The StarSight Project

by S. P. Perone

  Tony remained thoughtful for a while, and then said, “You know, Harry. I don’t know what Clarkson is up to, but I do know that there has beennonegative impact of our classified research. In fact, financially and scientifically there are hugeplusses . So…tell me…why should I be worried about an investigation?”

  Harry thought about it briefly, and then said, “I can’t argue with you, Tony. You’re right, of course. But, Clarkson is very crafty, and I would not discount this situation at all.”

  Tony smiled at his friend, and then grabbed his arm and said, “Thanks Harry, I’ll watch my back…Now let’s go back in, find our dates, and enjoy ourselves tonight.”

  Pulling Harry along with him, Tony marched back intothe House .

  Sarah and Luci had found the punch bowl and were each enjoying a cup of a refreshingly tart spiked carbonated cranberry punch. A couple of strange male faces had engaged them in a conversation, and that was where Tony and Harry found them. “Hi, honey,” Luci beamed as her husband walked up with Tony alongside. The ladies were obviously looking for an excuse to break off the conversation. “Do you know each other,” she asked the four gentlemen.

  It became apparent they had not met previously, so they were introduced. The two gentlemen were alums visiting for homecoming. Their names were Michael Worth and David Lee. They had gotten their BS degrees 10 and 15 years earlier, respectively, and had just met that evening. Worth, who was very similar to Tony in height, build and appearance, except that he had a fair complexion and hazel eyes, was working with PeopleSoft in California. Lee, an Asian-American of average height with short, thick black hair and spectacles, was working for Microsoft in Seattle. They were both aware of Shane’s research and were eager to talk to him about his latest work. Harry and Luci took that as their cue to slowly move away from the four scientists, while Sarah managed to circle Tony’s arm with hers and snuggle up close while listening to him tick off several of his ongoing research projects to Worth and Lee.

  As Tony continued, Michael Worth allowed his gaze to move to Sarah and dwell there for several uncomfortable moments. Despite continuing with his research descriptions, Tony did not miss Worth’s unsolicited attention. Unconsciously, Sarah clung a little tighter to her man.

  Surprisingly, as Shane paused in his discourse, Worth directed a question, not at Shane, but at Sarah. “You mentioned earlier that you were a postdoctoral associate here. Do you work for Professor Shane?”

  Smiling, Sarah answered, “Yes, I do,” and volunteered no more.

  “Which project are you working on?” Worth persisted.

  “My specialty is self-organizing neural networks,” she said. “I’m working on adapting these networks to very complex and ultra-large databases.”

  “Can you do that kind of research with desk-top computers, or do you need large mainframe systems?” Worth continued his grilling of Sarah.

  “Hey, come on you guys,” Tony interjected with a broad smile on his face. “Enough of this technical stuff. We’re supposed to be celebrating our near victory over Wisconsin today.”

  Lee, Shane and Sarah laughed, while Worth briefly appeared as though he would persist. But, then, he also succumbed to the irresistible charm of Tony Shane, and began to laugh along with the rest.

  They each took this break in the conversation as a cue to move apart. Tony and Sarah headed over to where Harry and Luci were now standing, in the middle of a group of students. While Worth and Lee moved off in the general direction of the back door, probably looking to refill their cups of beer. Sarah felt, rather than saw, Worth looking back at her as she walked away. Self-consciously, she checked herself over mentally. Had the outfit she chose to wear tonight been too provocative, she wondered. Her heavy gray cardigan sweater with the over-size roll-up collar was too bulky to be sexy. Her jeans were tight, but no more so than was acceptable for most of the young ladies there tonight. And she hadn’t acted flirtatiously before Tony arrived…at least she didn’t do so intentionally. Michael Worth’s striking resemblance to Shane, right down to the long wavy black hair, was uncanny. From behind you could easily mistake one for the other. Sarah was sure that Worth was accustomed to women finding him attractive, but she didn’t. The only thing she had done, before Tony and Harry arrived, was to answer their questions about her background…California born, Chico State undergrad, UCLA Ph.D., postdoctoral at Daniels. Lee had given her his business card, but Worth had none with him. And, Lee had given her a vague invitation to visit Microsoft in Seattle if she were in the area. Puzzlingly, Worth had not made a similar offer. Sarah knew these companies were desperate for new talent.

