The Second Ship (The Rho Agenda #1)(16)

“Are you nuts?” Mark jumped out of his chair. “Or am I the only one who remembers the images from the dreams and the ship? If we turn that ship over, it will probably go to the same division that has the Rho Ship. I have a strong feeling that wouldn’t be good.”

Jennifer nodded. “I agree. That would be a very dangerous thing to do, at least if we assume that our ship was trying to send out a warning about the Rho Ship.”

Heather shrugged. “I only said it would be the sensible thing to do. We all seem to agree the Rho Ship is dangerous. But, we might be wrong about that. Just because we picked up a bunch of troubling images doesn’t make it a fact. Concealing our ship could be a huge mistake.”

“Okay, it’s risky,” said Mark. “But let’s look at our options. If we report it, we’ll never get to see the ship again. I don’t like that idea, even if we’re wrong about the other thing.”

“I don’t think we should report it either,” said Jennifer. “What’s the rush?”

Heather stopped pacing. “That’s the same conclusion I talked myself into before I came over here. I just needed to hear what you guys had to say. If we’re wrong, we can always report the ship later.”

Mark grinned. “Okay. That means we don’t tell anyone else, especially our moms and dads. We’ll also have to be careful that nobody follows us out to the ship.”

Heather and Jennifer agreed. They wouldn’t have time to return to the ship until next Saturday anyway. In the meantime, they would have to be careful that they didn’t talk about it unless they were alone. No chats by phone, e-mail, or text messaging.

As the morning slipped into afternoon and the afternoon waned toward evening, they huddled together, discussing in detail their experiences on the ship and what might happen if their fears about the Rho Ship were correct.

Unfortunately, all they could do was hope that the Rho Project research team had effective safeguards in place. Certainly, the security would be the US government’s best. Based upon the secrecy the Rho Project maintained for sixty years, they had things firmly under control.

Mark reached over and flipped on the light beside the recliner, setting one of the disk-shaped fluorescent lamps aglow.

“Well, if that quote in the paper from Senator Conally is any indication, the Senate Intelligence Committee has carefully reviewed the program and found no problem with the way things are run.”

Jennifer turned to look at him. “What quote?”

“Oh, it’s just something I saw on page four while flipping to the sports page.”

Jennifer grabbed the paper off the coffee table, flipping it open to page four. “Which article?”

“Third column, twenty-third line down. The quote starts out, ‘Today I am pleased to report that an internal audit of the program, conducted by Dr. Nancy Anatole, has revealed that all proper safeguards are in place to ensure that no potentially dangerous technologies will be released.’”

Jennifer’s jaw dropped. “You quoted that word for word.” Glancing back at the page, she said, “You got the column and line number right too. How did you do that?”

Mark’s brow creased in concentration. “Hmm. Interesting. I didn’t notice it until just now, but I can see every page as if they were here in front of me. The image is in my mind.”

A sudden thought crystallized in Heather’s brain. “Jennifer, hand me that paper for a second.”

Heather flipped through the pages, taking a quick glance at each one, even the advertisements. Then she handed it back to Jennifer.

“Jen, I want you to do what I just did, take a quick glance at each page. Don’t read it, just flip through.”

Jennifer did as instructed then set the paper aside, already in tune with the forthcoming experiment. “Page three, second column, fifth line down. What does it say, Heather?”

“Campus eatery touting benefits,” said Heather. “Now your turn. Page thirty-six, classifieds. What is the last entry, lower right corner?”

“Comfortable, three-bedroom, two-bath, eighteen-hundred-and-fifty-square-foot ranch home, two hundred and fifty thousand, owner financing available.”

Mark pumped his fist in the air. “Yes. I can see it in my mind and read it later. You know what this means? Tests just got a hell of a lot easier.”

“It may not last,” Jennifer said. “This could be a short-term side effect of the download from the ship's computer.”

Heather paused as she considered the implications. “I think it could be more than that. Just like a phased array radar directs a beam by synchronizing radar emissions, it’s possible for the neurons in our brains to function in a more synchronized way. I think the reason the headbands hurt us so badly was because the computer was scanning all our neural pathways and accessing them, even neural centers we don’t normally use. That may have caused those neural pathways to stay synced, even after we de-linked from the ship's computer. One of the side effects seems to be a true photographic memory.”

“All right!” Mark shouted.

A worried look settled on Jennifer’s face. “You don’t think it did anything to our DNA, do you?”

“Not likely. Not with how we linked with the ship. There weren't any bodily fluids exchanged.”

“Now there’s a moderately disgusting thought,” Mark said.