There Must Be A Mistake Ch. 14

I was in the back of the car being driven to work, when my phone vibrated. It was in email from William. It started out with a smiley face.

"We have all the Exascale Computers we want! Argone Nation Labs, and the U.S. Government have approved our requests."

I yelled so loud Shelley nearly drove us off the road.

"Are you okay Doctor Luck?"

"I couldn't be better if I tried, Shelley. Take me to Wendy's, I have to bring my son a treat."

********

I tried to sneak up on him, but that little boy of mine can smell a Wendy's hamburger if it was packed in lead.

Without turning around he said, "Thanks dad, are you going to eat with me?"

"What makes you think this is yours, this is my lunch."

"As my sister tells you all the time, you are a terrible liar."

"I should spank both of you, because you are spoiled."

"Guess who spoiled me?"

"Let's eat before it gets cold."

"What happened today that you went 10 miles out of your way to buy me Wendy's?"

"I received an email from your uncle William. Argonne National Labs has approved our request for the Exascale Computers."

"I know."

"What do you mean you know?"

"They emailed me too. I sent them several requests for the use of the computers, remember?"

"Gordon when we get to Kepler 298D, remind me to bury you there."

"Can I stand behind mom when I tell you that?"

"No, because she would kill me first."

"That's my point dad. If she gets to you, before you get to me, I'm safe."

"That's cheating Gordon, and that would ruin my plan."

"I know."

I ruffled his hair again, and he laughed again.

I told him about the skeleton of the ship, and he was very excited.

He told me about the figures of getting to Kepler 289D.

"I have a plan I want to run by you dad. It's just something that popped into my head. I've ran it through Big Blue, and it works in theory."

"Are you going to keep me in suspense Gordon; or are you going to tell me about it?"

"I just don't want you to think I've gone crazy, or that you are overworking me because you're not. I love what I'm doing, and I really think we can pull this off."

"Crazy is what they've called me since I've been at MIT. Every time someone looks at me and calls me crazy, I know I'm doing something right. If you don't tell me what on your mind, I'm going to get my razor and shave all your hair off."

"Okay, here goes. After we pass .90 light speed we were supposed to pull in the nuclear engine after it cooled, and only use the Ion/H2 engine to bring us up to .99 light speed, because Einstein said that the speed of light is the constant in the universe and nothing could travel faster than light. Dad, he's wrong, and we are going to prove it."

"Tell me how Gordon; I'm listening?"

"Instead of pulling in the nuclear engine, let's keep it running. There is no danger of overheating it, because of its tolerances. I will make you a bet that as we pass through the Heliopause, we go beyond the speed of light, form a warp bubble around our spacecraft, and can increase our speed to at least four times light speed, if not higher."

"Will our spacecraft hold together at that speed?"

"Absolutely! There is no resistance. We are in the vacuum of space, and for all intent and purposes, the only thing limiting our speed is the power of our engines."

"Would you run that program through Big Blue for me please?"

"Can I eat my hamburger first?"

"I think you should put it in the microwave to heat it up a little."

"I think I'd rather run the program."

"You would do something else rather than eat a Wendy's hamburger?"

"Revolutionary, isn't it?"

"No one will ever believe me."

"I know."

***************

I called another general meeting of all the scientists and had Gordon run the program for them. Then I had him explain what they had seen exactly as he had explained it to me.

It was another case of "Sir Isaac Newton could not be wrong," and therefore "Albert Einstein could not be wrong."

Delicious got up to defend her little brother.

"Why are you people here? If you don't believe in this project, why are you here? If you don't believe this spacecraft is going to get off the ground, go back to your original jobs. If you are here just for a paycheck go home we don't want you here. Gordon has come up with an original thought; when was the last time any of you did that? Each of you believe Thomas Edison was brilliant. Each of you is an idiot. It wasn't Edison that did the work, read your history books. He stole the work from the people around him, and patented it. He started General Electric on the backs of others. The real genius was Nicholas Tesla, and you barely know who he is. They are still fighting over where to bury him.

Think about what Gordon has come up with? Do your own tests on his theory. If it doesn't work tell him, but tell him why it doesn't work. If it works tell him that also. Don't run around like a crowd making accusations that won't hold up in the future. I challenged Sir Isaac Newton, and that's why you're here today. I was right and he was wrong. I said we could break gravities hold on us, and we have. Now let's find out if we can break the speed of light and see if Albert Einstein was right or wrong."

She received a round of applause from the assembled scientists, and a hug from her brother. Then she ruffled his hair, and he frowned at her.

"You know I don't like when you do that Delicious."

"I know."

"Monty says I'll be strong enough to beat you up soon."

"I know."

"You don't care if I beat you up?"

"No, I'll just have Gray beat you up for me."

