Nebula (4 page)

Harry was dumbstruck. Now he was being investigated for defrauding the government? This whole pattern of problems was looking more and more like an elaborate scheme to get him to knuckle under and just join the project.

“I don’t know what to say,” he finally replied, after gaining his voice back. “I document all my expenses and run them through our own finance system to make sure that everything checks to the penny. Can I see the figures that they claim are undocumented?”

“I don’t have them here. All I have is their message that they will need to meet with you and with our comptroller and go over all the records. They want you to speak with one of their accountants, a Mr. Osborne, at this number to set up an appointment.” And he passed Harry a piece of paper with Mr. Osborne’s phone number on it.

Harry left the chancellor’s office and called the number as soon as he got to his office. Mr. Osborne answered and thanked him for his prompt reply. “We’ll need to sit down with you and discuss the problem. I’m sure that there’s a simple explanation. Can you come to my office tomorrow? I’ll fax you the address and directions. Also, could you bring your records from the bank account that you have in Luxembourg? We’ll need to look at that too. And, I don’t know if you’re aware of it, but you should have listed that account on your income tax returns. But we can straighten all that out too.”

“Luxembourg? What bank account in Luxembourg? I’m not sure that I could even locate Luxembourg on a map of the world. I don’t have a bank account there.”

“Professor Ambrose, this may all be a case of mistaken identity, but we’ve obtained records of an account in your name at that bank, and it contains over three hundred thousand dollars in Euros. We need to ask you a few questions about that and about electronic transaction records that seem to point to your Internet account. Can you come to the office tomorrow at 10:00 am?”

“Yes, I’ll be there, but I’m not sure what I can do to clear this up. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“OK. See you at ten tomorrow,” and with that Mr. Osborne hung up the phone.

Now things were definitely out of control, and it was pretty clear that Walt’s friends were behind this. They obviously were plugged into the government and into the international financial community at very high levels, and they were pulling out all the stops. Time to talk to Walt again. He picked up the phone and dialed Walt’s extension.

Walt
answered on the third ring. “Professor Ferguson speaking.”

Harry didn’t even bother to say hello before starting in on Walt. “Your bastard friends are now cooking up more trouble for me. They have the Justice Department, and God knows who else, after me. They’re framing me for defrauding the government of over half a million dollars. They even set up a phony bank account in my name in Luxembourg. What the hell is going on, and how can I make them stop?”

“Harry, I’m really sorry that I got you dragged into this, but there’s nothing that I can do about it. The higher ups decided that they are going to do whatever it takes to get you to join the project, and it looks like they’re willing to destroy you if you don’t agree. Believe me, they can do whatever they want. Why don’t you just agree to join and get it all over with? Like I said, once you know more about it, you’ll be glad to be part of it. I just don’t like the strong arm tactics. I’m really sorry about that.”

“A lot of good your apologies will do for me, Walt. It’s pretty clear that your friends will leave me no options. The next step is probably to frame me for some murder or maybe espionage. Why are they doing this? Even if they got me to cave in, I’d be a disgruntled employee, and they must realize that it’s one of the biggest risks to security. Why don’t they just leave me alone?”

“Harry, I’ve been trying to tell you that you’d want to work on the project once you knew more about it. They’re not worried about any disgruntled employee, and they’re not just going to walk away. They’re not giving you any other choice. But you’ll understand and cool off once you do get into it. I wouldn’t try to fool you about that.”

Harry was silent for a moment. This was going to be the end of his world. He could sense that. Now he was at the mercy of people he never met and who had subjected him to the kind of extreme pressure that could only be described as torture. But what choice did he have? “OK, I surrender. Where and when do you want me to go?”

“You’re making the right choice, Harry. Come to my office at nine o’clock tomorrow morning, and I’ll take you from there.”

“I’m not making any choice. Your friends aren’t giving me any choice. And I can’t come at nine tomorrow. I have to meet some accountant in the prosecutor’s office tomorrow at ten. That’s one of the turds that your buddies threw into the punchbowl.”

