Trapped (The Prometheus Project Book 1) Page 4

  A man was on his knees, carefully placing a small piece of the staircase webbing in a container with a pair of tweezers. The others looked on in celebration, cheering and patting each other on the back.

  Several scientists turned as they approached. Two of them were particularly familiar.

  “Mom! Dad!” shouted the kids in excitement, rushing forward into the arms of their thunderstruck parents.

  Their mom, Amanda Resnick, was a short, attractive woman with soft features, blue eyes, and strawberry blonde hair like Regan’s, although cut shorter. Now, however, she looked sick to her stomach and wore an expression of shock, horror, dismay and worry all at the same time. “Are you alright?” she asked anxiously.

  Ryan nodded while Regan found herself speechless.

  Benjamin Resnick was a short man with a friendly face who always looked a little sloppy. His shirt never managed to stay tucked in and his brown hair was always pointing in several directions. Now, however, his eyes gleamed with demon-like intensity. “Regan, how about you?”

  Regan looked up at her father. The man in front of her was no longer the frumpy, playful, teddy-bear daddy she had long known. Instead, at that moment, her father had transformed into a man Regan was certain would take on the entire world singlehandedly if anyone or anything had hurt his children.

  “We’re okay Dad,” she assured him. “Really.”

  Mr. Resnick studied his two children carefully for several seconds to satisfy himself that they really were, in fact, okay, before finally turning to Carl. “What’s all this about?” he demanded.

  Carl met his stare. “I blew it, Ben,” he said simply. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am about this. Your kids defeated our security. It’s as simple as that.”

  “Defeated security?” repeated Amanda Resnick in dismay. “You can’t be serious. Are you telling me that these kids made it past a razor-wire fence, the laser perimeter, and your guards patrolling outside?”

  “No,” said Carl miserably. “I’m telling you that they did all that, and then came up with correct passwords to get into Prometheus Alpha. And then tricked me to get into this city after they were caught.”

  An older scientist stepped forward. He was white-haired and grandfatherly, with a pear-shaped body, a beard, and inch-thick glasses. “How did they manage to do all this, Carl?” he asked.

  Carl shook his head. “I don’t know, Harry. Given that they’re Ben and Amanda’s kids, I thought it best to bring them here immediately rather than interrogate them.”

  The white-haired scientist nodded. “Ryan, Regan, could you tell us how you happened to end up here today.”

  Both kids swallowed hard. They were surprised to be addressed by name, but both realized they shouldn’t be. While they didn’t know any of the scientists in the room their parents obviously did.

  “Go ahead kids,” instructed their mom. “This is very serious, so be totally honest and don’t leave anything out.”

  It took ten minutes for them to complete their story and answer questions.

  “Thank you,” said the white-haired scientist when they had finished. “I appreciate your honesty. My name is Dr. Harry Harris. As you may have guessed, I am the one in charge here. First, let me say that I’m quite impressed. You two are remarkably clever and resourceful. Your parents didn’t violate any security procedures and I can’t fault them for having such clever children. I can’t fault you two for acting on your understandable suspicions. I can’t fault Carl’s security either—you beat it fairly and squarely. Unfortunately,” he continued, “none of this changes the fact that we now have a big problem on our hands. We need to figure out what we’re going to do now.”

  “We didn’t mean to cause so much trouble,” said Regan softly. “We just wanted to know what was going on here.” She paused and scratched her head. “Come to think of it, what is going on here?”

  “You can’t blame them for being curious, Harry,” said her mom. “Is there any reason, now, not to tell them? After all, they’ve made it this far.”

  Dr. Harris considered. She had a good point. And he wasn’t against finding an excuse to put off deciding what to do about this situation for a few more minutes.

  He nodded. “Go ahead and tell them.”

  Chapter 10

  Playing With Fire

  Amanda Resnick knew the current circumstances could not have been worse, but at least she would finally have the chance to tell her children the truth. “About one year ago,” she began, “an oil prospecting company was drilling for oil in the ground above us when they began to break drills. And not little dentist drills either. They used enormous and incredibly powerful industrial oil drills that were supposed to be unstoppable. In time, they determined that there was something buried deep in the earth at this location that they just couldn’t drill through, no matter what they tried.

  “After several months,” continued their mother, “the company finally gave up and left. But a government agency had learned of these strange events and sent a small team of experts to secretly investigate. It didn’t take them long to realize they were dealing with something well beyond any human technology: a solid wall of energy unlike anything known to science. Proof that humanity is not alone in the universe! The energy barrier—or force-field if you will—was in the shape of a hollow hockey-puck; a disk about one mile around and thirty feet high.” She gestured to Dr. Harris. “Harry, would you like to go on from here.”

  Dr. Harris nodded. “After this discovery the project was given our nation’s highest top-secret classification and renamed Prometheus, and I was put in charge. Although the energy barrier was paper-thin, nothing we could throw at it could even scratch it. We tried flamethrowers, acid, explosives—you name it, we tried it—and got absolutely nowhere. Then, by accident, one of our attempts at least caused a section to become transparent. It didn’t break the barrier but at least we could see through it. In so doing we discovered this incredible city,” he said triumphantly, still obviously awestruck by the enormity of this finding.

