue to voice our differences of opinion. Look at Tokyo and Sydney as examples. They fear the U.S. has too much power over the technology. As the sun spreads across the rest of Asia and into Europe, we’ll see more of the same rallies in major cities there like we’ve seen the past few days. And even in the U.S., we’re seeing protests. This is a technology that cuts deep into the beliefs of billions of people on our planet.”
“I cannot disagree with you. You are right. It is my job to find a useful purpose for the technology we have discovered and educate the people. It is their job to form an opinion based on this information.”
One more item remained unchecked on a list of topics for Melissa to cover in the interview. She once again changed the topic. “We’ll take calls soon and go to our web site for comments, but before we do, let’s talk politics.”
“Always my favorite subject,” Kris said with a grin.
“I understand that you have received a number of inquiries from the government. How are you handling these requests?”
“My office is in full cooperation with all branches of the government that have shown an interest in our research.”
She attempted to get more information from Kris. “What does that mean? What are they asking for and what have you provided?”