by M J Kendrick
David stood up. “That’s it then, Freddie. See you Monday. Don’t forget to turn off the lights.”
With that, she was out of the door and gone.
***
Freddie watched David disappear out of the door, and, looking around at the mess in the lab, knew exactly what he’d be doing for the next hour and why there had been such swift goodbyes from his colleagues.
He shook his head and said to himself, “Last again... How’d that happen?”
***
Unusually, Rose was first in the lab when David rolled in with Freddie. He could see that she was visibly revitalized. The glorious weekend was just what the doctor ordered. Rose grinned. “Mornin’ troopers, you both look bright-eyed.”
The first port of call was always the coffee machine, undoubtedly the most valuable and well-used piece of equipment in the lab. Freddie poured David a cup and took the empty mug from Rose that was being waved unceremoniously in his face.
“Yes, please, garcon!” Freddie exaggerated a bow and gave her a refill.
Heading for his workstation, he casually flicked on his computer. “That was some weekend. The weather was fantastic.”
Rose had turned back to her screen. “Did you get to that theme park?”
“Didn’t have much of a choice when the girls got the weather report. I had the three of them gang up on me on Friday night.”
Rose and David knew how much Freddie idolized his identical twin teenage daughters, Rachel and Alison, clearly the light of his life, and despite saying otherwise, he openly spoilt them. The difference in appearance between them and Gina, his wife of eighteen years, was narrowing as the twins grew older, and he often joked that it felt as if he had three daughters.
“Honestly, I swear they’re even swapping clothes with Gina now! The park was fun, though. Actually, I relish weekends like this with them, although joining them on some of the rides wasn’t necessarily my thing. Not that I don’t love the thrill, it’s the endless high-pitched shrieks and screams that go hand in hand as soon as their feet leave the ground. That’s too much to bear. So most of the time, I was on terra firma on handbag duty.”
David was smiling as Freddie spoke. He’d known Freddie’s family for many years and had watched the twins grow up. Now, though, the usual chit-chat about family life had taken on deeper meaning, even more so after his own weekend with Jean, discussing the fact that they were going to be a real family and all the exciting things they would do. Whether their child would be a girl or a boy. What schools they’d attend. What they’d want to be when they grew up. And if they would favor the sciences as David and Jean did. David began to understand Freddie’s love of family life and wondered if the birth of their child would help soften the clinical relationship between him and Jean. For a moment, he was lost in thought. “It was baby talk for us. What about you, Rose? Are your folks still in town?”
“Yeah, Tom and I were with them all weekend. It was great, but I wish Tom wouldn’t keep asking about all the places they’ve gone on a cruise to. It doesn’t take the folks long to start talking, and, honestly, if I hear Tom say, ‘when we retire, we’re going around the world’ one more time, I’ll go nuts.”
“More nuts, you mean,” joked Freddie.
Rose sniggered. “Yeah well, I suppose Tom is the only non-scientist in the family, and he’s got to talk about something, the poor fella. He made the mistake of asking Mum and Dad about their medical research back in the day. That was a mistake! Anyway, he’s always been a bit jealous of people that travel a lot. Guess he shouldn’t have gone into corporate finance and accounting then, eh?”
Freddie visualized Tom getting his ears talked off. “Ooh, you can be so cruel at times.”
“Nah, I love the big dope. It’s fair game.”
David was the first to switch into work mode. “Okay, let’s see how the yttrium matrix is coming along,” he said, as he walked over to the containment area. Both Rose and Freddie scooted over on their wheeled chairs.
David peered through the observation port. “Yep, just as I thought, slow... Having said that, you can see the growing cilia appears evenly distributed over the base. Although, it does seem a little thinner than usual.” He pointed to the underside of the matrix.
“Looks to be about four or five millimeters to me,” said Freddie.
Rose looked up at no one in particular. “That’ll mean it will take approximately a full week to achieve the required bulk. That is, if my math is correct and we stick to our uniform sized ingots.”
David smiled. “Excellent, let’s prep another test.”
“Great,” said Freddie. “I’ll wind up and calibrate the systems.”
Rose had already scooted back to her workstation. “I’ll get the block.”
David had moved into the vacant part of the containment area and was positioning the equipment ready for calibration. “Rose, find an ingot that’s identical in size to the original as close as you can. This test is volume centric.”
She’d disappeared into the secure storage room. “You got it, boss.”
By eleven thirty, they were ready. “Three hours, twenty-eight minutes, that’s gotta be the quickest prep time to date,” said Rose.
Freddie chuckled. “Let’s hope we didn’t forget anything. Oops, where’s the block?”
“Freddie’s right,” said David with a slight frown. “Let’s just double-check everything to make sure.”
Despite a low, frustrated sigh, both Rose and Freddie knew better than to question the need for the re-check.
It took another forty-five minutes to go over all aspects of the test before David was finally satisfied. “Keep a close eye on the data, people. Okay, powering up . . .”
