Transmutation

  “This won’t work,” one agitated man said to another.

  “Half baked!” the other man said.

  “What could this mean?”

  Dr. Augustine’s phone rang. He picked it up, “Not now, Martha!” He slammed the phone back down.

  “People will live longer? We can’t!”

  “We must! We have to!”

  Dr. Augustine’s phone rang again. He picked it up. “Not now, Martha!” He slammed the phone back down again.

  “What’s wrong with it?” Cori asked the other man.

  “The machine?”

  “No! Living longer!” Cori asked.

  “Nothing! But the earth cannot sustain it. Populations will explode. We’ll kill ourselves in a few short years overtaxing natural resources!”

  “So we learn to respect birth control!” Gadin stuck in.

  “People won’t do that!” someone else said.

  “We can live on if we care for the planet,” Lori said to them all.

  Dr. Augustine’s phone rang again. This time he consented— “What!” he said into it.

  His eyes brightened. “What?”

  People in the room stared at him.

  “This is Dr. Augustine, President of Westech— Yes, she is— Dr. Gomez? No— Yes! Yes, I see that. We were— Yes, certainly.”

  Dr. Augustine held out the phone for Lori.

  “Who is it?” Cory asked.

  “It’s Ella Gomez, the President’s science advisor.”

  “Ella Gomez?” Some in the room murmured.

  “Yeah,” Gadin said. “Ph.D., Sc.D., beautiful, short black lady, smarter than all of us put together—maybe except Lori—”

  “I’m not brilliant, Lori said.”

  “Yes, you are!” Cory said.

  “Put her on loud speaker, please?” Lori said.

  Dr. Augustine said into the phone, “Lori wants me to put the phone on loud speaker.” He paused, then to Lori, “Dr. Gomez says it should be private.”

  Lori shook her head. “Loud speaker.”

  Several in the room smiled.

  “But this is such a big deal!” Dr. Augustine urged.

  Lori got up and went over to Dr. Augustine’s desk, took the phon from his hand, pressed the button on the phone for the speaker and hung it up.

  “Ella?” Lori asked.

  “Yes,” came Ella’s voice on the phone. “Is this Lori Faraday?”

  “Yes.”

  “Who else am I speaking with?”

  “I don’t know them all. Maybe thirty people in here.” Lori inquired of the room. “Scientists?”

  “Oh, yeah. Sure!” Everyone nodded.

  “Hell, yeah!” Cory said.

  “Me, too,” Gadin said.

  Cory slapped Gadin on the back.

  “All scientists,” Lori said. “Close enough. Listen, Ella—can I call you Ella?”

  “Sure—”

  “Is the president there with you?” Dr. Augustine asked.

  “Not right now. But I just left her in the Oval Office.”

  “You got my email?” Lori asked.

  “Yup. ‘Fraid I did. So did she. And half the government. And the things I wish I’d have said to you! You gave it to the whole world?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’d have done the same thing,” Ella said. “Now no one can steal it or keep it a secret— Removes all the Top Secret stuff about it, no super races.”

  “Actually, the way that one is designed—the one I released—”

  “There are others?” Ella asked.

  “Yes. There have always been many. But the one I released, a simple version— Well, it’ll take a month or so to work out the science, I guess. Then they’ll start making them—”

  “Why did you arrange it to take us a month?” Gadin asked.

  “Who are you?” Ella asked

  “Gadin Malhotra, Computer Sci, Stanford.”

  “Okay. Go ahead?”

  “So why build in even a few months’ wait?” Gadin asked Lori again.

  “I’ve been thinking about this a long time, but it’s a snap decision today. I just can’t take the death any longer—John’s or anybody else’s. We—all of you and I—will get it up and working as soon as we can.”

  “People will die if we don’t save them fast,” an elderly gentleman said from the back.”

  “But more peole will die if we have wars over this,” Lori said. “We’ve got to enter this new time of human evolution with caution. I’ve thought about this a long time. I’m breaking a lot of rules doing this—rules that have been in place for hundreds of thousands of years, for good reason, and—”

  “So why did you?” Cory asked.

