Dark Star Rising Second Edition (Pebbles in The Sky) (13 page)

The President looked thoughtful and nodded.  “Dr. Basjani, please keep Doctor Masterfield updated as to the status of the clinical trials.  I am very interested in the results.  I want to thank both of you, Doctor Driskall, and Doctor Driskall for coming today.  Please keep up the good work and let Doctor Basjani know of any problems that may arise in your clinical trials. Have a good day.”

They all stood as she stood and exited out the door.  She paused for a moment and turned, “Dr. Basjani and Dr. Masterfield please stop by my office before you leave.  Again, thank you both.”

Brett and Jessica were shown back out though the visitors entrance and climbed in the same car for the ride back to the hotel.  As soon as they were out of sight of the White House Jessica turned and slapped Brett up side of his head.  “You dunce, I cannot believe you actually bragged to the President about trying the vaccines on yourself.”

Brett rubbed his head. “Oh cool it. She probably already knew about it if she had been briefed beforehand.”

“You still did not have to brag about it,” pouted Jessica.  “She probably thinks you belong back in the lab with the other test monkeys.  You can be so difficult sometimes.”

Brett just grinned and ran his hand up her leg. “Hey, wanna try out the Jacuzzi back in the room and monkey around some when we get back?”  She lifted his hand and dumped it back on his own leg.

“Not tonight, I think you have given me a head ache,” whispered Jessica when she noticed that the driver was listening to them.

  The driver just grinned to himself.  He had heard the headache excuse plenty of times from his own wife.  It was a shame about not using the Jacuzzi though.  “I love my job,” he thought to himself with a grin.  I hear some of the most interesting conversations.

…

Back at the White House President Montgomery sat down at her desk in the Oval office as Doctor Basjani and David Masterfield followed her in.  She pressed her buzzer to her secretary, “Could you please have Mr. Dewey come in also?”  Elliott Dewey, her chief of staff entered shortly after she called.  “I have read the concerns that you two have regarding what can happen if the Driskall research is used in a non-benevolent manner to develop super pathogens for biological warfare. This concerns me greatly since the research is going to be widely available when they publish their findings.  Some terrorist group that was well financed could do what they have done if it had knowledge of the research work in hand.  There is no way that we can protect that knowledge.  So, what I want to know is there a faster way of testing these new vaccines than the standard method of clinical trials and waiting for years for the outcome?”

Dr. Basjani answered.  “Well, like we discussed, it would be un-ethical, but you could do a trial with volunteers that agreed to be inoculated with live viruses after receiving the vaccine for that pathogen.  I am not sure how many volunteers you would receive.  After personally watching patients die of things like Ebola, and Marburg, I would not be inclined to volunteer unless there was a very great reward involved.”

The President looked at Dr. Basjani.  “Why doctor, are you telling me that you would agree to do such a thing if the price was right?  Does the government pay you so poorly that are you that desperate for money?”

“Not for money, you misunderstand me, Madam President. “If it meant life or death then I would be willing to do it.”

“Life or death,” repeated the President. “Hmmm, Mr. Dewey, I have a theoretical question for you.  As President, I am allowed to pardon someone who has been convicted of a serious offence, correct?”

“That is correct, Madam President,” answered Elliott Dewey.

“Ok, then, a hypothetical question for you. What if there is a convicted murderer that is due for execution, could I pardon him if he would volunteer for such a clinical trial?”

All three men were taken aback.  Donald Masterfield was the first to speak.  “Madam President, you would actually release a convicted murder back in to society?”

“Not exactly, no.  Life or death.  If this convict was getting ready to die for his crime, but I commuted his crime to life without parole if he agreed to try and repay his crime against humanity for volunteering for testing of these vaccines, would that be ethical?  Otherwise his life is forfeit and nothing good will come of it.  This individual who has hurt others could then make amends for his crime by trying to help others.”

David Masterfield shrugged.  “I am not sure I am qualified to answer that question.” He looked at Elliott Dewey. 

Elliott had been silent until now.  He had been chief of staff for three presidents now, and had been involved in many such meetings where questionable policies were pondered upon.  “I am not sure of the legal ramifications; I will have to do some research on this.  As to being ethical, I cannot answer that either.  I would have to wonder how the family of the victim would feel.  I would hazard a guess that if they agreed to the change in sentence, then yes, it could be done legally.  It would be a way to get this testing done in a much more expedient manner, especially if national security was at stake. I would also recommend that a small public poll should also be taken to see how the general public would view this matter prior to it being done, there could be some backlash from families of victims and the press.”

“Very well gentlemen,” said the President. “Look into this and get back to me. There is another issue that has arisen that may possibly require some expedient breakthroughs in this area of disease prevention if things do not work out well.  That is all I have for today.”

She turned to her computer as they left the room.  She was worried.  This thing with the Brown Dwarf was hanging over her and haunting her sleep.  She knew that the NSA’s infrared spy satellites were being launched into space in two days.  She just hoped that the information that they provided was good news.  Waiting was hard to do, even for the President of the most powerful country on the planet.  Patience is a virtue she reminded herself.

Chapter 12

March 24th 2016

Pasadena, California

              Peter arrived at JPL at eight am and joined the morning ritual of the other workers circling around the parking lot looking for a decent parking place.  Unlike the senior staff, he was not assigned a reserved parking place, so he had to join the parking lot feeding frenzy with all the other junior JPL personnel.  Like vultures in the sky, they circled waiting for a parking place to appear.

