by Razi Imam
Maria nudged Sebastian. The two men who’d been following them had entered the lab. He placed the fish back in the box and covered it with ice. Vu replaced the cover.
The two men spoke to Vu in strong, brisk tones. Vu bowed and asked Zeke to hand them their paperwork. One of them read through it while the other glanced at Sebastian, Maria, and the centrifuge. The one reviewing the paperwork spoke to Zeke in fluent English. “Did you complete this paperwork?”
Zeke nodded. “May I help you?” he asked.
“We need to call the Ministry of Commerce to make sure it’s in order,” the man replied. Dialing the phone, he fired off instructions to his partner in Vietnamese. The man walked over to the centrifuge and started fiddling with it.
“Sebastian, will you please go over and show the man that the equipment works?” Vu asked. “I fear he will damage it.”
Sebastian made his way to the centrifuge and started explaining the unit to the official. Meanwhile, Vu opened the specimen fridge and began making space on a lower shelf, placing his polystyrene container inside. He then opened the staff fridge, pulled out his lunch box, and placed it next to the polystyrene container in the specimen fridge. Closing the door, he stood there watching the Vietnamese officers and then turned to Maria. “Maria, have you ever tried Vietnamese barbecue?” he asked. She shook her head, puzzled.
Ignoring her expression, Vu turned around, opened the specimen fridge, grabbed his lunchbox, and placed it on the table. “You know, my wife has a recipe that even the best restaurants in Vietnam can’t duplicate. Guess where she got it from.” Smiling, Maria shrugged. “She learned it from a famous street vendor in Haiphong,” Vu confided. “The trick is to marinate the meat for forty-eight hours, then cook it over slow heat from actual coal.”
The commotion in the lab grew louder, Sebastian showing the workings of the centrifuge, Vu explaining his wife’s cooking. The officer on the phone snapped at everyone in Vietnamese, turning to Sebastian. “The Vietnamese government has denied your request to take the specimen. We thank you for your offer of the lab equipment. We ask that you please leave our country in the next two hours. We will return your equipment via the proper channels.”
Zeke spoke up. “But our paperwork shows we have permission for this exchange.”
The officer moved toward Zeke and unbuttoned his coat, exposing a Makarov semiautomatic pistol. “Like I said,” he growled, “your guests must return to their plane. You can file a complaint through your consulate.”
Sebastian spoke in a soft, authoritative voice. “Please keep the equipment. May I suggest we continue to work out a deal that your government would find acceptable?”
Vu interjected, his tone aggressive. “Thank you, Doctor Miles, but I believe the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has made its decision. It is in your best interest to return to your plane.” He bowed to the officer, who was somewhat taken aback, though he appeared to welcome Vu’s support.
“Okay,” Zeke said. “We have our orders. Let’s head back.”
Vu bowed to the officer again. “Would it be acceptable if I were to offer a gift to this kind lady? They have come a long way, and the least I could do is give them my lunch.”
The officer considered them both. “Fine, give it to her,” he snapped. “We don’t want them to feel that the Vietnamese are ill-mannered toward their guests.”
Vu smiled and bowed again, handing the lunchbox to Maria. “Dear, please accept this food as a gift from my wife and myself. If you don’t eat as soon as you board your plane, please do put it in the fridge.” Maria accepted the gift, fumbling with it as she thanked him.
Vu led the group away, followed by the two menacing government officials. Watching them leave he returned to his lab, picked up the polystyrene container and dumped the contents in the incinerator.
Cong walked in as Vu was closing the incinerator door and switching it on. “Good, I’m glad you have destroyed that fish.” Cong said. “Look something good came out of all of this. We ended up getting much needed equipment for your lab.”
Unable to meet Cong’s eyes, Vu nodded. Tears flowed down his cheeks as he stared at the incinerator.
AT THE STEPS of Panther Two, Sebastian and Maria thanked Zeke for his help and climbed aboard. Sebastian stopped by the cockpit. “Captain, please get us out of here, ASAP.”