  Ultimately, Sarah decided to forget about it, and enjoy the rest of the evening. This was the first game and the first party she and Tony had been to together, and she wasn’t going to let anything take away from the sweet warm buzz of excitement she had been feeling all day.

  Reaching the small crowd of students around Harry and Luci, they found Harry expounding on the most unlikely topic of 1960’s music, which was his not-so-secret passion. Harry had grown up in a home where the music was a cosmopolitan mix of Rhythm and Blues, Rock and Roll, Country, Folk and Jazz. His parents were solidly locked into 1960’s music, and still today they listened only to the “oldies” radio stations. Harry was as familiar with every Beatles recording as he was with each Motown group or the classic recordings of Carole King and Bob Dylan. He could discuss Johnny Cash and John Lee Hooker in the same breath, which appeared to be what he was doing as Tony and Sarah walked up.

  Seeing Sarah, Luci wiggled free from the crowd, grabbed her, and they were off to find some of the other ladies to chat with. Harry missed not a beat, as he was right in the middle of naming all of the contemporary artists whose origins could be traced to the works of Elvis Presley, and how Presley’s origins were in gospel and rockabilly. Shane noticed the glazed look on the faces of many of these grad students, most of whom weren’t even born before 1975, and didn’t know about anyone older than Madonna or Prince, or whatever he called himself these days. They got excited about Limp Bizket or N’Sync or Pearl Jam, and a myriad of other artists that Shane didn’t recognize. But, Harry, to his credit, had kept up with even the contemporary musical groups, and, for that, the attentive students were getting a truly authoritative lecture.

  Shane gave Harry a wave, indicating they should meet up soon and plan on moving on. Shane knew the party would get wilder later, and he tried not to ever stay so late that his presence might inhibit any of the students’ fun. Looking beyond Harry’s circle, he saw Sandy in an animated conversation with the wives of two graduate students in the Department, not in his research group. Sandy was one of the few ladies there not dressed in jeans. She was wearing a figure-flattering dark-green shirtwaist dress with matching pumps. Shane had only seen Sandy in jeans one time, and that was at the department picnic last May. Shane looked around for Sandy’s husband, but didn’t find him. He was probably off in some other group, on the porch or in one of the many rooms from the basement to the second floor that were packed with students, faculty, and alums. He waved at Sandy, and moved off in the direction of the front porch.

  Before reaching the front door, Shane was accosted by a group of three first-year graduate students in the Comp. Sci. Department…two males and one female. Shane didn’t remember their names, but recognized them from the orientation socials the Department had organized. They had asked him what he thought about the game, and he had asked them how their first semester in grad school was going. None of them had selected a research adviser yet; that would not happen formally until the second semester. So, Shane was not above a little lobbying, especially when one of them, the young lady who had done her BS work at Texas, had asked him when he might schedule research interviews with the new students…and, could he take a few minutes now to describe his research program. Shane gave his standard two-minute capsule summary of his research, and told them that if they were really interested they should talk to some of his current grad
uate students. They would give them more information, and answer the kinds of questions that were really important…like how long does Shane keep his students before approving a Ph.D. thesis; or does Shane have any research funds to support students; or is Shane ever around to talk to his students about research; or is he usually on travel someplace…and so on. Shane realized the most important factor in recruiting new students to any research group was the salesmanship of the existing group of students. Any professor who thought he could recruit new students based solely on the attributes of his research program was either a Nobel Laureate or a fool.

