Remember what use to be Section 8?
Well, you couldn’t because you never saw it.
Doesn’t matter. I reworked it and how it’s Section 6.
Consider it virgin territory.
(and isn’t that a disgusting term when you get right down to it?)
How Jerry and Betty Became the Least Entertaining Couple in the Neighborhood (Section 6 Rewritten from Section 8)
Koss and Fisher stood inside the Capitol’s main entrance while a guard validated their IDs on a mobile. “This way, please.”
Koss looked down the hall to the meeting rooms. “Aren’t we scheduled to meet in Senator Koral’s boardroom?”
The guard kept his pace and responded over his shoulder. “Senator Koral moved the meeting.”
Fisher tapped Koss’ arm. He shook his head slightly. They followed the guard but at their own pace, and he had to stop several times navigating the Capitol’s subterranean labyrinths while they caught up. Sometimes he had to retrace his steps and found them walking the wrong corridor. He spoke with an impatience outside his office. “This way. Hurry, please.”
A few minutes later they sat side-by-side at a strong mahogany table in a room much like a surgeon’s theater, except this room waited in the Capitol’s basement, Charybdis under the swells of Messina.
Fisher checked her watch.
Koss, his eyes on his tablet on the table in front of him, reviewed his notes.
Fisher glanced at the screen. “Doctor Koss, you’ve reread and rehearsed those lines as if preparing for a one-man play. Are you concerned?”
Koss continued reviewing. “This is part of the game, Ms. Fisher. They tell us the meeting will start in a certain place at a certain time. They change the place and a certain interval of time passes. They begin entering at the end of the interval. It is a power move. To show us who’s in charge, who’s in control. To your question, no, not worried, only wanting to speak naturally when it is time. The heart of a good performance is not to perform at all.”
She checked her watch again. “It’s been a while.”
He looked over to her watchface, nodded his head slightly as the second-hand swept up the hour, then smiled at the conference room’s door. “Now.”
A light went on over the door. Different senators and congressionals came in chatting amongst themselves, laughing and smiling as they took their seats in the first few rows of the amphitheater. Aides followed like acolytes and filled the seats behind them. Mixed in with them were military personnel, none below Captain or Colonel grade. They took a section all their own.
Senior Massachusetts Senator Janice Koral adjusted her microphone.
Koss looked down at his tablet and whispered to Fisher. “And so we begin.”
“Dr. Koss, Dr. Fisher, thank you for coming today and agreeing to share Dark Dragon’s status thus far. I hope you’ll excuse the change of venue. Several people are interested in this project.” She glanced down at some notes. “For the record, we’re discussing the current state the exchange of technology and related information with the inhabitants of Thorine 7.” Koral stared down at Koss and Fisher.
Koss smiled up at his audience, turned to face a projection screen as it lowered on a far wall, and tapped his tablet. The screen blinked to life and the NASA Thorine Mission – codename Dark Dragon – Icon appeared.
An hour later the screen receded from view as Koss concluded. “The hyperlight drive, the translight communications, they and many others were all gifts from the Thorines. The price for their largess was a human – just one – so they could learn about us, and with the promise of no harm or hurt to the individual or us here on Earth.”
An aide reached over Congressman Shaines’ shoulder and handed him a note. Koral recognized him. “Go ahead, Congressman Shaines.”
The aide continued shuffling through pages and thumbing through screens.
“Dr. Koss, do we know why the Thorines chose Commander Fortin?”
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Questions or comments? Bring ’em on. They’ll help me craft a better story.
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