A couple of days after Karen’s accident, Lyceum had finally cleaned up from its New Year’s party, which was by most accounts a very successful event. Only the elite gymnastics team and several of Lyceum’s medical personnel could have wished for less excitement.
Karen’s parents had arrived long before the gymnast had regained consciousness. They were already a bit unhappy with Lyceum for having to share the Chunichi Cup prize money with the organization that had trained, sponsored, and provided for their daughter for the past three years. But they clearly remembered signing the agreements that made such a division necessary, so they had kept their displeasure to themselves.
But after seeing their daughter in the recovery room, attached to various monitors and intravenous medications, they began to seethe.
In addition to Karen’s parents, doctors, and several nurses, also present when the patient awoke were Ashley, Tabitha, and their two coaches. She slowly opened her eyes, blinked them many times in order to focus, and looked at everyone in the room. Then she took in her own situation, and closed her eyes again to gather her thoughts.
Everyone waited. When she finally opened them again, she spoke with a slow, groggy voice.
“Hi... Mom. Hi, Dad. I don’t know... exactly what happened, but... I know it was...” She paused and swallowed. She wanted to cry, but didn’t feel the strength. “It was... my fault. I went to town with Jackie and Chris and... and
we got drunk.” Then she turned her head slightly, which was obviously painful, and looked at her coaches and fellow gymnasts. “I’m sorry. I’m so very, very sorry...”
Karen’s parents consulted with a lawyer the following day. After hearing the circumstances, making some phone calls, and noting that all of Karen’s medical, rehabilitation, and living expenses were covered by her Lyceum membership, the lawyer assured them that they already had the best possible circumstances. They returned to their daughter’s bedside, knowing they had some fences to mend.
Liberty was just emerging from the Rotary Wing Flight Simulator at four in the morning, feeling very comfortable with her progress in the INTERMEDIATE-6 program, which had given her practice dealing with complex air spaces and airport regulations. During that session she had taken off and landed at Washington National Airport, Logan International Airport in Boston, and Chicago O’Hare International Airport. She wanted to try John F. Kennedy International at her next session. If she could handle those, she knew PDX would be relatively easy.
She stood in the wide, empty corridor that led back toward the Lyceum Lodge, and an involuntary yawned escaped her. Then her mind turned to the baking projects she had lined up for that morning, many of which were destined to be consumed by the big scientific conference that was beginning that very day. She would be doing security alongside Shawn and the other lab tech, and Shawn had promised to let her help with some of the demos. She planned to hold him to that promise.
Then she became aware of a murmur of voices and the sound of many feet.
It was a strange hour for a large group to be walking anywhere at Lyceum.
They came into view as they made their way through the Lodge and continued on toward her... and the Heliport.
It had all started only fifteen minutes earlier. Brother Paul had been on duty in the office when Lyceum’s dedicated SatLink for United Nations business had sprung to life. That SatLink channel was used often, but seldom was the image of the Secretary General, hastily dressed and clutching a cup of
coffee, the first thing to be seen.
Codes were exchanged and verified, and even before Brother Paul knew anything about the situation, he sensed its urgent nature. Then he listened as the planet’s highest official spoke, and he scanned the mission specifications that were simultaneously pouring onto his computer screen after being deciphered using a key known only to Lyceum. Soon the Secretary General had finished his introductory briefing and was requesting confirmation of mission readiness.
Brother Paul finished looking over the mission requirements, and then began to access lists of members who fit the necessary language, training, and location specs. He did the same with lists of equipment and supplies, and then with a few key presses was in verbal contact with the only airline that could deliver the needed people to the mission site in time.
A minute later an airliner that usually would have flown to its destination with only a handful of businessmen and tourists on board was booked to capacity, and was destined to have several Lyceum members seated in the lounge for the entire flight.
The Secretary General received his confirmation, and then Brother Paul pressed the keys that would awaken the twenty-three mission members and sufficient others to get them prepared, equipped, and transported to the airport.
The first group to reach Liberty consisted of the pilots and other Heliport people.
“Liberty, give us a hand,” Sister Erica said without stopping as the group swept past. “Pre-flight mechanical and engine warm-up on Songbird, Pad Two.”
Liberty knew how to do the things that had been requested of her, but had never done them in a real-life situation before. She saw another group approaching with duffel bags and equipment cases, and figured she had better get moving toward the Heliport. She ran to catch up with the pilots and ground technicians.
