SUMMATION (21 page)

           "Who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters?" He
looked at her, giving her a crooked smile. "You know, I've always wanted
to be able to say that.

           "Actually, I do have to call in," he
added. "And no, not Ghostbusters."

           "So, tell me more about this box thing."

           "
W
hat role the remaining pieces of the star, or stone, or
whatever it was plays, I surely don't know." Tim stood up, and started
pacing in the tiny room. Actually, more like turning in place. More like a cat,
not sure of its prey, stepping left, then back right, then back left- never
taking its eyes away. "It has been stored these many years, sealed. Or so
we assume. Maybe it's been lost for good. Other than a couple of vague
references to it, there's no information on where it came from, how it got
there, or even what's in it. Apparently, though, it spooked somebody, because
it was buried away. They were even afraid to get rid of it, for fear it might
be found. It was last thought to have been stored at the Vatican itself, hidden
among all the treasures and artifacts. Kind of like an Indiana Jones thing with
the buried Ark of the Covenant. Actually, now that I say that, just exactly
like that. Except that we have gone through everything. I mean
everything
.
And you have no idea how much everything is actually there.

           It's pretty much computerized now, so records
are getting better, but even the odd storage areas have been gone through. It's
not like in the past. If something is stored there, we know about it. There's
no such box at the Vatican."

           "From your story, it sounds like it may
have been some type of source material that may be needed for replacement or
reinforcement purposes. Or, is it a weapon? Contaminant? Biological?"

           He shrugged his shoulders. "Who knows. We
do know that by all references, and there aren't many, that the line of the
woman and the line of the cult don't seem to have ever had any further direct
contact, as far as we know. The coming together is supposed to have some
significance. Maybe it has ceremonial significance, or like you say,
strengthening. We don't know enough. Who knows - maybe there's been contact
that's not documented. Anyway, there's almost zero information on either side,
so we don't know anything for sure.

           "It does concern me though, that this Zarin
guy seems to have access to the people in charge of the nuclear program, which
of course doesn't exist. That dream really did spook me. It was just
too
real. Plus, what you said about a mushroom cloud - I sure hope that's really
reaching. If not - well, let's hope not."

           "Describe the dream to me again. Close your
eyes, and tell me everything, even stuff that doesn't matter. Sometimes those
silly or irrelevant details stimulate other memories.  We do that all the time
with witnesses." She sat on the edge of the bed. Reaching beside her, she
patted the bed. "Here, sit down. Besides, you're driving
me
nuts
with that pacing thing you're doing."  

           She got up to make room for him, and grabbed one
of the blank pads of paper. She reached into her pocket to grab one of the
several pens she always carried. None there. She looked around. Oh, yeah, in
the dining room - she had emptied her pockets when she first got home. She went
back for it.

           Returning with her pocket restocked, and one
clicked open and at the ready, she found him sitting with his head in his
hands. "You okay?"

           "Just trying to remember."

           He went on to describe the diner, almost
identical to the
Jessica'
s they ate at. She wondered if this was
prescient, coincident, or if his remembering was being colored by his being
there this evening.

           Both dreams, the man was hooded. Not so unusual
for the "boogey-man" in a bad dream. He described the dark sweatshirt.
Looking at it in his mind's eye, he told her it was dark - blue or black, with
a letter on the front. "Like a college? Like MIT?" she asked.

           "No, just one letter. Like maybe a Greek
letter" He opened his eyes, and reached for her pen and pad. He drew an "E",
and looked at it. Then he redrew it, and crossed it out. "I think there
were points on the left side, and it turned down ... here we go. This is it."
He turned it around so she could see.

           "Oh, that's a, that's uh, oh, I've got it
here..." She closed her eyes and looked up at some imaginary blackboard. "Math.
It's got something to do with math. I just can't remember. Let me go check
something."  She set the pad and pen down. "Keep thinking, Tim, I'll
be right back."  Running to the other room, she went to a small bookshelf
along one wall of the living room. On the bottom were several of her old
textbooks. "Here it is," mumbling to herself, "Let's see now..."

            She started thumbing through the book as she
walked back to the room. "Here's a reference section. Ahhh, here we go. Is
this it?" pointing to one, and turning the book toward him.

           "Yes, yes - I think that's it."

           She turned the book back. "'Summation'. Used
to sum a sequence of numbers." More descriptions followed on superscripts
and subscripts, but it meant nothing to her. It'd been too long since she'd
used it, and even then, she hadn't paid a lot of attention.  "Sorry, Tim,
that's all I know."

           "Yeah, that's it. I remember now. Used it
back in statistics, if I remember right. I wasn't real big on math. Well, maybe
it means something. Maybe not. Let me check in, and see if anything else came
up."

           He logged back in, and opened a new letter. "This
is going to sound silly, but I'll include it anyway." He quickly typed a
brief description of his dream, including the bizarre singing, the reference to
mushrooms, (even including the nuke interpretation of hers.) He also mentioned
the sweatshirt and the symbol, and repeated the constant singing about
mushrooms and bagels. He then asked about any updates on anything else, then
sent it. "They'll get a pretty good laugh at that one." Then, more
seriously, "I'm only half joking. It's pretty bad when I send something
back like that, and expect anyone to take it seriously. Really, they may really
think I'm going crazy over here."

* * *

           He needn't have been embarrassed. He couldn't
know that they had received more than two dozen reports of the identical dream,
and from very reputable people,
their
people.  Who knows how many others
had had the same one. Hundreds? Thousands? Perhaps more? And anytime,
anytime
,
a leader in the Middle East and nukes are mentioned in the same sentence,
people take notice.

