Defiant

by Laurence Dahners

  Argument broke out over where to land, especially in view of the rough lumpy surface with a serious lack of nice flat landing places. Then Abel Jones said, “Look, over to the right. There’s a flat spot next to that large boulder.”

  He was correct and Leo had Noggin ask D5R to land the rocket there. “Abel, for a moment there it almost sounded like you cared about the mission down here on Aycee?”

  “Just didn’t want you wrecking my rocket,” Abel growled, “before we got any real science done back out there in the system.”

  Lin Mi broke in, “Look at the numbers!”

  They all turned to look at the screen which displayed, “Gravity 0.78, 1.8 atmospheres pressure, nitrogen 67%, oxygen 31%, carbon dioxide 1.3%.”

  Leo gave a little fist pump, “We could live there!”

  Abel frowned, “That’s a lot of CO2.”

  Lin Mi shrugged, “Yes, enough to stimulate respiration some. But tolerable.”

  Leo said, “Let’s scrape up a little of the green stuff for that DNA and chlorophyll assay.”

  “I don’t know why we care. We can’t get there.” Abel said in a grouchy tone.

  Leo shook his head, then began directing his AI to extend the manipulator arm out of the rocket to take the test sample.

  ***

  Gary stepped into the small conference room at D5R and found Ell sitting there with a blond man in his forties. She stood and said, “Gary, this is Aaron Miller, a patent attorney I’ve worked with on a couple of other things.” Turning to Miller she indicated Gary and said, “Gary Pace, carbon genius.”

  Miller said, “I hear you can make graphene?”

  Ell arched an eyebrow, “Among other things.” She turned to Gary, “Have you finished my knife yet?”

  He nodded and pulled out a knife handle with a grayish semitransparent blade sticking out of it. The blade was long and slender, looking more like a stiletto or ice pick. He leaned back and reached into his pants pocket, pulling out an oak dowel which he set on the table next to the knife.

  Ell picked up the knife and the dowel, easily shaving a sliver off the dowel to demonstrate its sharpness. Then she cut hard into it to notch out a little wedge of wood. “It looks so dainty! Would I be able to break it?”

  “I don’t think so. It’s solid graphend with a diamond edge. I haven’t broken one in the Instron yet, but it should take close to six hundred pounds to break it in three point bending.”

  Miller’s eyebrows were up. “So we’re patenting some kind of super knife?”

  Ell could hear the subtext of; I flew down from Boston for a knife? She grinned at him, “Not exactly…”

  ***

  Reginald Simmins, PhD turned to his new secretary and said, “Put me through to Donsaii.”

  Alice stared at him for a moment, thinking that he must have been speaking to his AI and just happening to be looking at her.

  But then he said, “Alice?”

  What a pompous ass, Alice thought to herself. Then she asked her own AI to put through a call to Dr. Donsaii for him.

  A few moments later Allan spoke in Ell’s ear, “You have a call from a Dr. Axel Simmins’ secretary, asking to establish a connection to Dr. Simmins. She states that he is a member of the State Department, though I don’t find him on the public list of State Department personnel.”

  “Put him through… Dr. Simmins?”

  “Hello Dr. Donsaii,” a woman’s voice said. “Let me connect you to Dr. Simmins.”

  Simmins said, “Ms. Donsaii, I’m calling on behalf of the Committee for Extraterrestrial Affairs. I realize that it has been quite a while since the Blaustein bill passed, but it has taken some time for the Committee to be fully funded and established. I’m pleased to report that we are finally ready to undertake our responsibilities. I personally have been assigned to work with you on the transfer of the technology for the one way ports and any existing links to other solar systems that you may have already established. I’m hoping to arrange a time for you to deliver the tech to us, as well as to establish its value so that the Government may reimburse you for the transfer.” He paused, evidently waiting for a response, “Ms. Donsaii?”

  “Yes?”

  “Is there a time that is convenient for the transfer?”

  “No.”

  “Uh… would it be better if I came down to North Carolina?”

  “No.”

  “I… don’t understand… how will we arrange the transfer?”