Without many words they all went directly to their tasks, some clearly dressed for flight, others dashing into the control room or onto the landing
pads. Liberty was glad she was in jeans and an old blouse as she strode onto Pad Two, grabbed a clipboard, and began checking the essential mechanical systems of the eight-seater.
Even as she worked, bags and cases were tossed inside and the mission people themselves, all wearing light blue overalls, began arriving. Satisfied with all systems, she hopped into the pilot’s seat and began the engine start sequence. The twin jets roared to life, and she watched indicators until they were stabilized and the engines were purring to perfection. Then she turned around and glanced at the members who were busy strapping themselves in.
“Nancy! Are you on this mission? What’s happening, anyway?”
Her mentor spoke without taking her eyes off the mission documents she was scanning. “Big civil uprising in Central America after the last election was declared invalid. Secretary thinks some strategically placed observers can keep everyone talking to each other.” Someone handed the blond lady a carton of juice, and she tore it open and began pouring it down her throat.
After draining it, she continued. “I agree with him. And I’m going to act as one of those observers. Wait a minute!” Sister Nancy said, looking at Liberty for the first time. “You don’t have your wings yet!”
Liberty smiled. “Just warming her up. Here’s your pilot now!”
Brother John Michael took Liberty’s place and began checking all his instruments. “Thanks, Liberty. Everything looks good.”
Liberty squeezed into the back of the helicopter amongst the duffel bags and crouched beside her mentor’s seat. “You’ll be back soon?”
“In about a week, the Secretary thinks, but don’t be surprised if it takes two.” Then she looked and saw the concern in Liberty’s face. “I’ll be okay, kid. Remember, I’ve been doing this kind of thing for many years. Don’t let any horses step on you while I’m gone, okay?”
“Okay,” Liberty said, forcing herself to smile.
The warning buzzer sounded that meant the rotor was about to be engaged. Liberty was feeling strange, but she didn’t know why. She stood, embraced her mentor and possibly future step-mother, and then dashed off the helicopter, just before someone slid its door closed. The rotor started moving and the dome began to open as Liberty was walking to the safety of the utility room. But even as she arrived and saw one of the students in her
piloting class holding the door open for her, she felt the need to see her friend and mentor off, so she took hold of a grab handle and braved the hurricane-force rotor wash as the bird lifted itself into the misty early-morning air, followed closely by the larger helicopter on Pad One.
Liberty stood silently as most of the ground crew headed back to bed. She was proud that she had been able to help a little, but still felt strange about the whole thing.
After a few minutes, she realized she wasn’t getting anything done by standing on an empty helicopter pad, and she still had a number of pies and cakes to bake, so she turned her feet in the direction of the Dining Hall. The only thing she knew for sure was that she would be very glad when Sister Nancy was back.
The annual conference of the International Consortium of Physical Scientists began that same morning at Lyceum. Actually, some of the participants had arrived the day before, especially media representatives, knowing that lodging and other amenities would be impossible to secure at the last minute.
It was the first time Lyceum had been selected as their conference site.
They generally preferred more urban locations, in close proximity to an airport, but several factors had colluded to bring them to the foothills of the Cascades that year.
Lyceum was able to include in the conference package constant bus and helicopter service to both downtown Portland and the airport. The availability of helicopters had especially peaked the interest of the conference planners.
The conference was expected to include the announcement of several new discoveries or confirmations of earlier theoretical work that would bring Physics, after centuries of conflict, to within hand-holding distance with Religion, and Lyceum was particularly equipped to handle that paradigm shift, if anyone was.
And finally, Brother Carl was getting very old, and no one expected him to be attending many more conferences. He had quietly offered Lyceum as a conference site for ten or twelve years, but had never pushed the issue. But
now, as he neared the end of his life, scientists all over the world were reminding themselves of his solid reputation, his awesome contributions to physics and astronomy, his countless articles, books, and videos, and his fearless inclusion, whenever he spoke or wrote, of a sense of the wonder, the mystery, the beauty and grandeur that was to be found in all of physical creation. That year’s conference, even though Brother Carl would not be one of the physicists presenting earth-shaking research results, seemed to belong to him more than to anyone else. And he did, after all, live and work at Lyceum.
So the helicopters brought the prominent scientists and their families, the buses brought the teachers and students, and the media and other interested parties made their way to Lyceum in cars or vans. All morning long they checked into their Lodge rooms, explored the campus on guided tours or by themselves, and filled the Dining Hall, Art Gallery, and Gift Shop.
