“What more can you ask for?” Ben said. “And now I feel like a schmuck-here I was complaining when you had good news that you were waiting to tell me.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Nathan said.
“Enough of this friendship crap,” Ober said. “Let’s go out and celebrate!”
Ben ran to his room and changed into jeans and a chocolate-brown Henley. “Where are we going?” he asked as he walked downstairs.
“Guess,” Ober said.
“Are we really going there?”
“Hey, it’s my promotion,” Nathan said. “Now, c’mon, it closes at eight.”
When the three friends arrived at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, they stepped through the large plate-glass doors and into the heart of the building. Within a minute, they were all gazing up at the Milestones of Flight exhibit. Among the collection of aerodynamic marvels suspended from the roof were the Wright brothers’ original flyer, the Spirit of St. Louis, and Nathan’s favorite, Glamorous Glennis, the first airplane to fly faster than the speed of sound.
“How many flights did the Wright brothers take that first day?” Ben asked, reading a short exhibit card about the Wright brothers’ first flight.
“Four,” Nathan said.
“What was the day?”
“December seventeenth, 1903.”
“Who flew first?”
“Orville flew first for twelve seconds,” Nathan said, his eyes still fixed on the ceiling. “But Wilbur flew the longest with fifty-nine seconds.”
“I still don’t understand why you’re so into this stuff,” Ben said, looking at a replica of Sputnik I. “You have no science background, your father isn’t in the military, your-”
“Can’t you simply appreciate the wonders of technology?” Nathan asked. “Can your legal mind even comprehend such a thought? We’re in the midst of science’s greatest feat-escaping the bounds of our existence.”
Ober walked over to an authentic moon rock brought back by the Apollo 17 crew and rubbed the pale gray object. “This rock is so fake. It isn’t from the moon.”
“And you base this hypothesis on what?” Nathan asked. “Your vast knowledge of interplanetary geology?”
“It doesn’t feel real,” Ober explained. “It feels like it’s completely fake.” Turning around to the crowd of tourists that were walking near the exhibit, Ober announced loudly, “THIS ROCK IS FAKE! IT’S A HOAX!”
Putting his hand over the mouth of his roommate, Nathan said, “Can you be more embarrassing? What’re you, ten years old?”
“He’s twelve,” Ben said. He rubbed the moon rock for himself and added, “It really doesn’t feel real. It seems synthetic or plastic or something.”
“See, I told you,” Ober said.
“It’s a real moon rock,” Nathan insisted. “Read the sign. It was brought back by the crew of the Apollo Seventeen. It’s nearly four billion years old.”
“Maybe the real rock was radioactive, and when it killed a bunch of tourists, they replaced it with this smooth piece of junk,” Ober said.
“I refuse to have this conversation,” Nathan said. “The only reason it’s smooth is because millions of goofball tourists like you feel the need to touch it.”
Touching it one more time, Ober said, “It’s so obviously not real. I want my money back.”
“Would you like to go to the next exhibit?” Nathan asked. “Is that what you’re telling me?”
“I’m starving,” Ober said. “I just want something to eat.”
The roommates walked to the east end of the building and entered The Flight Line cafeteria. After filling their trays with premade sandwiches and plastic-wrapped desserts, they chose one of the cafeteria’s empty tables. “Tell me about the lie detector. When do you have to take it?” Nathan asked.
“Two weeks from now.”
“What if you fail it?”
“I have no idea,” Ben said, unwrapping his roast beef sandwich. “I assume that won’t be a good thing, but they never said what would happen. I don’t think they’ll fire me on the spot, but I don’t think it’ll help my case. My main concern is that they don’t tell Hollis. If it gets to him, he’ll never trust me with anything.”
“I don’t understand why they picked today to call you. Was it because of Eric’s story?”
“Of course,” Ben said. “They said it reminded them that we hadn’t spoken in a while.”
“And I guess you haven’t told Eric that.”
“Absolutely not,” Ben said. “He might write another story about it. All I have to do now is figure out a way to pass the test.”
“Ben, I know I’ve asked this already,” Ober asked, his voice uncharacteristically serious, “but are you sure you want Eric to move out?”
“You know how I feel,” Ben said. “Let’s leave it at that.”
“But what if he-”
“The tests are beatable,” Nathan interrupted, shooting Ober a look. “I’m sure of that. I saw a special on PBS about how the military gives soldiers special drugs that lets them beat them. It somehow calms their heart rates.”
“I heard that if you remain calm and focus yourself, you can definitely beat it,” Ben said. “The common criminal usually panics.”
“But white-collar criminals like yourself can usually keep it together?” Nathan asked.
“That’s really funny,” Ben said. “You’re a laugh riot.”
“Maybe you can get those military drugs through the State Department,” Ober suggested to Nathan. “Now that you’re a big shot there, you should be able to get anything.”
“I can definitely try,” Nathan said. “It can’t hurt to ask.” Taking another bite of his burger, he said, “So, did Lisa say anything about this?”
“Can you stop with Lisa?” Ben pleaded. “Ever since we’ve been back from Thanksgiving, it’s been impossible dealing with her. When she asks me about anything, I clam up.”
“I told you it was a bad idea to have sex with her,” Ober said, shaking his head.
“This has nothing to do with the sex part. We’re both perfectly fine with that. I just feel like an asshole for lying to her. Maybe you can’t understand, but Lisa’s a good friend of mine. I know you don’t trust her, but honestly, I do.”
“So go ahead and tell her whatever you want,” Nathan said. “Sleep with her every night. Dig yourself deeper. You’re a grown man; it’s your choice. I just want you to face reality.”
“Listen, I’m not complaining. I’m just saying it’s uncomfortable to lie to someone’s face.”
“Well, you better get good at it. You have a date with a lie detector in two weeks.”
Ignoring the light snow that melted on the car’s front windshield, Rick watched the entrance to the Air and Space Museum. “What’s taking them so long?”
“I’m sure they’re just looking around. Now get back to the real question: Are you sure you can get the decision?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Rick said, turning on the defroster. “We’ll definitely get it. My source tells me-”
“I wish you’d stop relying on this source. Simply being close to Ben doesn’t mean a thing. We need-”
“Trust me, I know exactly what we need. And if we don’t get the decision from our source, we can always get it from Ben. I should be meeting with him sometime next week-I’m just waiting for him to get back to me.”
“How do you know he’ll agree to meet with you?”
Watching Ober, Nathan, and Ben leave the museum, Rick grinned. “I know Ben. Given the opportunity to catch me, he can’t resist. He values his career too much to let me walk all over it. Besides, even if he can’t catch me, how many people can say no to a three-million-dollar finder’s fee?”
Chapter 12
AT NOON THE NEXT DAY, BEN LEANED ON THE file cabinets in the corner of the room, waiting for his first draft of the Grinnell dissent to roll out of the printer. Anxious to hand the opinion over to Lisa, he knew she would have to find it impressive. Wait until she sees it, he thought as the first page crawled out. This dissent is so strong, she won’t know what to do with herself. First, apologies will flow freely. She’ll beg for my forgiveness. She’ll swear that she’ll never doubt me again. Clearly, she’ll say, “You are the superior writer.” She’ll then rip off her clothes and lie naked on the desk.