“Yes, of course,” Nick said.
“So what do I tell the people?” President Brown asked.
“You give them something else to focus on,” Nick said. “Give them a new goal. Something that will distract them.”
President Brown looked surprised. Like all presidents, she wore the stress of the job in the new wrinkles around her eyes, and on her forehead, and the gray in her hair. She wrinkled her forehead now, looking puzzled. “Where are you going with this?” President Brown asked.
“Do you remember the preacher that we met on the other side?” Nick had picked up the media habit of calling the piece of the Cretaceous past they had visited the “other side.”
“The one they called Reverend? Yes.”
Opening his briefcase, Nick took out two sheets and handed one to the president and one to John. Each sheet had two images of the same man. “We have no photos of Reverend, but using descriptions from the survivors of his congregation, we created a digital image of what he looked like the last time he was seen, and what he might look like twenty years later. Does that look like him, John?”
“Yes, that’s him,” John said. “I knew him in high school. Everyone called him Cubby back then.”
“Why the interest in this man?” President Brown asked. “He never made it back, and neither did half his people.”
“The last time we saw him, he was helping an injured Dinosauroid toward his village.”
“What Reverend and his people called Inhumans,” President Brown said.
“Yes, and that’s actually accurate nomenclature, although meant to be derogatory,” Nick said. “They certainly weren’t human, but they weren’t subhuman, either, as the name suggests to some. They were evolution’s first attempt at a sentient species. I saw these people up close, and visited one of their villages. They were an intelligent, adaptable species that shared many human traits including speech, capacity for community, and the ability to domesticate animals. Like humans, the family unit was the basis for their social structure. Until a random cosmic event wiped them out, they were following an evolutionary path similar to humans.”
“Speculation about that is all over the talk shows too,” President Brown said. “It has stirred up a theological hornets’ nest.”
“Reverend would have been right in the middle of that debate, if he were here,” Nick said. “He is the one who first called them Inhumans, and labeled them demons. He once believed it was his destiny to cleanse the Earth of the Dinosauroids. But like Saul of Tarsus, Reverend had his eyes opened. The last time we saw Reverend, he was heading to their village to preach the Word of God to a people he considered heathen. He became a missionary.”
“Missionaries can do as much harm as good,” President Brown said.
President Brown was a Christian, Nick knew, and regularly attended a predominantly African American Baptist church in Washington. While a believer, she was also familiar with the risks of sending missionaries to developing cultures.
“At first I did not think Reverend had a chance of getting to the village before the asteroid hit, and even if he did, I was sure that the Dinosauroids would kill him,” Nick said. “Reverend had been their tormentor and nemesis for nearly twenty years. Now, however, I think he did make it to the village, and in fact went through the passage with the Dinosauroids to survive the Chicxulub impactor.”
“How could you know this?” President Brown asked.
“There is evidence, of a sort,” Nick said. He pulled two more photos from his briefcase, passing one each to President Brown and John. “You may recall that during the Viking One mission to Mars, the orbiter returned an image that included a human face,” Nick said. “This is the so-called face on Mars.”
President Brown and John looked at their photos of the Martian surface, showing a man’s face, with deep-set eyes and a wide forehead.
“That was just an anomaly,” President Brown said. “It’s a trick of light and shadow produced by natural rock features.”
“That’s what I thought,” Nick said. “Now, I’m not sure. Take a look at this photo.” Nick handed out two more photos from his bag. “The face is nearly three kilometers long and either naturally, or artificially, carved out of rock. It has seriously eroded over thousands of years, but you can still see the major features, including eyes, nose, and mouth. I had a series of photos produced, showing what the face might have looked like with different levels of erosion. What do you think, John? Is that your friend Cubby?”
John stared long and hard, moving from face to face on the sheet, finally resting on the representation with the least erosion. “It could be,” John said. “I think it might be.”
“There’s another reason to think that Reverend and the Dinosauroids made it to Mars. The face on Mars is located in a region called Cydonia. That face sits very near what used to be the shore of an ocean. It’s the kind of location where primitive people would settle.”
“Beachfront property,” President Brown said.
“Exactly,” Nick said. “You have the advantages of the abundance of the ocean, and also what the land can provide, all in one place. I expect there was a river near this location too.”
“Very interesting,” President Brown said, “but if they did make it to Mars, with or without the reverend, they are long gone. Mars is uninhabitable.”
“Yes, Madam President,” Nick said. “But I was thinking about something Reverend said before he left us. We don’t know where in Mars’s past they went. I have a dozen mathematicians trying to solve that problem, but we are eighty percent confident that it was at least sixty-five million years ago. If they did make it through to Mars, and had the time and resources to carve a monument to Reverend, then what else might they have accomplished? What archeological treasures are buried under the sands of Mars? And what about the biology of the Martian flora and fauna? Some of what we saw was unlike anything on Earth.”
President Brown was watching Nick’s face closely, but giving none of her thoughts away.
“And there is another remote possibility,” Nick said. “With the knowledge of Mars’s future that Reverend brought, and a clever industrious people like the Dinosauroids, and thousands of years to develop technology, it is possible that the Dinosauroids found a way to survive what happened to Mars.”