“We couldn’t agree more,” the captain responded. Within minutes, they were airborne.
Once the plane leveled off, Sebastian stood up, grinning. “Would you guys like to try some Vietnamese barbecue?” He brought the lunchbox to the main lab table.
“What’s wrong with him?” Fabienne asked Maria.
“Not sure,” Maria replied. “We couldn’t get the fish, but the professor gave us his lunch.”
“What do mean?” Shiloh asked. “We came all this way for a professor’s lunch?”
Sebastian unclasped the strap of the lunchbox and lifted the lid. The smell of barbecue spread throughout the cabin, and the entire team gathered close. The first compartment opened into a sectional tray that contained a light green sauce and a red thick sauce. Shiloh dipped his finger in the green sauce and tasted it. “Oh man, coconut chutney with mint! I bet the red is a chili pepper super hot sauce.”
Sebastian removed the first compartment, revealing a second larger tray containing small chunks of meat barbequed in an orange marinade. Shiloh lifted a piece and quickly put it in his mouth. “Wow this is really good,” he said.
Fabienne yelled, “Will you stop touching the food.”
Sebastian traced his fingers around the base of the second compartment and found a third compartment. He lifted the second compartment clear, and Fabienne gasped. Hidden in ice lay the prized specimen, its blue-green glow illuminating their surprised faces.
Fabienne moved in, grabbing a pair of gloves. “We need to be careful. We have to protect it from deteriorating.” She lifted it from the bottom of the lunchbox and placed it on a backlit plate of opaque white glass. Switching the light on, she adjusted the magnifying glass on its metal arm and turned a control knob that lowered the temperature of the plate.
Sebastian was the first to peer through the magnifying glass. Like Vu, he too saw that the shifting nodule was a hexagonal structure, each side with a unique biological pattern. It glowed with the brilliance of its changing colors, quite similar to a kaleidoscope.
They all took turns at the magnifying glass while Shiloh uploaded pictures to Poseidon for analysis. Fabienne then carried it over to a temperature-controlled desktop incubator with glass windows. Placing the specimen inside, she set the temperature to four degrees centigrade. She also flipped a switch, turning the windows of the incubator opaque, protecting the fish from light.
Sebastian glanced at his watch: 8:00 a.m. in San Diego. He called Cebrián.
“Hello, Sebastian,” Cebrián answered. “I hear you’ve had quite the adventure trying to get the specimen out of Vietnam. Zeke has apprised me of the details.”
“Did he tell you we have the specimen?” Sebastian asked.
“No, he didn’t!” Cebrián exclaimed. “How?”
“Some quick thinking by Doctor Vu Ha,” Sebastian explained.
“Wow, that’s wonderful! Have you guys taken a look at it?” Cebrián asked.
“Yes, and Cebrián—it’s a miracle. I’m unaware of any marine life with such unique features.” He shared their initial observations.
“Amazing,” Cebrián breathed. “Okay, here’s what I recommend. Instead of coming all the way back to San Diego, go ahead and land at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. You’ll have state-of-the-art equipment there, complete with a MALDI—ToF mass spectrometer and electron microscopes to peer into it at the atomic level. And you’ll be closer to Vietnam, in case you need to find its source. I’ll get you clearance.”
CHAPTER NINE
Twenty-Two Minutes
“Fish don’t hold the sacred liquid in cups!
They swim the huge fluid freedom.”
SEBASTIAN WOKE UP to the thump of Panther Two’s wheels touching down on the runway of Andersen Air Force Base. As the plane taxied, it took a sharp right turn toward a hangar. A field spread out in front of it, the tall grass waving in the wind.
The captain’s voice came through the speakers. “We’ve been asked to pull into the hangar, where they’ve set up all the equipment for your work. We’ll be able to connect Panther Two to the power and data grid, giving you access to the plane’s equipment as well.”
