CHAPTER 28

It was something of a relief to see that the halls they took to the hearing room were cleared of everyone. The press knew what was being voted on here today and they were mobbing capitol hill. Unfortunately they were not the only ones. The over abundance of television cameras had also attracted more than a few demonstrators to the nations capitol. Dee could only drop her head and wonder. What were all those people so angry about?

At least Jess seemed to be himself. Unfortunately he was also himself. He babbled out an endless stream of details as they walked down the polished marble corridors. Dee grunted as they reached the door to the hearing room. She snorted out, “I heard you the first time Jess!”

“One more thing,” Jess said pointing to her mouth, “loose the gum please. Makes you look like a dumb blond and they’ll dock you for things like that.”

Dee fished the gum out of her mouth and before Jess could react she shoved it in his hand, then squeezed it tightly shut, “I’ll want that when I get back.”

The double oak door closed behind her as Jess simply stood there looking at his hand in disbelief. He finally found a trash can where he had to sling at it several times, “no wonder Uncle Isaac made me the lawyer.”

Inside the hearing room Dee found that her displays had already been set up to satisfaction. The various senators and congressmen were already assembled up on a high bench like they were so many feudal judges waiting to pass sentence for witchcraft and hearsay. In essence that was exactly what these men were doing here. What gave them the right!

There was one man that Dee did not recognize. She had already been briefed on all the elected officials here. He was not one of them. There was Jack and Vitosk, along with Rockmont situated at the low table. That meant that the mystery party guest was certainly not some NASA type with them. Who was the man sitting quietly, and alone, in the corner? As Dee sat down it was Vitosk who answered the question without Dee ever having to ask.

Apparently the Russian Physicist could see it written all over Dee’s face, “he’s the Russian Ambassador to the United States.”

As Dee opened her briefcase, and began gathering material, she had to ask, “what’s he doing here?”

Rockmont was looking a bit more nervous than normal. Dee was using the guy as a benchmark. Much like her cousin, Charles Rockmont was used to this kind of circus. If he was nervous then there was good reason to be worried. It showed in his quick tone and little jerks, “I think they’re ready for you to be sworn in Doctor Brewer. It’s your show from here.”

Jack actually winked! “Knock ‘em dead kiddo.”

“I wish,” Dee mumbled before she was sworn in and given the go ahead to begin. She almost wanted to say ‘gentlemen of the jury.’ She caught herself even though this might as well have been a trial. Dee was quite literally pleading her life to these men. For that reason she thought it might be a good idea to just skip the long speeches.

“I know that the information packets were delivered to your offices several days ago. Since that’s the case I’ll just answer your questions about the propulsion system that we are proposing to build.”

The reaction was unexpected. There was dead silence in the room. Dee took a quick head count of the men up on the high bench. They were passing off glances at each other. They looked, embarrassed? Dee looked to her own team and shrugged. She noticed Rockmont first. It was almost like he was morning a child who had just dropped the ball on his own five yard line. What did she say that was so wrong?

Had no one read the specs and reports she sent them on the propulsion unit? As Dee looked back to this panel of legislatures she realized that just maybe they had, and didn’t understand it. She wanted to cry. These were the people that got to decide her fate? It was sickening. Dee figured it was time for a lesson in the basics of particle physics.

“As we all know,” Dee began, “Doctor Yurgani Vitosk, on my right, mathematically proved the existence of tachyons.”

Now they had to ask questions! The pudgy fellow on the end, Dee believed him to be the Senator from South Carolina, and one of the biggest opponents of the Hermes Program, spoke up, “now I’m an educated man Doctor Brewer. I have to admit that physics, and science, was never really my strong suit. I’ve heard this word, tachyon, come up in relation to this project from the start. As of yet no one has adequately explained to me what it is.”

Dee looked back to Vitosk and he made a polite gesture for her to continue. That ass! All of the unwanted remarks all these months and suddenly he developed a case laryngitis?! Dee sighed and went on, “it’s a Greek word that means swift one. It’s the name we gave to particle waves that travel faster than the speed of light.”

The senator rocked back in his seat, “so am I to take it then, that you propose to travel faster than light? As I recall, Einstein said that was impossible. He’s been right so far. What makes you think you can prove him wrong?”

“No,” Dee shook her head and bit her lip. All she could think of, at the moment, was that this man made the way he admitted ignorance seem poetic. She corrected him, “we are not proposing to travel faster than light. Our original probes used a similar design and they were able to travel upwards of a third the speed of light in a vacuum. So we know such velocities are possible.”

Another Senator asked, “so exactly what velocities do you think are possible Doctor Brewer?”