The teams that Lyceum had assembled to assist the scientists in their presentations and demonstrations had been formed into trios, each team including one advanced lab technician, one general lab technician, and one security person. Brother Jeff was in his late twenties, and wasn’t Shawn’s favorite person in the world, but they could work well together. To Shawn’s delight, Liberty was joining them in the security position, and would double as a control technician when needed. At the ten o’clock reception they were introduced to the three scientists with whom they would be working.
Dr. Ben Richardson, from England, was fifty something, with graying hair and a big grin. Shawn liked him immediately, but Liberty had never been fond of spare tires. The paper he would be presenting, which had already been accepted for publication, was not one of the most profound at the conference, but was expected to lay out some solid foundations for ‘post-particle’ physics.
Dr. Mari Tanaka, from Japan, was gracious but reserved. She was somewhat young for a prominent scientist, being not quite forty, and was not inclined to talk about her work, but Liberty had already heard that it was rumored to be some of the most important at the conference. And yet it was also well known that she had not yet sought publication.
Dr. Hasari Singh seemed constantly nervous. A slender brown man of about forty-five, he brought with him a little of the insecurity that India still felt, wanting to be accepted into international cultural and scientific circles, yet weighted down by persistent social problems and poverty. Both Shawn and Liberty liked him right away, and his work was said to be revolutionary in nature. He had been offered publication in his native country, but was still looking for a chance to get into a respected journal of international scope.
Lyceum had worked closely with the conference planners to craft a program that would be a tribute to Brother Carl from start to finish, while at the same time completing all of the necessary business of the conference. To that end, the opening presentation was a collage of video and audio clips by and of the famous scientist, who sat in the audience, welcoming speech notes in hand, blushing.
Finally his moment arrived, and he stepped to the podium on the floor of the Ecumenical Temple wearing a white suit, which showed his wrinkled but seemingly tanned complexion and his dark gray hair to advantage. Complete silence fell over the audience.
“Good morning. Welcome to Lyceum, which as you know, is my home.
No, there will be no tours of my private apartment.”
Laughter rolled through the thousand or more people assembled.
“Lyceum was created, in large part, for moments like this. The resources and services of Lyceum are at your disposal to a degree that most of you have not yet imagined. We will, of course, hear the presentations of twelve different major research efforts during the next week and a half. But also we will be able to witness some actual demonstrations of the new realities that we... or, actually I should say you... are discovering, realities that I, as a young scientist about a hundred years ago...” He smiled as the laughter ran its course. “...that I could not have imagined in my wildest dreams.”
Brother Carl looked at his notes during a round of applause.
“And while we share these eleven days, which I believe is our longest conference to date, we will be pampered with the delicious but healthy cuisine that Lyceum offers, we will be able to use the most advanced multi-media presentation systems available this side of the Smithsonian, we will be
entertained and/or enlightened whenever we have free time, and we will be able to partake of recreational facilities, worship and reflection times and spaces, and anything else we could need from a massage to a horseback ride.”
He ended with a smile, and a loud applause again filled the room, for both Brother Carl and for the promised amenities of Lyceum.
The conference planners spoke on a number of logistics topics, and then the audience received a sampling of the instrumental, vocal, and dramatic entertainment that would enliven the conference.
After the morning Welcome Session, the scientists and their research assistants partook of a lunch banquet in Conference Center One, served by all twelve of the members on the lab tech/security teams. The remainder of the conference attendees were directed to Conference Center Two for an equally tasty buffet.
At the banquet, Brother Carl introduced his Lyceum colleagues Brother Sidney and Sister Sheena. Neither was as famous as Brother Carl, but they received a warm welcome from the assembled scientists and researchers.
The afternoon consisted of some free time for those conference attendees to get settled who had not yet had a chance, followed by a two-hour session in which each scientist briefly introduced their work, without giving away the interesting results. Both Shawn and Liberty noticed that Dr. Tanaka’s presentation did more to hide the nature of her research than to introduce it, but they shrugged and brushed it off as simply a function of their ignorance about current theoretical physics.
Then all of the Lyceum laboratories held an open house for everyone to get familiar with the facilities and equipment available for their demonstrations.
It was a busy time for Jeff, Shawn, Liberty, and the three other teams, as all the scientists seemed to want to know every detail about the capabilities of each of Lyceum’s labs.
As evening approached, there was entertainment and tours of the campus, dinner featuring Pacific Northwest salmon prepared in a variety of different ways, open house in the Library, Museum, and Recreation Center, and more entertainment. Lyceum’s few guests at that time of year who were not attending the conference were amazed at the level of activity, and were able to partake of much of the entertainment and excitement, to their complete
delight.
