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"Absolutely not," Dr. Ryland Grace said without even pausing to think about what Director Stratt had just told him.
"You will be going, Dr. Grace. There is no reason for you not to be there."
"No reason? No reason? I believe you yourself brought up the reason on the day we met. There is no way I am going. There is no way they would let me go."
Stratt smiled one of her half humorous smiles that indicated that what anyone else wanted had no relevance to the discussion. If Stratt deemed it necessary for the Petrova Task Force, it was necessary. Absolutely no one was going to get in the way.
Particularly not one stubborn scientist who was smarter than was good for anyone. Who might just be smart enough to save this planet.
"You are going. UNESCO wants someone to speak on Astrophage and the potential it offers. There is no one more qualified."
Dr. Grace looked at her. "No. UNESCO wants someone to speak about what they are hoping to discover at Tau Ceti, and demonstrate to the world that the scientists assigned to the Hail Mary know what they are doing. They invited Dr. Dubois and Dr. Shapiro. They did not invite me. I saw the invitation, Stratt."
"Doctors Dubois and Shapiro cannot be spared at this time. They are certainly not travelling together. That is a risk too high."
"I appreciate that, Stratt. But I will not be on the Hail Mary. So my input is hardly valuable for this conference."
She shook her head. "We do not have time for this discussion. You are going."
He took a deep breath. "Well, don't blame me if they won't let me in."
She looked at him. "They will let you in, Dr. Grace."
He frowned, entirely unconvinced.
"Dr. Grace. Your presence there will do more for humanity's future than Dr. Dubois can. We both know that the Hail Mary is just that. We do not know what they will find at Tau Ceti, if there is anything to find. We do not know if what they find can help Earth. The Hail Mary is our hope, but we have so much more we must do on Earth after we launch. Surely you know that?"
"I do. I've been thin-"
"I am aware. I've seen your notes."
He dropped his pencil. "You've seen my notes? Those are half baked ideas at best. Nothing even remotely workable."
"I know. But you've already started thinking about how to use Astrophage on Earth after the launch. Everyone else has been focused on how to safely use Astrophage in lab experiments, and you've been contemplating biodome technology, underground piping to keep the ground warm so that crops can grow and underground water sources do not freeze and cause fissures. Dr. Grace, we need scientists to be thinking about how we can keep ourselves alive for the next century - not just hold steady for 24 years waiting for the Hail Mary to send us a panacea to cure the sun."
Stratt's logic was sound, but Ryland Grace was still uncertain he was the one to do this. "But what about Dr. LeClerc?"
"Dr LeClerc is a climatologist. Dr. Grace. You are the lead scientist for the Petrova Task Force. You are the world's leading authority on the use of Astrophage. You also have a talent for breaking down the science in a way that even non-scientists can understand. You are uniquely qualified for this. So I suggest you stop wasting my time and yours over this unjustified inferiority complex. They are lucky that I am willing to spare anyone for this conference, much less the most qualified person on this program. Focus on your ideas for Phase II."
She turned and left his lab. Grace looked around to see if anyone in the lab would back him up.
She wanted him to speak at the UNESCO Conference. The last time he'd been there, he blew his entire career. He couldn't afford to do that for the Petrova Task Force. He couldn't afford to give people a reason not to believe in the Hail Mary or withdraw their support from the program. It was vital.
He had been working on many ideas, but the one he wanted to focus on most was to get a breeder system on the Hail Mary, find a way to encourage the Astrophage to continue breeding while they were traveling to Tau Ceti. The idea of this being a one-way mission had not sat well with him since the first moment he heard it. It was the one thing he kept coming back to, whenever he had a spare moment - which wasn't often. Those other things were just ideas he had that occasionally popped into his mind.
Phase II? He hadn't even realized there was a Phase II. But, of course, they had to be, someone had to work on it. Stratt was right, they couldn't' just sit around for 20 years hoping that everything went right with the Hail Mary. The Hail Mary might be their best chance. It was the current priority, obviously. Trying to conceive of any situations the crew might encounter and ensure they had what they needed to deal with them. Unfortunately, there were so many variables, and most of the people working on the project had never been to space, had no idea of what challenges might arise. This was why Li-Jen and Olesya were around, even if they didn't need to learn the science.
"Focus," he said to himself. "Okay, so Stratt wants ideas. Things that people not on this project can be working on, even if we haven't found a way yet to stabilize Astrophage."
And that was the most frustrating part. No matter what they did, they simply couldn't make Astrophage less volatile. The little alien cells just gave off so much energy that they had the potential to level cities. In the wrong hands, it was the Manhattan Project all over. Something none of the scientists aboard the Vat were willing to allow to happen.
Grace didn't want to be known as the Father of the Alien Bomb or whatever stupid name posterity came up with for the misapplication of the research currently being conducted.
But that was how humanity worked. Find a renewable energy source that could benefit all of humanity, and some politician found a way to make it destructive.
