“And he doesn’t ask questions?” queried Zach.
“He trusts me,” Huxler said simply. “I’ve told him this is for something extremely important and is to be kept absolutely quiet. He knows me enough to go along, but, of course, he’s curious.”
Sinclair continued. “One of Wilbur’s sidelines is profiling personalities, given limited data. He’s been sought after on several FBI and national security projects over the years. Wilbur is also here in case we make real contact with whomever, or whatever, is behind all this, and he can help evaluate what we find out.”
“Andrew, your job is second in command of this facility. On those times I’m off site, you will be in charge. You also give me more ‘hands-on’ reach into daily operations. One thing we’re possibly looking at is a major expansion in the next year or two—of both military and civilian staff. If that happens, we need an executive officer intimately familiar with all aspects of the project. That assumes control will remain with our military, even if the ratio of staff shifts to more civilians.
“You’ll also keep track of the five-man military team stationed here. Currently, they’re from Special Forces, with a Lieutenant Montero in charge. As far as they know, it’s an odd assignment to provide security in case of dangerous animals and to provide any support I, and now you, require. They spend most of their time roaming the surroundings, but you should try and find ways to keep them occupied and alert.”
Sinclair turned to Zach. “Your job is in some sense one of the more complex. While Andrew is formally second in command, your job is general security, watching for internal and external threats.” Sinclair turned again to Andrew. “On those occasions when you’re in charge of the site, listen to Zach. He has a range of direct action experience that you should take advantage of, and his record says he has an innate knack for assessing situations, a knack that can’t be taught or explained.”
Sinclair paused, then continued. “Let’s be blunt. We’re in such unknown territory we can’t predict exactly what might be necessary at some point. Jefferson, you’re part of the formal military, and by training—and, I believe, inclination—will follow rules and standard lines of thinking. There may come times when actions are needed that fall outside such normal guidelines. Zach is authorized to take any action he deems necessary to protect the project.”
Andrew frowned. “And what are the limits of this authorization?”
“No limits.”
“And who looks over his shoulder?”
“Here, it’s me. Off-site, the higher authorities ultimately review everything. I realize this is unsettling, but I can only say Zach’s past experience gives him a stack of chits high enough for us to put this trust in him. He’s also smart enough not to deliberately try to undercut you. I realize the potential conflict this puts you both in, but the two of you must work together.”
Both men nodded, Andrew somewhat doubtfully, Zach neutrally. Sinclair figured the two men would take some time to work out their relationship. With that thought, he changed the subject.
“We have several topics to go over tonight. One is how confident are we of the staff’s reliability, particularly as relates to security? And for that matter, what were some of the criteria for their being here in the first place?”
For the next hour, Huxler went through the entire Site 23 staff, sometimes only briefly summarizing why each member was approved and any relevant issues that might impact security and other times expounding longer on the individual. Huxler was only a minute into the first description when Zach said he wanted a notepad to take notes.
“As long as you keep it from falling into the hands of anyone who is not in this room,” said Sinclair. He went to the door, called out for Whitey, and asked the aide to scrounge around for what Zach requested.
Among the selection criteria Huxler listed were staff members’ ability to be away from their previous lives for extended periods without raising excessive attention, not having such fervent beliefs in any political or religious system that it could become a problem under unpredictable circumstances, having a reasonably mellow personality and an ability to get along with other staff members in closed environments, and having a flexible view of the world so that if their perceptions of the foundations of humanity were to change, they would still be capable of rational functioning.
“Of course, it’s a little more complex than that,” said Huxler, “and I don’t pretend we can be totally confident in our screening process. It’s simply the best we can do.
“How about you and General Sinclair?” asked Zach. “If you’re the screener, who screened you? And the general here? What about him?”
Huxler smiled. “No system is perfect. I suppose I should say most of the staff members were carefully screened. Leo Sinclair and Howard Mueller were vetted less because of their involvement in first finding the Object. I was brought in to set up future screening.
“I’ll also warn you that the screening doesn’t mean any specific individual might not have characteristics or a history that could become problematic. In many cases, the person’s expertise and availability were major factors. We simply did our best, given the situation’s constraints.”
“This brings up another point about current staff. Zach, you and Willie Larson are here for security and unforeseen circumstances. You both have clearance for Level 3, though Mr. Larson will apparently fill a slot in maintenance, giving him access to all levels. He won’t be formally aligned with you and security. There are also two other security men who’ve been here for several months and whose security function is kept hidden. Both have backgrounds similar to yours. I believe you worked with one of them . . . Logan Porter.”
“Porter?” said Zach. “Yes. A good man. I already met him when we set up the new arms locker. We’ve worked together several times. He’s preternatural with a rifle. I’ve seen him hit a target so far away, I wasn’t even sure I could see it. Not that I expect we’ll need that talent here.”
“Hopefully not,” agreed Sinclair. “He’s slotted in general maintenance. The other man is Harry Houdin . . . goes by the nickname ‘Houdini.’ His background is similar to yours, Zach, but different operations. He’s one of the three cooks . . . something seemingly odd, but turns out he’s fully qualified. Also something of a womanizer but keeps it under control, as far as we can tell. Never pushes himself on any of the female staff.”