The following day, Thursday, January 4th, the conference got down to business. Two of the twelve research papers were each allotted three hours of time for lecture and multi-media presentations, question and answer sessions, and seminars. The two that had been selected for that day were the foundational works by Dr. Richardson and another scientist, both of whom were known for their ability to complete, integrate, and otherwise clean-up after the scientists who did the more daring, ground-breaking work.
Although Liberty had to stay alert, Jeff and Shawn had little to do that day but help carry this or fetch that. During the second presentation, they were all in the control room of Conference Center Two where Liberty was manually controlling a particularly complex multi-media presentation.
“Shawn, hand me disks three and four, please.”
“Here you are.”
“Thanks. Toss me that pink marker, will you, Jeff?”
“Catch! Say, where’s Ashley these days? You guys are usually inseparable, but I haven’t seen her around, even in the evenings.”
“She landed another U.N. courier mission,” Liberty said while highlighting some items on her script. “This time to deepest, darkest Africa.”
“A French speaking country, I believe,” Shawn said.
“And then she’s going to visit her parents in South Dakota for a couple of days on the way back,” Liberty added, adjusting her audio levels.
“How come she keeps getting U.N. missions?” Jeff asked.
“Because she’s good at them,” Shawn said. “She had Level One Clearance when she first joined. Lib and I probably won’t get ours until next summer or later.”
“Born diplomat, huh?” Jeff speculated.
“I guess,” Liberty said. “And she’s in French 3, getting ready for French 4, while Shawn and me are just starting our languages.”
“That explains a lot of it. Hey, nice transition on the video!”
“You like my wash-to-background, sweep and fade? Works pretty well in a situation like this.”
“Well, Shawn, you and me had better go get those boxes of materials they
want to use in the break-out session, ‘cause it’s only ten minutes away.”
“Right. See you later, Lib!”
“You guys take care!” she said, slipping another disk into one of her players and preparing for a radial cross-fade.
The following day Jeff and Shawn had to go to work in earnest. One of the papers being presented that day had no associated demo, but the lack was made up by the unusual length of the other presentation.
During the demo, old Brother Sidney ran the particle accelerator, while one of the technical teams prepared the target plates and adjusted the display parameters. The lead scientist of the project left the explanations to her research assistants. The other scientists were present in the lab, with the remainder of the conference attendees watching on large monitors from Conference Center One.
The presence of ultimatonic matter was actually very easy to see, they explained. It merely required different assumptions about what to look for. It required paying attention to what was not being effected by the accelerator, instead of what was being effected. But the trick, they explained, was knowing when to pay attention, as the ultimatons had a temporal relationship with the ‘normal’ matter of the accelerator, but it was not a causal relationship.
“So what kind of relationship is it?” someone asked.
The scientist stood, a gray-haired lady of about sixty. “Right now, for lack of a better term, I’ll just have to call it a social relationship.”
There was plenty of laughter in the room, but the other scientists knew it was no laughing matter. They were all close enough to the same conclusions to realize that their colleague was being very serious.
The demonstrations continued on Friday. Jeff and Shawn were particularly involved in Dr. Richardson’s demo that used the Faraday Box to demonstrate that the newly discovered forms of matter were not subject to either magnetic fields or gravity.
“They are just coursing through space, on their own path, on their own agenda, ignoring us mortals and our puny, insubstantial stars and planets. A
half century ago our predecessors were gaping in awe at the neutrino, which seemed to not be stopped at all by the mass of the Earth. But at least it was known to be radiating from the Sun. In other words, it was a part of the universe as we conceived it, albeit a strange part. Ultimatonic matter, or energy, or whatever it is, is a whole different ball game, coming from somewhere invisible, going to who knows where...”
Shawn was aware that those mysterious qualities were suspected about the newly discovered energy forms, but hearing it all described so succinctly, and seeing the demonstrations first hand, left him feeling very thoughtful. So thoughtful, in fact, that he almost forgot to shut down the five megagauss field in the Faraday Box. He swallowed hard, realizing that everything in the room made of ferrous metals would have been sent flying if that field had gotten free.
Saturday was devoted to the presentation of audio, video, holographic, and even a couple of live dramatic performances, all of which had been produced very recently and were on physics, astronomy, and religious topics related to the new discoveries. The scientists were all very glad that such time had been set aside, as they seldom had an opportunity to take in educational or entertainment materials unless they were actually involved in producing them.
