Chapter 3. Samantha and the Accident
James looked out the window of the SUV and saw it was a balmy early spring. The dirt, road salt, and all the hidden grime that the snow concealed in Boston was being revealed through a slow drizzle of rain outside. It was just like that day two years ago where he had to say goodbye to Samantha. The placid expression on his face betrayed his inner thoughts on the ‘what if’ he never got into that argument with her and what if they never got in that fateful car that night. If they had stayed in and gotten some Chinese from the local shop around the corner. A regular Chinese and chill as they use to call it. A small smirk played out on James face until he realized that wasn’t what happened that night.
Two years ago….in the small studio apartment.
“Samantha, I am sorry I thought it was a smart move to make a little bit of money before our little guy comes into the world.”
“You fucking idiot, James, you got kicked out of school because of it. What were you thinking? Cheating and selling papers to other snot nosed kids. You knew they would throw you under the bus when things hit the fan. And what makes you think you’re having a boy? .....you didn’t…..the nurse told you?”
“This is not fair, I can only deal with one mine field at a time. The little shit Ricky sold me out and because his dad was a big donor they are brushing it under the rug. I messed up and I am sorry. I can get a job programming or even tech support I am sure. Everyone needs a nerd I imagine. I mean I am sure there are plenty of jobs for quantum programming mathematicians, “ James emphasized in air quotes, “Also let me just say that the nurse was a loud talker from Southside of Boston and I heard her when I was getting you water. Besides aren’t you glad I told you the truth.”
“James, you are the shittiest liar in the world you have a whole bunch of tells, why do you think you never win at poker. I love you babe, but you’re a fucking idiot.”
The anger turned to tears as Samantha started to bawl and when James went to comfort her she threw his arms away and scowled at him. She grabbed the keys off their kitchen counter and rushed out the door in a disheveled state. She made her way down the hall to the elevator as she waited for it to open, the door to their apartment opened and they looked at each other. The hurt in their eyes said it all and even though James was a stoic individual and mostly unemotional that last look she gave cut him deep. He walked the other way not looking back and down the stair to the street opposite of Samantha.
“Ding,” the elevator door opened and Samantha walked in backwards as if not believing he wouldn’t go after her. She wanted him to come chasing after her and be the valiant hero that saves the day with wit and charm, but that look was something she had never seen before it was true hurt and she did that to James. The elevator closed and with it the last time she would see him. She couldn’t go back, so she called her mother to stay with her and drove out on a balmy Boston night during a new moon.
“I’m the idiot…I am not the one who forgot to take her pill and I am not the one who said, ‘so what if we can’t afford the baby now, we’ll make it work somehow.’” James was talking out loud and face red with anger and as much as he was spouting nonsense, he knew he loved her and that was the only reason he tried to make money by cheating. They needed the money and the rich trust fund kids were more than happy to have the TA James write their papers and forge a few grades for them. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, he had ordered Chinese and wanted to just lay with Samantha on their obnoxious purple colored couch that she insisted they must have. It was a rough two days for James and he needed her. He made it to the restaurant and pulled up to the bar they had there. The staff knew the two of them very well.
“Mr. James, what’s with the long face, I have your order over at the counter, is Samantha joining you?”
“Not today, thanks, I will take it here and can you get me a tall glass of Jameson with one of those fancy balls of ice you have?” If James was going to wallow at least he would do it with food and drink. After a about half a dozen drinks the bar tender grew concerned over what James had said and worried about him. They eventually got him into an UBER instead of doing the 10 min walk back to his apartment.
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On the couch lay a passed out James that was mumbling about the knocking only to open his eyes and realize it was not in his head. He stumbled up and ran to the door opening it up and saying, “Samantha, I am so ….., officer what are you doing here did I do something wrong?” James was at a loss for why they would be showing up at his door.
“Mr. McMaster, you were listed as the emergency contact for a Samantha, are you James McMaster?”