David activated the start-up sequence, and the now familiar, low hum of the power delivery became audible.
“Programme running, incremental stages on track,” said Freddy with automated precision.
“Data flow active, steady and following designated parameters, no variations detected,” Rose added.
“Rising through the 200-volt mark... now, no change.” Freddie continued, “Three hundred volts, no change, 400 volts, no change, 500 volts, no change.”
“Okay, hold it there, no point in going any further. Damn!” David said, frustrated. “Oh well, that’s another one to tick off the list.”
He sat quietly contemplating and going over the test in his mind while the other two busied themselves collating the data and resetting the systems.
“We’re still missing something here. There has to be some factor in play that we haven’t accounted for,” David said out loud to himself.
“Do you want us to set up for another run?” asked Rose. “It won’t take as long, as everything is pretty much in place.”
David looked up, deep in thought. “We could, but before we do, I want us to go over the initial reports and data again. This time, I want open speculation from you both. The answer has got to be there. We’re just not seeing it.”
“All right,” said Freddie. “I’ll wind everything down. I suspect this is going to take a while.”
“Probably best,” added David. “Clear up, and we’ll pick this up after lunch.”
After a short break, the three scientists returned to the lab and moved their seats to the long workbench in the center of the lab’s main area that was home to several pieces of equipment, including their metallurgical microscope and spectrophotometer. Freddie moved the equipment to the side to make room, which was immediately engulfed with reams of files, readouts, papers, and, of course, the inevitable hieroglyphic offering from Rose.
David affectionately shook his head. “Here we go,” he said with mock frustration.
Rose immediately looked up. “Don’t start,” she replied with equally feigned sarcasm.
“How do you want to proceed?” asked Freddie.
David had placed the three post-accident test summary sheets side by side on the counter in front of him and was glancing back and f
orth between them and the accident data that he held in his hand.
“I think we need all this data in a single graph format that we can add to and make direct comparisons, less chance of missing something.”
Rose nodded. “There would definitely be a benefit in that. It’ll make streaming over the data much easier, plus it will give us the option to put in some additional fields. Those summary sheets only give three-quarters of the data we capture. I know the majority of it’s unlikely to change the overall results, as it mostly relates to inert parameters, but we should be as comprehensive as possible.”
“I agree with that,” said Freddie. “I’ve even got a couple of fields that we can add that we wouldn’t normally bother with.”
“What do you mean?” quizzed David.
“Well, we capture the full light spectrum, ambient noise, and seismological data for starters, plus a few others. It’s a by-product of the monitoring equipment we use. We just don’t collate it because it has no bearing on what we do, but it’s all stored in the computers.”
“Christ, how much memory does that stuff take up?” asked David.
“Very little, actually. In any case, our systems are so powerful I doubt it would even register.” Freddie was always happy to sing the praises of their computer processing power. No doubt their system was something that worked its way through the now seemingly, ever-present, old boy network. David thought best to leave that point where it was.
“Okay, that sounds like a solid plan. How long will it take to work up a template and transport the data?”
Freddie was beaming. “If Rose helps, we can have the template ready in a day or so, I would think. Transporting the data will take a little longer as we have to unify the language between the several different capture mechanisms. Still, it should all be collated and ready by the end of the week if we don’t run into any problems.”
“Okay, it definitely should be done. It doesn’t leave us a great deal of time with the borrowed sensor array. I don’t suppose there’s any chance of permanently acquiring it?”
Freddie chuckled. “Extremely unlikely, boss. Firstly, those things are in short supply. In fact, the facility only has two, and, secondly, they cost about half a million dollars each! So I would suggest we move as quickly as we can while we have it.”
David nodded. “Thought as much. Let’s not waste any time. You guys crack on with that. I’ve got to work on the weekly report, oh deep joy!” he exclaimed with a resigned face.
Chapter Four
Trent Slater watched the rain beading on the windscreen of his old Chrysler Pacifica, admiring the yellow reflection from the street lamps as it ran down in neat droplets. It was just after midnight, and he was feeling tired. He had returned from his courier run only two hours earlier and was heading home when he received the call from the general to meet.
Trent hated these late-night meetings. They always seemed to happen after a long run and when the weather was bad. He hoped it was going to be a quick briefing. The general was one of the typical OCD career-military types he had come across on more than one occasion when on duty at Guantanamo. General Edwards had recruited him three years ago, after he had been destined for a spell in Fort Leavenworth for trying to smuggle contraband. In fairness, he had been caught red-handed with a case full of Cuban cigars and had little option other than to accept his punishment. That was when the general approached him. Had he not accepted the offer to become the general’s courier, he would still be in the Kansas military correctional facility before being discharged to an uncertain future.
Trent knew that there was more to his charitable benefactor than just helping out a fellow marine that had erred from the straight and narrow, but without much of a choice and zero prospects, a paid job that spared him his stretch was a good deal. Most of the time, he transported documents around the country, all innocent and routine, but as the months passed by, he was asked to get close to certain people, and by the end of his first year, he was under no misconception as to why he was chosen.
