Chapter Fifty-Two

“Mom!” Viktoriya screamed as she raced toward her mother.

She dropped everything, all her work and papers, on the floor and kneeled before her mom, placing her head on her lap, but her mom was not moving. Her pulse was low, and her breath faint.

“Move aside, Vik, please!” Zho said, reaching for Eva. She went to her knees and placed two fingers on her neck to check for a pulse. “Her heartbeat is weak,” she announced, then pulled out a penlight.

She reached for Eva’s brows and pulled her eyes open, testing the pupil's reaction. “We need to get her to the infirmary now,” she said.

Rosa and one of the armed guards rushed toward Eva, hauling her out of the office.

Viktoriya stood there frozen, terror-stricken. Her hands shook so violently she couldn’t control them. The world was moving too fast, and she did not know how to stop it. Everything was spinning.

Her mother.

What had she done to her mom?

That thought continually replayed in her head. The sight of her mother being hauled away because of her.

Suddenly, the calm, dehumidified air seemed a little too harsh for her skin, making her feel prickly and very uncomfortable.

Edmund was in disbelief. He would probably lose any worth he had before the end of the day. He had seen it a thousand times where a leader’s value becomes diminished. That was all that he was worried about.

No, he must get everything under control. He brushed his face with his palm, trying to stay focused, then unhooked his jacket; it was getting too hot for him. It had shaken everyone, except those important ones in the room, the ones that mattered.

The president had not uttered a single word since the chaos began. Instead, he merely sat back and watched everything transpire.

Edmund turned to Viktoriya and barked, “Why did you even come here? Huh? Look at what you have caused! Do you understand the importance of the people in the room?” He turned to the group. He failed if he had hoped to get what they were expecting next from their expressions. They were as blank as a fresh sheet of paper.

They did not show their expressions in any form. No distaste, no amusement, no anger. Just the neutral looks which only one who held so much power could display. The silence that said they knew exactly what to say next, but would rather watch him make a fool of himself first.

“Guards, take her out of here!” Edmund commanded, placing his hands on his waist.

“No! You listen to me, and you listen to me right now!” Viktoriya shouted as she stomped a foot forward. It was then that CLEFF barged into the office, maneuvering beside her.

Edmund gave him a stare, but a voice called calmly from behind.

“Guards, stand down! Let the girl be.”

Edmund and the entire room turned to the man. It was the president. His wrinkled eyes lit up in a smile toward Viktoriya, who smiled back.

“His smile! His smile is touching his eyes!” Viktoriya noted.

She made her way to him. She had seen him on television, giving speeches, shaking hands, and other things, but never in person.

But here she was, staring at him, smiling at her, as she confidently stepped closer.

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The secret service moved to his side, but he put his finger up. “Wait…”

The two men in black suits and sunglasses returned behind him, their arms placed in front of them.

But she was not afraid of them.

She moved even closer to the president, and he brought forth his hand and took hers in a firm handshake.

The floor had taken all from her it could; it was powerless against her now. If it had intended to crush her or destroy her spirit, it had utterly failed today.

“I’m the one standing on you now,” she said, looking down and whispering under her breath.

A twinkle of a spark ignited inside of her, and she could not help but blush widely.

“What’s your name, miss? You’re Viktoriya, right? Your mom and dad work here, if I’m correct?”

“Yes, yes, sir.”

“So, I think you have something you want to tell us?”

For the moment, her world was still, motionless. Everything seemed perfect, exactly where it was meant to be. All the most important dances and songs of the universe came to a halt, to be still in front of her, as she spoke perhaps the most important words she would ever speak.

“My parents aren’t here right now. But I can speak for myself.”

“Well, anyone can see that; even these single-cells,” he said, laughing gently.

It was like a dream come true, and in a different circumstance, in a world they both used to know, she would probably have a thousand and one things she would have liked to ask.

But today, there was just one thing that would make her world truly brilliant, and she knew she had to say it now. She had just realized the answer to her turmoil, her unanswerable dilemma.

“I don’t need to convince my mom and dad. I need to convince the president,” she whispered to herself.

She took a step forward. The secret service moved closer, but he put his hand up toward them over his shoulder.

She reached out with both hands, gently pulled his head closer to her face, then leaned to his right ear.

“I know how to save the world… All of us,” she whispered, then let go of his head, staring directly into his eyes to watch his reaction.

“You do?” he said, raising his eyebrows.

She nodded.

He smiled brightly, then turned to the others, who joined in a smile even though they did not know the content of their conversation. Her eyes trailed over every single one of them and back to the old man in front of her.

His smile… It is real, he is ‘happy’.

“How do you plan on doing that?” he said, turning from Edmund to her.

Edmund started, “Mr. President, we don’t have—”

“Allow the girl to show me what she’s got, Ed. Your team has failed a thousand times over,” the president shot back, cutting him short. Edmund pressed his lips against each other hard enough that they might lock together.

The president was trying to make a mockery of him, and he knew it. Edmund had never been a fan of Viktoriya. Not exactly hating her, but he could feel something of a burning fury inside of him now, and all he could think of was how angry he was at her. Everything had suddenly become her fault.

CLEFF strode toward Viktoriya, handing her the wrapped cardboard stand-up and papers. The entire room’s gaze followed the girl around as she made her way toward the presentation table. She placed the paper on the conference table then said, “They’ve been getting it all wrong.” She positioned the white poster board, which immediately scanned the document, pulling it up on the holo.

There were many circles drawn and faint lines represented by the red lines and the thicker ones by green or blue, depending on how thick the lines were.

“What are we looking at, kiddo?” he asked.

“Oh shit, you’ve got to be kidding me. You can’t make this stuff up,” Edmund murmured, as he could not believe the president was actually wasting their time on this circus.

The distance to HH190 was something that the best minds in the world had not solved. How was it a child could prove a more viable solution? A child who had no knowledge whatsoever about physics.

“Take off the green and red lines,” Viktoriya commanded the AI. The lines disappeared from the screen, revealing a three-dimensional image of the space ark.

“This is my new ark. Unlike the current technology and nuclear propulsion systems designed by my parents, my ark is designed to channel quantum magnetic plasma paths through its center.”

She pointed intently at the center of the ring ship in the hologram.

“It uses hyper-strong magnetism to propel the ark at incredible speeds along the Spectrum web, the magnetic plasma corridors which have segments and connect to itself, much like a spiderweb, winding through the universe.”

She placed another paper on the screen, which revealed a space network of a web that intersected at specific points when scanned in.

“We will be able to travel along these space web segments with quantum magnetism to our HH190. Imagine the most powerful magnetic force in the universe propelling the arks, not nuclear propulsion. It is magnetic propulsion, but on a nuclear scale. The web is the rail that the ark will magnetically adhere to for the journey.”

She walked to the breakfast table, picked up a bagel from the box of snacks, and placed a straw through the middle. She turned back to him, holding the representation out for him to see.

“Like this!”

The president took a long moment, glanced around the silent room at the muzzled occupants, then back to her.

“Magnets? You’re saying magnets, like… Magnetic, um… Magnets?” he asked quietly, looking perplexed.