  Ryan raised his hand timidly. “Ah, sorry to interrupt,” he said. “But I must have misunderstood. I thought you said the force-field enclosed a space about a mile around and thirty feet high, and that this city was inside. But surely this city is far, far bigger than that.”

  Dr. Harris smiled. “Indeed it is, Ryan. I’m pleased that you picked up on that. So how is this possible? We have no idea. How do you fit an elephant inside a shoebox without shrinking the elephant? Figuring out the science behind this little trick will be a top priority.”

  Dr. Harris paused for a moment to remember where he was in the story and then continued. “We could now see the city through the barrier, but we couldn’t get to it. The greatest archeological, scientific, and technological find in history looked to be in perfect condition, and it was less than a centimeter away through the barrier. But unless we could break through, it might as well have been in another galaxy. And based on everything we knew, my people were telling me it couldn’t be done.” He paused. “That was when we called in your father. He was the perfect choice. He was one of only three physicists in the world we thought might at least have a chance of success, and we already knew we would want your mother to be part of any team we formed later.”

  Amanda Resnick was a top biologist who specialized in modeling how life might have evolved on different planets—alien life—and what the chemical and biological building blocks for this life might be. She had worked with NASA to look for signs of life on Mars. She would, indeed, be someone Harry Harris would seek out immediately to be part of the Prometheus Project.

  Dr. Harris continued. “Your father analyzed our data and conducted several experiments on the barrier. After weeks of calculations he told us he believed if we assembled some very specialized equipment and tied it in to a high-speed computer, he might be able to create a high-energy counter-field. A field he hoped could alter the polarity of the barrier enough to punch an opening in it. He went ho
me and immediately began working out the mathematics needed to create this counter-field. Meanwhile, we worked around the clock to carve out the cavern you visited—Prometheus Alpha. We finished the cavern six weeks ago.”

  Ryan nodded. Six weeks ago—an eternity. It made perfect sense now. Exactly when they had moved to Brewster.

  “Your father wasn’t sure he could do it,” continued Dr. Harris. He looked at Ben Resnick with great respect. “But I never had a doubt. I didn’t wait for him to succeed. I began gathering a team of scientists from every field to study the city. I recruited everyone here.” He smiled broadly. “And your father has more than justified my confidence in him. In only six weeks he did the impossible. It was truly brilliant work.”

  The Resnick siblings looked at their father proudly. Most of the time they thought of their parents as just plain old Mom and Dad and forgot just how impressive they really were.

  “In fact,” Dr. Harris went on, “your father succeeded just yesterday, three months ahead of our most optimistic estimates. I finished recruiting and assembling all the members of the Prometheus team just in time,” he added, smiling proudly. His smile quickly turned to a frown. “Then again, my recruiting duties are not exactly over. I’m only halfway finished hiring for Proact.”

  “I don’t understand,” said Ryan. “Aren’t Proact and Prometheus the same thing?”

  “Yes and no,” replied Dr. Harris. “The name ‘Proact’, by the way, is a combination of ‘Pro’ from Prometheus and ‘a.c.t.’—alien city technology’. We formed the company as a cover for our activities but also for other important purposes. The Prometheus team members will have offices and labs in the Proact building and will be officially employed there. Proact will have extensive and ultra-secure scientific facilities we can use to study what we find in the city. But most Proact scientists will not be part of Prometheus. We will recruit hundreds of scientists to work on their own advanced projects. The Prometheus team can use the scientific insights we gain from our study of this city to help these scientists further their projects—without ever telling them where these insights originated, of course. They will work in the Proact building but will never know about this city. Only the handful of people in this room will ever know the truth.” Dr. Harris realized what he had just said and frowned deeply. “And you weren’t supposed to be among that handful,” he added pointedly.

  “Have you found any aliens?” asked Regan quickly, trying to change the subject.

  “Not so far. We think the city is abandoned. Why it was built and why it is empty are just two of the many mysteries of this place. But what we will learn here is sure to change the course of human history forever.”

  “Like the gift of fire did,” noted Ryan. “That’s why you named this the Prometheus Project, isn’t it?”

  “Exactly right,” said Dr. Harris, impressed that Ryan knew about the Greek myth of Prometheus and was able to reason out the relevance of the name. “Prometheus stole fire from the Gods and gave it to mankind. This city offers us the technology of the Gods. But of equal importance, the name is also a reminder for us to be cautious and mature with our use of what we find here. Like fire, used incorrectly, the technology in this city could be extremely dangerous. We have insisted that our efforts here will be to advance human science for the good of humanity, not to make either weapons or money. The president agreed.”

  There was a long pause. “Any more questions?” asked Dr. Harris finally.

  “By president,” said Regan, “I suppose you mean…”

  “The President of the United States, of course,” said Dr. Harris matter-of-factly.

