The Twelve Stones (22 page)

Carl
’s stomach fell.
T
hose poor people.

Scott wa
s encouraged by Carl’s reaction.
I
t was time to lay the guilt on thick
:
“So what do you say
,
Carl? Can you let me and Dr. Hfhurhur into my lab to record the conditions before it’s too late?”

“
What does that have to do with
g
lobal
w
arming?” Carl asked, not entirely convinced.

“
You know
,
Carl,” Scott said, his eyes widening. He had pushed too hard. It would take a little more manipulation
.
“That…uhh…
T
hat right there is an excellent question.” Scott turned back to Alex
,
panic in his eyes.

Alex was caught off guard by the question. It was a good one.

Like all great moments in BS’ing, inspiration struck
,
and Alex began to babble on once again in German.

Scott began to nod and translated his friend’s story at the same time. “Volcanoes are giant CO2 machines, and this volume of CO2 pushed into the air in this short amount of time has never
yet
been measured accurately by our current instruments.” Alex fell silent as Scott continued on his own, the theory taking shape in his own head as he figured out whe
re Alex was going. “The idea is
that if we point some of our satellites and spectrographs at the volcano’s plume and watch where the various gasses go, how they dissipate and whatnot, well, we might find a way to control them and effectively ‘clean’ our atmospher
e someday.” Scott sighed loudly.
“But it would be a shame if we couldn’t research this.”

Alex nodded along soulfully, tragically stricken by the oncoming global disaster
,
and said in heavily accented English, “Catastrophe.”

Carl was mollified; it was easy to get caught up in the rules sometimes when that’s all that protected you from losing your job and spending your nights on the street. He sometimes forgot that there were people here, real, important, smart people working towards making a better tomorrow not just for themselves, but for all of humanity. He pushed the buzzer on his console, the gate rising in front of them.

“
Thanks Carl,” Scott said solemnly, “This is going to be one of those anecdotal stories you hear all the time in science. You’ll be the security guard that bravely broke the rules so research could continue no matter what the time of night.”

Carl’s heart swelled with pride. He also sometimes forgot that as a part of this whole machine there at JPL, he was also helping, in his own small way
,
for the betterment of mankind. He smiled towards the two and waved.

“
Sorry
,
guys
.
Y
ou know how it can be.”

“
Of course
,
Carl
.
W
e get it.” Scott put the truck into gear. Opening his door, Alex waved with a giant goofy smile on his face, shouting in halting English. “Thank you, for, your contribution, to the sciences of man today.”

Scott leaned over the seat, grabbing Alex’s leg. “Come along
, Doctor Hfurfur.
T
here’s work to be done.”

Carl waved at the retreating Suburban. He shook his head.

“
Scientists are fucking weird.” He turned on his mini-television
,
where Conan O’Bri
e
n was talking to that muppet dog. He giggled and picked up his TV dinner.

Once they were safely back on the road leading in towards the JPL campus, Scott eyed his friend from the driver’s seat suspiciously. “Picked up a few things in the last six years
,
have we?”

Alex ignored the question, “Hang on a second
.
B
efore
we go into my mysterious past, you wanna explain the
Man With Two Brains
thing back there? I’m actually running for my life right now
,
you know.”

“
Hey! I’m along for the ride too.” Scott fired back angrily
.
“Besides, Carl wasn’t gonna get that reference, AND
,
might I add, wherever you’ve been for the last six years doesn’t excuse you yelling at your friend for trying to make you laugh.” Scott snapped back.

Alex raised his finger, ready to shout down Scott’s accusation, but suddenly he flashed on
the two of them
watching the movie together as kids and laughing their heads off. He giggled at the a
bsurdity of the situation
and lowered his hand. They got into JPL; Scott’s scheme had worked, so he had no right to be angry.

“
All right, where’s your friggin’ lab?”

Scott nodded, a smile forming on his lips as he began to recognize his friend again.

“
It’s further down this road, against the mountain.”

“
Nice place?” Alex asked.

Scott smiled.

“
Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory was a nice place,” Scott said pausing for effect. “I create entire worlds here.”

The car pulled into the JPL campus, the road winding down towards a semi-circular valley where several buildings were nestled neatly against the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains.

Alex was surprised at the appearance of JPL. The
c
ampus was a mixed collection of uninspired architecture from the seventies
,
when most of the money was poured into R&D instead of making the place look pretty. But, as the campus grew, the buildings began to mix, some with the sensibilities and designs of modern office buildings, and others that spoke
of lofty grandeur
and wouldn’t look out of place
i
n an Ivy League school back east.

Whatever the buildings may have lacked in aesthetic pleasures, they more than made up for in equipment, brainpower and personnel
.
The institution
boast
ed
the most brilliant collection of scientific minds this side of CERN, the particle physics lab in Geneva, Switzerland.

