Torn (41 page)

“See those three sunspots in the grid?” he asked.

“Small. Yes.”

“Are you watching them
?
”

“Sun
spots are spots.
They aren’t gon
na do anything in a minute they.
…” Virginia paused.
“Are they moving?”

He
replied
. “Yes. Circle.
Disappear
. Reappear.”

“Is
this what you noted before the
Pari
s
flare?”

“
Yes,” h
e typed. “As you can see. Sunspots. We thought nothing of them. They’d reappear.
By
the day of the flare t
hey were this size and in a matter of two hours they grew.”

“Did you notify anyone?”

“Absolutely, it took two hours to notify someone. At that point, the flare
formed and
expelled.”

“So you knew it was heading to earth.”

“And we knew it was big. We
hoped
the
atmosphere
would break it. But
. . . .
”

“Did you have a destination
?
”

“Yes. We did. Unfortunately, we only had a two
-
hour window there, as well.”

“Do you think this is the same?” she questioned.

“
Absolutely,
i
f this plays out the same.
We will watch this happen for three days. They
will
do the same pattern until flare day. And then they will grow and expel a flare.”

“Can we guess where?”

“Not precisely, I can go
through
the data, guess the area.”

“
Please
do.”

“But Gin.” He wrote. “The area
will
be too big. By the time we
have more of a precise location
there will be no time to do anything. The warnin
g window will be the two hour
time frame the flare takes to reach earth.”

“Actually a little bit more. We’ll have the data when the flare forms.”

“We will watch this one. This will help us learn even more should it happen a third time. Right now, let me work on an
estimated
impact site should a flare
f
or
m
.”

Virginia typed a simple letter ‘k’
and
exhaled
.

Was it possible
that another flare
like the
Paris
flare was likely to occur
? It was frightening
because they didn’t
know
w
here or when.
They suspected
it would happen
in a few days
, its
size unknown.

There was no concrete proof. That was why they didn’t see the Paris flare coming. It didn’t form normally.
It
removed any
predictability
.

It
could hit anywhere.

That notion took Virginia’s
breath
away.

Bret was talking. Darius knew that, but his mind was elsewhere, actually on a lot. He was going between checking his
things
that were packed for the conference, eavesdropping on
Colin’s call, and trying to pee
k at the data Colin was going to
present
at the conference.

Data and info he would not share with Darius. Too good
,
Colin
claimed
.

‘So in the hall is a huge case, did you know that?” Bret asked.

“Uh
h
uh
,” Darius answered. A box. A briefcase, a portfolio folder. That had to be where Colin had the info.

“Will there be enough suits?”

“
Y
es,”
Darius
replied. Eyes shifting
to
Colin on the phone.
What? What was that? Make a mental note.
He
asked Virginia
the
location.

“It really is decked out. Sounds like it will work,” Bret said.

“Yes.”
Darius
made a face
,
squinting
in
thought.
Why wouldn’t Colin share his
info?
Every
scientist
was presenting the problem, the outcome, and the
ir
potential solution. Obviously if Colin was getting to
speak,
his presentation was going to be different. What was it?

“Then Bruce showed me the cool way to heat the place.”

“Uh
h
uh
.” Snap to Colin. Another mental note
:
Who was Lin? He didn’t recognize the name.

“Did you pack enough underwear?”

“Uh
. . .
”
Darius
paused. “I’m going for two
days
. How
much
underwear do I need to pack?”

“So you were
listening
.”

“
Of
course.”

“I just didn’t think you were. You kept saying
u
h
h
uh
.”

“Bret. Dear.”
Darius
laid his hands on her shoulder. “I’m just busy and preoccupied. It’s a long drive to New York.”

Across the room
Colin said, “Goodbye,
”
and hung up the phone. This caused
Darius
to immediately switch his attention.

“What
happened
?”
Darius
asked.

“Seems Virginia
’s new
found friend in Singapore, who works for the solar research
center,
has found a pattern.”