  “Dr. Simmins, has no one told you that I do not intend to transfer the technology, nor control of any of the established ports to the Ementhal Committee?”

  “Uh… it’s not the Ementhal Committee. It’s the Committee for Extraterrestrial Affairs.”

  “Dr. Ementhal is not the chairman of the committee?”

  “Well, yes. But, the committee isn’t named after him.”

  “Dr. Simmins, it doesn’t really matter what the committee is named. Dr. Ementhal is in charge of it, which would be a serious problem if I intended to transfer the tech to a committee. However, since I have decided that I will not transfer the tech to anyone, committee or individual, it no longer matter who heads up the committee.”

  “But,” Simmins paused, the continued peevishly, “Ms. Donsaii… the Blaustein bill has been passed into law. You must turn over control.”

  “I don’t believe I do, Dr. Simmins.” She cut the connection.

  Simmins stared at Alice in astonishment. “She hung up on me!”

  Alice blandly said, “She has a PhD.”

  “Huh?”

  “She has a PhD. You referred to her as ‘Ms.’ throughout your conversation.”

  “Oh,” he waved a deprecating hand, “That was an honorary degree.”

  “No sir. She was awarded a full PhD ‘for work accomplished’ at NC State.” Alice tilted her head, “She got a Nobel prize for the theory underlying the work she did at NC State. Many think she’ll get another Nobel for the ports that she worked out while she was a student at NC State, I would think a doctorate to be well deserv...” Alice trailed off since Simmins’ had already started off down the hall to Ementhal’s new office.

  ***

  Vivian knocked on the frame of Ell’s open door. “Hey Ell, you look like you just bit something sour.”

  “Mmm. Been talking to one of the twits in our government.” She put up a hand, “Sorry, most of them are good people trying to do a good job… but some…” She shook her head, “What can I do for you?”

  “Oh, I’ve got good news,” she smiled, “and it relates to one of our government’s employees doing his job well. As you know, we’ve shut down a few wire ports that have drawn more current than they should on the presumption that someone might be pumping fluid through them. As hoped, the people leasing the ports returned them for replacements on their lease. Two sets were actually drawing extra current because they were defective. The third set was from Hoboken New Jersey, across the Hudson from Manhattan. One of our friends from the FBI dressed up as a FedEx delivery man and took the replacement pair to the man who requested it.” Vivian raised an eyebrow, “Turns out this guy’s home computer spends a lot of time linked to Jihadist websites. Over the first three hours after he received the pair, it began intermittently drawing current, presumably because he was testing it. The next afternoon, he stopped by the General Services Federal building in Manhattan and dropped one end of the pair into a potted plant!”

  “What happened to the guy?”

  “Oh, he’s in custody…”

  Chapter Five

  President-Elect Edith Stockton looked up as her assistant shepherded Francis Ementhal and Stockton’s science advisor Elton Costella into the transition facility where she was awaiting her move into the White House. She shook out her shoulders, trying to relieve the tension from another meeting with that idiot Flood. The man kept trying to give her advice on how to run the country. You’d think the man didn’t understand that he’d lost the election. “Yes, gentlemen?”
>
  Appearing appalled, Costella began, “Donsaii apparently intends to ignore the Blaustein bill! One of Dr. Ementhal’s people called her to arrange the transition of the equipment and any extant extra-solar connections to the Committee for Extraterrestrial Affairs. She actually refused! Even after being reminded that the bill had been passed into law!”

  Stockton narrowed her eyes, “I’ve never liked that little bitch, nor her ‘holier than thou’ attitude. Too pure and prissy for me.” Stockton curled her lip, “I’ll bet if we had the FBI do a little digging we’d find out things aren’t quite as picture-perfect as she makes them out to be.” Stockton paused and leaned back in her chair. Musingly she said, “So, she actually said she intended to break the law?”

  Costella shrugged, “She said she didn’t intend to transfer the tech to ‘anyone, committee or individual.’ If that’s not breaking the law, I don’t know what is.”

  “So we’ve asked nicely and have a record of her saying she doesn’t intend to comply?”

  “Yes Ma’am.”