“Neither Porter nor Houdin will have access to Level 3. I assume you and Mr. Larson understand you will not share with them anything related to Level 3. As far as they are concerned, Level 2 is the secretive unit.”
Zach shook his head. “Not going to work. I don’t know about Houdin, but Porter already scoped out that Level 3 exists even without being told. I suspect it’ll be the same with Houdin. If we try to keep them totally out of the loop, they’ll end up snooping anyway. Best to let them know something else is going on without giving them details about exactly what.”
Sinclair’s eyebrows knitted, and he sat back in his chair. “If you feel you have to, just make sure you keep quiet about the Object’s existence.”
“All right,” said Zach. “I’ll arrange for Willie and me to meet with the other two men, so we can understand where we’re at. Over the next week or so, I’ll assess the general security situation here and discuss it with Major Jefferson. Among other things, I’ll examine all parts of the site and the surrounding few miles. One thing off the top of my head is what about outsiders deliberately or accidently coming upon the site? The earlier briefing discounted this happening, but now I’m looking at it from a different perspective. How seriously to take any interlopers is a function of what’s being hidden.”
“Highly unlikely but not impossible,” said Sinclair. “We’ve never had any outsider stumble on us. You’ve been told about the few people at the Grise Fiord settlement and the Eureka and Alert research and weather stations.
“No . . . those three sites are not a problem. What might become an issue is an increas
e in tourists, mining, and an exploration of fossil fields. Canada is slowly letting tour companies bring in tourists for hiking experiences, based on several campsites in northern Ellesmere. The number of people is still in the scores and only during three to four months of summer, so we don’t see this as a problem. There are also huge coal deposits, especially on the Fosheim Peninsula where Eureka is located. We don’t see this as a problem either, both because the world economy is shifting away from coal and because Canada appears to be in no rush to exploit these coal beds.
“The only potential near-term problem is due to rich fossil beds within fifty miles of here, especially near the Strathcona Fiord. Unfortunately, while not as rich as elsewhere, there have even been fossil finds by the staff not far from here. So far, the Canadian government has kept researchers well away, but be aware.”
Zach nodded and turned to Andrew. “Over the next few days, I’ll take a look around the site and the immediate terrain and go over with you anything I spot that I think impacts security.”
“I’ll do some of the same,” said Andrew, a little gruffly.
Sinclair sympathized. He’d put Jefferson in an awkward position with lack of clarity about a command structure, but he didn’t doubt the major would not let it affect his doing the best job possible. Marjek was another matter. The CIA agent was accustomed to operating under a loose organization. Sinclair had deliberately left some ambiguity in how they would interact—judging that Marjek would perform best without being tied to formal guidelines . . . he hoped.
“Any questions?” asked Sinclair.
“No questions about security,” said Zach, “at least for now. But . . . we’ve sort of danced around the big issues. Exactly what the hell is the Object and is it a danger to . . . well . . . I guess a danger to everything, meaning the whole damn human race?”
“Aren’t both answers obvious?” said Andrew. “It’s got to be an artifact of an alien civilization far beyond us.”
“Are you sure it’s an artifact?” asked Zach softly.
Neither Sinclair nor Jefferson spoke immediately, though a smiled tweaked one corner of Huxler’s mouth. Finally, Andrew spoke slowly. “You’re suggesting the Object is alive?”
Zach shrugged. “I don’t have any idea, but I’d warn against making any assumptions.”
“Trust me,” said Sinclair. “This question has been the topic of arguments among the scientific staff right from the beginning. I’m inclined to agree with Zach that nothing should be ruled out.”
Sinclair tapped a finger in the tabletop. “Unfortunately, that view also has to apply to potential dangers. You’ll undoubtedly be witness to and drawn into political, economic, and philosophical arguments about what this could mean. I’ll leave it there for now until you have a chance to settle into our odd little community.”
When the other participants left Sinclair’s office, he had only a few moments to reflect before Bre announced his next meeting was with Emily Wilderman. The site doctor waited to give Sinclair her weekly report on staff health. For the next twenty minutes, he gave, he believed, a credible appearance of paying attention to the list of medical cases: a broken toe by a maintenance worker, a kitchen day-helper with a minor scald, a routine bladder infection resolved with antibiotics, two hangovers, an IUD insertion (patient name not revealed), and a summary health report on the new arrivals.
He asked enough questions that the doctor didn’t realize his mind was focused on the new arrivals and on wondering at their effect on progress. He found optimism elusive.
Savant’s Assistant
Jason was working with the other two VR men and the Level 3 IT staff, unpacking and starting the long job of getting the system running. When Jill walked into the room, she surveyed with curiosity the chaos of wadded plastic wrap, coils and stretched-out wiring and optical cable, large and small computer components she had no clue about, and four men and one woman arguing.
“I don’t care if that’s the way you did it at VR, Inc.,” said Carolyn Graham, “there’s no space to do it that way here.”
