Chapter 9

  SNAP

  The laboratory was suddenly darker. Kelton rolled out of the box and stood directly between Alex and Beta.

  “How long should we leave him in there?” Beta asked.

  Kelton told them, “Go ahead and hit the kill switch now. It will give me the same 11-minute experience you had.”

  Alex responded to Beta, “He didn’t say. Should we give him a little extra time?’

  Kelton put his face right in front of Alex's. “Hit the kill switch now.” Alex looked right through him.

  “I don't know. He didn't say.”

  A man and a woman in blue security uniforms came in the door, handcuffs and radios hanging from their belts. “We are here to escort Doctor Kelton and three of his team from the building. We've got two of you here. Where are the other two.?”

  “Well, you just missed Chaz. He left about a minute ago.” Alex punched the kill switch. “Doctor Kelton will be back in 11 minutes.” Alex and Beta shared a sly smile.

  “Look,” the woman said, “I know this is a hard time, and none of us wants trouble. Let's just get your stuff and get out of here. We will escort you to your cars.” She turned to the other guard. “You stay here and wait for Kelton.”

  Kelton watched for a few minutes as Alex and Beta picked up their papers and personal items and put them on the cart the security team had brought with them.

  Kelton called out, “Doctor Cohen, are you still here?” Kelton took a step. There was a sizzling sensation as he passed through a shimmering wall and found himself just outside Robeson Tilly's office, face to face with Milton Cohen.

  “You're back! I've been wanting to talk to you. I have a special interest in your research.”

  Kelton raised his eyebrows in surprise.

  Cohen continued, “It appears the weasel Tilly has taken an interest as well. Your very large lab assistant just went into his office and shut the door behind him.”

  SIZZLE

  Kelton and Cohen stood inside Tilly's office. Chaz had both hands flat on Tilly’s desk.

  Pleading with every word, Chaz said, “You can't take me off this project. I had nothing to do with the experiments. I was trying to rein them in. I was keeping you informed when it looked like they were going to cross the lines. You know that! You can't expel me. You need me on this project.”

  Tilly gave no indication that he had even heard Chaz. He continued shuffling papers as though he were alone in the room.

  “You can't shut this project down.” Chaz continued. “The commercial potential is going to be... I don't know... Unlimited.”

  Tilly gave Chaz a benign smile, but there was a glow in his eyes. “What you say may be true, but it doesn't alter the fact that you stole materials,” he glanced at his notes, “A prototype thorium space heater and a monkey, hmm?- from other labs in the building. I'm sure we will have a surveillance video of this somewhere. I think we need to make an example of you. We simply can't have this sort of thing going on in the Milton Cohen building.”

  “Oh, he's smooth, isn't he?” chuckled Cohen.

  “Chaz, stop!” Kelton pleaded. “He doesn't have the power you think he has. Just leave the office now! It will all work out.”

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  Cohen shook his head, “That rarely works. He’s not tuned in.” He told Kelton, “It's just as well that we can’t communicate well, really.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, what would Jacob do if more people were paying attention to him? He's such a schlimazel. A mischief maker.”

  “… is going to make the university a lot of money. It's going to make everyone involved a lot of money.” Chaz continued pleading.

  “I've seen no evidence of that,” said Tilly. “If you can convince me, perhaps we can keep your position on the research staff. We don't necessarily need to go looking for security videos, now do we? That would be such a bother. So, tell me, what don't I know?”

  Chaz started at the beginning and laid out the entire chain of events. He was leaving nothing out.

  Cohen moved between Kelton and Chaz. “You need to keep an eye on that one. I have been watching him. He's a little unstable, and possibly prone to violence. And the steroids he's taking don’t do him any good, either. Is it an advantage to build up the muscles and lose the weight if you lose your mind? And what is he doing with all of those fireworks in his backpack? I am most concerned about Chaz. It seems Jacob has taken a special interest in him.”

  “Jacob? Where is he?

