again?”
“I guess I lied.”
“I guess so, but at least you’re honest. I see your dilemma. How serious is the error you may have located?”
“It would set the project back by a few years.”
“Well, your job is to look after the public good, but all I can say is that you better make damn sure you’re right before you bring it up to her. How long have you got?”
“About two months. Sarah is a mite high-strung. She has been working on this project single-mindedly for close to six years and has had to battle for it all the way. It has been her life to the exclusion of everything else. Now that she is near to attaining her goal, I don’t think she will let anything stand in her way, including me.”
“Sounds like you have your work cut out for you. I wish you luck.”
Roger and Sarah had become intimate a month into the relationship, after one of their all-day excursions. Surprisingly, since Roger was not known for his patient in such matters, she had first made the suggestion that he spend the night. Roger did not have to be asked twice. Roger knew that he had fallen deeply in love with Sarah and felt strongly that she felt the same. He began to think about how this was going to work out. He felt the most logical course would be for him to retire and join her in her research, but he hadn’t broached the idea with Sarah yet. He knew that he would probably ask her to marry him, but he wanted to wait a little longer to make sure. The only catch was that Roger continued to have doubts about the safety of her project. He reviewed his calculations and did a few simulations at work to see if he could find a flaw. He also talked to a few of his colleagues without revealing to them exactly what the project was. As a result of his vagueness, their help was very limited, but the little that they could contribute seemed to support Roger’s suppositions. When he did try to discuss with her his concerns, she would cut the conversation off by dismissing his concerns without really addressing them. Normally Roger would have found that type of condescending attitude intolerable, but his concern for Sarah and his doubts about his calculations put him on the defensive. His relationship with Sarah cooled a little because she said that she had to spend more time at the lab as the day for the first test approached, and Roger acted defensively when they were together because of his growing concerns over the experiment. The time was fast approaching when he would have to make his report on her project to his superiors, so he knew that he had to talk to her about his concerns very soon.
When he finally finished his report, he wanted to have Sarah look at it before he turned it in to the panel. He decided to travel to her place for dinner on Saturday night and to show her his calculations and report. He knew that she would not take it well.
Roger drove his floater up the dirt track leading to her house. Sarah had a single-story ranch house near Jemez St. Mon that had a spectacular view of the mountains. He pulled up to the house and parked. Sarah was standing outside her front door wearing a very simple, attractive house-dress that showed off all her curves. She smiled and walked over to his floater. Roger exited and put his arms around her waist to kiss her. He tingled all over just to feel her in his arms. He loved the smell of her and the touch of his lips on hers. All the concerns that had troubled him on his journey from Phoenix seemed to have faded into insignificance. When he was not with Sarah, he sometimes had doubts about their relationship, but, when they were together, he couldn’t imagine ever being without her. He kissed her for a long time full on the lips and held her as tightly as he could without cracking her ribs.
When they broke, Sarah sighed, “Wow, now that’s a kiss. I guess you missed me.”
“You have no idea.”
Sarah grabbed his hand and led him through the front door into the living room. The room contained the usual couch, chairs, and coffee table. Everything was very tasteful and expensive and very well coordinated. The walls were covered with native art from many different cultures. There were masks from Africa, South American, and the American Southwest; textiles from Central American and India; electronic art from Mars; and paintings and photographs from every continent on Earth and every planet and moon in the S-system. This display and her breath of knowledge about other cultures always impressed Roger. He barely understood the culture of the United States, and he grew up here.
“I have been cooking all day for this dinner, so you’d better like it.”
“I can’t believe that you do your own cooking. All I can cook is burnt toast.”
“I like doing it. It takes my mind off the things that bother me.”
“Maybe that’s my problem. I don’t have anything to take my mind off my demons.”
“That doesn’t sound good. I hope the demons aren’t also mine.”
“Well now that you mention it.” He paused.
Sarah stopped dead in her tracks and turned to face Roger. She was no longer smiling. “Now this really does sound ominous. Maybe we should wait to eat. Is this where you tell me that you need more space?”
“No, no, nothing like that. It has to do with your project,” Roger reassured. “I’ve brought you something to look at.” He held up a cube that Sarah had not seen in his hand until now. “It’s something that I have been working on for a while, and it is bothering me. I really need to discuss this with you.”
Sarah walked over to him and took the disk. She walked through a door off the living room, and Roger followed. She sat down at a desk and inserted the cube into a holographic projector on the desktop. The image of a report appeared in the air centered over her desk.
“It’s not very long because I only included the most pertinent equations and conclusions. I have more details on another disk. I’ll leave you alone, so that you can read it without me nervously looking over your shoulder. I’ll be in the living room; just join me when you’re ready to talk.”
Roger returned to the living room and made himself uncomfortable on the couch. There was reading and viewing material on the table in front of him, but he chose to ignore it. He knew that he loved Sarah very much and couldn’t imagine that a professional disagreement could break them up. But, he couldn’t help worrying that it might, so he sat and worried for what seems like hours waiting for Sarah. After twenty minutes, she walked back into the living room and sat down in a chair opposite Roger.
Sarah appeared very somber. “It’s all very interesting, but we have looked at those calculations many times and have not found any reasons to doubt our conclusions. You know that, since you have read all the reports.”
“I have read the reports and I do know that you have looked at the numbers. But didn’t you see that, with certain probabilities, the other end of the quantum tunnel that you create may be attracted to areas of massive gravity, such as a black hole, neutron star, or the center of a massive star? The effects of opening a tunnel into the center of a black hole would be catastrophic! Listen, there were a number of phenomena that I came across when I was working on the quantum field generator. I never published them because I didn’t think they were relevant at the time. I didn’t have the inclination or desire to pursue the research to confirm or disprove them. The generator is the heart of your experiment and now these factors may be important.”
“We’ve done this calculation, and we do not agree that there would be an attraction to high density gravity. You’re telling me you found some secret quantum probability over ten years ago that you’ve kept to yourself? That’s weak! I’m not going to argue this with you. We have already decided there is no risk.”
“But my calculations …”
Sarah cut him off, “YOUR calculations! You haven’t been a real physicist for ten years. You’re just a government bureaucrat resting on your laurels. You quit the research game because you ran out of ideas. Now you are going to tell ME that calculations I have spend the last six years refining, that have been reviewed by brighter minds than yours, are incorrect,” Sarah fumed.
The wor
ds cut Roger deeply. He knew he was in trouble and frantically tried to find a way to calm her down yet still make his point. “I’m not saying that your work is wrong, I think its overall direction is correct. I have this one area of concern that I think could be dealt with in time.”
“What do you mean by time?”
“Well you would have to redo the calculations and maybe set up another experiment to check the results before trying the actual tunneling test.”
“You’re talking about years of work.”
“Yes, maybe a year … or two.”
“I don’t agree, nor will I do it.”
“Sarah, my job is to look after the public good, and I honestly believe that there may be some risk here.”
“What are you saying? Tell me straight out.”
“I’m going to recommend that the first trial run of the quantum tunnel be postponed until these questions are addressed.”
Sarah leapt to her feet, her face flushed. She shouted at Roger, “Get out of my house!”
Roger was stunned and just sat and stared at her.
She repeated, “I said, get out of my house.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“I’m very serious. Get out.”
“Can’t we at least discuss this?”
“There is nothing to discuss, please leave.” There was a waver to her voice as she spoke these words