“Forget the prosecutor and all the other crap that they’ve thrown at you. None of it will matter anymore. It will all get erased, zap, right into the bit buckets. And the university will also find that the elimination of your research grants was also a big mistake. Who do you want to take over your projects, Juliet or Greg. I can make all the arrangements. Don’t you do anything out of the ordinary. Just finish the day as usual and go home. We’ll handle everything at the university from now on.”

It was that cut and dry. Harry replied, “Have Juliet take over for me,” and he slammed down the phone and just stared at the wall. He knew that his life was now under the control of some dark and powerful force, hopefully with the pleasant effect that Walt kept talking about, but he had his doubts. He was now being forced from the comfortable university “cocoon” that he had built for himself and was emerging into a totally unknown world populated by people who appeared to be totally ruthless and powerful. And they obviously had plans for him that he couldn’t even guess.

Harry arrived at Walt’s office precisely at nine the next morning and was surprised to see another man there with Walt and Brad Lincoln.

“OK, so I’m here like you said. Who the hell is this other guy?” His manner was gruff, not surprising considering all the trouble that Walt and his friends had been making for him. Harry was definitely not a happy camper, and his attitude made that very plain.

“Calm down, Harry,” Walt replied. “Charlie is another of our security officers. He and Brad are just here to help you make the transition. There are a few things that we need to tell you before we drive out to a facility where we can give you the next set of briefings. These are ones that I’m sure will convince you that joining us is the right move. But first we need to go back to the office where you first met Brad. We want to tell you what comes next, and there are a few things in your background that we need to verify.”

“Whatever you say. I don’t seem to have any choice, do I?”

“Well, actually no. But you’ll see that the choice that we made for you is the one that you would have made for yourself once you know everything about the project.”

“Fine. Let’s go and get this over with.”

They walked the short distance to the room with the thick door and the heavy security, and Harry sat in one of the chairs at the table. Walt, Brad, and Charlie sat at the other three.

“OK,” Brad said. “Let’s get started. We just have a few questions, and then we’ll explain what’s going to happen next.”

Harry nodded but didn’t reply. He was still steaming and wanted as little conversation as possible.

“First off, we need to verify that you are not married and never have been and that you have no children or other close relatives.”

Harry nodded but still said nothing. He thought to himself that the bastards seemed to know everything about him so why would they even ask such stupid questions?

“Good. Now here’s what’s going to happen. We’ll drive to another one of our facilities where you’ll be briefed by several of the senior people in the project. They’ll fill you in on the history, the scientific background, the reason for secrecy, and the importance of the project. That will get you to Levels 2 and 3 and should show you why this project is probably the most important and difficult one that mankind has ever attempted. Next, you’ll be taken to a different location where we have a more secure facility, and you’ll get additional briefings at Level-4, the highest clearance. That’s where you’ll understand why we were so intent on getting you to join us and what your role will be.”

“I didn’t join you,” Harry replied, breaking his silence. “Joining implies willingness. I was shanghaied.”

“Whatever,” Brad said. “The fact is that you’re now one of us, so try to make the best of it, and have a bit of patience. You’ll soon be eager to be part of this project.”

“If you say so.”

At that moment, Charlie’s cell phone rang.

Harry was surprised. “How come he has cell coverage in here? I thought that you secured this place. Don’t you block RF transmissions?”

Walt answered. “We have our own network, and there’s a secure transceiver embedded in the roof of the building and a covert link from it, through the walls of the room to a cellular repeater over there, on that wall.”

Harry looked where Walt pointed and saw the small box.

Charlie ended his brief conversation and was visibly disturbed. “We need to get Professor Ambrose out of here. Forget the plan. Let’s go.”

“What happened,” Walt asked before anyone else could.

“Someone broke into his house, and we got word that the police and FBI are scouring the area looking for him. We have to get out of here now.”