Peter had been at JPL now for three days.  As excited as he had been to have landed a job at JPL, he had quickly realized that he would have to pay his dues and work his way up the ranks like everyone else.  The morning of his first day, he had been grabbed up by Mattie, the secretary for Doctor Mike Banscott, and marched up to the suite of offices where he was to be assigned.  As an assistant to Doctor Banscott, he was told that he needed to be readily available for any tasks assigned.  A small closet that was full of old file cabinets was hurriedly cleaned out. Someone had found an old second or third hand
government Issue grey metal desk and it was somehow shoved into the cramped space. A computer station was set up, and he was given a chair that someone obviously overweight had long ago worn out the springs on.  On top of it all, his “office” was about fifteen feet in front of Mattie’s desk.  She watched him like she was some marine drill sergeant.  He felt that he must be a real VIP to have been assigned a personal baby-sitter.

             
The afternoon of his first day was spent reading security policies and doing orientation on the government’s online education site.  Not a very auspicious beginning he thought to himself.  He had expected to be in the control center for one of the various robotic space missions that were currently underway.  The closest he came to anyone actually working on a mission the first two days was when a Doctor Mary Beth Davis came by.  He noticed her come into the office suite and say something to Mattie.  Mattie had nodded her head in his direction. Doctor Davis looked him up and down and laughed.  He overheard her tell Mattie that “if Doctor Banscott continued to hire school kids then he had better have Mattie buy some more diapers,” as she left the office.  Mattie just looked at him and shook her head.  Mike Banscott, for whom he was supposed to be an assistant, finally appeared on the third day and things finally appeared to be looking up.

That morning Peter had pulled up all the information on line in JPL’s libraries and was reading all the literature and research on Brown Dwarf’s that he could find.   Doctor Banscott walked in, looked into the closet that Peter was in and gave Mattie a dirty look.

“Where was I supposed to put him?” she asked.  “Do you want him in the office with you?”

Mike shook his head in dismay and stepped into Peter’s closet office to introduce himself.  “Peter, I am Mike Banscott.  I am sorry I am late getting back to the west coast but I have been tied up in Washington.  I see that Mattie has taken good care of you,” he grinned sarcastically.  They shook hands and Mike motioned for Peter to follow him into his much bigger office.  Shutting the door behind them, he motioned for Peter to have a seat.

“Doctor Eric Casselman recommends you very highly Peter, that is why you are here right now. To be honest with you, his recommendation and the fact that you were the one who discovered our coming interstellar visitor is the reason I hired you.  It also does not hurt your cause very much that Eric and I were old roommates when we were still in school at Cal Tech.  Frankly, I am still amazed that a student using old data from the Spitzer project was able to discover something that no else had noticed.  You seem to have a knack for collecting, and poring over data from various sources and drilling down though all of it for a single purpose.  That is what you are here for.  I have some bigger fish to fry and I need an assistant that can collate the data as it comes in, assemble it, and then give it to me in a logical format where I can analyze it and make decisions as needed.  I also need to be confident that the data is reliable and re-producible as I have to report on up the line to some rather important people; people who ultimately pay both our paychecks.”

             
“I apologize for your, uh, office that Mattie set you up in.  We have been given a new building to work in and as soon as they renovate it and install some new equipment, we will be moving to somewhat more roomy quarters.  You will have a bigger office and some much better computer equipment there.  I have been given a generous budget for setting up this team so if there is something that you think we need then let me know.  If I am not around, then you can also tell Mattie, as she will be coming to the new team as our secretary.”

Peter grimaced at that information.

Mike laughed and said, “Mattie is not that bad. She has saved me from making an ass out of myself quite a few times.  She may come across as a marine recruit’s nightmare of a drill sergeant, but when you really need something done she always seems to manage to find a way to do it.  But I digress; I am sure you have a hundred questions, so pick your top few and ask away.”

             
“Well, I do have a few,” admitted Peter.  “Actually, I have more than a few.  Dr. Casselman said that I was to give my thesis to you as soon as it is completed.  I have still not actually graduated, and I was told this could be considered a work or internship position until then.  It is rather unorthodox not to have your thesis reviewed by the professors at your school so I was wondering about that, and is this actually going to be a full time position, or just temporary?”

Mike considered his response and in the end he chose to be honest.  “Peter, in all actuality your position here, although important, could have been filled by someone much more experienced than you.  I asked for you to be here for two reasons.  I recognize intelligence and perseverance when I see it.  You have initiative and sort of a bulldog like approach that reminds me of myself at your age.  In addition, it is to keep you quiet about your discovery for a few weeks.  I think you still do not realize the full magnitude of your discovery, and the possible ramifications.  For that reason your thesis paper is to be reviewed by myself and Doctor Mary Beth Davis. I do not know if you have met her yet,  but she is presently the project director for the Hubble project.  We are both alumni of Cal Tech and can officially be viewed as professors emeritus and thus able to review your paper.  That will keep news of your discovery safe for a little while.  You have completed your course work at Cal Tech and will be awarded your Doctorate with the rest of your peers in May providing there are no major problems with your
research paper.”

Peter winced. “I believe I may have met Doctor Davis. My impression was that she does not have a very high opinion of me.”

Mike laughed.  “Don’t be overly concerned about Mary Beth.  She is very rough at the edges but she is one damn smart lady.  She can also drink you and me both under the table if she wants and has the vocabulary of a sailor.  Rough and tumble she may seem, but she is one of the best minds that JPL has to offer.”