Regression (23 page)

She slid from Prateek’s grasp.
“Right here, Peter. Prateek, can you please carry these out to the
patio?”

“
Fine.” Adya could see
the hurt in his eyes but knew it could not be helped. Peter
disappeared into the bathroom before she could say anything. She
sighed again, returning to the patio to find Prateek had
left.

* * *

“
So what should I know
about pheromones, considering they’re present in unusual amounts in
my blood.” Sitting in Babak’s office the next day, Adya used one of
the seats he had managed to keep clean for the duration of her
orientation.

“
There hasn’t been a
lot of study into them, even in the original timeline. They became
a bit of a joke, for sale on the aphrodisiac market as sexual
enhancement tools.”

“
You’re
kidding.”

Babak glanced at Adya from under
his brows, the slight smile on his face breaking into a wide grin
as he saw her blushing. “Yup. You’re going to be a veritable honey
pot surrounded by bees if the claims hold true.”

She shook her head. “Great. That’s
all I need.” Thinking of the scene the night before with Prateek,
she groaned. “You don’t really believe that sort of sensational
claim, do you?”

“
There’s a lot about
the human body which escapes our understanding. Who am I to say
what is plausible and what is not? Now, the good news is, the one
type of pheromone is not related to sex.”

“
Good−”

“
Well, that’s not
entirely true now that I think about it.”

“
What does that
mean?”

“
The estratetraenol is
a sex pheromone, but the two methylbut two enol is actually a
lactating pheromone. So, you’re covering both ends of the deal.” He
grinned as she smacked him on the arm, rubbing his shoulder.
“Hey.”

“
You deserved it.
Hmmm. You have spearheaded quite a few amazing initiatives but you
don’t have any kids yourself?”

“
No. I love kids, was
never blessed with any. Not for lack of trying in the first
timeline, but this time I’ve avoided any personal commitments. How
could I have a relationship when I would need to keep secret the
most important piece of information about myself? Or, the
alternative, have her think I was crazy?”

“
Jennifer
knows.”

“
That’s different. She
actually found out by accident in the early days.”

“
Why is it being kept
secret? Why can’t Three Eleven tell everyone the world is at risk?
Imagine how much more could be done if people knew.”

He paused. “It’s been a matter of
debate in the executive. We’ve come close, at times, to issuing a
statement. But what it comes down to is the fact we have no proof.
There is nothing tangible aside from our memories, and how do we
prove them? Even to predict an event and then say ‘I told you so’
won’t work because either the event might have already been changed
by our presence, or critics would claim we staged the event. Never
mind the risk of being labelled a company run by crazies and losing
all credibility.”

“
I guess it would not
be well received to come out with such an announcement. But it is a
shame we can’t because more people would work together if they knew
we were fighting a global enemy.”

“
I wish we knew what
the enemy was. So many possibilities, it keeps me up at night. I
dread finding out, but I think not knowing is worse.”

She touched his hand on the desk.
“Doing all you can helps, you should know every action you take
makes lives better. No matter what the events of 2011, the efforts
here at Three Eleven are making people’s lives better.”

He rested his head on their
layered hands. “I’m sorry for being so maudlin. Recent events have
made me miss the ‘life’ part of life.” He looked up at her.
“Spending time at your block party felt so good. Did you know I got
two invites to return to the next one?” She shook her head with a
smile. “That I did. And, I plan to go.”

“
I’m glad. A refreshed
mind is a creative and productive one.”

“
You sound like
Abraham…except the refreshed part. He likes to refer to focused
minds.”

“
Hmmm, there’s someone
who really needs to lighten up. Did you see his…oh, that’s right,
you weren’t there. He got hit in the head by accident with a beach
ball, poor Prateek was mortified.”

“
Prateek, the young
man with the tendre for you?”

“
Umm…I had to set that
one straight last night, unfortunately.” Adya shook her head
ruefully.

“
I heard, although not
the set straight part.”

“
Peter.”

“
Yes. Perhaps he
misinterpreted the situation.”

“
Really doesn’t matter
anyway, he’ll form whatever opinion he wants, but hopefully it will
be based upon knowing me.”

“
I have to say,
knowing you has been an experience and a half. You shake things
up.”

“
Should see me when I
get my stride. I’ve only just begun, Babak.” She left him at his
desk, heading to the door before flashing him a fiendish smile. “Be
afraid, be very afraid.” Her peal of laughter rang out, drawing
looks from a pair of nurses walking by, who were further surprised
at Babak’s hearty chuckle.

The morning of Adya’s final day at
the tower, Jennifer waited in the sedan with Terrell.

“
Hey, what’s going on?
I thought this was my ride.” Adya smiled as she climbed into the
back of the sedan. “Thanks Terrell, guess I won’t ride shotgun
today.”

“
You ride up front?”
Jennifer sounded surprised.

“
You can see
everything up there. I’ve never been much of a back
seater.”

“
It never crossed my
mind. That’s what I admire about you, Adya, everything you do is so
open, so approachable. Unorthodox, mind you, but you make friends
everywhere you go. I must apologize for leaving you the other day.
Abraham didn’t even have a real reason. I just don’t think he could
stand the thought of us having fun. I never realized how little
time he spends just relaxing, I never thought to notice. Myself as
well. Before you head off to Sanctum, I wanted to thank you for
that, for bringing it to my attention.”

