Gravitational Constantly: A Novella (5 page)

“So, who is he?” I asked as Jayce and I laid out packets of reports on the conference room table. Normally, I'd set out twelve handouts for the executive staff, but today we set out thirteen. One for the newcomer that had been causing Jayce a good deal of anxiety, I could tell.

“The Chief of Operations, Sebastian Black,” Jayce said with a touch of dislike.

“Black … he's related to—”

“Yes. The President of Futura's son. His one and only,” Jayce interrupted.

“You don't seem enthused about him being here.” I probed the subject.

“No, I'm usually not. Sebastian is an ambitious man. Most of the projects he brings to us are more science fiction than science. He also only shows up when something has peaked his interest, and his hunger for the subject is only satisfied after his dreams are shattered by days, weeks, or months of actual scientific research,” Jayce said with disdain.

“So, he's just a dreamer with Dad's permission to play?” I mused.

“You got it, Ace. And his dreams are usually reckless. That is why I like him least of all,” Jayce said as he placed the final packet at the head of the table, where Sebastian would sit in less than an hour and pose some new direction for Futura.

“I always pegged you for a fan of science fiction though,” I said as we left the conference room.

Jayce grinned. “When I was a boy perhaps, but look around you, Andy. The science fiction we used to know is now reality. I'm a man of science now, though I do enjoy a good dream, I suppose.”

“Maybe today's science fiction dreamt up by Mr. Black will be tomorrow's reality,” I said with a mocking grin.

Jayce looked in thought for a moment then shot me a serious glance that I didn't like. “We'll soon find out.”

I took the rest of the afternoon off. Jayce's meeting was going to take several hours and I had no real work to do. A more ambitious man might find himself unfulfilled by the lack of steady, consistent, and rewarding work, but not me. I was never really an ambitious man. The end game always looked the same to me no matter how you played it, so why work up a sweat?

I took a walk through the park and sat at my favorite spot near the Armstrong monument. Handfuls of tourists strolled by, but it was rather quiet. The evergreens there gave me peace of mind, and I liked their fresh smell. I also liked the smell of the fresh mulch that was put down in the flowerbeds and around the shrubs. They were earthy smells. Nothing has a smell in space, I thought, as I peered up at the stars. It was sort of confusing being on Luna at times. The part of you that was still human wanted to remember the sights and smells of Earth. The part of you that spawned from your humanity wanted to be free of those same senses. Sometimes it was like standing on a bridge, halfway between two places: behind you a place that is comfortable and familiar and in front of you a place you want to go, but scares you because you know nothing about it.

Cara and I had dinner plans that night. I was to meet her at Cosmos and have a quiet meal on the top level of the bar that was reserved for dinner guests. I sent a message to Jayce's office, inviting him to tag along. I didn't really feel like I'd be exciting company that evening and part of me was curious to hear what Jayce would have to say about the meeting with Sebastian Black and the other members of the board. Something about the way Jayce looked when I left him made me feel uneasy, but excited still.

I showed up early before dinner. I had seen all I wanted at the park. I had gone back to my apartment and changed clothes. A suit and tie for dinner always seemed ridiculous to me, but the more I thought about where I was and what I was doing with my life, ridiculous seemed to suit me just fine now. The lower level of Cosmos was more of a traditional bar than above. The lighting was dim, but cheery colors of red and yellow glowed soft with the occasional blue or green flick of a strobe light. It reminded me of some of the hole-in-the-wall bars back home that I was more accustomed to and because of that had become my more frequent drinking spot.

I ordered a couple of drinks and watched the news. Phil, the middle-aged bartender struck up a conversation with me in-between customers. He asked about Cara and me, what I did at Futura, and what I did on Earth. The whiskey obliged him, and I answered his questions about Cara and myself, Futura, and told mostly the truth about what I did on Earth. I embellished about some of the details of my past life out of sport more than anything. It's not as if he would remember any of it in a few days. When Cara came down to find me, I was sitting in the back corner scribbling on some cocktail napkins, watching transport shuttles move along outside the space port.