Heating cities would be a great option. But it could be deadly if those in charge failed to understand that this was not a job for untrained workers. It was highly specialized. Which led to other issues. There were a lot of scientists, but even here on the Vat, Grace had had to be brutal with lab safety. There had been at least one lab assistant who disappeared after a rather terse exchange.
Grace knew he had a temper, and he worked very hard to keep it in check, but seeing that idiot in the lab smoking around Astrophage had sent him into an apoplectic fit of such epic proportions that he had been ashamed to show himself in the common areas for a few days. The lab assistant had been escorted out of his sight mid-rant, and Grace had heard that a helicopter met the ship within an hour.
He felt a little badly about that, but still, he could have killed everyone on this ship. More than that, it could have set the project back enough that it wouldn't matter.
"Okay, time to flesh out these ideas, working prototypes would be ideal, but I only have two weeks," he muttered, pulling up his notes and reading through them.
Biodome - well, people already thought Disney had built one over Disneyworld and could control the weather, so they would be familiar with the prospect. What would the ideal size be? Best materials? Oxygen monitoring and circulation? How many people could it hold? Since climate controlled, how would this impact crops? Farms separate. This would need to be a self-contained apparatus which could allow ingress and egress, as well as withstand ice storms.
It was a start. Grace started adding notes to what he already had
Interconnectability? Best materials for strength, visibility. Mass production and impact. Get with LeClerc. Potential greenhouse effect in individual domes?
Underground pipes - there were a lot of underground pipelines already. Could they be cleaned and converted for use with Astrophage. How could Astrophage travelling along a pipeline warm things up.
Grace started typing. Does Astrophage flowing through a tunnel generate heat. Experiment protocol needs to be determined. Risks of leak. Reach out to LeClerc regarding impact of leak, if any. Does Astrophage absorb into the ground? Is it toxic? Dr Lamay perhaps? Dimitri?
He hated to pull anyone off of the work they were doing for the Hail Mary, because if they were going to send those people to space to their death, the least they could do was make sure that the ship was fully prepared with everything they could possibly need so that their mission wouldn't fail. He still wanted to see if he could find a way to make that engine regenerative. These were good people who didn't deserve to be thrown away just because the Sun was in danger. The best and the brightest, people who deserved to come back home - even if it was more than twenty years later.
"Focus, Grace," he muttered again. If Stratt knew about his biodome ideas, she also knew about the regenerative engine he was trying to design. It wasn't a priority for her, but if he could design an engine that was just as efficient and could be produced just as easily, there would be no reason to turn it down.
"Focus on this conference right now," he muttered.
Two ideas. Two workable ideas that he could talk about. Now just to reach out to LeClerc, Lamay, and Komorov and casually bring up his musings.
-----
Six frowned. While he never made contact with his brothers, he knew where they were. He always knew. Colt was currently in Los Angeles, working as a valet in a job that was far beneath his skills. But Ryland was missing. He had been teaching at a middle school in San Francisco. Then the next time Six checked in, Ryland was gone, seemingly vanished.
After several days of surveillance on Ryland's apartment, Six had actually broken down and broken into his kid brother's apartment, carefully, of course. He didn't need the neighbors noticing. It was odd. There was a huge pile of mail on the floor in front of the door. Or it had been until he had pushed it aside to come in. The calendar on the wall in front of Ryland's computer had not been changed in months. The keyboard was covered in a layer of dust. The milk in the refrigerator was well past bad. Ryland had been gone for months, but his rent was apparently being paid as the place had not been emptied out.
He walked through the place, looking for clues.
From the bedroom, he could tell that a lot of the clothes were gone. Drawers were half empty and empty hangers in the closet. But nothing personal seemed to be gone. Cards from his students hung on the refrigerator. His bike was parked on the balcony.
Where had Ryland gone? Why had he packed and left in such a hurry. Six cocked his head to the side. Ryland had not packed. Someone had packed for him. Ryland would have packed the picture of himself and Colt that was on his desk. He went into the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet. Ryland would definitely have packed his medicine.
No, Ryland had not packed for wherever he had gone. And why would he be gone months. A weekend away, certainly.
He flipped on the desktop computer and marveled at how out of date it was. Of course, his brother was a schoolteacher and as long as that computer was running, he was going to continue to use it. "Do you still have internet, little brother?" he asked quietly. Yes.
That was another issue. He'd been gone months, had not reported to his job. So how were the bills being paid? Why were the bills being paid? Six did not like this at all. This felt very much like a covert operation.
Why in the hell would Ryland be involved in a covert operation? What kind of trouble had he gotten himself into?
Next stop, he needed to go to the school and see what, if anything, they knew about what happened. He walked back into the bathroom. The family resemblance was strong. He didn't like doing it, but in this instance, it seemed like the easiest way to get information was to be exactly who he was - a brother worried about his brother whom he has not heard from in months.
The next morning, Six went through some of the clothes that Ryland had left behind. His normal look was intimidating, but he wanted to look more vulnerable and worried. And Ryland actually wore a 42 regular, so the clothes fit perfectly. He pulled on a pair of jeans, and a button up with a sweater vest. He used some of the pomade in Ryland's bathroom and styled his hair a little more ruffled than usual.
