“Sure, why not? The press is destined to be a big thorn in my ass, so this would be helpful.”
The general got up and went behind his desk, then invited Benny to come in. Faith stood next to the reporter to introduce him.
“So, Dr. Sinclair says you two worked out a deal?”
“I report on whatever you’ve got going on here, hopefully with real information and not the fake stuff, and you tell me what I can share with the outside. Faith said that may be very little, but eventually, I’ll be able to share more.”
“And you agree to these terms?”
“I do. The only thing I ask is that you allow my wife to come here for the duration. I don’t want her on the outside where it’s dangerous.”
General Smith didn’t look happy.
Faith spoke quietly. “Benny, we didn’t discuss this. Don’t you think it would be more dangerous to be here, where things are…”
“I don’t have time for this. Dr. Sinclair, do we have facilities for Benny and his wife?”
“I believe so. Our current numbers sit at about eight hundred, plus your two hundred and fifty. SNAKE was designed to support three thousand daytime staff, with dorms for one hundred. People will have to sleep on the floor, but if we need to sequester more scientists, we should be fine.”
General Smith sat down. “Benny, you can bring your wife, but not your dog or your pet snake or any of that shit. She stays with you and out of my hair. Dr. Sinclair, my lieutenant will issue your phones back to you. I’ve lost a lot of time waiting for these scientists to arrive, and I need a solution to our—” He looked at Benny. “That will be all, son.”
“You aren’t going to let me listen in?” he said, sounding hurt.
“All information you get will come through Dr. Sinclair, is that clear? You will be the closest reporter in the United States to what we’re doing here, but you aren’t the cock of the walk. Now please leave.”
The door opened as if by magic. His Air Force assistant was there.
Benny left, and the general spoke the second the door closed. “Dr. Sinclair, these boxes of blue light are obviously important. I’ve got a hundred people telling me a hundred different things about what they could be. Half want to shut them down. Half want to keep them lit. I thought you scientists all thought the same way?”
“Sir, science is messier than you think. We seldom agree on anything unless it has been peer-reviewed to death, but there are people who claim to be scientists who believe the Earth is flat, so there are always going to be holdouts.”
“I don’t need Flat Earthers here. I need to know which way to go on this, on or off? Can you organize your cats and get them to agree on something? I’m thinking it needs to be off.”
She thought of Bob’s insult about what she would do if he wanted it turned off.
“Sir, you should know that my team strongly recommends we keep the beams on.”
He peered hard at her. “Why is that?”
“Right now, a hunch. Once I have my phone back, I’m going to call my contacts at CERN.”
“I thought CERN was gone?”
“That’s what I thought, too, but has anyone knocked on the door?”
Somewhere in New Jersey
“Lydia, I’d love to stay around and talk, but I’ve got to get across the highway to find someone to help me get my car out of the mud.” It seemed safer to leave the troubled girl behind, although he did feel a little guilty about it for some reason.
“Hey!” she replied instantly. “Please don’t leave me. You’re the first person I’ve seen here. I need to get back to the wagons, although they are probably already gone. I was going to be late, even before I got lost.”
“Your people would leave without you?” he asked, shocked.
She nodded. “They do all the time. The wagon train is miles long. They can’t wait for one lost girl. And without any family, I’m an afterthought anyway.”
“I’m not sure why, but that pisses me off,” he replied.
“Eww,” she said with disgust. “You should not talk about pee.” She said “pee” in a hushed voice.
He laughed. “No, it’s a figure of speech. Where are you from? Really. Don’t give me any bullshit.”
“Manure is good for fires,” she mumbled. Louder, she continued. “I told you where I’m from. Not here. My wagon train recently passed Tortoise Rock, Wyoming.”
“What the fuck?” he blurted. “Wagon train? What year do you think this is?”
“1849, of course. What year do you think it is?” She did the thing with her hand on her hip, as if she were getting the better of him, but her eyes roved around like a lost dog’s. She seemed uncertain of the world around her.
He held up his phone and showed her the big, bright screen. The date was right in the middle.
“2020?” she scoffed. “I think not.”
He laughed. “That was what I thought a few seconds ago when you came down here. It isn’t possible. People don’t dress like you anymore. Look at the cars that have passed. Isn’t that closer to the far future than 1849?”
She studied his faded orange gamer shirt. “They now dress like this? What does it mean? Your undergarment advises me that the cake shown on your front is a lie.”
Garth almost lost it. His t-shirt was an old gamer meme. The piece of birthday cake was adorned with the words The cake is a lie. Sam had always made fun of his shirt, but Dad had gotten it for him, so he wore it well beyond its shelf life.
“It would take me a while to explain it to you,” he said, stifling his laughter. “But this isn’t my undergarment. This is just what I wear.”
“It is a pretty color,” she mused.
“Thanks,” he replied, not sure if he liked wearing something a girl found pretty.
He made as if to head into the rain.
“Wait!” she said again. “Please. I’ve been here since yesterday. Will you help me catch something so I can cook it?”
