Parker's Folly by Doug L Hoffman Read Free Book Online Page A

ridgeline. Still, he could not help but compare the two women walking ahead of him. Susan, who was a truly stunning beauty, walked with an alluring sway that could stop traffic in any city in Texas—hell, anywhere for that matter. It was, as one of his physics professors described it, the coupling of rotational and translational motion in perfect harmony. Not all women knew the secret, the walk was definitely something that pretty women learned, a walk that says “I know you're watching me—eat your heart out!”
    The Lieutenant, on the other hand, did not walk with movie starlet grace. She strode forward with determination, not wasting energy on extraneous motion. Definitely feminine but no nonsense, and with a hint of “I can kick your butt” as well. Her rank here was obviously a civilian label, but something in the back of JT's mind whispered military . Where Susan exuded sexuality, Lieutenant Curtis walked like a warrior princess.
    Steady boy, don't get carried away, he thought, giving his head a slight shake. For almost a year, he had been riding in the news van with Susan, and though he was as appreciative of her physical charms as any man, he had never been tempted to make a play for her. He had decided at the beginning of their partnership that she was a team member, a colleague not a prospective date. Time had proven that approach to be the right one—Susan didn't get romantically involved with people at work—and he felt they now enjoyed a strong mutual friendship. That put Susan off limits in the romance department. The green-eyed amazon walking next to her, now she was fair game.
    As they emerged into the brightly lit interior of the hangar, Lt. Curtis was speaking in a military issue brief-the-VIPs voice: “This, ladies and gentlemen, is the ship—she has yet to be formally christened. O verall hull length is 135 meters, beam 12 meters  amidships, with tapering at both bow and stern. That would be 440 feet by 39 feet for the metrically challenged. There are two decks forward and aft, with three decks in the mid section except for the main cargo hold aft of midships. If she were a naval vessel she'd displace 7400 metric tons. In all, she's a bit bigger than a Seawolf attack submarine.”
    Lt. Curtis turned to find her audience standing with mouths agape, staring down the ship's curving flank toward the back of the hangar. “Sorry, I forget how overwhelming she can be to newcomers.”
    JT quickly recovered his wits, shouldered his camera and began recording the long silver ship in front of him. Panning left slowly, toward the front of the ship, light glinted off its gleaming crystal nose. This was not just some crackpot building a mockup or model in his garage—this was an honest to God spaceship! Then, reining in his wildly racing thoughts, he tried to regain his objectivity.
    Sure, its big and shiny, but that doesn't mean it will fly. And why is it laying on its side? Aren't spaceships supposed to be launched straight up? For that matter, is there anything inside the hull? Impressive as the exterior is, it could still be a hoax. He concentrated on the camera, not trusting himself to speak.
    “Oh. My. Goodness,” Susan managed. “This will most certainly make the six o'clock news.”
    A hint of a smile on played across the First Officer's previously stoic face. “If you will please follow me, I'll take you inside,” she said, with obvious pride. “Come, we'll enter through the main cargo door and work our way forward.”
     

AFTAC, Patrick AFB, Florida
    “Sir, it looks like we have a Pinnacle Faded Giant event in the western part of Texas. No EMP or seismic activity has registered but we have confirmed neutron and gamma ray hits,” Major Beldsoe told her boss, the commander of AFTAC, over the secure phone line. A Faded Giant is a nuclear event not related to a weapons detonation and not considered likely to start a nuclear war.
    Faded Giant not withstanding, he had been barbequing in the back