The sleek plane rolled to a stop on one side of the hangar and the team stepped out into the large climate-controlled building. “Sebastian,” the captain whispered, “in the event of an emergency, text the code 113 to my number. I’ll initiate a defensive protocol and ready the plane for immediate takeoff.”
“Thank you, I appreciate it,” Sebastian said, stepping off the plane. He thought the captain’s words were strange, given they were on an American air force base.
A crisply-uniformed officer, holding her cap to her side, greeted the team. She explained that the middle of the hangar had been arranged with all kinds of lab equipment to aide their work. Sebastian recognized the ZEISS Gemini 500 electron microscope, capable of peaking at nano scales, as well as a MALDI-ToF mass spectrometer. In the middle of all the equipment were two fifty-inch screens mounted on movable stands, surrounded by counters, whiteboards, desks, lamps, magnifying glasses, a portable sink, and other essentials. Six foldaway spring beds with light army blankets sat against another wall.
“These are for your convenience, given that you may work at odd hours of the day,” the officer stated. “It would’ve been difficult to secure you housing on such short notice, and having you stay off-base would have created all kinds of security issues. The chief brigadier general recommended we set you up here, though we were able to arrange a single hostel room for the two pilots.”
Sebastian nodded. “Thank you. Any chance we can take showers and change?”
“Yes,” she replied, “but the hangar doesn’t have separate facilities. There’s one set of shower stalls. The ladies will need to announce when they’re taking a shower.”
Fabienne spoke up. “Look, I don’t care who sees me naked. I just need to take a shower and get into some fresh clothes.”
Maria smiled—she was beginning to like Fabienne. “A woman after my own heart.”
The officer broke a smile. “Understood,” she said. “Once you’ve settled in, Brigadier General Pete Montgomery has invited you to join him for lunch. He’s quite interested in hearing about your work. Also, here are your badges, which will allow you to access facilities on the base. Good luck with your research, and welcome to Andersen Air Force Base.”
The lunch in the brigadier general’s private dining room was excellent. The team had forgotten how good it felt to be on the ground, all cleaned up, with a good meal.
Their field of research fascinated the brigadier general. He was a massive man with a barrel chest and broad shoulders. He sported a beard and mane of wavy gray hair. Sebastian thought he looked like a unique combination of John Wayne and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
It was 1:00 p.m. and eighty-two degrees without a cloud in the sky when they finished lunch and left the brigadier general. As they reached the hangar, Sebastian waved at the guard standing outside. Three masons stood nearby, one of them cleaning the area with a broom while the other two mixed cement. Next to them were three large pallets of red bricks. It seemed they were in the process of building some sort of extension to the building.
The team got to work investigating the specimen. Before breaking for lunch, they had brought the incubator from the plane and plugged it in next to the rest of the equipment. Sebastian stood before the two mobile screens, a laptop positioned on the table in front of him. He clicked on a videoconference link.
Cebrián answered, appearing on the screen as his usual dapper self, wearing a navy blue sports coat with a white-collared shirt. “I can see you guys are all settled in after your meal with Pete,” he said. “Good luck with your experiments!”
“Yes, we’re eager to start.” Sebastian said, and agreed to call Cebrián again as soon as they found something substantial.
Sebastian and Fabienne snapped on their surgical gloves and began to probe the fish. The nodule still glowed, appearing and disappearing along the length of the fish’s body.
Gripping the laser scalpel, Fabienne made an incision and removed the nodule. She placed it in a Petri dish and poured saline over it. She peered at it through the magnifying glass with its built-in camera. “Wow, this is unreal,” she whispered. “What are you?”
Sebastian flipped a switch on the magnification device, and the nodule appeared on the main monitors. The team left their stations and gathered around the monitors, viewing it in detail for the first time. It was a biological wonder—a hexagonal, cone-like structure, each side with a unique biological geometric staircase pattern, almost like a symbol. And each side had a distinct color—greenish-blue, crimson or red, maroon, silver, rust, and pink.
“What do you think, guys?” Sebastian asked.