  Chapter 11

  Spider Webs and Diamonds

  The President of the United States! The Resnick kids traded wide-eyed glances. Incredible!

  It was then that the full impact of everything they had just been told sunk in. Of course the president. Given what they had just learned, his involvement made perfect sense. In fact, everything now made sense. Their parents’ secrecy, the security here—even why their parents felt they had no choice but to finally leave San Diego to come here. You didn’t turn down a chance to be a part of the most important discovery in history. And they had been angry with their parents for moving here! If they had only known.

  “In fact, the president will be visiting next week,” continued Harry Harris. “He wanted to come here yesterday, right after your father breached the force-field, but we asked him to wait until we’ve had some time to explore. We want to be sure his visit is as safe and informative as possible.” He paused and adjusted his thick glasses absentmindedly. “Well, that should do it,” he announced. “I believe you’re now fully up to speed.”

  “I just have one more question,” persisted Ryan. “What were you celebrating when we arrived?”

  His mom gestured toward the wispy staircase. “Last night we decided to cut out some of these threads to study. It turned out to be far easier said than done. After a number of failed attempts, we finally managed it. We were celebrating our success.”

  “Why would it be so difficult just to cut some threads?” asked Regan.

  Amanda Resnick smiled. “They’re a lot stronger than they look.”

  “Mom, I know that,” said Regan in a tone that suggested her mother had just questioned her intelligence. It was totally obvious that a collection of threads so thin as to be almost invisible, yet still able to easily support the weight of an adult, had to have some special properties. “But, I mean, just how strong are we talking about here?”

  “As strong as anything we’ve ever seen except the force-field,” replied her mom. “Far stronger even than spider silk,” she added, as though this were the ultimate compliment.

  “Spider silk?” repeated Ryan in disbelief. “Spider silk isn’t strong. You can break a web with no effort at all.”

  Mrs. Resnick raised her eyebrows. “I don’t know Ryan, there are a lot of insects who might not agree with you,” she said, an amused smile coming over her face. “Remember that each thread of a spider web is far thinner than a strand of human hair—hundreds of times thinner, in fact. And yet a web can still stop a large, flying bug. A web of equally thin threads—but made of the world’s toughest steel instead of spider silk—wouldn’t be nearly as strong. Put another way, if you could make a web out of spider-silk ropes as thick as a pencil, this web would stop a jet airplane.”

  “Wow,” said Ryan, truly impressed. “I never thought about it that way.”

  “Most people don’t,” said his mom. She pointed to the staircase. “And these threads are millions of times stronger even than spider silk. We finally began to appreciate just what we were dealing with when our every attempt to cut out a piece for study failed. Our initial efforts failed to even scratch one of these delicate-looking threads. We finally succeeded using a specially made diamond saw, with very fine teeth.”

  Regan raised her eyebrows. “A diamond saw?”

  “A saw with a blade made out of diamond.”

  “Why make a saw out of diamonds?” asked Regan, still confused.

  Mrs. Resnick smiled. “Diamonds aren’t just used for jewelry and decoration. They also happen to be the hardest natural material on Earth, so hard they can even scratch glass. So diamonds are used to make the best saws and drills. Luckily for us the saw worked and we were able to get a sample. The secret of these threads alone could revolutionize dozens of fields: architecture, engineering, aviation, space travel—the list goes on and on.”

  “And this is only the beginning of what we might learn from the wonders of this place,” added their father. “The force-field. The material in the walking path that makes walking so effortless. Even the light-source for the city, which we haven’t even found yet. All of this, and we’ve been here less than two days!”

  “The technology here really is amazing,” agreed Regan. “It almost seems more like magic than science,” she said.

  Dr. Harris smiled gently. “If you took someone from two hundred y
ears ago and brought them to the present day, they would think that our technology was magic. Think about it. Television, computers, jet airplanes, electricity, cell phones. They wouldn’t have any idea how these things worked. They wouldn’t even know what these things were.”

  A thought struck Regan. “Wouldn’t that also be dangerous for them?” she asked. “What if they stuck a finger in an electrical socket to find out what it was?”

  “Excellent point,” said her mom. “That’s one reason we’re trying to be so careful here. We never know when we’re about to stick our finger in the alien equivalent of an innocent looking socket. Prometheus gave a very powerful, but very dangerous, gift to mankind.”

  Amanda Resnick frowned deeply. “But without question this city is the most dangerous gift humanity has ever received.”

  Chapter 12

  Secrets and Peril

  The room became eerily silent. Every scientist in the room had long since considered the dangers of tinkering with technology far beyond current human understanding, but Mrs. Resnick’s statement had been a forceful reminder of this point.

  Finally, Dr. Harris cleared his throat to break the tension in the room and said, “I think it’s time to come back to the issue at hand. What do we do now that these kids know about the Prometheus Project?” He paused and rubbed his chin in thought. After almost a minute had passed he finally shook his head and said, “I’m afraid I don’t have a ready answer.” He turned toward the security chief. “Carl,” he said, “you’re the expert in these matters and most qualified to make this decision. I’ll stand behind whatever you decide.”