Linkage: The Narrows of Time

Chapter 13

Repercussions





The windowlessconference room was encased with gray, padded fabric along theinterior of its walls. Lucas presumed it was some form of soundproofmaterial, which was understandable given NASA’s secret activities.More than likely, NASA was employing several layers of securitycountermeasures to safeguard today’s meeting.

He recognized many ofthe people seated at the table. Directly across from him was Dr. KaiSuki, an undersized Korean fellow. Suki was the chairman of theuniversity’s Advisory Committee and Kleezebee’s immediate boss.Two years earlier, Lucas had dropped Dr. Suki’s advanced calculusclass when he discovered that Suki barely spoke English. The man wasbrilliant, but good luck understanding what he said. Lucas has madethat mistake his first year in college when he struggled to pass aphysics class taught by a chubby Italian professor whose lectureswere littered with broken syllables and misused pronouns—not a goodstart to his college career.

Kleezebee was seated toSuki’s right, dressed in a shiny blue suit with a matching tie thatwas partially obscured by his thick gray beard. Lucas had never seenhis boss dressed in formal attire before. In fact, he could notremember a time when he had not seen Kleezebee in his customaryflannel shirt and blue coveralls. He thought Kleezebee’s closetmight only contain a dozen copies of the same outfit.

“DL cleans up well,”he mused.

On the opposite side ofDr. Suki, was Randol Larson, the abhorrent Legal Counsel for theAdvisory Committee. The man’s right eye was watering and blinkingrapidly as if something were stuck in his eye. Larson pulled at hiseyelid using his fingers. Lucas held back a chuckle by covering hismouth with his hand and coughing once.

Next to Larson was Dr.Judith Rosenbaum, chief scientific advisor to the President of theUnited States. Lucas recognized her from a recent magazine article onthe effects of greenhouse gases on the planet’s atmosphere. Thearticle mentioned that her winter home was in Green Valley, Arizona,a retirement community thirty miles south of Tucson. He had neverbeen there, but had heard all the jokes about the golf-cart drivingold-folks clogging up the city’s streets.

Rosenbaum’s wrinkledcheeks sagged down to her jaw line like a deflated balloon. Her facewas riddled with liver spots, as were her tiny forearms. Her mostprominent feature was the two-foot beehive hairdo, much like theanimated character Marge Simpson wore, except it was gray instead ofroyal blue.

To Rosenbaum’s leftwas Hudson Rapp, a famous African-American astronaut who’d justbeen named by the U.S. President as the Director of NASA. He was anArizona native. He’d been dominating the local news lately withclaims of having discovered extrasolar life. His team had foundtraces of silicon-based microbial life hidden inside a porousmeteorite that had recently crashed in northern Oregon. Rapp wasscheduled to be the university’s keynote speaker at next week’smid-year graduation ceremonies.

A four-sided televisionplatform was built into the center of the oval mahogany table. NASA’slogo was floating around on each screen, spinning in 3D.

Lucas knew the stakeshad been raised when he recognized each of the famous politicalleaders on the three jumbo-sized teleconference screens attached tothe left wall. Each one contained a different Washington official whoappeared to be transmitting from a separate location.

Dennis M. Hubbs,President of the United States looked out from the center screen. Thetrim, forty-five-year-old was seated behind his desk in the ovaloffice. He was flanked on the left screen by William Myers, Directorof Homeland Security who appeared to be in a heated conversation witha slender, blond woman in a wilderness location. The elderly GeneralPhillip Seymour Wright, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stoodtall in his uniform on the right screen, though his eyes were paintedheavy with dark bags under them, making him look half-asleep.

Given the attendees,Lucas assumed Kleezebee chose the meeting’s new location to takeadvantage of NASA’s superior communication network and securitysystems. Microphones and video cameras circled the meeting area,allowing for real-time, transmission to all interested parties. Alengthy electronic whiteboard hung on the opposite wall from theteleconference screens. The university used the same technology,which was capable of digitally transcribing anything written on it,and then transmitting the contents to remote locations.

Lucas took his seatopposite Dr. Suki, with Drew on his left. When his hand brushedacross the tabletop, he could feel its silky smooth surface. Someonehad taken great care to buff and polish its shine until every blemishhad been removed. The mahogany wood was a deep, reddish color, andits individual planks were edge-glued, using a book-match technique,much like that of a butterfly’s wings. It was a stunning piece ofworkmanship. There were stacks of reports in front of him along withyellow markers, pencils, legal pads, and several unlabeled bottles ofwater. He could also smell a hint of ammonia in the air.

