Outland (World-Lines Book 1) by Dennis Taylor Read Free Book Online Page A

that’s from an experiment that we did last night.”
    “You mean your bro-ject? A physics experiment about randomness is making you smell like a volcano?”
    “Uh…” Matt realized with a start that he had just stepped into dangerous territory. Richard had been pretty clear about confidentiality, and Richard didn’t seem to have a sense of humor where that was concerned. Or anywhere else, come to think of it.
    Matt made a valiant attempt to derail the inquiry, but all he did was to make Erin more suspicious. In the end, she extracted the truth by the simple— and effective— expedient of threatening to walk out and leave him to entertain himself.
    “So your project ejected a plume of gas? And that’s what I smell?”
    Matt shrugged an acknowledgment, looking down at his feet. “This is all supposed to be confidential. Spilling the beans to my girlfriend is going to get my bro license revoked.” He gave her a weak smile. “Not to mention that Bill will point out some movie where this happens and someone ends up getting killed.”
    “Well, I’m coming to your next meeting. I need to talk to them about this,” Erin stated with finality. “I’m not sure you guys have thought this through.”
    Matt sighed. Not good .
     

Enter Erin
    June 21              Erin
    Erin entered Dempsey’s Pub as Matt held the door for her. She waited while he did a quick once-over to find his group. The pub was less than half full, and the buzz of background conversation was muted. It was around dinnertime, so the aroma of caramelized onions, cooked beef, and vinegar dominated the room. Matt’s stomach rumbled, and Erin smiled. Wouldn’t mind a burger myself.
    He touched her elbow lightly, and she followed him in the indicated direction. Three men were sitting at the table. She recognized Bill, and had little problem guessing which of the other two was Richard and which was Kevin.
    As they approached the table, they were met with glares ranging from surprised to murderous. Matt said, “I suppose you’re all wondering why I’ve gathered you here.”
    That got a chuckle from Bill, but Richard looked even angrier. He transferred his glare to Erin.
    She glared back at him, daring him to give her any lip.
    After several seconds of standoff, Richard looked at Matt and said between clenched teeth, “There’d better be a damned good explanation for this. I thought I was pretty clear before.”
    “Look Richard, Erin smelled the fumes from the event the other day on my clothing, and I think she may have a better viewpoint on this than we do.” He spread his hands. “She’s a geology major, for crying out loud. She identified the chemical in the gas plume just from the odor, and it scares me a little bit that she thought I’d been hanging around a volcano.”
    Matt held a chair for Erin as she sat down, and did quick introductions. He took a seat beside Erin, then continued. “I know you wanted this project kept quiet, but I’m pretty sure we’re out of our depth at the moment. What if the next time we open the gate, the results are even worse?”
    All eyes were on Richard as he stared at Matt. After a few seconds, he sighed and nodded. “Okay, point taken.”
    Richard took out his phone, poked at it, then handed it to Erin. “Here’s the video record from the event.”
    She pressed PLAY and watched the scene unfold. Richard, Bill, and Kevin provided running commentary.
    “Holy crap!” she exclaimed, when it got to the exciting part.
    When the video had finished, she sat in thought for a few seconds, then handed the phone back to Richard. “I’m guessing that wasn’t what you expected. Matt told me that on the previous try, you were working with coin flips.”
    Richard looked down at his hands, and Erin could see that he was trying not to break into a grin. So he has a sense of humor. Why does he act like he’s determined to be a jerk?
    Richard looked up, deadpan. “Yeah, we figure it was your boyfriend’s