Perilous Panacea (37 page)
Authors: Ronald Klueh
Epilogue
Ian Deby clicked on the TV and settled on the couch with his mail.
Good Evening on this Friday, January 12. Today’s top story comes from Washington, and it ties in with last week’s unconfirmed report from Paris that Iran had exploded an atomic bomb. For the latest developments, we take you to Marvin Shorahm in Washington.
Two hours ago the Justice Department announced it was dropping charges against two Russians and an Iranian accused of stealing nuclear material, of murdering Professor Robert Surling of Arizona State University, and of attempting to murder FBI agent Richard Saul. They are Nakita Oleg Titov, a.k.a. William Lormes, Valentin Nikolai Fedorov, a.k.a. Richard Markum, and Farrokh Mohammad Bagheri, a.k.a. P. K. Simmons. Titov is reputed to be an ex-KGB agent and an important figure in Russian organized crime circles…
While the announcer described the charges against Lormes, Markum, and Simmons, Applenu opened a letter from Purdue University Nuclear Engineering Department, which indicated he was still under consideration for an assistant professorship. He looked up when the newsman said the three men were being deported immediately.
As he started to tear open the letter from North Carolina State, his attention was drawn to the TV screen where Curt and Lorain Reedan’s pictures appeared as the shootout outside Raphine, Virginia, was described. When they began describing the disaster at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, five months ago, Deby returned to his mail, as this subject was in the news daily since September.
Over 25,000 people were evacuated—most of the city’s population—with 90% of them now back in their homes. It should be noted that essentially none of the people evacuated from the immediate vicinity of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor that exploded in the Ukraine in the Soviet Union in 1986 ever returned to their homes. A special committee of federal and Tennessee state government officials has been formed to oversee cleanup, although no money has been appropriated for the cleanup. Congressman Roy Phillips of the Tennessee third congressional district introduced a bill in congress calling for the federal government to buy all affected property and declare the area permanently off limits to unauthorized personnel.
Meanwhile, a controversy has developed concerning the people exposed to the radioactive debris from the fire. Government medical personnel say it is too soon to estimate the medical effects, although several university scientists have made startlingly high estimates for cancers…
Deby unfolded the North Carolina State University Nuclear Engineering Department letter and read that they were offering him an associate professorship.
Senator Stanley Hughson, the front-running Republican presidential candidate has been in the forefront of revealing details of the disaster, as well as charging a cover-up by the Gordono Administration. Last week, Hughson stated that he has learned that since that bomb threat rumored for New York in August, State Department officials have been in constant negotiations with an Iranian delegation that includes Amir Akbar Maheri. Maheri posed as a diplomat in the Iranian UN delegation for the past three years under the name of Ahmad Sherbani. It was Sherbani who was contacted by Steve Austin, the mastermind behind the nuclear theft. The talks are reportedly deadlocked because U.S. authorities do not believe the hijackers could make an operating bomb. Last week’s explosion in Iran’s eastern desert region removed some of those doubts.
What bloody fools, Deby thought, that people like Hughson and the Administration think talking will solve their problems. Not when you’ve got blokes like Sherbani and his bosses. And how many more Austins were around?
Hughson said Iran had some of the stolen nuclear material secreted in this country for the bomb they were threatening to explode last August. By keeping it in this country, Iran hopes to insure that the U.S. government will not initiate military action against them.
When the White House was asked about the possibility of an Iranian bomb in this country, Press Secretary O’Connell said it is Administration policy not to comment on national security matters. He added, quote, The President wants to assure the American people that their safety is of utmost importance to his Administration, and they are not in any danger, unquote.
Deby clicked off the TV, still saddened by the havoc discussed by the newscast, havoc that he helped produce. He glanced at the letter. He now had offers from Texas A & M, North Carolina State, and New Mexico Universities. Maybe he could resume his place in the world, he thought, thanks to the foresight of a bloody computer genius. “Thank you, Steve Austin, Derek Hearn, George Atkinson…you bloody son of a bitch.”
- - - - -
When Curt Reedan went to get a table for dinner, Lori Reedan saw the young blonde she met this morning on the whale-watching excursion arranged by the American Nuclear Society for accompanying persons. The two of them sat together on the bus to the pier with a bus load of mostly women who had accompanied their husbands and significant others to the ANS meeting. Because they enjoyed each other’s company on the bus and neither of them knew anyone else at the meeting, they spent most of the boat trip together.
Juliet saw Lori, and they both laughed about the fact that they had spent the day together and then showed up at the same place for dinner. Juliet was waiting for her husband who was parking the car.
Curt walked up and touched Lori’s shoulder. “No tables available for two hours,” he said. “We’ll have to find…”
“Please join us,” Juliet said, turning to her husband, who had just walked up. “I’m sure Ian won’t mind, and maybe Lori and I can plan something for tomorrow.”
At the sight of Ian, Lori’s smile froze on her face. Momentarily speechless, she turned to Curt, who stared, his mouth open. She turned back to Ian, who appeared similarly paralyzed.
“We don’t want to impose,” Curt said.
“Nonsense,” Juliet said and turned to introduce Lori and Curt to Ian Deby. After handshakes all around, they found themselves at a table for four.
Juliet turned to Ian. “This is Lori’s first trip after her son was born. He’s two months old, and their daughter is six.” She turned to Lori. “I didn’t tell you today, but I’m two-months pregnant with our first.” She turned back to Ian, who smiled proudly.
After the waiter took their orders, the men finally got around to talking shop. “Where do you work?” Curt asked.
“I’m in the Nuclear Engineering Department at North Carolina State.”
“I’m at the Colorado School of Mines,” Curt said, “working on nano-materials in the Mechanical Engineering Department and on robotics in the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Environmental Engineering. I came to this meeting because I’ve been working on a robot for hot cells. I had some experience with hot cells about a year ago.”
“Interesting,” Ian said. “I’ve also got some ideas along that line, probably because of a similar experience. Perhaps we could collaborate.” They exchanged smiles and business cards as their drinks arrived.
Lori raised her white wine. “Here’s to future collaboration…and thanks for past collaboration.”
“Hold the toast,” Curt said looking around for the waiter. “For this toast, we need whiskey, corn whiskey.”
The three of them laughed.
Juliet looked puzzled. “What are you talking about, past collaboration…corn whiskey? Do you guys…?”
“It has to do with running in cornfields in Iowa and elsewhere, especially elsewhere,” Lori said laughing. She turned to look at Ian and then Curt. “It also has to do with open doors and running.”
“You’re quite right,” Ian said. “There is much to toast. Make them double whiskies.”
About the Author
A research scientist by training (PhD in Metallurgy and Materials Science, Carnegie Mellon University), Ronald Klueh brings a wealth of scientific knowledge and experience to contemporary techno-thriller fiction. He has worked as a research metallurgist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and is presently a self-employed metallurgical consultant. As a freelance science writer of nonfiction, he has been published in the Washington Post, Houston Chronicle, and New Science. In his fiction, he strives to make the present and future interesting for adventure as well as romance readers.
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