Chapter 2

Waiting on the government to act was very painstaking.

They had all continued to watch the news and the government cover-up unfold.

"You know it is a possibility that nobody will ever show up. If Senator Thornton did die in the explosion, it's conceivable that all information on this project died with him. It could have been secret enough that nobody else knew about it. If that's the case my parents will never be legally dead, and the government will never know about the stuff here."

"Yes I guess it's possible with the security they had on this project, all records were probably held on site. If that's the case then none of them exist anymore."

"Then what happens to the house and stuff if my parents are believed to be alive?"

"That has already been taken care of; all your parents' assets are in a holding corporation. I have full authority to sell their stocks to you in this event. After that sale is complete, you can assume control of the company and all its assets. That includes property, bank accounts, stock accounts, and control of the patents your company controls."

"What patents?"

"Your parents have several patents in the cybernetics and robotics field. They own a company that manufactures artificial limbs and organs for people that need them; that could be accident victims or any other kinds of injuries."

"Wow! I didn't know that. Why didn't they tell me stuff like this, I was their son for god sakes."

"That I can't tell you, but I do know they figured the less you knew the safer you were."

"How can helping accident victims be dangerous?"

"Well that was only one facet of the company; I knew they have several military applications as well. But of course I don't know exactly what they were."

As they were talking and watching the news, the governor of Nevada came on for a press conference.

He said, "I would like to thank everyone for taking the time to come to the conference today. Last week we had a major explosion in the Nevada desert, which you all know. This explosion was not nuclear, it was a chemical reaction mixed with leftover ground radiation from previous testing. The explosion took out an abandoned military base, a government lab that was being used to test ground contamination and a small town. The military base was abandoned and there were no casualties. The government lab doing the contamination research was not staffed when the explosion occurred. The town as far as we can tell held approximately 250 civilians. The reports of Senator Thornton being caught in the explosion - I'm sad to say - are true. He was at the lab on a tour considering it for a new project for the state of Nevada. The new project was going to be a reclamation project for the Nevada test area. The exact facts of the explosion are still not known; the government is currently working on finding the details. The radio signal that emanated from the area before the explosion is also confirmed but the source is unknown. Thank you, that is all, there will be no questions," he said as he left the podium.

"Well I guess that's that, if the government even shows up here they will be risking their cover up. I guess if you keep quiet then so will they, or like you said they don't even know who died at the lab," Ronald said.

"I hate to be the one that suggests an alternative, but they could also just decide to get rid of this entire place. It might be easier for them than trying to work with you, if they know what really happened that is," Jason the security supervisor said.

"Well that is a nasty thought," Ronald said.

As they were talking the computer chimed, then said, "Three visitors at the main gate, one is Captain Scott Daniels."

"Please let them in," John said and went to the door.

Opening the door and waiting out front, he greeted the captain when he arrived.

"Captain Scott it's good to see you again, unfortunate it is under these circumstances."

The captain introduced John to the two people with him, one a government man, and the other a scientist. They all walked into the meeting room followed by Ronald Thornton.

"Ladies and gentleman this man is Ronald Thornton, he is our attorney, I hope we will not have a use for him. However, he is here if we do. First, let me say I know my parents are dead, and no, I don't plan to talk to anyone about this. I was given instructions that - in the instance of my parent's death - I was to give you access to the vault that contained their research. This I will gladly do, but the question is what are you going to do for me?" John asked.

"You are correct your parents were killed in the explosion, how did you know?" Captain Scott asked.

"The computer activated some type of emergency program, and informed me they were dead. I'm not sure how it knew they were dead, maybe it had to do with their cell phones or something."

"Very well, we will need access to the vault like you said. We would also like to run through the computers you have to make sure nothing classified was kept on them."

"No problem."

"Your parents had a corporation set up and we were paying it instead of them. The government will keep honoring the payments. There will be no record of their deaths so we will keep them on salary. I am sorry about what happened, even though I honestly don't know what they were doing or how this happened. I'm in the loop but apparently not this one. Like I said I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thanks Captain I appreciate it, will I still be allowed on base? Or should I consider moving."

"No need you are always welcome on base, some of the land here belongs to your corporation so you will always be welcome."

"Great, Robert do you see any problems?"

"No everything looks fine."

"Good then if Captain Scott and his two guests will follow me I will try and take them to the basement without pissing off the computer."

Ronald went out to the living room to wait while John escorted his guests to the basement lab.

"Computer I need access to the lab for me and my three guests," John said.

"Protocol 17 allows this, stand by."

After about thirty seconds, the door opened and they all walked in. John walked over to the vault and again asked the computer for access. Again, the computer accepted his command and opened the vault.

"Cool," John said. "I have never tried that before; I guess the computer likes you."

The woman with the group when through the vault. She loaded the paperwork into her case. Then she grabbed the removable hard drives that were sitting on the shelf. She checked out the three computers that were in the lab and they didn't contain any classified data so she was done. Eventually Captain Scott gave John his condolences again and told him to call if there was anything he could do and they left.

A while after the captain left Ronald took off in the helicopter and the security people went about securing the property. John went down to the basement and tried to access his parent's Main Frame. He stood in front of the computer and requested access.

"Due to protocol 17, access to all facilities has been granted to John Brown Jr. Computer access to secondary Main Frame restored." The computer replied.

"What do you mean secondary Main Frame?" John asked.

"All important information was stored on the secondary system - to keep it out of government hands."

"Sweet," John said.

John sat down in front of the main frame and requested a summary on all projects his parents were involved in that were classified. The computer pulled up a summarized list that was about twenty pages long. John read the first two pages of robotics designs and artificial limb replacement; he also read information on something called brain interface and optimization technology. All strange stuff as far as he was concerned, the next item he understood well enough to be shocked by the concept. An energy transfer matrix, they had been successful in transmitting electricity.

"Damn that's cool," He thought aloud.

The next few items were the real shockers. Something called a U42 Reactor. Somehow, they had managed to build a miniature reactor no bigger than a pack of cigarettes. "Well someone would pay a fortune to get their hands on this. No wonder my parents were paranoid," John thought to himself.

The next item was related to the reactor technology and was somehow used in the creation of the reactors. It was some type of portal technology. Somehow, they had managed to open a very small portal to 'somewhere'. They were able to bring samples of new materials through the portal. The U42 reactors were powered by this material. The next entry in the portal logs was for testing a larger aperture for the portal and trying to bring more material through.

"I wonder if that is what caused the explosion?" John asked himself.

As he was reading his parents logs the intercom went off and Trish said dinner was ready. He left the lab, making sure the computer secured it behind him and went to the dining room.

"Well John, find out anything interesting down in the lab?" Jennifer asked while they were eating.

"Yes I did, let's just say I'm now going to be paranoid like my parents."

"You think we should get more security?" Jason asked.

"No, if anyone knows anything about what I just learned, well, it wouldn't matter if you had a few hundred men."

"Ouch," Jason said.

"So we will just be very careful with information, as far as everyone else knows my parents are working. The business they ran was manufacturing artificial limbs, and organs. That's where the story ends, no-more no-less."

After eating, John retreated to the lab to finish reading. He wondered if there was any connection with the lab before it blew.

"Computer do you have any records or logs from the test lab?"

"Yes I have complete logs up till the time of its destruction. That is how I knew to activate protocol 17."

"Could you give me a basic idea of what happened?"

"Those at the lab were in the process of enlarging the portal, once the size was greater they started receiving a signal from within the portal. They decided to open the portal more to get a stronger signal, at which point something came through the portal and then all transmissions were lost."