Blue Dot

By Evan L Mills

Copyright by Evan Lynn Mills

All rights reserved.

 

 

The blue dots were first discovered in Kalowna, British Columbia three years ago. In the beginning they were just occasional tiny dots scattered around the landscape but as the months rolled on they became more noticeable and numerous. The original dots had grown larger and now there were more small dots appearing all over the world. The dots were appearing on the ground, on streets, sidewalks, walls, fences, trees, buildings.

My name is Eric Faraday. I will relate to you the story of the blots. “Blots” is the acronym first used in the Times in one of the early articles about the dots. The Times had coined the word and it stuck. I own a large pharmaceutical company and with the resources available to me, I thought that I could determine what the blots were and how to control or even eliminate them. At first curiosity drove my unofficial investigation but now as the world began to panic my curiosity metamorphosed into panic.

Early one morning I walked the familiar path from the house across the estate to my company headquarters I counted the blots. From the house to the lab entrance, about ¼ mile, I had counted 23 softly glowing blue dots Thanksgiving Day. Now on this bleak December 22, I counted 39 and some of the original blue dots had doubled in size. It was gray and rainy but the blue dots softly glowed in the dark so they were easy to count. They blots were quite beautiful but their beauty belied the sinister truth about them. If allowed to grow unchecked till they merged all life on Earth would end!

            “Merry Christmas Mr. Faraday” came the embellished usual greeting from the security guard.

            “Merry Christmas Sam,” I acknowledged as I produced my identification. You might think that the owner and the head of the Board would not need to show his I.D. but when I hired Wm. P Joneski as my security chief he insisted that everyone, including me would produce I.D.  Although it was slightly annoying I knew he was being thorough which is exactly what I had been looking for when I hired him.

            “Good Morning Mr. Faraday Doctor Reynolds is waiting for you in the lab and Secretary of State Gamin is waiting in the reception room.

“The Secretary of State?” I questioned.

            “Yes sir.”

            “Show her into my office would you Tenisa?” “Make her comfortable ah she likes lemon tea with just a spot of Gin and she is Jewish so wish her happy Hanukah and tell her I will be there shortly.

I slipped through the air lock routine more rapidly than usual, I put on the booties without stepping into the shoe brushes, put on the lab coat and cap and did a quick hand wash. As I stepped through the second door, the familiar lab air heavy with chemicals swirled around me. To most people the odor would be disagreeable or as my wife, God rest her sweet soul, used to delicately say, “It stinks!” I have always liked the slightly bitter smell. It falls into the same category to me, as the smell of new tires or the leather in my tack room. As I looked around the lab it was rocking to the beat of the shakers and washers the centrifuge and the bubbling beakers. Even the old fan that sat atop Doc’s locker seemed to pick up on the cadence. Leading this strange cacophonic orchestra was Dr. Robert Reynolds’s old beat up, cracked Bakelite cased radio from the nineteen fifties.  The over modulated exposed speaker filled the lab with music as old as the radio.

Doc? where are we? Good news I hope. Bob reached up and turned down the volume control. The way Bob looked at me over the top of his glasses I knew my optimism was wishful thinking.

            “A Christmas present you ain’t gonna get Eric. We‘ve DNA’d, spectrographed, triturated, …  Hell! we even encephalogramed the dam things Eric!” Bob Reynolds said, still eyeing me over the top of his film coated glasses through his thick bushy eyebrows. I remember wondering if he ever cleaned his glasses and that he probably had to look over them to see.

“Well!” I asked.

“Well what?”

“What did you find Doc!”

Nothing! Absolutely nothing! It is inert to everything we tried. Nothing breaks it down. Nothing dissolves it. Nothing makes it grow slower. Nothing makes it grow faster. Nothing kills it. Everything does nothing!

            Heat! What about heat?

            Hell no! That was the first thing we tried. Heat doesn’t phase it one way or the other and no! Cold does not affect it either.

            Summarize everything you’ve done. Everything you know and don’t know about this blue apparition and fax it to my office will you Doc? The Secretary of state is waiting for me. I’ll check in with you later.

            There was no reply from Bob as he was already totally immersed in his notes. Some people think that Doc is a little arrogant, red necked and strange. I go along with the redneck and strange part but I learned a long time ago that what others interpret as arrogance is really just his tremendous IQ. If you are explaining a concept to him he will often walk away or interrupt before you finish with your elucidation. Most people thought this was arrogance but I realized long ago that what you have to explain to most people several times before they begin to understand Bob would grasp in the first couple of sentences. Doc had only to hear or see things once and they were firmly in place in his mind. He was impatient when he had to repeat instructions. I believe he thought that every one else should be able to grasp and remember facts and instructions like he did. He felt that if he had to repeat the instructions, no matter how complex, that the person was just not paying attention. So the things that irritated others about the Doc I understood as I also understood the things that other people did that irritated the doc. I learned to trust his judgment and leaned heavily on him for his keen insight and graphic understanding of the world around us. My company would not be leading the pack today if it had not been for Doc’s brilliance in helping our team develop some pretty exotic designer drugs. 

