Epilogue

"This meeting will come to order," Sean said to the twenty people sitting around the large conference table. Department heads and their assistants quickly quieted and Sean said, "Aunt Liz, would you open the meeting, please?"

"Yes, Sean," Liz Cavalla replied. "This is the quarterly meeting of Gordian Enterprises. All department heads are present or accounted for. This meeting is being held at the Gordian Enterprises' Corporate Offices in Phoenix, Arizona on March 20, 2013. The last meeting was on the Winter Solstice on December 21, 2012. The next scheduled meeting will be on the summer Solstice on June 21, 2013."

"Thank you, Aunt Liz," Sean said. "We will get to the reports from all department heads in a moment. Before we start I would like to point out something important to our mission. Last month, on February 15th, 2013, a meteor exploded over Russia. The, um, forecast was twenty to thirty years from March 12th, 1993. Unfortunately, the meteor was a month shy of the minimum amount of time the forecast predicted. The forecast also says we can expect to see more meteors, with the frequency increasing over the next several years. We have about forty years before earth is clear of the debris field." Sean took a deep breath before grimly continuing. "There are also reports from some astronomers of a killer asteroid the size of two football fields due to hit earth in 2036. That would be an extinction event."

Sean looked around at the worried faces at the table before continuing.

"We have known what we would be facing, and now we know that it has started. Keep that in mind as you listen to the reports from other departments. Think about the challenges in your own department. Look for kernels of information in other departments successes that will resolve the challenges in your department. On that grim note, let's get this meeting started," Sean said. "What progress do the department heads have to report for the last quarter?"

Department heads began reporting their progress and Sean listened, even though he had already read the reports. The primary reason for this process, was to allow all the department heads to know about advancements and progress other departments were making. It was surprising how often, an obscure advancement in one discipline cleared a major hurdle for another discipline.

Sean's mind wandered as he considered his life since accepting this task. Megan was an integral part of Gordian Enterprises, even though she was a full time mother to their daughter and their two sons. He had to suppress a smile when he thought about where the physics class in high school had led him and Megan. Rafe was over ninety years old and was an vital part of Gordian enterprises. Mr. Mallory had been part of their task force but had been killed in a car wreck nine years earlier. Sean made sure the wreck had been natural, and not caused by a Brujo. Sean's and Megan's Seconds became their personal assistants. Steve Madison and Ruth Solberg, as well as a few other friends from high school became indispensable in organizing and driving the goals of Gordian Enterprises. Sean thought back over the progress of the last twenty years during the presentations and was amazed at mankind's progress.

Breakthroughs in meta materials had benefited many different fields. Vehicle hulls made from materials not found in nature were perfected for cars, boats, and airplanes before being applied to ships that would carry man beyond the atmosphere. Other meta materials were also applied to the interior of power plants powerful enough to carry those ships beyond the atmosphere. Other technology was used to convert water to hydrogen to provide power on earth and in space. Solar sails were refined to ease man's passage around the solar system. A particle drive that hinted at speeds approaching the speed of light was on the drawing board. Some scientists argued that the theorized drive might be a solution that would reach other stars. Other scientists, proponents of string theory, searched for more exotic solutions like creating worm holes to travel to other stars. The string theory scientists may have the answer too. Quantum entanglement experiments, carried out to perfect quantum computers, demonstrated that the entanglement was possible because of tiny wormholes created between the electrons. They were still a long way from travel to other stars, but it was a step.