Comet!

by Laurence Dahners

  ***

  Kitt’s Peak National Observatory, Arizona—The Observatory reported today that the new comet discovered by Wilson Daster had actually been independently reported a few minutes earlier by another amateur astronomer, James Hearth, thus leading to a name change. Further orbital data analysis continues to suggest that comet Hearth-Daster will pass fairly close to Earth, putting on quite a display in our skies…

  Ell walked back to her house from the horse barn where she’d been working out with Steve and several other of her security team. She saw Amy’s car parked outside and found Amy in the kitchen unpacking groceries. “Hey, how are things?”

  “I’m thinking you haven’t been out to the road yet?”

  “No, why?”

  “There’s a bunch of gawkers and reporters out there.”

  Ell closed her eyes and tilted her head back a moment, then quietly said, “Damn!”

  “I didn’t think you’d be happy.”

  “No, but I was afraid of this.” Ell turned to stare out the window. The driveway was long and curving but she could see parts of several vehicles through the trees. “Allan,” she said to her AI, “please ask Steve not to leave, I’ll be back out to talk to him.” She turned back to Amy, “Do you think they’re going to be a problem?”

  Amy shrugged, “I don’t know. They usually stalk movie stars and the like, but they might make an exception for you.”

  Ell’s shoulders slumped and she headed out to talk to Steve. Amy tagged along. When Steve saw her he said, “I’ll bet Amy told you about the paparazzi out at the road, huh?”

  “Yeah!” Ell said, eyebrows raised, “If you knew about them, why didn’t you tell me?”

  He shrugged, “Since you weren’t going anywhere I was hoping they’d get tired and leave. By law they aren’t allowed to come on your property or take pix with telephoto lenses across the property line. It’s going to get pretty boring out there.”

  “What do you think we should do?”

  “Nothing. Lead a boring life so they get tired of you and leave.”

  Ell grinned at him and said, “Boring it is. Have they been hassling you guys when you come and go?”

  Steve shook his head, “They peered into the car this morning, but once they saw it was a bunch of guys they backed off.”

  Amy said, “They were pretty excited when I drove up and I had a lot of telephoto lenses pointed at me, but they turned away as soon as they could tell I wasn’t you.”

  “So, you think I could go out in my disguise?”

  Steve said, “Not in your car! They’ve almost certainly pegged the Focus to you. They’d suspect, then follow you, then maybe even do some facial recognition stuff and your disguise strategy could be blown forever.”

  “Maybe in my little truck? It’s not in my name.”

  “Yeah, we could probably work that out. But if you don’t want them to get suspicious you’d better be going out as “you” in the Focus most of the time.”

  ***

  Los Angles, California—Comedian Kelly Anspach included comet Hearth-Daster in his routine last night, joking that Hearth-Daster could become “Earth-Disaster” if its closest approach of 100,000 miles has been miscalculated. Several, including Presidential Candidate Senator David Flood (R- Missouri), have taken him to task for “scare mongering” and…

  Ell stayed home the rest of Wednesday and all day Thursday but headed in to work with everyone else Friday. To her dismay there were seven cars outside the gate to her little farm. The count had gotten down to two Thursday afternoon and she’d hoped there may not be any after she’d stayed home all day. Word that work was resuming at D5R must have gotten out though. They were there shooting video as she drove out the driveway.

  They waved vigorously for her to stop. She considered just driving by but, thinking about how rude Michael Fentis had been to her at the Olympics she stopped. Rolling down her window she said, “Hi folks.”

  “Ms. Donsaii, can we have a statement about…”

  Ell shook her head, “Sorry, I really don’t have anything to say that I didn’t already say at the press conference in the airport Tuesday afternoon. I appreciate your interest and when we have something new to tell you I’ll be happy to do some interviews again.” She smiled broadly at them as she rolled up the window and pulled out onto the street.

  Behind her the reporters scrambled for their cars and soon she was leading her own little “platoon” of cars to D5R. When they arrived however, the gate guard stopped her eager followers and so she was able to pull into the parking lot alone.

  Inside D5R, Ell went to her office for a while and dealt with a number of issues that had stacked up while she’d been gone. At nine o’clock she headed out to the main room for their normal daily meeting.

  Once everyone had gathered around one of the big tables, Ell smiled at them and said, “First, I’d like to congratulate all of you on a job very well done.” She led a round of applause. “Next, we have some momentous changes about to happen. Brian, Vivian and Fred,” she nodded to the three, “have decided to break away from D5R to form their own company ‘Portal Technology’ that will commercially manufacture transfer ports. D5R’s major shareholders have agreed in principle to grant them an exclusive license to manufacture and distribute ports to end users all around the world.” Ell waited until another large burst of applause died down then waved at Braun and Stavos. “Rob and Ben here, have also decided to break away from D5R, forming a company ‘ET Resources’ to explore the solar system. They want to work on exploiting space resources, for instance the mining of asteroids for precious metals.” Again Ell waited for a burst of applause to die down. “Finally, Roger,” Ell waved his direction, “and I plan to form a new research company ‘Quantum Research’ that will continue doing research right here in this building, trying to determine what other interesting things we might be able to do with our new understanding of and access to the 5th dimension.”

