The Second Sphere

Shari’s eyes wandered across my face. She scratched the side of her head as though she didn’t know me. I stood in front of her, waiting for her memory to function.

I’d never been to Quincy’s office by myself. Being up on the top floor, I felt like the kid called from class to go to the principal’s office.

“Mr. Cox!” she said finally. “Please let me make sure that Mr. Laslow is ready for you.” Her eyes closed as she connected with Quincy Laslow. Her mouth moved, but I couldn’t hear her voice. When she finished speaking, she gestured toward the door behind her.

“Hello, Orion,” Quincy said when I got into his office. “Nice to see you again.” I shook his hand, and he gestured toward the couch. He was dressed down that day, a pair of gray slacks and a blue dress shirt with sleeves rolled up to the elbow. He wore a calm, almost happy expression as though he were genuinely pleased to see me. The office smelled like gently washed bed sheets.

“Can I offer you anything to drink? Water? Coffee? Whiskey?”

“Coffee, sir,” I said.

He leaned forward and said, “Coffee, please, Shari.”

He leaned back in his seat and regarded me coldly. He massaged the right side of his face before he spoke.

“I’m truly sorry for what happened to you last night. I can only imagine how horrible it was.”

“Thank you, sir. I’m doing okay right now.”

“That’s good to hear, Orion. Very good to hear.” Laslow bit his lower lip and patted the couch cushion next to him.

“I understand that you found some rather exceptional information among Mr. Newberry’s belongings,” he said. “Bryant was naïve to think that he could delete a piece of evidence from the record of an event like that and not have it attract attention.” I must’ve given him a startled expression because he beamed a wide smile, pleased with his surveillance.

“In fact, I’ve brought the chip with me so that you can see for yourself.” Quincy Laslow deserved to be briefed on this information. Holding on to it served no purpose. If the videos were fake, then there was nothing more than embarrassment to overcome. If they were true, then we, or rather I, would gain enormous credibility.

Laslow shook his head. “Please, if you could just give me a brief summary.”

So I told him every last ridiculous detail about what I’d seen during the interviews. The whole time I spoke, Quincy Laslow gazed at me as though I had just escaped from a mental health facility. When I was done, he raised his right cheek, in what was almost a smile, but not quite.

“I can understand why Bryant would want to wait to confirm this,” he said. Then he sighed. “This sounds absolutely nuts.”

“Mr. Laslow, I feel pretty confident that this information will hold up under inspection.”

“We need this information confirmed.”

“We’ll work on it, sir. We’ll get confirmation.”

“Couldn’t this be another in a long line of attempts to throw the Intelligence services from the trail of the GR?” Quincy asked.

“It’s certainly possible,” I said. “But what happened last night makes me believe otherwise.”

Laslow thought this over. “It’s funny, Mr. Newberry thought that the Laslow Corporation had too much power, too much influence. He thought we manipulated public officials. And yet he still wanted you to have this information. He couldn’t have thought we were totally evil, could he?”

“I suppose not, sir,” I said. “That’s part of the reason why I thought it was important to bring this to you.” I was surprised by Quincy’s reaction, his un-rumpled stoicism in the face of news that totally altered the way that humans related to one another and the universe. I’d anticipated more skepticism.

“If this is true, it’s exactly the type of information that could do great damage to the credibility of the TSG.” Quincy waited for my response. But I was still dumbfounded by his casual demeanor.

”Mr. Laslow, I think we need to consider the possibility that Newberry’s death was related to this information,” I said.

He crossed his right leg over his left. “That’s a most disturbing proposition,” he said. “Most disturbing. I understand that none of it was filmed?”

I nodded.

“From what you’ve just told me about the information on the chip, Orion, and the bizarre turn of events yesterday evening, this is turning into a rather special case.” This was an understatement. “Have you ever been a party to anything like this?”

“No, sir,” I said.

“I’m sure you could tell when you came here the other day that finding something linking Newberry to the Green Revolution and perhaps the New Mumbai incident was rather important to me,” he said. “I had a feeling we’d find something strange. Not that I could’ve predicted something like this,” Quincy said. “What I’m getting at is, as this investigation proceeds, it’s important that I stay informed on this critical matter. The normal updates that I get from Bryant aren’t satisfactory.”