            As I entered my office I was hit with perfume so strong that I could literally taste it. At the time I remember wondering if Madam Secretary had no sense of smell. Mrs. Florence Gamin is an attractive 60 plus woman with a slight and appealing plumpness and warm smiling eyes.

                Madam Secretary I said. I know you have met but let me take this opportunity to ormaly introduce both of you. Madam Secretary I would like to present to you Ms Tenisa Jones, my personal secretary and one of my most valuable employees. Tenisa this is Florence Gamin the secretary of state. So what have you two been discussing?

Curling, it’s not often I get to talk with a woman who intelligently discusses curling!

“Ah, curling?” as in hair styling I ignorantly asked?

Oh no! No! Mrs. Gamin said, Ice Curling, as in the sport. It’s slightly similar to bowling but a forty-pound rock with a handle attached to the top is used instead of a ball and curling requires much more finesse and team work. It is you know an Olympic event.

            “No,” I said uncomfortably. I didn’t know that.

Tenisa saw my discomfort and skillfully steered the conversation in another direction.

Curling, Tenisa said is very big in Canada and especially in Saskatchewan where I was raised. I grew up in Tisdale, Saskatchewan. They have a curling rink where the team I played with beat out the team my older brother was with. I try hard not to let him live it down. Mrs. Gamin was born in the US but spent five years with her grandmother in the town of Nipawin just a little north of Tisdale. “Nipawin is the springboard to some of the best fishing in the world and Mrs. Gamin has caught her share,” Tenisa said as she left the room. That was the perfect cue for me as I am an avid fisher. After a short conversation about fishing and the big ones caught in years past we had safely steered away from my obvious ignorance of curling.

            “Madam Secretary,” I said, “I am a direct person so please don’t misconstrue my directness for rudeness.” I find I get a lot more done if I cut to the chase. So what brings you here?

            Thanks for the direct question Mr. Faraday. I will be just as direct. The president wants you to head up a team to investigate and eradicate the blue dots.

            In my mind I asked, why me? And my mouth parroted my thoughts. “But my company specializes in pharmaceuticals,” I stammered.

            “Yes and quiet successfully too,” she replied. “Your savvy is reason number one. Reason number two, you do your homework. For example you have never met me but you knew I like lemon tea with a little gin in it. Reason number three, you cut to the chase as you say and in the coming weeks cutting to the chase will be a critical asset. Reason number four we know you have been conducting your own private research into the blue dots and you are way ahead of anyone else in your research. Reason number five, the President feels you are our first and best hope we have of solving this problem. You have a great track record for solving complicated problems.

            “Bu bu but,” I stuttered. “I am not a team worker, I Am a scientist, an explorer, and as such I go where I will. I go where my intuition takes me I go where curiosity carries me. I don’t like being fettered and blinded like a workhorse. I am stubborn and don’t like taking directions from anyone! Pardon me for saying this but in reality I would not like taking orders from the president himself!” I argued.

“Oh yes, that is reason number six,” she said as a large smile animated the crows feet at the corners of her eyes. You will direct this investigation with no interference. Mind you yours is not the only team working on this. We are not going to put all our eggs into one basket but your team well be team one. Your team will have Carte blanche. For the first time ever every country in the world is pledging full support. Money is unlimited. All available resources worldwide will be at your disposal. You will have top priority for personnel and material. Even the President will take orders from you. Kings and dictators will take orders from you. You will be the most powerful man in the world! The most powerful man in history! If you are successful in eradicating the blue dots then you will loss all your power in a heartbeat.

What if I take the job and I don’t succeed?

            Then we die!

            The sleet hitting the windows could be heard as a thick awkward silence filled every corner of the room. I shifted uncomfortably as I tried to think of something to say. I knew that at times like this I usually said something stupid so I didn’t say anything.

 Finally Mrs. Gamin said, “before you make your decision the president would like a word with you. She opened her lap top and the display was filled with an image of the president’s face. I was startled into reality when I saw the presidents eyes blink. The Secretary of State then said Mr. President may I introduce Mr. Eric Faraday, President of Faraday pharmaceuticals. Mr. Faraday, the President of the United States of America.

            I feel a little awkward Mr. President. I feel I should be shaking your hand.

