Randoms by David Liss Read Free Book Online Page A

a circular let’s go motion.
    â€œIt is always a good time to learn,” Dr. Roop said. “Don’t you agree, Ms. Price?”
    â€œI work for the government,” she answered, “so, no, I don’t agree. Let’s talk logistics.”
    â€œVery well. To remain on schedule, we would like to leave in two days. By that time, you should be aboard our orbiting spacecraft. That ship will take us to rendezvous with the delegates from one of the other applying species, and then we will go to Confederation Central, where you will attempt to demonstrate your species’ ability to thrive within our society.”
    â€œAnd how will I do that?” I asked, already sure I was going to fail miserably at whatever they wanted me to do.
    â€œWe will explain in due course. You need not concern yourself just yet.”
    â€œAnd can all four species become part of the Confederation,” I asked, “or just one of us?”
    â€œSometimes all four groups succeed. Sometimes none do. You are competing against yourselves, not one another. Any other questions?”
    â€œYeah,” I said. “How does space travel work? Most of the stuff I’ve read says that faster-than-light travel is impossible.”
    â€œI shall spare you the details,” said Dr. Roop. “You only need to know that we travel outside relativistic space, so there are no problems with time dilation, if that was your question.”
    â€œI’m pretty sure what you’re saying is beyond his concerns,” Ms. Price said.
    As it happens, that was my nerdy concern. I had a pretty good layman’s understanding of this stuff. According to Einstein, as you approach the speed of light, you not only require exponentially more energy as you acquire more mass, but you also experience the flow of time differently than the universe around you. The closer you get to light speed, the more the variance between the vessel and everything else outside it, so at high speeds a trip that only takes a few months for the crew of aship would happen over centuries for everyone else. I was glad to hear that these Confederation guys had found a way around that problem.
    â€œAnd this is all safe?”
    â€œThere are risks, of course,” Dr. Roop said, “but our safety record is significantly better than that of your auto travel on this planet, and superior even to your own aviation travel.”
    That was all good to know, but no matter how safe it was, my mother was not going to like the idea of me going off into space.
    Apparently reading my mind, Ms. Price handed me a file containing an alarmingly thick document.
    â€œWhat’s this?” I asked.
    â€œThat,” she said, “is a permission slip.”

CHAPTER SIX
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    I spent the night in a guest room that felt like a cross between a wedding suite and a mountain-man hideout. In the morning I found a tray outside my door containing juice, some fruit, and a pastry. There was also a note telling me to come down to Ms. Price’s office at exactly eleven. I was on time, because that’s the kind of guy I am.
    The first thing Ms. Price had me do, once she finished ignoring me for twenty minutes, was call my mother. I didn’t love the idea of her being summoned to Camp David, but I supposed it was a step up from being called to the principal’s office. When I spoke to her, I swore that everything was fine—better than fine—and that I really had been given an incredible opportunity. Then Ms. Price took the phone and told her a car was already on its way and she should be ready in an hour. Then she hung up on my mother.
    â€œI suppose you’ll want to meet the other children,” she said.
    â€œWhat, they’re here?”
    She nodded. “The participating nations agreed that a single location was preferable to having alien craft zipping all over the planet. Everyone was flown in on conventional aircraft last night. They’ll