Her opinion was directed at Harold Nieze, whose face glowed a shade redder than normal. Despite Jill being curious to hear more, Dr. Huxler had appropriated her from Bre to carry out one of her new duties, as a general gofer and message relayer.
“Jason,” she said loud enough to get his attention. “Dr. Huxler wants to see you in his office.”
Jason stomped off, gratified to leave his coworkers to sort out the latest of many disagreements but wondering why Huxler had summoned him. Part of Huxler’s monitoring staff conditions? Thus, he was surprised at Huxler’s first words.
“Jason, I want to talk with you about Freddie Hoyle.”
“Hoyle?” said a puzzled Jason. “What about Freddie?”
“I know you only just arrived, but have you talked with him?”
“We’ve had a couple of mathematics discussions in Level 3. Why do you ask?”
“Obviously, Freddie is not an average person. He has some peculiarities that make it difficult for him to interact with people.”
“Well, yeah, he’s a bit of an oddball, but for some of the circles I’ve traveled in, he’s not so out of sync with others.”
“Come now, Jason, I doubt it took you long to realize Freddie is more than just a little out of sync. The reason I’m talking to you about Freddie is I’m hoping you and he get along well. He tends to be withdrawn and prefers not to interact with other people.”
Huxler stopped speaking and scanned the first page of a folder. “Have you talked with Freddie about his background? You know . . . his family, where he went to school, whatever?”
“No, not really. Oh, I asked a few of the usual questions, but I got the feeling he gets antsy when asked about personal matters. We pretty much stick to mathematics. I admit it’s quite an experience trying to keep up with him. Or, should I say, not be left too far behind.”
“You shouldn’t take it personally,” said Huxler. “He’s the same with everyone he interacts with . . . to different degrees. He seems to feel more at ease with some people than others, though I haven’t come up with any clue why one person and not another. He seems more at ease with Chunhua and Zooty, among the previous Level 3 people. I’m hoping to add you to that limited group.
“He was originally diagnosed as exhibiting symptoms of Asperger’s syndrome. Trouble in recognizing nonverbal communication. Limited understanding of emotional states of other people. Trouble understanding his own emotions. And often clumsy physically. Naturally, there are wide variations, as with all such diagnoses.
“With Asperger’s, the person often functions well enough in society to need minimal outside assistance. You may be aware there is a relatively high occurrence of savants within Asperger’s people. Still a small percentage, but much higher than the general population. Such savants can have prodigious memories and skill with numbers and higher mathematics.
“An Asperger savant is very identifiable from an autistic savant. Whereas the latter may not be able to communicate or may do so poorly and sporadically, the Asperger talks well, although sometimes very fast.
“In Freddie’s case, there’s no question he’s a savant in mathematics, the one area where Simeon seems willing, even eager, to share knowledge. That’s assuming we can assign an emotion to whatever Simeon is. Everything we do to get him engaged with humans is important, and, of course, there’s the potential for advances in mathematics leading who knows where? As far as I can understand of what Freddie and Simeon talk about, they’ve been delving into advanced areas of mathematics.
“One problem is we’re so short-staffed. I suspect we need hundreds of mathematicians working with Simeon, but we’ve been stuck with only Freddie. I hope you can help communicate to Sinclair and me the significance of their conversations.”
“If Hoyle . . . uh . . . Freddie is what you say, I’m surprised his family let him come here,” said Jason.
Huxler shrugged. “It turned out to be a relati
vely easy sell. My brother is a colleague of the psychologist working with Freddie’s family—that’s how he came to my attention. A casual comment that Freddie might do better with a simpler environment and things to focus his attention on rang a bell with me. We’d been working with Simeon a few months by then, and it was apparent he was willing to go into mathematics more than other topics. The problem was that everyone we had at Site 23 had reached the limit of their mathematics. My brother arranged for me to meet with his colleague and Freddie’s family. Naturally, I didn’t reveal details of Site 23, just that it seemed a potential solution to both our and their problems. After some hesitation, the family agreed to give it a try.
“I thought I’d give you some clues about interacting with Freddie. You’ll notice he’ll jump from one topic to another or, more precisely, he’ll jump from your point of view, but it may or may not be from his. It’s okay to try to bring him back, but don’t push it too much, at least immediately. You may have to wait a bit and then try to steer him back if it’s important. If he says something nonsensical, there may be a logical flow to it, or he may have simply switched topics. Just go with it and don’t judge.
“Oh, and don’t be surprised if he asks inappropriate personal questions. He’s not good at recognizing boundaries. Either answer, if you want to, or just tell him it’s ‘personal’ in a friendly but not accusatory voice, and he’ll generally accept it and move on.
“One aspect should work to everyone’s advantage. He can be very focused, especially involving mathematics. He might get impatient with you if he thinks something is obvious and you keep asking questions. From experience with Freddie, I suggest admitting your lack of understanding and tell him you’re not as smart as him and would like his help. He may not recognize the emotional states of others well, but he responds when the other person admits limitations.
Harbinger (The Janus Harbinger Book 1) Page 20
