“Just one reason?” Clay asked.
Palin smiled. “Yes. The second reason and perhaps the most important, is where the elements came from that created us, our solar systems, our planets, even our soil and air. These elements are all released when a star explodes, and the result is the end of the fusion process within that star. My point is that when the star explodes, it scatters these elements over a great distance, including the same amino acids. You see the reason we are so similar is because it was a giant explosion that fertilized both of our solar systems with the same elements. We were created by the same atomic building blocks. This, along with carbon’s natural tendencies during evolution is why we are so very similar.” Palin leaned forward in his chair. “Mr. Clay, we are your evolutionary brothers and sisters.”
Clay’s mouth suddenly fell open, and Keister dropped his notebook. They were both speechless.
“You see,” Palin continued, “letting one of us perish is like allowing your only true relative in the universe to disappear.”
32
Clay sat staring out the window as the Gulfstream III neared Andrews Air Force Base. It was late afternoon and the sun was casting an eastern shadow across the Virginia landscape. As the aircraft banked right, Clay could see Washington D.C. in the distance. His favorite landmark from the air, the Washington Monument, was easy to see. Even though few passengers did, Clay reached over and buckled his seatbelt as they began to descend. Gulfsteams were small and comfortable commercial jets used by the military, and passengers never bothered with most of the safety precautions. However, after having run training maneuvers through many different types, most SEALs were intimately familiar with all aspects of an aircraft, where the strongest parts of the structure were, the weakest, which areas failed first during impact, and a host of other details. Most Special Forces graduates he knew were sticklers for safety, especially while riding in things over which they had no control.
Clay lay back against the headrest. “Chaotic” was the best word he could think of to describe the last several hours since he had spoken with Palin. When they returned to the conference room, things had changed drastically. The President and his cabinet were in private meetings for over three hours. When finished, Clay noticed that several high ranking Generals had joined them. Langford had already sent Caesare and Borger back to D.C. to continue analyzing the data. Both doctors were gone and only Lawrence, the man from the DOE, remained. Finally after a short discussion, Langford sent him back too.
After landing, Clay had a car issued to him and headed west on Suitland Parkway. The sun was close to setting and the drive was slow as everyone headed home in rush hour traffic. Crossing the bridge to South Capitol Street, the traffic lightened a little until 395 where it slowed again. He made his way over the 14th Street Bridge and pulled into the emptying parking lot of the Pentagon. He had barely landed when Caesare called and asked if he could swing by Borger’s office before his own. Clay walked briskly through an entrance and down a flight of stairs.
When he walked in, Caesare and Borger were both sitting in the middle of the room talking to each other.
“Hi Clay!” Uncharacteristically, Borger jumped up from the chair and ushered Clay in. He motioned to a chair for Clay, while he shut the door behind him. “Thanks for coming.”
Clay nodded and sat down heavily. “Everything okay?” Caesare asked.
Clay shrugged. “I guess it depends on your definition of okay.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Things got interesting when I got back upstairs.”
“Yeah,” Caesare said, “we got shipped out of there in a hurry. Must have been some conversation you had with ole’ Palin.”
“You could say that.” He looked at Borger who was examining the walls. “What’s with him?”
“I don’t know.” Caesare said looking back at him. “He just scanned the room for bugs. He wants to talk to us about something important but wanted to wait for you.”
Clay watched Borger curiously. After he was finished, he came back and sat in front of Clay and Caesare. “Okay, we’re clean,” he said, adjusting himself in the chair. He began immediately. “Look, I need to talk to you guys about something.”
They both nodded.
“I think we have a problem, a very big problem.” Clay could not remember seeing Borger this excited. “I think that guy Lawrence in our meeting at JAX is wrong. And I mean really wrong. When the President asked if there was any downside to destroying the ring and he said ‘no’, well I think there is. You see, we know this ring is a portal and if it is operating on the same fundamental theories as we believe it would operate-”
“We?” Clay asked.
Borger shook his head. “Not we as in us, we as in our physicists. Anyway, if it works the same way, which I believe it does, then the other end of that tunnel is literally bound to this end. They are both exactly the same size, they’re turning at the same speed, and powered by the same energy…which means that space and time would see them as one gateway.”
“So…” Caesare said slowly. “if you destroyed one…”
“Then you would destroy them both!” Borger replied excitedly. “Why that guy would say the ring was self-contained makes no sense. How on earth could he believe that? Either he is seriously incompetent or he is lying for some reason that makes no sense.”
Caesare cleared his throat. “Well I wouldn’t rule out the incompetent part. After all he does work for the government.”
Clay squinted and looked at Caesare. “You work for the government.”
Caesare raised his hands and shrugged. “Need I say more?”
Clay turned back to Borger. “So what happens if they destroy the ring, if they are bound to each other?”
“Well this is where it gets theoretical. But the physics involved are solid. And remember that the amount of energy involved here is pretty much unimaginable given today’s standards.” Borger stopped and exhaled trying to slow down. “Destroying these rings, with the energy involved, could be really bad.”
Clay and Caesare both leaned forward. “How bad?”
Borger nodded but spoke carefully. “Like really really bad, for both planets.”
“Oh boy.” mumbled Caesare.
“This is serious!” said Borger. “It’s why I wanted to talk to you right away.”
Clay sat thinking. “How sure are you? I mean what kind of chances are we talking about?”
“I don’t know.” Borger said shaking his head. He wheeled himself backward and tapped his keyboard displaying a screen full of complex mathematical calculations. “Only a physicist could talk to you about the odds. I don’t know what the exact numbers are, but they’re real. In fact, it almost doesn’t matter what the odds are.”
“What do you mean?”
“Look, I’m a history buff. Remember the atomic bomb we dropped on Hiroshima? Did you know that the physicists that created it, led by Robert Oppenheimer, actually calculated and acknowledged that there was a one in three million chance that the fission process might not stop when it was supposed to and could go on to melt down the entire Earth?”
“Is that true?” Clay asked.
“Yes it is.” Borger scooted his chair back to Clay and Caesare. “My point is, that they knew there was a one in three million chance of destroying the entire planet…and they tested it anyway! Obviously that didn’t happen, but they still took the chance. They put everyone’s life on the line on the presumption that they were right.” He looked back at the screen. “I don’t know what the odds are with destroying those rings, but I can tell you they are a whole hell of a lot lower than that! This time I would guess the odds are somewhere around one in five. And this time, it’s possible that we could destroy two planets!”