Harry didn’t understand what was happening, but the others obviously did. Brad grabbed him by the arm and hurried him out the door, to a car that was waiting nearby. They all jumped in and drove off like a bat out of hell. It was pretty clear that whatever was happening was something that they all feared a lot more than getting a traffic ticket.

When they were about twenty kilometers away from the university, they pulled off onto a small side street. There they met some people in another car, and they switched and drove off separately. The whole thing was like something out of a grade-B spy movie again. This time there were no blindfolds, but the quick switch of cars and the overall sequence of events from the time that Charlie got the call was unreal. Harry had no choice but to go along.

It took about three hours, with the last hour through some back roads somewhere near the region where West Virginia and Pennsylvania meet with Ohio. Harry wasn’t sure which state they were in, but the countryside was rural, and the last few kilometers of road were definitely country back roads. They stopped at an old farm house and got out.

“This is one of our safe houses,” Brad explained. “From here, we can get safe transportation to the next stop. It looks like we evaded any tail that they were going to put on us at the university. We probably got out just in time.”

“What the hell is going on,” Harry demanded. “What the hell have you got me into, and why are you running from the police. Did you get me dragged into some sort of criminal enterprise?”

“It’s nothing like that,” Walt replied. “I told you that we’re not a government sponsored operation, but there are several governments that have their suspicions that we exist and are up to no good. The US government has a small task force from CIA and FBI trying to find us, but we’ve managed to use our connections in the government to keep steering them away, and we keep very tight security, as you already know. Unfortunately, it looks like our presence at the university has been compromised. They seem to know that you’re involved somehow with us. We probably overdid it with the pressure on you, and they could see that something strange was happening. We’ll have to destroy the small conference room that we first met in, but that’s not a big problem. We have other ways to meet nearby. Let’s get into the house. You’ll have to leave pretty soon to get to the other location for your briefings, and I have to get back to the university. I just hope that they haven’t connected me with this.”

“Why are you going back while I go on? Aren’t you in this as much, or more, than I am?”

“It’s different for you and me,” Walt replied. “I’m one of the outside men. I have a family and can’t just disappear like Yuri, Ludmila, and Nigel. My job is to work both sides of the fence and help with some of the technology problems that require working with outsiders who don’t know that our secret project exists. Your job will be different and more important than mine. You’ll stay on the inside from now on, and you’ll probably get briefed into higher levels than I’m at. I’ve only gone a couple steps higher, and there’s obviously more that’s known only to the people who remain inside. You’ll be one of them. An appropriate accident will be arranged, and people will be sorry for you, but since you’re single, it won’t be a catastrophe for anyone, other than the loss of your friendship until you can reemerge when this project ends. The only problem will be if someone does find out that you’re alive and working with us on the inside. But you’ll get briefed on all of this at the next stop.”

“OK, so I understand that I need to learn more, but why don’t we just go to the other location where we went a few days ago? It looked like it had rooms that could be used for classified discussions at any level.”

Brad answered. “We’re restricted in what we can discuss at that facility. It’s pretty secure, but not for what we’ll get into next. We need to go to another one that’s cleared for a higher level. Just relax and roll with it, and everything will be OK.”

The spy-versus-spy charade continued for another few hours until they reached what appeared to be their destination, this time in west-central New York State. If anyone had been following them, they would have been totally confused by the trip, first west, then a bit north, and then northeast. It would have looked like a drunken giant staggering across the land, from the suburbs of Washington, DC and ending up in the hilly region in upstate New York. But now they apparently were at the intended destination, since they all got out of the car and walked calmly toward the farm house at the end of the dirt road.

Once inside the house, Harry recognized, once again, that the appearance belied the full nature of this decrepit looking house. The main floor was definitely in character with the outside, but once they passed through the cellar door and walked down one flight of stairs, the rooms became much more modern, and the basement level was clearly larger than the house above. Its floor space was at least twice as large. There was another set of stairs that led into an even larger area with a long corridor and several rooms. To get there, they had to go through an elaborate set of security doors, the first of which was concealed behind a fake wall panel. The grade-B movie continued, it seemed.

