First Contact - Chapter 616: Interlude (2/2)
It gratified the man to see that she had gray in her hair and wrinkles at the corners of her eyes and mouth. He knew she was reaching the age where the flesh between her breasts, at the top, would develop slight wrinkles, and wondered if that was why she was wearing such a severe outfit. A dark blue outfit, almost black, that looked more like a military uniform than something a lead scientist would wear.
A lab tech by the door grabbed the handle, pushing on it, shutting the door.
The Dark Queen nodded and personnel at the computer work stations set to work.
A low humming started, a cyclic thing that quickly picked up speed until it was one long hum. He looked at the screen and saw that both chambers were filling with some kind of mist. There was a crackling sound and the hum slowly cycled down in pitch until it was silent.
The mist cleared to show the wooden box was gone from the blue walled chamber and was now in the other chamber.
The visitors watched as the box was removed, taken to the table, and the index cards opened and laid flat to display the contents.
The man was not the only one who had marked the box, and at each request it was shown to the skeptical visitors that the box had indeed moved between the two chambers.
The Dark Queen cleared her throat and everyone looked at her.
”The potential of matter to energy conversion, first envisioned with the Manhattan Project for the atomic bomb, has been slightly realized,” she said. ”Advances in electronic calculating machines and programmable calculating machines have allowed the energy conversion to be moved between two points and the energy reconstituted into the original matter.”
She moved over to the hexagonal system and laid one hand on it.
”Based on the work of the Manhattan Project, Tesla's work with broadcast power, and many other accomplishments in many fields, matter transmission is now a reality,” she stated. ”So far it has been tested on inanimate objects, including complex mechanical objects and electronic storage media, including hard disk magnetic platter systems, magnetic tapes, and audio-visual tape.”
One man, a former Senator, raised his hand and she stared at him for a long moment as if he was an unruly child who had come inside covered in mud.
”Yes?” she asked, her voice cold.
”Have their been tests on living creatures? Can people be moved through this device?” he asked.
”An understandable and expected question, given your extensive investments in the petroleum industry as well as the automotive industry,” she stated, her voice still cold and remote. ”Yes, it has.”
”And?” he asked.
”Bacterial, then small cell organisms, then plants, then insects, then birds, and finally mammal testing proceeded without any visible effect upon the test subjects,” she said. ”To date, there have been only three human trials.”
”And the results of those trials?” he asked.
She gave a tight lipped smile. ”Madness, followed by death. However, you will be witnessing the third human trial.”
”And if it is not successful?” the man asked.
”Then I will learn quite a bit from the attempt,” the Dark Queen stated. She motioned and the assistant opened the door.
She walked into the chamber, moving over and sitting down.
The door closed and the humming started again. The chamber filled with glowing, sparkling mist, then cleared.
The Dark Queen was sitting motionless.
For a long moment there was silence, just the clicking and whirring of the computers and keys clacking on the keyboards.
After nearly five minutes she stood up, resting against the side for a moment, and moved to the door.
The visitors watched as she staggered out, to a microphone set on the other table. She looked into the camera.
He could see madness in her grey eyes.
”Mat-trans successful,” she said.
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He was escorted into her office, deep in the heart of another mountain, by two uniform clad soldiers that gave off a feeling of remoteness to him.
”Have a seat,” the Dark Queen said, staring at him. She sat behind the light, the lamp situated in such a way that he could not get a clear look at her even as he sat down.
There was silence for a long moment.
He had grown used to her silence over the decades. Her dominance games. Her cold cruelty.
”I am about to show you an advancement in technology,” she stated.
He noted that her voice sounded stronger, much like it had sounded in years gone by.
She lit a cigarette, holding out the pack to him.
”No, thank you, I quit,” he stated.
”Suit yourself,” she said.
She turned on the office overhead light at the same time as she stood up.
He stared at her.
Gone was the gray hair. Gone was the crow's feet and wrinkles. Her neck was firm and delicate, missing the signs of age that a woman her age should have carried.
”How?” he asked.
He had learned that wasted words annoyed the Dark Queen.
”The mat-trans,” she said, shrugging. ”It's too complex to explain easily, but it relied on work by other people in areas of stem cells, telomeres, and other biological data,” she sat back down. ”Applying other's work to the mat-trans is not easy,” she said. She shrugged. ”Six months and I'm suffering no cellular degradation, no loss of cognitive function, no organ stress.”
