Nebula (3 page)

“Whatever you say, Walt,” Harry replied sarcastically. “Look, whether or not I buy your story of alien technologies and day-trips throughout the solar system, I’m not about to jump into something without knowing a bit more. Like, why is it that all of a sudden you need to recruit me for whatever it is that you and your group need to do? If you can give me some idea of that, maybe it would help me understand why I should risk my career, and probably the rest of my life, to join you.”

Brad interjected before Walt
could reply. “We need you to replace one of our team members who had a very unfortunate accident. You have the same academic background and skills and experience.”

Walt amplified Brad’s statement. “We need an expert in human-machine interfaces, particularly direct brain-to-machine devices, to replace the team member who had the accident. You’re our best prospect. I know your work, and I can assure you that what you would do with us would be years advanced over what you do at the university. We really can’t tell you any more until you sign on. The rest of the information is too sensitive for anyone but the people on the project to know. If you did sign on, you’d go well beyond Level-1 and what you’d learn would surprise you much more than what we showed you today. Once you did learn the rest, you wouldn’t even think of turning back. You don’t need to decide today. You can have the rest of the week, but that’s it. We’re on a very tight timeline, and we need to get a replacement onboard as soon as possible.”

“One last question, Walt,” Harry replied. “What kind of accident did this other scientist have? Why can’t you just wait for him to recover?”

“You don’t recover from the kind of accident he had,” Brad replied. “He won’t be able to rejoin the project, and we need a replacement. Now, if we’re finished with the questions, let’s get back in the car. You won’t need the blindfold for
the trip back. You’re cleared high enough to know the location of this facility. But let me remind you that you are sworn to secrecy about the facility and everything that you saw here, including the fact that a few scientists presumed dead are actually alive and working with us. I think that I made that very clear, but I want to reemphasize since secrecy is an absolute requirement and the penalties for breaking the agreement are very severe.”

With that, they walked to the car, and the three of them drove back to the university where they left Harry and drove off to “only God knows” where. Harry had a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something very important was going on, and he could read between the lines and tell that it was more than just an important scientific breakthrough.

*

Harry went back to work the next day, but he continued to be bothered by what had happened and by Walt’s strange behavior, especially all the nonsense about alien spacecraft and travel throughout the solar system. He was also bothered by the presence of three scientists who had been presumed dead. It was all unsettling; not just the ridiculous scientific claims or the fact that three dead people were alive, in good health, and apparently enjoying their unique form of afterlife. There was also the extreme security, totally unexplained, and the “unfortunate accident” that required them to try to recruit Harry. He decided to put it all behind him, forget about what happened, and just go back to his research and teaching.

But things would not work out as easily as Harry planned. On his second day back from the strange visit with Walt and Brad Lincoln, Harry found that his research funding was being cut almost completely. The messages came by email and informed him that formal letters were on the way. The messages were very clear and gave no explanation other than a general need to reduce expenditures, both at the government agencies that funded about half of his work and at the non-profit foundation that covered the other half with matching grants. All that was left now was a very small amount that the university contributed to offset some of its usual fee and to provide office space, phones, and computers for his graduate students and postdocs. The university contribution would surely be eliminated when the other funds were withdrawn. This was a disaster. What would happen to the students and postdocs who were in the middle of their projects? Harry would probably be able to scare up some other funds from sponsors of his past work, but that wouldn’t help the others in his lab. They’d be left out in the cold.

He needed to act quickly and call in all the favors he could, and he was making a list of people to call when Walt popped into his office.

“I heard the bad news,” Walt said. “What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. It all hit so fast and out of the blue. I can’t understand it. The research was going well, and everyone seemed pleased with our progress and even with some of the initial results. We had rave reviews when we demoed the non-invasive brainwave actuated arm and hands. And the eye-track robotic control went over big too. I thought that our sponsors at DOD and NSF were onboard for the long haul, and the Chronos Foundation also seemed eager to co-sponsor the government efforts. We had plans for a huge number of applications, and now it just looks like the bottom fell out. What’s even more confusing is how all three messages came at the same time, as if all three sponsors had coordinated beforehand. It doesn’t make any sense.”

“So, what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. What can I do except try to find other sources of funds?”

“I think that I can help there,” Walt replied. “As you know, the sponsors of our project have very deep pockets. They could pick up the full funding for your lab without batting an eye, but they’d need a quid pro quo.”

“What kind of quid pro quo?”

“You agree to sign on and I can guarantee that your lab will be well funded, essentially forever if they keep producing high quality research. Of course, you’d need to get someone else to take over, since you’ll be working with us, but I think that either Juliet Davidson or Greg Hoffberg would be happy to absorb your students and postdocs. Either of them would do a good job in your place. Maybe not as good as you, but that’s why we want you and not them.”

“That sounds a bit like extortion, Walt. You’re putting me between a rock and a hard place. Can’t you try to get me some funds without this total commitment? I’m not sure that I want to leave here and join some strange outfit, to do something that you can’t tell me about, and to work on a project that seems to me to be a big hoax.”

“Sorry, Harry. I can’t do anything to help you unless you help us. That’s the bottom line. But like I said the other day, you wouldn’t regret coming onto the project once you get the full picture. It’ll be more exciting, challenging, and important than anything you did before or would do in the future. And the bonus is that all your research and your students and postdocs would be taken care of. It’s really a win-win for everyone.”