“There you are,” she said as she sat down across from me. “Getting a head start, I see.”

I smiled and went back to my napkin. I scrawled out a lewd suggestion and pushed it her way, raising my eyebrows as if I were waiting an answer.

“Ugh, come on, Romeo, let's go. I'm starving,” she said with a laugh.

“Oh, hey, I invited Jayce to come. I hope you don't mind,” I said, finishing the last of my drink and sliding out of the booth.

She paused. “No, I don't mind … I just hope …” she trailed off as Jayce came striding down the steps, behind him a man I didn't recognize, but knew at once.

His suit, shirt, and tie, all black. His hair short, sharp, and black. His eyebrows were trim, tight, and black. His eyes were dark, bold, and
bright
. His face was very handsome, and his smile seemed to light up his dark visage, similar to how Jayce's did, but opposite completely. A comic book artist couldn't have drawn a better depiction of Sebastian Black. The very absurdity of it made me laugh.

“Stop that!
”
Cara scolded me as quietly as she could.

Jayce walked in front of Sebastian, his face hard as a stone. “I hope we're not late,” he said as he neared us. “Andy, this is the Chief of Operations, Sebastian Black. Andy is my assistant, and I believe you know Cara.”

“Of course,” Sebastian said as he lit up like an X-Ray photograph on a white light. He took her hand and kissed lightly at her fingertips, all the time never breaking eye contact with Cara. She pulled her hand back rather curtly.

“Sebastian … we're glad to have you,” she barely mustered.

He feigned a laugh and his face flickered for a moment. “I'm sure of it,” he said, looking to me, “Andy? Is that right? Nice to meet you.” His eyes gazed down and back up, quickly giving me a scan and showing no signs of particular interest.

With some queer bit of amusement over the situation, I smiled and plainly said, “Likewise.” This ordinary dinner date was about to turn very interesting, and I was suddenly glad I had showed up early to indulge myself.

We moved up to the top level where our table awaited us. It had been set for two, with a flowing white tablecloth, folded black napkins, white china dinner plates, and martini-style glasses. The glasses were surely Cara's doing. She loved to drink dry martinis with dinner, especially when having pasta. No sooner than we had pulled up two extra chairs, the waiter brought us two extra glasses and began to set the table for four.

Despite the martini glasses, I ordered another whiskey sour, and Sebastian a gin and tonic, or as he put it, “a gentleman's drink.” Jayce and Cara stuck to the plan and were soon both sipping dry martinis, Cara's with extra olives. Like the martinis, the conversation was dry at first. Sebastian never looked too far away from Cara while he made idle chitchat with Jayce about the current state of affairs on Earth. Apparently, he had been planet-side for the last three months, and both politics and economics seemed glum. I had kept my distance of all news from Earth over the past few months and still wasn’t the least bit interested now. The conversation went stale and turned into dead silence after a while. Sebastian started to look bored and those big dark eyes of his began to look pouty. It was then he finally noticed me.

“So, Andrew, tell me what it is you do for Jayce,” Sebastian said as he drained the last of his gin and tonic.

Jayce was quick to respond. “Andy's a good sport. He gets stuck with all the work that used to bog me down,” he said, laughing. “I'm sorry about that, Andy, I really am.”

“I'm just glad I can be of help,” I said, grinning a slightly silly grin.

“He has his uses.” Cara smiled at me and patted my hand on the table.

Sebastian's expression tightened, and he gave the two of us a quick glance, like he was putting it together in his head. “Oh, I get it. My caramel apple Cara has finally moved on. Well, I'm glad to see you haven't been too broken up about me.”

“I somehow find the strength to go on each day, Sab,” Cara said mockingly.

Sebastian's face was trying hard to hide his irritation. “So my Chief of Planning and Research's gopher and my ex, together on Luna. I've been away too long it seems. And, Jayce, you didn't even tell me! Now I thought we were old buddies?”

“I'm sorry, Sebastian. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, so I usually let the bad news bear itself,” Jayce said. “Besides, I never really asked Andy or Cara how serious things were, that way I could keep some level of plausible deniability.”

