A.D.A.M. Read online

  The N.A.E.T. conference continued as Dr. Murdock brought her address to a close. “Now it is my extreme pleasure to introduce the leader of the A.D.A.M. Extraction team and our Keynote speaker, Dr. Sandra Bradford.”

  Applause erupted as Dr. Bradford approached the podium and Dr. Murdock sat in her designated spot.

  Dr. Bradford scanned the room. She made eye contact with each of her deceased colleagues’ spouses before beginning her speech. “Today is, in fact, a new beginning for humanity. We move from what is called science fiction to a day of scientific evidence of a new life form. As one of seven fellow researchers in the search for alien life, I am honored to present our findings.”

  Dr. Murdock took a sip of water and cleared her throat. Dr. Bradford glanced at her colleague and noticed Dr. Murdock’s hands trembled, but she continued her speech. “I would be remiss if I did not ask for a minute of silence in respect for our four fellow researchers, my husband, Dr. Peck, Dr. Peterson, Dr. Stolz and Dr. Gordon who are each represented today by their spouses. Will the spouses please stand in recognition?”

  Mr. Gordon, Mrs. Stolz, and Mrs. Peterson stood as the crowd applauded.

  Dr. Bradford nodded her head as she held back her tears. “Please bow your heads in respect.” Dr. Bradford bowed her head and placed her hand gently on the black ribbon on her lapel. She wiped away one tear as she remembered a tender moment with her husband.

  Dr. Bradford stood at the crib’s side and carefully covered her newborn son with a soft-blue fleece blanket. Her husband stood at her side as he beamed a white-toothed smile. She twisted the mobile musical knob, it spun, and then played a lullaby. A small tear rolled down her face.

  Jeffrey wiped her tears with his finger. “I hope those are happy tears.”

  “The best kind. I can’t believe we made our son.”

  Agent Morrison scanned the audience during the silent moment of respect. He noticed Ryan who stood to the side of the stage with a pitcher of water in his hand. He nudged Agent Turner. “Look at the waiter. Something’s off. Look at the sweat across his brow.”

  “Maybe he’s working hard.”

  “That’s the look of someone up to no good.”

  Dr. Samuelson coughed and sipped his water as beads of sweat formed on Dr. Murdock’s upper lip. She used her napkin to dab her face as her nose bled.

  Dr. Bradford lifted her head. “Our findings raise the question to the scientific community as what constitutes life. It also raises the question as to whether other forms of life, like this microbe, exists on other planets.”

  Dr. Murdock and Dr. Samuelson both choked as blood oozed from their nostrils momentarily distracting Dr. Bradford. “NASA sent the Phoenix Rover to Mars to collect samples that may prove beneficial in finding other life forms like A.D.A.M. on this alien planet. However, the rover is no longer communicating with us, and therefore, we may never receive the data necessary to determine if the same life form exists on Mars. We do, however, have conclusive evidence our robots found water on Mars.”

  Dr. Murdock and Dr. Samuelson’s face slammed onto the table.

  Ryan released the pitcher of water and bolted from the room.

  Agents Morrison glanced at Agent Turner as he stood. “Get Dr. Bradford out of here.”

  Agent Turner ran up onto the stage, grabbed Dr. Bradford and escorted to stage left as Agent Morrison followed the path of Ryan.

  The frenzied crowd dispersed chaotically.

  Outside the Pontchartrain Convention Center Rebecca delivered a live broadcast. The cool breeze off the lake blew her raven-silk hair away from her face. “I am on the location where just moments ago, two more scientists associated with the A.D.A.M. project have been confirmed dead. Crime scene investigators also confirmed they have a suspect and speculate the deaths of Dr. Gordon and Dr. Stolz may be the result of arsenic poisoning. They came to their speculative opinion when they found a small empty bottle of arsenic at the crime scene. I am Rebecca Newcombe reporting live. Stay tuned to KWNC as we bring you up-to-date information on this developing story.”

  Agent Morrison drove while Dr. Bradford and Agent Turner sat in the back seat of the black government issued SUV.

  “Thank you. Thank you both.” Dr. Bradford exhaled and then flashed a thin-lipped grinned toward Agent Turner.

  “Just doing our jobs.”