Little by little, he had been given tasks that would bring him into contact with key people in companies and organizations that were involved in areas of interest to the government. The pattern was always the same. Get close to a single, vulnerable female in a position that had access to procedures and projects that were kept out of the public eye and use her to gain information. At first, Trent found the role exciting. His first three targets had all been attractive, slim, and fun. Getting information was easy. His latest target was not quite so pleasing to the eye and by far the most demanding he had faced. Lydia was older, small, and plump. Definitely not the type he would normally be attracted to. He had only met with her a handful of times, but she had already declared her undying love for him, and that made him feel uncomfortable. He knew the general was going to send him back over to Gainesville, and he suspected this time it would be more than a fleeting visit.
General Edwards rounded the corner and approached the car. Trent leaned over and pushed the door open as the general closed his umbrella and shook off the rain. Within seconds of him sitting in the car, the windows steamed up. “Been waiting long?” asked the general.
“Long enough. I never understand why we always have to meet in the middle of the night.”
“Come now, Trent, you already know the answer to that. Now let’s get down to business. We want you to go back over to the Omni facility in Gainesville. There are some projects going on over there that are rattling a few cages upstairs, and our people, shall we say, want to quietly see if there’s anything else going on before they award a sizeable contract—which usually means there could be a significant military use for this stuff. How are things with your contact?”
“They’re fine,” said Trent rolling his eyes at the thought of what he was going to have to do.
“Good, you’ll be heading over there the day after tomorrow with some documents that will need signing and returning. We’ve initially arranged for you to be there for four days. Here is a list of what you’ll be looking for.”
The general handed Trent a thick envelope, which he immediately opened and glanced through.
“There’s a lot of technical stuff in here, General.”
“Yes there is. Read up on it well. We have a contact in one of the labs who is doing some other things for us, but he is, shall we say, difficult to deal with, and by all accounts, not too popular. How long we can rely on him for is anyone’s guess, so you’ll be on your own. Let me be clear, you’re going to have to do whatever it takes on this one. This is important, Trent. We’re fairly certain other governments are starting to show interest in what’s being developed in the labs. If you need more time when you’re there, just call the number as usual.”
“What the hell is a nano tube anyway?” said Trent, as he read the documents.
“It’s all explained in the pack. Be sure you memorize the contents and destroy it afterward. This is big, and there are some heavyweights behind this, so don’t screw up.”
“That’s easy for you to say, General. You’re not the one waking up next to her covered in that godawful, heavy perfume.”
The general laughed. “Think of it as taking one for the team, or, should I say, giving one for the team.”
“General, if it was only one, I’d be a lot happier, but Lydia is an animal when we’re alone. They say the quiet ones are the worst. Believe me, you have no idea. Still, there are worse jobs, I suppose.”
“That’s the spirit,” said the general. “Think yourself lucky. Your contact has access to everything we need, so it’s all in one place. Do a good job.”
“All right, General, I’ll get the information for you. Is this going to be a long assignment?”
“That all depends on what you learn, but on the face of it, I would say that yes, this is going to be a longer than usual assignment, so don’t go making any long-term plans.”
Trent wasn’t too happy about what the general had said. Getting intimate with
Lydia meant that he had to continue to force himself to show interest. His cover was that he was married but separated, with a messy divorce looming, but that story wouldn’t last forever. At least for now, it was a good enough reason for her to keep their relationship quiet. Trent would have to stretch that out as much as possible.
“Very well,” said the general, “we’ll leave it there. Good luck with the Janovich woman.”
He opened the car door and extended his umbrella, and, as quickly as he had arrived, he was gone.
Trent sat watching the rain. He wondered if he was a spy or just classed as an “asset.” Whatever it was, he knew his life was at a turning point. This assignment was far more involved than his usual ones. He often had a feeling that he was being groomed. Trent thought about it, and a wry smile appeared on his face. Whatever plans the general had for him, he liked it, and despite his dislike of Lydia Janovich, he planned to do whatever was needed.
***
By the time Friday arrived, the combined data collation was well under way but nowhere near complete. David had already pestered the life out of his team even though he knew there was no way to speed up the process.
“There’s an awful lot more data here than we thought,” said Freddie. “Plus those last two systems’ languages are proving problematic. I will crack it, but it looks like I’ll be doing it over the weekend.”
“Is there anything we can do to help?” asked David.
“Unfortunately not, this part is a one-man show, but don’t worry, I’ll not let you down. Actually, I quite like the challenge, something to get my teeth into.”
Rose had been watching Dr. Bellows having one of his hissy fits through the partition when the lab phone rang. She answered with a smile as she saw Bellows stumble out of his lab door and drop the box of papers he was carrying.
“David, it’s Miss Janovich. She’s asking where the weekly report is.”