  Ell looked around the group. “Not only have the D5R shareholders granted technology licenses to our splinter groups, they have agreed to provide funding for these ‘startups’ and agreed to allow current D5R employees to join whichever groups they wish. All of you have some D5R shares which promise to be lucrative as licensing fees for the ports begin to come in. You will be able to keep those shares and will also receive corresponding new shares in whichever of the three new companies you decide to join.”

  Ell took a deep breath. “To eliminate confusion going forward, in the future D5R will be only a holding company for the collection of licensing revenues. It will consist only of a few administrative personnel that ensure collections and manage distribution of receipts. It will no longer be involved in either production or research. For now it will continue to work out of this building, as will the other groups, though ‘Portal Technology’ will need to move out as soon as it can find a location in order to increase its manufacturing space and capacity. ET Resource will need to move as soon as it is ready to begin importing materials from an asteroid. ‘Quantum Research’ will stay right here. I suspect we’ll still use the term ‘D5R’ when we’re talking about all of us for a while.”

  She looked around at their faces, “Today and the weekend you should all think about what you yourself want to do as we move forward. Sheila’s working with Nancy from HR on an administrative plan so that each of us will be able to choose whichever of the new groups we want to join, or to opt out completely and move on to a different career. Good luck to you all!”

  Ell immediately found herself besieged with questions from D5R’s employees anxious about which group they should join. Surprised to have people aged twenty five to fifty asking her for advice at age nineteen, nonetheless she did her best to give them an honest appraisal. “John, both ‘Portal Technology’ and ‘ET Resource’ seem to be pretty sure bets though you can never tell in high tech industries.”

  “Why?! What could go wrong with them?”

  “Well, I don’t know. It sure s
eems like there should be a good market for ports but what if the government steps in to limit licensing or control what they can be used for? And it might be a lot harder than we expect to extract metals from asteroids.” Ell shrugged, “On the other hand porting precious metals home from asteroids should be very profitable if they can work out the problems.”

  She pointed out that the future of “Quantum Research” was obviously uncertain. The “investors” had promised 18 months of support but its future depended on further discoveries which may or may not be forthcoming. She grinned, “It’s uncertain, but exciting, don’t you think?!” Ell raised her eyebrows.

  Eventually she retreated to her office, not because she really had anything to do there, but because she wanted to get away from all the people that were so worried that they might make the wrong decision. To her it seemed like all three choices were pretty good and she wondered why they were agonizing so over the decision. After some thought she decided that it was just human nature to worry that choice B might be a little better than A, even if both were good. And to be terribly disappointed later if you hadn’t chosen the very best option for yourself.

  Ell sat in her office staring without focus out into space and considering the math of her single ended ports. She wanted to try sending some objects through ports that didn’t have the other end defined. Though her first ports back in Las Vegas had been single ended, she hadn’t worked on anything but double ended ports for nearly a year now. She’d never made a single ended one bigger than a few molecules in diameter. She thought she should be able to use Brian’s entangled buckyball sprayer to make the actual ports but she realized that the electronics would need to be modified substantially. She’d been thinking about the circuit for it but she’d only been able to come up with ones she thought were kind of clunky and clumsy. They also promised to be quite energy inefficient. She wanted to talk to Vivian about it, but now that Vivian was going with Portal Tech it seemed like she shouldn’t be expected to help with Ell’s new projects. On the other hand Vivian, Fred and Brian were still expecting Ell to help them with Portal Tech, maybe Ell should just go ask her for some help?

  There was a knock on the door. Ell turned, worrying that it would be someone else seeking advice on which group to go with. It was Roger. “Hey Rog! Come, sit. How’s it going?”

  “Good. I wanted to talk to you about three issues?”

  “Shoot.”

  “Item one. Did you know Emma defended her doctoral thesis last week?”

  Ell brought her hand to her face, “No! Oh, I feel terrible! We should have gone to it!”

  “Well, we were a little busy last week.”

  Ell grinned sheepishly, “Yeah, I guess.”

  “Anyway, she may be looking for a job but too proud to ask you?”

  Ell’s eyes widened, “Oh yeah! I’ve just been sitting here thinking about how we needed a circuit wizard! Let’s call her!”

  “What! You’re not going to make her apply and drive out here to find out that you’re running things like you did to me?”

  Ell rolled her eyes, “It might be fun but she already knows about me and D5R.”

  Roger said, “But…” He arched his left eyebrow, “she knows nothing about ‘Quantum Research…”

  Ell grinned, “You’re evil to want to spread your misery around like that.” She rubbed her hands together. “Let’s write a solicitation keyed at her.”

  They worked for a minute or two to put a job posting up on the net that matched every one of Emma’s characteristics that they could think of.

  Roger leaned back in his chair. “Next item on my agenda?”

  “OK?”

  “How’s your finger?”