Lucas looked atKleezebee, searching for guidance and support, but Kleezebee’s facewent stiff after he whispered, “Sorry.” Lucas felt like adefenseless rabbit who’d just hopped into a clearing, only to findthe meadow was surrounded by a pack of hungry wolves. Suddenly, theroom’s temperature seemed a bit high, and the walls were much tooclose for comfort.

President Hubbs spokefirst. “Dr. Ramsay, I wish to thank you and your brother forjoining us here today.”

Lucas’ throat randry. He tried to utter a response, but the words stuck in his throat.It felt like someone had just dumped a mattress full of cotton intohis mouth. He stuttered like an idiot. “Happy”—cough—“to be. . . here . . . Mr. President.” When he opened a bottle of water,the plastic bottle cap squirted out of his fingers and shot acrossthe table. He tried to lunge for it as it bounced away from him, butmissed. It rolled across the floor and into the far corner. “Sorry,”he said, sitting back in his chair. He drank a healthy swig of water,praying that his throat would remember how to swallow properly. Itdid.

The President clearedhis throat. “I had planned to remain for the duration of thismeeting, but unfortunately, I have a press conference to give. Dr.Rosenbaum will handle it from here,” the President said beforestanding up and removing his lavalier microphone. All threeteleconference screens went dark.

Thank God. The lastthing Lucas needed was to face the President of the United States andadmit his mistakes. Hubbs was a former prosecuting attorney with anear perfect record of convictions. He would have wilted under directcross-examination by the Commander-in-Chief.

Lucas kept his headdown to avoid eye contact. He opened his red-and-blue notebook andscanned through the first few pages, pretending to be interested inthe equations. He felt like an unprepared student, hiding in the backof the classroom, praying the teacher wouldn’t notice him. Maybe ifhe kept quiet, everyone would forget he was in the room, too. Withoutthinking, he began to chew on the middle of a #2 pencil. The softwood surface gave way as his teeth clenched around its perimeter.

“Dr. Ramsay, we’rehere to investigate the tragedies that have occurred on campus. Dr.Kleezebee has assured me we can expect your full cooperation as weaddress the cause of these horrific events. Rest assured, wewill get to the bottom of this,” Rosenbaum said in a gravelyvoice that sounded older than she looked. She reached for a remotecontrol sitting in front of her. “There have been some newdevelopments overnight, of which you may not be aware. Please directyour attention to the TV screen in front of you.”

She clicked a button onthe remote while pointing it at the table’s video carousel. Thescreens flickered for a moment, just before the video playbackstarted with the word MUTE in the upper left corner of thescreen. “This first report is from France and was filmed by one oftheir local news agencies.”

The broadcast showedaerial footage of a devastated gouge that cut through a crowdedneighborhood in Paris. Portions of a school and a playground weremissing.

“As you can see,another energy field has appeared and killed thousands of Frenchcitizens as they slept. Pay close attention to the last segment ofthe report.”

The camera zoomed in ona mound of shredded bodies left behind by the dome. The geneticmaterial was seeping out and percolating in the afternoon sun. Thepile appeared to be at least twice the size of the one Lucas had seenon the grassy mall.

“This next report isfrom Sydney, Australia. It was captured by an American tourist with avideo camera.”

The recording showed adome unleashing its might along the city’s waterfront. The energyfield wasted little time consuming the city’s marina beforeleveling two restaurants and a parking lot crowded with vehicles. Notmuch remained after it passed.

The final report wasfrom South Africa, where a city security camera captured an energyfield flattening downtown Cape Town. It obliterated a dozen high-risebuildings and consumed a city park, trees and all.

Rosenbaum clicked abutton on the remote control. The video playback paused. “Inaddition to last night’s reports, we have just received word thatsubsequent energy fields have reappeared in each of these areas,killing thousands more. Beijing, Moscow, and Baghdad have alsoreported their first incidents and the list of cities continues togrow. Each time a dome appears, its size increases. So does theduration of the event.”

Rosenbaum slipped onher reading glasses, and then opened a thick manila folder sitting infront of her. She took a few moments to scan through the paperworkbefore addressing Lucas. “Dr. Kleezebee has given us a detailedbriefing as to the nature of your E-121 project. He also informed usthat you believe these energy fields are linked to the second test ofyour experiment. Is that still your assessment, Dr Ramsay?”

“Yes, ma’am. Whilethere’s no direct proof, we believe that E-121’s disappearanceand the recurring energy fields are connected in some fashion. Thetiming of the events—the similar energy levels—the black powderresidue. It can’t just be coincidence. It’s a good bet they’rerelated . . . somehow.”

“When you sayrelated, do you mean that E-121’s disappearance caused theenergy fields?”

