Breakthrough(21)

“Holy cow.”

“Holy cow is right,” Lee replied, “IMIS is even smarter than I thought.” He looked at all the servers on the far wall with their hundreds of blinking lights continually churning through the data. “No wonder it’s making such fast progress.”

The phone rang interrupting them. Alison quickly picked up the receiver. “Ali here.”

“Hi Ali, its Frank. Can you come up to my office please?”

“Uh sure,” she said nodding. “Can it wait twenty minutes? We’re right in the middle-”

“Actually it can’t,” he broke in. “I need you up here right away.”

“Okaaay, I guess I’ll be right up.”

Chris gave a disappointed frown. “What, he can’t wait twenty minutes?”

“Evidently not.”

“What’s up?”

“No idea. He just said he wants to see me.” She let the phone drop back into its cradle. “Check on their lunch, will you?”

“Will do.”

With one last glance at the dolphins, she turned and headed for the stairs. She was in a good mood. They were making excellent progress with the project in the last couple weeks, and as much as she knew Frank liked to grandstand, she was thankful that he agreed not to issue another press release after that initial translation. The attention they got from the morning show alone overwhelmed them with everyone wanting to come see Dirk and Sally. It was great for ticket sales but with a host of people, including the mayor, all coming down for public appearances and photo ops, it slowed their work considerably. Frank enjoyed the attention but the rest of the team was frustrated with the delays and hobnobbing. Okay, that wasn’t totally true, she thought. She was the one frustrated. The other guys enjoyed it too. She had often considered why she avoided attention but never came up with a concrete answer. Maybe it was all the looks in school, the luck of getting her mother’s features and constantly being hit on. Maybe it was her determination in academics and always being singled out by the teachers. She had resigned herself to the fact that she would never really know what started it, but even if she did would it change anything? Probably not. She would always be a bookworm at heart.

Alison reached the top of the stairs a little winded and realized that she really needed to get back to the gym. She walked down the short hallway and gave a polite knock as she opened the door.

“You won’t believe what we just-” she began as she stepped inside but her smile abruptly disappeared. Inside was Frank and two men dressed in shirt and tie. They all stood as she entered.

“Ah here she is,” said Frank coming around his desk. “Alison, I’d like you to meet John Clay and Steve Caesare, they’re with the-”

“Let me guess,” she feigned politeness. “From the government. You’re dressed too nice for the Army. CIA?”

Clay and Caesare were moving toward her with hands extended but stopped abruptly. “Uh, the Navy actually.”

She crossed her arms in front of her. “What a surprise.”

The men looked at Frank with a trace of confusion. “Ali,” Frank started. “These men came to talk to us about the project.”

Alison raised her eyebrows sarcastically. “Wow, really?!”

“Uh yes,” Clay said apprehensively. “We were just explaining to Dr. Dubois that we heard about your project and thought we might be able to help in the research with your dolphins.”

“The government is here to help. And what kind of help would that be? Teaching them to attach mines to enemy ships?”

Again Clay looked at Frank with more confusion, who was now looking sternly at his project lead.

“No, no, nothing like that. We may be able to help your progress with an opportunity to work hand-in-hand with your dolphins.”

Alison’s posture did not change. She gave Frank a long stare. “What kind of opportunity?”

Caesare gave her his trademark smile. “Recovering one of our small research submersibles in the Caribbean Sea.”

Alison looked at him, then back to Clay. She was having none of it. “You can’t do that yourself?”

“Well we could,” Clay said ignoring the sarcasm. “But we thought it might provide an opportunity for you and your team; a real world interaction that might further your translation efforts, and perhaps even-”

“The dolphins haven’t been out in the open ocean for years. They’re not accustomed and we can’t exactly put a leash on them. Besides transporting them would be a major production.”

“We’re prepared to accommodate any requirements you have.”