A Ruby Beam of Light by Tom DeMarco

Author:Tom DeMarco [DeMarco, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780989282000
Publisher: Artful Press
Published: 2019-04-19T06:00:00+00:00

14

MOUSSE

Albert was waiting outside on the steps of Blair House. Homer took his elbow. “Let’s go,” he said. “We’re out of here.”

They caught a cab for Reagan Airport. Two first class seats had been booked for them on the noon flight to Ft. Lauderdale. Rupert Paule was a mad zealot, but an efficient mad zealot. Homer called Kelly from the boarding area.

After hanging up, Kelly examined her reflection in the mirror behind the desk. She didn’t look like a woman who’d just received news of impending Apocalypse. She just looked normal, or fairly normal. There were some signs of the strain of the past few days, perhaps accentuated by Homer’s call, but nothing very dramatic. She seemed just a tiny bit tense. It might have been the expression brought on by mild cramps, or by disappointment at a B on a term paper. Maybe she didn’t believe that any of it was going to happen, that any of it had already happened. Only she did. She believed absolutely that this was real. The events of the near future seemed by now to be determined, like the ending of a film she had already seen. If she wasn’t reacting more, it was because of the fatalism that had taken possession of her. She ran a hand through her hair. Behind her was the sound of Claymore humming cheerfully over his sculpture. Curtis was playing cops and robbers, playing all the parts in his made up drama: Hold it right there, Buster, in one voice, and then Drop that gun in another.

“I have to run down and pull the others out of the meeting, Curtis.”

“You’re gonna spring them. I think they’re gonna be real happy to be sprung. They weren’t enjoying themselves all that much.”

“And you’re going to put all the furniture back together in case we need sofas and chairs instead of a pillow fort.”

Down on the lobby level, she paused outside the Flamingo Room door to concoct her excuse. What she came up with wasn’t perfect, but it could be made to work, she supposed, if the others rose to the occasion. It would have to be played by ear. She stepped into the room, went purposefully up to Chandler who was in the middle of his peroration on the duties and responsibilities that students must be obliged to accept in exchange for the freedom that they had been given. He stopped in mid-sentence as Kelly arrived at his side.

“I’m so sorry to crash in like this, Senator, and to interrupt your work.” She put her hand onto his arm. “It’s just that something altogether extraordinary has just come over the news.” Kelly turned to Loren and Ed, who were seated side by side. “NASA has announced the discovery of an anti-star in the Crab Nebula.” She held her breath for someone to react.

Edward leapt to his feet. “My God, this is momentous! An anti-star! And in the Crab Nebula. Why, this is extraordinary news.”

Loren was standing as well. “We suspected that there was one there.

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