“It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Gotta be alien,” Shiloh said. Fabienne shook her head at him. “No, I’m serious,” he whispered.
“Let’s run its cell structure through the electron microscope,” Sebastian said. He took the laser scalpel from Fabienne and removed one cell layer from the greenish-blue side, placing it in the electron microscope chamber.
Fabienne returned the nodule and the fish to the incubator as the electron microscope’s images came up on the big monitors. “I don’t see a nucleus or mitochondria,” she said. “And what are these small, round formations?”
“They’re emitting the blue-green color,” Sebastian said, squinting at the screens. He removed the greenish-blue cell layer from the electron microscope and placed it in the receiving chamber of the spectrometer. He then set the laser to a standard 266nm, to hit the sample for twenty-two minutes. The team stood in the center of the room, gazing at the monitors.
“This is it,” Sebastian said. “Let’s see what these formations are emitting.”
He activated the laser and a loud click echoed in the hanger. The main monitor displayed an array of white dots. The receiving plate had registered the particles for a full minute. The click was heard again—the second firing sequence had occurred. More white dots appeared on the screen for the next minute. This repeated for twenty-two minutes, until thousands of particles had been collected on the receiving plate.
Fabienne studied the computer screen with excitement. “Okay, the particles have been collected, and the analysis is complete.” She paused, confused. “They don’t appear to be molecules of any known particle chemistry. They’re like photons, but not photons. They don’t have a magnetic field, and the identification column is blinking ‘Unknown.’ Not much to go on.” She lifted her head and saw a strange, greenish-blue mist surrounding them—she couldn’t see the walls of the hangar. Then the mist dissolved. Fabienne blinked, unsure whether her mind was playing tricks on her.
The second monitor lit Cebrián was calling. Sebastian answered the call, Cebrián’s video appeared on both the monitors and he had changed into a new outfit. He now wore a gray blazer with a white pocket-handkerchief.
“So, how did it go?” Cebrián asked.
“We just started and—” Sebastian began, but Cebrián cut him off.
“What do mean, you just started?” Cebrián said with a frown.
“Well,” Sebastian explained, “after we spoke, we removed the nodule from the fish. We just performed our first experiment using the MALDI. We collected some particles, but the data is inconclusive.”
“It took you a day to remove the nodule and perform the first test?” Cebrián asked, leaning forward into the camera.
“What do you mean, a day?” Sebastian said. Now he was frowning.
“Sebastian, we spoke yesterday,” Cebrián said with mild
amusement.
“What are you talking about, Cebrián?” Sebastian replied. “We just spoke less than an hour ago.”
“No, we spoke yesterday,” Cebrián insisted. He pointed to the Rolex on his wrist. “Twenty-two hours ago,” he clarified. “Look at your phones.”
The team checked their phones and wristwatches, and they confirmed that it had been about an hour since they had spoken to Cebrián.
“Cebrián, our watches and phones show that only an hour has passed since we last spoke,” Sebastian said.
Cebrián motioned for Sebastian to wait and pressed a button on his table. After a brief pause, the brigadier general joined the call. “Hey, Pete, I just patched you into the team in the hangar. Can you solve a quick puzzle for us?” Cebrián asked.
“Shoot,” said the brigadier general.
“When did Sebastian and the team have lunch with you?” Cebrián asked.
“What do you mean?” the brigadier general responded.
Sebastian, still confused, jumped in. “General, did we not just have lunch with you?”
The brigadier general squinted, as if he were checking to see if Sebastian was joking. “Sebastian, I had lunch with you and your team yesterday afternoon from 1200 to 1300 hours.”
Sebastian turned to his team, as if both Cebrián and the general were pulling his leg. But his heart started racing. His team had gathered around him, their eyes fixed on the two monitors displaying Cebrián and Pete.
“Let me make sure I’m hearing you both,” Sebastian said. He worked to keep his voice calm. “General, you’re claiming that we had lunch with you yesterday?”