Six locked the apartment behind him and drove over to the middle school. Teachers usually arrived about thirty minutes before the first of the buses, so he made sure to be there forty-five minutes before the buses.
The first teacher he saw, he approached. "Hi. I was wondering if you could help me. It's about my brother?"
He paused, waiting to see if she would see Ryland in him.
A small gasp and widened eyes told him she had. "You must be Mr. Grace's brother. I'm Ms. Lindsey. I teach Art, just down the hall from his classroom, or what was his classroom."
"Do you know where he is?" Six pressed.
"You don't?" She asked, nervously. "We just heard it was a family emergency, because he left suddenly. No lesson plan for a sub. Nothing."
Six shook his head. "No. And we haven't heard from him. I'm just so worried. He's not answering calls, and we can't find him." He let every bit of worry he actually felt be heard in his voice. "Do you think anyone in the office might know?"
She shook her head. "I mean, Mr. Anderson, that's the principal, told us he had a call that a family emergency came up. But you can talk to him yourself if you want. I'll walk you to the office. Hope you don't mind, but I do need to at least stay with you until we get you checked in."
"Of course. You don't want any strangers around the kids. Never know who might be dangerous," Six said easily.
Ms. Lindsey led him to the office. Six was really wanting to get into Ryland's room, but if months had passed, there was a good bet that the new teacher had already redecorated. He dutifully sat down and waited for a few minutes until one of the administrative staff came in and relieved Ms. Lindsey. She waved him off and went to get ready for her classes.
"You look familiar," the admin said, looking at him.
"You probably met my brother. Ryland Grace?" Six replied, not introducing himself further.
Her eyes widened. "How is Mr. Grace. The students all miss him terribly."
Six shook his head. "That's what I'm trying to find out. He's missing."
When the principal came in, he did a double take when he saw Six standing in the waiting area. "Mr. Grace?"
Six just nodded. "I was hoping to ask you about my brother."
He nodded. "Just a moment. Let me set this down and then we can talk." Mr. Anderson soon came back to the waiting area and indicating that Six should follow him.
Six started. "I understand you've told the staff that my brother left for a family emergency."
"Yes."
"That was inaccurate."
"I'm aware. The fact is, someone from the government came in and told me that Mr. Grace would be taking an indefinite sabbatical and I was not to share this information. I had been about to report him as a missing person, since your brother's absence would have been extremely out of character, especially without contacting me or preparing for a substitute. It was logical to presume something had happened."
Six started pacing. "Do you know who?"
"No, and I don't even know why they'd want a middle school science teacher. Mr. Grace was a bit eccentric, but not a threat of any kind. There's no reason for a government agency to take interest in him."
"When?"
"I remember it was right after that Petrova probe was retrieved. Because the students in his class were talking about it, and I got a few angry calls from parents who didn't think it was an appropriate discussion for the classroom."
And the pieces clicked. Ryland had a degree in molecular biology. He did his doctoral thesis on alien life. He disappeared months ago, right around the time the Petrova samples were retrieved.
"Thank you, Mr. Anderson. This has been most helpful," Six said.
He'd spent his life trying to keep the government away from his brothers, and Ryland's stupid brand of genius had gotten himself targeted.
Ryland, of course, had no idea that Six was watching out for him. Neither did Colt. He'd spent almost 15 years keeping them safe. Well, truthfully, he'd been keeping them safe, or trying to, ever since they were born. But he had also protected them from knowing who he became.
On the other hand, Ryland was as safe as he could possibly be. If he was working on that project, he had not been taken because of any relationship he had with Six. So he could stop worrying about him.
He left the school and went back to his car, driving towards his current hideout. He had found a private boarding school in Switzerland for Claire, which he visited as often as he could. She stayed with him when school was out of session. She hated it, but even she understood how important stability was for her education.
In better circumstances, Six might have considered letting her stay with Ryland. It would certainly have been safer, and more stable. But now with Ryland in a secure location, he obviously couldn't. And last he'd checked Colt was not really in a good place mentally for a teenager.
Now that he knew what Ryland was up to, he went to a computer café and started to research the dark web on information about program his brother was involved in.
What he found made him worry again.
The Petrova Task Force was working with an alien microorganism that produced and unheard of amount of energy. They were working on a solution for the dimming of the sun, which experts anticipated would start to impact the earth uncomfortably in as few as five years, and the longer the issue took to solve, the worse it would get exponentially.
He found organizations who wanted to stop the Petrova Task Force and allow the people of Earth to die, as their deity intended, and were actively tracking locations where the research might be being performed; however, they were not able to pin point it.
The names Eva Stratt and Dr. Ryland Grace were prominently mentioned as the most desirable targets.
Six shook his head. How in the world had his brother become a primary target for Doomsday Cults?
He just kept digging and found a listing for a job at a UNESCO conference. Apparently, an astronaut involved with the program was going to be a keynote speaker and they were looking for someone to send a message. Six frowned. He started trying to trace the source of the listing. These types were not likely to hire a specific individual. They would pay the one who carried out the assignment, and looking at the price offering, there would be many.
