The Second Ship (The Rho Agenda #1)(56)
Glancing up, Heather’s mother beckoned Heather with her hand. “Sweetie, come watch. This is important.”
By the time she had sat with her mom for five minutes, Heather had a lump in her throat from the steady stream of breaking news. A new power facility had been brought online at the Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant in Arizona, the first commercial usage of the Rho Project cold fusion technology.
This first venture was being housed in a building at the Palo Verde facility. The reaction had been initiated without problem, and the power being produced already surpassed that of the rest of the plant.
Scientists and industry leaders from around the world were praising the project as the first truly “green” commercial energy project that had the potential to satisfy most of the world's energy needs.
In related stories, rioting had broken out in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as well as in the Saudi cities of Mecca, Medina, and Daharan. The royal family had been deposed in a violent religious coup, many of them killed. The king himself had barely escaped with the help of US Special Forces. All US military facilities in the kingdom were on a full state of alert with fighting reported outside the US airbase near Riyadh.
A statement from the Iranian government praising the overthrow of the Saudi royal family called for the immediate withdrawal of all US forces from the Middle East. The statement also condemned the new cold fusion technology as the “hot spawn of the devil,” an evil assault on Allah's people around the world, and threatened an immediate cutoff of oil to all countries pursuing the technology.
An emergency meeting of OPEC ministers in Qatar was scheduled for Monday, to discuss a unified response to these events.
In the meantime, the United States armed forces around the world had been placed on a state of high alert. The president had just issued a stern warning that the US government and its allies would neither permit nor tolerate an attack on its deployed forces or on the oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, or Kuwait.
Despite her pounding heart, Heather maintained an exterior calm. “Wow. That sounds really bad.”
“Bad? Heather, this is terrible. I don’t mean cold fusion—that sounds great. But it sure is causing some very dangerous events around the world.”
“Well, I’m sure the government will handle it.” Heather rose from the couch. “Mom, if we’re done watching the news, do you mind if I go biking with Mark and Jen?”
Her mother raised her eyebrows, but smiled. “I guess it’s all right. But be home before dark.”
“Thanks.” Heather kissed her mother and headed toward the garage, grabbing her heavy coat off the peg by the door as she passed.
“What took you so long?” Mark asked as Heather wheeled her bike out of her garage. “Jen and I were about to come break you out.”
Heather took a deep breath, then swung her leg over her bike. As she stepped down hard on the pedal, spinning her rear tire, she breathed two words.
“It’s started.”
Chapter 38
Although Heather constantly checked her surroundings as she rode, she didn’t stop on the way out to the Second Ship. Time was short if they were going to make it back by dark, and they had a lot to do. Besides, for the time being, no crowds dogged Mark’s footsteps—possibly because of the embarrassing hallway incident, or maybe due to his intentionally reduced scoring in recent basketball games. Whatever the reason, Heather was thankful for the respite.
Only slight variations in grayness allowed her to see texture in the clouds that draped the sky, the air as still as death itself. While no wind was blowing, the speed of the bike whipped the cold air past her cheeks with enough force to make them tingle and to turn her feet into small blocks of ice inside her sneakers. Heather regretted having been so distracted that she had forgotten to change into some warmer shoes.
By the time they dropped off the bikes and finished their descent into the steep canyon, Heather’s circulation had returned to her lower extremities. Still, it felt good to climb up into the ship with its controlled temperature. As she slipped on the headset, feeling the wonderful relaxing pulses it generated, Heather realized just how much she had missed this place. Jennifer barely hesitated, a pleasant smile lighting her features as she led the way into the medical lab.
The doors snicked closed behind them as they entered the room. Heather relaxed her own mind, letting herself pick up the same computer imagery that Jennifer was calling up. The visuals changed rapidly as Jennifer focused first on one oddly shaped couch and then another, color patterns shifting and pulsing, great columns of symbols and figures cascading across her vision.
Jennifer settled quickly on one particular apparatus: a table that rose from a single pedestal that looked like it had been pulled from the floor while it was still molten and allowed to solidify into its smooth, oblong shape.
Jennifer sat on the edge of the table and then lay down. Immediately the table changed, flowing up and around her body in long tendrils that moved to gently encase her, the thousands of small tips looking like acupuncture needles, although they did not appear to penetrate Jennifer’s skin.
If Jennifer had not appeared so relaxed and at ease, Heather was sure panic would have overwhelmed her. A quick glance at Mark’s tight face indicated he was considerably less comfortable with what was happening than was his twin sister.
A perfect bubble appeared in the air above Jennifer’s body, as big as a large beach ball, colors shifting and pulsing along its surface, symbols and numbers scrolling around the top. Inside the bubble, three-dimensional graphical displays rose and fell in a familiar rhythm.