Project J (13 page)

The two of them were silent, each lost in their own thoughts.
 
One was a Jew, the other not really a believer, so the facts were believable to them.
 
Had either been a true Christian, that might have been impossible.

Finally, Tamara said with a weak smile, “You could prove your conspiracy theory.”

“Oh?
 
How so?”

“Use the Machine to make a copy of the sponge.
 
Then test it for drugs.”

Myers frowned, and then shook his head in wonderment, not disbelief.
 
“That thought, my dear, never occurred to us.”

Chapter 22:
 
Caught!

When they knocked on the door to his apartment, Timothy Williams yelled, “Go away!”
 
So they kicked the door open.

Three men entered the front room of the small apartment, two armed Federal Marshals with automatics drawn, and a tall man in a black business suit.
 
On the couch, looking surprised as hell, was Williams.
 
Also there was his live-in girlfriend, Daisy.
 
Both were naked and engaged in sexual intercourse.
 
Or they were, until interrupted so abruptly.

“What the shit!” exclaimed Williams.
 
Daisy said, “Eck!”

The federal agents were frozen in their tracks, guns pointing at the couple.
 
If they felt any surprise, it did not show on their faces.
 
The third man, one Carl Manhusen, Chief of Security for the Chronodyne Dry Wells Project, smiled faintly, fighting to keep in a laugh.

“Get your clothes on,” he told them.

The clothes in question were scattered around the couch.
 
As the two hurried to get clothing on, Manhusen noted that Daisy appeared to be the kind of woman who would appeal to Williams: big breasted, long blonde hair which a quick glance proved to be from a bottle, and a not-too-smart look on her face.
 
When the man had been hired to be an operator on the Machine, he had cleared background checks without problem, but it was noted in his file that he was of limited intelligence.
 
His hiring had been marginal, and the initial doubts had now proven to be correct.

“Timothy Williams, I place you under arrest for thief of Chronodyne’s property.”
 
One of the agents read him his Miranda rights.
 
As soon as the two had enough clothing to be decent, Williams was handcuffed.
 
Daisy’s eyes lit up.
 
“Oh, kinky!” she said.
 
Manhusen sighed.

“Miss Miller, we are not arresting you at this time.
 
However, if it appears that you were a willing accomplice to the crimes, you may be so charged at a later time.”

“Huh?” she said.

“Search the place,” Manhusen told the men.
 
As they spread out to the different rooms, he began a survey of the front room.
 
His attention was immediately drawn to the coffee table that had been pushed aside to make more room for their lovemaking.
 
Resting atop some magazines was a crown.
 
It appeared to be made of gold, with
fleurs-de-lis
and
crosses pattee
and two arches surmounted by a cross.
 
The inside was of purple velvet and it had a white ermine border at the bottom.
 
Many precious stones were set into the gold.
 
Manhusen whistled when he saw it.

“Timmy, you’ve been a bad boy,” he said with a smirk.
 
“This is, unless my memory fails me, St. Edward’s Crown.
 
The original is, of course, in the Tower of London with the rest of the Crown Jewels.”
 
He lifted the crown.
 
“Heavy.
 
But then it is solid gold, almost five pounds of it.”

Williams was looking at the floor and said nothing.

“You weren’t giving this to your girl here, were you?”

The guilty man’s silence spoke loud enough.

Manhusen laughed.
 
“Not many girls get a gift like that!”

The others began bring objects into the room.
 
First was a large leather bound, very old looking book.
 
“A Guttenberg Bible, oh my,” said Manhusen.
 
There followed a couple gold bars, each of which weighed twenty-five pounds, then a bag of loose, cut diamonds, a suitcase filled with stacks of banded one hundred dollar bills, all fresh and crisp straight from the mint, and finally a large single diamond.

“The Hope Diamond?” Manhusen asked.
 
“Well, never mind.
 
You do know that you would have been caught sooner or later?
 
Most of this stuff is too hard to fence.
 
The money would have been easiest, but since these are duplicates you copied, they would have duplicate serial numbers.
 
If you sold them one at a time, you might have made some money off the diamonds.
 
If you were careful.”

Williams looked up.
 
There was a small tear trickling down his cheek.
 
“I didn’t do anything wrong.
 
These things are just copies.
 
You know that.
 
I didn’t really steal anything.”

“Copies, yes, but copies made with a Chronodyne machine and therefore the property of Chronodyne.
 
Take him away.”

As the agents led Williams out the door, Manhusen turned back to the confused Daisy sitting on the couch.
 
“Don’t expect to see your boyfriend for a long time, sweetie.”

Chapter 23:
 
Excrement Strikes!

“The shit is hitting the fan!” exclaimed Dr. Stryker, his face red with anger.
 