“By going underground?” President Brown suggested.
“Possibly, but more likely by leaving Mars,” Nick said.
“How? To go where?” President Brown asked.
“The only way to know is to go there and look around,” Nick said. He dug into his bag again to pull out a thick bound document, and handed it to President Brown.
“You’re proposing a mission to Mars?” President Brown said, looking at the cover. “A mission to Mars is proposed every few years, and presidents reach the same conclusion every time. Such a mission is technologically premature. Not to mention the cost of such a mission.”
“The biggest hurdle has been the weight/fuel problem,” Nick said. “Boosting ships into orbit is expensive, and a Mars mission means sending up the Mars Command Module, the lander, the Mars Habitat, and enough food and oxygen to keep a crew alive for the three years a mission would take. Then there’s the fuel to send the ships to Mars, the fuel for the descent and ascent phases, and enough fuel to get everyone home. Costs have been prohibitive, especially with the disaster relief needed because of the time quilting, so we’ve been waiting for advanced technologies to reduce the weight of the ships. If lifting mass were not a problem, we have the technology to go today. The good news is on page fifteen of my proposal. You can see that we may have solved the boost limitations. On page twenty, you can see that this solution drops the cost of the Mars mission by fifty percent.”
President Brown scanned the pages, her face reshaping into deep concern, and then relaxing. “I’ll consider it,” President Brown said, her tone telling Nick the meeting was over.
“Thank you, Madam President,” Nick said.
John stood to leave, helping Nick up and getting his crutches.
“I hear you are spending a lot of time in Florida,” President Brown said.
“I’m going back for the weekend,” Nick said.
“Has there been any change?” President Brown asked.
“Nothing perceptible,” Nick said.
“I see,” President Brown said, putting her hand on Nick’s shoulder.
“There is one more thing,” Nick said, leaning on John and taking one last paper from his briefcase. “If you would grant security clearance for another visitor, I would appreciate it.”
President Brown read the cover letter and then gave a sad smile. “Does he understand the situation?” President Brown asked.
“Yes,” Nick said. “As well as we could explain it to someone with his security clearance.”
“Then, if he wants it,” President Brown said, and signed the form.
58
Love Is Patient
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
—I Corinthians 13:4-7
Present Time
Mills Ranch
Fannie and Marty Mills had the old barn torn down and replaced with a small guesthouse, with two bedrooms, two baths, kitchen, living room, and the room where Nick now sat. A wide paving-stone path now connected the guesthouse with the main house. Nick had dinner with the Millses, eating shrimp on the deck and enjoying the evening and their company. After dinner, Nick excused himself, taking the new path to the guesthouse, more confident now on his crutches. Nick would stay the weekend, and then fly back to Washington, D.C., for a few days, to do things in person he could not do digitally. He would fly back Wednesday night, to keep his vigil.
Nick had a stack of newspapers and, one by one, was reading them out loud. Elizabeth was a news junkie, and followed politics like men did football, so he read every editorial, which he seldom did for himself. Nick had finished with the USA Today, and had just picked up The Washington Times, when the doorbell rang. Nick was expecting the caller, and used his crutches to get to the door. Deputy Les Wilson was there, wearing shorts, sandals, and a University of Florida T-shirt. He was carrying two pieces of cheesecake on china plates with forks.
“The woman—Fanny—she made me bring these.”
“Come on in,” Nick said.
Nick and the deputy sat at the breakfast bar, eating the dessert, Nick explaining what the young man was about to see. Nick gave him details about how Elizabeth and Jeanette spent their last few hours, and how heroic they were, including saving Nick’s life. Then, when Fanny’s cheesecake was gone, Nick had the young man take two beers from the well-stocked refrigerator and led the way. Just as Nick had been, the young man was shocked by what he saw. There in the room were Elizabeth, Jeanette, and a velociraptor. Another velociraptor looked over Jeanette’s shoulder.
“Are you sure they’re alive?” Deputy Wilson asked.
“Watch them closely,” Nick said.
“They’re moving,” Wilson said after a minute.
“Yes, and I think they might be aware that we’re here,” Nick said, “or at least they will be as their time and ours come closer together. That’s why I spend as much time as I can with them.”
Nick let Deputy Wilson study the women, who were dirty and trapped in a slow-motion run. Deputy Wilson walked close, trying to touch them, but finding he could get close, but not quite reach them.
“Sit down,” Nick said.
There were two recliners in the room, a table between them, and a wicker lamp. Deputy Wilson sat, and handed Nick one of the bottles of beer.
“You didn’t know Jeanette for very long,” Nick said.
“Long enough to fall in love with her,” Wilson said. “I met her when the department busted a meth lab on the farm next to hers. She was beautiful, and funny, and interesting, and I acted like a fool every time I was around her. We didn’t spend a lot of time together, but I couldn’t stop thinking about her, even on the job. I kept finding reasons to stop by and check on her. I wasn’t fooling her. She knew why I was coming to see her, but she didn’t tell me to stop, so I kept coming.”
Nick smiled, sipping his beer. “Sounds like love,” Nick said.
“What about you?”