Shawn was able to see all but one of them, but Liberty was kept busy in the control rooms, and had to content herself with the knowledge that Lyceum always insisted on receiving a copy, to add to its library, of anything presented on campus that was of general interest.
Sunday was a day of rest, and most of the scientists and researchers were seen at Lyceum’s weekly inspirational service in the morning, on the helicopters or buses during the day for excursions into Portland, and in the Recreation Center or one of Lyceum’s many lounges during the evening. The gardens even saw some visitors, as the usual winter precipitation, both solid and liquid, had decided to fall elsewhere that day.
On Monday and Tuesday, four more papers were presented, and the associated demos were conducted. More of the mysterious qualities of the
newly discovered forms of matter and energy were revealed, from evidence of temporal reverse-causality, to theories of spatial non-locality, to the possibility of a complete absence of entropy. It was all either amazing to Shawn or completely over his head. None of it was comfortable. And none of it fit with what he had learned before beginning his science classes at Lyceum.
On Wednesday both Dr. Tanaka and Dr. Singh were scheduled to present their research. Jeff, Shawn, and Liberty were listening from the back of the conference center. A sense of excitement was in the air because both scientists who were to speak that day were known to have conducted the most potentially ground-breaking research. A sense of mystery was added to the occasion because Dr. Tanaka had not yet revealed anything significant about her work.
But when the Japanese scientist took the platform, she wasted no time.
She quickly explained that she had been studying the data that was being relayed from numerous space probes through the Deep Space Telemetry station in Japan, and had been able to chart the path of the stream of ultimatons that was known to be coursing through the solar system.
Suddenly Dr. Singh stood and glared at the lady scientist from his seat near the front row. He obviously wanted to interrupt, but was trying to hold himself back. Dr. Tanaka noticed, but kept on speaking. The scientist from India looked red-faced. A moment later he turned and stormed up the aisle, passing not far from Shawn and Liberty. They could see and feel his wrath, but had no idea what had provoked it. Many others had also seen and felt his emotions.
“Who
pulled
his chain?” Liberty whispered.
Shawn shrugged. Everyone else seemed to either have not noticed, or were not willing to take their attention from the speaker. Shawn knew something was wrong. “I’m going to follow and see if he’ll tell me what’s bothering him.”
“Good luck. I’ll keep my ears open here. Call if it’s a security issue.”
“I will,” he said, slipping away toward the exit door through which the scientist from India had gone.
As soon as Shawn was out the door, he began to run, as he knew the angry
man had a head start and had been striding in earnest. He could faintly see footprints on the damp pathway, and so quickly crossed the Amphitheater and headed for the Main Plaza, arriving just in time to see his charge disappearing into the Asian Garden.
Shawn continued to follow, but slowed to a brisk walk. He entered the garden, and soon came to forks in the path, but had a hunch he knew where to find Dr. Singh. Shawn took the fork that would lead him to the Hindu section of the garden.
A minute later Shawn looked across the space that separated Hinduism from Buddhism in the garden, and could see the distraught man sitting on the ground before a statue of a many-armed goddess. Shawn slowly crossed the space, trying to get an idea in his head of what he hoped to accomplish. When he arrived at the physicist’s side, he didn’t feel any closer to a plan, so he just sat down nearby and joined the scientist in gazing up at the complex figure.
In the silence of the garden Shawn could hear Dr. Singh breathing deeply, seemingly trying to relax himself, but not succeeding very quickly. Another minute passed before he spoke.
“She stole my work!” he nearly spat out.
Shawn struggled to think of a reply, but then realized he shouldn’t take sides. He remembered lessons in active listening from his Hospitality class.
“You mean, your physics work?”
“She must have gotten early access, unethical access, to data from the telemetry station. She couldn’t wait for the data to go out on the Internet like the rest of us must wait. No wonder at all she didn’t want to talk about her work. She was afraid I’d reveal her impropriety before she had a chance to present her research to the Consortium!” As soon as he stopped speaking, his chest heaved with angry emotions.
“So you and she were working on the same project, mapping the ultimaton stream?”
“She’s a pirate! And she’s in there right now getting all the credit! I can’t stand it!” he growled, shaking his fists above his head and looking up at the cloudy sky.
Shawn was silent for a moment, letting the man’s fury dissipate. Finally he said, “A lot of this is new to me. I don’t understand how she could get any
credit that you won’t. Aren’t you booth presenting your work at the same conference?”
“Scientific research is a cut-throat world. Whoever presents or publishes first gets all the credit, and history ignores everyone else. Even first by a few hours can make all the difference in the world’s eyes. I will be ignored by my colleagues, and the publication of my article in India will count for nothing!”
