Free Anomaly by Peter Cawdron Page A

his argument.
    Teller tried to make sense out of what was happening. He could see Mason wasn't ignoring the scientific concerns, but his gut instinct clearly told him they'd already gone too far. Mason was, after all, appointed to support a political position, and not scientific inquiry. Mason was throwing the brakes before the train ran off out of control.
    “Oh,” Anderson continued, “Newton gave us some vague notions about the strength of gravity being the inverse square of the distance between two masses, but that's like saying two plus two equals four. Einstein took the concept further to suggest gravity is a consequence and not a force. But the reality is, if the universe behaved the way we think it should, according to our understanding of gravity, the damn thing would fly apart. Entire galaxies exist in defiance of what little we know about gravity, and this thing toys with it, the anomaly flaunts its ability to control gravity like it was child's play.”
    Anderson was in full flight. Mason was going to hear him out if it was the last thing he did.
    “The anomaly has such a mastery of gravity that it can simulate our own gravity within a precisely defined area. Not only that, but it completely negates and defies the normal gravitational attraction of an entire goddamn planet at the same time. That's a double-whammy. That's a level of technological innovation we cannot even dream of attaining. And you think it's a threat? If it was a threat, there's not a damn thing we could do about it. For us, it would be like an Amazonian tribe taking on an aircraft carrier with a bunch of canoes. If it wanted to attack us, to exploit us, it could do so in a heartbeat and there's nothing we could do about it. Not a goddamn thing. You're not thinking this through.”
    “He's right,” said Teller, impressed with the argument and having nothing else to add.
    Mason turned to a Marine captain who had come up beside him, saying, “No one goes anywhere, does anything or talks to anyone without my express permission. You will provide food and bedding and detain all personnel on-site until I have met with the National Security Council.”
    He bent down next to his niece, putting on a fake smile as he said, “Looks like you get to have a sleep-over tonight with the scientists. I'll call your Mom and see if that's all right with her. OK?”
    Susan wasn't too sure what to think, but she trusted her uncle so she nodded in reply. Anderson and Bates continued to protest but Mason walked away.
    Without saying a word, Mason held out his hand to Finch. Finch popped open the camera and dropped a still-warm recordable HD disc into his hand.
    Teller could guess what was going to happen next. Mason was taking this to the President.

Chapter 07: United Nations
     
    The next day, the President of the United States of America sat at the front of the UN General Assembly building with the Vice President on his right and James Mason, the National Security Director on his left. Teller, Bates and Anderson sat to one side at a second table with Robert Gaul, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations.
    From the seating arrangement, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that science was taking a back seat to politics. Teller, Bates and Anderson swapped hand written notes with each other, reflecting on what they thought as they looked out across the sea of delegates from over two hundred member states and territories. Teller felt distinctly out of place, but he had the outermost seat, and figured the pecking order was quite appropriate in his case. If he'd had his way, he'd have watched the whole debate from back at the NASA trailer.
    Initially, there had been some resistance to meeting in the General Assembly building as the top corner at the rear was missing, dragged off into a slow orbit by the anomaly. The actual segment wasn't that large, only about thirty feet or so in length and less than fifteen feet wide, but it kept the anomaly rooted firmly