by Lynn Donovan
“What catastrophic negative results? Abbie, photon entanglement has nothing but positive applications: better communication, quantum computing that practically reads minds. How could there be any catastrophic negative results with that? You’re like the old geezer telling Orville that if man were meant to fly, God would have given him wings.” He laughed.
“Listen to me!” She squeezed her phone, since he wasn’t in front of her. “I’m talking about… instabilities that could cause unknown changes to our world as we know it. I’m just asking you to look at my equations, please give it some merit in the decisions that are being made in there.”
Silence pulsed between the phones.
Patrick sighed. “Even if I thought your concerns had merit, Abbie, I’m just an IT guy! Those physicists wouldn’t listen to me.”
Abbie closed her eyes, releasing a frustrated sigh. She drew in another breath and let it out slowly.
”Abbie.” Patrick’s tone softened. “I am present during many discussions. From what I overhear, they are taking everything into consideration. They’re using a conservative approach to these experiments. Everything has been within normal tolerance range. I promise. Go back to your cheese sauce department, do your job, and let me do mine. Today we’re firing off the whole shebang.”
“I know. The full-scale QUEST firing is today!” It took everything inside her to ignore his slam against the acronym for her department. “Why do you think I’ve come to you with this?” She paced frantically in front of a round concrete table.
“Abbie, I swear, if I see any anomaly, I’ll call it out. Go back to your—”
“Patrick! Dr. Teak told me they have chosen to ignore the negative probabilities. You can’t ignore a probability, especially a negative one when the equations clearly—”
“Abbie!” A lifetime of sibling squabbling echoed in his voice. “You’re just projecting your paranoia onto everybody else’s work. Trust us... Trust me! We are not being careless with this! It’s too important. And besides, Dr. Teak is brilliant. The toroid crystal is her brain child. She’s a genius!”
“Everybody here is a genius, Patrick! Even that groundskeeper is probably a genius!” She pointed at the woman even though her brother couldn’t see. “Just because a person is a genius doesn’t mean they can’t overlook something as obvious as the nose on their face.”
Patrick laughed. “Abbie. We have taken into consideration everyone’s nose and all of the positive and negative results, I promise.”
Abbie clenched her teeth. God, he was so stubborn! Just like Mom!
Her brother softened his tone. ”Karole told me we’re meeting at The Oasis after work. I’ll see you there, and we can laugh about how all your fears were unfounded after today’s QUEST firing.”
She chewed her lip. “I hope so.”
“I know so. See you later.”
“Wait. What time is the... whole shebang gonna be conducted?”
He paused.
Was he considering not telling her? Squinting her eyes in anger, she inhaled to scream at him.
“It’s scheduled in three hours.”
She nodded to no one. “I’ll see you then.”
She’d never been to the QUEST lab or the Ops Center, but she had a Quantum, Extra Sensitive Information, Top Secret Clearance. What harm would it cause if she slipped in to watch? At least if things went wrong, she’d be with her brother.
“Abbie! It’s a super boring event, honest. There’s nothing to see, it’s mostly sub-atomic.”
“Uh huh,” She nodded again. “I know. See you in three hours.”
“Abbie—”
She thumbed the icon to disconnect and slipped her phone in her lab coat pocket. Frankly, she hoped her brother and everybody else was right. Her gut told her different.
Chapter Three
Frank Gonzales smiled at Abbie as she approached the Quantum Labs security guard station for the second time in one day. She was thirty minutes early and not in a big hurry this time. “Back again, eh?” His fingers poised over a registry keyboard. “Destination, Dr. Crossan?”
She laid her badge under the scanner. “I’m gonna watch the first full-scale entanglement firing, Frank”
“Ah, Observation Area, Lab One.” He typed in the information, and noted the green light accepting her entry. A heavy metal-barred gate snapped open and Abbie pushed through. He locked her phone away and handed her the key. She stared down the long ominous hall.
“Have fun.” He turned back to his computer.