Shawn could tell that the scientist was on the verge of despair. Even though he didn’t share the man’s craving for recognition, he was beginning to understand what had happened.
“I wonder...” Shawn said, not sure where he was going, but knowing he had to try something. “I wonder how you can turn this situation around...
somehow change this weakness into a strength... somehow make the work that both you and Dr. Tanaka have done come together and reinforce the validity of the discovery... and get you the credit you deserve...”
Out of the corner of his eye Shawn watched the scientist. He was beginning to relax and ponder Shawn’s words. But he appeared to need more help.
“What would happen if you presented your work, just like nothing had happened, and in the process acknowledged Dr. Tanaka’s simultaneous discovery?”
The Hindu man had his head cocked, considering. “Perhaps that would establish the idea that the discoveries were simultaneous, even though her presentation was a few hours earlier than mine.”
“It would to me if I were in the audience. And what would happen if you mentioned that your paper was scheduled for publication in India, and then invite Dr. Tanaka to collaborate with you on an article for an international journal?”
Shawn could tell that the other was beginning to relax, so he sat gazing up at the statue nonchalantly, giving the scientist plenty of time for reflection.
“That would be disarming, if anything would be. Then people would know that I had, in a sense, published first. Inviting her to collaborate would take away any impression that I was bragging. And if she refused, it would be obvious to everyone that she was more interested in glory than in science.”
“Yes, I think you’re right!” Shawn said, glad the man was finally catching
on.
“And I could leave out much of the less interesting data from my presentation, and concentrate on the interpolations I have done that she has probably not yet attempted!”
“Yes!”
“I think this is going to turn out all right after all!” he said in an almost jovial tone.
“And I will have Sister Liberty, who is on the security team, inform Dr.
Tanaka that because of the similarity of her work and yours, it will be necessary to combine your demos tomorrow morning!”
Dr. Singh’s face fell.
“Doing so will force her to accept the same position of humility that you have accepted,” Shawn explained.
The dark-skinned man thought about it for awhile. “Yes. You are right. If we did not combine our demonstrations, the wound would be reopened tomorrow.”
“You and she can plan it this evening. Jeff and Liberty and I will help.”
The physicist sat looking at the ground. “You are a wise young man. I must prepare my modified presentation for this afternoon. Can I view a recording of...” He paused to prepare himself to say the name without bitterness. “...Dr. Tanaka’s talk?”
“Sure! Sister Liberty can replay it for you during lunch. I’ll bring you a tray so you can eat as you listen.”
He sat quietly for another few moments, collecting his thoughts. Then he breathed deeply and extended his hand. “Thank you. I have been humbled.
And I see that I must humble myself further to avoid looking like a fool.”
Shawn took his hand. “Lyceum will be with you every step of the way.
And with Dr. Tanaka, if she is also able to humble herself.”
“At first I thought that Lyceum was just a conference center. Now I see that it is much, much more.”
Yes, Shawn thought as they walked back toward the buildings together, Lyceum was much more than a conference center. He himself had discovered new things about Lyceum because of the situation he had just handled. He hoped he had handled it successfully. That afternoon, and the following day,
would show them all whether or not he had.
Shawn entered the control room and related the entire situation to Liberty and Jeff. They complimented him on his tactful handling of it, and Liberty’s respect for Shawn took the first of several leaps forward that were to take place in the coming months. She contacted the Main Office and informed them that she would be combining the two demos, supposedly because of a conflict in facilities scheduling, just in case Dr. Tanaka decided to check with another source.
As soon as the conference adjourned for lunch, Liberty took the appropriate disk and led Dr. Singh to a small viewing room while Shawn dashed to the Dining Hall to get him a tray and Jeff grabbed him some extra writing supplies. Then they all three sat with him as he reviewed the Japanese scientist’s complete talk, excited about the opportunity to put their Hospitality and Ethics lessons into practice. With postures and comments and smiles, the trio showed the scientist that they were there for any support he might need.
At times he bristled as he listened to his colleague from another country, another culture. But as her talk ended, he was ready to do what he had to do.
He went over his notes with his team of helpers, and they were able to talk him out of one point he wanted to raise that would have sounded like a hurt little child, substituting a compliment he could publicly give his competitor that would increase his credibility. He saw the wisdom of the change.
Finally, with only minutes to spare before his presentation time was scheduled to begin, he felt ready. He took some deep breaths, glanced at the three Lyceum members who had helped him, and walked to the podium with all the confidence he could muster.