Dee was still trying to digest the data from the tests. She was having a hard time believing it and as a result almost hesitated in saying it, “if our recent models are right, then once the Hermes is far enough away from a significant gravity well,” she took a deep breath and then just blurted it out, “we should achieve almost half the speed of light.”

The whistle did not come from the high bench. Dee looked to the source of the sound and found Jack’s eyes about to pop out. He hadn’t read her report either?! She felt like she was sinking fast.

Dee gritted her teeth and tried to force a smile before going on, “this propulsion system is truly unique in human history. It will literally push the boundaries of everything we’ve ever known about the universe. Gentlemen, this is a revolution without parallel in human history. We’ve known about the existence of tachyons for over a decade. Now we’ve figured out how to harness this power. How can we sit in the shadows when faced with the light of discovery?”

South Carolina leaned forward to his microphone as if the recorder might actually miss his words, “I think that the tax payers of this country might say that is because it is they who are sitting in the dark. The price tag on this little field trip of yours has already been more than double what we were assured it would cost. Where I come from Doctor Brewer, if you can’t afford a TV, you don’t go out and order cable.”

How did you answer that? Dee could not think of one and in essence she suspected that was the point. It was just generalized crap designed to inflame rather than inform.

Dee tried to stick to the subject, “Senator, I’m only here to inform you that this propulsion unit will work. I’m here to let you now that the technology is sound and that, if you’ll pardon the pun, it is light years ahead of anything ever invented by mankind. I think you’re really underestimating the power we are talking about here.”

“Not at all Doctor,” the Senator said as he sat back in his chair. He seemed easy, slick, and worst of all arrogant. He knew his point had been made all too well. “It’s the very power you’re talking about that really bothers me. Let me ask you this. Why should we be going to Alpha Centauri in the first place? What’s the big deal? By your own companies estimates, it would take generations to colonize. It could be centuries before it pays off, if it ever does. Meanwhile we go in the red.”

Jack stood up and asked to be recognized. Dee felt like letting out a big sigh of relief but held her composure as she sat back down and bowed to Jack. “Senator, our species protects itself in many ways. One of those is to spread itself as far as possible so that any one disaster can’t wipe us all out at the same time. If we colonize another world, and in this case three, we more than double the chances of our long term survival.”

South Carolina thumped a pen on the table in front of him as he thought about how to respond. Then he just asked, “so what great perils are we facing here Colonel? I don’t see any great impending doom on the way, do you?”

“Not at the moment,” Jack responded but then went on, “but remember at one time this planet was dominated by dinosaurs. Then about sixty-five million years ago a big rock hit the planet and wiped them out. The fact is, another strike of that magnitude remains a mathematical certainty. Sooner or later we’re going to get hit again.”

The Senator smiled. What had he thought of? He looked like a man who had just seen a fish take the bait, “then don’t you think if that’s the problem, maybe we should be dealing with it instead of multiplying it times four? That only goes to illustrate what I’ve been saying all along. We have enough problems here to worry about without making new ones that we can ill afford. So far, with no disrespect to you or your colleagues, you have yet to offer us any example of a substantial return on this enterprise.”

“Well there are lots of things we can learn from the mission,” Jack responded quickly, “the kinds of things that can help us right now.”

Before South Carolina could get another statement in, a congressman on the other end of the table asked, “what kinds of things Colonel?”

The man sounded reasonable enough. Jack was not even sure who the guy was but, at least, he seemed to be interested in the answer and not just tossing out rhetoric. Jack gave him the answer he deserved, “well the best way to learn about something is to compare. In order to do that you need something to make that comparison with. The best way for us to learn about our world, and by extension deal with problems we have here, is to study another. After that we will no longer be making guesses about our own environs, we’ll know.”

South Carolina was not a man to be so easily silenced, “scientific curiosities do not put food on the table of my constituents.”

At this point Vitosk finally felt he had to say something. It was only quietly to Rockmont however, “and I thought they were only this bad in Russia.”

Jack did not hear his Russian friends comment but, he was thinking along similar lines and his words were far less cordial than Vitosk‘s. What Jack did say in the open was, “it’s a lot more than that Senator.”

“I fail to see how,” the man seemed smug.

Before Jack could say another word he felt a hand land on his shoulder. When he looked to his side he saw that Rockmont had stood up. The man nodded for Jack to take a seat and, so, the Marine did. At that point Rockmont walked out in front of the table as he spoke, “Senator, let me ask you this. Would you consider the resources of this country vast?”

The pudgy man winced at the question but, then he leaned forward to his microphone once again and responded, “Director, I think the citizens of this country are tired of treating our ‘vast’ resources, as you call them, like a bottomless pit.”