“Sir?”

“Of course, you’ll still report to Bryant. I don’t want to break your chain of command. I’m not suggesting that I’ll be giving you instructions or advice directly. But I was wondering if it might not be too much of a bother to keep me attuned to what’s going on throughout the investigation. I’m quite interested in what you find.”

“Sir?” I asked again, still unsure of what he was getting at.

The assistant entered the office with a tray and a carafe of coffee with two cups. Her eyes met Quincy’s and lingered for several moments. Then, she poured coffee in each of the cups and set them down in front of us, along with cream and sugar enhancement. I poured some cream into mine and took a sip.

Shari left, and as she did, Laslow’s eyes followed her. “Despite his opinions, Newberry was a tremendous source.” He stopped talking to take a sip of his coffee. “We can’t let that source die without confirming this major piece of information. And it’s terribly important that I be regularly updated with what you’re doing. Perhaps tomorrow morning or so, you’ll let me know what you found.”

“Can I ask you a question, sir?”

“Of course, Orion,” he said.

“Why me? Why the sudden interest?”

“Why the interest? I thought I just explained what my interest was,” he said to me. He grimaced and tried to force a smile. Perhaps he thought that my military background gave me a predilection toward not questioning authority. My superiors always pigeonholed me as a yes man. But my military days were long ago.

“Well, I’ve been on the moon for oh, fifty years. Never once been in your office without Bryant. Never. Now, you ask me to come here and give you special updates. I figure I’m owed a bit more than that,” I said.

“Yes, indeed, Orion. But as I’m sure that you’ll find, this is an exceptional case, isn’t it? I find this thing to be more unusual than anything this organization has ever before faced. I think you can agree that what happened to you last night was extraordinarily odd, no?”

He still wasn’t answering my question.

“What comes out of this case may have an impact on all of us, Orion, and I want to be kept in the loop as to what’s going on.” He arched his right eyebrow as though he recognized his own intelligence.

“What I need is the experience of someone who has done some in-depth analysis before, someone who has been in the field, and someone who knows how to make judgment calls about whatever research Newberry was doing. Obviously Bryant thinks important information should be kept from me until he deems fit to pass it along. That’s simply unacceptable. And that’s the reason why you’re here.” That he didn’t want to tell me the whole story was obvious. But flattery worked.

“Yes, sir,” I said.

“This is important to us, Orion,” Laslow said as he leaned forward. “It’s not only important to me, but it’s important to my father, too.” The mention of his father hooked me.

“I’m listening.”

“I know you’ve put in for retirement in five years. But what if I were to tell you that Bryant’s position here at Laslow might be empty in the near future? What would you say?”

“I’d say that I’m still listening.”

“Just know that if you can follow through on this for me that I can help you. And my father, I’m sure, will be happy to see your results as well. Once this episode is finished, we can sit down and figure out when you might move to your new position,” he said.

I’ve got to admit, I was impressed. Bryant’s hubris was getting in the way of his relationship with Quincy Laslow. Images of that beautifully positioned office cha-chaed through my chip. Quincy now spoke the language of risk, reward, and compensation; a language that I was totally conversant in. I could put off retirement for a few more years.

“Do we have something?” he asked. I rose and shook his hand.

“Yes sir, I believe we do.” I looked into Quincy Laslow’s eyes and saw a secure future.

“This agreement can benefit both of us,” he said.

“Thank you for this opportunity, sir.”

Certainly I didn’t take time to think through the implications of the commitment I’d made. I’d promised to sneak around under the protection of Quincy Laslow; that was clear. The work seemed easy enough: merely reporting back on my day-to-day work. It wouldn’t be terribly difficult to get around Bryant in order to find time to meet with Quincy. The former was too busy to notice me taking meetings.

I just hoped that the rest of the investigation would play out smoothly. I’d managed to put myself in a position that could bring both power and a bit more money. I felt a swagger come to my steps as I went back to my office.

If I played this the right way, I’d soon be the Lunar Director of Intelligence for the Laslow Corporation.