  Jacob tapped Kelton on the shoulder. “Speak of the devil.”

  “Devil?” Kelton repeated.

  “Figure of speech,” Jacob smiled.

  “Where did you come from?”

  “You know me. Going up and down, to and fro, in the earth. Man about town, Man of Mystery.”

  Jacob made Kelton uncomfortable.

  “Why do I keep running into you?” Kelton asked.

  “Who do you want to run into?” Cohen asked. “There’s the whole world out there. The whole universe. I’m even starting to wonder about the entire timeline spectrum. There’s a lot to explore.”

  The non sequitur diverted Kelton’s attention. “I’m just trying to understand where I am and what’s happening. Why didn’t Alex and Beta have this experience?”

  “Didn’t they?” asked Jacob. “They’ve both been wandering around here dragging those silver threads in the last few hours. If this keeps up, pretty soon everybody’s gonna want a silver thread!”

  Cohen shrugged. “Maybe they just don't remember, can't remember, or don't want to remember.”

  “Why do I remember?” asked Kelton.

  Cohen put out his hands palm upward and tucked his head, “I've been exploring for the last 20 years. There’s much I don't know. You want a theory? This is my theory: We exist in our thoughts and our energy in a universal cloud storage device. The human brain is kind of like a hard disk drive that, under proper conditions, synchronizes to the cloud storage. And so far, my experimentation seems to bear that out.”

  “You seem to know a lot about technology that has come out in the last 20 years.”

  Cohen shrugged, “Eh, I try to keep up.”

  Kelton nodded. “Your theory fits my experience. I’m not sure how it fits with Beta and Alex.”

  Cohen held up an admonishing finger. “You really didn't replicate the experiment, though, did you? Alex and Beta didn't cut their throats before they got into the box. They weren't administered anesthesia after they got out of the box. There are too many other possible variables. Your scientific discipline leaves a lot to be desired, don’t you think? But I've certainly enjoyed seeing your work. Truth be told, I’ve been very pleased at how receptive the three of you were. To a smallish extent, you've been following my suggestions, but it seems we have gotten you all in trouble.”

  “Yes, the research may be coming to a screeching halt. Tilly has gotten a stranglehold on it. I'm going to be locked out of the lab with no rights to the intellectual properties.”

  Cohen waggled his hand. “Mmmm. Maybe not. There are some simple improvements to the design. You may be able to continue the research without a lot of resources.”

  Schematics, design drawings, and formulae flowed into Kelton’s mind. Kelton staggered. “Wow. We were doing it the hard way, weren’t we?”

  “The hard way. It sums up the human experience, don’t you think?” laughed Jacob, mimicking Cohen’s accent. “Always doing things the hard way. It could have been so easy if you had just listened to me. You don’t have too much time left. Let's get a change of scenery.” Jacob touched Kelton and Cohen.

  SIZZLE

  The three stood in a large, dim courtyard lit only by the glow of the thousands of people who were walking around talking with each other.

  Kelton looked around. “Who are these people?” he asked.

  “Well, last week, you probably would have referred to these people as dead people,” said Cohen.

  “Boy, were you wrong. Again. What a moron! Do you ever get things right?” taunted Jacob.

  A new thought overpowered Kelton. “Where is God in all of this?”

  “I've got an open mind on the subject,” said Cohen. “There's lots of people here willing to share their opinions with you.”

  “God?” chided Jacob. “Look around. Do you see any God here? Don't be an idiot. Believe what you see.”

  Two new people approached. Kelton was startled again by the sudden apparitions.

  “Zenek and Alice! Two of my favorite people!” snarled Jacob.

  Ignoring Jacob, Alice said “Hello.” to Kelton and Cohen. “Are you open to another viewpoint about God?”

  Zenek smiled warmly at the group.

  Cohen said to Kelton. “These are some of the people I was telling you about. Lots of people, everyone has an opinion. I’ve been hearing from…”