Harry was led into one of the rooms about midway down the hall. When he entered, he saw that it was a very well equipped conference room, with all the audio-visual aids that one could ask for. At one end was a large screen display that took up most of the wall. In the center was a conference table that could seat fifteen people, seven on each side and one at the end. Harry was motioned to the seat at the end.

Five other people were already in the room, seated at the chairs nearest Harry’s end seat. Charlie went somewhere else, but Brad followed him in and also sat down. Then an older man entered and went up to the speaker’s lectern that was off to the left, near the large screen on the far end.

“Good evening, Dr. Ambrose,” he began. My name is George Giovanis. I’m the Deputy Director for our project and the Director of our North American Operations. I’ll brief you on the history and scientific aspects of the project. That will take you to Level-2. All your security agreements will apply, plus you will now be committed to this project for as long as we require your services. I think that you understand that.”

“Sure, but I still want to know what this is all about and why everything is so absurdly hush-hush.”

“That’s part of the briefing you’re about to receive. OK, Myron, let’s get rolling.”

The screen in front immediately came to life, actually larger than life. An elderly man appeared, magnified at least two or three times, and began speaking with a slight foreign accent. “Hello and welcome to Nebula. My name is Yevgenie Seduro, and I am the chairman of the board of directors of the project. I will now give you a summary of the events that led to the formation of our organization and the technology that we are involved with.”

Yevgenie Seduro? Harry recognized that name. He was one of the Russian entrepreneurs who amassed billions of dollars in a number of enterprises, some of them slightly suspicious, as Harry recalled. This further concerned him that they were involved with some sort of criminal activity.

“You may recognize my name,” he continued. “I admit that some of my dealings were not exactly on what you would call the up-and-up, but I did make a lot of money, and I’ve directed a good part of it to this project. It won’t yield me any monetary gain, but as you’ll soon find out, the return on investment will be significant. But you need to get to the higher classification levels to appreciate that. For now, let’s look at how we got where we are and just what that means in terms of technological achievement.”

The picture on the screen now changed from the old man’s face to a scene somewhere in a semi-desert region, with a lot of people and equipment circled around a very large piece of machinery that was obviously broken apart. There was a long scar on the ground, as if the broken machine had slid in from above and ended up where it now was.

“You’ve no doubt heard of the UFO event at Roswell, New Mexico,” Yevgenie Seduro continued. “This is the scene several hours after the crash. The area was cordoned off, and all the people and vehicles that you see in the photo are from the US military, the Atomic Energy Commission, and several intelligence agencies.”

Harry looked at George Giovanis, and saw the sly grin coming back at him. Giovanis interjected, “Keep watching and listening. It gets better.”

Another picture was now on the screen, and Seduro was continuing his monologue. The picture was a close up of the UFO. It had broken into three large pieces upon impact, but not too much of the interior could be seen.

“Only a few people were allowed to approach the wreckage. The Army established a protective perimeter to prevent any unauthorized personnel from approaching, and it was soon decided that the wreckage would be moved to a US Air Force facility in Nevada, near Las Vegas. This wasn’t the legendary Area 51 that the UFO enthusiasts always refer to, but it was in that general area.

“The pieces of the UFO remained at that location for several months before the US government, at the highest levels, decided to relocate them to another site, further into the desert. They also decided that the entire event would be held very close, under the control of a new office that was created and reported directly to the Director of Central Intelligence. They knew that the craft was extraterrestrial and not some advanced Soviet aircraft because they found half a dozen dead bodies in the wreckage. Those were also moved to the new site with the wreckage and preserved in cold storage.”

At this point, George Giovanis asked Myron to pause the recorded briefing. “So you see, Professor Ambrose, what you were told about extraterrestrial technology was not just fiction. We’ve had proof of this since the crash at Roswell in 1947, and there’s more, much more that we’ve learned since then. OK, Myron, continue the briefing.”