The Mars Initiative: Chapter 3

Angelique, James, and I have known each other for years. In fact, James got me my job at Mars Division. He’s one of the lead engineers on the project with the second highest security clearance at this division. There are only a few people with more influence in any of the Mars Divisions around the country which means that James travels a lot to the various divisions to promote project synergy.

I text him to see if he’s in town and find out he returns tomorrow afternoon. This means that Liam has time to draw up the blueprints for both devices. If it turns out that he’s telling the truth we’ll figure out a place for him to stay, but for now Angelique and I decide to get him a hotel room for the night.

Stacy shows up at my desk the next day at lunch. I’ve been so preoccupied with Liam’s story and getting the blueprints to James that I completely forgot about everything else. Apparently this shows on my face.

“Did I come at a bad time?” Stacy asks.

“What? Oh, no! Of course not,” I say. “Sorry. I have a lot on my mind.”

We go to our normal spot at the outside tables and start talking about our days. I wonder if I can tell her about our plan with Liam. Would she get in trouble for helping a potentially crazy person? Her level of responsibility as a member of the legal department is much different than mine.

“You seem distracted,” she says.

“I’m sorry. I am,” I consider telling her everything then decide to test the waters with a little bit of the story. “You remember that guy I pointed out yesterday at lunch? The one who you said looked worried?”

“I do, actually,” she says seriously. “Apparently he made a huge scene yesterday and we had to do some research into him to see if he is a potential threat. Everything we found just brought up more questions. I really hope he doesn’t come back. It could cause a lockdown.”

“What do you mean? Why?” I try to sound curious without giving anything away, but my stomach twists into a knot.

“Well, if he is telling us the correct name then he is the brother of the president. Problem is, the president’s brother died years ago. You remember how she supports research into childhood cancer? That’s why. Her brother died when he was sixteen.”

“Wow. That’s awful,” I try to focus my energy on the story she’s telling but my mind is racing.

“The weirdest thing is that we did some facial rec stuff to see if he matches who the teenage Liam was and it was a 100% match,” she takes a bite of her sandwich and thinks for a minute. “We ran the program ten times. This is the first time the program has failed us. We even ran a DNA test to see if there was a familial match.”

“Wait a second. You’re saying that this man could actually be related to the president.” I can’t believe my ears. Everything she is saying is supporting Liam’s story.

“Well, I guess, yeah. He’s obviously not her brother because he’s dead. But maybe a different brother that she doesn’t know about or cousin or something.”

We sit in silence for a few minutes eating our lunch.

“Why did you bring him up?” Stacy asks.

“I saw him again yesterday after work.”

“Keep your distance!” Stacy says emphatically. “He is at the very least crazy if not actually dangerous.”

“Ok. Will do,” I say. I decide Stacy doesn’t need to know anything else about Liam at this time so I turn the conversation to her hobbies outside of work.

When I get back to my desk I call Angelique and share what Stacy told me during lunch. We both decide that Angelique should be the one to bring the blueprints to the building during my break and Liam will stay in his hotel room until further notice. The less people see him the better.

We use the elevators to get to the research and development floor and walk to James’ office. He’s on the phone but motions us to come in and sit down. His office is large and spacious. Not only does he have a large desk, but he also has a sitting area with couches and a conference table with chairs around it.

“I understand, Madam President,” he says. “I will check on that right away…Of course…If the answer isn’t what we are wanting then I will be on the next flight to D.C. You have my word…Understood.”

He hangs up the phone and breathes a sigh of relief. “I usually love my job but sometimes I would like to know that I could sleep in my own bed at night.” He laughs. “What can I do for you two?”

“We have some blueprints that we think might help move along our research to get to Mars,” I say. “We were talking with—” I hesitate a moment, “a new friend who seems to have a knack for this. He drew up these blueprints for us. Can you take a look?”

Angelique hands the blueprints to James who takes them to the conference table and spreads them out. He starts taking notes and mumbling to himself. Angelique and I join him at the table and lean in to catch what he’s saying but to no avail. We sit down and wait patiently as he goes back to his computer a few times and does some work there before coming back to the blueprints again. I can tell that at the very least there is something that makes sense in these plans.

“Well, we need to run some tests,” he says as he finally sits down at the table with us, “but this very well might work.”

Angelique and I are stunned. I keep expecting something of Liam’s story to fall apart but with each step his story is being verified.

“You both look shocked,” he laughs. “I guess you didn’t really believe this friend of yours?”

“We just both assumed he would be working here already if these plans were legit,” Angelique says.

“Well, I guess the next step is to run some simulations. Your friend should be here for that. Any chance he could come here now?” James asks.

“So, there’s a bit of a complication with that,” I say. “He tried to bring in this information yesterday but got held up. I hear now that if he comes in again there could be a lock down.”

James looks at me amused. “You would be the one to find a crazy person with all our answers.” We all laugh. I was always the one who could spot a talent in the most unassuming person. “We really need someone like you in HR. The current team isn’t able to see people like you do,” he jokes.

“So, how do you propose we get this guy in the building without a lockdown?” Angelique brings us back to the problem.

“Thankfully my job has its perks. I’ll escort him in. When can he be here?”

We decide that Angelique will go get him while I find coverage for the front desk so I can be there for the tests. Less than an hour later James is in the lobby welcoming Liam with a handshake and brushing away security as they begin to surround him.

We go to a different section of the research and development floor where a team of technicians are working on different projects. On one side of the room is a large glass wall looking over a room that is made to imitate the Mars environment. A team is trying out some new tech but it doesn’t seem to be going well. One person collapses and an alarm goes off. We hear a large release of pressure and people in white coats swarm into the Mars room and take off the collapsed person’s helmet. They immediately put an oxygen mask on them and the person slowly starts to regain consciousness. Angelique, Liam, and I watch in shock.

“Yeah…,” James sighs. “You can see why I am so eager to run some simulation with your technology, Liam. That technician can’t be in the Mars Room for a few weeks while they recover. We have had a few weeks where no qualified technician could test out the suits because everyone was in recovery. This seriously slows down our research.”

We follow James to the lab at the end of the room.

“Liam, would you like to help me out on this?” James motions to a computer and pulls the blueprints we brought to him this morning out onto the desk. They start to work and Angelique and I sit back and watch, occasionally trying to figure out what is going on.

“Well, here goes nothing,” Liam says after a while. He presses a button and leans back to watch. We all hold our breath as the first simulation runs.

“I can’t believe it!” James exclaims. “It works! Pat! Get in here!” He runs to the door and waits for one of the scientists to come in. “Look at this, Pat.”

They run the simulation again and Pat’s eyes look like they are going to pop out of his face as he sees the simulation work.

“But how?” Pat asks.

Liam shows him the blueprint and Pat takes a moment to think it through.

“I would never have thought of this.”

“We have another simulation to run, but at least we can start working on suits that allow our people to breathe on Mars,” James says. “Can you get your crew working on this?”

Pat takes the plans and rushes to his team. They all gather around a table and start talking through the details. You can feel excitement fill the room as they begin to work. Angelique and I look at each other in amazement.

“Well, now we’re actually going to need to help him,” Angelique whispers to me.

“Yeah. Help him get to a parallel universe,” I say.