If his brother was involved in that project, he needed to make sure that nothing went wrong.
"Guess I'm going to Riyadh," Six muttered.
-----
Grace was finishing the basic schematics of a small biodome when Stratt walked into the lab. She nodded.
"I still think it is a bad idea," he mumbled.
"Walk with me," Stratt said.
He shrugged and walked silently beside her as they went outside the carrier. She walked to the very front of the ship, overlooking the ocean. "I know you disagree, but you need to understand why it must be you, Dr. Grace. This is important."
Grace took a breath and nodded. "Okay."
"The Hail Mary is only Phase I. I have been given absolute authority for this phase, and after we launch, that will expire. You must establish your own credibility so that you can lead Phase II. This is important. Phase I is a hope, our best hope. But Phase II is the reality that we must live with while we wait. The better we are prepared, the more people will live. We owe it to those who are sacrificing their lives to make sure that the Earth can be saved if they succeed." Eva looked at him, and Grace could see it was Eva, not Director Stratt. Eva. A woman who loved this planet and humanity so much that she was willing to do whatever it took, sacrifice whatever needed to be sacrificed, to save it. Stratt was the iron will. But she only had that will because Eva was the heart.
"And you truly think I can lead this?"
"You are humanity's best hope, Dr. Grace. You see things in a way that most people do not. You have knowledge and understanding of a vast array of scientific fields, which allows you to work with a variety of people. And you can communicate those ideas in a way that people can understand. I am leading Phase I, Project Hail Mary. But you, Dr. Grace, will be in charge of Phase II."
"Project Don't Freeze?"
She smiled tightly.
"I'm terrible at naming things," Grace said.
"We'll figure it out. But this conference is vital for you to make those connections and get the scientific community thinking about what can be done."
"All right. I'll try not to lose my temper at them."
"You'll do great. Carl will be packing for you. You need to look professional."
Grace looked down. "Something wrong with my cat shirt?"
Stratt just chuckled and indicated they should head back in.
-----
The next morning, Carl followed Dr. Grace to the helicopter, ignoring Grace's protestations of "I really hate flying." He loaded up the suitcase and the models.
"You're coming with me, right?"
"Of course. And there will be security when we arrive. Do not get out of the helicopter until I give you the all clear."
Grace rolled his eyes. He was a nobody going to a science conference. The security measures seemed ridiculous, but if they made Carl feel better, then he would allow it.
As soon as Carl got into the helicopter, he handed Grace a pill and a paper cup filled with water.
Grace raised his left eyebrow at him. "Sedative. And motion sickness pill."
Grace gave him a half smile and a nod, then took the pill. While he might not like the sedative portion, he had also been extremely unhappy with the idea of the helicopter in the first place.
By the time the aircraft carrier was out of sight, Grace was asleep, head resting against Carl's shoulder.
"How long going to knock him out for?"
"Hopefully the whole flight," Carl said. "According to the pilots who brought him out here, he screeches like a cat."
The pilot chuckled. "Yeah, don't want that in my ear."
Carl just sat quietly for the remainder of the flight. They had one refueling stop in Italy and then finally landed in Riyadh. Carl moved Grace slightly to get out of the helicopter and inspect the security detail, then he woke Grace up.
Grace stretched, twisting his arms in front of him, then looked around blearily. "Already? Wow."
"We gave you the good stuff. Come on."
Grace climbed out of the helicopter and took two steps before tripping. "Guess I need to get my land legs, huh?" he smiled at Carl.
Carl didn't crack.
"Come on, that was funny, Carl. Sea legs, land legs. I mean it loses something if I have to explain it. It's been a long time since I've even seen grass." Grace took a deep breath. "Oh my gosh, it's been so long since I smelled anything but sea water. Can we stop and get some marqooq on the way to the hotel, Carl?"
"No."
"Come on. Just a quick stop?"
"No."
Grace pouted. "At least let me do some shopping before we leave. Olesya will be very disappointed if I don't bring her a gift."
"Ms. Ilyukina will get over it."
"You guys are no fun," Grace said. "Honestly, this seems like overkill," he said, looking at the security detail.
Carl just shook his head. Stratt had explained Grace's role for the next phase, but Grace simply couldn't conceive of a scientist being in any kind of danger.
"Just trust me, Dr. Grace."
"Just Grace, Carl."
"Not while we're in Riyadh, sir."
Grace threw his head back in frustration. "Now we're at sir? Carl, you're supposed to be my friend, pal."
Carl just looked at him. "Not while we're in Riyadh."
"Fine, but you owe me some shawarma or something."
Carl sighed. "I'll send some of the team out to get you street food and coffee. After you've been secured at the hotel."
It was the best offer Grace was going to get, so Carl hoped he'd accept it.
Grace slumped down. "Fine. I just really… I mean, I'm a middle school teacher. This feels so unnecessary."
Carl laughed. The mere idea that Dr. Ryland Grace, lead scientist for the Petrova Task Force, still thought he was just a middle school teacher was objectively hilarious.
