The Gravity of Anti-Gravity (14 page)

“Dr. Morton, my briefing indicated that you are a very direct, no-nonsense woman. I am glad to see that at least some of the information I was told is correct.” Cushing commented. “I am aware of the ‘buzz’ out there in cyberspace. Our people are looking into it as we speak. If we do discover a leak, we will fix it and let you know immediately. My department is fully aware of the sensitivity of your anti-gravity device and the necessity to keep it confidential.”

With that answer, Stella seemed to relax, but just a little.

“I want to tell you something that I think you already know.” Cushing confessed. “We, the government, want to develop your device as soon as possible. But first, I want to apologize for some of my people because they grossly underestimated your intelligence, guile and understanding of the situation. Put simply, you made monkeys out of some of our best people. If it weren’t so serious, it would be laughable.”

“We are now coming to you with open palms. We understand it’s your science, your device and your success. We are putting you three in the driver’s seat because, as we all know, we need you more than you need us.” Cushing paused to let his comments sink in. “Now, do you have any questions of me?”

Again Stella jumped in. “Mr. Cushing, what does the government foresee as the primary use of our device?”

“The most obvious one is to reduce the cost of moving freight. We all know that moving heavy loads that become virtually weightless would require only enough power to overcome momentum – an energy savings of nearly 91%,” Cushing answered.

“Do you plan on making this technology available to everyone or restricting its use to the military?” Stella questioned”

“Our tentative plan is to perfect its use with the military. After we know that it’s safe for the public to use, we’ll open it up to everyone; with the proper licensing of course.” Cushing answered.

“Mr. Cushing, You sound like an honest guy, I hope we can trust you.” I said.

“You can trust me, Bill, you can. Unless someone objects, why don’t we hammer out an outline of an agreement that I can take back to Washington.”

“If you will give us an hour, Mr. Cushing, I’d like to discuss things with our triumvirate. It’s lunch time. Let’s meet back here at two?” Said Stella

“Fine, see you then,” said Cushing.

After we finished our lunch, Stella in her most direct way offered her opinion of Cushing. Neither Dr. Brooks nor I were surprised.

“I know you guys are sick of hearing it but I don’t trust Cushing. As I’ve discovered over the years, people who get to Cushing’s level have to be exemplary diplomats. And he certainly qualifies. I’ve got a feeling I can’t shake that this suave man is really a wolf in sheep’s clothing. All these guys are pushing for promotion and will say and do anything to accomplish their mission. Our challenge is to figure out what his mission really is.”

“And don’t forget, the Feds bugged our offices and Bill’s barn.” Stella added. “Cushing had to sign off on that. His contrite manner seems sincere. But remember, he failed to reveal to us that the barn is still filled with surveillance cameras. I guess he feels that what we don’t know won’t hurt us.”

“Stella’s right. “If Cushing doesn’t tell us about the cameras during our afternoon meeting than he can’t be trusted about anything.” I said.

Then I had a thought. I leaned over and whispered softly, directly into Stella’s ear. “Do you have Rolf’s bug catching device with you?” Yes she nodded and pointed at her purse. She took it out and scanned our area. A light started to flash and the closer she got the device to her purse, the faster the light pulsed. She lifted up the strap and, sure enough, another bug!

Stella wrote on a napkin and showed it to Dr. Brooks and me. It read ‘small talk.’ We began talking about the weather and the Dodgers. When we got to the car, Stella put her purse inside and we moved out of ear shot of the bug.

“Damn,” said Dr. Brooks. These assholes will stop at nothing to get the upper hand.”

I had never heard Dr. Brooks use any profanity at all and his words were almost refreshing. “It’s like they are at war with us.” I said. “What’s the old saying? They’re looking a gift horse in the mouth. All we have done is lay one of the greatest inventions of all time in their laps and they can’t resist the temptation to be devious.”

“Like I said, these people are upwardly mobile, self-serving, public servants,” Stella said. “They’ve all watched too many spy movies and are guilty of over-thinking their role. So let’s recap. They know we are suspicious. They know we are aware of the equipment in the barn. They now know we feel Cushing is full of crap. So what would you do if you were them?”

“The first thing I’d do is tell us that I’d forgotten to inform us of the spy stuff in the barn and that a crew would be right over to remove it. Then I’d blame it all on Waterman’s poor judgment. I’d explain that the other bugs were standard procedure for Waterman and his crew when they work on criminal cases but completely inappropriate for use in this type of momentous occasion,” I said.

“I’m proud of you Bill. Now you’re starting to get it,” said Stella. “OK we’ve got to go before they figure out what we are discussing. When we get back we’ll only say we want a fair salary while we work on the device and a small percentage of the licensing fees for the next thirty years or so. We will ask them to go back to D.C. and write up a fair program for us to sign. If Cushing does what Bill outlined and takes the bug off my purse, maybe there’s hope for him. Who wants to bet?”

We returned to the conference room. Cushing and Waterman were shuffling through papers trying to look busy. Cushing motions were a little more animated and his eyes darted between us and his paperwork where it looked like he’d scribbled some notes. He was obviously nervous.

“Sorry we are a little late gentleman. The service at the restaurant was really slow.” I commented.

Cushing immediately stood up and said. “Before we get started I have an apology to offer. Mr. Waterman here, in his extreme exuberance to do his job has done you folks an injustice. Even though his record is beyond reproach, he went a little beyond what I believe is appropriate in your situation. He treated you a little more like criminals than the brilliant scientists you are. He was the one who authorized the bugs in your office and there’s one more transgression I found out about while you were at lunch.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Clandestine security camera equipment was installed in the barn in which you did your demonstration. Waterman says it was to insure there was no chicanery involved. I think it’s the kind of thing he typically does in most of the criminal cases he handles. We will have a crew there at your convenience to remove it all”. Cushing said.