“Yeah.” She pursed her lips. “And where is that, exactly?”
He turned and pointed with two fingers, reminding Abbie of an airline steward indicating the emergency exits. Would there be a safe exit if this experiment went terribly wrong today?
“Take this hall to QL5, then turn right. Go about twenty yards and you’ll see a set of double doors. You’ll have to scan your badge to get through, then you turn left. It’s… oh, maybe thirty-four yards farther. You’ll see a big black cable with a green stripe overhead, that tells you you’re heading the right direction. If the cable has a blue stripe you’re in the wrong place.” He chuckled. “Don’t wanna go there.”
He continued pointing as if they could see a holographic map in the air. “There’s another security station at the end of that hall. Rick Sharp will scan you in. Once you’re through that station, you’ll want to go right and then left again—”
“I’ve never been that deep in the Quantum Labs Array.”
He stared at her. “Yeah, not many people have… uh…” He scanned the hall behind her. Dr. Joseph Assad, of all people, walked toward them. His red Physics lab coat parted from the breeze generated by his swift pace up the adjoining hall.
Frank held out a hand to stop the physicist. “Ah, Dr. Assad. Are you going anywhere near OAQL1?”
Assad drew his brow in puzzlement.
“As a matter of fact, I am headed to the Observation Area now.” He looked at Frank and then Abbie. “Dr. Crossan.” He nodded once, a slight smile quivered at the corner of his mouth, as if he knew a secret.
Abbie apprehensively returned his smile. The heat of embarrassment flooded her face. Why had Karole given him Abbie’s phone number? It was bad enough that she had dragged her across the cafeteria to talk to him. Abbie’s eyes dropped to her shoes. Of all people she’d run into him now.
“Perfect.” Frank gestured for Abbie to walk toward Assad. She stayed where she was. “Dr. Crossan is going there, too. Could you show her the way?”
Abbie restrained the inner-high-school-girl’s gasp that gripped her lungs. “Oh, no,” she stammered. “I can wander around until I find it.”
“It’s no problem.” Assad crooned in his smooth-as-silk, sexy hispanic accent.
Her knees went weak. “I-If you’re sure.”
He held out his hand, inviting her to walk with him. “Jes, I’m chure.”
Lord, that accent was going to do her in!
“Thank you, Frank.” Abbie bit her lip. Frank was as bad as her sister, forcing her to interact with Dr. Assad.
Frank called out, “You kids have fun!”
This wasn’t a prom date! Abbie’s face flushed with heat again. Did everybody know she was interested in this gorgeous chemical physicist? It was so much better anonymously admiring him from across the cafeteria. What if it turned out that he hated her? The fantasy would be squashed for good.
She sighed and let him lead the way. Her pale-yellow Environment Department lab coat flapped against his as she walked swiftly to match his long stride. The deeper they went, the tighter the security. The closer to the whole shebang in QUEST Lab One they walked, the tighter her stomach clinched.
She had studied this mountain and determined the quartz strata could support the structure of these labs being built against the mountain, like chiseling out a highway. It essentially hid how big the facility truly was by exposing only the front quarter of the structure.
His hand pressed into her
back as she crossed the threshold at the double doors Frank had mentioned. A thrill shot through her back and landed in her heart like the impact crater that formed QuIET Lake. She did her best not to squeal or walk on her tip-toes.
“Thank you.” She uttered at last.
“No problem-o.” He chuckled. “The Ops Center had a pool you might show up for this.”
A second wave of heat flushed her face.
“The Ops Center?” She stopped walking. “Who in the Ops Center?”
He hesitated. “Uh, well, Patrick Cros—”
“My brother, Patrick? What did he say?”
Oh, how high school was that question? Why hadn’t Karole minded her own business? This infatuation was so much more fun when Dr. Assad had no idea it existed. Or did he? No. No way. Abbie had never talked to her brother about her feelings for the physicist.
Or had she?
Her bottom lip became the target of her teeth, she bit firmly, trying to remember if she’d ever mentioned anything to Patrick.
