Part 22 (2/2)
NO MATTER HOW HEAVY ANNIE'S WORKLOAD AT THE JSC, she'd routinely driven the kids to school every morning rather than hustle them off with their nursemaid, and she hadn't wanted that to change while they were in Florida. When the phone rang she was helping them pack their book bags, impatient to get under way, having jumped out of bed, showered, and dressed almost immediately upon awakening from her dream long hours before sunrise. JSC, she'd routinely driven the kids to school every morning rather than hustle them off with their nursemaid, and she hadn't wanted that to change while they were in Florida. When the phone rang she was helping them pack their book bags, impatient to get under way, having jumped out of bed, showered, and dressed almost immediately upon awakening from her dream long hours before sunrise.
She motioned for them to keep packing and s.n.a.t.c.hed up the receiver.
”Hi,” she said. ”This is Annie.”
”Good morning,” a man's voice said at the other end of the line. ”My name's Pete Nimec. I'm from--”
”UpLink International.” She glanced quickly at the wall clock. Seven-thirty. Some people had their nerve. ”Mr. Gordian called yesterday to tell me you'd be coming to Florida, and I'm very appreciative of your a.s.sistance. Hadn't expected to hear from you so soon, though.”
”Sorry, I know it's very early,” he said. ”But I was hoping we could get together for breakfast.”
”No can do,” she said. ”You caught me as I was practically heading out the door, and I need to get to the Cape--”
”Let's meet there,” he said. ”I'll bring the coffee and m.u.f.fins.”
She shook her head.
”Mr. Nimec--”
”Pete.”
”Pete, I've got a million things on my plate this morning, one of which is tracking down one of our more quirky volunteer investigators, and I haven't got time--” I've got a million things on my plate this morning, one of which is tracking down one of our more quirky volunteer investigators, and I haven't got time--”
”I can tag along with you. If you don't mind. Be a good way to gain my bearings.”
Annie glanced out the terrace door and considered his proposition. Bright sequins of morning sunlight glittered on the blue Atlantic water, where a small recreational sailboat was tacking along parallel to the beach. Dorset had promised a view, and a view she'd gotten. She wished she were of a mind to enjoy it, to try spotting those dolphins and manatees that were supposedly frolicking around out there.
”I really don't think that's advisable,” she said. ”You may not realize how hectic and crowded it gets in the Vehicle a.s.sembly Building. There are dozens of people scrambling around. Sorting, examining, whatever. It can be pure chaos.”
”I'll stay out of everybody's way. Promise.”
Pushy guy, she thought. Just what I needed.
”Look, there's no sense in dancing around this,” she said. ”Some of the things I'll be doing today are highly sensitive. I realize we're both on the same team, and it isn't that I'm trying to keep any secrets. But right now I'm following up on a hunch that involves some highly technical particulars--”
”All the more reason you can trust me to stay out of your hair, since I won't have the faintest idea what I'm looking at,” Nimec said.
”I'd still rather we try for later,” she said. ”Maybe we can arrange to have lunch--”
”Mom, Chris keeps calling me monkey-face!” Linda shouted from the living room.
”That's 'cause she untied my shoelaces!” Chris rejoined. Chris rejoined.
Annie cupped a hand over the receiver.
”That's enough, you two, I'm on the phone,” she said. ”Your books packed?”
”Yeah!” In unison.
”Then go into the kitchen and wait for Regina to give you your snack money.”
”Chris called me monkey-face ag--”
”Enough!”
”h.e.l.lo?” Nimec again. ”You still there?”
Annie uncovered the mouthpiece.
”Sorry, I'm getting the kids ready for school,” she said.
”Understood, I've one of my own. A nine-year-old.”
”You have my sympathies,” she said.
”Lives with his mother.”
”She does then,” Annie said. ”Where were we?” does then,” Annie said. ”Where were we?”
”You were about to invite me to the Cape in exchange for me springing for lunch later on.”
She sighed in acquiescence. Roger Gordian had had sent him, after all. And what harm could there be in letting him come? sent him, after all. And what harm could there be in letting him come?
”I'm not sure that's quite my recollection, but okay, we can meet at the official reception area in an hour. With one stipulation.”
”Shoot,” he said.
”This is my show, and nothing's to be disclosed to the press, or anyone else, until I explicitly give the okay. Acceptable?”
”Sounds fair to me.”
She looked at the clock again.
”Mommee!” Linda cried from the kitchen. Linda cried from the kitchen. ”Chris said I stink like a monkey's b.u.t.t!” ”Chris said I stink like a monkey's b.u.t.t!”
”See you at eight sharp,” Annie said, and hung up the telephone.
The ”quirky” volunteer Annie had mentioned to Nimec was a twenty-five-year-old research scientist named Jeremy Morgenfeld, whom she was able to reach on her cellular after depositing the kids at school--and just in the nick of time, Jeremy explained over the phone, since he'd been about to set out on his catamaran and had intended to remain incommunicado for the rest of the morning, his usual habit being to work no more than four hours a day, Monday through Thursday, beginning neither a moment sooner nor later than the stroke of noon. The living definition of a prodigy, Jeremy had graduated from the Ma.s.sachusetts Inst.i.tute of Technology a month before his sixteenth birthday with a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering, and had later gained four master's degrees in that and other related fields, as well as three doctorates doctorates in the physical and biological sciences. By the age of twenty-one he had started up the Spectrum Foundation, an independent think tank financed almost entirely by the sale of its own diverse technological patents, with a small percentage of additional grant money coming from MIT in exchange for partic.i.p.ation in several joint projects, which included what he was presently describing to Nimec as magnetohydrodynamics-- in the physical and biological sciences. By the age of twenty-one he had started up the Spectrum Foundation, an independent think tank financed almost entirely by the sale of its own diverse technological patents, with a small percentage of additional grant money coming from MIT in exchange for partic.i.p.ation in several joint projects, which included what he was presently describing to Nimec as magnetohydrodynamics-- ”Plasma theory,” Annie said. ”You'll have to excuse Jerry. Every now and then he likes to remind people that was once the exclusive subject of a MERF study.”
”That an acronym for something?”
”The Mensa Education and Research Foundation,” she said. ”They're interested in measuring the upper levels of intelligence ... identifying the cultural, physiological, and environmental determinants of people with genius IQs.”
”Nature or nurture,” Nimec said. He was seated between them on the KSC tram, crossing from the reception area to the Vehicle a.s.sembly Building. ”The eternal debate.”
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