  “Because I think the earth can stand it. The idea was that if a primitive species—”

  Some people stirred.

  “Us?”

  “We are primitive, trust me,” Cory said to them.

  Lori continued. “Wars have broken out in other societies where mistakes have been made. Some people say that Earth isn’t ready yet for this technology.”

  There was a slight pause.

  “What other people?” Ella asked.

  Lori looked at the others in the room. “Other people from my planet.”

  She could almost hear Ella nod on the other end of the phone.

  Someone in the room dropped his papers.

  “What planet?” Ella asked.

  “Can we get into that later?”

  “Might as well tell me,” Ella said.

  Everyone stared at Lori.

  “Well, we’re speaking English, and there is no way to say it, but it’s like ‘Ahleth,’ if you will. AH-leth. That’s the way I say it, now.”

  “Spelling?” Ella asked.

  “A.H.L.E.T.H.”

  “Where is it?” Ella asked. “Anywhere near here?”

  “Oh, you’re worried about an invasion? Security?”

  “Never know,” Ella said.

  “You don’t have to worry about that,” Lori said. “I was one of a group of visitors about twelve thousand years ago, when I got here. This is nothing new to Earth; just new to you.”

  “So there are more of you?” Gadin asked.

  “Yes. A few. Not many left, and we’ve— We’ve lost touch, isolative by nature but we can find each other, sometimes. Some of them are probably looking for me as we speak. That’s partly why I came here.” Lori stepped near the phone and spoke clearly. “I don’t just want you to keep me safe from people who may force their way in, the public or the press; I want you to keep me safe from them as well.”

  CHAPTER

  6

  Everyone in Dr. Augustine’s office came to Lori’s immediate aid. Jackets and shoes were given to her, a hat from a hat stand, to disguise her.

  Cory, Lori, and Gadin walked down the hall, toward a set of back stairs while the same crowd of arguing scientists moved to and blocked the view from the front stairs.

  Security held people and a few reporters back just below the stairs.

  “Holy, crap,” Cory said into the phone to a colleague at the Lab in Kleinfelter Hall. “If I’d known before breakfast we’d have all this— I’ll tell ya later. Meet me? Okay!”

  Cory made a call to his wife. “Estella? Honey, have you noticed the T.V.?”

  Lori could hear Estella rattling off in Spanish to Cory. Cory talked with her about shutting up the house and keeping quiet inside—

  Press saw the three duck into the back stairwell and rushed past colluding staff to chase them.

  Cory, Lori and Gadin rounded a corner and ducked into a closet with one of their colleagues already in it, arms laden with new jackets and hats.

  “It was easy! Who notices an old man? You get good work, yes?” he asked Lori.

  Lori kissed him on the cheek and patted his shoulder.

  The three changed outer garments.

  The four stood in the closet, motionless, letting the press stomp by.

&nbs
p; “I’m am so wanting to help with this, Lori! You got to let me.”

  “I’ll need lots of help, but I’m not sure what with— Oh, hi, by the way,” she said to Gadin. I never really stopped to introduce myself. I’m Lori Faraday.”

  Gadin laughed.

  “I’m George Warner, Electrical Engineering.” He reached over to hug Lori.

  “What is it?” Lori asked.

  “His wife passed away last year,” Cory said. “It’s been hard.”

  George’s eyes watered.

  “I’m sorry,” Lori said to him, then, “Are you mad at me?”

  George hugged her and shook his head. “Yes— NO. I love her, but I know why you kept it from us. There is so much at risk. Big things like this— Some might go to war. Millions could die if it’s messed up.”

  George hugged her again.

  She hugged him back. “Me, too.”

  The group of arguing scientists followed the press down the back stairwell, stopping in the vicinity of the closet.

  The press spilled out the back door of the building to watch a Lincoln pull quickly away.

  Pictures were snapped. Some people ran after the car.

  The four exited the closet among smiling collaborators.

  Lori struck off with Cory and Gadin toward a side door and climbed into a waiting S.U.V.