            “Yes,” the President replied. “This electronic age does leave something to be desired doesn’t it?  Eric! While you are contemplating my request that you head Team One I would like you to watch something. My technician will play it for you. The camera angle shifted and another face appeared on the screen.

            Mr. Faraday, the face said, my name is Donerett and I will be playing a tape for you. Before I do though, I have to tell you that this information is classified and very sensitive. At this point I would normally brief you as to your legal responsibilities and explain the penalties for compromising classified materials but this is a rare circumstance in which you will need all the latitude we can give you. So just be very careful who you divulge this information to. We are not afraid of foreign interests getting classified information. We just don’t want blind panic any sooner than the natural course of events will bring it. If you are ready I will start the tape for you now.

            I am ready.

            The first image on the tape was of a blue building. Even the windows were blue. The flag and flagpole was blue. Then the camera panned back to show more blue. Blue buildings and blue ground, blue trees, blue water in a fountain. Suddenly a figure burst through a window that was six stories high and bounced and then the body slid and slid and slid. Soon I noticed a buss sliding on the blue pavement into a blue building and bouncing off the building and sliding into another car. The buss and car then slid in opposite directions. Everything that was not anchored to the ground was in motion. It was like everything and everyone was on ice. But not ice like I had ever seen. Nothing ever came to rest. Everything was in a sort of perpetual motion. Cars were crushing people and crunching other cars. There were bodies, some of them alive many of them dead and mangled, sliding this way and that and never coming to rest. A group of people were clinging to each other and being pummeled this way and that way.

“Sir,” I said as the Presidents image reappeared, “this clip confirms the fears of my colleagues. We have known for some time about the frictionless qualities of the blue dots and that they are increasing in numbers and size. Our calculations indicated that it would be years before the dots began to merge. I am shocked that it is happening already! Mr. President where was this video clip taken?

It was taken on Dec. 10^th at a nuclear fuel storage facility on the Utah Nevada boarder. On Dec 9^th for reasons we will not go into now, I had issued and executive order to mobilize the Plutonium fuel on trains so that we could move it around the country if need be. As soon as the order was issued there was a dramatic increase around the facility in the number of blue dots and their rate of growth.

That is very disturbing. Do you believe that there is an intelligence connected in some way with the blue dot phenomenon?

Yes we do.

I can tell you this sir, what ever or who ever is doing this has limited resources. On the day you noticed the dot activity increase around the facility we monitored a dramatic slow down in dot activity around the world. It would appear that in order for one area to increase its activity other areas must slow theirs,” Eric responded..

I knew we had picked the right man for the job. Can I assume that you are accepting the call?

Yes sir. I hope I can meet your expectations.

Well Eric.” The President said with a smile, “if you don’t succeed no one will be around to know. Eric I have chosen Secretary of state Gamin to be your facilitator to correlate your needs with the resources available from around the world. She can be a big help to you in side stepping politics. Just tell her what you need and she will see that you get it. Now is there anything I can do to help you get started?

            I need a person who is knowledgeable about which scientists are tops in their state of the art. A person who can help bring together the greatest intellect and most talented minds on the planet.

            My staff anticipated your first request and came up with several names for you to consider.

All due respect sir, we don’t have much time to contemplate and consider we have to move fast. Who is at the top of the list?

Michele Worthington. She has worked with many Nobel Prize winners and other scientists as a consultant. She advises and collaborates with scientists who need to prepare their scientific papers and journals so that they fall into the formats of the respective publications.

Yes I know Michele quite well. We have had our disagreements on environmental issues in the past but I agree she is the best person for the job.

            Mr. President I feel an urgency about this so I am going to get started now. I have an uncomfortable feeling that time is most critical.  I will have my secretary Ms Jenisa Jones, stay on top of everything we are doing and she will keep you updated at least twice a day. Is that alright with you sir?

Your calling the shots from now on Eric. One more thing Eric, I won’t wish you good luck because I have never relied on luck. I believe that hard work brings success so I am wishing you success.

Thank you sir. We will all work hard on this.

            As Mrs. Gamin closed the lap top and I watched the great seal fold into it a terrific smothering feeling weighed down on me as if some one had just draped my shoulders with a large set of dumbbells. If I could not lift this weight there was no spotter there to help me. It would simply crush me along with the rest of the world. For the first time in my life I felt my confidence slip. To shake the feeling I decided to spring into action.

Mrs. Gamin do you know how we can get hold of Miss Worthington?

“She is en route as we speak,” Mrs. Gamin replied with a knowing smile.

A week later we had assembled 24 scientists from nearly every discipline. They in turn had whatever staff they felt they needed. I use the term assembled loosely. It was not practical to try and move much of the equipment and facilities the scientists were using. The 24 scientists were assembled on a special internet created just for this project.

