The Prometheus Project by Douglas E. Richards Read Free Book Online Page B

saying,” said Ben Resnick, his brown eyes now locked onto Carl’s in a cool, unblinking gaze, “that you’re not just deciding what to do about two kids, but what to do about me and Amanda as well.”
    Carl nodded unhappily. “Yes. I do realize that. This is truly a horrible situation with no easy answers. This does not involve criminals, spies from other nations, saboteurs, or terrorists. That would be easy. No, this involves innocent kids who are the children of two of our key scientists. Not to mention that Ben here just made an incalculable contribution to this project. Yet the importance of keeping this project absolutely secret could not be greater.”
    “We won’t tell anyone,” pleaded Regan. “We swear.”
    Ryan vigorously nodded his agreement beside her.
    Carl pursed his lips but said nothing. He considered the two young intruders in silence for an agonizingly long time, his mind obviously running through a number of possibilities. No one in the room spoke or even seemed to breathe. “Although I believe it is a great risk,” he said at last, “it may very well be that trusting you to keep this absolutely secret is the best option we have.”
    “But kids are terrible at keeping secrets—even if their intentions are good,” said a plump woman with glasses who, like most of the scientists in the room, had remained silent until this point.
    The same is true of most adults, thought Carl, but aloud he said, “We don’t have a choice. Not a real one, anyway.”
    The head of security sighed and turned toward the kids with a very serious, and very troubled, expression. “Listen very closely,” he said. “I need for you to understand just what is at stake here. This city could easily change the world’s balance of power. Even though we don’t intend to apply what we learn here to create weapons—the world has plenty of these already—there are many governments that would never believe us. If they knew this city was in our hands they would panic. It’s not a stretch to say that this panic could ultimately lead to World-War Three.”
    Ryan and Regan gulped.
    “Are you with me so far?” said Carl.
    They both nodded. Every word was etched in their minds.
    “This is one possible nightmarish consequence of this secret getting out. But there are many others. What if terrorist groups got wind of this? What would they be willing to do to try to get this city under their control? The technology here could make them unstoppable.” He paused. “I could go on for hours, but I trust you get the point.”
    “Absolutely,” croaked Ryan while Regan nodded beside him.
    “Good. The stakes could not be higher. Because of this we have considerable power to protect this secret. If you keep this a secret, everything will be just fine. But if we ever learn you discussed this project, or joked about it, or talked in your sleep at a campout about it, we’ll be all out of pleasant options.”
    He turned toward Ben and Amanda Resnick and gave an apologetic look. “And your parents will be affected as well. What options am I talking about? Imprisonment. Planting evidence that your entire family has a history of mental illness leading you all to rant about aliens and spies and ray-guns. Probably both. And if you fail to keep this secret, don’t think for a moment that we won’t find out. We will.”
    Carl leaned in as he finished, looming over his far smaller listeners to add even more menace to his words. “Now—have I made myself perfectly clear?”
    “Perfectly,” they both whispered at the same time.
    “Amanda? Ben?”
    “Understood,” said Mr. Resnick. “Given the circumstances, this is a very fair solution. I know my kids. They will keep this a secret.”
    “Kids,” said Dr. Harris gently. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am that this has happened and how sorry I am that the seriousness of this situation had to be spelled out in this way. If we could undo things so you would never discover this city we