Each day Anton would sit on the boulder and try different methods, trying to establish coherent communication and each night he spent hours reading, trying to find a new method, a different regime that might provide a breakthrough. Each day he recorded every minute of the contact, if it could be called that. Usually the alien remained visible for only an hour or so.
Finally, in despair, he brought two of his most trusted colleagues to see and make their own attempts at contact. They had no more luck than he, despite trying some procedures he hadn't thought of and variations of numerous ones he had already tried.
He realized he should report the situation to a higher authority but he knew that if he were not extremely careful about who he shared the secret with it would quickly be a subject of contention all over the world. It could even start wars, he thought, from other countries insisting on sharing the data, such as it was, and in the process contact with the alien would become a circus. Politicians would vie with each other to have a part in it. The military would want full control. Most likely the alien and its craft would simply vanish and not come back.
There were so many negatives to revealing what he had fallen into that he used much of his spare time considering who to share it with. Finally he came up with DARPA, the very agency he was already employed by. He and his two colleagues had spent the last two years monitoring propulsion techniques being tested at Lockheed's "Skunk Works". He made the decision to speak to the head of the agency, whom Anton knew as a personal friend.
It turned out to be the right decision. Since then the small DARPA agency, more of a think tank than anything else, had held the secret close. Since DARPA was funded by the military, The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs was informed. Every one so far had kept the faith, even to a recent one who declined to reveal it to his successor. The person inhabiting the White House knew, but the previous president hadn't been told because he was deemed untrustworthy. The one before him had died with the knowledge.
Only a few days after recruiting his two scientist friends the alien and its conveyance vanished in the midst of another effort to make it understand something of the human viewpoint. In its place it left an object that had resided on his desk ever since, serving as a paperweight.
***
Anton blinked as the lights in his office brightened and he came back to the present. Had he been reminiscing that long? Apparently so. He brought his chair upright and gazed at his audience. Samantha was pointing at the object he was using as a paperweight. "That's what it left, isn't it? It looks just like the one in the video."
"Yes, that's what it left."
"Does it do anything?"
"Yes. Come closer everyone and watch." After they had gathered around his desk he placed a finger on the corner of the black square. Details upon its surface immediately became visible. The alien object was about five inches by five inches and two inches in height. A circular band like a ribbon a quarter inch or so in diameter was visible, large enough to touch the four edges of the face. More than three fourths of the circle was colored red. In its center rose a thin round black spire about four inches in height.
"That pattern becomes visible when I touch the corner of the object. The red in the circle wasn't there originally. Over the last ten years it has gradually, in fits and starts, advanced to where it is now. Once it comes back to where it began and fills the circular ribbon entirely with the red color, I expect something to happen, but I have no idea what."
"That's when the alien will come back," Samantha said firmly. Somehow it made sense to her.
"That's what young Carrera thinks, too. You two should get along well."
"I bet you want me to try to talk to that creature when it does come back, don't you?" The video had made it evident that no meaningful communication had occurred.
Smart girl
, Anton thought, but he already knew that.
"We're hoping you can, yes."
"But if it took ten years to color that much of the circle, and it won't return until all of it is red, that means somewhere around two more years until it returns," Samantha said. She had approximated the area of red by sight and made the calculations in her head.
Really smart,
Anton thought.
"You expect Samantha and us to sit here and wait two years, doing nothing, when you aren't even sure the thing will return?" Elaine said, not enthused at all.
"It could be sooner, you know, but there's more involved here than just the alien. Juan has been studying Samantha's history ever since that first episode with the tiger, the one that escaped. He believed in her talent from the start while I had to be convinced. There's still more, though. Since that time he has come to think that Samantha may be even more unique than any of you have thought. I won't go into it now because I want him to explain it to her and to all of you as well. However, as for you sitting around waiting on the alien, it wouldn't be like that. We can provide meaningful jobs for all of you and schooling for Samantha."
"You're talking about me like I'm some... some object," Samantha objected with an expression that clearly denoted her displeasure.
Anton averted his eyes for a moment but then met her gaze. Samantha was eyeing him dubiously, as if his intentions weren't meeting her approval or expectations, perhaps both.
"You're right, Samantha, and I apologize. It's just--"
"Please call me Sammie, like most everyone else does."
"Fine, Sammie. In fact, I would feel better if we all got on a first name basis. We're very informal around here because we don't have a very formal structure." His statement wasn't completely accurate. He called his subordinates by their first names but such was his prestige that none of them reciprocated. "But as I was saying, meaningful jobs and schooling but there's more. Sammie, we'd like to run a pretty hefty barrage of tests on you, including, but not limited to EECG, MRI, PET, and CAT scans, all under a number of different conditions. Then there are blood tests, mental tests of a great variety and a genealogical history. And all that is just to begin with. We have access to more advanced instruments we'd like to use, too. "
"Would I have a chance to work with animals?"
"Certainly. More so than you have in the past, in fact. If you're wondering about the purpose of all the testing, it's to find out if there is something about you that's obviously giving you your talent, or whether it is something much more subtle where we'd have to dig deeper. And frankly we may never find out why you have your talent for animals."
"What kind of jobs would Elaine and I be offered?" Ronald said, even though he was thinking more about his daughter and what they might find out about her talent, and most importantly, whether she would be happy here under the conditions that were being spelled out.
"DARPA is primarily a research organization. We normally employ less than two hundred scientists and they work on anything they care to. If either of you have a particular field you're interested in and would like to do research in it, we'd fund you. Or if you'd like to go back to school, that's fine, too." He grinned. "You might even find yourselves in some classes with your daughter."
