“Now nice. Well then I guess, my work is finished here. You can just read it and call me if you have any questions,” Abby said, and started putting her things in her briefcase. She closed it, snapped the locks and turned to leave.
“Doctor Montgomery.”
“Yes,” she said and turned back.
“I’m not quite as smart of some of the people here I guess. I doubt I can make heads or tails about what’s in this book. If you don’t mind, why don’t you go ahead for the ones who don’t know quite so much? The others can leave,” the Secretary of Navy said smiling at her.
She sat her briefcase down and looked at him for a second.
“I would be more than happy to do that. Those of you who already know it all or can just assimilate it from the booklet, please feel free to leave if I start to bore you,” she said and smiled quickly.
Weldon’s face was bright red. The Secretary of Navy had just taken the wind out of his sails. There was absolutely nothing he could do except sit there and brood.
She spent the next two hours going over the materials, the tests and confirmation procedures. Everything was in the booklet in chronological order as she went through each item. Even Weldon realized that they had done a creditable job of presenting the subject. Some of his hostility was starting to drain away as he realized the Doctor Abigail Montgomery was at an intellectual level above most of the people he dealt with.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“Excellent job,” the Secretary of Navy said, coming up and extending his hand to Abby.
“Thank you. For both things,” she replied.
“Oh that was nothing. Besides I really wouldn’t have understood much if I had to rely solely on comprehending what was in this booklet,” he said holding it up.
“Well, thank you anyway.”
“Tell me. Would you have really walked out?” he asked.
“Well sir…”
“Dan.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes. Dan Flower.”
“Okay Dan. Abby or Abigail. Either gets my attention.”
“So, would you have actually left?”
“Actually, I would have. Dan, I won’t be treated with disrespect by anyone. I’ve worked too hard to get where I am to have someone dismiss me like I mean nothing.”
“I have to say, I certainly admire your gumption. Not many people would have walked out on a room full of people like the group that was assembled here. Well played,” he said.
“Thank you.”
“What is still nagging at me is what all of this means. I understand there is still more to come but how in the world did such a huge asteroid avoid detection for so long? Why are we just finding it now?”
“I think there are three answers to that question and each is dependent on the other to fully understand what happened. First, no one was looking for something this large so close to our own solar system. We are fixated on deep space, not inner space. Second, its position was such that it was hidden for the most part by Neptune, Jupiter, and Saturn. If anyone did see it they probably misunderstood what it really was. Third, my team was looking for something. We were trying to solve the puzzle of the tenth planet and just happened to be looking at the right place when it was visible.”
“According to your team’s calculations, it will miss the earth, but come darn close.”
“That’s what we project.”
“Do you think others will come to the same conclusion?”
“All I can say is that you shouldn’t bet on it. Some will have it missing the earth by three or four times more than we project. Some will have it smashing into Earth and ending the world. I would say, we need to be prepared for all kinds of wild conjecture,” Abby told him.
“I know this is kind of sudden but if the President wanted further clarification, would you be willing to accommodate further questions?”
“Oh. Well, yes. I guess I could do that.”
“Good. Again, thank you for the briefing. It certainly gives one something to think about.”
Abby had just about reached her rental car when Lance Weldon came hurrying up.
“Doctor Montgomery. I’m glad I caught you. I got held up and wanted to thank you for your presentation. It was masterfully done. Very impressive. You can’t imagine how many people come in and just blather,” he said.
“Thank Mr. Weldon. That’s high praise coming from you.”
“Look doctor, I apologize for being antagonistic. I think I let my hurt feelings get in the way of professionalism. When I felt like you were taking a shot at the JPL, I got pretty defensive. I take a lot of pride in what we do here and it just stung,” he said.
“I can certainly accept that. No one likes to have their work trivialized,” Abby replied.
“Could we have a truce? A sort of start over? I know we need together. I will make sure that the you and your team get full credit. I know we dropped the ball with Russia and Spain but it won’t happen again, I promise,” he told her.
“I think that would be a very good idea. I see no reason why we can’t work together on this. My feeling is that this may be bigger than both of us put together. This is going to cause a lot of apprehension all around the globe and having us at each other’s throats will only further complicate the problem.”
“I agree. Looking at the data, I’m still kind of reeling.”
“As am I,” Abby replied.
“Obviously we both have a lot of work to do,” he said.
They shook hands before departing.
“So, how did it go?” James asked when Abby returned.
“Tense at first but it all worked out in the end.”
“Really?”
“Honestly. The JPL director managed to swallow his pride and apologize. We agreed to a truce and to work together.”
“Yikes. I didn’t see that coming. That is a huge difference. So they are going to share what they find with us?” James asked.
“That’s what he indicated. As a matter of fact, the Secretary of Navy was there as well. He even hinted that the President may want to be briefed on this at some point,” Abby said.
“No way,” James said putting his hands up to his temple, “That’s super cool.”
“It’s not certain, I was just asked if we would,” Abby said, making sure she used ‘we’ not ‘I’.
“Well we have been doing our own tracking and calculating. Lewis and Brian have one set of projections and Andy has another. I’m not as strong in math as they are so I really don’t know who, or if anyone is right,” James said to Abby.
“When they come in tonight we can all go over it together. Kind of brainstorm. You order the pizza, I’ll pay for them. Fair enough?”
“That’s what I call a heck of a deal.”
James went off on some errands and Abby sat down at her desk and looked at the pile of pink ‘while you were gone’ slips. She shuffled through them. The one that caught her eye immediately was from 60 Minutes. What in the world would they want with her? Nothing had really been released yet and wouldn’t be until Weldon’s group had a chance to study the data. Then, together they would make a formal statement.
It seemed to her that they were all jumping the gun a little. Her phone rang and it startled her out of her trance. She reached over and answered it.
“Hello Doctor Montgomery. I’m Kathleen Globe from 60 Minutes. I’m calling to ask if you might be available to tape a segment for our show.”
“I don’t know what to say. I mean, why would you want to talk to me at this point. No real data has been released yet. Calculations and testing are still ongoing. It seems a little premature.”
“Doctor, the news moves as the speed of light. In this business if you snooze, you lose. I’m sure you have had a half dozen calls asking you to be on various programs. We are no different. Well, somewhat different. We have a larger audience than most of them,” Kathleen replied.