The Eye of God

The Eye of God by James Rollins Read Free Book Online Page B

Book: The Eye of God by James Rollins Read Free Book Online
Authors: James Rollins
Tags: thriller, Suspense, Science-Fiction, adventure, Historical, Mystery
piquing in his voice. “Director Crowe, a moment of your time.”
    Painter moved to join his boss in front of the world map.
    “This is the latest and most refined telemetry data,” Metcalf said, pointing to the crash path of the falling satellite on the map. “The impact site is likely here, in a remote region of northern Mongolia. As you can see, it’s not far from the borders of both Russia and China. So far, there have been no rumblings from either country about this crash.”
    “What about eyes on the ground out there?”
    Metcalf shook his head. “This region of Mongolia is mountainous and remote. Populated only by nomadic tribesmen.”
    Painter understood. “In that case, we’ve got a small window to get out there and find that burned piece of military space hardware before either Russia or China catches wind of it.”
    “Precisely.”
    Painter glanced over to the other screen. No one understood what had happened to generate that disturbing image, but they all knew any answers lay amid the crashed ruins of the Eye of God . Secondarily, it was vital that the satellite’s advanced technology not be lost to a foreign nation.
    “I’ve already got Captain Kat Bryant over at Sigma command working on the logistics for a search team.”
    “Very good. I want you on the first plane back to D.C. There’s a jet being fueled for you. That’s your top priority. Find and secure that wreckage.”
    Metcalf turned his back, dismissing him.
    Off to the side, Dr. Shaw had her head bowed next to the technician. The man kept nodding his head, glancing at the screen, then finished with a scared look on his face.
    What’s that all about?
    The technician stepped away from Dr. Shaw and crossed to an engineering station, waving others to join him.
    Curious, Painter stepped to the young astrophysicist’s side as she continued to study the screen.
    She noted his attention. “I still say it’s the comet.”
    Painter had heard her earlier theories. “Dr. Shaw, you still believe all this is a consequence of dark energy?”
    “Call me Jada. And, yes, from the last spool of data from the satellite, the geodetic effect registered a misalignment of 5.4 degrees.”
    From the ardent look in her eyes as she glanced at him, he saw she expected this to strike him as significant.
    It didn’t.
    “That means precisely what?” he asked.
    She sighed with frustration. She had spent the last two hours arguing with the brass at the base, trying to get them to listen to her, and clearly she was losing patience with them all.
    “Picture a bowling ball resting on a thin stretch of trampoline,” she said. “The mass of the ball would create a depression in the surface. That’s what the earth does to the geography around it. It curves space and time. This is proven by both theory and experiment, and the geodetic effect is a measuring rod for that curvature. So when the data reports a misalignment, it’s registering a wrinkle in that space-time. Something my theory posited could happen if IoG-1 collected an influx of dark energy. But I never expected such a deep wrinkle.”
    A worried crinkle of her own formed between her brows.
    “So what has you looking so concerned?” he asked.
    “At best, I had hoped to see merely a twitch in the geodetic effect. Something less than 0.1 percent, and something brief, on the nano-scale level of time. A twist of alignment of over five percent and sustained for almost a full minute . . .” She gave her head a slight shake.
    “Earlier, you theorized that the massive burst of dark energy might have torn a small hole in space-time, possibly opening a brief window into an alternate universe, one parallel to our own, one where the Eastern Seaboard was destroyed.”
    She studied the screen. “Or it may be a peek into our own future.”
    That was a disturbing possibility she hadn’t previously voiced.
    “Time is not a linear function,” she continued, almost as if she were working something out in her head.

Similar Books

Perilous Waters

Diana Paz

The Gold of the Gods

Erich von Däniken

Wouldn't It Be Deadly

D. E. Ireland

Exiled Omnibus

James Hunt

Give and Take

Laura Dower

Hidden Scars

Amanda King