already been given a briefing by doctors Stryker and Crane. I know what kind of time machine you have here.”
Carla looked a little embarrassed but relieved. “I think it’s fantastic for research. We only have a small team of scientists other than the physicists, but they’re finding out the most interesting things about the past. Dr. Brown has found four new species of dinosaurs! And Dr. Borodin thinks he has located a partial play by Shakespeare that was never published. Isn’t that wild?”
“That would be interesting,” Tamara agreed, even though it was a lie. She had read one of his plays and thought it the most boring thing ever. “Anything really spooky going on here?” she asked.
“Spooky? Well, there are the spooks! You know, the CIA guys. At least, I think they are from the CIA. They won’t talk about what they’re doing, but every once in a while they come in and take over the Machine. Lot of guessing going on about that they’re using the Machine for but I doubt anyone knows for sure. Maybe not even Dr. Stryker.
“And then there’s the secret projects.”
“Secret Projects? You mean there are parts of this project you don’t know about?”
“Sure. There’s five of them. They don’t have any names, but are called Project A, B, C, D, and J. Real mysterious like. But everyone pretty much knows that Projects A and B are bringing back extinct animals.”
“What?” Tamara’s ears picked up. “You mean they can create living animals from the past?”
“Sure. About a year ago they began experimenting. Apparently they had troubles at first and had to redesign parts of the Machine and reprogram a lot also. A lot of animals didn’t make it or died almost immediately. But they got it down. The first really successful test was a cat. Fluffy it was named. It was picked up from 1966. It’s not official, but most people think that it was Dr. Grossman’s pet a number of years ago and he wanted it again. Well, anyway, he kept the cat and it’s still living with him. Pretty wild, huh?”
“Yes, pretty wild.” Her mind was racing with the possibilities that would open, the least of which was resurrecting extinct species. But why hadn’t they told her about that capability of the Machine? Were they keeping it secret? Or did it just not come up?
“Come on, I’ll show you something,” Carla said.
The something was a small pen behind a building not far from the cafeteria. In it Tamara saw what she first took to be a turkey, but as she got closer it took on a strange look. It was fatter than most turkeys she had seen in the wild, had large yellow feet, but most strange was the large, hooked beak in green, black and yellow. The plumage was a brownish-gray. It stood just over three feet tall and was busy munching on an apple.
“Hi there!” said a voice from the side. Tamara turned to see a man walking up. He was late forties, somewhat on the heavy side and sported a bushy gray beard along with overly thick eyebrows. “I’m Dr. Brown,” he continued as he came up and offered his hand. “I’d guess that you’re the auditor from DOD.”
“Word certainly gets around fast,” Tamara commented dryly.
“Small place here. How do you like Arnold?”
“Is that what I think it is?” she asked him.
“Well, if you’re thinking Raphus Cucullatus , then you’re right. Also known as the Dodo.”
“They’re all extinct,” she said. “He doesn’t seem very dead.”
“In the wild, sure. The last one died in 1662, only a hundred years after their discovery on the island of Mauritius. This was our first success at reviving an extinct species.”
“And what is that... that thing over there?”
The thing she was pointing to looked like a small horse or mule, but the
Carla looked a little embarrassed but relieved. “I think it’s fantastic for research. We only have a small team of scientists other than the physicists, but they’re finding out the most interesting things about the past. Dr. Brown has found four new species of dinosaurs! And Dr. Borodin thinks he has located a partial play by Shakespeare that was never published. Isn’t that wild?”
“That would be interesting,” Tamara agreed, even though it was a lie. She had read one of his plays and thought it the most boring thing ever. “Anything really spooky going on here?” she asked.
“Spooky? Well, there are the spooks! You know, the CIA guys. At least, I think they are from the CIA. They won’t talk about what they’re doing, but every once in a while they come in and take over the Machine. Lot of guessing going on about that they’re using the Machine for but I doubt anyone knows for sure. Maybe not even Dr. Stryker.
“And then there’s the secret projects.”
“Secret Projects? You mean there are parts of this project you don’t know about?”
“Sure. There’s five of them. They don’t have any names, but are called Project A, B, C, D, and J. Real mysterious like. But everyone pretty much knows that Projects A and B are bringing back extinct animals.”
“What?” Tamara’s ears picked up. “You mean they can create living animals from the past?”
“Sure. About a year ago they began experimenting. Apparently they had troubles at first and had to redesign parts of the Machine and reprogram a lot also. A lot of animals didn’t make it or died almost immediately. But they got it down. The first really successful test was a cat. Fluffy it was named. It was picked up from 1966. It’s not official, but most people think that it was Dr. Grossman’s pet a number of years ago and he wanted it again. Well, anyway, he kept the cat and it’s still living with him. Pretty wild, huh?”
“Yes, pretty wild.” Her mind was racing with the possibilities that would open, the least of which was resurrecting extinct species. But why hadn’t they told her about that capability of the Machine? Were they keeping it secret? Or did it just not come up?
“Come on, I’ll show you something,” Carla said.
The something was a small pen behind a building not far from the cafeteria. In it Tamara saw what she first took to be a turkey, but as she got closer it took on a strange look. It was fatter than most turkeys she had seen in the wild, had large yellow feet, but most strange was the large, hooked beak in green, black and yellow. The plumage was a brownish-gray. It stood just over three feet tall and was busy munching on an apple.
“Hi there!” said a voice from the side. Tamara turned to see a man walking up. He was late forties, somewhat on the heavy side and sported a bushy gray beard along with overly thick eyebrows. “I’m Dr. Brown,” he continued as he came up and offered his hand. “I’d guess that you’re the auditor from DOD.”
“Word certainly gets around fast,” Tamara commented dryly.
“Small place here. How do you like Arnold?”
“Is that what I think it is?” she asked him.
“Well, if you’re thinking Raphus Cucullatus , then you’re right. Also known as the Dodo.”
“They’re all extinct,” she said. “He doesn’t seem very dead.”
“In the wild, sure. The last one died in 1662, only a hundred years after their discovery on the island of Mauritius. This was our first success at reviving an extinct species.”
“And what is that... that thing over there?”
The thing she was pointing to looked like a small horse or mule, but the
Similar Books
Hidden Meanings
Carolyn Keene
The Day Trader
Stephen Frey
Virgin
Radhika Sanghani
Linda Ford
The Cowboy's Surprise Bride
Pony Express Courtship
Rhonda Gibson
The Girl from Summer Hill
Jude Deveraux
Infinity One
Robert Hoskins (Ed.)
Night Thunder
Jill Gregory
Long Knife
JAMES ALEXANDER Thom
The Falling Woman
Pat Murphy