He jabbed at a remote on the tabletop.
 
A large screen monitor on the wall of the conference room came to life.
 
After a moment, a scene appeared showing a female newscaster seated behind a desk.
 
Projected behind her was a picture of the Chronodyne headquarters building with the company’s logo clearly visible.

“In a surprising announcement, Representative Norman Stockman, Chairman of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, today said that he wanted his committee to look into allegations that Chronodyne has developed a time machine.
 
He said that he was informed of the development by sources he declined to name but that he does believe accurate.

“The time machine is supposed to be able to travel back in time to view events in the past, and possibly enable humans to travel back into the past and return.
 
Since Chronodyne is the recipient of several large government contracts, Stockman wants to know why his committee hasn’t been informed of this breakthrough.
 
He also states that he wants an investigation alleged use of this time machine by the CIA and other agencies for spying purposes.

“When contacted by this reporter, Physicist Dr. Malchom Chilton of the Caltech stated that time travel is impossible, and he scoffed at reports of the existence of such a machine.
 
‘Stockman should not believe such rumors,’ he said.

“In other news...”

Stryker turned off the screen.
 
Those around the table were silent.

“Well, how the hell did this Congressman get this?” he demanded.
 
“Someone within this project must have blabbed.”

Those present, which included all the sub-project heads, looked at each other but no one spoke.
 
A couple looked in Tamara’s direction.

“Miss Graves, you are the only person here who is not a part of the Chronodyne team.
 
You show up and a few days later this happens.
 
Have you told anyone about this project?
 
Perhaps someone back in the DOD?”

“I have not,” she said firmly, irritated that anyone would believe she could not keep a secret.
 
“I have the highest clearance and am well aware of security requirements.
 
I assure you that I have told no one – repeat, no one – any information about your project.”

For a few seconds Stryker glared at her.

“Colonel Manhusen will be conducting an investigation,” he finally said.
 
“If there is a leak, we must plug it.
 
This is not a good time for a general announcement to be made public.
 
Especially not for certain projects within Dry Wells.”
 
He looked to Tamara as he said that.

She started to open her mouth to speak, but closed it when she realized that he was referring to Project J.
 
Not everyone in the facility was aware of the true nature of Project J, which meant that some of those present did not know that Jesus was walking around only a couple of buildings away.

“What about that operator just arrested for misuse of the Machine?” asked Dr. Fielding.
 
“Maybe he sold information as well as stolen objects.”

Manhusen stood up.
 
“I have been investigating him thoroughly, and I am convinced that Williams is a thief but did not ever think of selling information.
 
Why should he?
 
He was stood to profit with items obtained from the Machine, why endanger the whole project?”

“Then who did?” asked Juliette O’Neill.
 
“Someone did.”

“And I will find out,” Manhusen told them sternly.
 
From his six foot four inch height, looking down at the seated people, he was the image of undeniable authority.

Manhusen put in a request that anyone who has any information contact him.
 
There did not seem much to say after that.
 
But as the meeting was about to break up, Tamara spoke up.

“Dr. Stryker, may I make a suggestion?”

The Projector Director turned back to her.
 
“Yes?”

“There was something that Dr. Brown suggested,” she said, gesturing to the man.
 
“He said that maybe the animals he was bringing to our time could be shown to the public as clones.
 
You know, the Jurassic Park thing.
 
If you did, you could just say that your project here was to clone extinct animals from DNA.
 
Show them the dodo.
 
And Smiley should really get attention.
 
A Saber-Tooth Cat!
 
Imagine how that would look on the evening news!

“But, you also release a statement that someone found out about this project and mistook it for a time machine.
 
You could even say that one of your own scientists referred to it as a ‘time machine of sorts,’ and that maybe was the source of the confusion.
 
Get a couple other scientists, not yours, to state that time travel is impossible.
 
Might shoot down this problem before it gets out of hand.
 
You don’t want Congress actually investigating you, do you?”

Stryker shook his head, and actually smiled at her.

“Sounds like a good idea,” said Fielding.
 
“Might just work,” added Dr. Crane.
 
Stryker looked around the table.
 
Noting no objections, he said, “Brown, come with me.
 
Let’s see how we can set this up.”

The room emptied quickly, leaving Tamara to wonder where the security breach might have come from.
 
There were, at the current time, exactly one hundred and seven Chronodyne employees on site, plus one DOD visitor.
 
That was a lot of possibilities, even if you figured that some of those were support staff, such as cafeteria crew and guards, who might not know the true nature of Dry Wells.
 
Still left a lot of possibilities.

It was early afternoon and she decided to visit Dr. Myers.
 
There were a few questions still bothering her.
 
She wondered if she might have an interview with Jesus again.