“Elizabeth and I are past the falling-in-love stage,” Nick said. “We are … comfortable together.”
“That sounds good,” Wilson said.
“It is, and it isn’t. It wasn’t until I lost her that I realized how much she meant to me. I was taking her for granted, when she deserved better. She was there when I needed her, but I’m not sure I was there when she needed me. Now that she’s out of reach, I’ve had time to think about how I treated her, and honestly, I have no idea whether I was meeting her needs or not. She didn’t complain, but what does that mean? Probably nothing. She wasn’t the complaining type. She should have been the center of my life, not an appendage. Now, I can only hope I get a second chance.”
They were silent now, watching the women and the velociraptors in their endless slow-motion run.
“How long will they be like this?” Wilson asked.
“Maybe forever,” Nick said, “but there is reason to believe they will get free someday.”
Nick looked at Deputy Wilson, wondering if he had misjudged the young man. Wilson had learned of Jeanette’s plight from Carson Wills, when the deputy persisted in looking for Jeanette. When Carson did not produce Jeanette, Deputy Wilson suspected Carson had killed her. Carson spilled the story just to get Wilson off his back. When Wilson showed up at the Mills Ranch, he had been turned away, and then referred to Nick, who discovered the deputy knew more than he should. Touched by the deputy’s feelings for Jeanette, Nick eventually explained Jeanette’s situation, then at Wilson’s insistence, got him permission to visit. Now, the deputy seemed impatient, already asking about how long he might have to wait. It suggested he lacked the kind of commitment he had expressed to Nick.
“Someday?” Wilson asked. “Like days from now? Or are we talking weeks or years?”
“I have a friend who is studying this,” Nick said. “He thinks it will be between one and three years. I can’t give you details, but we sent something toward the sun. Sometime after it’s destroyed, they could be free.”
“Oh, thanks,” Wilson said.
“You don’t have to stay. I know you’re disappointed.”
“It’s not that,” Wilson said. “I was just thinking about how to arrange my vacation days so I can spend time here.”
“There’s no guarantee,” Nick said. “It could be longer, or it could never happen. The only thing I know for sure is that it’s going to be a long wait.”
“Yeah,” Deputy Wilson said, his eyes on Jeanette, “but some things are worth waiting for.”
“Yes, they are,” Nick said.
Personae Dramatis
Florida
Dr. Norman “Norm” Gah—Paleobiologist, Ocala Dinosaur Preserve
Jeanette Johns—Office manager, Dinosaur Wrangler
Fanny Mills—Married to Marty Mills
Marty Mills—Married to Fanny Mills, owner of a weekend hobby farm
Emmett Puglisi—Special Consultant to the Office of Strategic Science
Carson Wills—Owner, Dinosaur Wrangler
Les Wilson—Deputy sheriff
Carmen Wynooski—Senior dinosaur ranger, Ocala Dinosaur Preserve
Florida Dinosaur Wranglers
Lymon Norris
Robby Bryson
Nate Simpson
Doris Melton
Marines
Melvin Kelton—Private, personal security detail for Nick Paulson
Michael Kwan—Sergeant, personal security detail for Nick Paulson
Nash Sampson—
Private, security detail, Mills Ranch
Lance Snead—Private, personal security detail for Nick Paulson
Afa Tafua—Private, personal security detail for Nick Paulson
Toby Washburne—Private, personal security detail for Nick Paulson
Sam Weller—Lieutenant, personal security detail for Nick Paulson
NASA/Astronauts
Sarasa Chandra—Mission specialist
Rick Maven—Mission specialist
Rosa Perez-Roberts—Aurora pilot, married to John Roberts
Mike Watson—Mission commander
Connie West—Deputy flight director
Neverland
Betty Brown—Member of Reverend’s Community, wife of Lincoln Brown
Lincoln Brown—Member of Reverend’s Community, husband of Betty Brown
Crazy Michael Kramer—Member of Reverend’s Community
Jacob Lewinski—Member of Reverend’s Community, husband of Leah Lewinski
Leah Lewinski—Member of Reverend’s Community, wife of Jacob Lewinski, mother of Beatrice (six years old) and Bonnie (three years old)
Grandma Reilly—Sewing master for Reverend’s Community
Reverend—Leader of the “Community”
Jack Williams—Youngest son of Willy Williams
Mel Williams—Butcher for Reverend’s Community, oldest son of Willy Williams
Willy Williams—Master hunter for Reverend’s Community
Orlando
Kris Conyers—Officer, Orlando Mounted Patrol
Morgan Nara—Officer, Orlando Mounted Patrol
Washington, D.C.
Wilamina Brown—President of the United States
Elizabeth Hawthorne—Former White House Chief of Staff, defense lobbyist for Weinert and Goldfarb, wife of Nick Paulson
Kaylee Kemper—Nick Paulson’s administrative assistant, Office of Strategic Science
Nick Paulson—Director, Office of Strategic Science, husband of Elizabeth Hawthorne
John Roberts—Director of Field Operations, Office of Strategic Science, married to Rosa Perez-Roberts
Mike Stott—Deputy Director of Field Operations, Office of Strategic Science
Dinosaur Thunder Page 36