“Distinguished scientists, ladies, and gentlemen,” he began, “it is my fortune to announce to you that I will be able to shorten my presentation somewhat because my worthy colleague, Dr. Tanaka, has already completed and shared with you a large part of the same research and findings that I would have presented.”
A murmur ran through the room.
“It so happens that occasionally in history, a discovery or invention is so timely that it is stumbled upon by two or more persons in isolated
circumstances simultaneously. Some might think that these situations weaken the discovery. From the point of view of the individual seeking fame, perhaps this is so. But from the point of view of science, and the greater good of humankind, this sort of coincidence only lends weight to the discovery or invention. Dr. Tanaka and I come to you today with our hypotheses already pre-tested by an independent scientist living and working a great distance away, and having no foreknowledge of the other’s work...”
Dr. Tanaka, already a bit on edge from Dr. Singh’s talk, was clearly unnerved when Liberty told her, during the break right after the other’s presentation, that she and he would have to collaborate on a demonstration.
She did indeed check with whom she thought would be ‘higher ups’ in the Main Office, and was told the same thing. She looked a little white, but gracefully accepted Dr. Singh’s invitation to meet after dinner. She knew she had no choice.
Jeff, Shawn, and Liberty did much to smooth ruffled feathers and keep the process on track during the meeting between the two scientists, and when the time allotted for the demo arrived the following day, they still had much to do.
Even though it was not a demonstration in the strict sense, it was being conducted in a similar manner as it required the use of the Planetarium Theater, which could accommodate the scientists and researchers, but not the general conference attendees.
Liberty initiated the holographic projection of the entire solar system, just a few feet above the heads of the audience, and then added Dr. Tanaka’s data in one color, and Dr. Singh’s data in another color, and the agreement was so astounding that the entire room came to life with sounds of amazement.
Liberty then added his interpolations of missing data at several points in the middle, and her extrapolations at both ends of the strangely curving line, and the effect upon the audience was even more profound.
“Now, the question we must ask ourselves is what could cause this strange energy pathway,” Dr. Tanaka said with her light Japanese accent. “I have considered twenty-three different natural scenarios that might effect the course of an energy stream of the magnitude we are discussing. The shapes of the resulting curves are being projected now.” Then she looked at Dr. Singh.
“And as we watch Dr. Tanaka’s well thought-out scenarios, I will mention that I tested a similar number of natural scenarios, most of them being the same as my colleague’s. Just as she tested some possibilities that I had not considered, I am able to add four scenarios that were unique to my research.
The important thing to notice, of course, is that none of the natural forces we considered, a total of twenty-seven in all, in isolation or in complex combination, can cause an energy pathway anything like the one that has been discovered.”
The room erupted with voices, some talking amongst themselves, others trying to get the attention of the presenting scientists.
“Yes, Dr. Vasilenko?” the Japanese lady said.
“I presume you are willing to entertain additional natural causes that others might suggest, and include them in your research.”
“Of course,” she said.
“Most definitely,” Dr. Singh echoed. “That is one reason we want to proceed slowly on our collaboration for a major journal article.”
“But in all fairness to both of you,” another scientist said, “I think it’s obvious to all of us that between the two of you, you have covered the possible natural explanations pretty thoroughly. And none of them gives us the curve we are looking for, or anything remotely similar.”
“I believe your summary is fairly accurate,” Dr. Singh said, “and I appreciate your faith in our work.” The man from India had noticed that the other scientists had accepted the idea that the research had been simultaneous, and he was very glad... and felt grateful toward Shawn. Also, his last traces of resentment toward the oriental lady were evaporating, and being replaced by a feeling of warmth and comfort. At least in one sense, he was no longer alone in his radical research.
“I also appreciate your confidence,” Dr. Tanaka said. “And so we will now show you the correlations we both mentioned in our presentations yesterday.”
“In red we will first see those places in the solar system known to have current or past architectural works,” Dr. Singh said. Three spheres, one of them being the Earth, changed to a bright red. Their locations were common knowledge to any elementary school student.
“And in green we will mark those locations that either contain life now, or
have fossil records of life from the past,” Dr. Tanaka said. Three spheres became green, and the Earth changed to half green, half red. Those locations were generally known to all the scientists and most of the educators at the conference.
But the audience now stared in wonder at the graphic representation of what they had only heard in words the day before. The mysterious ultimatonic particle stream wove a complex and ever-changing course through the solar system, visiting all of those planets or moons that had been colored red or green, and no other spheres... with one exception.