"That you laugh at?" Grace asked him, shocked.
"That was hilarious, Dr. Grace."
Grace just rolled his eyes at him. "Whatever," he huffed.
-----
Six arrived at the location for the conference and easily bypassed the security. He hardly had to put any effort into it, which bothered him. If he was here though, there would be at least six or seven other independent operatives, all looking to make a pay day.
And the pay day offered for the death of the scientist for the Petrova Task Force was a very nice pay day for an operative with no scruples at all.
Sure, he still occasionally took jobs. But never for an unknown individual. And never for someone he had not researched extensively and determined was deserving of erasure. Save the world from a sicko and get a paycheck doing it. Nice work if you can get it.
But whoever this person was was someone who was literally trying to save the world. What Six had read a little about the Petrova problem and understood less. He wasn't stupid, but he also wasn't a scientist. However, what he read had not been comforting.
Anyone who was actively trying to find a solution to this problem was someone who should not be harmed.
The conference would start tomorrow, and the keynote address was around 4 pm. Six planned to stay here overnight, learn the complete layout of the conference space, and hopefully locate the positions of any operatives who had come for the seven figure payout. He paid special attention to the auditorium where the keynote address would be given.
He found some programs. A Dr. Dubois was listed as the speaker; however, the topic of the discussion was not reflected. Six was glad that the scientist was not Ryland. He intended to protect Dr. Dubois, simply because he was a colleague of his brothers, and the program would probably face extra issues without him; however, he was extremely glad to see it was not going to be his brother on the stage.
It was too easy to avoid the security guards which patrolled during the night. They didn't even bother coming to the higher floors, patrolling only the first floor where the doors were, and checking the windows. Six used a wifi scanner to check the cameras and their positions. As he expected, two of the cameras looked to have a loop set up. He nodded to himself and took a stick of gum out of his pocket.
"Time to go to work," he thought as he headed to the first location.
By the time the doors opened in the morning, Six had located four would be assassins and disposed of them. He left their bodies where he found them. That was a problem for security to deal with after the conference. And they should deal with the consequences of their failure.
He just wished he had a way to know if he had located everyone who showed up.
-----
Grace pulled at the collar of the shirt.
"Leave it alone, Dr. Grace."
"It's too small."
"It is not too small. This is the correct size, and the correct way to wear a suit," Carl said.
He fussed about the tie. "Are you sure I have to -"
"Dr. Grace," Carl looked around to confirm no one was there. "I know you're nervous. But you know so much about this stuff, I wouldn't be surprised if you made a discovery while you were talking about it on the stage. Relax. You are the expert on this subject."
"And if someone calls me a staggering waste of carbon?"
"I'll shoot them," Carl deadpanned.
Grace laughed. "Okay okay. I'm being ridiculous. Any other organization, and I'd be fine. But UNESCO?"
Carl nodded. "You got this. Let's go."
"Okay." He looked around. "My models? My…."
"Your laptop and models are in the car already. Your glasses are on actually on your face." Carl held his arm up as if to indicate to Grace that he should lead the way out of the room. Grace walked over and one of the security guards standing near the suite exit opened the door. Four other armed agents stood in the hallway. Carl brought up the rear. The agent who had opened the door closed it behind them and stood outside in the hallway.
"Feel like this is some sort of a perp walk, guys," Grace said, trying to lighten the mood.
They crammed into the elevator, and Carl put his hand on Grace's shoulder. "You're fine," he whispered. Grace gave him a tight-lipped smile.
When they exited the elevator, three more agents joined them. Two black SUVs were parked right at the entrance to the hotel. Carl, Grace and three of the agents got in the second car. The remaining four agents got in the first car. Then they were driving through the streets of Riyadh. Grace was pinned between Carl and one of the agents and not allowed to look out the dark windows.
He looked at them, quite sheepishly. This was not the kind of treatment he was expecting, but it was clear these guys all took their jobs very seriously. "Thanks guys. I feel really safe," he said.
Carl just rolled his eyes. "You can thank us when we get you back safely to the ship. If you hear shots, drop to the ground and look for cover. It's harder to hit someone on the ground."
"Well, that's what they say in Dungeons and Dragons," Grace said. "It's disadvantage."
Grace noticed that Carl tried very hard not to roll his eyes.
"Got it. Drop and get to cover."
"Do not go anywhere with anyone you do not recognize."
Grace looked at the security detail. He wouldn't be able to pick any of them out.
"Um, Carl-"
"Okay. Do not go anywhere with anyone who doesn't know the code phrase."
"What code phrase?"
Carl looked at the other agents and back to Grace. It needed to be something that no one would have any reason to say to him. "Stratt takes two coffees, black."
Grace nodded. "Got it. Stratt takes two coffees, black."
"When we get there, wait for the first team to exit the vehicles. They will open up. You will be the third person out of this car. Two in front of you, two behind you. We will go straight to the auditorium. You will do your speech, take questions, and then we will do this in reverse. If at any point, we deem the security risk to increase, you will be extracted. "
"Okay," Grace said. Regardless of how ridiculous all of this felt, Carl and his team clearly were taking the security very seriously. "Extracted, how?"