  “I would have sipped the water as soon as I finished speaking.”

  Agent Morrison’s eyes reflected in the rearview mirror. “As we stressed, we believe whoever is behind your colleague’s murders wants all of you dead.”

  “Now what? I get to live with you two for the rest of my life.” An expression of fury covered her face as she held the remainder of her thoughts.

  Jessica nervously sat on the steps outside of the N.A.E.T. research building as a memorial service for the slain scientists progressed. A priest stood in front of the crowd and held a Bible. “We have come together to honor six of our renowned researchers. Each an expert in our scientific community. Dr. Jeffery Peck, Head of NAET Astrobiology Institute, Michaud, New Orleans, Louisiana...”

  Jessica stood and proceeded around to the back of the building. She listened to the memorial service drifting throughout the campus as she tried to open the secured door to enter.

  “…Dr. Gregory Peterson, United States Chief in charge of Geological Survey, Huntsville, Alabama, Dr. Mildred Gordon, Chief of Stanford Synchronization Radiation Light Sources, Menlo Park, California.”

  Jessica checked the second door, which quickly opened, and bolted down the long sterile hall to Dr. Bradford’s lab. She pulled on the door. “Damn, nothing’s easy.” She removed a hairpin from her bun and picked the lock to Dr. Bradford’s lab. The lock clicked open. “Yes, I guess that magic class is finally paying off. I did learn a trick or two.” She quickly entered the empty lab. The hazard crew provided an exemplary cleaning job. From the empty file cabinets to the empty desk, nothing remained.

  She bit her bottom lip, took a deep breath, and recited her mantra as she pretended to pull the air from her nose and mouth. “Auh ommm… Auh …ommm.” Her eyes widened, and her body shuddered. “Dr. B told Rebecca it was here; so, it is here. Keep looking Jessica, just keep looking girl. Auh ommm. Auh ommm.”

  She continued to search to no avail as she opened every cabinet and every drawer. “Where is it, Jessica? Focus. Think!” With her index fingers, she pressed each temple. Think, Jessica, think!

  “Okay. Rebecca told me Dr. Bradford said FRAC is where I always kept my diary. Oh! Oh! Oh, shit!”

  She bolted toward the stool, grabbed it, and pulled it beneath the clock to the left of the door. She carefully climbed onto the stool and removed the clock from the wall. She turned it over and sighed in relief as she gawked at the two small vials of murky water securely taped to the back marked, “Sample A” and “Sample B.”

  “Yes! You’re fracking right. Way to go, Dr. B.”

  The lab door opened, and Giles limped in. “Hey, get down from there before you hurt yourself.”

  Jessica caught off guard by Giles’ entrance dropped one vial as she watched it shatter onto the floor, and the liquid dispersed. “Shit! Now what?” Jessica quickly jumped down from the chair as Giles limped toward her.

  “You’re not supposed to be in here. Get out!”

  Jessica resorted to her full-flirt mode as she undid her bun, shook her hair, and removed her glasses. “Come on. It’s me. I’ll clean it up. I promise.” She blew a kiss and winked.

  “It’s not going to work this time. I can’t let you have that.” He reached for the last vial in Jessica’s hand. She tried to jerk it away, but it tumbled out of her hand to the rhythm of her heartbeat and shattered onto the floor. She bolted from the lab.

  “That girl is nothing but trouble.”

  Giles retrieved several of the vial fragments and tossed them into a trash bin. When he attempted to grab a small piece, he pricked his index finger. He shook his hand and then sucked his fingertip to stop the b
leeding. A yellow tint on his bottom lip glowed neon yellow. He jerked as if he had a seizure and collapsed.

  Patrick and Rebecca sat at their usual anchor chairs as the make-up artist applied the finishing touches to Rebecca’s make-up before broadcast.

  Rebecca waved her hand. “That’s enough.”

  “Very well, Ma’am.” The make-up artist left.

  As Rebecca took a deep breath, she relaxed and jetted a smile. “Reporters wait their entire life to get back-to-back stories that make their career and the powers to be handed me back-to-back features.”

  “Is this your way of rubbing it in?”

  “Not at all. I’m just extremely grateful.”