“This obvious correlation leads us to several questions,” Dr. Singh said.
“The most profound and far-reaching, it seems to me, is the question Why.
Why is this stream of energy taking such an unnatural course in order to visit the sites in our solar system where life is or has been?”
“And of course,” Dr. Tanaka began, “we are all wondering what we will find on Ganymede, the one place in the solar system touched by the ultimaton path that is not yet known to harbor life now nor to have done so in the past.”
The two scientists began taking questions, of which there were many.
Luckily for them, questions were only coming from the scientists present in the theater, and not from the students and media representatives watching from Conference Center One. Statistical analyses of the correlations were displayed and discussed, and suggestions were made for ways to tie up loose ends before the theory was published.
The two physicists who had combined their demonstrations didn’t realize it, but they had used all of the time that had originally been allotted to both of them. And even Dr. Tanaka was now so pleased with the outcome that she didn’t think to look for the non-existent conflicting use that had made the combined demo necessary.
After a break, the conference continued with seminars and a panel discussion. Shawn and Liberty overheard the Ultimaton Path Theory continue to be discussed far into the evening during other activities. They did not witness the following exchange, which took much more courage than the earlier decisions to collaborate on a demonstration and an article.
“Dr.
Tanaka?”
“Yes, Dr. Singh?”
“If you’d like, you may call me Hasari.”
“And if you’d like, you may call me Mari.”
“Mari, I know that we don’t have any planning we must do this evening, so I was wondering if you would like to have dinner with me...”
“I would be happy to have dinner with you, Hasari.”
“And perhaps, Mari, after dinner we can take a walk and look at one of the gardens...”
“That would also be nice, Hasari.”
Ashley arrived home that evening, and sat spellbound as Liberty told her what had happened so far during the annual conference of the International Consortium of Physical Scientists. Then Shawn picked up the story, explaining as best he could all about the Ultimaton Path Theory. Ashley’s mouth hung open in wonder when he got to the part about Ganymede.
It was nearly midnight before she finally got a chance to tell them about her trip to central Africa and South Dakota, which paled in comparison to the challenges her friends had dealt with, consisting mostly of airports, airliners, U.N. offices, and bus tours around the central African cities of Libreville, Brazzaville, and Banqui.
The following day was Friday, and the conference continued with the morning devoted to more audio and video presentations, while the afternoon saw panel discussions with all twelve scientists taking part, occasionally fielding questions from the teachers, students, media representatives, and others. There was a heavy emphasis in the questions on issues raised by the Ultimaton Path Theory. The mood during the discussions was very open and candid, since all of the papers had already been presented, and the one instance of duplicate research had resulted in a collaboration. A veritable feast was served to the conference attendees that evening by the members of Lyceum.
On Saturday, the conference was scheduled to adjourn at noon. Each scientist made a short presentation about the future directions of their
research. Dr. Singh and Dr. Tanaka came up together to present their hopes for refining and verifying the Ultimaton Path Theory, which they hoped would include a probe to Ganymede as soon as possible. But it was Brother Carl who had the honor of the last words during the closing ceremonies in the Ecumenical Temple.
“We have all been challenged by what we have seen and heard. Some of us have been deeply humbled. All of us have been enlightened. We have set foot in new territory, but even though I stand with you today, as fascinated as the youngest student who is only in his or her first semester of general science, I cannot go far into this new territory with you. I have another journey to make soon. So I wish to leave with you an interesting quote.”
He opened a thick book to a marked place and began to read from it.
“‘Throughout all organized space there are gravity-responding energy currents, power circuits, and ultimatonic activities, as well as organizing electronic energies.’“
He closed the book thoughtfully. “I added the emphasis. The sentence I just read was written and published more than half a century ago. The author is unknown.”
A murmur of voices filled the huge room, then died down as Brother Carl raised a hand.
“On behalf of Lyceum, may the remainder of your stay be enjoyable and educational. May your research or your studies continue with the Spirit of Truth at your side. May you always remember Galileo, and Newton, and Faraday, and many, many others, perhaps even me...” Chuckles rippled through the room. “But never limit yourselves to what we knew, for we cannot follow where you must go.”
He stepped away from the podium and bowed, and the room was filled with a roaring applause that was reluctant to die down. They knew this was his moment of glory, and it was even possible that they would never see him in the flesh again. There was hardly a soul in the room who didn’t plan on purchasing a copy of the disk that would record the talks, demos, discussions, entertainment, and speeches of the conference. It was destined to be a disk they would cherish for the rest of their lives.