“Yes, one could drawthat conclusion. But that may not be the only—”

“Was your second testsanctioned by the university, Dr. Ramsay?”

“No, it wasn’t.But—”

“Then would it becorrect to assume that if you had not violated protocols and run theexperiment a second time, we would not be sitting here today?”

“Yes, you could saythat—“

“Then by extension,would it be accurate to conclude that your unauthorized actions ledto the murder of thousands of innocent civilians and billions ofdollars’ worth of damage?”

Lucas didn’t answerright away. He needed time to think. It was clear she wasn’t therefor answers. Her agenda was obvious—she needed to pin the deaths onsomebody and his name was the only one on the suspect board. Lucasfigured he was screwed no matter what he said. Even so, she wasright. This was his fault. He was the one who disobeyedKleezebee’s orders. There was no denying it. He decided not tofight it. What difference would it make anyway? He looked at Drew whowas sitting quietly, staring down at the table’s edge. Lucas took adeep breath before answering in a nervous voice. “Yes, it’s myfault all those people died. My brother had nothing to do with it. Itake full responsibility for what happened.”

Rosenbaum nodded as ifshe was pleased with herself. She leaned forward in her chair. “Doyou have anything else to add, Dr. Ramsay?”

He was surprised sheopened the floor for response. “Only that there was an unexplainedenergy spike in the reactor’s core just before the materialvanished. It may have overloaded the core, which might explain whythe E-121 disappeared.”

“What was the originof the spike?”

“Unknown.”

“Then how can you becertain there actually was an energy spike?”

“Our instrumentsrecorded it.”

“Isn’t it possibleyour equipment may have malfunctioned and reported a spike when infact there was none?”

“No, Dr. Rosenbaum,they were functioning properly.”

“Who built theseinstruments?”

“We did. They’reour own design and we spent months perfecting them.”

Rosenbaum pulled out asheet of paper from her folder. “Your logbook reported the spike tobe at least six times 1031 terajoules. Is that correct?”

“Yes, I believe so.”

“Were yourinstruments designed to handle that amount of energy?”

Lucas shook his head.“No, they weren’t. But trust me, my brother ran the calculationsand he’s never wrong.”

“Even if there was amassive energy spike, as you claim, does that in any way mitigateyour responsibility for running the experiment without permission?”

He wished he couldanswer yes to her question, but couldn’t. “No, ma’am, itdoesn’t.”

The woman wasrelentless. Lucas suddenly felt like the chair he was sitting in wassix sizes too large for him. His blood pressure skyrocketed. Hechecked to see if the door behind him was open. It wasn’t.

Rosenbaum closed thefolder with added force, then made eye contact with each of herconstituents seated at the table. “Dr. Ramsay, this council hasspent the entire morning reviewing the available video and scientificevidence with the President and his advisors. It is our conclusion,as well as that of the President, that your experiment indeedtriggered the energy vortexes, which are, at this very moment,spreading across our planet. You were correct earlier when you statedthat the facts in evidence are not merely coincidence. We agree.They’re much too specific to be random, unrelated events. Yourunauthorized E-121 test caused these tragedies.”

Lucas had intended topresent the council with their notebook of theories. But he changedhis mind when it became clear that the old bag’s sole intent was tocrucify him. He decided it would be best if he waited until after themeeting when he could discuss the notebook privately with Kleezebee.Maybe DL could reason with her.

Rosenbaum continuedwith a stern voice. “Based on our projections, if this phenomenoncontinues at its current pace, the entire surface of our planet willbe leveled in a little over two weeks. Thanks to you two, the humanrace is on the verge of extinction.” She took a sip from ahalf-empty water bottle. “The press is all over this with theirdoomsday predictions. We’re hearing reports of riots, looting,religious hysteria, and mass suicide in every major city around theworld. As this phenomenon spreads, power grids are beginning to fail,along with key transportation and communication systems. We haveforeign heads of state promising retaliation for what they believe isa biological attack. Our society is on the brink of social andspiritual anarchy . . .”

Jesus, lady, dial backthe drama a bit, Lucas thought.

There was a knock atthe door. The door opened partway and Mary Stinger stuck her headinside. “Excuse me. I have an urgent report to deliver to Dr.Kleezebee.”

“Come in,”Rosenbaum said, “but make it quick.”

Mary walked around thefar side of the table and handed the report to Dr. Kleezebee. Herhair swayed from side to side, as she walked quickly back to thedoor. She smiled and winked at Lucas.

Now she noticesme? he thought.

Kleezebee spent half aminute reading the contents of the folder before addressingRosenbaum. “Dr. Rosenbaum, this is a preliminary DNA report for thehuman remains left behind on Campbell Avenue. Thus far, we havepositively identified a hundred and five victims. There appears to betwenty-two additional DNA samples, which we have yet to identify.”