The arrival of our food made for a great escape from the uneasiness that lingered over our quaint little table. The food being served was fettuccine alfredo with hot buttered French bread and side salads of romaine lettuce, spinach, and radishes. Little was said while we ate, mainly compliments to the chef. My attention was drawn outside to the view of a massive freighter being maneuvered by three shuttles into a loading lane to dock at the space port. Its wing span was so wide it looked to be four or five times the size of the first space shuttles that went into space.

“Impressive isn't she?” Sebastian's gaze was fixed on me. “That's the Leviathan. She's carrying a payload that will change the future.”

“I didn't even think it was possible to launch a ship that size from Earth,” I said as I gawked at the Leviathan, which was now executing a series of tight tail maneuvers to get its trajectory lined up.

“It
wasn't
possible,” Sebastian said with more than a hint of contempt in his voice, “until I made it so.” He looked at Cara and smiled through his glass. The ice cubes rattled around as he emptied the cup then motioned for the waiter to bring him another. His eyes fixated on the giant ship again. “She's the reason I'm here, to take a journey that will change the future … or at least see that someone
does
take the journey. My father won't risk his only son and heir on what he considers to be a 'long-shot.' Hmph!”

Jayce began to look ill. “Sebastian, perhaps we shouldn't talk about the project so soon,” and in a quieter voice he added, “and in public.”

“The whole world is going to know soon enough, Jayce, what's the matter? You're not scared are you?” Sebastian said, slurring his speech slightly.

Cara cut Jayce off before he could retort. “Where is it going, Sab?” Cara asked. “You haven't come all the way here for another publicity stunt, I hope.”

“Publicity stunt? The Mars bridge would have been a reality, if we had anyone decent working on the project!” Sebastian shot a quick glance at Jayce. “Present company excluded of course …” he said mockingly.

“You know we tried, Sebastian,” Jayce said curtly. “It just isn't possible with our current technology.”

I remembered hearing about the “Mars Bridge” about five years ago. It was going to be a jump point from the Moon's orbit to Mars orbit. The massive gate was going to use electromagnetic propulsion to speed up a specially built shuttle while also applying a magnetic field around the vessel to shield the craft from radiation bombardment from solar flares and other cosmic radiation. The quick acceleration would send the shuttle hurdling off toward Mars, where it would later be able to initiate its burn of traditional propellant to make the rest of the journey. There were two major flaws with this plan: The amount of energy needed to power the jump gate was astronomical, and not cost effective to produce even one jump. The other issue, well, it was a one-way ticket. There wasn't going to be a jump gate at the other end. No way to get back meant this would only be useful for terraforming projects, which had been on indefinite hold for years. Terraforming had become another alchemist's promise back on Earth.

“So, little Cara is still interested in our work, I see? Are you still lost and trying to find your way home?” Sebastian said as he laughed and looked very amused with himself.

Cara's face reddened and for a moment I thought she was going to hit him. “You're still an asshole, Sebastian. Nothing has changed.”

She threw her napkin on her plate and was about to get up from the table when Sebastian started fumbling for words. “Cara … I didn't … you know, I didn't mean to upset you. It was a joke. I'm sorry! Christ, I see you've all lost your sense of humor up here. Just wait, I'll tell you all about our new project. Project Lens.”

Jayce slunk down in his chair and his face was ominous. I couldn't help wondering why he was so distraught that Sebastian was spilling the beans. I was his assistant and he would tell me eventually, or I would find out by reading his memos. Cara and I were close, as well as Cara and Jayce; she would find out as well. I couldn't imagine this new project being a bigger deal than the Mars Bridge. Mankind's exploration and colonization of space had been dismal after the settling of Luna. The Sol system only supports life on Earth. No other planet could easily be settled, and terraforming was out of the question. Luna's construction had been costly and took nearly a century to complete. A colony in orbit was the next logical step, but who would front that kind of money to start such a project, and how long would it take to build? As far as I could tell, we weren't going anywhere, no matter what Sebastian had brought up to us.