Hil ary Clinton waited until her visitor had sit before asking the question she was burning to ask.
‘’So, Doctor Warner, what is the preliminary verdict of your study team?’’
The physicist, a thin man with balding head and thick glasses, measured his words carefully.
‘’First, Madam Vice-President, I must stress that what I wil say is only a preliminary assessment. We are talking about a phenomenon about which we know nothing about and have next to no clues to guide us. We interviewed at length the crew of the plane, apart from examining the said plane in al ways short of dismantling it in pieces. I am afraid that, up to now, the results are meager indeed. Al the witnesses agreed that an intense flash or red light and the shock wave from an explosion immediately preceded the change from night to daylight. Furthermore, the captain told us that he saw his copilot as if through an X-Ray machine during the time of the flash.
This suggests to me that some sort of intense radiation was at work then. The unusual red color of the flash of light also suggests to me that this flash and explosion was not caused by a standard nuclear explosion. We checked the plane for unusual radiation counts but came blank on that. Right now, my only plausible theory is that some anti-matter exploded near the plane and projected it towards the future.’’
‘’Anti-matter?’’
‘’Yes, Madam Vice-President. Anti-matter is basically like normal matter, but with its atoms having a reversed electrical charge. When put in contact with normal matter, anti-matter explodes violently, converting all its mass into energy in an explosion much more powerful than a nuclear bomb. The red color of the explosion could be explained by the time shifting of the light through time.’
‘’And where did that anti-matter come from, Doctor Warner?’’
48
‘’Probably from space, Madam Vice-President. Anti-matter could not stay inside our atmosphere without exploding at the contact of air. We think that, possibly, a meteorite made of anti-matter entered our atmosphere in 1959 and then exploded, catching Pan Am 164 in its radiation burst and projecting it through time.’’
‘’But, then we are making very good progress on this, no?’’ Said Hillary Clinton, brightening up. Her enthusiasm was however quickly drenched by the scientist.
‘’Not real y, Madam Vice-President. Please understand that, while we know about the concept of anti-matter, we could not possibly control it and its effects. Using the most powerful particle accelerators in the World, an infinitesimal quantity of anti-matter has been produced to date, but for only fractions of a second before it annihilated itself in contact with normal particles. We are stil a long way from being able to produce and store any appreciable quantity of anti-matter, and stil an even longer way from understanding all of its properties and from controlling said properties. That work wil take decades, at best, if we ever can succeed. As for what happened to Pan Am 164, my assessment is that it was a pure fluke, an accident of natural origin that we are totally incapable of reproducing. It definitely was not the result of some attack by terrorists or hostile nation shooting a nuclear weapon at that plane. My team wil continue its work but, to be completely frank, I am not optimist at all about finding a way to send that plane back to the past. If I were a passenger or crew from Pan Am 164, I would resign myself to live in this time period as best I can. They wil probably die of old age before we ever understand better what happened to them.’
Hil ary sat back, her expression somber.
‘’Poor people. You realize what this wil mean to those who are now separated from their families.’’
‘’I do and I sympathize with them, Madam Vice-President, but I unfortunately can be of little help to them. My counsel would be to help as much as possible those people to adapt to our time and to reintegrate our society.’
‘’I was afraid of that, Doctor Warner.’ Said Hil ary, her head low. ‘’I wil pass your preliminary assessment to the President. Please inform me at once if you find anything new.’
‘’I certainly will, Madam Vice-President. Have a good day.’
‘’You too, Doctor Warner.’
49
Hil ary shook hands with the physicist before he left, then went to sit back behind her desk. She was thoughtful for a moment before picking up her telephone and calling her aide at the Mologne House Hotel, Ramsay Weathers.
‘’Hello, Ramsay? This is Hil ary speaking. Tell the people of the Pan Am flight that I will speak to them as a group this afternoon, at two o’clock. Also, arrange a media announcement for five o’clock, where I wil speak on television about the Pan Am flight.
The presentation wil be done in the lobby of the Mologne House Hotel but reporters wil not be allowed to roam the hotel… Yes, do that.’
She then cut the line and composed another number.
‘’Mister President, this is Hillary. I am afraid that the preliminary assessment about the Pan Am flight is not very encouraging…’
14:08 (New York Time)
Restaurant of the Mologne House Hotel
Washington, D.C.