* * *

           And not just
their
people.

* * *               

           "That's it. I sent it. Leave the light on
out front so the boys from the asylum can find the address. I'm sure they've
got a room reserved," commented Tim, fixing one more drink.

           "No, seriously. How can you joke about it? If
this is all true...."

           "Well, that's the thing.
IF
we have
the right person.
IF
this is what is planned.
IF
this is the
time.
IF
I'm not totally nuts. They haven't gotten where they are by
being stupid. Look at your
own
reaction. If it doesn't make sense to
you
,
and you've seen the stuff your grandfather had, who
would
it make sense
to? Even the people who actually
are
looking for this, the ones who
believe
in it, even
they
won't know for sure until he steps up to take power. That
could be now, or it could be a hundred years from now. Me, I think we're close.
I think the signs are there, but...

           "We haven't seen a power grab anything like
that yet. Have
you
seen anyone trying to take over the world?  
I
haven't.  Sounds kind of silly when you say it like that, doesn't it? Sometimes
even
I
wonder about it."

           He sat down, and began rubbing his eyes. "Seems
like I've been doing this forever. It's gotten so I can't even tell what's
really crazy and what's just ridiculous. Maybe I really am going nuts."

           She stood up and walked over behind him. Putting
her hands on his shoulders, she began massaging his neck.

           "Well, if that stuff hadn't been in my
grandfather's collection, I don't know if I would have bought any of it. But
now, I don't know what to think."

           He turned around in his chair. Her hands stayed,
resting on his shoulders. He looped his around her waist. "See what I
mean? How do you convince anyone else? We can't both be nuts."

           His hands stayed around her waist. He liked the
way it felt. She didn't pull away, but looked down at him, and with her hands
still on his shoulders, pulled him in closer. He looked up at her as she looked
down. She kissed him lightly on the forehead, then lingered there for a moment.
He pulled her closer, and this time his lips found hers, more forceful this
time. The day's pent up emotions finally caught up with the two of them, and
this kiss was long and intense.

           He knew it was because she had become a friendly
face far from home, and because of the emotional roller coaster of the day, but
he didn't care.

           She, too, knew there was no good reason for
this, other than it just seemed right, and she didn't care either.

           She was surprised at the intensity of his
response. Not that she minded. No way. They broke for air, and she rested her
chin on his shoulder, both still embracing, her still standing, leaning in on
him, him still sitting. The tension had been building. And it had been a
while...

           But his story. Could there be something to this?
She wasn't about to quit her job, go down to the basement, and tuck her head
between her knees, waiting for the end, but...

           There had been just enough accuracy, enough
factual material, in the history to keep her interest, like a Dan Brown novel. True
to the facts, almost all the way through, keeping it all believable, with just
a little twist to make a great story. Enough to reel you in.

           It had been that way for centuries. Just enough
to keep generation after generation looking. Well, she wasn't about to get
sucked into something silly or superstitious. But then again, she
did
have the next two days off, and it
was
kind of interesting....

           She loosened her grip and leaned back, tipping
his head so she could look him in the eye. "Tell you what, mister. I'm not
saying I buy all this stuff, but it
is
kind of weird. I have the next
two days off. If you want to stay here, you're welcome, and I'll help you do
whatever you do. But if you start talking about UFO's, you're out of here. This
is weird enough.

           Anyway, for next couple days, I'm all yours."
And you are gonna be mine...

          
"Let's
see what's going on" she continued. "Then, after those two days, I go
back to work and back to my regular life, and you go wherever. I'll do this one
thing for my grandfather, and kind of out of my own curiosity. Nothing more,
okay?"

           He smiled. "Bitten by the bug, huh?" He
stood up. "That'd be great. And I'll pay you for your room and board. I
have an allowance for that, and you might as well get it." She started to
protest, but he stopped her. "Don't be silly. I'm gonna spend it
somewhere, and you bought dinner tonight, so it's only right." He picked
up his drink. "Let's get to work, then. But first, where'd you put those
donuts?"

* * *

           They went back to the little room with the
computer and got online. He went to his office website and logged in. As soon
as he finished the sign in, a flashing box indicated new mail. He clicked it. There
were several new messages. "That's odd. Several new messages - something
must have happened." He clicked on the bottom one, the oldest, marked only
a few minutes before, just after his last message in.

TO: t.biazzi"vaticanresearch.org

FR: a.sartini"vaticanresearch.org

RE: H. R.

Your information consistent with file. Informed that G.R.
and H.R. both enroute Tehran. Find out more about H.R. and contact me with
info. Speak to no one else-contact me directly. Minimal info available, looking
for more now. Be careful what is sent - interception possible.

           Intercepted? By whom? Who would care?
He closed the e-mail box, and leaned back in his chair,
looking up at the corner of the ceiling. Reflexively, she followed his gaze,
noting a web in the corner. Embarrassed, she looked back at him. He didn't see
it. Or anything. He was deep in thought again.

           "Well, what is it? What happened?"

           Sitting back up, he swiveled around in the
office chair to face her behind him sitting on the bed. Looking her in the eye,
he again pursed his lips as if he were about to say something, then thought the
better of it. He looked away for a moment, then looked back.

           "All right. There was a little bit more. I
never put too much stock in it, thought it was more of a legend. Maybe it still
is, but for this to happen at the exact same time as all the rest... I never
would have believed it." He looked down and away.

           "What?
What's
a legend? Didn't tell
me
what
? There's
more?
"  

           "Alright, alright." He paused a
moment, looking at her, pursing his lips as if wondering if he should go
further. Then, decision made, he continued.

           "If you thought the other stuff was hard to
believe, you're gonna love this..."