Elaine burst out laughing. "Now that is the last thing I would have thought of."
"Like I said, we're a very informal, non-hierarchal outfit. Also, I have a half-baked idea that the alien I tried to talk to wasn't the only one that landed on earth. I've read enough bits and conjectures and heard snippets of conversation from scientists in other countries to suspect there were a number of landings. It could very well have been the being I met landing indifferent areas, though."
"Which doesn't make a bit of difference. We still aren't going to sit here for two years doing make-work jobs while waiting on nothing but a possibility." Ronald sided with his wife.
"I promise, when I said we'll provide meaningful work for all of you and advanced schooling for Samantha, I meant it. She's just about our only hope, you know, in case the alien does return. There's more involved than just it, though."
"Oh? Can you reveal that to us?" Ronald asked.
"Certainly. Samantha is a unique person with a unique talent. If it proves possible to teach her talent to others do you realize what a paradigm change in the world that would mean? Think about it." He raised his brows and waited.
"I believe I'm beginning to see a little of what you're after. And you say Juan is in charge of the study of Samantha? Her talent, that is."
"Yes. He'll be working very closely with her." He glanced at his wrist phone. "How about we call it a day for now and let you all get some rest. Nothing is going to happen overnight, I'm fairly certain." He smiled at his own small bit of humor.
"That sounds good," Elaine said. "All of us are tired and we've had a very traumatic time today, Sammie most of all. Besides, my arm is hurting and I need to take another pain pill."
"The same doctor who treated you on the plane will be here first thing in the morning to check on you, then we'll meet again after breakfast. Juan will stop by and take you to a place to eat. Is that satisfactory?"
All agreed and soon Anton was alone in his office. He wondered if the girl had noticed the alien's faint resemblance to a bird. Carrera was the one who had pointed it out to him. Of course it might mean nothing at all. Only time would tell, for many questions.
Samantha liked Juan. He had a good sense of humor and was so smart it was frightening in some ways. Any question she asked, he appeared to have an answer. However, before entering the restaurant, he had warned everyone not to mention thing about DARPA, aliens or why they were in the area. Samantha was afraid of being recognized but the only looks she got were admiring ones from young men. She was gradually getting used to that although it was still somewhat disconcerting. She was only fifteen but looked as if she were closer to eighteen. Juan kept them entertained with stories from his college days when he was so young compared to his classmates. It made her want to go to college as soon as possible--if it was possible at all for her. Considering all the secrecy restraints, she didn't know whether it would be or not.
Anton was waiting in his office for them after breakfast with two big carafes of coffee. Evidently he knew their habits, Samantha thought. Juan Carrera and the other scientists he had mentioned were there and were introduced in turn.
"Jane Carruthers, our physicist, David Marsten, astronomer and mathematician, Liadra Asha, computer science and also advanced mathematician, and you've met Juan. He's our resident Polymath." Seeing a look of incomprehension on the face of Elaine and Ronald, but not Samantha, he explained. "Juan is a jack of all trades in multiple disciplines. He has degrees in several sciences but his knowledge extends well beyond mere degrees in many other subjects. For the last couple of years he's followed Sammie's activities and studied how her talent might work."
"Without much success, I might add," Juan said. "It's hard to study a person's talent without having the subject on hand. I believe we'll make much faster progress now." He winked at Samantha and got a smile in return.
"At any rate, the people gathered here, as well as Gene and Jennie--" he nodded to them where they were seated together holding hands-- "who I might mention were just recently married, are the sum total of our team but for one. We have contacted a physician who will soon be joining us, Dr. Lynn Lycaster, medical doctor, a geneticist and a psychologist as well. She just took a leave of absence from MIT in order to come to work with us. She will be arriving the first of next week."
He paused for the inevitable congratulations extended to Gene and Jennie, then his eyes opened wide as Jane held up her left hand with a new diamond ring on it. "From the way Jane and David have been looking so starry-eyed since arriving I believe they have become engaged, so let's extend our congratulation to them, too."
The well-wishing took several minutes since every female had to examine Jane's ring. Anton finally returned to the original subject matter. "Jennie will continue to compile Samantha's biography but will also act as the project historian. I expect in future years her work will be referred to as the seminal history of our alien contact. It will also be the official definition and description of Sammie's talent and other discoveries I feel certain she will be involved in during the course of our work."
He paused to pour a fresh cup of coffee then waited until he had everyone's attention again. "As I told Elaine and Ronald yesterday, meaningful jobs will be available for them. Elaine, do you want to go back to work again? I understand you've been mostly a housewife other than your time at the Sanctuary."
"Yes, I think I'd like to have a job. Sammie is old enough to care for herself if I'm not around, and if I'm understanding correctly, she's going to be one busy young lady for some time to come."
"She will be, I can assure you of that. What I'm thinking is that we are badly in need of some administrative help. If you want the job, you'd be working directly for me, helping to keep the project organized and performing as optimally as possible. It wouldn't be all that different from the job you held at the Sanctuary other than learning a fair number of new terms. I understand the Director there was pleased with your performance."
"You really have kept up with us, haven't you?"
"Yes, we have. Jennie and Juan in particular have followed your activities closely and since I anticipated bringing you into the inner circle, so to speak, you were all as thoroughly investigated as a potential presidential candidate." He grinned. "I said Juan is a polymath but apparently his talents don't extend to administration. That's one big reason we need help in that area. Besides Sammie, he's heavily involved in three other projects."
Sammie glanced at Juan. His handsome face held a small enigmatic smile. She wondered what else he was working on but then Anton began speaking again.