‘Far too many, my dear,’ said Frederick. ‘But, if I had to choose one, it would be Galileo’s Sidereus Nuncius, printed in 1610, in which he first announced his use of a telescope and his subsequent discoveries that there were craters on the Moon, that the Milky Way was made up of stars, and that Jupiter had moons. Quite remarkable for his day.’
Tom was only half listening to the conversation going on behind him; astronomy had never been his forte. But then his excitement grew as he spotted a book he knew well. He stretched to his full height and managed to pull it out with his fingertips — QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter by Richard P. Feynman. He opened the cover and noticed that there was an inscription: ‘To my dear friend Freddy, without your inspirational guidance, I would still be in the dark.’ It was signed Dick.
‘Did you know Richard Feynman well?’ Tom asked.
‘Ah, I see you’ve found his book. We worked together on a number of projects and became quite close. But don’t take too much notice of that dedication, he always was a bit over-generous with his praises,’ Frederick replied modestly. ‘I could bore you all day with my library, but I’m sure that’s not the reason you wanted to see me.’
‘As fascinating as it is, unfortunately not.’ Tom returned the book and went to sit next to Serena. ‘As I said in the message I left you, I believe we have the evidence that Professor Morantz was going to take to the newspapers.’
‘Evidence of what?’ Frederick sat forward in his chair and clasped his hands together on the desk.
‘I’ll let Serena explain,’ replied Tom. ‘She’s better at figures than I am.’
As Serena went through the data in detail, Frederick listened intently to her, interrupting only once to ask if she’d checked the figures for herself. As the briefing progressed, Tom observed the blood draining from Frederick’s face. He looked visibly shaken. His vitality had been replaced by a dark, life-draining weariness. At one point, Tom was convinced he was going to faint.
Serena finished by rounding off with her conclusions. There was a reverential silence, the three individuals absorbed in their own thoughts.
Frederick was the first to fill the void. ‘What have we done?’ The sentiment was almost inaudible. ‘What have we done?’ he whispered again. His eyes were glazed over, staring into space.
‘Frederick?’ Tom was concerned for the man’s health, if not his physical, then certainly his mental. He didn’t respond. ‘Frederick?’ he repeated louder. This time he managed to get through. Frederick looked at the two people opposite him as though they were strangers. ‘What do you think we should do?’ Tom urged.
‘I… I don’t know,’ came back the feeble response.
Tom turned to Serena, who was mesmerised by the transformation in the man. Cupping a hand over his mouth he said in a low voice, ‘I think we need to take this file to the authorities and let them sort it out.’
‘No!’ The single word was delivered with such force that it made them both jump. The spell was broken. Blood rushed back into Frederick’s face and his eyes regained their clarity. ‘No,’ he repeated, softer now, but with as much conviction. ‘Involving the police would only entail a lengthy investigation, at the end of which they will indubitably find that no individual is culpable. Science created this abomination and it is up to us to sort it out. We will have to stop all experiments involving the Collider, immediately, with a view to closing down the facility permanently. And pray to God with thanks that this came to light when it did.’
Tom couldn’t question his reasoning, but he wasn’t accustomed to taking the law into his own hands. ‘Surely somebody has to be held accountable for these atrocities?’
‘We all are,’ Frederick said mournfully. ‘Scientists by their very nature are driven to explore the unknown, discover new worlds, push the boundaries to the edge of man’s knowledge, and then push further. The intangible desire to explore and challenge the boundaries of what we know and where we have been has provided benefits to our society for centuries, but not without a cost, the currency of which is usually the lives of innocent victims.’
‘But somebody should be made to pay,’ Tom argued.
Frederick’s eyes saddened. ‘It’s a burden we must all shoulder. It’s the price we have to pay for the advancement of civilisation. Take Rutherford, for example. He was one of the founding fathers of nuclear physics and considered by many to be one of the greatest experimental scientists that ever lived. Should he have been made to pay for the deaths of over two hundred thousand people when the Americans dropped their atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, some twenty-five years after he split the atom?’
‘Perhaps,’ Tom speculated.
‘Perhaps,’ Frederick conceded. ‘But perhaps we have lost our way. Perhaps, in our quest to achieve the ultimate goals for the collective good, we have forgotten about what’s really important — the individuals.’ Tears pooled in his eyes. ‘I don’t have all the answers, Tom,’ he said earnestly. ‘But I do know that going to the police won’t bring back those poor souls who have perished as a result of our arrogance. We must learn from this. We need to inspire future generations of scientists to be ethically motivated and morally responsible. If we can accomplish that, then the loss of those lives will not be in vain.’
‘But the scientific profession already has a high standard of integrity,’ Tom said, indignantly.
‘That’s what I like about you, Tom,’ Frederick replied. ‘You’re an idealist. But history has shown us that scientists are capable of morally abhorrent behaviour. Look at the heinous experiments Mengele performed on the inmates of Auschwitz in the name of scientific research.’
You could argue that we have learnt from our mistakes, developed codes of conduct to prevent those sorts of atrocities ever happening again,’ Tom reasoned.
‘You would like to think so, but even today scientists serve as apologists for the tobacco and pesticide industries, and cosmetics are routinely tested on animals. Is that morally acceptable? What I’m saying is that beneath the white lab coat is a human being, who is vulnerable to all the usual temptations of the real world.’
‘One thing’s puzzling me,’ Serena said. ‘Why don’t we just go to the press with the information we’ve got, as Professor Morantz wanted to do?’
‘When Erik came to me,’ replied Frederick, ‘the afternoon before he died, and told me that he was going to the media with proof that the Collider was going to destroy the world, I was naturally very sceptical. I thought he’d lost his mind. But it made me think about what would happen if the story was true. How would the world react? At first, there would be a media frenzy; we would be inundated by an army of reporters and camera crews seeking an exclusive. And it wouldn’t just be our facility in the spotlight; every research establishment in the world would come under the scrutiny of the press. Newspapers, in particular, are notoriously indiscriminate when it comes to apportioning blame.’
Frederick paused for a moment, sighed, then continued.
‘Secondly, the hype would generate mass hysteria. At best, we’re talking about the demand for the immediate closure of all research facilities, at worst — lynch mobs. Next, once the furore had died down, there would be a period of reconciliation. Debates would go on between eminent scientists on the one side and lawmakers on the other; naturally, the lawmakers would win, as they would have to be seen to take action. More governing bodies would be set up and more legislation passed.’
Selena made as if to say something, but Frederick continued without giving her the chance to speak.