            With Michele’s help we managed to organize a very respectable team of renowned scientists from around the world. Professor Linda Miller, mathematics’ and said by many destined to become the next Albert Einstein. Doctor Arnold Anderson, twice Nobel Prize winner for his contribution to physics. Doctor Eric Svendurik a Nobel nominee for his pioneering work in the new science of dimensional barriers. Pete Argyle, Inventor of the gyro-mag super inductor generator, machinist, sculptor and artist. Ruth Goldberg who held no degrees but with an IQ that was off the charts who needs them? There were many other players on the team who were not so renowned but were just as talented or promising.   The team was up and running just two days after my appointment.  It was an amazing feat. Even more amazing, there was virtually no red tape. We receive full cooperation from every organization, company and individual we contacted.. No politics, no mind games, no ideology entanglements and no power struggles. I was amazed and I could not help wondering how far the worlds interests might advance if everyone were half as cooperative when this was all over. An interesting foot note to all of this was that I had no title, I held no office, and certainly the authority I wielded was illegal but for the sake of survival we all ignored many illegal maneuvers during those bleak days.

     On January 24th we had a global conference that lasted four days. As the last speaker was outlining the work his sub-team had been conducting my head was awash with facts, figures and conflicting conclusions. I didn’t how I would summarize all of the unrelated information that had been presented. As the speaker was concluding his remarks Doc leaned over and whispered,

            “Say partner how about letting me do the summery?”

            “Go for it Doc,” I said and breathed a sigh of relief.

The doc got up and unfolded a large chart.

            On the left-hand side of this chart I have listed all of the things we know about the Blots. In the right-hand column I have listed the following questions.

1.      What are the blots?

2.      Where did they come from?

3.      What are they doing?

4.      Can they be eradicated?

In the interest of time I am going to ignore work that has not produced any useful information. Now please don’t be slighted if work you have been doing isn’t recognized.

Everyone’s work is critical to us finding out what the blots are what they are not and how to evict them from this planet. Although your work may not have shed any light on the blots that work needed to be done in order to eliminate all possibilities. Time is so short that you have done us a valuable service by eliminating experiments and tests that we would otherwise be compelled to do.

Now here is what we have learned.

1.      The blots seem to be an energy field. We don’t know what holds the energy in place but we have our suspicions.

2.      In several instances blot activity increased dramatically in areas where we were trying to remove nuclear fuel from blot influence. The blots effectively stopped us from removing the material. From this we must conclude that there is an intelligence directing the blots. Whether the intellect is associated directly with the blots or whether the blots are some sort of tool being used by an intelligence we don’t know.

3.      Once the blots cover a surface we can not penetrate the force field. We have fired bullets at a plank that was covered with a blot. None of the slugs energy was transferred to the board. All of the energy remained with the slug. As the slug richoched off the blot covering the plank it still had all of the potential energy it had when it left the gun barrel.

4.      Blots are totally frictionless and objects float on top of the blot force field.

5.       The blots are eating our planet. Ironically we found a blot on a picture of Eric Faraday so we cut off his nose… laughter… which is where the blue dot had attached itself. We place the picture of the nose in a Mettler-gram scale. Over a period of days the material got lighter by a few hundredths of a gram. I then contacted Dr. Yablanksi in Moscow and Dr. Remey in Australia. As most of you know Dr.Yablanksi is foremost in the field of matter anti matter Dr. Remey has worked at the threshold of matter teleportation. Since we could find no trace of the missing matter we asked them to duplicate the experiment and try and determine where the material was going. In the interest of time I will briefly discuss the results. Dr. Remey assures us that the matter is not being teleported. From tests done by Dr. Johnston’s team both he and Dr. Remey agree that the matter is being converted to anti-matter, which they have both observed at the transfer margin, and then presumably it crosses over into an antimatter dimension. It would appear that our planet is being mined. Our planet is being converted to anti-matter for use in an anti-matter world. At the current rate of increase it will take them 9.5 million years to convert the entire Earth into anti-matter. We will all be dead long before then. We estimate that the blots will all converge in 72 days at which time we will slip and slide and be at the mercy of what ever we hit or what ever slides into us. A year from now every structure on this planet will be pulverized.

At this point I stood and took the floor and addresse the conference.

“I believe that all discussion should end at this time for security reasons. We don’t know how the bloters, we’ll call them, do their espionage but to tighten security more all long distant discussion will be done in writing and delivered by courier and any internet transmissions encrypted.

To be continued.

Ideas and suggestions for the story line or correct welcome. By submiting ideas and suggestions you agree to surrendeer all rights to the submisions and all submissions become the exclusive and sole property of Even L Mills