There appeared to be a debate now, between her and a tiny male near the front, who Garr had momentarily mistaken for a child.
Apparently, these aliens would let anyone into a war council.
***
Rae kept her lecture short, explaining the mathematical model she’d used to locate the asteroid debris, then the analysis of metals that supported her conclusion. In its essence, the paper was simple.
The most complex part of the task had been calculating the best location for harvesting intact materials from the region surrounding the impact crater.
Naturally, Reese interrupted her roughly halfway through. “I’m sorry,” he said. “But are you really standing in front of your peers and arguing that aliens smashed an asteroid into our planet?”
It wasn’t the critique she’d wanted. He didn’t go after her methods. She would have had numbers for that. No, Reese’s whole objection amounted to a scoff and a roll of his eyes.
He turned to the audience, addressing them directly, as though Rae weren’t even in the room. “Are we honestly having this discussion about extraterrestrials based on the findings of one overeager researcher?”
“See here,” Rae said, enough invective in her tone that Reese spun immediately.
He smiled at her like he’d won something. “The heart of science is replication. If you can’t stand the heat…” Because he had won something. He’d baited her.
Rae took a breath and counted to three, bringing her riotous pulse under control, lowering the temperature of her glare to freezing. “So out with it.”
“Pardon?” Reese asked, smiling at first.
“Your critique. I’m certain you have one.”
The smile continued, but now it was plastic. “I’ve said my piece.”
“Have you a substantive critique? I’m always looking to improve my work, Reese. Do you have something to contribute beyond, ‘she’s talking about aliens! How dare she!’ ”
Reese worked his jaw and shrugged. “I do question the analysis. All you’ve determined is the elements don’t match anything from Earth. The question of—”
“They’re not elements,” Rae insisted. “They’re complex molecular structures which, after careful review, appear to be assembled using nanotechnology not available anywhere on Earth, and they’ve been carbon dated to approximately the crater’s era. Not only are they not natural, but they’re beyond the capacity of mass manufacturing.”
Reese went to speak, but instead, someone stepped forward from her peripheral vision.
It was that man in the kurta, and he was closer. She could see his face, broad and with perfect bone structure, and she noticed how his shoulders would have made a fully padded linebacker look small.
The scientist in her knew these were signs of high levels of testosterone through puberty and—likely—still today. The woman in her knew she’d get a thrill out of feeling the hard line of his jaw with her fingertips.
Still advancing, he seemed possessed of a graceful confidence. “I have a question.” His voice rumbled and he was focused entirely on her.
She wasn’t sure she could speak, her throat tight and lungs nonresponsive. So she nodded.
He took his time asking, and it gave Rae a chance to notice a female tech journalist nearest the stranger gripping tight to her seat, as though the turning of the Earth might toss her from it. At least Rae wasn’t the only one.
“The materials you found,” he said, his attention entirely fixed on her. “Did you expose any of them to electromagnetic radiation?”
“Of course. It’s part of a battery of tests we performed.”
“I see.” He watched her with stony eyes, and it made her stomach flutter, unsure what his intentions were. “Explain these models to me.” It was an order.
“They’re statistical models that extrapolated the location of ejecta based on the crater’s size and the force applied. We got lucky and found samples at our second dig site.”
“Explain more.” He took a step forward.
Rae fought the urge to retreat from his advance. He didn’t seem like a typical scientist, and certainly not a reporter. Just who the hell was this?
Reese took that opportunity to butt back in: “And for another thing, how are you certain you sampled actual fragments from the asteroid impact?”
“For that, we’ll need to look at some math,” Rae said happily. She forced her attention from the gorgeous man working his way closer, instead going over the formulas until Reese’s eyes glazed.
Before she’d finished, though, Reese interrupted her again: “So let me get this straight. Because your math says you got the rocks from the right place, you think aliens blew up the dinosaurs. Let’s talk a minute about the discussion section of this paper.” He narrowed his eyes.