Hil ary Clinton, having delivered in the most diplomatic way possible the bad news about their prospects for returning home to the people of the Pan Am flight, then stayed silent, observing their reactions. It was mostly ones of despair and grief, with many in the crowd weeping openly at the idea of not seeing again their families. Having already promised extensive relocation help via the assistance of psychological counselors and social services workers, along with extended government assistance, Hil ary could say little more, so she went to Ramsay Weathers, her representative in the hotel, and Senior Agent Jane Hatfield. Both looked grim, obviously empathizing with the Pan Am people. She took them aside and spoke to them in a low voice.
‘’I am afraid that these poor people are here to stay for good. President Obama has promised me though that the government wil not abandon them and will do the utmost to help them relocate and rebuild their lives. Some wil be able to fit in rather easily, as in the cases of Princess Grace and her daughter and for Miss Coco Chanel.
Both have the strong support of the French and Monegasque governments and have natural niches they can fit in. Brigadier General Foster and Colonel Ritchie wil be pensioned off but the loss of their families will be undoubtedly very painful to them. The same goes to all these married men that were traveling alone. A team of counselors wil come tomorrow morning to start actively assisting their relocation and I promise you that 50
there wil be no such thing as mindless red tape here. Mister Ramsay, if you see any counselor or social services civil servant making roadblocks by sticking blindly to regulations, yank him or her out and report to me. I wil then be most happy to fire that said counselor or civil servant.’
‘’What about Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon and Edward Murrow, Madam Vice-President? They were big celebrities in their time but may be considered too outdated now by the entertainment industry.’
‘’Actual y, Ramsay, I believe that they will do better than most in the Pan Am group: there wil be enough book editors and biography producers interested in their life stories to make them at least well off. As for the plane’s crew, I have someone I know at American Airlines that should be able to arrange for their retraining. Hell, at worst I wil offer them to join the Air force!’
‘’What about the present security arrangements, Madam Vice-President? If these people are not considered anymore as possible security threats, then we can hardly justify continuing to hold them under tight armed guard, incommunicado.’
Demanded Jane Hatfield, making Hil ary nod.
‘’I am going to throw a press conference in the hotel lobby at five o’clock this afternoon, to basically announce publicly what I just told these people. Reporters wil be able to interview Pan Am people afterwards in this restaurant, but wil then have to leave for the night and wil be asked to keep their distances from this hotel. If they want further interviews, they wil have to call Mister Weathers, who wil arrange the meetings. The present security force level can hardly be justified now, so the FBI and Secret Service presence wil be removed, leaving your DHS team in place, Senior Agent Hatfield, along with minimal Washington Police support. The ambassadors of France and of Monaco should pick up Princess Grace, her daughter and Miss Coco Chanel tomorrow afternoon, which wil greatly relieve the security burden on your team. Do you have any more questions?’’
‘’No, Madam Vice-President!’
‘’Good! I will stay here until the press conference: that wil allow me to continue to lend these people my moral support. They wil need all the help they can get.’
‘’That is most true, Madam Vice-President.’ Agreed Ramsay Weathers as he eyed a man in his forties crying while sitting at a table a few paces away.
51
As Hillary Clinton expected, the announced press conference at the hotel turned into a near three-ring circus, with well over a hundred cameramen, reporters, press photographers and paparazzi showing up and elbowing each other to fit in the lobby.
Not surprisingly, the people the media wanted most to see and hear were Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, Coco Chanel and Jack Lemmon. Edward Murrow, not surprisingly for the Vice-President, attracted few questions or interview requests. Few in the public in 2015 knew or cared anymore about the radio and television reporter that had made such a heavy mark on the American public of the 1940s and 1950s and had helped make the mighty and most dreaded Communist-hunting Senator Joseph McCarthy fall from his pedestal. Murrow didn’t remark on that but Clinton was able to see that it hurt him deep inside and thought for herself that an injustice had just been done.
On her part, Grace Kelly didn’t surprise many when she announced that she would leave next afternoon with her daughter Caroline to go back to Monaco, where Prince Albert was waiting to see again his long-dead mother. That piece of news however was all a man who had entered the hotel under a false identity as a press photographer wanted to hear. Shortly after asking Grace Kelly who would pick her up, which she answered good-naturedly enough, the man left the hotel lobby and walked out of the old medical center’s grounds, returning to a car parked far enough not to attract the attention of the police. Once sitting in the front passenger seat, the ‘photographer’
nodded to the man sitting behind the wheel.
‘’Tomorrow afternoon. The ambassador of Monaco will pick her up.’’
‘’Good! We are ready.’
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CHAPTER 7 – KIDNAPPING
13:52 (New York Time)
Friday, October 9, 2015
Main entrance of the Mologne House Hotel
Washington, D.C.