Wanda

by carl smothers

  The intruder was a tall, slender man dressed in black. He pulled up to the Westin-Excelsior and went in through the rear entrance using a key generator especially designed to defeat keyless entry systems. He made his way to the penthouse suite assigned to Pepper. Once in, he attached the silencer to his Berretta and hid in a closet.

  An hour later, Pepper opened the door and entered her room. Boy, this has been a long day. I think I’ll bypass the mail tonight and hit the sack. There’s plenty of time on the way to the site tomorrow. She took a shower; put on her PJ’s and crawled into bed. It felt so good. She turned out the light, took a deep breath and snuggled under the warm covers.

  The shooter waited. He was very patient. He could see Pepper’s outline, under the covers, through a slit in the door. Shots to the head and chest should do it. He waited a while longer. No sound … she must be asleep. He opened the door and slowly made his way to her bedside. A foot from the bed, he kicked one of Pepper’s slippers. He stood deathly still, the gun at his side, and his finger on the trigger of the automatic.

  It wasn’t much noise, but enough to startle Pepper, who was still awake. She slowly opened her eyes. A large black figure hulked over her no more than a foot away. Terrified she fought to stay calm. The gunman lifted the gun and pointed it at her head.

  Pepper eased a can of mace from under her pillow. She only had one chance. If she failed — game over. Here goes nothing. She aimed as best she could then sprayed the shooter’s face.

  The man let out a scream and began to stumble around, trying to wipe the burning liquid from his eyes.

  “You bitch!” he screamed. He fired several shots. One hit the wall and two struck the mattress two inches from her side.

  Pepper fought to keep quiet so he couldn’t range on her. She was a sitting duck. He blocked her way to the door. One hope left, the bathroom. Maybe I can keep a door between us. What in the hell is this all about?

  She leaped from her bed, hit the assassin with her fist knocking him down and ran into the bathroom crying loudly as she slammed the door behind her.

  Pepper locked the door and jumped into the bathtub. Frantically she looked for the video phone. She grabbed it, but it slipped from her hand and fell on the floor. She eased out of the tub and slid across the floor to stop the loud buzzing sound.

  He’s going to locate me! Silly-ass phone!

  She finally reached the receiver and hit a button to shut it up. The tears made it hard to see the numbers. She took a deep breath and wiped her eyes. Pepper could hear the shooter cussing and stumbling around outside the door. She slid back into the bathtub clumsily poking at the keys. At last!

  “Security! Please help me,” she whispered. “A man’s in my room. He’s trying to kill me!”

  “Are you okay?” the security officer asked. “Are you safe?”

  “I’m hiding in the bathtub, and no I’m not hurt. He has a gun. I sprayed him with mace.”

  “Stay where you are, ma’am. I’ll be right up.”

  The gunman stumbled around and cleared his eyes. He tried but was unable to open the door. He cursed as he shot seven rounds into the bathroom door and wall. He then fled out the room and down the stairs to his STV and sped away into the night.

  The bullets lodged in the wall, missing her by inches. Tears in her eyes, she swallowed the sobs. Once she regained her composure enough to speak, she called Harry.

  “Harry, this is Pepper. Someone just broke into my room and tried to kill me.”

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yes, but I’m scared to death. Security is on the way up. I think the gunman’s gone.”

  “I’m coming to your room right now.”

  “Please hurry.” She said, fighting to hold back the tears.

  The hotel security officer arrived quickly and carefully opened the door. His gun postured to shoot as he entered. “This is McAtee, hotel security, where are you?” he yelled.

  “I’m in the bathroom.”

  “The intruder’s gone. It’s safe now. You can come out.”

  Harry arrived shortly. “I’m Pepper’s friend,” he said. He rushed over and took her in his arms to comfort her. “I’m so sorry. I wish I could do something to make you feel better. I can’t believe this.”

  “Just hold me for awhile. I feel safe in your arms.” She closed her eyes and placed her head on his chest.

  Harry held her close, stroking her hair. After a few moments, Pepper quit trembling and relaxed a bit.

  “Miss, I’ve called the police. They should be here directly. Are you okay?”

  Pepper looked at McAtee. “Yes, just scared to death.”

  “I understand. Well, he is gone. I assure you. I’ll make sure he doesn’t come back.”

  “Thank you, Mr. McAtee. This is crazy. Why would someone want to kill me?”

  The police came five minutes later and McAtee briefed them.

  “Dr. Martin is there any reason someone would want you dead?” the young police lieutenant asked.

  “No, Lieutenant. I don’t have any enemies that I know of, and I don’t carry much cash.”

  “I checked our defense department data base,” he said. “It indicates you’re involved in a top secret project for NSTA. Is it possible this could be a motive for someone to want to kill you, thinking you might be carrying classified papers?”

  “I suppose, but we never keep classified papers in our hotel rooms. They’re always transferred to the security officer at our destination via classified courier.”

  The lieutenant thought for a moment, and then remarked, “This was most likely a clumsy robbery attempt.”