Garth took a deep breath. He wasn’t sure where a conversation with her would lead, but he decided to indulge her. “You’d cook a meal for me?”
“Well, I’d cook it for both of us, of course. A woman’s place is at the hearth, I know, but I’ve spent a lot of time on my own. Perhaps with your help? I’m not selfish, but I am hungry.”
He unslung his pack. “No girl I know would ever say something like that. There’s no single role for any gender. I don’t really care either way, but I can help you with this. You don’t even have to cook it.” He dug around for a pair of multigrain bars, pulled them free, and handed one to her.
She held it like he’d cut off her fingers.
“You tear it open like this.” He demonstrated the simple act of opening and biting into a bar.
At first, she looked horrified, but it only took her a few seconds to catch on. She took a huge bite, then downed the small bar by stuffing the rest into her mouth.
“Good God! No one is going to steal it from you.”
She was engaged in chewing the massive bite, unable to respond.
“I really need to go, Lydia. I have to get help freeing my car.”
She held up a finger to make him wait. After she swallowed the food, she gave him a bright smile. “That was a curiosity! I even feel full.”
“Well, glad I could help.”
“Wait. Please. I have a lot of experience freeing wagons from the mud on the train. Some days that was the only thing I did.” She brushed her thigh with her free hand as if wiping off mud. “I’m sure I can help you free your wagon.”
“Car,” he corrected.
“Right,” she said. “Car.”
Garth was in a difficult spot. If Sam had been with him, Lydia would already be part of the group. He would have fallen in love with the attractive girl and taken her back to the car, if only to let her watch him try to free it himself. But he tried to think like Dad, because he was in serious trouble. He had to get the car back on the road if he was going to escape the radiation clo
ud bearing down on New Jersey.
Was he thinking with his brain on this one?
Lydia apparently read his mind. “We got stuck in the Platte River. That was part of the reason Pa died there. He was overworked from freeing wagons from the heavy mud. Not just ours, either, but other families in our traveling circle. Before that, we got stuck in the mud three times in Missouri. Those were also real bad.”
“Radiation is coming. I can’t afford to make a mistake. If you aren’t strong enough to move the car, we might die out there.”
She shuddered. “Radiation is really bad?”
“Yes. It’s why I figured I’d go over there.” He pointed along the road toward the far side of the Garden State Parkway. “Find some big, strong men willing to help.”
“I promise. Take me to your, uh, car. I can help you get it out. I’d bet my life on it.”
It was a tempting offer, and he took ten or fifteen seconds to mull it over. A distant rumble of thunder reminded him there were two storms heading his way. No matter what choice he made, there was risk. He had to make a decision. Try to find more help, or trust the ancient stranger?
“A bird in the hand is better than two in the tree,” he said quietly.
“I’ve heard that!” she exclaimed. “I understood your speech.”
He sighed heavily. Fate had spoken.
I-80, Nevada
Buck managed a steady fifty miles per hour in the snow. It was more than what the road conditions suggested, but the Nevada highway was mostly flat, straight, boring, and empty. The terrain partially explained why they saw fewer wrecks as they headed east. Even if a car ran off the road, it was so level that they could drive right back on.
Time seemed to stand still in the flatlands of the Silver State. The convoy inched across the map under a white sky on white roads next to the white desert.
“You okay?” Connie asked out of nowhere.
He blinked a few times, then looked at her. “Yeah, why do you ask?”
“Because you’re staring at something a million miles away. Want to talk about it?”
His first reaction was to snap that he was fine, but she was sincere, so he tried to analyze his thoughts.
“I’m second-guessing shooting—and probably killing—those men again. I should have just waited for them to leave instead of stirring them up. Then they wouldn’t have bothered me, and they wouldn’t have seen you go to your car and bend over the trunk.”
He felt his face flush.
“I didn’t mean I saw it, too.”
“My caboose?” she said, bewildered.
He scratched behind his ear. “Well, that was what got them interested.”
Connie giggled. “For a tough guy, you sure are lousy with your feelings. And you were married to someone? Wow!”
“Hey, now. I do all right.”
She rubbed Mac, who was apparently asleep on her lap. “Seriously, Buck, you have to let it go. Trust me, I write about this stuff all the time. If you’d stayed in bed, maybe you would have missed the bikers. Or, maybe you would have faced them later in the day, like now.” She pointed outside. “Imagine if they surprised us out here in Nowheresville, USA.”
“I can keep going. What if you had kept to yourself and they’d found me later in the day? You wouldn’t have been around to help me. We can think about this from a million different directions, but in my view, they got what was coming to them. I’m glad you shot them to protect us, and I’m happy you tipped my car into that ditch. You should have no regrets on either count.”
Buck smiled because her words stroked his ego. He wanted to believe that he had acted properly, but it helped to have someone else confirm it.
“Thanks, Connie. I mean it. Ending a life isn’t something I enjoy.”
They looked at each other.
“It’s like you said,” Connie replied. “If you were the type of person who enjoyed that kind of thing, I doubt we’d be sitting here talking.” She leaned back in her chair with a smile on her face.