Carl looked at him. "I will physically remove you from the premises immediately, even if you're in the middle of your presentation. Dr. Grace. There are serious threats against the Petrova Task Force. There is more than one reason the research is being conducted on a moving vessel on the ocean."
Grace paled. He might not be a target. But Project Hail Mary could be. And today, he was the face of the Petrova Task Force. "I understand now, Carl. I'm sorry I made this harder for you."
Carl smiled. "You have not made this harder. You protested, but you didn't try to evade your escorts, as some have done. I intend to keep you safe. For you, not just because of the task force."
"Okay. So, drop if I hear anything. Take cover. Listen for code phrase. And if you grab me for any reason, trust you."
"I'm glad we're clear," Carl said with a smile. "Ready?"
"Yeah. Nothing to be nervous about at all, right?"
"Exactly," Carl said. "Because we are both very good at our jobs, Dr. Grace."
-----
Six watched from the catwalk above the auditorium as a Dr. Karl Baugmgartner came to the podium to address the assembly.
"Today, we were expecting to hear from Dr. Martin Dubois, who will be serving as an astronaut on the upcoming mission: Project Hail Mary, discussing what they are hoping to find on the first manned intersteller mission from Earth. However, the Petrova Task Force has elected to send a different keynote speaker.
"Our keynote speaker holds a Ph.D in microbiology from the University of Washington. He is the lead scientist for the Petrova Task Force and is the world's leading scientist in the properties and development of Astrophage Technology. He discovered that Astrophage was indeed a living organism and determined the manner in which they reproduce. He has been a key member of the Project Hail Mary mission and serves as the scientist who has been training the astronauts who will be exploring Tau Ceti to find an answer to the Petrova Problem.
I am pleased to introduce, Dr. Ryland Grace."
Six watched his baby brother walk onto the stage. He desperately looked around, hoping that there were no other operatives waiting to take him out. Quietly, he made his way over to the ladders and worked his way from the ceiling to the lighting booth.
"Hi. I'm Dr. Ryland Grace. You were expecting to hear about the research that the scientists on the Hail Mary will be conducting. So I will address that a little at first, before moving on to the bigger topic, and the reason I am here instead of Dr. Dubois.
"To be perfectly honest, we do not know what they will find when they get to Tau Ceti. If we did, we could probably send probes that could make the round trip. Unfortunately, we don't know exactly what is going on at Tau Ceti, so we are preparing our scientists and engineers to do a multitude of tests once they arrive. The Hail Mary is our best hope for a cure for the sun.
"However, what brings me here today to speak to you is Project Eden. This is where we need scientists today, in every field, to work together on Earth. The results from the Hail Mary will not arrive for at least 20 years.
"During that period of time, we expect the light and heat that we receive from the Sun to decrease by a margin of 10%. I don't need to tell the climatologists here today what this will mean. But for those of you who are not climatologists, it means that the surface temperature will decrease significantly. It is, in short, going to be the start of our next Ice Age.
"So we need to start working together today to find ways to mitigate the impact of this change in our climate. We need scientists who can develop ways to keep our crops alive and the loss of life to a minimum.
"I'm not going to lie to you. Projections for the loss of life are dire over the next 20 years if we do nothing."
Six marveled at the composure that Ryland spoke with, considering the topic, considering his history.
"But we are not going to do nothing. The people in this room have every ability to change those projections and ensure that humanity has the best chance. The brightest minds are out in universities and laboratories and middle school classrooms right now, and we need each and every single one of them to work with us on Project Eden.
"You don't have to know everything. Any idea is worth examining for its potential. We can keep humanity alive. We can give ourselves a future."
Ryland scanned the room. Six looked around too. There were stunned faces staring back.
"So, first thing, we all learned this from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Don't Panic. And make sure you know where your towel is. We already have a bablefish on our computer."
The crowd groaned, and Ryland smiled. Six grinned. He did that to lighten the mood.
"What are some examples of the types of systems we could use? Well, Astrophage is an energy source, and we are currently researching to find out what else it can be used for. Please keep in mind that everything I'm presenting right now are just ideas. Ideas that need to be worked out, and built upon.
Ryland put a screen up of a picture of a biodome over a city.
"Biodomes. People already believe these exist. I mean, how many people actually believe that there is one right now in Florida over Walt Disney World?"
Laughter.
"But domes like this could protect people and crops from harsh weather conditions. With the proper design, we could even control the weather conditions inside.
He showed another photo, but while his back was turned to the crowd to look at the image on the screen, a shot rang out. Blood blossomed from his left shoulder. Ryland dropped to the ground.
Six burst out of the light booth, firing a shot in the direction of the bullet. He was rewarded with an 'off' and a body falling from the ceiling.
Ryland was moving, trying to take cover behind the podium, but more bullets were flying. The podium was being reduced to splinters. Some from the stage. Some from the ceiling. Six saw a black man in a suit trying to get to Ryland, but Six got there first. He grabbed Ryland and slung him over his shoulder, pointing the gun at the black man, who held up a walkie talkie and started furiously speaking into it.
