Chapter 1
Going Rogue
8 Years Ago:
The elevator doors slid open, and a man in a white lab coat shuffled out quickly into a lustrous white hallway. He ran a hand through his raggedy, salt-and-pepper hair, pulling it back from his anxious face. After straightening his dark-rimmed glasses, he bounded off with purpose down the outer perimeter of the inner sanctums of Blackwoods Research Facility, his metallic silver briefcase swinging with his long strides. It was fifteen minutes after midnight. The corridor was empty, seemingly arcing forever into oblivion.
Dr. Miles Schaffer was a man on a mission. Determination hardened his normally soft blue eyes, but there was also desperation churning inside them. He prayed he could keep that look of borderline madness stowed away when the time came. And it would come. There was no way he’d ever get out of here without dealing with multiple guards on duty. He had to make it look like this was just another late night at the lab…which it most certainly was not.
The first guard station was fifty feet away from his laboratory. Dr. Schaffer held the highest security clearance one could have at Blackwoods, and his lab was ensconced in the middle of some of the most Top-Secret projects at the research facility. A certified super-genius and a genial, if somewhat quirky, fellow, he was well-liked by almost everyone. He knew the two guards on duty well, chatted with them often, even knew the batting averages of their kids on their Little League teams. But that level of familiarity did nothing to calm his anxiety. As he approached the guard station, his stomach tightened into a dense ball of nerves. He forced away the desperate look in his eyes as best he could. But he would remain determined to complete his mission, despite knowing that his actions tonight would completely ruin many years of hard-earned trust, friendship, and goodwill. Despite knowing he would wind up in prison for life if things went wrong and he got caught. Or worse than prison. His entire world was riding on the next thirty minutes, as he had calculated before. He could not get caught. He could not fail.
The security officers looked confused as Dr. Schaffer approached, but they soon flashed warm, soft smiles.
“Doctor Schaffer,” one of the security officers said, sounding surprised. “Nice to see you…but we weren’t expecting you back so soon.” The officer drew a deep breath, then said delicately, “I’m so sorry about Helena.”
The other guard just nodded quietly in sympathy.
Dr. Schaffer swallowed hard. Tears welled in his eyes but none fell. He spoke with the learned accent of a distinguished professor. “Thank you. I thought I’d take more time off too…but then I thought maybe throwing myself into my work might just be the best medicine.”
The officers nodded. Then the first one said, “Yeah, I could see that, Doc.”
“If you need anything at all, just let us know.” the other officer added.
“All I want is some privacy, time to get away and think about my work. Not think about other things.” Dr. Schaffer smiled sadly. “It’s late and probably no one will be by, but if anyone comes, could you tell them I’d just like to be left alone for a while?”
“Sure thing, Doc,” said the first officer.
“You got it,” the second officer said.
“Thank you.”
The officers let the scientist pass. Dr. Schaffer pulled his magnetic ID card from his pocket and swiped it across the sensor beside his laboratory door. The doors peeled open, and he entered his workspace of thirty years, knowing full well, that either way this went, it would be the last time.
His spacious laboratory contained an office nook with floor-to-ceiling shelves of books, a large chalkboard with arcane mathematical equations scrawled all over it, and a bank of computers on a long desk. Stretching far away from his office were rows and rows of various half-finished projects on lab tables, but the showstopper was a shimmering silver sphere sitting on a platform of its own. The sphere was three feet in diameter and dimpled like a golf ball with nothing at all attached to it. No cables, no wires, no visible electronics. Maybe only Dr. Schaffer and God himself knew what that thing was supposed to do. It just sat there, as if waiting for a giant to trundle up to it and smack it with an oversized golf club.
Dr. Schaffer quickly made his way to his desk, fired up the four computers, and began furiously typing on various keyboards as he rolled back and forth on an office chair between
them. He plugged flash drives into all of the computers and began downloading massive amounts of data. Schaffer watched the glacially slow green progress bars on the monitors, then turned his attention to his laboratory door, staring at it with wide, worried eyes. He knew his unusual download activity would be noticed by someone, and probably soon.
“C’mon, c’mon!” he urged quietly.
Dr. Schaffer grabbed his briefcase, hustled over to a black door, and pulled out his ID card. He swiped the card and placed a jittery, sweaty hand on a security sensor. A green light welcomed him, and the door lock clicked. When he pushed the door open, he was instantly bathed in an intense fluorescent blue. Before him were two canisters of 37-Geminorum, secured in slots in a Plexiglas wall panel. Schaffer entered a passcode. The panel began to open, with the shimmering rods of otherworldly energy just there for the taking. Dr. Schaffer snatched the 37-Geminorum canisters and gingerly secured them in his briefcase. Then he turned to another wall panel, punched another passcode, and carefully retrieved two milky-white, fluid-filled test tubes from a frosty container housing thousands. After stowing them away gently in a liquid nitrogen thermos in his briefcase, he exited the room and closed the door behind him.
The green progress bars on the computer monitors were steadily moving now—96%…97% … 98% The moment they hit 100%, and all of the data had been downloaded, Dr. Schaffer pulled the flash drives out of the computer and tucked them in a deep pocket of his briefcase. He snapped his briefcase shut and engaged their dual combination locks. Then he reset the computers, wiped some perspiration from his forehead, and attempted to straighten his raggedy hair. Schaffer took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to compose himself. Finally, he opened his laboratory door and stepped back out into the hallway.