“
Jennifer, no need to
thank me. As a parent to so many,” Adya paused to ensure the
divider was up between them and Terrell before continuing, “I
learned you need to find balance between work, play, and alone
time. Too much of any of those and you lose your effectiveness in
every area. Not to say my life was perfect or I was a perfect
parent or wife. In fact, Daniel and I split up for a few months at
one rocky period in our relationship before we realized our problem
was not each other but more the lack of together time.” She paused,
glancing down at her empty ring finger. “That was when we started
to treat our family like an investment and made sure we were
nurturing all of the parts to best promote growth and development.
Sounds callous, doesn’t it? But, it worked. The most important
thing in a person’s life, their family, and most people spend less
effort on it than they do on…well, planning a vacation or buying a
car. If a family is treated like a business you need to grow, you
begin to invest in it and root for its success.”

“
I would have never,
ever thought of it that way.” The car arrived at the tower and
Terrell opened the door for the ladies.

“
Have a good day,
ladies.”

“
You too, Terrell.”
She turned to Jennifer. “Another day…actually my last day here, for
now.”

“
I really will miss
you.” A film of tears glistened in Jennifer’s eyes as they
approached the doors.

The monthly meeting of the
executive was off to becoming a virtual repeat of the previous
month’s discussion. Adya, relegated to a sideline position as an
observer rather than given a seat at the horseshoe table,
recognized she had no news to report but still felt the slight when
placed outside the sphere of conversation. Peter and Babak took
note of her position and made an opening between their
chairs.

“
Adya, sorry about
that, looks like they forgot you. Come sit here between us. Since
you’re working with me right now it only makes sense.” She smiled
her appreciation at both, moving her chair into the space
provided.

“
Thank you, I
appreciate the courtesy.” Glanced at Abraham, she thought she saw a
flash of admiration in his eyes, an acknowledgement of a skirmish
won, before he returned to addressing the group as chair of the
meeting.

Kian Morgan excitedly announced
the launch of a new tool by the Three Eleven Space Centre Deep
Impact group. Their Near Earth Object cataloguing project now
utilized a space observatory satellite with a telescope able to see
much more clearly than ones pointed through the Earth’s atmosphere.
The Cassegrain reflector unit boasted a primary mirror of three
hundred seventy five centimetres, larger than anything developed in
the previous timeline. Moving at about eight kilometres per second,
revolving around the Earth approximately every one and one half
hours.

“
We have already
discovered thousands of new objects, twenty two of which are at
risk for future impact. Abraham, extend my thanks for the software
responsible for predicting the likelihood of impact as well as
potential damage. Two of those objects are projected to become a
possible threat, their trajectories bringing them within collision
distance sometime between 2009 and 2100. The size of one of the
objects was estimated at 1.2 kilometres, large enough to cause
significant damage whether it struck solid land or water. The other
is a small comet.” He directed the groups’ attention to the
projector screen where an image of Jupiter was
displayed.

“
We are also preparing
in advance to observe Shoemaker-Levy 9 in close detail when it
happens in 1994. We just launched a satellite based telescope which
will reach orbit around Jupiter early in 1992. It will monitor
Shoemaker-Levy 9 to record the entire impact process.”

“
Shoemaker-Levy 9 was
a comet. Do you think there is as much risk of damage if a comet
strikes the earth as if an asteroid does?” Adya’s question was met
with some disdain by the aerospace engineer.

“
An impact from a
comet can have serious consequences and there does not even need to
be an impact. Just one fragment exploded over Jupiter with the
force of two hundred megatons of TNT, enough to wipe out life on
the surface of the Earth. Yes, there is as much risk with a comet
as there is with an asteroid. The other possible risk is if part of
the comet makes it to the surface, and there is still life on
Earth, there could be something in the frozen water contained
within the comet.”

She was familiar with the concept.
“Panspermia?”

Kian’s eyes reflected surprised
respect. “Yes, some theorists espouse epidemics are a result of new
forms of bacteria and viruses seeded from comet impacts. Troy is
working in that field.” He finished his report, relinquishing the
table to the next regressee.

The rest of the meeting was filled
with typical minor updates. Although there was information sharing
and collegiality, there did not seem to be real interaction between
the individual initiatives. Each scientist reported what he was
doing. None of them so much as questioned each other’s projects or
commented. She had been made to feel out of line when questioning
about comets. Watching Abraham in his role as chair of the meeting,
he himself did not do more than guide the timing, moving the
meeting on to the next presenter. Two-way dialogue was lacking, she
thought, there should be more interaction between the regressees,
between the departments. She whispered to Peter.

“
How often do you
visit the other Three Eleven areas?”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
You did an
orientation to all the departments. Did you ever visit them
again?”

“
Well, no. We just get
focused on our own projects, no time to spend visiting the
others.”

“
Don’t you see that as
a problem, the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is
doing?”

“
Each initiative is
distinctly separate, no need to interact other than providing
reports.” Peter dismissed her idea, turning back toward the
meeting, which was soon adjourned. He walked with her to the
elevator.

“
Can you be ready
soon? The plane will take us to Sanctum in two hours.”

“
Yes, not a problem.
What are the conditions like, what sort of clothing would be
appropriate?”

“
The interior is
climate controlled, close to room temperature. You will be outside
for a brief period of time, so bring a winter jacket if possible.
If not, there are spares on the plane for such
instances.”

“
I have one, I’ll be
fine. I can pick up some more appropriate clothing when we stop in
Stamford.”

“
It is about a five
hour flight to Stamford.”

“
Okay. Where should I
meet you?”

“
The airstrip. We will
not be flying with the rest of the men from Sanctum, they are
staying here for another two days. I will see you in two hours,
then.” He turned from the elevator, heading toward his tower
office. She rode the elevator down to medical sciences to bid
goodbye to the staff she had met during her brief visit, and
especially Babak. Adya then returned to her cottage and packed her
bags for the trip to Sanctum.