“Yeah that’s me, why…what…where is Samantha?”
“She was involved in a fatal car accident and I am afraid she passed away a little over 4 hours ago along with the unborn child. I am sorry to inform you of this, but we tried to contact you on your phone, but there was no response,” the officer looked James up and down and even without trying cast judgement on this drunk of a man, especially when he saw his disheveled state.
James couldn’t breathe, he tried, but the lungs were not working, it was as though he’d forgotten how to do this mundane thing. He collapsed on the ground. The officers attempted to assist him up and moved him to the lazy-b the very one they had fought tooth and nail over. What a pointless argument he thought and then it hit him like a wrecking ball he was responsible for her death. Had he never argued and had he never changed grades and wrote a few papers she would still be alive.
“I did this, I am responsible for her death, we were arguing and she stormed out, but I……I never went after her,” he was spinning out of control and the rest was a blur.
“Sir, sir, can we call someone for you?”
Present day…
The SUV hit a pot hole and jerked James out of his memory. He looked around and realized they were not heading to the airport and actually to old industrial road where there were plenty of run down warehouses, but some had been recently bought up for different commercial ventures. The most notable was Amazon and Wall-Mart distribution facilities that were mostly all automated these days.
“I thought we lost you there, you worried about the trip? You really shouldn’t, the best of the best, are working on this project. It is not every day you get to be a pioneer and experience a new frontier for the human race. Now we have a good team, but you along with the professor are the only ones who may be able to fix our little two way communication problem. “
James nodded along to Agent Green as she detailed out the situation.
She looked at him and nodded to him, “you need to be careful, we have a cover story for you if anything should happen, but try not to die. As I was saying, we tried to setup a bridge on the other side to stabilize it, but something seems to be causing excess energy in the tunnel. It needs to be cancelled or isolated so that the bride can be stabilized. Don’t worry you have an energy specialist that will be going with you. His name is Henrick Livenstein, a Swiss wiz at particle physics and worked to stabilize CERN energy containment mechanism for micro particles of anti-matter. The others you will get to know, but what you will be task with is the programming for the quantum computer on the other side that the second team brought with them. It is identical to the one you helped program for the professor. I frankly looked at your record and would rather not have a drunk, cyber-criminal on this mission, but we don’t have a choice. I understand your recent loss two years ago was a catalyst and I am sorry for your loss, but we need you to work for the good guys now.”
“Good and evil are all a matter of perspective and completely subjective, thanks for well-meaning concern, but I don’t think you understand what it is we could be walking into. If the professor truly did get it working then I may very well be able to see her on the other side,” without doubt or hint of sadness he looked the agent in the eye.
Agent Green saw his resolve and thought she saw a fanatical glint in his eye, “we have some data from the other side it is not like our time or place. It is different and the natives we have so far examined show a chitin like skin. One was able to jump across to our side without experiencing any of the biological affects our unfortunate, ‘pioneer,’ from the first team experienced.”
“Blood coming out of the eyes, does not sound like a background energy problem then, but what do I know I only graded and plagurized a few papers on quantum foam effect on biological organisms, “ he sighed one of the things he hated was coming off as a jackass, but it was hard to get your point across otherwise.
“Henrick, believed otherwise, you will meet him soon and you two can hash it out, but for your knowledge in this expedition you are on the bottom of the totem pole, so remember that when your being a smartass,” with a wink and a finger pointed ahead toward a run-down warehouse.
“Welcome to the fun factory, where you will be staying until you get the bridge working. Once that is done we will send you on your way and you will have a pardon and full re-instatement to MIT to finish your doctorate. Let’s show you around and introduce you to the team,” she opened the door and jumped out even before the SUV came to a complete stop.
As he got out, red lights started going off in the direction of the warehouse and alarms were sounding off.
James looked to the agent and saw she was concerned as well. This wasn’t ominous or concerning at all. I mean red alarms flashing and a siren, what is the worst that could be happening.