  The traffic jam heading east on Interstate 10 toward the KWNC news station, began to move to Dr. Bradford’s relief. “I hate traffic in the city.”

  Agent Morrison glanced into the review mirror. “Dr. Bradford, it’s not too late for you to cancel your appearance on What Matters.

  “No, I’m not one to run and hide. I’m safer in the public’s eye, in my opinion. Besides, I have both of you to protect me.”

  Agent Turner frowned in disapproval. “I respectfully disagree. Making yourself available to the public isn’t the wisest thing for you to do.”

  “I’ll respectfully agree to disagree with you.”

  “No matter your decision, we will be here to protect you. We’ll keep you safe.”

  “Do you think it’s the waiter? You believe he’s the one who is using arsenic against my team?”

  Agent Morrison licked his lips. “Ironic, don’t you think? Using arsenic against a team of scientists who discovered a new life form that thrives off arsenic.”

  Agent Turner nodded her head in agreement. “You just took the words right out of my mouth.”

  “How long will it be until you know for certain it is the waiter?”

  Looking back through the review mirror, Agent Morrison clenched his jaw. “You never know how long it takes to break a psychopath.”

  “He’s weak.” Agent Turner glanced toward Dr. Bradford. “I read his profile. It won’t take long to get a confession with the right interrogator.”

  Agent Morrison pressed the accelerator as he weaved in and out of traffic. “I agree. Just heed my advice. Take solace; we have a suspect.”

  “Believe me, I do.”

  The What Matters television show was already in progress with co-anchors Patrick and Rebecca broadcasted throughout the area.

  Patrick nodded his head. “I have to agree with you on this one, Rebecca. Our government has been open and honest with the public more than usual.”

  “Exactly. Now that you understand my frame of reference, why all the honesty from our Government officials when they have dictated decades of silence and denial of extraterrestrial life? Next, are they going to come forth and say they have aliens in a bunker at Roswell? Is hanger eighteen for real? Did a spacecraft crash into Mono Lake?”

  “You might be stretching that one out a bit, don’t you think?”

  “This will be one area we’ll discuss with our next guest Dr. Sandra Bradford, the last of the scientists involved in the A.D.A.M. research project. We’ll be asking the tough questions you want to ask but are afraid to.”

  “Stay with us as we discuss the new life form and whether this discovery is by coincidence or part of a governmental conspiracy.”

  The black SUV pulled into the KWNC guard gate as Agent Morrison rolled down his window. A burly security guard stepped forward. “Name.”

  Agent Morrison flashed his badge. “I’m escorting Dr. Sandra Bradford. She is a guest on the show What Matters.”

  The guard glanced at his clipboard. “Very well, parking is on the right.” He motioned them through.

  Jessica’s car traveled quickly down the highway as she held her cellphone to her ear and listened to the Stephen Stone Diamond Show. The Hummer in front of Ruby’s Café tailed her from a distance.

  “Thank you for calling the Stephen Stone Diamond Show, the best of talk show podcasts. Please hold, you’re next in the phone queue.”

  A minute elapsed as Jessica concentrated on her driving.

  “This is Stephen Stone Diamond, caller five zero four you’re live on the air.”

  “Yeah, I just love your talk show.”

  “Glad to hear it. So, what’s on your mind today caller five zero four?”

  “I think the government has been covering up a lot of things. Probably things I can’t begin to imagine.”

  “I would have to agree. It goes way back to Roswell with aliens crashing on earth and our government covering it up.”

  “That’s right. So right now, it’s really freaky that all the scientists who are part of the N.A.E.T. extraction team are dead. Well, all but Dr. Bradford, who is being held against her will by the FBI.” Jessica’s car approached KWNC.

  “Very interesting. What can you tell me about the good doctor? I want the juicy stuff. Leave nothing out.”

  “Well, let me tell you about what happened at the lab the other morning. The men in black …”

  The phone call disconnected, and only static came from the radio. “What the Hell?”

  A small drone passed over her car as she pulled up to the KWNC guard gate.