Ryland pushed at him and struggled.
"Calm down, Ry. I'm trying to get you to safety."
He heard Ryland say, "Code phrase." Then shout "Carl!"
"You're going to be fine, Ry. I'm here for you."
Ryland struggled some more, then went limp.
Six found a closet and set Ryland down. He was already unconscious. The shoulder wound. It was bleeding badly. Six looked around and found nothing. He pulled his shirt out and tore a part of it off, then pressed it against the wound. As he did so, he saw another bullet wound on Ryland's left leg.
There was a pounding at the door. He opened it. The black man stood there, gun trained on Six's face. His eyes widened.
"Are you Carl?" Six asked.
Carl nodded.
"Quick. Get in. I'm his brother."
"Dr. Grace has never mentioned a brother."
"I'll tell you about it later."
Carl nodded. He looked at Ryland.
"He's losing a lot of blood. Keep pressure on his back, while I look at his leg."
"I failed him," Carl said softly. "I was supposed to keep him safe."
"I failed worse. I didn't know he'd be here, but I knew someone on the project he was working on was going to be here, and some pretty nasty people put a hefty price on the head of the person who took out the scientist on that project you're working on. He was doing so good; God, I was so proud of him."
Carl nodded. "He was nervous coming into it, but he really did great."
"Keep him safe. I'll check back after I secure this place. Did you personally vet all of your agents?"
Carl shook his head. "Not personally. But they were vetted."
"Tell them if they shoot me, I will not hesitate to shoot back. At this point, you are the only person I am trusting with my brother's safety. Are we clear?"
"I'm going to want more information," Carl said.
"Later," Six said. Then he ducked out of the closet while Carl called for an ambulance to the UNESCO building.
-----
Carl propped Grace up against him. Grace opened his eyes as Carl hung up the phone.
"Hey, you with us?" Carl said.
"How…. who?" Grace started.
"No, quiet. You've been shot. Ambulance is on the way. Stratt is on the way."
Grace looked away. "Not… happy."
"No, she is not. There will no doubt be a lot of people losing their job."
Grace took his hand and squeezed it. "Not…. your fault."
Carl shrugged. He had trusted his team to secure the site. "I'll never leave your safety in someone else's hands again, Dr. Grace. I should have done the security sweep myself."
"Who?" Grace started.
"Not sure. Probably some doomsday cult."
Grace took a labored breath and shook his head.
"Hey, try not to move. I've got some stuff trying to stop the bleeding."
"K." Grace closed his eyes. "Who…" he asked again.
"Who brought you here?"
Grace nodded almost imperceptibly.
"A friend," Carl said.
"K." Grace took another light breath, and Carl was certain he had passed out, but then he whispered. "Tried to … do.."
"You did great, Dr. Grace. You dropped, just like I told you and took cover. You did exactly what I told you to do. I'm really proud of you. Stratt will be proud of you too."
Grace whispered, "k."
Carl worried. But he was even more concerned about taking Grace out of this area if there were bullets still flying.
He started at a light knock on the door. Grace's brother popped his head in.
"How is he?"
"I mean, he's breathing, but he is still bleeding slightly. Can't get the shoulder wound to stop."
"This area is clear. Carry him out to the lobby. I'll cover us."
Grace's brother lifted Dr. Grace up and handed him gently to Carl.
"Got a name I can call you?"
"Six," he said.
Six seemed to have eyes on all areas as he carefully walked across the lobby. Carl noted that there were a lot of injured people here, but as soon as the paramedics saw them, they immediately came over and helped get Dr. Grace settled on a stretcher and loaded into the ambulance. Carl climbed in as soon as Grace was loaded, as did Six.
They watched as the paramedics stabilized Grace as best as they could during the brief ride to the hospital and rolled him out into the emergency room.
"You stay here," one of the staff said.
"Absolutely not," Six stated. "This man was the target of an assassination attempt and we will not be leaving him without security."
Carl nodded. "We will scrub up as needed; however, one of us will be in the room with him at all times."
Faced with two stone faced and intimidating men, they reluctantly agreed. "Fine, but stay out of our way."
Six and Carl both nodded.
-----
Stratt walked into the hospital, arriving shortly after Grace came out of surgery. "I'm here for Dr. Ryland Grace," she said tersely to the nurse at the admissions desk.
"And you are?"
"Director Eva Stratt, Petrova Task Force. What room is he in please?"
"I am under orders not to release that information to anyone."
"Yes. I gave that order," she said.
"I do not have access to the source of the order, so I cannot provide it to you."
While Stratt was frustrated, she did offer the nurse a small smile. "You are protecting my friend. Thank you." She stepped away and dialed a number. A moment later. "Where is he?" a pause. "Thank you."
Then she went to the station again. "Director Eva Stratt, Petrova Task Force. I am here to see Dr Ryland Grace in room 302B."
"Let me give you a visitor's badge," was the nurse's answer.
