STARGATE UNIVERSE: Air Read Online Free PDF Page A

talking. “Look, whatever you think I did, I swear you’ve got the wrong guy.”
    He turned back, his gaze as steely as ever. He had to admit, he was actually enjoying making the lad squirm. “Do I look like someone who would be standing here if I didn’t already know everything about you?”
    Eli considered this for a moment, and saw the truth of it. “Not really,” he admitted. “Who are you people?”
    The doctor was coming up beside him, and O’Neill let him take the next step. “I’m Doctor Nicholas Rush. May we come in?”
    Eli didn’t move. “Why?”
    “You’ve spent a great deal of time recently playing an on-line fantasy game called Prometheus ,” said Rush.
    The kid’s incredulity overwhelmed his terror for just a moment. “Seriously? Big Brother’s got nothing better to do than to watch me grinding for cheeves?”
    “I have no idea what that means,” offered O’Neill.
    Rush pressed on. “This morning you solved the Dakara weapon puzzle.”
    Now they were on the kid’s territory, he got a little more confident. “Yeah, a month of my life went into that. You know what happens when you solve that thing? Nothing.”
    O’Neill indicated himself and Rush. “We’re here. That happened.”
    The doctor smiled slightly. “To complete that particular puzzle, you had to solve a millennia-old mathematical proof written in another language. And for that, you’ve won…something of a prize.”
    “Oh yeah?” Avarice flickered in Eli’s eyes. “Whatever it is, I’ll take the cash equivalent.”
    “There isn’t one,” said O’Neill, as Rush produced a steel clipboard and a pen.
    He offered it, but Wallace didn’t bite. “It’s a non-disclosure agreement,” added Rush.
    Eli gingerly took the document and studied it as if he thought it might be poisonous. “Non-disclosure?” he repeated. “So you guys really embedded a top secret, unsolvable problem into a videogame, hoping someone like me would crack it?”
    “Yep,” O’Neill deadpanned. “You’d be surprised how often that happens.”
    “Really?”
    “No. Not really.”
    Eli gave them a wary look. “So if I solved it, what do you need me for now?”
    Rush indicated the document. “I assure you, it will be worth your while to sign that.”
    The kid turned the pen over between his fingers. “And if I don’t?”
    O’Neill gave him a steady, intent stare. “Then we’ll beam you up to our spaceship.”
    Eli gave a nervous chuckle, which died in moments when he saw that the general wasn’t joking. He moved away a step, backing into his house. “Right. I think I want my lawyer to look at it first…”
    “By lawyer ,” said O’Neill, “I assume you mean mother ?”
    The door was already closing. “Why don’t we just go ahead and agree that I will call you ?”
    Then O’Neill and Rush were standing alone on the stoop. “I can see you’ve done this recruiting thing a lot, General,” said the doctor, with no little sarcasm. “Good job.”
    “Just priming him, is all,” he replied, reaching into his pocket for an encrypted cell phone. “Now we make with some shock and awe .” He tabbed the speed-dial for a number that did not and would never exist in any kind of public record, and waited a moment.
    When the line connected he spoke a terse codeword and gave his orders. “Walter? Contact Carter. Tell her she has a go.”
     
    Eli took a couple of steps into the hallway and paused, looking over the paper in his hand.
    He read the words at the top of the form out loud. “Homeworld Command.” That had to be a misprint, surely? Wasn’t it called Home land Security, or something? He shook his head. And who the hell was that O’Neill guy to come to his door and play the whole Men In Black routine with him?
    His fingers tensed around the pen. He hoped this wasn’t something about all the stuff he’d downloaded off the internet. The government really frowned on that, so he’d heard.
    Eli’s skin began to tingle and he