Kleezebee handed thefolder to her. “I caution you, there are some rather graphic photosattached to the back of the report.”

Rosenbaum opened thefolder and spent a few minutes reviewing it. She seemed to beunaffected by its contents. She turned the folder sideways to look atthe photos attached in the back.

“Dr. Rosenbaum, ifyou don’t mind, I would like to see that report next,” Larsonsaid, leaning forward in his chair.

She closed the folderand slid it across the table to Larson, right into his outstretchedhand. “Dr. Kleezebee, may I have a word with you in private?” sheasked.

Kleezebee stood up andthe two of them moved to the far corner of the room. Lucas could nothear what they were saying to each other.

Meanwhile, Larson wasslowly scanning the report with his right index finger. When Larson’sfinger stopped moving, he pulled out his cell phone and tried to useit.

“It’s not going towork down here, you dumb ass,” Lucas mumbled quietly.

Larson closed his celland reached for the house phone sitting in front of Dr. Suki. Hedragged it closer to him by the wall cord before picking up thereceiver. “Do I need to dial nine first to get an outside line?”he asked Suki. Suki nodded. Larson dialed the phone, and a fewmoments later, he began a conversation. “I need to speak to Rafael,is he available? . . . This is his brother-in-law, Randy . . . I needto get a message to him . . . Tell him I’m sorry to report that hewas correct all along. He’ll know what it means.”

Larson hung up thephone and walked past Lucas on his way out of the conference room.

Drew leaned over andwhispered into Lucas’ ear, “See if you can get a copy of that DNAreport. I‘d like to know if Abby’s name is on the list.”

Before Lucas couldrespond, he heard a faint rumble above him that got progressivelylouder. Moments later, his fingertips felt an uneven vibration in theconference room table. At first, Lucas thought NASA was firing up oneof their underground tests, but he soon realized he was wrong whenthe intensity of the quake increased dramatically. The tremor was farbeyond anything he had ever experienced before.

Kleezebee andRosenbaum, who were still engaged in a private conversation along thewall, both fell over and landed on the floor.

Lucas was shaken out ofhis seat and landed next to Drew’s wheelchair. He reached up forhis brother’s arm, and pulled Drew down beside him. They crawledunder the mahogany conference table together for safety.

One of the paddedceiling tiles came crashing down and landed on Drew’s wheelchair.The corner of the tile landed point first, tearing a penny-sized holein the wheelchair’s seat. A teleconference screen broke free fromthe wall and smashed into the floor. Glass lenses from two of thevideo cameras shattered into pieces after the cameras shook loosefrom their ceiling mounts and hit the floor.

Lawnmower-sized chunksof cement rained down from the floor above, splintering into dozensof pieces when the hit, sending streams of cement dust into the air.It was getting hard to breathe.

The room suddenly wentdark. Drew immediately latched onto Lucas’ right arm. Ten secondslater, the dim emergency lighting kicked in. Lucas looked behind himto see if everyone was okay. He saw Kleezebee and Rosenbaum kneelingtogether under the table. They were next to Hudson Rapp, who appearedto be unharmed, though his face was covered in a film of white dust,making him look like a mime.

Lucas didn’t see Dr.Suki, not at first. Then he spotted a bloody hand sticking out fromunder a pile of cement rubble. Since every one else was accountedfor, the arm must have belonged to Suki. But Suki’s hand andfingers were not moving—he was either dead or unconscious.

Lucas could feel thecement floor moving beneath him as the tremor’s violence increased.As far as he knew, they were on the bottommost floor, with nothingbut bedrock underneath them. However, if something manmade were downthere, they could fall through.

Drew tapped him on theshoulder and tried to tell him something. But Lucas could not hearhim due to an intense brain-splitting squeal that suddenly filled theroom. A second later, Drew blacked out and fell on his side. Soonafter, Kleezebee and Rosenbaum also lay unconscious. Director Rappwas awake, but his left ear was bleeding.

Another volley ofdebris fell onto the table above him. It sounded like it may havelanded on one of the TV screens built into the tabletop, shatteringits screen. The conference room doors swung open, allowing Lucas tosee Larson lying on the ground outside.

The tremor stopped andso did the squeal.

Lucas poked his headout from under the table and looked around, hoping another piece ofconcrete wouldn’t shake loose above him. A heavy bundle of cableshad fallen down through one of the gaps in the ceiling. There wascement and other debris spread over the conference table and acrossthe floor.

Drew woke up slowly, as did Kleezebee and Rosenbaum. Larson was stilllying motionless on the floor outside the conference room.