The Fold: A Novel Part 4

A low grumble started at one end of the board's table and made its way across.

"I can't believe you're funding someone who told you they could build a teleporter," whispered Mike.

"I'm not," said Reggie. "I'm funding Cross because he's done it."

"However," continued Arthur, "during our hiatus, Dr. Johansson and I had the idea that the secret to instant travel might not be trying to manipulate the traveler, but rather to manipulate the distance traveled."

Mike's ants paused in their endless movement, just for a moment.

FIVE.

The athletic woman made a show of flipping her report open and referring to something. "And how would you manipulate distances, Dr. Cross?"

"Distance is a relative term," said Arthur. "When you start applying the idea of additional dimensions, it can be manipulated very easily."

Reggie cleared his throat for attention. Mike, the scientists, and the board members all turned to him. "Ummm...Just for the record," Reggie said, "and, again, the benefit of our nonscientific members, could you explain that a little more?"

Arthur nodded. "Of course." He ignored the pen in front of him and pulled one from inside his coat. The scientist made two exaggerated dots on opposite corners of the legal pad and stood up-without using his cane, Mike noticed. "For our purposes, let's say these dots exist in a two-dimensional universe, the sheet of paper," he said, adopting the tone of college lecturers across the globe. He displayed the sheet to the room. "Simple enough, yes?"

There were a few nods from the a.s.sembled board members.

"Mr. Magnus, since you suggested it, how far apart would you say these two dots are?"

Reggie eyed the paper. "If I remember my geometry," he said, "something like fourteen inches, right?"

"Close enough," Arthur said with a nod. He tore the sheet off the notepad with a flourish, and folded it in half. "Now how far apart are they?"

"Eight inches, maybe."

The physicist folded the paper the other way. "And now?"

"Less than half an inch, if that."

"And yet," said Arthur, "to any creatures in the paper's two-dimensional world, nothing has changed. Their universe is unaltered, and the dots are still fourteen inches apart. But if they had the means to perceive our three-dimensional s.p.a.ce, to cross through it, and reenter their own, they could go from point A to point B with just a single step.

"In a similar manner, we manipulate the distance the Albuquerque Door covers by creating a path across another dimension, an alternate quantum state, if you will. One in which our own dimension appears folded back on itself. Where A and B are one step apart."

"The paper bit was your idea?" whispered Mike.

Reggie gave a small nod and lowered his voice. "It's how he explained it to me the first time I asked him. It's a nice visual for us little common folk."

The buzz cut colonel tapped his pen on the end of his file. "So you've found another dimension that allows this?"

"That's the whole crux of our project," Olaf said. Mike found it amazing how much veiled condescension the man could work into his voice. "We don't need to find it. We just tell our equipment we have and everything works accordingly."

"And that works?"

"To date," said Arthur with a cough, "it has worked over four hundred times without any side effects or consequences. One hundred sixty-seven times with human subjects. There has never been a failure in the system."

"Never?"

"Never." The older man sat down as he repeated the word. Olaf and Jamie both crossed their arms.

Mike frowned and glanced at Reggie. Reggie gave him a quick shake of the head. Mike s.n.a.t.c.hed up his pen again and scribbled out IF NEVER-WHY ME? on the pad.

"So, how safe is it?" asked the colonel.

"Utterly safe," said Arthur.

The Asian man tapped his pen on the table. "What about Benjamin Miles?"

A small swarm of ants carried out images and sounds. Mike had visited Washington thirty-two months ago. Reggie had introduced the freshly promoted a.s.sistant director as they walked past him in the hall. Short, but with strong shoulders, a square jaw, and sun-blond hair. His tie pin had been a tiny silver-and-red Captain America shield. His office was three doors down from Reggie's, on the left.

A low murmur pa.s.sed through the room. A few glances flitted over to Reggie. Olaf and Jamie shifted in their seats. The colonel and the senator leaned forward. Arthur met their gazes.

BEN? scribbled Mike. Reggie shook his head again.

"The problems Mr. Miles has had are regrettable, of course," said Arthur. "We all liked him during his brief visit to San Diego. But they have nothing to do with the Albuquerque Door."

"He used it," said the Asian man. It was not at all a question. "Seven weeks ago. And then his first episode happened right afterward."

"His first episode also happened right after he flew back to Washington on Virgin America," said Arthur. "Have you spoken with Richard Branson?"

Mike glanced at Reggie again, but his friend's face was a blank slab.

"That's not an answer," said the Asian man.

"You haven't asked a question," said Arthur. "You've falsely imputed a line of cause and effect between the Door and Mr. Miles's condition. I can tell you with absolute certainty the Door had nothing to do with it."

"How?"

"Because the Door doesn't affect the traveler in any way," said Arthur. "It's still possible to be hurt by misusing the equipment itself, but that would have nothing to do with the actual act of traveling."

"So it's dangerous to some degree," said the colonel.

"It's like asking if a freeway is dangerous," Olaf said. "A freeway's just a long strip of pavement. In and of itself, it's harmless. But it's still possible to get hurt on one if somebody does something stupid."

The colonel considered this and scribbled a note.

The athletic woman who'd begun the meeting flipped through her file again. "Dr. Cross," she said, "there's no actual specifications for your project here."

"No, ma'am," said Arthur.

"Is there another file?"

"No," he said. "Part of our agreement is that we don't share our research, findings, or technology with anyone until the project is ready to go public."

Her eyes widened a bit. "But this is a review board."

There was a moment as the scientists and board members looked at one another. Reggie leaned close to Mike. "This is why you're here," he murmured.