  In his broadcast booth, Stephen sat at the microphone. “Caller five zero four, are you still on the line? Now, folks, that’s a tad bit weird. Just when we were talking about aliens and men in black, we get static, and I’m disconnected from a caller we have grown to know as caller five zero four. Believe me, folks; UFO’s are real. It makes me wonder what President-Elect Corbin will do the moment she is sworn into office tomorrow. Will she lift her hand off the Bible and bolt for Air Force One? I know I would. I would go straight for Area Fifty-One and look at that damn alien and their ship. I’d announce the truth to the entire world. That’s why I wouldn’t ever be allowed to be president. The aliens are in control, and they wouldn’t want me to know their secrets. Do you remember President Watergate Nixon and the shadowy figure? I do. According to that half-baked truth-talker, President Nixon had a time capsule hidden in the White House that had evidence of alien life and human contact with extraterrestrials. Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t. The fact is that this person claims he had the proof in his hands, and he dropped it off in a mailbox headed for Henry Kissinger. Come on! If I had a letter like that, I would have read it and gone straight to the press. On that note, President Carter filed a UFO report while he was a governor after he told everyone he saw a UFO. I bet he went to Roswell soon after, but someone had to have gotten to him, so he never reported what he saw. President Clinton visited Area Fifty-One and reported he saw nothing at all. I question, how can the President of the United States say he saw nothing? Is that what he was instructed to say? He would have had to see the scientists or other personnel at least. But, nothing. Come on, folks. What are your thoughts? Are aliens real? Lines are open. Call into the show while I go to a commercial break and give some love to one of sponsors. Caller five zero four, call me back. I have plenty of questions to ask you. You’re listening to the Stephen Stone Diamond Show.”

  Jessica, Dr. Bradford, Agent Morrison, and Agent Turner watched from across the newsroom as Rebecca and Patrick interviewed Lieutenant Commander Anderson during the live broadcast of What Matters.

  Patrick beamed a white-toothed smile and proudly shook the Commander’s hand. “It has been an honor to have Lieutenant Commander Anderson on our show today. He is a courageous American hero who currently serves our country. KWNC, our sponsors, and of course, our audience salute you and all military personnel who gallantly serve our country.”

  Agent Morrison stood as if Patrick spoke about him.

  Rebecca nodded in agreement. “When we return from our commercial break, Dr. Sandra Bradford will be here to answer our questions. The N.A.E.T. astrobiologist who discovered the new life form that uses arsenic instead of phosphorus to survive is in the studio. We’ll be right back.”

  He
nry quickly escorted Lieutenant Commander Anderson from the stage and removed his lapel microphone. “Thank you for coming Commander. You serve our country proudly.”

  The military man tipped his hat, smiled, and then left. Henry rushed over to Dr. Bradford. “Okay. We have to mic you up. Glad you’re in a suit.” He attached the transmitter to her skirt and then clipped the small lapel microphone to her jacket collar. “You’re up next, shall we?” He extended his hand toward the stage.

  Dr. Bradford stepped toward the platform.

  Jessica adjusted her glasses as a twitch of a grin lifted. “Break a leg, Dr. B.”

  Dr. Bradford ignored Jessica as she and Henry walked toward the stage.

  Henry shook Dr. Bradford’s hand. “Thank you for coming. It’s an honor to meet you.”

  They stepped up onto the platform where Rebecca and Patrick waited. He pointed to the chair once occupied by Lieutenant Commander Anderson. “Take a seat. We go live in thirty seconds.”

  “Y’all don’t waste any time around here.” Dr. Bradford grinned at Rebecca.

  “We can’t afford to; I halfway expected for you to cancel given what’s been going on.”

  “Rebecca, have I ever let you down?”

  Henry held up his hand as he stood beside the camera. “We’re back live in five seconds. Quiet on the set; and, action!”

  Patrick flashed his pearly whites. “Welcome back to What Matters. You are in for a real treat. Renowned astrobiological researcher, Dr. Sandra Bradford, is here. Everyone wants to hear about this new life form called A.D.A.M. Rebecca, kick things off for us.”

  “First, welcome Dr. Bradford.”

  “It’s a pleasure to be here.”

  Rebecca nodded her head. “What can you tell us about your team’s discovery? This alien life form that uses arsenic.”

  “Not much, I’m afraid. The scientific community must conduct extensive research and verify my team’s theories. Unfortunately, the military took all the samples before I finished conducting the research for quantification.”