“I don’t see it that way. In fact, if I didn’t know you better, I’d be pretty suspicious that you and your friends have something to do with this. I’ll think about your offer, but that would be my last choice. I have some friends who might be able to bail me out. If not, maybe we can talk again, but I have to tell you that all my problems seem to have started when I got involved with you and your damned project.”

“OK, do what you want. But if you do want me to try to get my associates to help you, we only have another couple of days before the offer expires, since we need to fill that position and will have to contact the number two on the list.”

Getting help from friends was easier said than done. Everyone who Harry contacted seemed to want to keep a distance from him. They were all friendly enough, but no one could help with the funding and seemed a bit nervous even talking about it. That got Harry thinking. If Walt’s sponsors had such deep pockets and were so powerful that they could run a very elaborate and secret operation like the one that he had a glimpse of a few days ago, maybe they could also intimidate other organizations to make sure that Harry would have no choice but to join their project. He decided to confront Walt directly.

He went to Walt’s laboratory in one of the nearby buildings on campus. Walt was busy with one of his grad students, going over some circuit designs and puzzling over some test data that was obviously not what they thought it should be. A few other students and one of the postdocs were off to the side, installing some sort of weird looking contraption on a scaffold hung from the ceiling. The whole appearance of the lab had a Rube Goldberg look to it, but Harry knew that everything must have been well planned and perfectly installed. Walt was a perfectionist and was one of the world’s foremost researchers in the field of plasma physics. He approached Walt and the student and waited for an opportunity to speak without disrupting the train of thought too much.

Walt backed away from the lab table, and Harry took that opportunity to catch his attention. “We need to talk – now!”

Walt turned and smiled at Harry. “Sure, no problem, we were just about finished here. Donny, go run those tests we just talked about. I think that you’ll see exactly what I predicted. Then, you can change the damping constant and I bet it’ll work like we want.”

When they got to Walt’s office and closed the door, Harry didn’t waste any time getting right down to the subject. He approached Walt and jabbed his finger into Walt’s chest. He was clearly pissed off. “What the hell is going on? Your friends are behind all my problems. Admit it, dammit. Tell me yes or no. Is this being done deliberately by your friends to force me onto the project?”

Walt hesitated for a few seconds before replying. “Believe me, Harry. I had nothing to do with this. I wouldn’t do that sort of thing to you. But the senior leaders in our project are determined to get you to join. Our second choice is nowhere as experienced as you are in areas that are important to us. They’ve obviously called in some big chips to put pressure on you. From what I’ve heard, they’re giving you no choice but to join us. They’ll make sure that if you don’t you’ll never be able to get any significant research grants again. They’re even preparing to put pressure directly on the university to try to have you dismissed or at least assigned to duties that you wouldn’t tolerate for long.”

“Why are those sons of bitches doing this to me? I’ll keep all your damned secrets, and I’ll even agree to work with you part time if that’s what they want. Why in hell do they need me to give up my entire life for them? You seem to be doing well enough working part time for them and still having your research.”

“I can’t go into details, but your involvement will be different from mine. You’ll have to be totally on the inside. I can work both sides. When you get cleared to higher levels, you’ll understand. I think that you also may find that I’ll be a bit jealous of your role in the project, but like I said, I can’t say anymore about it until you agree to join and get the higher clearances.”

Harry was really pissed off at this point. His buddy had stuck a knife in his back, and he wasn’t going to simply give in and do what they ordered him to do. After all, he had tenure, and there was nothing that the university could do to get rid of him. If he couldn’t lead any research projects, he could still teach, and he could turn his attention to theory instead of experiments, and he could write textbooks to supplement his university salary. This wasn’t the end of the world.

He mutter
ed a few nasty remarks to Walt and then stormed out of the office and back to his own lab. When he got there, he found a note on his desk. It was from the university chancellor’s office. He was asked to come as soon as possible to discuss a matter of extreme importance.

“What now,” Harry grumbled to himself and then left to see what the chancellor thought was so important.

“Hello Professor Ambrose,” the chancellor’s administrative assistant said as Harry entered the outer office in the executive suite. “The chancellor is expecting you. I’ll let him know that you’re here.”

It took less than a minute before the chancellor appeared and asked Harry to come into his office and close the door. “We’ve had an inquiry from the Department of Justice regarding one of your projects,” the chancellor began. “Please have a seat, and I’m sure that we can clear things up. It’s probably just an accounting mistake; I’m sure of it. Would you like a cup of coffee?”

Coffee was the last thing on Harry’s mind at this point. With all the other things that had gone wrong, thanks mostly to Walt’s friends, this was all he needed to make the day a complete disaster. “No thanks, I’d rather get down to the matter of this inquiry. What’s it about?”

“Well, I’m not completely sure myself, but we had a phone call from one of the federal prosecutors’ offices about some apparent irregularities in the expense reports for your grant from DOD. It’s the big, multi-year one, the one that funds your research on brainwave control of the mission systems on an aircraft. They claim that several hundred thousand dollars that show up as expenses in the DOD finance system are not listed in any of your monthly expenditure reports, and that this seems to go back quite a few years. They caught it when you were randomly selected for one of the detailed audits of grants that they do each year. When they checked back to the previous three years, they found similar discrepancies and now they need to do a complete audit of all your government sponsored projects dating back seven years. They said that they need to go that far back since this is now an investigation of possible fraud. They also said that the total discrepancy is more than half a million dollars.”