Jamie and Helen held the last letter.
Dear Brother,
Frankly, I’m more scared than I’ve ever been. This will probably be a suicide mission. But I’ve got to do this. I’m trying to protect Paul Howser. And you, and Mom, and Pops. This is the only way. Keep this safe. It explains everything.
***
What followed contained so many symbols letters and numbers, it seemed a foreign language. Jamie looked to Helen to see if she could decipher the complex mathematical equation. She shook her head.
“This is completely beyond me. But I wonder if Paul would know, he was a math professor right?”
They called Paul immediately. Jamie snapped a picture of the equation and forwarded it to Paul’s phone. While Paul was also unable to decipher the equation, he did have a suggestion. He proposed reaching out to a student of his who had a student who currently worked at JPL. With any luck, they’d be able to find out why this particular equation purportedly held the key to everything.
Jamie thought about the project he’d just turned in. The project was a nuclear-powered spaceship. Being built during the Cold War. And Jerry was found on a Soviet submarine. This had to be a key part of the equation in the plans that Jerry turned over to the Russians.
“It must have been the hardest thing ever, to know that you’re walking into certain death - if not literally, then Jerry had to know that the path ahead of him would ruin his career, likely land him in prison for stealing the plan. It must have been the bravest thing ever to walk out of Lab with the plans. To go and meet with the Soviet agents. To Ohhh!” Helen shook her head as though clearing her vision.
“I cannot imagine having to be so afraid for the people/person you loved” Jamie said, putting a hand on Helen’s shoulder - to steady himself, to comfort her.
Paul called an hour later. “I hope you don’t mind, I sent the equation off to my former student. He’s a physics professor now at MIT. He then reached out to his former student, who is now part of JPL, Mahnaz Baktiari.” Helen’s eyes grew bigger as Paul went on. “ I’ve given Mahnaz your phone number you should be hearing from her. Do let me know how this ends please. I need to know.”
They said their goodbyes.
Helen grabbed Jamie by the arm. “Can you believe this. Mahnaz Baktiari will be calling US!”
“Helen, don’t ever change” Jamie said with a very serious tone. “You are so delightfully weird! It’s one of the many things I like about you. No one else would get this excited about a call from a Math Wizard.”
Dr. Baktiari did not call back for a couple of days. Helen and Jamie spent their time plotting to peacefully but completely disband the Kyle crew. They wanted him destroyed, but neither had the will to want him to really suffer. Just get him on the side of good instead of evil. Helen thought that if they elicited assistance from a couple of the teacher, Helen and Jamie could “bargain” with the Kyle crew and promise them the test keys for midterms in exchange for being left alone. But what they would really give the Kyle crew would be all wrong answers. Completely 100% incorrect. Even though Helen knew the statistical probability of getting a complete 0% correct on a multiple-choice test was nearly impossible.
If the teachers were in on the plan, the teachers could then take the members of the crew aside, let them know they were being watched. Helen and Jamie could claim innocence - they didn’t know the test keys were fakes. It was one idea. Another idea involved adding as many locks as they could to the bicycles of the entire crew. Combination locks. And they’d put all the combinations in a sack all mixed up. Helen’s mom worked part time in retail. They thought about asking her for a couple of those exploding dye things that go on expensive items as theft protection. They could go into lunches. The crew was always stealing lunches, but the plan wasn’t reliable. And could easily backfire.
Somehow Kyle would get his comeuppance. After two days of brainstorming, and not having a solid plan for Project Disband the Kyle Crew, Dr. Baktiari called. Jamie deferred to Helen.
“This is very interesting, where did you get this equation?” Dr. Baktiari asked.
Helen gave a short summary of their journey to this place and explained that the equation had been mailed to Jamie’s grandfather by his brother but fifty years ago.
“I was approached by NASA and the Navy to review a set of plans that had been found aboard a Soviet submarine that was apparently trapped for fifty years. The plans are for a nuclear propulsion system. Rather than missile to deliver bombs; the Orion project was all about bombs propelling a missile, propelling the rocket. This would really have been something for the Russians to get their hands on in 1960. If it would have been real. This equation won’t propel anything let alone create a nuclear reaction. This equation appears to have been altered, by an expert hand.”
Jamie looked at Helen who was holding the phone out in front of her like it would explode any minute.
“So that would mean that…”
“That would mean that your great uncle, was a truly brave man. If he was being blackmailed, which the government officials I’ve spoken to seem to believe, then he felt his only out was to turn over the plans. That he was willing to risk his own life by altering the plans - think about it like removing the firing pin from a gun before handing it to someone. You’ve disarmed this situation. That’s what Jerry Brody did. He disarmed the situation. It seems he knew his path ahead was going to be short after that, but he walked that path bravely indeed.
After the call, they felt they had enough to finally logically tell the story. A great man, and some of the most brilliant scientific minds of the 20th century building a bomb to deliver missiles and send men to the stars. A brilliant mathematician who happened to love a man put into a situation with impossible choices. So he made the only choice he could to protect not only everyone he cared about, including his country and the project, he kept his honor intact.
— Lkai
Dear Brother,
Frankly, I’m more scared than I’ve ever been. This will probably be a suicide mission. But I’ve got to do this. I’m trying to protect Paul Howser. And you, and Mom, and Pops. This is the only way. Keep this safe. It explains everything.