I could see Stella and Dr. Brooks fighting to maintain their composer when I stood up and gave my next performance. “My God, Mr. Cushing, I feel violated! I know I accidentally created the time shift but I am a good American. I don’t deserve treatment like this. Dr. Morton, Dr. Brooks, I think we should take the device to private industry. I’ll bet they’d treat us more like colleagues and less like felons.”

“Now Mr. Burton, don’t be hasty. We really think the government would be the best provider of assistance. Now what are the requirements you people have come up with so we can go forward,” said Cushing.

Again Stella took the lead. “Mr. Cushing, the three of us have talked this over for the last several days. We have only five specific requirements and we believe they are more than fair. The first is that we remain together as a team. You will not be allowed to remove any member from our group unless we approve of it. Second and this is critical. The three of us will be solely responsible for any additions to our team. To be blunt, we want skilled and experienced scientists; not government pseudo-scientists who double as informants. Your people will be welcome on an appointment basis and we will provide monthly progress reports. Third, during the developmental phase, we and our fellow scientists will receive a salary commensurate with and similar to private industry. Fourth, the Government will fund the entire cost of our research. Fifth and last, we will receive 5% of any licensing fees received by the Government for a period of forty years. Bill will get 3% and Dr. Brooks and I will get 1% each.”

“Dr. Morton, the Government is prepared to offer you a richer package than that!” Cushing announced with a stern voice.

The feeling of anger crept over my body and I jumped up and almost yelled. “How are you going to pay it Mr. Cushing, with money borrowed from China? We are patriots. We want a fair wage for a fair day’s work. When we produce a marketable product that people want, and it begins to generate profits, that is when we will see additional rewards; not before. I think it’s referred to as capitalism.”

Dr. Brooks stood up and announced, “I think we are done here gentleman. Let’s meet back here in a week. We three have agreed to hold off discussing anything with any other entity until we meet again.”

We all stood up and I looked at Stella. Slowly, a beautiful broad smile came across her face. She walked toward Cushing and thanked him. She apologized for her sometimes brash comments. She then she gave him a little kiss on the cheek and slipped something into his coat pocket.

-20-

After they left, Stella removed the bug from her purse. She wrapped it in a towel, put it in a small box, put more padding around it and locked in a filing cabinet drawer.

“We may need this later,” she said.

“I thought you returned it to Cushing when you gave him that peck on the cheek,” I said.

“Very observant, Mr. Burton; everything they are saying is being recorded on my laptop right now with our bug; at least until they find it. Rolf suggested I take one of his devices. He thought we might be able to use it and he was right,” Stella said.

Let’s hope it’s not in the same pocket where he keeps his antacid,” I joked. “If that’s the case, he’ll find it right away. Hey, let’s turn your laptop on Stella. They should be deeply in conversation about us by now.”

“I’ve got a better idea,” said Stella. “Why don’t you come over tonight and we’ll review the recording. Rolf will be home and I’d like his input about their conversation. He’s trained and experienced in interpreting any hidden meanings in people’s speech and he will be very helpful. You come too, Dr. Brooks.”

“I’ll let you young folks review everything and then you can fill me in on Monday.” Dr. Brooks answered. “I need to take the week-end off and just sleep. Before I leave maybe you can give me ideas how to explain to my wife why I just gave up a $250,000.00 bonus and a $250,000.00 annual salary. On second thought, why don’t we keep that between the three of us?”

I got to Stella’s place about 6:30. When she opened the door, I held up the Chinese food I’d bought on the way over. ”I hope you haven’t eaten yet.” I said.

“Thanks Bill, put it on the kitchen counter,” Stella said. “Rolf and I have started listening to Cushing and Waterman’s conversation. It’s been all small talk until they got to the airport and boarded what we surmised is a government jet. They talked to the pilots briefly, fixed themselves a drink and sat down. They have been in the air about two hours and we figure they are on they’re third drink about now.”

Rolf handed me the second set of earphones and I put them on. After listening to nothing for about five minutes, they started to talk again.

“Waterman, I’ve been thinking,” said Cushing. “These young folks we are dealing with are not only brilliant scientists but they are wise beyond their years. We have promised our people that we would deliver the device to them and the technical information needed to build it. Our government people are saying that the written technical description supplied by our geniuses is a little too vague to follow. They have deliberately made it impossible to create a device without them, any suggestions?”

“It’s always hard to work
with this kind of naïve people.” Waterman responded “They stupidly think their honesty and patriotism will carry them through in this world. That’s never worked for me and it won’t work for them. Since money doesn’t motivate them, we may need to bring some extreme pressure to bear to get them to follow our plan. You keep the people in Washington confused and off our backs and I’ll discuss this with our friends. They will know what to do.”

“And Waterman, I want to commend you on your suggestion to leak just a little bit about the gravity device. Just one bit of information to one blogger and now it’s all over the net. It will give us the cover we need in case we have to do anything unpleasant. I’m going to take a nap now. Wake me just before we arrive.” Cushi
ng said.

I slowly removed the headphones and just stared into space. Rolf was quietly mulling over what he’d just heard too.

Loudly Stella asked, “What just happened? You two look like you just saw a ghost!”

“I’m afraid we might just become that ghost soon,” I said.

“Fill me in; the short version,” said Stella, “I’ll get the long version off the computer later.”

Rolf responded in his typically concise way. “You two are in extreme danger. Misters Waterman and Cushing are involved in a conspiracy to steal the anti-gravity device. They are aware you haven’t divulged enough specifics so they can build one of their own. They have ‘friends’. They didn’t say who or what kind of friends. They are responsible for the leak. They are prepared to use some kind of pressure to get what they want. They will use the leak to blame anyone else for any coercion if they have to use it.”