Scott pulled into his JPL parking space
,
stamped with his name and PhD credentials on the wall facing the windshield. Scott grinned as he poked Alex in the ribs
,
nodding and jerking his thumb like a proud father showing off during his son’s T-ball game.

“
Eh? Eh? How about the kid now
,
huh?” Scott grinned, “I don’t see your name on any concrete walls telling the world where you can park.” The friendly rivalry that they had grown up with had encouraged
them both
to achieve more.

“
You
rocket scientists and your egos.
” Alex wryly smiled.

“
I gotta say,
it feels good to be a man with a name plate on the wall.” Scott said
,
s
taring
with great satisfaction
at his spot on the wall. “If you get to have a stone that instantly cures you of any injury – no matter how gruesome...?” Scott looked back, his eyebrows raised questioningly.

“
So far
,
anyway…” Alex replied thoughtfully. He hadn’t considered that. The stone had protected him from gunshot wounds and broken legs so far. Hopefully, he wouldn’t have to test anything more extreme on himself anytime soon.

“
Well then, sir, allow me the indulgence to dream about some future civilization uncovering JPL and finding my name scrawled on the wall as they imagine what sort of
g
ods we must have been.” Scott’s eyes glazed over as he imagined the future archeologists excitedly brushing the concrete wall, exposing his name to the elements.

Alex snapped his fingers, awaking his friend back into the present.

“
Besides,” Scott said with a smirk, “it irks the hell out of Peabody that I got a closer space than his
,
even after he discovered a planet.”

Alex regarded his friend with a long look as they began to walk towards a pair of glass doors.

“
You’ve clearly gone insane
.
Y
ou
know that
,
right?” Alex asked with a smirk.

Scott gave up; he knew when he was being condescended to.

“
Fine, whatever
.
W
e’re
a bunch of nerds
.
I get it.”

“
But not just any nerds,” Alex said proudly punching him in the shoulder, “We gonna stand out here all night
,
or are you gonna show me around?”

“
I’m not sure you deserve it anymore with shots like that.” Scott replied petulantly. He looked up at the camera pointed at the front door.

Scott quickly typed the code to the lock, and the indicator light clicked green, the magnetic lock releasing. The sound of the metal bolts clicked sharply in the cold night air. Scott opened the door for his friend and they both entered quickly. They walked down a short hallway that ended with a single door. Scott smiled broadly.

“
Seriously, check this out…” Scott’s goofy grin only got bigger as moved his hand next to the door, looking for a thin crack in the wood. Finding what he was
looking for, he tilted it down
and revealed a black plastic faceplate. The panel brightened, lights turning on as Scott placed his palm gently on the screen. The panel beeped as it began analyzing Scott’s palm, comparing it to the stored example in JPL’s main computer database.

Beeping quietly, the elevator door slid open. Scott turned to Alex nodding.

“
Come on, you’ve got to give it up for hidden palm print scanner, secret elevator action right here. I mean, if the name plate and parking spot
w
eren
’t
going to electrify you, a slice of
a
wesome
cake like this has got to do the trick, right?”

“Neat toy,” Alex said
,
looking around
,
trying hard not show how impressed he really was. “Is Agent 99 around here somewhere?”

“
Hey, I told you, we deal with some top secret stuff here. “ Scott retorted hotly.

“
Cool.
” Alex paused for a moment
.
“
S
o who killed Kennedy?”

“
Alex…”

“
What can you tell me about Roswell?”

“
Alex, I mean, that’s not even…”

“
Is this the building where they faked the moon landing? Cause I’ve always wanted to see that.” Alex began to bounce up and down on the balls of his feet
,
simulating Neil Armstrong on the moon. “That’s one small step for man, that’s one giant…wait, dammit…line!” Alex giggled at his own joke. Scott laughed politely as he rolled his eyes back at his friend.

“
Grow up
,
why don’t you? This is serious business.”

“
Yes Scott, I’m well aware of that,” Alex said pointedly, “Try taking a .45 caliber bullet to your lungs, have it heal instantly with no pain
,
and you’ll see how seriously I take it.”

Scott frowned as he took Alex’s point. “Well, I cede the match to you then
,
good sir.”

They entered the elevator
.
Scott pressed the lower of two buttons.

“
Wait, you take an entire elevator to your lab?” Now Alex was impressed. “OK, now that’s pretty cool right there.”

“
I wouldn’t quite call it an elevator
,
actually; it’s more like a boxed
-
in escalator. We’re heading more diagonal than straight down. My lab’s situated several hundred feet deep in the mountain. Plenty of room to work and operate
.
” Scott paused as the high speed elevator slowed to a stop. The doors opened, revealing a dark and spacious room.

Scott stepped inside, humming to himself as he flipped switches that brought his lab to life. Immediately
,
machines began humming and computer screens
flickered to life
, the LED screens flipping on all over the lab. Scott continued talking as he
led them on
.