Paradise Hacked (First Circle Club Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

and support personnel were also in the room, but they kept very quiet. Nobody wanted to get in the middle of this fight.
    "Do you really have all the facts?" Knox said.
    "I believe so," Penn said.
    "Please allow me to review them just to make sure. I wouldn't want you to misinform the President on such an important matter. First off, Dr. Harlow has discovered a portal to an alien planet."
    "So he claims. All we know for sure is that people who go in come back dead... or not at all."
    "The physical readings certainly indicate an extraordinary phenomenon," Knox said, "one we don't understand. If it is a portal, the significance is beyond historic. It isn't an exaggeration to say life on Earth will change forever."
    She crossed her arms and maintained a stoic expression.
    He continued, "It is imperative that we learn how to use the portal safely. Access to alien worlds and technology would elevate the United States to unquestioned supremacy on Earth. We could jump ahead a thousand years. Getting our hands on ray-guns and flying saucers is worth the lives of a few soldiers or even a few hundred."
    "A typical grandiose statement from the military."
    "But still true. Furthermore, if aliens are out there, we need to find them before they find us. That's a matter of survival for our entire species. The portal might work both ways."
    Penn rolled her eyes. "Dr. Harlow, I'm sure you have something to add. You always do."
    "Yes." Harlow cleared his throat nervously. "Corporal Hartmann was gone for at least thirty-five minutes. None of our instruments could find him, and all of his telemetry went dead. As far as we can tell, he ceased to exist. That's difficult to explain using known physics. Then he reappeared eight kilometers away in this condition." He glanced at the broken corpse. "It appears he was exposed to intense heat and radiation which couldn't have come from an Earthly source. Putting aside the question of aliens, these facts alone merit the most vigorous scientific investigation."
    "Do they merit more deaths?"
    He stared at her. "Truth sometimes comes with a price tag. Think of all the brave men and women who died trying to push the boundaries of the unknown. Dr. Livingston. Amelia Earhart. Robert Scott. Marie Curie. This research is at least as important as those efforts. We will do what we can to minimize the danger, but we must push on."
    "You would know about price tags. How do you intend to minimize the danger?"
    Harlow approached the corpse on the examination table. He didn't smell any decay, but he did detect an odd aroma which reminded him of baked cookies. He still felt sick. He wanted to get out of the room.
    "We'll send a robot next," he said. "A modified bomb-disposal robot with a radiation-hardened control system. If that fails, we'll put a man in an armored suit. My scientific team will analyze the damage this man suffered and make sure the next one is properly protected."
    "That's a good plan," Knox said. "I approve. I'll talk to the guys in the Survivability Directorate about borrowing one of their suits. They have some powered exoskeletons which are very promising."
    Harlow looked at Penn, but her expression hadn't changed. He wondered what she would say in the report to the President.
    "I have a question," she said to him. "I've asked it before, but you've never provided a satisfactory answer. How did you discover the portal? How do you know it leads to an alien world?"
    They stared at each other in silence.
    "It came to me in a dream," he finally responded. It was the lie he used most often.
    "I have dreams all the time. They don't launch very dangerous, expensive, top secret, military research projects. You're lying."
    Harlow shrugged. "That's your opinion." He nodded to another scientist wearing a white lab coat and latex gloves. "Begin the autopsy."
    "Yes, sir," the scientist said.
    Harlow looked at Colonel Knox. "I'm not needed here, sir, and I have work to do."
    "You're dismissed," the commander