Free The Sphere: A Journey In Time by Michelle McBeth

acknowledged that I could be right. Before I had met Noah, I just assumed that anyone who believed in organized religion was an idiot. I tended to think people like Noah would not be all that shattered to find out their messiah never existed, but that we were still a few generations from when most people would be readily accepting of it. "I'm not uncomfortable, I was just a bit surprised." I paused for a moment but decided to be honest. They seemed like very understanding people. "And didn't know what to do with myself."
     
    "Not at all. So long as you don't dig in while we're praying, we won't be offended no matter what you do. Speaking of which." Adam gestured towards the plate of meat. "Roast beef in an apple nesbit jus reduction, braised beets, and asparagus."
     
    I realized how ravenous I was but out of politeness only took one slice of roast beef to start. The meat was delicious and had a wonderfully fresh flavor. I was doubtful that they had a ranch somewhere on the island but felt it would be a little bit rude to ask where they got their meat from. "This is fabulous. Where did you learn to cook?"
     
    "My mother taught me when I was young. She was one of the few natural farmers left in the plains. She refused to try any cross breeding of plants herself but let me plant a small garden and experiment on my own. I was never terribly good at it though."
     
    Marina laughed. "He tried it again when we moved here. Created this rutabaga green bean thing. It was awful!"
     
    I joined her laugh. "You have my friend Noah's sense of adventure with food. When did you start your own vineyard?"
     
    “When we were working in Washington, DC we met quite a few people from the Virginia wine country area. One of them mentioned he had a vineyard he was looking to sell, and though I didn’t have much free time with the hotel, it was always a dream of mine. So we bought it and hired some people to take care of the day to day business, though I always had a hand in how the wine was made.”
     
    “Hotel?”
     
    “Ah, sorry. Let me start a little earlier. We met at a small business conference I was catering about 15 years ago-”
     
    Marina grabbed his hand. “It was love at first sight.”
     
    “Yes. It was a bit of a whirlwind. We were married within a year and Marina took over my catering business.”
     
    “He needed some help with the management aspects of it.”
     
    Adam smiled at her again. “I was in it for the food, not the money.”
     
    “But when you’re not turning a profit that makes it hard to continue-” she countered.
     
    “So Marina helped me grow my business and before I knew it, we had enough money to buy an old hotel in DC that was in a bit of disrepair.”
     
    Marina smiled at the memory and continued. “The place needed to be gutted, to be honest. But I saw the potential. And with DC being such a popular place to travel to, I knew one thing it would always need was more hotels.”
     
    “Between her business sense and my creative touches it became popular more quickly than I could imagine. And important people were staying there.”
     
    “Senators, visiting dignitaries. We got quite a reputation for being discreet about our guests and their activities.” Marina could not hide the pride in her voice.
     
    “And apparently word spread. The laboratory approached Marina about 8 years ago with an offer to build a resort on this island. They explained their need for people who could be trusted, given the nature of the guests. Frankly, we were excited by the idea of something a little more low key. The hotel was grand and very profitable, but the life was exhausting. And this place, is truly a paradise.”
     
    I smiled in agreement, amused by the back and forth nature of their narrative. “And what did they tell you would be the nature of your guests?”
     
    They exchanged a nervous glance before Adam spoke. “We try not to ask questions. We know the lab has a variety of research projects and