SCREENING
2406 CE
Elena stood before the assembled officials. Her knees shook. Her report was a year overdue – no happy faces in the stagnant room. No matter what she told them, they would still be unhappy. The sleep research had been holding up everything.
They had all crowded into the small auditorium her lab used for its infrequent plenary meetings. Stern faces from everywhere: the Sinese from Hau Ren numbered the greatest, followed by the Indi from the western Central Group, and then a scattering of everyone else.
“Dr. Phom,” one of the Hau Ren scientists said, “This meeting is late, and we must leave shortly.”
“Yes, Dr. Heng, I’ll make it short.” Elena turned to the wall and pointed, and a vivid panorama of light flashed into existence. “We have finally succeeded with Tau. It has passed all the tests you have set for us, and we are ready to turn it over to you for final certification.” That’ll hold them for all of five seconds, she thought.
It did. A few murmurs grew as the project officials scrutinized the display. On the wall a series of slowly-rotating charts depicted the stages of descent into tau-sleep, and the stages of ascent from it. Annotations in both Share and Sinese ran like punctuated streams among the charts.
“So this time there are no doctored results, no missing components?” This from one of the Indi group.
Angered, Elena bit back a sarcastic reply. “I have brought two of the subjects for you to interview. Dr. Wu?”
The crowd parted and a man dressed in standard Hau Ren coveralls stepped forward to join Elena, facing the others.
“Where is the second?” the same Indi scientist asked.
“I am the second,” Elena said. This time the murmurs made her raise her hand for quiet. “It was the best way to show my own commitment to this project and its success.”
A burly dark-skinned man, his short hair graying, raised a big hand, and rumbled, “Dr. Phom, you took one hell of a risk. Who would we get to replace you if it hadn’t worked?”
She remembered: Gene Hackshaw, the telescope expert who ran the planetary search. “I believed in my work, that’s all. This is a great team here, and I believe in them too.”
“Dr. Wu,” came a voice with Sinese flavor, “I represent the Eastern Information Association. We would like to interview you individually for our membership. How may we make arrangements with you?” The speaker was a solid woman who wore the latest Xinjiang hair style, having two streaks of light brown knotted in her black hair.
Wu nodded. “All separate interviews require clearance with Dr. Phom and the oversight committee. When you have the clearance, we can arrange a meeting.”
Some muttering, then the woman said, “We were informed that we would be have free access to the team members. Why is this commitment not being met?”
Elena broke in, “We have had some problems with security that required changes in our procedures. You will have access as soon as we have screened the participants and the interview conditions.”
“This is insulting! You know everyone on our side. We have met all your access requests for the biochemical side. We insist that you let us meet with Dr. Wu as we have asked.”
Elena glanced at her security officer. “We have already begun the screening process, and it is not intrusive. Dr. Wu will be available to you within one day.” She swallowed.
Her security officer rolled his eyes, then nodded reluctantly.
“We would prefer that you simply provide us with free access. We would be glad to hold our meeting here at your center, if that relieves your concerns about safety or information leaks. Of course, I’m assuming this facility is a safe place.”
Elena shook her head. “Twenty-four hours,” she said. No, she didn’t want them seeing too much here. They were still hunting for three missing vials of tau.