”How long could this extend life?” he asked.
She shrugged. ”Theoretically? Forever. There's undoubtedly some side effects I lack the scientific tools and teams to discover.”
”If this goes public...” he started.
She scoffed. ”It will never go public. Imagine every supervisor you had that retired. Now, imagine them in charge of you forever. Scientific progress would slow to a standstill. Wars would happen as soon as the rapidly expanding emerging age brackets realized that ancient power brokers will never die,” she shook her head. ”No, it's not going to go public.”
”How can you be sure?” he asked.
”Because nobody but me, and now you, know about it,” the Dark Queen said. ”I included nobody in my work. No team members. No co-researchers. As far as everyone knows, it was a standard mat-trans between Site Iota and here.”
”Then why tell me?” he asked.
She leaned forward. ”When my son was killed, you, and only you, had the sheer balls to tell me face to face. You delivered my message. You, unlike every other watcher they've put over me, have never tried to take what is mine, never tried to act as if you knew better than me about my research.”
He just nodded.
She smiled. A terrible thing.
”Your heart is failing. You have received three bypass surgeries, but you possess a rare blood type and have not found a suitable transplant candidate, nor will you in the short time you have left,” the Dark Queen said. She exhaled smoke and stared at him.
”I can offer you life,” she stated. ”Should you want it.”
He thought about it. He sat silently, looking back at his life. Decades of government service. Two marriages, both wives dying before him. Children, grand children. His accomplishment.
The whole time he thought, the Dark Queen stared at him with gun-metal gray eyes.
Finally he looked up at her. ”I fear I must respectfully and regretfully decline,” he said.
She nodded slowly. ”For that, you have my respect.”
”The decision was made not to offer NASA your technology. It is believed that your technology will destabilize an already shaky geopolitical theater,” he stated.
She nodded. ”Cowardice,” she said.
He shrugged. ”Perhaps.”
”No orbital construction yards. No lunar base. No Mars base or exploration. No sending out a Voyager probe with a mat-trans. Nothing. If that's what they wish,” she said.
He nodded. ”It is believed that the discovery of your technology and its application by the Soviet Union could lead to war.”
She smiled coldly. ”It would be a short war,” she tapped her ashes. ”Their fear that we could just transmit a nuclear weapon to our embassy and gut Moscow would be proven right before their silo launches reached the stratosphere.”
”I appreciate that you understand the reasoning,” he stated. ”I knew you would.”
The Dark Queen smiled.
”How is your other project progressing?” he asked.
She shook her head. ”I can create a transmission reception beacon, but there are other difficulties in not requiring a receiving pad. I've managed to miniaturize it extensively. You could fit it and the reactor to power it on an aircraft carrier,” she said. ”I'm rapidly approaching the limits of technology and scientific knowledge.”
”You want permission to restart your energy project,” he guessed.
She nodded. ”Limitless energy, created by the friction of universes and dimensions rubbing against one another.”
”I will relay your request,” he said.
The Dark Queen nodded.
”Is there anything else?” he asked.
”No. Not at this time,” she said. ”Will you be moving by helicopter or mat-trans back to Washington?”
He gave her a slight smile. ”I would prefer mat-trans,” he held up one finger. ”If I have your word that you will not alter me against my wishes.”
She smiled widely. ”You have my word.”
He nodded.
The Dark Queen was many things, but an oath breaker was not one of them.
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She was known by many names, but everyone who whispered about her only referred to her by the designation allowed by National Secrecy.
The Dark Queen.
She sat in her spartan room, holding a single photograph in one hand as she paged through a photo album. She didn't pause to linger over photographs, merely paged to the back of the album, to where a few pages were bare.
She pulled the static cling plastic free and carefully situated the photograph in the album.
A man who had been relegated to a courier smiled up from the official file photograph.
She carefully put the plastic over the picture, closed the photo album, then put it away.
She undressed slowly, folding her dirty clothing before putting it in the hamper. She turned off the light and laid on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.
She would not sleep.
She never did.
But she would lay there, in the dark, for six hours.
”’Tis the wink of an eye, ’tis the draught of a breach, from the blossom of health to the paleness of death, from the gilded saloon to the bier and the shroud: Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?” she whispered.
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”Did you ever meet anyone you liked before they froze you?” the voice asked her.
She sat silently, for a long time, staring at the fire.
She looked up at the slender man, his skin brown and his head bald.
She nodded. ”Twice.”