  The S.U.V. arrived in the parking lot of a Ralph’s grocery store.

  The three piled out and into Ford Taurus.

  “Thanks for meeting us, Frank,” Cory said.

  “Who is this?” Frank asked, a flirtatious smile on his race. He reached out to shake Lori’s hand.

  “An alien from outer space, dude,” Gadin said, “And she’s married so forget it.”

  “Take us home, please?” Cory asked him. “Now.”

  “What?” Frank asked. “She’s pregnant and gotta deliver there?”

  “Don’t you watch the news?” Gadin asked Frank.

  “Not really,” Frank said. “I was in the Lab all day—”

  “Jesus, someone fill him in,” Gadin said.

  The Taurus nearly missed a parked car getting out of its parking spot and exited the lot with two tires over the curb.

  President Cadence Imogene Helmsley sat on a couch in the oval office watching a monitor displaying satellite imagery of four figures exiting a Taurus and walking into Estella and Cory’s house. The imagery was clear. The view cut to feed from another satellite to show a short woman close the door behind them.

  Cadence was surrounded by select members of the armed forces and other high ranking Executive Branch personnel.

  Ella Gomez passed the floor, staring constantly at the monitor.

  Air Force General Beck shook his head. “They have no idea. They think this is sneaky? Maybe from the press.”

  “They’ve been watching T.V.,” Cadence said.

  Harold Trim, Director of the F.B.I. asked, “You think she’s a twelve thousand-year-old alien?”

  The view on the monitor changed to something indistinct.

  “They’re inside the house,” Ella Gomez said. “Adjust infared and radar imaging.”

  The image on the monitor resolved into interior images of the house with people moving about, mostly congregated in the living room area.

  “We can listen to them through their cell phones,” Eugene Liebner said, Director of the N.S.A.

  Cadence shook her head. “We shouldn’t.”

  “But this is big stuff,” Eugene said.

  Ella’s face was not pleased.

  Cadence looked at Harold. “What did the F.B.I. get on her?”

  “Nothing much. Born 52 years ago in Jamestown, Indiana. Normal childhood, nothing distinguished. No college, no military service. No criminal record, just two traffic violations for speeding, and not much speed at that. Married John Michael Faraday thirty years ago in a simple church wedding in Burbank, California. How she got there, we don’t know. He is very distinguished, but she appears to just have been his wife.”

  “A housewife,” General Beck said.

  “Too polished,” Georgina Wells said, Secretary of State.

  “You have anything on her, Gina?” Cadence asked.

  “No, Madam President. We’ve never dealt with anything like this before, either.”

  “But if she’s an alien from outer space,” Harold asked, “then is she an immigrant? What’s her status?”

  Gina Wells thought. “I don’t know.” She looked at the President and others, thinking. “If that’s true, she wasn’t born here, but then the question is when did she come to this country? Or this land, if it was before it was a country? What if she came here at a time when immigration was accepted without question, and she’s still here?”

  “What if her birth certificate is faked., her Social Security record, other government agencies. Marriage license, contracts, affidavits, tax returns— We could be starting to stack up felonies—”

  Cadence turned to Ella. “Does her ‘transmuter’ check out?”

  Ella looked pre-occupied as if her considerable scientific mind were racing at top speed. She started to answer the President first one way then another, stopping words before they were spoken. She motioned as if she were going to say something, then motioned with the other hand.

  “She’s gonna blow a fuse,” Harold said.

  Cadence looked at Harold, then got up to walk over to Ella, touching her on the arm. “It’s okay, Ella. You’re exicted. But will this machine work?”

  With a look of pre-occupation, Ella looked up to the taller President and nodded. “Yes, Madam President. It will.” Her expression seemed more like a confession than a summary. “And the whole world’s got it. She knew what she was doing. We can put it together very quickly, and so can any number of other countries or universities—companies, wealthy individuals, organizations— My guess is missing bits are so different receivers can put their own finishing touches on it. But— Yes, it will work.”

