Mark Spaid - Falcon Down

“Great,” Ellen said shaking her head.

“Don’t despair, Madam President, this is how diplomacy works.” Andrew smiled as he got up to leave.

“Thank you, Andrew, for your advice.” He smiled as he left. It was going to be tough negotiating with the Russians and maybe they thought the same way about the United States. She knew it wouldn’t be easy, that’s what she was told almost daily by sage advisors but she thought that somewhere along the line there would be something even a small something in this job that would be easy… she was still waiting for it. The meeting was scheduled for three in the afternoon so she spent the morning talking with Clarice and Bonnie then a few minutes with Andrew again to prepare for the meeting with Deniken. At two thirty the car arrived in front of the hotel and Trent knocked on her door and Bonnie opened it.

“It’s time, Ma’am,” Trent said and Bonnie nodded and told the president.

“Well, you’re on, Ellen,” she said to herself as she put on the final touches in the bathroom mirror. “I wish Belinda was here to make things perfect.” At that she chuckled remembering Belinda’s egocentric remark about her own beauty. “Okay, Ellen, go dazzle them.” She blew herself a kiss in the mirror then grinned as she headed out her hotel room for the car and maybe to history in the making. It would be historic but not how she imagined.

“What are the main problems you’ve encountered?” Dave asked Warren as they sat with Little Wolf in the lobby. Warren was experimenting with sending electricity over long distances to a receiving tower. The ultimate goal was sending electricity to the moon. Yes, the moon. Westinghouse had set him up in the desert of New Mexico and he’d been there for over a year.

“The biggest one is controlling the stream.”

“Because it has a tendency to spray?” Dave asked.

“Yes, we call it shotgunning. You must’ve run across this in the lab,” Warren said.

“On a much smaller scale. We send current two to three feet and though it holds its line, there are trace amounts of spreading and you’re working over miles.”

“It’s a problem but we’ve worked solutions with some effect.”

“What exactly?” Dave asked.

“Lasers,” Warren said.

“You parallel the current with lasers?” Little Wolf asked.

“Yes, how’d you know?” Warren asked.

“I read an article by Erik Sommerstom,” Little Wolf said.

“He’s sharp, the Swedes have been working on this for years,” Dave said.

“Yes, I’ve talked to Sommerstom, we share ideas,” Warren said.

“What does Westinghouse think of you sharing with another scientist?” Dave asked with furrowed brows.

“We share but neither one of us gathers anything that they didn’t already know. It’s a cat and mouse game trying to steal shortcuts.”

“Have you garnered anything?”

“He inadvertently told me the intensity of the laser he was using.”

“And you adjusted yours?” Dave asked grinning.

“Yes, and it worked,” Warren replied chuckling.

“Does he know?” Dave asked.

“I think he might because he stopped returning my calls and emails.”

“The physicist turned spy,” Little Wolf quipped and they laughed.

“My work is strictly for science and I don’t think the government has much interest in what I’m doing.” Dave looked at Little Wolf and nodded.

“Don’t kid yourself, Mr. Warren, if there are weapon applications to your work the military will be in your lab in 24 hours, maybe sooner,” Little Wolf posed,

“You think so?”

“I know so, right, Mr. Dave.”

“He’s right, Warren.”

“Are there any weapon possibilities?” Little Wolf asked.

“I guess with lasers and high voltage electricity involved there’s certainly a chance. A beam of current could be directed with lasers to fire at missiles or planes.” Warren replied.

“Welcome to the army, Captain Peabody,” Little Wolf said.

“You think so?” Warren asked.

“I don’t know but if the military finds out what you’re doing their imagination will get the best of them and they’ll be all over you and the lab, just like Little Wolf suggested,” Dave said.

“But we’re keeping everything a secret,” Warren pleaded.

“Mr. Warren, the government knows what everyone is doing these days. I’m sure they’re aware of your work. They just haven’t acted yet.”

“What will they do?” Warren asked.

“I don’t know but I’d guess they’ll take your results and kick you out,” Little Wolf replied.

“They wouldn’t need me?”

“They might if they thought you were indispensable. They’d draft you and keep you a secret.”

“Dave,” Warren said nervously.”

“Little Wolf is right; this could be the weapon of the future and it’d be the end of you going home to see Ariel or anyone else.”

“I’d be another Manhattan project?” Warren said with a questioning tone.

“I’d say so,” Dave replied.

“I never thought about that. Would I have a legal argument against them stealing my work, Little Wolf?”

“There is no legal argument against the United States government, especially if it’s a military project. They’d declare it classified, it couldn’t be mentioned in court and you couldn’t talk or write about it.”

“What have I done? I’ve created a situation for a weapon. It could kill millions.”

“Warren, we’re both scientists and we explore the impossible every day, especially physicists and chemists. There’s unlimited potential to be unlocked in those two fields and the government, in fact all governments are watching us closely,” Dave posed.

“You mean other countries could be spying on me?”

“Sure, I would imagine they are or at least they’re trying,” Dave said.

“What should I do?”

“Keep working but if you can have a log or journal that only you know about containing all of your work, that would be wise. Then hide it somewhere secure but not on the lab premises,” Dave said. Warren nodded and smiled.

“I have the perfect spot.”

“Where?” Dave asked.

“That’s a secret,” Warren said and there was a pause before they all laughed.

“I wonder what Andy is doing?” Dave asked.

“Knowing Dad, he’s probably braving the cuisine of some exotic café,” Little Wolf remarked.

“What does any of this mean?” Andy said softly to himself as he sat examining a menu in a small eatery he found. “There aren’t even any pictures. Wait, do they eat dogs or cats over here? No, I think that’s in the Far East. If Jo was here, she’d probably tell me that was offensive. Maybe it is but I don’t want to eat rover or binky.” He finally gave up and left. No one spoke English and the more he shouted and pointed the more he got upset so he finally gave up and wandered the city on his own before ending up in another cafe. “These items could be anything but I don’t want to stand out as stupid,” he thought to himself as he looked over the menu. “Of course, since I can’t speak the language I probably already seem like an idiot. I could just point to something but what if it was fish head stew or calf kidneys. Don’t be silly, Andy, you ate sheep testicles in Scotland and you’ve had squirrel stew back in Masontown. Go on be brave,” The waiter came over and Andy pointed with a smile. The waiter nodded and left. A few minutes later his order came and it was a sandwich. “Well, that can’t be too bad,” he thought. He took off the top and it was some kind of meat. “Well, it looks okay.” He poked it with a fork and it was very hard. He took a couple of bites and it wasn’t terrible but not great. It was as dry as sand so he washed it down with water and finished most of it. He’d exchanged some dollars for the local currency at the hotel and he paid the bill and left. Kerch was not a super large city, a hundred and fifty thousand or so he thought. He walked the city, went into a couple of art galleries and recognized a copy of the Mona Lisa and a few Picassos. “I guess I’m not an art person,” he said to himself. “I just never understood Picasso, I mean what person has three noses or two heads. Norman Rockwell, now there was a guy who painted things you could recognize.” He thought he might be loud on that last comment so he looked around but nobody was looking and he breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t want to alienate the native population. He walked for a couple of hours enjoying what he could. There was a museum but he couldn’t read the placards so the artifacts meant very little to him. He went into a few shops but found little of interest to him. Finally, around four he neared the hotel and found a seat on a bench in the park across the street from where they were staying. He had a bottle of water. He looked for a long time before finding one and he thought that was a coup. The Ukraine was not a third world country but he wasn’t sure he trusted their water purification system. If people thought that was offensive, he didn’t care; diarrhea wasn’t something he wanted.