Badge in hand, Stratt walked through the hospital with a purpose until she got to Dr. Grace's room. Her eyes narrowed as an unfamiliar yet familiar face stood outside the door. "Who are you?" she demanded. "You do not work for me."
"No, I don't. I'm his brother. You can call me Six. I'm assuming you're Director Stratt?"
She frowned, slightly and cocked her head. "Dr. Grace's file does not indicate that he has any family at all."
"It wouldn't," Six said.
"You are an operative. Agency?"
"Sierra," was the answer. "Retired."
"Yes, I had heard that program was discontinued. I had also heard that all agents had been…"
"Decommissioned?" Six said bitterly.
Stratt nodded.
"I like to keep a very low profile."
"Then why are you here?"
"I also like to keep an eye on my family, make sure that none of my former associates manages to connect them to me," he said. "And one of my kid brothers came up missing, so I started to investigate."
"One of… nevermind. How is Dr. Grace?"
"He'll be okay. Lost some blood. Got a few fancy scars. Probably won't ever want to speak at another UNESCO conference again," he said with a wink.
"Speaking of which, how did you know he would be here? That information was not released even to UNESCO until just before the address."
"I didn't. I did piece together that he was working on the Petrova Task Force, and did some digging on the dark web for job postings. Found out about this, and decided to help keep my kid brother's pet project safe."
Stratt just looked at him. Clearly, Dr. Grace was not the only smart person in his family. Six figured out that Dr. Grace was involved in a highly classified project just by a few random clues.
"So, who is this other brother?" Stratt asked.
"That's for your team to figure out. You have worked with Ry for almost six months, and you didn't know about his other brother?" he smirked at her.
"We've been rather focused."
"Ry might talk about him, if you ask. But he won't talk about me, though," Six said. "And I don't want you to tell him I was here."
Stratt looked at him. "Why?"
"Because he thinks I am dead, and it's best for him and the rest of the world to believe that. I'll give you my number, in case you ever decide to send him out again, because I want to be part of the security," Six told her. "But he can't know I was here."
"You're asking me to keep a secret from Dr. Grace?" Stratt asked.
"You are the director of a highly classified project," Six said. "I'm sure there are many secrets you're already keeping from Ry. This is just one more."
Carl opened the door. "He's starting to wake up," he said.
Six tilted his head. "I'll be around until you leave town, but you won't see me," he said. "And remember, do not tell him." He paused and pulled something out of his backpack. "Oh, here," he said handing it to her.
Grace's laptop.
-----
Grace opened his eyes. Everything hurt. His mind was fuzzy. Everything was blurry. His mouth was fuzzy.
"Dr. Grace."
He looked in that general direction and blinked, then squinted. "Stratt?"
"How are you feeling?"
"Oh, great. Wonderful. Like I could go mountain climbing."
"hmm hmm," she gave him a light chuckle. "Well, you might want to hold off on that."
"Doctors said you can be released to medical care in two days."
He looked at them.
"We want to get you to a safe location as quickly as possible," Stratt said.
What wasn't she saying?
"The security contractor for the assembly has been terminated, as have most of the security detail you had here."
"I'll be fi-"
"Dr. Grace," Stratt snapped at him. "Do you understand the severity of this? You were nearly killed."
"I know, and it would have set the project back a week."
She looked at him like she wanted to strangle him. "No. More. But more importantly, we might have lost you. I know you don't think you're important, Dr. Grace. But you are important to me…"
"And me," Carl put in from his position near the door, causing Grace to look towards him.
"You are important to this project; yes, that is true. Your mind is one in a generation. But you also have a way of making people feel important. I almost lost a friend, Dr. Grace."
Grace nodded.
"Did you see the -"
"Yes. I reviewed it on the way here. Your presentation was very good. Project Eden is a great name. Much better than Project Don't Freeze," she said.
Grace tried to laugh and then moaned, "ow."
"Get some rest. You're safe here. Dr. Lamai is ready for you."
"Great. She's going to monitor my lab time," he moaned.
"You will not have lab time until she says you do," Stratt said. "if I felt it was safe enough, I'd have you stay here until you were better healed. But I just can't leave your safety to chance, Dr. Grace."
He yawned, and instinctively moved his left hand to cover his mouth, 'ow."
Carl shook his head at him.
"Get some rest, Dr. Grace," Eva said. "We'll be here." She pressed her hand to his and held it until Grace closed his eyes and was asleep.
-----
Carl looked at Eva Stratt. "So, clearly his file is woefully incomplete."
"I'll say. Honestly, Director, if Six had not been here today…."
"We won't think about that. He was. But there is another brother. I'd like to have some information on him; however, I think that can wait until we get back to the ship. And Dr. Grace has recovered some."
"Wonder why he never told us," Carl said.
She just shrugged.
For now, Dr. Grace was a model patient. That would wear off as soon as the drugs did.
But she might just let him tinker with his pet project while he healed. What could it hurt to let him try to find a way to bring the astronauts back? It had bothered him since he first found out. So why not let him try to save the people they sent to save the Sun.