  Pepper responded. “No. This man was trying to kill me. He waited until I was in bed and the lights were out. If it had been a robbery, he would have acted as soon as I entered the room.” Her whole body trembled from fear.

  He considered Pepper’s remarks for a moment. “Mr. McAtee, please seal off this room and let no one enter. I’ll have a team go over it first thing in the morning.”

  “Consider it done, Lieutenant.”

  “Dr. Martin, I suggest you not stay alone tonight,” he said. “Also please leave a number where we can reach you.”

  “She can stay with me,” Harry volunteered. He had already decided that.

  After they moved her to Harry’s room, McAtee approached them. “I’m going to place an armed guard in the hallway, just to make sure you’re safe.”

  “Thank you, sir, I’d really appreciate that,” Pepper said.

  “Well, goodnight, folks, and I’m sorry for the trouble. I assure you there will be no more problems of any kind.”

  After McAtee left, Harry looked at Pepper, who sat on the sofa, her face drawn and distressed.

  “Pepper, would you like a cup of tea? It might make you feel a bit better.”

  “Thanks, I’d like that.”

  Harry served the tea then sat beside her. “I think I’m going to delay the review for a couple of days to give you a chance to recuperate.”

  Pepper brushed back her hair and set her cup down. “You know, I bet the people from Europe have already left. No, let’s go ahead. It wouldn’t be fair to make people sit around. I’ll be all right,” She gave Harry an unconvincing smile.

  The next morning Pepper called Bill Hart.

  “Pepper, I can’t believe someone tried to kill you! Are you hurt? What about the police? You must be terribly distraught. I think you should get the first plane out and come home. I’m very upset about this, and I don’t want you to take any more chances.”

  “I’m all right. It just scared me to death. The police are investigating. Thanks for asking me to come home, but we’re at a critical juncture on the project and Harry needs me. I’ll be okay … just shaken up. I really want to stay.”

  “Well, I insist you and the entire team move to STL’s facility. They have guest quarters and the campus is secure. I’ll call Marc and make arrangements right now.”

  “You’ll get no argument from
me, Bill. We’ll move this morning.”

  “Let me know if there’s anything I can do. Call me at home or at the office if you need me. Any time, day or night. Remember what I said. You have my blessings to return to Washington.”

  Pepper rested her head on her hand and tried to remain calm. “I will and thanks, Bill.” She thought about how close she had come to dying and it made her tremble. The question, that would rob her sleep, was … WHY?

  Chapter 12

  STL

  Wormhole Development Facility

  New Mexico

  The SCDR was critical to the success of the wormhole project and several key physicists had already voiced strong opposition to it, particularly Romanski. He was on record as stating that the technology was uncontrollable and too dangerous. He and Cook enjoyed high-level political ties and could cripple the project unless Harry somehow overcame their objections and got their support. He knew if he failed to get broad consensus from the review team, particularly from the key participants, the project could get delayed until the Congressional R&D Oversight Subcommittee sorted things out; a delay that could easily cost them their funding and cause the project to be shut down — permanently. It was a black and white situation with no shades of grey. Somehow, he had to figure out a way to win his critics over or kiss the program goodbye. It was that simple.

  Marc Anthoni started the SCDR with a brief tour of Mission Control, the nerve center of the project. “Ladies and gentlemen, the MCC was designed with a layout similar to that of the old NASA type mission control centers, which were proven to be highly effective. You’ll note the center is semicircular and eighty feet in diameter with two tunnels on either side of the room leading out to the spacecraft and wormhole synthesizer systems. The large holographic display system located at the exact center of the facility front wall, is thirty feet high and twenty feet wide. We can rotate the hologram 360 degrees to allow viewing from any perspective. The semicircular configuration of the facility allows better viewing for personnel anywhere in the facility, and at the same time, excellent mobility to and from the tunnels,” Marc explained. “Any questions?”

  “Okay.” He then continued. “The three large screens located on the front wall, two on the left of the holographic display, and one on the right, provide information critical to the operation and control of the wormhole system, integration with the starship and other data sources. The first one on the left is by far our most important information source as to the health and condition of the wormhole. It continuously updates the metrics and status, and helps us manage the wormhole during startup and operation. This is our first line of defense if something goes wrong. We also employ software agents that provide invaluable assistance to help us diagnose and fix problems before they get out of hand.”

  “Dr. Anthoni, can you demonstrate this?”

  “We plan to do that shortly. The next screen is, as we call it, the eyes of our facility. It gives us a direct video link to the starship and all of its sensors. The system will instantly share any internal or external view or sensor information supplied by the spacecraft with the ground crew. I’ll demonstrate.” Marc patched in the bridge of the Orion and then continued.

  “The huge star map on the right of the holographic display is literally our window to the galaxy. The system integrates, over the network, with every orbiting telescope currently in use. We can actually control these telescopes from our facility and view their outputs real-time. The system also has access to extensive worldwide databases, and provides any astronomical data or star charts in Earth’s cosmological library we request. One of the primary functions of this information source is to overlay the wormhole and ship’s position within the star chart during transit through the bridge. This information can also be shown simultaneously on the holographic display.”