  Cadence went to sit behind the Resolute Desk and stared at nothing for a few minutes.

  “Well,” she said. “If it will work, then maybe she is who she says.” She looked at everyone. “We need to get a stance on this quickly. It looks like we may now be a humanity with rejuvenation, once we get it working. Supposedly.” She looked at everyone who listened quietly. Cadence thought some more. “Everything’s got to be done at once. World leaders need to talk to each other. Scientists need to be involved, sociologists, economists, physicists, engineers, physicians, biologists… Harold, look into a criminal aspect of this per our laws—”

  “Yes, Ma’am, but if she’s alien, our laws may not really apply. She was just surviving.”

  “I know. Coordinate with Gina, here. Gina, can we look into her status as an American? I’d like to confirm she’s a citizen here.”

  “Right.”

  “And fast.” Cadence looked to Jimmy Duffet, her Chief of Staff. “Jimmy, I need to talk to some world leaders right away. Best if I can get Russia, China, England, India, Japan— Just see what I can get. I don’t want to go into a press conference cold.

  “And,” Cadence looked at her Press Secretary, Doreen Washington, “Doreen: I think we should have a press conference in about two hours. Please don’t hold me to the minute.

  “Everybody,” the President said to everyone. “Lets move to the situation room. There are more screens in there.”

  Everybody rose to their feet.

  “Two hours okay, Doreen?” Cadence asked.

  “No more than two hours from now,” Doreen said. “If we delay, there could be trouble. Everybody’s going to want to be saved yesterday, there could be bedlam for life from every quarter. Though it’s not related, people could storm hospitals thinking it’s in there and we’re withholding the transmuter—”

  “Yes,” Cadence said. “I can imagine.”

  Doreen sat on the edge of her seat. “We need to announce right away that you’ll have your conference in two hours. Just knowing i
t’s coming, will help.”

  Cadence nodded. “And there’s Lori Faraday. General Bainbridge?”

  The Army general had been waiting quietly, watching. “Yes, Madam President.”

  “They,” Cadence indicated the monitor, “can’t watch out for their own safety. They need help.”

  “I agree. I’ve already got my staff working on a protection plan. Just waiting for your order.”

  “The order is given,” Cadence said. “And to make it clear to everyone, this is not going to be a nation of panic, idea theft, cover-ups or white-washing. I was elected on honesty and integrity, so lets do this right. We’re democrats, for God’s sake. We’re not school children. If her story is true, Mrs. Faraday is taking a big chance—a gamble, really—that this process can work with a society that is maturing, getting ready to take the next step in our evolution as a species. She thinks we’re better than we sometimes behave; lets show her we can be.”

  CHAPTER

  7

  Billionaire Adrien Archambeau stood in his penthouse high atop Dubai, looking through a wall of glass over the desert and ocean. Ultramodern furnishings in the Great Room framed the western wall into an office area for staff, busy with computer terminals, phones, and printers.

  They were harried, searching, connecting.

  Adrien was calm. Adrien was always calm.

  Salvador rose from his desk to walk over to the windows, stood by the taller Adrien. “That’s all there is, Adie. Just that one posting on the transmuter. Did she get it right? I mean, O.M.G.! How’d she come up with that? This will change everything. I could use one of those to get rid of my little fat rolls, here, and my wrinkles.” He showed Adrien his love handles.

  Adrien nodded, spoke with a slight French accent: “No need, though, Sal. Your husband does not care about that,” rolling his “r” in “care” on the back of his throat.

  “You don’t complain, but I do. No Sarah Lee for me since Christmas! All I ever get is lettuce and a little broccoli, one grain of rice—”

  Adrien gave him a quick kiss on the mouth. “You worry too much.” He continued to stare out the window.

  Salvador held Adrien by the waist for a second then put his hands on his hips. “You’re seeing possibilities with this?” he asked.

  Adrien’s eyebrows rose a fraction, and he nodded a little.

  “How can you make money on this?” Salvador asked.

  “Oh, billions. I’m sure. Anybody could.”

  “But the whole world’s already got it.”