  After disengaging from the group of students, Shane finally made his way to the front porch. It was nighttime now, and the moonlight sneaking through the thick foliage of the tree-lined streets formed a soft background that contrasted with the brightly-lit, noisy structure he had just exited. The front porch formed the transition boundary between those two worlds, and Shane, following his instinctive attraction for more peaceful surroundings, stepped off the porch and began to wander out across the front yard to the sidewalk. Ultimately, he found himself wandering down the street a couple houses down. The moon was more apparent now; a huge yellow Harvest Moon that looked so close you could reach it easily with a jet plane. He stood there silently for a while, wondering to himself what the next few weeks would bring. He was very concerned about Bill and Sarah getting involved in this CIA project. But, he was even more concerned about what might happen if they were not successful. The fear of an unknown threat could be more intense than if the threat were laid out in detail. He wondered if the Senator might have a better idea of what kind of terrorist threat to expect. He wondered how many things they did not know, and might find out, and perhaps wish they had never known. And, finally, he wondered about Clarkson, and how his nasty investigation might affect everything they were about to engage in.

  “Are you about to turn into a werewolf, Dr. Shane?” he heard a familiar feminine voice ask gently from just behind him on the sidewalk.

  Tony turned around to see Sarah standing there, shifting her gaze from the moon back to him. As she approached, he reached out to put his arm around her so they could both take a look at the spectacular vision in the black night sky.

  “How’d you know I was out here,” he asked.

  “Oh, I saw you hustling that first-year southern belle…and figured I better keep an eye on you, Professor Shane,” she said with mock seriousness.

  “Well, I guess she chickened out. We were supposed to meet down at the Old Oak Tree in 15 minutes, but she never came out ofthe House ,” Tony teased, referring to the ancient giant oak tree on campus which legend described as having witnessed the deflowering of many a young co-ed.

  They both laughed at that and turned around to walk slowly, arm in arm, back tothe House . As they arrived back at the front porch, Harry and Luci emerged, and it looked like the time for departure had arrived. Tony found Bill Campbell and thanked him for inviting them, and told him they’d be leaving. The last thing Tony did was to check that Bill was ready to fly out with him and Sarah the next morning. Sandy had scheduled the airport limousine to pick them up at their residences in the morning, and they would travel together to O’Hare airport for their 11 am departure to San Francisco. Fortunately, Rockville was only 45 miles Southwest of O’Hare. He told Bill to be ready for pickup at 8 am. (Shane wasn’t sure the party would be over much earlier, but didn’t say anything.)

  The four of them walked back towards the part of town where the stadium was located, because that’s where Shane’s and Harry’s homes were. They didn’t walk through campus, even though it would have been shorter. Not because it was unsafe; it just wasn’t as interesting as walking through the Village surrounding the campus. There was so much activity, especially on the evening after a big football game that it was fun to just soak up the atmosphere walking through.

  As they passed the street on which Sarah’s studio apartment was located there was a moment when Shane thought she might take her leave of them. But, that had not happened, and as she gripped his hand tightly, Shane knew they would be spending the night together. It had been a long time, and he was looking forward to being with her tonight. He turned to her and whispered, “Are you already packed for the trip tomorrow?” Sarah’s silent nod and sly sideways glance at him confirmed that she was planning to stay with him tonight. Tony found his stride becoming just a little quicker.

  When they reached the Churchill’s home, Harry and Luci insisted they come in for a glass of wine; and Tony and Sarah agreed. There had been innumerable evenings when Shane had helped Harry and Luci polish off a good bottle of wine, over great conversation. In recent months, Sarah had joined this group, but had been sadly missing this past month. They were all looking forward to topping off a fun day with a relaxing chat in front of the Churchill fireplace.

  When they had gotten comfortable, with shoes off and feet up on the huge cocktail table in front of the fireplace, each with a glass of red wine in hand, the four of them seated on the monstrous curving sofa, the talk had turned to the evening’s events. Luci, who was the least talkative of the four, surprisingly led off the conversation by commenting on the two male alums that had cornered her and Sarah for a while. “Don’t you think it was weird how those two alums…Worth and Lee, wasn’t it…came on to us at the party?” she asked Sarah.

  “Oh, I didn’t think they were interested in anything more than polite conversation,” Sarah replied, less from conviction than from wishful thinking.

  With that Tony snorted his disagreement, “Are you kidding, Sarah? That guy, Worth, was undressing you with his eyes right in front of me!”

  “At least Luci was bright enough to see right through those jerks,” Shane continued. “Although Lee seemed to be OK.”

