Room 9 by Clifford Beck - HTML preview

Chapter 11

The group soon found themselves seated around a large table with trays of food in front of them. As they ate, they were surprised at how good it was.

“Holy shit,” Kyle said. “I thought government food would suck, but this is really good.”

In spite of his scientific genius, those who knew him in school tended to think of him as something of an asshole. He was arrogant and took great pleasure in playing pranks on people. Some of which were fairly cruel. But today he was far too involved in where he was to consider playing pranks and had become very aware of what the consequences could be. Not only had federal agents done background checks on everyone, but had also reviewed their school records in order to get a clear picture of their behavior. Although Kyle was one of the five who had won the lottery, allowing him to go on the tour, he was nearly excluded based on his behavior.

After lunch, they were allowed to wander the campus. However, it was insisted on that a security guard be assigned to them. As a matter of course, the guard was armed, and the teens noticed this right away. As they made their way around the campus, a multitude of questions flooded their minds. They were, however, allowed to take a few pictures but only in certain areas. The guard stated that this was strict policy and was for the benefit of national security. Those two words struck both fear and awe into the teens. Even Kate’s mother was deeply affected and was careful about what the teens photographed. Hearing this, the voice of curiosity was heard. “What would happen if we took pictures of something we’re not supposed to?”

John was the only one among them who was willing to ask what the others were thinking. “Well,” the guard began. He spoke with a serious tone, but also with the intention of pranking all of them.

“First, if any of you compromise national security, we would take your phones and destroy them.” The teen's eyes widened with fear as they hung on every word. “Then, according to federal law, you would be taken into custody and charged as spies. From there, it’s just a matter of finding out who you’re working for. Did that answer your question?”

The teens were mortified. Even Kate's mother seemed gravely concerned. Certainly, these things didn't really happen in the good old USA, right? The teens were brilliant in their chosen sciences, but knew nothing of the inner workings of their government. The idea that their rights could be circumvented or outright violated was something they had never considered. To be detained and possibly interrogated over a few pictures seemed, at least, outrageous. And as they stared at each other in shock, the guard, unable to suppress his laughter any longer, dropped his facade and confessed to a cruel sense of humor. Again, Kyle spoke up. “You know something?” he asked. “What's that?” the guard replied. With a straight face, Kyle delivered an insult that, under the circumstances, was less than appropriate. “You're a dick.”

Kate's mother gasped in shock as the guard began laughing. The rest of the teens were too angry at the guard's choice of jokes to find any humor in it.

“Alright,” he began. “We're not going to lock any of you up. Just be careful about where you go and what you take pictures of.”

The guard brought them back to the elevator and as the doors closed, a tense silence flooded the air. Even the guard had become uncomfortable and secretly wished he had not played such a cruel joke on the teens.

They were led back down the first floor corridor and out through the glass double doors to a waiting van, where their driver sat in the front seat. Kate's mother, again, began to sweat as her face flushed a fiery red. Drawing closer to Kate, she continued to express her interest in him. “Holy fuck,” she whispered. “I hope I brought enough extra panties.” Kate's embarrassment was quickly turning to frustration as she whispered back in her mother's ear. “Jesus fuckin' Christ, mom, will you knock it off?”

Her mother couldn't help but react with a slight sadistic grin, knowing how much her adult sense of humor bothered her. Turning towards Kate's ear again, she made one last remark. “Well, I hope he's good at masonry because I've got a crack that needs filling.”

Kate gave out a heavy sigh of frustration as she made her way into the van, sitting as far from her mother as possible. Most of the time, her mother was rather light-hearted, but occasionally and usually at the wrong time, she could be something of a handful – especially where men were concerned.

With everyone seated and belted in, the driver started the van and slowly pulled away from the curb. From there, he turned left and entered a traffic circle that led to the campus perimeter. It would be a long drive, but what it held in the store for the teens would be nothing short of remarkable. Kate's mother, of course, was continuing to flirt with the driver, who was trying his best to ignore her advances while focusing on the road. After a few miles, the driver directed the group's attention to a large clearing on the left. In the distance, was what looked like a tall, narrow tower. They were not allowed to get too close, but the driver managed to get a bit closer and then stopped. Prompting them to focus on the tower, the group noticed a white, elongated shape that seemed to be standing next to the tower.

“Holy shit!” Kate said. “Is that a rocket?”

Straining to see, the rest of the group soon realized that the enormous object was, indeed, a rocket. The driver soon provided the group with more information about its coming liftoff. “I was asked to bring all of you out here, so you could this. I mean, you can't go to NASA without seeing a liftoff, right?”

All eyes were fixed on the titanic structure standing in the distance as trails of nitrogen gas flowed down its side.

“So,” John began. “What kind of rocket is this?”

Being more than familiar with rocket designs, Kate was quick to provide an answer.

“That's the Atlas 5. It's used to carry satellites into orbit. This is going to be so cool.”

Turning to the driver, she asked if they could get out and watch. He thought about it only for a few moments and decided that the launch was far enough away that they could safely watch from outside the van. “Okay,” he answered. “But stay close to the van. Nobody wanders off, got it?”

They all agreed as they crowded out of the van, with one or two of them tumbling to the ground. The driver told them to be careful, but seeing their clumsiness brought a slight grin to his face. Later, he would entertain his co-workers with a narrative of the event. Elaine, however, was unable to contain her laughter and as the teens gathered at the side of the van, those few whose faces were covered with dirt looked back at her with a scolding expression. This was short-lived as a distant voice could be heard counting back from ten. But before the count-down was complete, a flash of light burst out from the tower’s platform, followed by a fiery explosion as the rocket slowly pushed its way skyward. The group was struck with amazement by such a miracle of technology and speechlessly stared as it rose higher into the sky, a trail of fire following behind. The experience seemed to last forever, but soon it was gone, as the rocket continued to push itself just beyond the edge of space. Once at its destination, it would deliver its payload and become another piece of space junk, drifting forever without purpose. Now, with their excitement having subsided, the teens had questions.

“So,” John began. “What’s in the rocket, a satellite?”

In spite of the driver’s lack of knowledge, the group quickly looked to him for an answer.

“Well,” he replied. “Even if I knew, I don’t think I could tell you. There’s a lot of classified projects going on here.”

The teens were visibly disappointed but clearly understood the need for secrecy and after the last plume of steam vanished from the sky, they loaded themselves into the van and continued on their way around the campus’ perimeter.