Assad looked at her with a twinkle in his beautiful dark eyes. “Nothing. Just— he bet you were concerned enough to probably show up to see that everything went well with this first full scale firing, and I— well, I said you would not come. I mean, it’s no fun if no one bets the alternative side—”
“He bet… that I’d… how much did you two bet?”
His smile never faltered. “Just ten dollars.”
“Just… ten dollars?” Anger roiled in her gut. “When? When was this? Before we talked in the cafeteria?”
Now seriousness replaced his jovial gleam. “Well… yes. Yesterday, in fact.”
Was that why he had been so willing to walk her here? To gloat that he’d won the bet with her brother. No wait, if she showed up, Assad would lose. She clinched her fist at her sides. Would everyone be laughing at her when she walked into the observation area?
Calm down! She stared at the floor. Breathe! Drawing in a long slow breath, she let it go and tried to let the anger go with it. Did she want to expose her crazy before their first date? Not that the get-together at The Oasis later was a date, but she really hoped it would lead to one.
That chance may have been ruined if he thought she was a spaz. Her words jumbled up behind her tongue, like a sudden rock slide. She swallowed trying to regain the ability to speak. Should she turn around and go back to her office?
Or continue to Lab One by herself?
But she didn’t know the way. This lab array was like a maze. She lifted her chin a notch and continued to walk toward the impending full scale firing. She had every right to be there for the initial event. Humiliation aside, her concern was valid and quantifiable. In truth, she hoped she was wrong. Because if she were right—
Chapter Four
They walked through the second security point. Rick Sharp, indeed, scanned them through. On down into the bowels of the facility they went. At last they came to some stairs that would lead to the observation area above Quantum Lab One.
She dropped her eyes to the steps as they ascended. She and he took each step the same, right, left, right, left, and at the same pace, too. How odd, they seemed synchronized as if they’d come to this lab a thousand times together.
Assad looked across the observation area as they stepped onto the landing. Dimples appeared with his smile.
Oh, man! Could he get any cuter? Her midsection turned to goo. She scanned the room for Patrick. Her brother didn’t seem to notice them entering. He had his usual engrossed-concentration stance as he stood behind a computer operator, staring at her screen.
Abbie turned to Dr. Assad. “I’m sorry. Sibling rivalry and all that.”
He glanced past her shoulder and shrugged. Was that for Patrick or her? His warm chocolate eyes returned to hers. “I understand. I have seven sisters and I’m the youngest of eight children. I get… siblings.” He smiled a beautiful, white-toothed smile.
Those dimples again! She wanted to palm her forehead, but kept her hands at her side.
“Will you excuse me?” Assad touched her arm lightly and walked toward Sandy East, Test Director.
Abbie watched him walk away. The man had no idea what his touch did to her. Perhaps that was for the better. She rubbed her arm where the sensation still resonated.
Dr. Assad and Ms. East shook hands. He spoke to some of the other Ops Center personnel, including Patrick, and returned to her side. Had he congratulated them on today’s achievement or the final outcome of the money pool? She glared at her brother, then turned her gaze to Assad. This interaction between her new friend and her brother was the least of her concerns today.
“I’m hoping for the best here, of course. It’s just that— I have concerns, and apparently, I have a different perspective on the equations.”
His brow furrowed. “What are your concerns?”
Oh gee. She didn’t want to get into a debate with him about this now. Not today. “I could show you… later. I wrote my concerns on Dr. Teak’s white board, she circled it with red, no less—”
“Oh. That’s what that was.”
Abbie stared at him. “You saw… you know what I’m talking about?”
“Well, I noticed the big red circle and I saw the positive-negative possibilities so I mentioned it to Dr. Teak.” He paused. “Those were your calculations?”
Her knees turned to Jell-o. She held the safety rail that surrounded the top of the stairs. “Yeah. I really wish Dr. Teak would take me seriously. I’m not trying to cause trouble or insinuate negligence. I would just feel better if the effects of the surrounding strata were populated in with the projected outcome in these experiments.”