“I’m glad you’re still sitting there,” he said.
“I know.” She beamed.
Twenty-Three
Search for Nuclear, Astrophysical, and Kronometric Extremes (SNAKE). Red Mesa, Colorado
Bob was lurking in the hallway like a kid who was anxious to see if Faith got into trouble with her parents. “Well?”
“Well, what? I told him we recommend not shutting things down. He said all those other scientists on the buses are coming in to offer their ideas. The general wants us to come to a consensus.”
“But he isn’t turning it off right now?”
She nodded. “Unless he does something behind my back.”
Bob ran his fingers through his dirty blonde hair like he was strung out and needed a cigarette. “Dammit, Faith. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.”
“No shit,” she replied. “If Izanagi had gone as planned, we’d both be sitting on our laurels right now writing boring papers. All the stuff we dreamed about.”
Despite their differences, there had been a brief moment in time where they had been happy together. Now that the threat of his backstabbing had been minimized, she didn’t feel bad about remembering those days, if only for a few seconds.
“No,” he said forcefully. “You aren’t seeing the point. It isn’t about papers or tenure or any of that bullshit. It isn’t even about the thing between you and me. Faith, this is much worse than you know.”
“What are you talking about?” She studied his eyes. “What am I missing?”
He waved for her to follow, and she walked next to him in the hallway. When they reached the end of the hall, he looked back. “The general is bringing in his people because he wants to be sure that when he makes a final decision, he’ll have the scientists back him up.”
“That’s logical,” she assured him.
“No, not with him. Faith, open your eyes. Why do you think a four-fucking-star general is sitting at your desk? There’s only one rank above him in the military, and I don’t think they even use it.”
She looked at him sideways as they continued down the hallway.
“They mentioned it on an episode of Jeopardy. There haven’t been any five-star generals since the 1950s or 60s. I can’t remember which.”
“Okay, so he’s important.”
He took her to a section of the administration wing far from any of the other scientists.
“Faith, I have to tell you, I don’t think you’re cut out for this political bullshit, but maybe that was one of the things I liked about you. But you have to listen to me on this one. The general is here for a reason, and it isn’t only because he happened to be in the area.”
She sensed he was going to say more, but he intentionally dodged her gaze.
“Spill it,” she demanded.
He waited a bit, then seemingly talked to himself. “This is going to get me in a lot of trouble.”
She grabbed him and forced him to stop walking.
“If you don’t tell me, so help me, I’ll—”
“That won’t be necessary.” He laughed.
He stood closer and looked over his shoulder one final time.
“The military organized this whole thing. They paid for Azurasia’s Izanagi Project. They probably paid for those boxes to be set up. And, I have no doubt they know what’s going on between CERN and us.”
Faith felt like a wide-eyed deer caught in the headlights.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Why would they investigate themselves? They are the military. They can do whatever they want, and no one will ask questions.”
“The why of it is not important right now. I’m telling you this because of how this was all set up.”
She caught on quick. “You were helping them.”
His nod was sheepish. “I swear I never saw any shred of evidence that the experiment would endanger people. I think someone fucked it up on the CERN side, or maybe it was sabotage. Whatever. None of that matters, though. I’m tel
ling you with all seriousness that you cannot let the general turn it off.”
“Why? You’ve got to give me more.”
He put his arm over her shoulders and guided her down the hallway as he spoke in hushed tones. “My job was to make sure the CERN computers relayed their telemetry to SNAKE and vice versa. For the bulk of the experiment, that was dull work and hardly took any time at all. However, near the end, the amount of data kept growing exponentially. By the time we approached noon yesterday, we were transferring more data than we had bandwidth, so much of it was lost.”
“Holy shit. Are you saying the crash came because of bandwidth issues?”
“No,” he said quietly. “It was only telemetry that got lost, but the data could have been useful in figuring out what caused the blue light. Maybe it would even explain what happened to CERN.”
She exhaled, trying to put the pieces together. “So SNAKE and CERN were in cahoots, and the whole thing was funded secretly by the military. Does General Smith know this?”
“I have no idea,” Bob replied. “He sure doesn’t act like it.”
She snapped her fingers. “You have inside information on what those four beams are doing, don’t you? Dammit, Bob, I’m going to strangle you when this is all over. Why can’t we shut them off?”
“We’re dealing with an area of science few people understand. Dr. Johnson’s team in CERN were the experts. Whatever caused this disaster had to start in CERN, not here. We just got the blowback.”
“What are they? What are the beams? Why can’t we turn them off?” She was close to finally having her answer.
“Two words: Dark energy.”
She thought about it for a second. “And I have two words for you. Horse and shit.”
It took him ten minutes to convince her he was right.
He described how the world could end, and that was devastating enough, but he also hinted how time itself could come crash-landing into 2020 if they messed with the beams.
I-80, Nevada
Driving through Nevada was like watching the same piece of scenery repeated over and over again. The highway cut through the flat scrubland in long, straight sections and low hills remained distant, as if it were impossible to get close to them.
End Days Series Box Set [Books 1-4] Page 42