"That's not fair, I've waited all these years to get even with you, and now you're going to have Gray beat me up?"

"Yip."

"Maybe I'll just beat up Holden instead."

"Gray will really beat you up if you do that."

"That's really not fair, I can't beat anyone up."

"I know."

"Stop saying that, that's my line."

"I know."

"I don't like you."

"I know, you love me."

"I'm leaving before I get angry."

"I know."

"##############."

"That will be $10 please."

"I don't like you Delicious."

"Yes you do."

********

Delicious' wonderful gravity defying engines would get us out of Earth's hold on us, without sacrificing speed or angle of attack on leaving our atmosphere. Then we would extend the forward and rear facing cameras, telescopes, and scientific devices so the world could follow our progress.

As soon as that was done, our forward gravity engines would pull us towards the moon, increasing our speed exponentially. We would pass Mars in 12 minutes later at one quarter light speed. Our total elapsed time from takeoff to Mars would be one hour and six minutes, because of the extra 50 feet I had added to the diameter of our spacecraft The pictures we would be beaming back to Earth would make us national heroes, and not one of us cared. We wanted to prove it could be done and put the doubters in their place.

Governments spent trillions of dollars to send a non-renewable spacecraft to the moon, and were still waiting to send a few men to Mars. Our intrepid travelers would bypass our entire solar system and search for a planet with an atmosphere like ours, and search for a species that might welcome us as friends.

Wake up Even, we have work to do before we leave the ground.

I shook my head and realized it was nearly 11 PM. It was time for me to head home and get some rest. I locked my desk, stood up and started walking towards the exit. Automatically I looked towards Gordon's desk, because I was so proud of him. He was now 11 years old, 5'5" tall and if I am lucky I would say 110 pounds soaking wet. I was glad to see he wasn't there. My security team was waiting for me. As I entered the car Shelly asked, "Are we going to wait for Gordon, Sir?"

"He did it to me again, didn't he?"

"You have to fix that squeak in your chair Sir. It's his early warning signal to hide, because you are coming his way."

"When they catch him this time, cuff him and throw him in the back."

"That's mean Sir."

"To quote my son, "I know."

When they threw him in the back of the Yukon he yelled, "This is not funny dad."

"Neither is an 11-year-old boy staying after 11 o'clock at night at work. If the government catches you working at that hour, they are going to file a complaint against me. I don't want to wind up in jail Gordon. You will follow my rules, or you will be taken off this project."

"You wouldn't do that to me. You need me on this project."

"Yes I would do that to you. Yes I need you on this project. I will not break the law. If you don't believe me try this: you are not allowed in the building for one week. You are on restriction in the house for those seven days. You have no access to a computer for those seven days. You have no access to reading material for those seven days. You will be guarded day and night to make sure you follow these rules."

"Dad that's outrageous."

"I know, and if this behavior continues, I will have to have a discussion with your mother and decide what Religious Liberal Arts College to send you to."

"Liberal Arts, what courses could I take there?"

"Finger painting for all I care. Follow the rules Gordon, I don't want you breaking the law."

************

Jennifer served dinner at 7 PM every night. I told her I would be home for dinner that entire week, and why.

"I will hide all the knives and sharp instruments I can find. It will be good for Richard and Holden to see you at dinner. They miss you a lot."

"I would like to say I will change my schedule to start early in the morning and be back early in the evening, but my desk is always full. I need an administrative assistant desperately, and I don't have time to interview anyone with the skills I need. I can't get into the lab to get my own work done if I don't work from morning to night. It's a vicious cycle."

"I know someone who could do that for you, and he's already on your payroll. I just don't know if he will move his entire family to Texas for you."

"If he's already on my payroll and can do the job, and won't move to Texas, I'll fire the bastard."

"No, you won't fire this bastard. You don't have the guts to do it."

"I can fire anyone that's on my payroll."

"You won't fire him. I'll bet you $10 you won't."

"You're on, who is it?"

"Rod Laver."

I reached into my pocket and handed by wife $10. I also called her a bitch.

She smiled, and kissed me.

"Do you want me to call him and tell him he's moving to Tempe, or to tell him he's fired?"

"Talk to Rosalynn, and tell her she's moving to Tempe, and she's bringing the family with her. If Rod wants to come he's welcome also."

"Even, you are impossible when it comes to that man."

"Tell him I want him down here by Monday morning or he's taking a pay cut."

"How much of a pay cut should I tell him?"

"100%."

"If you said 99% he might believe you, he will never believe 100%."

"Jen just tell him to get his ass down here. I need him. If he says he wants a raise, cut his salary by 10%. It always works."

"Okay, I can't wait to see what this week's dinner is going to be like with you and Gordon staring at each other."

"Yes, I've never punished him before. I wonder how he's going to take it."

**************

The End