“What are you
talking
about? Pattern?”

“To the expulsion of a big flare.”

Darius
scoffed. “That’s absurd. We’ve had one. How can there be a pattern?”

“He’s seeing the sun do the same odd thing it did before the last one.”

Calmly,
Darius
nodded. “Hmm.
Does
he think they’ll be another big
flare?
”

Bret gasped.

Darius
reached over and covered her mouth.

Colin lowered
Darius
’ hand. “Yes. In a few days.”

“After the conference.”

“Yes. He’s estimating Asia.”

“So if it’s true, and the sun is misbehaving, it
could
be the same
location
on the sun?”

“Could be.”

“Well, at least it’s Asia.”

“Which
surprises
me. With the way you and Bret are, I’m surprised it doesn’t strike Pittsburgh.”

“Better the other side of the world.”

Again, Bret gasped. “You are so rude.”

“Bret, would you prefer it to be here?”

“Um, no.”

“My
point.”

Colin said, “I’ll make mention
of it
at the conference.”

“Along with your other findings.”

“Yes,” Colin nodded. “Were you trying to pe
e
k?”

“Yes.”

Colin laughed. “
Darius
. You’ll present with your rock star and I’ll present with my scientists.”

“My rock star
is
a scientist.”

“Without
P
ower
P
oint.”

“Our demonstration is awesome.”

“But it’s not
P
ower
P
oint
,
” Colin said with a nod.

Bret intervened. “I keep seeing
scenes
from the movie
Armageddon
in my head
,
w
here all these
scientist
s
present
ridiculous
solutions.”

Colin smiled. “Me, too, and ridiculous presentation
s
that are over the edge.”

Darius tilted his head.
“Why won’t you share?”

“Because
it’s
good. It doesn’t need drama.”

Bret nodded. “It is good.”

Darius
turned to her. “You know his
plan
?”

“Yes.”

“You didn’t tell me.”

“You didn’t
ask
and Colin doesn’t want
you
to know.”

Darius
blinked a few times.
“You think this is good for a relationship
?
We need to be open and honest.”

A chuckle from Colin, “Then why haven’t you been honest about the Chi
huahu
a?”

“I
g
ive up. Fine.”
Darius
tossed his hands outward. “Share your info. I’ll hear it then. But mine will be more effective.”

“Than mine?”

“
Y
es
.”

“They’ll never take you serious.”

“
Ha
!”
Darius
blasted. “How do you figure?”

“
Darius
,
you want to blow up the world. You want to show how it will be done and why t
hr
ough a movie
-
trailer style presentation complete with soundtrack.”

“And what’s wrong with that?”

“
It’s
not my solution and it’s not my style of presentation.”

“And yours is?”

Colin smiled arrogantly. “
Power
P
oint.” He laid a
hand
on
Dariu
s
’
shoulder as he passed
by.
“Now pack, I have to get ready. And bring enough underwear.”

After shaking his head,
Darius
looked at Bret. She nodded with a ‘see
,
I told you’ look.

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing.”

Pause.

Bret
inhaled. “Do you think you should have used
P
ower
P
oint
?
”

Darius
said nothing
;
he just walked out.

Martin was perplexed
,
a
n adjective not readily used to describe him. Rarely, if ever, did he allow himself to get
to
the
point
where
he would scratch his head and say, ‘I’m confused
.
’

He was there
. . .
almost.

When they gave him all the information regarding the GEP, he knew it wasn’t a light day’s reading. It wasn’t a nifty brochure of frequently asked questions. It was bound manuscript after bound manuscript.

Someone put an awful lot of time into getting it together.

A complete staff.

He
read ‘book one’ which was vital to the basic aspect of the project and Martin’s responsibilities. But book two said the how
’
s and why
’
s of it all.

Martin’s role as monitor was
minimized
,
in his opinion
. He would be more than that. An overseer, yes
,
o
f something much bigger.

The GEP was much more than a monitoring station
,
m
onitoring
events that unfolded globally.