“And I completely agree Senator,” Rockmont replied easily enough. “I’m also a tax payer and I strongly support the wise spending of what is definitely not a bottomless pit.”

South Carolina’s spine stiffened, “then what are you saying?”

Rockmont stopped pacing and faced the panel. He clasped his hands in front of him and stated, “what I’m saying is this Senator. What would it do for our tax base, for our limited pit of resources, if we owned every single farm, mine, and factory on this planet? I’d call that a very big pie Senator. If only one country controlled all of that, don’t you think it would make them dominant over everybody else?”

An eyebrow arched as the Senator asked, “so what’s the point? You’re stating the obvious.”

“Yes I am Senator,” Rockmont replied, “as it should be equally obvious that if the Japanese reach Alpha Centauri, unopposed, they’ll control those kinds of resources. In fact a lot more. Remember we’re talking about three planets here and not just one. All of the vast wealth of Earth, times three.”

South Carolina pounded his pen on the desk, “they can’t do that Mister Rockmont. As I recall there was a treaty, that the Japanese did sign, that states no one nation will claim a heavenly body as their exclusive property. They can’t claim it all.”

Rockmont shrugged it off, “and if they’re the only ones who can get there Senator, they don’t have too. Even putting that aside for the moment, if my history serves me correctly, this government had many treaties with the Japanese, including a non aggression pact, on the morning of December Seventh, Nineteen-forty one. Did it not?”

The Senator tried to get out some words but almost choked on them. Another legislator on the panel almost laughed. Then the man looked down to his colleague from South Carolina and seemed to relish the words, “well he’s got you there Frank.”

Jack had never been more thankful to walk out of a room in his life. At least it was over with. The simple, ‘thank you’ he received from the chairman of the committee, as he left, seemed to be less than enthusiastic. The tone of the man rung with the sound of defeat. Jack felt like he had not only wasted his entire morning but, the last year of his life as well! With the overwhelming sensation of defeat lingering above his head, like a dark storm could, Jack broke from the rest of his party and quietly slipped out of the Capitol.

The demonstrators and press, outside the building, paid him no mind so Jack thankfully returned the compliment. There were lots of uniforms coming and going from the building. One of the advantages of wearing a uniform was the anonymity it cloaked you in and Jack was never more thankful. He wandered through the crowds with impunity and made his way to the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum. Somehow it seemed fitting. Jack felt right at home with all of the other past relics of flight.

He was standing in the lobby and quietly staring up at the Wright Flyer, in a daze, when Dee found him some two hours later. She joined him in looking up before he even noticed her. At least that seemed to be the case.

Then Jack stated, without ever looking away from the very first flying machine in history, “you know what? That thing was high tech, state of the art, less than two centuries ago. Do you know that Orville Wright lived to see the first supersonic jets? Just in one man’s lifetime we went from puttering around, fifteen feet off the ground, at forty miles an hour, to putting a man on the moon.”

“Well Jack,” Dee stated as she slid her arm around his but kept looking up, “in fact I did know that.”

Jack let out a sarcastic whimpering laugh, “is there anything you don’t know, woman?”

“Hmm,” Dee acted as if she was thinking, “well I’m working on it. Anyhow…”

“Why did we decide to stop?” Jack asked. “You know as an engineer I understand things like hitting the practical limits of a technology. Everything can only do so much, can only be useful for so many things. I mean, I understand that but I don’t have to like it when it happens to me.”

Dee almost giggled, “gee Jack, are we talking aeronautics, or Marine Corps colonels here?”

He finally looked down at her, “both probably. So? I take it you’ll be on your way back to California now. I guess something else will come up.”

“Oh,” Dee playfully bounced her head around as she developed a huge grin, “I’d say really big. We got a propulsion unit to build in record time. I guess that won’t be so hard since it’ll be the first tachyon drive ever built.”

Jack was speechless.

Dee giggled and went on, “that’s right Colonel. Everything we do from now on is going to be a record first.”

Jack grabbed the woman with both arms, lifted her into the air, and spun her around as he laughed with joy. He didn’t stop till a security guard walked up and said, “you two need to go get a room.”

Dee’s feet hit the ground and she quickly gave Jack a kiss on the cheek. Then she decided to kiss the security guard’s cheek too. Before running off, and with a huge grin, she joyfully blurted out, “oh we’re going to do better than a room! We’re going to get a whole spaceship!”

The poor man was confused as Dee ran off. He looked to Jack and shrugged, “newly weds?”

Jack only laughed as he walked off.