  “What are we looking at now, Marc?” Dr. Yanaff, the Russian physicist, asked.

  “The astronomical chart currently being presented is in quadrant two and includes Polaris and Cera 323. It and our main holographic display will normally present similar information, but not necessarily. For example, we could have a solar system view from the starship displayed on screen two, and in the holographic display, plus the star charts of interest with the wormhole overlay on the right hand screen. The combination and versatility of display formats is quite large.”

  Harry thought the cool feature was the holographic display. It was capable of displaying dynamic annotated simulation results, the wormhole, star charts or other sensor data from the starship, or other telescopes, including its IR, RF, X-ray and optical telescopes in full color and viewable from 360 degrees.

  “Would you like a demonstration of the holographic display?” Marc asked. “We can simulate the wormhole for you.”

  The reviewers all smiled and nodded in agreement.

  “Dr. Johnson, activate simulation model Group A,” Marc said.

  “Computer, bring up simulation model SW23,” Johnson requested. The computer responded immediately.

  “Working, Doctor. The model is loaded and running. Do you want the data points annotated?”

  “Yes please.”

  The holographic display began with a three dimensional star map of the space between Earth and Cera 323, a star thirty light-years from Earth. All of a sudden, the star map began to twist and contort bending the space-time continuum and changing the stars positions — folding space and virtually bending the physical dimensions of space itself. The wormhole appeared with its characteristic puckered throat at both ends with the conduit between the Earth and Cera 323 presented as a three dimensional graphical line drawing outlined with a multitude of stars in full color.

  “The Einstein-Rosen bridge is now stable. Awaiting further direction.”

  “Computer, superimpose the ship, at origin, with a 0.6 light speed and include all flight trajectory information,” Johnson requested.

  “Starship trajectory and data has been incorporated. Real-time simulation data is running.”

  The spacecraft symbol appeared in the star chart at the front of the facility and in the holographic display; moving through the conduit towards Cera 323. Its speed and coordinates displayed as the ship transitioned through the wormhole. Harry was enjoying the demonstration. It was one thing to understand the physics and do the calculations. To see the physical processes unfolding and the enormous space-time traversed was intriguing, even if it was a simulation. The holographic display made it seem all too real.

  “Thank you, Dr. Johnson,” Marc said. “Well, let’s continue our tour. As you can see, the main control room contains a large number of consoles. These enable us to monitor and control the system, and interface with all outside data and information sources.”

  “Dr. Anthoni, do you intend startup and control of the wormhole to be operator controlled or automated through the system computers?” Dr. Grant, from Sandia, asked.

  “Many of the system startup and control functions are already under computer control. Certain critical ones are still operator controlled and will remain so until we’re confident of the startup methodology and procedures. It’ll be fully automated later.”

  “That makes sense to me. You don’t want to lose control of this system or it could easily seal your fate,” Romanski said in his normal sour tone of voice.

  “No argument here,” Marc said. He then continued. “There are five main console stations located in the last row of the facility. The flight director and main control console is in the middle of that row. This is where the entire system is integrated and orchestrated. These five stations allow us to design, control and navigate the wormhole to any point in space, or communicate and coordinate operations with the starship. As you would expect, our primary man-machine interfaces are provided by voice and holographic control panels combined with virtual reality controls.”

  It wasn’t mentioned, but they had installed a special holographic display system that enabled Wanda to have a presence and interact with any console po
sition in the control room. She was an accepted and respected member of the team and often sought after for advice. She was cognizant of everything taking place, but so far, she elected to stay in the background. Harry had asked her to nose around and try to find some clue about Romanski’s agenda.

  Following the tour, the group convened in the main conference room, encased in glass panels to allow the occupants to view operations in the MCC and observe simulations and other topics under discussion as viewed on the displays.

  “Dr. Forrester, I’m concerned about the stability of the wormhole.” Romanski said. “It seems to me you people are on thin ice here. The last project suffered a major failure that killed many scientists. I do not intend to vote yes unless you can convince us you have solved the problems that plagued the original project. You’re creating a monster. If you ever lose control it will destroy all of you.”

  I wondered how long it would take Romanski to get around to that, Harry thought. That guy gives me heartburn. He has to have something up his sleeve. The subcommittee has tried to raid my money twice. Wonder what the deal is this time.

  “I understand, Dr. Romanski,” Ronnie replied. “Our simulations indicate we can control and maintain the wormhole in a stable state. Accommodating the data flow requirements between the software feedback control loops is critical to system stability. The good thing is we think our new compression algorithms will give us the margin we need to prevent a stability issue from occurring.”

  “Excuse me, Ronnie,” Harry said. “Doctor, we’ve brought Scott Kimberly in from Cal Tech. He has a new algorithm he thinks will greatly expand data compression and minimize bandwidth issues.”

  “Well … what if a stability situation occurs? What’s the protocol to control it?” Dr. Cook — a powerful and severe critic of the project — inquired.