  Stockton rubbed her chin, “Much as she pisses me off, she’s enormously popular. Why should we actually care if she controls the access to any ETs?”

  This time Ementhal spoke in his resonant baritone, leaning forward to convey the importance of his words. “Madam President, let me propose a scenario. Imagine that the next aliens we encounter are not primitives like we’ve found at Tau Ceti, but instead much more technologically advanced than we are. Further, suppose that Ms. Donsaii, ineptly managing said encounter, angers these advanced peoples and they decide to withhold trade, or to hold back technological advances or largess. In which case you could be seen as the President who failed to negotiate favorable terms for your people. Or… suppose they are so angry that they decide to attack us here on Earth.”

  Ementhal leaned back, “In some scenarios you could be the last President of these United States, Ma’am.”

  Stockton tilted her head. Though she didn’t like Donsaii, it also pissed her off when men didn’t give women their due. “I thought Donsaii had a doctorate?”

  Ementhal shrugged, “Unearned. It was more of an honorary degree, even though the NCSU claims it’s a full doctorate.”

  Stockton said, “Why do you assume these ETs will be inimical?”

  “Oh, I don’t. But, imagine another scenario. We contact an advanced species with astonishing wisdom to offer. This would probably be the most significant encounter in the history of mankind. Who do you want to be in charge of such a great and historical congress, a loose cannon named Donsaii… or the Stockton administration?”

  Stockton narrowed her eyes again, recognizing that Ementhal was stroking her ego with one line and playing her fears with the other. But, the man had a good point. “OK, so how do you propose we deal with this?”

  “Like we do any other lawbreaker. Have her arrested. Confiscate the equipment.”

  Stockton looked at him pensively, then said, “Is it her… or is it this D5R company that we should be going after?”

  “Honestly Ma’am, behind all the smoke and mirrors what you’re looking at is just an extraordinarily lucky girl who happened to stumble onto a few principles that allowed her to access the fifth dimension. That prodigious turn of fortune allowed her to design the PGR chips and open the dimensional ports.

  “D5R is simply a company founded, probably by a small group of the superrich, to monetize her two serendipitous inventions. Angering D5R’s owners may be politically unwise and shouldn’t be necessary. Those owners have gone to extreme lengths to keep their identities unknown, the kind of lengths than only very savvy, very wealthy individuals can pull off.

  “Now, what your administration actually wants is to gain control of the ‘one ended ports’ that allow interstellar exploration and which apparently can also be weaponized. Contact with the primitives at Tau Ceti can be left to the current scientific team. You just want to be sure, first of all, that your team manages all contact with advanced races. Secondly, your department of defense absolutely must control any weaponization of the single-ended ports.

  “I’ve investigated and apparently D5R has nothing to do with the one ended ports, that’s entirely a side project of Donsaii’s. So you don’t need to do anything with D5R in general, simply gain control of Ell Donsaii.” Ementhal chuckled, “I predict that Donsaii, who has led the life of a spoiled child, will break almost immediately upon being confronted with jail time.”

  Stockton chewed a lip a minute then turned to Costella. “OK, talk to Raul Stenner. He’s going to be my Attorney General. Let’s make sure we aren’t going to step in some kind of legal dogshit when we arrest the little twit.”

  ***

  Jacob Bensen stood a little ways inside the door of his home, welcoming guests to the Math Department’s annual Christmas party. Their previous chairman had also had a Christmas party for the department, but had held it in one of the department’s conference rooms. Jacob felt that the personal touch of having the function in his home served to bring his colleagues together in a more convivial and social atmosphere. He felt that it cemented associations beyond work and led to friendly relationships which could genuinely improve interactions the rest of the year. “Shan!” He said, “Welcome to your first Christmas party with the department. The first of many I hope! This must be your new bride?”

  “Yes, this is Raquel,” Shan said, putting his arm around her shoulders. “Thanks for being so understanding about my not teaching the second session of summer school. Our honeymoon was wonderful.”

  Jacob turned to Raquel and took her hand. “Oh my!” He winked at Shan, “I would have taken the entire summer if I’d just married such a beautiful young woman.”