"Doctor," said the man with the gla.s.ses. "We're going to need to see your research if we're going to have any discussion about extending your budget for another year."

"As I just explained," Arthur said, "no one sees our work until the Albuquerque Door goes public. Not one equation, not one line of code, not one blueprint. This was the deal we worked out with Mr. Magnus when we switched our research over from SETH."

Several heads turned to look at Reggie. He didn't flinch.

The Air Force colonel slapped his file closed. "Why are we just hearing about this now?"

"Because you don't read your e-mail," said Olaf. "This has been the standing agreement for almost two years now."

"It seems like we're done, then," said the senator, shooting a tired look at Reggie. "If you can't show us any actual results, we can hardly be expected to continue your funding."

"On the contrary," said Arthur. "We can show you the only result that really matters. As I said, the Albuquerque Door works."

"Do you have video?" asked the Asian man.

Arthur shook his head. "On site, but nothing we'll allow out of our labs."

Another sigh of frustration from the board.

Mike picked up the pen, but Reggie set a hand on his wrist and eased it back down.

"I'm sorry," said Arthur, "but it was decided very early on that all information regarding the workings of this project would be on a strict need-to-know basis."

"Well, for the funds we're being asked to contribute," said the man with gla.s.ses, "I think we need to know."

"Why?" asked Jamie. "None of you are physicists. You're not engineers. You're not programmers. You wouldn't understand anything we gave you anyway."

"But we have people who would," said the athletic woman.

"And that," said Arthur, "is why we're not sharing information with anyone."

They all focused on him. Jamie and Olaf straightened up, flanking their boss. He glanced at Reggie for support and got a small nod.

Arthur took a brief moment to collect his thoughts. "The Albuquerque Door," he said, "is the greatest thing mankind has achieved since we reached the Moon. Possibly since the creation of the steam engine. It's not exaggeration to say it is going to change everything. Transportation, communication, commerce, the energy industry, s.p.a.ce exploration, all of it. Every human being on the planet will have their lives changed by this technology once it's released.

"Until then, we can't risk having it leak out in bits and pieces. You show it to your aides and consultants, they each share it with their own staff, their staff members share it with their a.s.sistants and departments. Some of them might even talk about it with friends and family members. That's a hundred people, just off this one meeting, and the more people who have access to that information, the better chances it will get out there. To be blunt," he said, gesturing at Olaf and Jamie, "this is our life's work, and we're not going to risk it being torn apart and fought over by vultures before we're allowed to say anything publicly."

"So this is about recognition," said the colonel.

"Of course it is," said Olaf. "Have you been paying attention? We're going to win every n.o.bel Prize for the next ten years. Even the ones for Economics, Physiology, and Literature. We're going to get them just on general principle."

"I can understand your concern," the Asian man said, "but this isn't like handing over your college thesis to an old professor who can't work his e-mail. We're talking about the federal government."

"Yes," said Jamie, "exactly."

"You can't keep your own secrets," Olaf said, "but you want us to believe you'll do a better job with ours?"

The colonel's jaw shifted.

Reggie cleared his throat and the athletic woman glanced over at him. "Mr. Magnus?"

"I understand this seems highly irregular," he said, "but it really isn't any different than the numerous high-security programs DARPA has carried out for your branches and departments in the past. On and off the books."

The senator muttered something at her file, and then turned her attention to Reggie. "So DARPA expects us to just funnel an extra three hundred million into this project based on...what? No explanations, no status reports, nothing."

"Based on the fact that it works," said Olaf. Arthur hushed him with a wave. Olaf threw himself back into his chair and crossed his arms.

Reggie pointed a finger at Olaf. "The man has a point," he said. "In fact, it's the only point that matters. The Albuquerque Door works. I've seen it work with my own eyes. We're not talking about another year to see if they can get results, we're talking about another year so they can finish testing and have ironclad doc.u.mentation that no one will question."

"But without knowing what they're doing-"

"We know what they're doing," Reggie said, cutting off the senator. "They've built a system that lets you go from New York to London with one step. That's exactly what they said they were going to do."

The man with the gla.s.ses tapped his pen against the file folder. "Even though none of us knows how it works."

"None of you know how it works," said Arthur.

Reggie raised two fingers and the athletic woman said his name again. "When we hire the best chef in the world to cater a dinner," he said, "we don't expect him to share his recipes. He's just supposed to serve the food we ask for and make sure that it's exactly what we want. That's what Dr. Cross and his team have done. They're giving us a taste of some great food with the understanding that we'll get even more-and the recipe, too-somewhere down the line, when it's perfect."

The athletic woman leaned over and whispered to the Asian man. He nodded and glanced over at the senator. The Air Force colonel was still glaring at Olaf.

"In addition," said Reggie, leaning forward again, "I'm sending one of my top men to do a full on-site evaluation. He'll be bringing back a detailed report of the project for your examination."

He gestured across his body to Mike.

Everyone in the room followed the gesture. The board members. The scientists. The seven people taking notes. Mike could feel their stares on his skin. Arthur Cross straightened up. Jamie's eyes narrowed. Olaf scowled.

"I haven't agreed to anything," he whispered.

"Too late now," murmured Reggie.

"Well," said the athletic woman, "under the circ.u.mstances it seems like the question and answer session we had scheduled for this afternoon is a bit pointless." She closed her file and exchanged a few glances with the other board members. "I think that's that, then. Many thanks to you and your team for coming out this morning, Dr. Cross. You've given us a bit to think about."

He bowed his head.

"Mr. Magnus," she continued, "I think we'll still want a few words with you after lunch."

"I thought you might."