Alex Benedict 07 - Coming Home Read Online Free PDF Page A

hopefully get it tangled, then see if we can unwrap it. Stabilize it.”
    “That sounds like a good idea,” I said. “And we have an invitation? When?”
    “We’ll be getting set up tomorrow,” said JoAnn. “So figure we leave the day after.”
    Shara smiled uncomfortably. “Sorry about the short notice, Chase. But we just got clearance, and time is a priority.”

TWO
     
The black hole is nature’s ultimate assault on the notion of a reasonable, friendly universe. No advantage can be extracted from its existence. It adds nothing to the majesty of the natural world. And if there is evidence anywhere that the cosmos does not give a damn for its children, this is it.
     
—Margaret Wilson,
Flameout
, 1277
     
    I called Alex that night and told him about the
Capella
.
“That’s good news,”
he said.
“I hope they can make something happen. Suttner has a pretty good reputation.”
    “She seemed kind of young for a genius.”
    “That’s the way it usually goes with physicists, Chase. Make your mark before you hit thirty, or you’re out of the game.”
    “They’re running a test of some sort in a couple of days,” I told him, “and they’ve invited us to go along.”
    “In a couple of days? No way I can make that. But you’re going, right?”
    “Sure.”
    “Okay. Everything in shape at the office?”
    “Yes, Alex. Everything’s quiet.”
    “What kind of test?”
    “I don’t really have details. They want to find out whether they can tinker with the drive and stabilize the thing.”
    “Okay. But be careful. Don’t volunteer for anything.”
    “Relax, Alex. Everything will be fine.”
    “I’ll see you when you get back.”
    “There’s something else,” I said. “We might have found a Corbett transmitter.”
    “A what?”
    “A Corbett transmitter.”
    “Would you want to brief me on what that is?”
    That was an enjoyable moment. It’s not often I come in ahead of the boss on an archeological find. “It’s a twenty-sixth-century hypercomm transmitter. This was the breakthrough unit.”
    “You mean for FTL transmissions?”
    “Yes.” What else could I mean?
    “Really? You sure?”
    “According to the Brandenheim.”
    “Where’d it come from?”
    “That’s the really interesting part of the story. Marissa Earl showed it to me.”
    “Marissa?”
He grinned.
“It has something to do with Garnett Baylee?”
    “That’s correct.”
    “I wasn’t entirely serious, Chase. Baylee? Really?”
He scratched his temple.
“He’s been dead about nine years.”
    “Eleven, in fact. They found it in one of the closets in his house.”
    “Nobody knew he had it?”
    “Right. His family still lives there, and they came across it by accident. I have a picture of it if you want to take a look.”
    “Yes,”
he said.
“Of course.”
    I love watching his eyes light up.
“Chase, did you say whether the museum’s made an offer?”
    “No, Alex. I don’t know about that. I didn’t really want to ask.”
    He shook his head. Not surprised.
“Well, it doesn’t matter. Our clients shouldn’t have any problem beating whatever the Brandenheim would be willing to pay. The whole story amazes me, though. Not much of that Golden Age stuff has survived. People have been looking for it for thousands of years. Baylee spent a substantial amount of his life searching for artifacts from that period.”
He was frowning.
“I met Baylee a couple of times. He was a nice guy, but he wanted to be the premier archeologist on the planet. I can’t imagine he’d have come up with something like this and stuck it in his closet and forgotten about it. I wonder if he was possibly suffering from delusional problems?”
    “I don’t know. Marissa didn’t say anything to suggest that.” For a moment, we stared at each other. Alex was in a time zone three hours later than I was. He looked tired, and it was obvious he was ready to crash for the night. “So,” I asked, “do you want me to do anything about this?