***
What followed contained so many symbols letters and numbers, it seemed a foreign language. Jamie looked to Helen to see if she could decipher the complex mathematical equation. She shook her head.
“This is completely beyond me. But I wonder if Paul would know, he was a math professor right?”
They called Paul immediately. Jamie snapped a picture of the equation and forwarded it to Paul’s phone. While Paul was also unable to decipher the equation, he did have a suggestion. He proposed reaching out to a student of his who had a student who currently worked at JPL. With any luck, they’d be able to find out why this particular equation purportedly held the key to everything.
Jamie thought about the project he’d just turned in. The project was a nuclear-powered spaceship. Being built during the Cold War. And Jerry was found on a Soviet submarine. This had to be a key part of the equation in the plans that Jerry turned over to the Russians.
“It must have been the hardest thing ever, to know that you’re walking into certain death - if not literally, then Jerry had to know that the path ahead of him would ruin his career, likely land him in prison for stealing the plan. It must have been the bravest thing ever to walk out of Lab with the plans. To go and meet with the Soviet agents. To Ohhh!” Helen shook her head as though clearing her vision.
“I cannot imagine having to be so afraid for the people/person you loved” Jamie said, putting a hand on Helen’s shoulder - to steady himself, to comfort her.
Paul called an hour later. “I hope you don’t mind, I sent the equation off to my former student. He’s a physics professor now at MIT. He then reached out to his former student, who is now part of JPL, Mahnaz Baktiari.” Helen’s eyes grew bigger as Paul went on. “ I’ve given Mahnaz your phone number you should be hearing from her. Do let me know how this ends please. I need to know.”
They said their goodbyes.
Helen grabbed Jamie by the arm. “Can you believe this. Mahnaz Baktiari will be calling US!”
“Helen, don’t ever change” Jamie said with a very serious tone. “You are so delightfully weird! It’s one of the many things I like about you. No one else would get this excited about a call from a Math Wizard.”
Dr. Baktiari did not call back for a couple of days. Helen and Jamie spent their time plotting to peacefully but completely disband the Kyle crew. They wanted him destroyed, but neither had the will to want him to really suffer. Just get him on the side of good instead of evil. Helen thought that if they elicited assistance from a couple of the teacher, Helen and Jamie could “bargain” with the Kyle crew and promise them the test keys for midterms in exchange for being left alone. But what they would really give the Kyle crew would be all wrong answers. Completely 100% incorrect. Even though Helen knew the statistical probability of getting a complete 0% correct on a multiple-choice test was nearly impossible.
If the teachers were in on the plan, the teachers could then take the members of the crew aside, let them know they were being watched. Helen and Jamie could claim innocence - they didn’t know the test keys were fakes. It was one idea. Another idea involved adding as many locks as they could to the bicycles of the entire crew. Combination locks. And they’d put all the combinations in a sack all mixed up. Helen’s mom worked part time in retail. They thought about asking her for a couple of those exploding dye things that go on expensive items as theft protection. They could go into lunches. The crew was always stealing lunches, but the plan wasn’t reliable. And could easily backfire.
Somehow Kyle would get his comeuppance. After two days of brainstorming, and not having a solid plan for Project Disband the Kyle Crew, Dr. Baktiari called. Jamie deferred to Helen.
“This is very interesting, where did you get this equation?” Dr. Baktiari asked.
Helen gave a short summary of their journey to this place and explained that the equation had been mailed to Jamie’s grandfather by his brother but fifty years ago.
“I was approached by NASA and the Navy to review a set of plans that had been found aboard a Soviet submarine that was apparently trapped for fifty years. The plans are for a nuclear propulsion system. Rather than missile to deliver bombs; the Orion project was all about bombs propelling a missile, propelling the rocket. This would really have been something for the Russians to get their hands on in 1960. If it would have been real. This equation won’t propel anything let alone create a nuclear reaction. This equation appears to have been altered, by an expert hand.”
Jamie looked at Helen who was holding the phone out in front of her like it would explode any minute.
“So that would mean that…”
“That would mean that your great uncle, was a truly brave man. If he was being blackmailed, which the government officials I’ve spoken to seem to believe, then he felt his only out was to turn over the plans. That he was willing to risk his own life by altering the plans - think about it like removing the firing pin from a gun before handing it to someone. You’ve disarmed this situation. That’s what Jerry Brody did. He disarmed the situation. It seems he knew his path ahead was going to be short after that, but he walked that path bravely indeed.
After the call, they felt they had enough to finally logically tell the story. A great man, and some of the most brilliant scientific minds of the 20th century building a bomb to deliver missiles and send men to the stars. A brilliant mathematician who happened to love a man put into a situation with impossible choices. So he made the only choice he could to protect not only everyone he cared about, including his country and the project, he kept his honor intact.
— Lkai
Wow. Heavy stuff. I like Helen's excitement (as does Jamie). I am amused by the plans for Kyle et al. I almost hope none of them get enacted now; there would be revenge. Maybe ignoring the crew would be the best option, and the "comeuppance" would happen karmically. I don't know. It's your story, though! (Macoff)
ReplyDeleteI agree, they don't want "revenge" they just want Kyle and company to stop. And pulling something on them would perpetuate the situation. Thank you for the thoughts on this. I was wanting to go in the Karmically direction, and will pursue that. (So much editing / rewriting / refining to do!!!)
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