His head tilted in just such a way that he could have been about to say something seductive. Her heart raced out of control, blood pounded against her eardrums. She strained to hear his words.
“We’re taking a conservative approach to all of these experiments.” His accent warmed Abbie’s insides like hot, frothy cocoa. A vision of touching her finger to a dollop of whipped cream on his mouth filled her thoughts. She pulled in a jerky breath. Without thinking about it, her tongue touched the outside of her lip, as if to retrieve the imaginary whipped cream. She focused her mind to hear his words and not his sultry accent.
At least he was listening to her. Nobody else had given her the slightest never-you-mind. Not even Patrick. She forced a smile and looked up at him. “I know, Holly mentioned it was more conservative than she’d like.”
He chuckled. “Yes, that sounds like our Doctor Teak.”
Abbie’s eyes darted to his. “So… you get… you see why I’m—”
His chuckle erupted into a full-belly laugh. “Don’t tell me, let me guess, she told you she’s assuming all the potential negatives are positives and thus would have a ‘negligible effect on the process of photon entanglement?’”
Abbie’s eyes widened. “That’s word-for-word what she said.”
He stepped beyond the protective guardrail at the stairs and gestured for her to enter the front half of the Ops Center designated for observation and surveillance. Several people were seated at computers in front of the windows that overlooked the huge laboratory. The lab below was so big it could double for a gymnasium if the need ever arose. Quantum Entanglement Basketball. Abbie snorted quietly at her private joke.
She spotted Minerva Wong by her short black hair and small Asian stature at one of the terminals and walked up behind her. Patrick had dated her several months ago, but they didn’t work out. Abbie and she had remained friends, nonetheless. “Hey, Minnie.”
“Oh hey, Abbie.” A quivering smile lifted the edge of Minnie’s mouth. How much had she put into the Ops-Center pool?
Peering over Minnie into the lab below, Abbie folded her arms across her ribs. “Big day, huh?”
Minnie nodded.
Abbie wanted to see as much of the lab as possible. She positioned herself at a spot centered with the Quantum Entanglement Symmetrical Toroid anchored directly below the w
indows. It was amazing how huge the QUEST was. Abbie’s Subaru could drop down through the center of that thing and never touch a single component. What a quest it was to achieve this level of quantum entanglement. It truly was an exciting achievement, if it worked right and didn’t blow them all into outer space… or something crazy like that.
Angling herself for an optimal vantage point felt morbid, like positioning herself for a better view of a car wreck. Guilt riveted her heart for such pessimistic thoughts. She wanted to be more positive about this experiment. She hated being the empty tomb, but so far she couldn’t find anybody who was taking her concerns seriously. Except possibly Dr. Assad. Or was he just humoring her?
She looked around the observation area. A gnawing sensation tightened her stomach more. Should she even be here? Nausea lapped at the back of her tongue. There were no extra chairs to pull over. She’d made such a production of being here, she had to stay now. See it through. She glanced at Patrick and the others at the back of the room. No one appeared to be concerned for their lives.
Several scientists stood around her. It was like standing in a mosh pit at a concert, only instead of large, loud speakers, they were facing computers and observation windows overlooking the most unique piece of equipment on Earth. Smiles and jovial conversations hummed among them.
Assad stood next to her. “I know what you are saying. Doctor Teak and I have had that same discussion many times.”
She stamped down her fears. He really was listening. “You have?”
“Sure.”
As Abbie breathed a small sigh of relief, his cologne pleasantly permeated her awareness. Most scientists smelled… sterile. What did he wear? Ralph Lauren? Dior? She didn’t dare ask. Without turning to face him, she asked a more appropriate question. One which also lurked in her mind.
“I suppose it won’t be much of a spectacle. Just some glowing lasers and computer read outs counting a small percentage of the photons that become entangled?” A nervous giggle erupted from her lips. Where did that school-girl chortle come from?