  Puzzled for a moment, Ell realized that he meant the one she’d inadvertently put through a port. “Fine.” She held it up and wiggled it. “I can’t tell it ever happened.” She rolled her eyes, “Not in any big hurry to put it back in a port again though.”

  “Yeah, neither am I.”

  “What? You put a finger in a port too?”

  “Yeah, seems like if I’m the guy looking into the effects on biologics I should know what it feels like. I only put the tip of the pinky of my left hand into the port though.” He grinned at her, “Didn’t get it in very deep at all. Holy crap! Felt like I was sticking it into a fire! Pulled it out and couldn’t believe it wasn’t blistered.”

  “How are the worker bees that went through the ports doing?”

  “Fine. One bee in the control group died, so far none in the group that went through the port. But next week they’ll be reaching the end of their expected lifespan and we’ll have more data on whether their life spans were shortened. The mice that went through the ports all seem fine. I tried to drop a rat through a 5cm port. Once his nose touched the interface he managed to turn around, grab the edges and hold on for dear life in order to avoid going through.”

  “Dang!”

  “Also I’m concerned about the fact that the mice flopped around after they went through. I’m wondering if they were having seizures.”

  “So what are you thinking?”

  “I’m thinking that the port interface does something to nerve fibers to stimulate them. So when your finger is in the port the pain fibers in the nerves are tripped and send a pain message to your brain. Well, maybe all the fibers are tripped but we notice the pain fibers more than the others?”

  “Why don’t the muscles in your finger twitch from having the nerves to them stimulated then?”

  “Well,” Roger grinned, “I wondered about that and looked it up. The muscles that move your fingers are actually in your hand and forearm, not in the finger itself. They move the fingers with tendons that go down into the finger from the forearm. So putting the finger in wouldn’t stimulate any muscles, or rather wouldn’t stimulate the nerves going to any muscles.”

  “Oh! I had no idea.”

  “You mean you don’t know everything?”

  “I only know about stuff I’m interested in,” she grinned, “which means I’m kinda ignorant.”

  Roger grinned back at her, “Yeah, I’ve noticed. Anyway, I’m thinking that when the animal’s head goes through, all the neurons in the brain get set off and it might be causing a seizure.”

  Ell frowned, “Oh, that’s not good. I wonder if seizure medications might prevent the seizures. Well if they actually are seizures?”

  Roger leaned back in his chair, “I don’t know but that brings up another problem. I’ve been looking into regulations about animal research. We might be at risk of getting in trouble for just dropping mice through the ports without proper animal research protocols, approvals and permissions. But we certainly can’t start giving them anti-seizure meds without such approvals. Besides that kind of stuff is way outside our field of expertise.”

  “Hmmm. What do you think we should do? Hire an expert?”

  “Could be painful. We’d need to build animal facilities, get them approved and have veterinarians. All kinds of other stuff would have to be worked out... I’m thinking we should work with someone at one of the Universities that already has all that stuff. Maybe a neurology researcher at the Med School or something like that.”

  “Great idea! They’d probably have better ideas than seizure meds too. Can you try to find someone there to talk to?”

  “Will do.” He raised an eyebrow, “Third issue?”

  “Shoot.”

  “How about dinner and a movie Saturday?”

  Ell grinned at him, “Yeah! That’d be fun. You OK dealing with reporters if they haven’t given up yet?”

  Roger’s eyebrows rose, “They hassling you?”

  “Some. Not bad so far. I’m hoping they’ll give up once they figure out just how boring my life is.”

  “Well, I for one don’t think you should let it affect your life. Live like you want and ignore them.”

  “Dinner and a movie Saturday then!”

  Chapter Two

  When Ell left D5R that Frid
ay evening the reporters were waiting outside the gate. The weather had been cloudy and pleasant for late August so they were standing outside their cars talking to one another. When Ell’s Focus turned out of the parking lot they all scrambled to get in their vehicles and follow her.

  Ell drove directly to her farm. After she turned in she saw the reporters parking outside the gate. In her rearview screen she saw one leap out of his car and throw something on the ground in frustration.

  ***

  Saturday evening Ell heard a knock on her front door and went to open it. “Dr. Emmerit I presume?” she grinned up at Roger.

  “Yes Ma’am.” Roger said, doffing an imaginary cap and staring at Ell. It being late August he had on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. He felt distinctly underdressed. His eyes narrowed, Ell actually had on a simple cotton t-shirt and shorts too. He realized she wasn’t actually “dressed up.” It was just that she looked so good in whatever she wore and the little khaki shorts were an upgrade from her usual jeans. Her long legs and narrow waist meant that shorts that fit her hips, having been designed for other women were relatively shorter than they would have been on those women. Her long, slender but shapely legs looked stunning! Hard to believe they were hiding under her jeans every day! He swallowed, “Your chariot awaits, Ma’am.” He waved in the direction of his car.

  Ell bounced down and off the porch, “Were there many paparazzi at the entrance this evening?”

  “Four cars.”

  “I’m sure hoping they get bored with following me around pretty soon.”

  Roger thought to himself, if you wanted them to get bored, those shorts may not have been a great idea.