Free The Soul of the Matter by Bruce Buff Page B

emphatically.
    â€œIt’s exactly because of things you experienced that I hold back some information for now. We need a little more time,” Stephen said. It was a plea as much as a statement of fact. “I will tell you one thing that I haven’t before. The connection between physics and biology may be closer than you think. It looks like certain properties of matter predispose the formation of life. Understand one well and you understand the other better. The symmetry in physical laws is somehow related to the organization of life. Your tests will help prove some of this. That’s part of the reason I’m involved.”
    Viktor sat silently for a few minutes, lost in thought, and then said, “In some ways, that’s not surprising. I’ve often speculated about the incredible odds involved in evolution and have never been satisfied with the idea of an overwhelming large universe, or an infinite number of multiverses, as an answer, despite what the math says is possible. But it’s all the more reason that I need to know what’s going on.”
    â€œWhen the time’s right, I promise that you’ll receive all the information and assurances you need, from as high an authority as you could want.”
    â€œI’m going to hold you to that,” said Viktor. “And remember, I value truth, not authority.”
    â€œDon’t worry, you’ll be satisfied.”
    â€œWhat do we do about computer security in the interim? The lab’s servers aren’t capable of protecting the data, and things could easily get hot in more ways than one after next week’s experiments,” Viktor stated.
    â€œI’m taking care of that tonight,” said Stephen.
    â€œWith your not-so-friendly friend Dan, the guy you keep trying to get in touch with? Is he even up for this? Can’t we get someone else?”
    â€œHe’s one of the best and, once he’s on board, we can depend on him without question.” Stephen looked away into the distance.
    After a long pause, Viktor said, “Your silence doesn’t inspire confidence.”
    Stephen replied, “Dan is the right guy for us. For a good part of his career, he worked in a government intelligence agency as one of its top data encryption and computer security experts. We need both of these capabilities to protect our work.”
    â€œI hope you’re right about Dan. Take a look at this,” Viktor said. He pulled an 8½-by-11-inch image from his jacket pocket, unfolded it, and placed it on the desk between them. On it, lines indicated the major geographic features and borders of the United States. Different­-sized colored circles were dispersed over the area.
    Stephen sat straight up as though a massive electric shock hadjust traveled through his spine, grabbed the image, and said, “Is this what I think it is?”
    â€œAbsolutely. The circles indicate the type, quantity, and location of all significant amounts of nuclear material within the geographic area of the image.”
    â€œThen what the hell are you doing carrying this around?” Stephen said loudly. “Don’t you have any idea what certain countries would do to get hold of images like this, what they’d do with them? You know what could happen.”
    â€œSure I do.”
    â€œHow did you generate them?”
    â€œYou’re not the only one with clever ideas. All I did was tap into and adapt technologies that were already in place, plus borrowed equipment from a few labs. Anyway, I’ll tell you my secrets when you tell me yours.”
    â€œYou know I could cut you out of this program anytime I want. Welch works with me,” Stephen answered with more than a little threat in his voice.
    â€œYou can relax. Welch knows how I created the images. And we’re a long way from being able to generate global images. These are only proof-of-concepts.”
    After a brief pause, Viktor added,