Free The Tesla Gate by John D. Mimms Page B

dad again, I had to focus on Seth. They were adults and, if they were still here, they could find me. I put the thought out of my head with the promise to myself that I would drive by their house on the way out of town tomorrow. Sleep finally came, but it was anything but restful.

CHAPTER 8
    Rattling Bridges

    â€œA person may cause evil to others not only
by his action but by his inaction, and in either case he is
justly accountable to them for the injury.”
    â€”John Stuart Mill
    The President of the United States got no sleep that night, as most leaders around the world didn’t. He and his political and military advisors, along with scientists from NASA, MIT, Stanford, and a few other assorted government agencies spent the evening in the White House situation room monitoring developments. The scientists agreed on one thing – they had no idea what the phenomenon was or why it was disrupting television and internet but not radio. They also had no idea as to why it had suddenly unveiled the dead.
    The scientists were split down the middle about whether the storm produced an unknown energy that affected the human brain, causing hallucinations, or if it really did evoke a physical manifestation of the unseen spirit world. The scientists on the hallucination side of the debate crudely referred to the visions of the deceased as “brain farts.” The phrase that the scientists used describing the spirit side was one that fit perfectly and was much more refined term than its hallucinatory counterpart. It meant “not capable of being perceived by the senses.” They called them “the Impalpables,” or “Impals” for short.
    The most important question batted about was whether or not this new form of energy caused adverse health effects. So far there was no evidence of that but it had been less than 24-hours since the storm entered Earth’s atmosphere. There was no way as of yet to measure this unknown form of energy, so the only scientific method available was the tried and true technique – just wait and see.
    There was one troubling development that had become apparent overnight, a development that the president’s advisors had spent a great deal of time coaching exactly how to present to the media, a development that could easily lead to global unrest if not handled with the utmost care. Indeed it would be very important, but seemingly insignificant at first, like a single spark from a dangling tailpipe in the middle of a tender dry forest that later produced a blaze of unimaginable consequences.
    Aside from the scientists, the military, and the presidential advisors, there was another present at this meeting. He was an individual who showed great distaste toward any nickname. He had seen and heard this kind of talk before, not only in his living days but in the years since as one president after another occupied the place he had called home for four years. They afforded him no more attention than they would the air in the room. But how could they? Hadn’t he, by the very definition, been exactly what the despised nickname suggested? Impalpable.
    Living may not be an appropriate term for the last 100 years or more, but he had existed a long time. He had existed long enough to know that he didn’t care for some of the ideas and language coming from the room. He had heard it before, not only during the last great trial of his life as he struggled to keep a nation together but also since that time from the mouths and actions of a number of advisors and leaders occupying what should be an honored house.
    If there was one thing he had learned the last two centuries were that the ideals that spawned and maintain America are of divine providence and should be defended to the end, but the governmental offices were rarely a reflection of these ideals. He had decided long ago that if white represents purity and virtue, the presidential residence should have been painted