The security officers immediately turned at the sound of hard-soled shoes clicking and clacking on the polished concrete floor. Dr. Schaffer’s first instinct was to step softly, but he quickly realized how pointless that would be. No use slinking around now. So he decided to walk confidently, take bold steps, like a world-renowned scientist with places to go, discoveries to make. Like someone with nothing to hide. That tactic, though, failed to make him feel any less nervous. His nerves were frayed, and his stomach felt as if it were being liquified. He tried not to puke as he made eye contact with the officers.
“Doctor Schaffer,” the first guard said, once again sounding surprised. “That was quick.”
The good doctor cracked a soft, sad smile. “Yes, it was…I thought work would take my mind off things, but I was wrong.” Schaffer sighed deeply, and he hoped they wouldn’t notice that his exhale brought a shudder that rippled through his entire body. “Now, I just need to go home and rest. I don’t normally like to take them, but I’m going to try a sleeping pill.”
The officers nodded sympathetically. The second one said, “That sounds like a good idea, Doc. Get some rest. Come back whenever you’re ready.”
“Thank you,” Dr. Schaffer replied. Then he clicked and clacked away from them.
“And Doctor…” the first officer said.
Dr. Schaffer froze like he was hit by a tractor beam. Cringing inside, he slowly turned around. “Yes?’ he asked hesitantly.
“…We’re so sorry for your loss,” the officer finished.
For a moment, Dr. Schaffer’s eyes were more sad than they were determined. He tried to say something, but no words came out. He flashed a grateful smile, turned, and left. As he got out of sight, his eyes became laser-focused once more.
Dr. Schaffer rode the elevator three hundred and forty feet to the surface. When he entered the above-ground portion of the facility, another security checkpoint was waiting for him—four officers behind a long counter, each with a .45 caliber pistol sidearm. Two of them had M-16s draped over their shoulders. Schaffer swallowed hard and made his approach.
One of the officers smiled at him. “That sure was quick, Doc. Figure everything out already?” he joked.
Dr. Schaffer faked a pretty good laugh. “I’m trying.”
The officers let him pass without any more questions, not even a curious glance. Schaffer made his way to the parking garage and found his large black cargo van waiting there for him. He got in, stowed away his briefcase, and pulled out. After three more gated checkpoints, each more nerve-racking than the last, he drove away from the research facility along the Dark Highway and headed west toward town.
Dr. Schaffer had made it five miles on the Dark Highway when he finally heard the sound that he dreaded but knew would be coming. A shrill, blaring alarm siren pierced the cool night air like a samurai’s blade. His was the only vehicle on the road now, had been the entire time, but that was about to change. And fast. Dr. Schaffer pulled his van off the road and into the deepest ditch he could find. He had spotted this as a potential hiding place before, one of many, during the planning phase of his mission. It wasn’t the best spot, but it wasn’t the worst. It would have to do now.
Schaffer killed the engine and turned off the headlights. He jumped out of the van and opened the sliding side door. He grabbed what sort of looked like a satellite dish—a concave surface that was three feet across, but with tightly wound silver coils sprouting out from it in every direction. Once he secured it to the roof of the vehicle, he went inside and closed the sliding door. Three laptops on a counter were already up and running some sort of program, numbers scrolling wildly up two of them. Dr. Schaffer took a quick look out the back window but saw no pursuers yet. He turned to the third computer, the one not scrolling. He began furiously inputting commands, fingers flying over the keys. A framed picture of a woman in her fifties sat on the counter by the laptops. She had brown hair with no trace of gray, and large brown eyes that exuded kindness and intelligence. She wore a unique smile, one that was at once captivating and unsettling, like she knew something you didn’t. Intensely intelligent, yet impish. That was one of the features Dr. Schaffer had loved about her the most.
Schaffer glanced at her picture and returned her smile. His smile was almost manic, brimming with possibility and hope. Then he began to speak to her like she was right there, sitting in the van with him.
“Helena, darling, I think we’ve figured it out!” Dr. Schaffer blurted excitedly. “The key to understanding the universe is not in outer space, but in inner space…If you go small enough, anything is possible.” Then he laughed heartily. “But you already knew that. You were always smarter than me.”
His smile was eerily wide when he saw the blades of light cutting through the night on the Dark Highway to the east and west of him—convoys of military vehicles with searchlights piercing the roadway and the areas around it, scouting for a scientist who had gone rogue. Dr. Schaffer’s smile melted away as his fingers continued to blaze away on the computer.
A thick beam of light hit the van and poured in through the windows. Soon, a dozen Humvees with .50 caliber machine guns mounted on top were pulled to the edge of the Dark Highway, right above Schaffer’s black van in the ditch, about sixty feet away. Spotlights showered the black van, and all of the guns on the Humvees swiftly swiveled around and fixed on the target.
A stressed-out Air Force Captain popped out of one of the vehicles and spoke into a loudspeaker. “Doctor Schaffer…exit your vehicle…with your hands up!”
Schaffer took a quick moment to look out the window but immediately went back to his work. He typed a few final commands into the computer and grabbed a 37-Geminorum energy rod out of his briefcase. The rogue doctor’s broad smile was drenched in a brilliant blue.
“Now, Doctor Schaffer!” the Captain yelled. “Exit the van now!”
There was no response from Dr. Schaffer. Then, slowly, a blue orb began to envelop the van. The bubble was getting brighter, bluer, and more intense. Zig-zagging bolts of electricity crackled loudly.
“Dammit!” the Captain shouted. “We have our orders…Fire!”
The Humvees unleashed a torrent of gunfire. Muzzles flashed, lighting up the night sky. Bullets zipped through the air, homing in on Dr. Schaffer’s vehicle, which was now a sphere of neon blue light.
In a blinding flash, the van was gone. And the soldiers were left doubting their eyes.
Komentarze