  “Well, he may not have had eyes for Sarah,” Luci chimed in. “But he certainly made me feel uncomfortable. He kept trying to get answers to personal questions, like which one was my husband, where we lived, where I worked…and so on.”

  “Oh, come on, Luci,” Harry interjected. “Those are perfectly innocent questions at a social mixer. What did you expect to do, just give name, rank, and serial number?”

  Tony joined Harry in a chuckle over that one, but Luci was adamant. “Didn’t you hear what Tony said, Harry. We’ve been to lots of parties. These two guys were not engaging in polite superficial conversation. They were definitely looking to make a connection tonight. I’ll bet they button-holed every lady in the place who looked unattached.” Then, turning to Sarah, she asked, “Are you sure you didn’t feel a little uncomfortable too?”

  Sarah reflected for a moment before speaking, but then said, “Yeah. You’re right, Luci. I did feel the same things you did. I just thought I was being paranoid. That’s why I didn’t say anything earlier.”

  “Well, I’m glad you said something, Luci,” Shane commented. “I’m sure your instincts were right. And, Sarah, I’m gonna have to teach you a few things about talking to strange men before we spend much time in San Francisco.”

  Sarah poked Tony in the ribs in response to that comment, and they all had a laugh before turning to the next topic.

  “Luci, I haven’t had a chance to ask whether you’ve heard any more lately from your parents in Vietnam?” Sarah asked.

  Unexpectedly, a cloud passed over Luci’s smiling face, and she looked down for a second, and then looked away. She didn’t speak, and Harry jumped in to reply to Sarah’s question. “I’m sorry, Sarah,” he began. “We haven’t heard anything for quite a while…and Luci’s a little bit concerned.”

  “But,’ he continued, “I’m sure it’s just a delay in the mail. After all, the path to get the communications here is pretty tortuous.”

  “I’m so sorry, Luci,” Sarah responded, genuinely concerned, and upset with herself for bringing up the sensitive topic. “I’m sure Harry is right,” she continued. “You should be hearing from them again soon. Please, don’t worry.”

  Lookin
g back at Sarah, Luci attempted to bring a smile back to her face. “Thanks, Sarah. Please, don’t feel bad for bringing it up. I should have said something earlier about my concern. I’m sure that Harry is right. We will probably be getting a letter any day now.”

  They all knew how desperately Luci was praying that her parents could be extracted safely from Vietnam and transported to the U.S. And they knew how delicate the negotiations would have to be. There really wasn’t much more to be said. Their silence at this point was a simple tacit realization of the state of helplessness they all felt.

  Wanting to change the subject, Harry waited a moment, and then directed a question at Shane. “By the way, Tony, did you tell Sarah about our encounter with Clarkson tonight?”

  “No. I didn’t. Maybe you could describe it for us,” Tony responded.

  “Well, Clarkson came up to us out in the back yard, and…to make a long story short…told us that the university would be investigating the ‘negative impact of classified research’ on campus,” Harry began. “Oh, and of course, he told Tony how sorry he was about this…like he had tried toprevent it.”

  “My God, the guy is so obvious! How does he live with himself?” Harry added.

  Tony remained silent, while Sarah, Luci and Harry watched for any sign of his reaction. They had no way of knowing how conflicted he felt about this. They did not know about the connection between the DOE classified research and the CIA. Nor did they know about the ominous threat of a major terrorist event. A threat which was drawing innocent people…like Sarah and Bill from Daniels, and Anna Ling from San Francisco Poly…into a life-and-death kind of struggle, about which they would know nothing until it was too late to pull out. Shane was almost ready to concede that Clarkson had been right all along. A university was no place to conduct classified research.

  “I’m not so sure Clarkson isn’t on the right side of this issue,” Tony said finally. “You and Luci know that Sarah, Bill, and I are headed out to California tomorrow for an extended period of work on the Livermore supercomputer. What you don’t know is that it’s the classified research that’s driving this expedition. And, I won’t be giving away any secrets if I tell you that there’s a national security issue driving this abrupt disruption of our lives. If it weren’t for our involvement in classified research, we wouldn’t be in this position.”