  Raquel gave Jacob a smile, and lowered her voice, “Well, I had to keep Shan’s nose to the grindstone the first part of the summer.” She raised an eyebrow. “He has to support me in style after all.”

  Jacob laughed, thumped Shan on the shoulder and moved on to his next guest.

  Later that evening, Jacob saw that Kinrais’ new wife had been cornered by the department blowhard, Milton Agrits. Knowing Agrits, Jacob suspected that the girl was being subjected to an explanation of Agrits’ work on the new Delphine splays. Milton never seemed to grasp that non mathematicians had absolutely no interest in his theories. Without a basis for understanding, an explanation of the studies that were his pride and joy could be mind numbing, no matter how fascinating Agrits thought it was.

  Taking pity on the girl, Jacob decided that she desperately needed to be introduced to someone else. He glanced around, perhaps he could introduce her to his wife? If only he could remember the young lady’s name! He headed that way nonetheless. Arriving on scene, he touched the young lady’s arm, “Ms. Kinrais?” he said. Agrits paused in his description and the woman turned to Jacob, raising her eyebrows. “I was hoping to introduce you to my wife?” He turned to Agrits, “If you don’t mind Milton?”

  Agrits shrugged, probably a little miffed. The young lady said, “Oh, that would be nice. Just one second.” She turned back to Agrits, “I think you should try transforming a few of the Delphine splays using Egol’s marginal calculation. I have a feeling that they might condense.” She turned back to Jacob, “Where is your wife, Dr. Benson?”

  Startled to hear some esoteric math terms coming from one of his faculty’s wives, Jacob glanced at Ms. Kinrais as he took her by the elbow to guide her across the room. Thinking she must have just humorously tossed some words she’d heard Shan using at Agrits, Jacob expected her to be laughing at her own little joke. She looked perfectly serious though, so Jacob glanced back at Agrits.

  Agrits looked like someone had poured cold water down his spine. A perfect combination of startlement, shock and dismay.

  Jacob said, “What did you do to poor Milton?”

  She glanced back at Agrits as well, then, looking chagrined, said, “Oops.” She looked back at him a moment longer as if considering, then turned back to Jacob. “Shan and I
have a little joke going. Whenever he’s having trouble with one of his ideas, I tell him he should ‘try Egol’s marginal calculation,’ something he told me solved one of his early problems once.” She blinked, “I’m afraid that Dr. Agrits might not have understood that I was joking.” She glanced back at Agrits again, “Do you think I should go back and apologize?”

  Jacob also looked back at Agrits who had dropped onto the couch and was speaking rapidly to his AI while staring up at his HUD. Bemusedly Jacob wondered if Agrits actually was trying Egol’s calculation? Surely not. He turned back to the young woman, “Oh, I don’t think that’s necessary.” He lowered his voice, “Actually I was only trying to rescue you from Milton. He can go on and on about math without ever recognizing a total lack of interest in his audience.” Jacob tilted his head, “However, I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve forgotten your first name which will cause me to utterly fail in my mission to introduce you to my wife?”

  “Oh!” The young woman grinned at him. “That was very nice of you. My name’s Raquel.” She glanced back over at Agrits, “I do hope I haven’t hurt Dr. Agrits’ feelings.”

  “It looks like he’s off in his own little world. Probably, your suggesting Egol’s to him has him trying that and five other things.” Jacob chuckled ruefully, “We’ll be lucky if we can pry him back off the couch at the end of the party.”

  Jacob’s wife Simone looked away from her conversation with Tatiana, one of the department’s new grad students, a question in her eyes. “Yes?”

  Jacob said, “Hey Simone, I wanted to introduce Raquel Kinrais to you.” He gestured at Simone and Tatiana. “Raquel this is my wife Simone and Tatiana Nicente, one of our new grad students.” He leaned forward and said conspiratorially, “I’ve just rescued her from Milton Agrits who’d been expounding his new work to her.”

  Simone looked sympathetically at Raquel, “Oh, I’ve been there, sorry.” Then she glanced past Raquel and said, “Oh-oh. Here he comes.”