The Eleusian Effect
Chapter 9 The Meeting

August 11, 2169 0745 Hours

I got up and threw on a gym outfit and jogged to my parents’ house. I hadn’t worked up a sweat yet when I got there and a government hovercraft was already there. I went into the house and Captain Cleveland was talking to my parents. “You’re early.” He seemed less formal than he was on the call. “Captain Cleveland.” “Dr. Endana Obama.”

“Endana?”

“Yes. You are obviously aware of the classified data concerning the Kennedy’s mission to Venus?”

“Yes, I was briefed last week. Incredible. I sorry that you couldn’t be cured.”

I was a little annoyed by that comment. “I’m making the best of it. Shall we sit?”

“Certainly.”

“Do my parents need to be here?”

“I’d prefer to speak to you first. Then you can decide what to tell them.”

“Okay. Let’s go out to the patio.” My mother followed us out with a tray of coffee. It was a cooler morning than it had been in a while. I sat down and dabbed myself with a face towel, though it wasn’t really necessary. Cleveland sat and thanked my mother for the coffee. He took a sip and pondered his next word. “I understand you know Bill Wallace.” “Yes. We were childhood friends. We would see each other in the summer time here.”

“That was when you were still male?”

“Yes.”

“Have you had any contact with him now?”

“Yes.”

“Are you still close? I mean does he know about what happened to you?”

“We have become reacquainted. He knows me as Endana, now and we have been seeing each other.”

“But does he know you were once Darius Obama?”

“What does this have to do with anything?”

“He is a lawyer for the Anti-Space Initiative.”

“He does research for them.”

“He is their chief counsel.”

“What?” For the first time I was unsure of what I heard. “Chief Counsel? Are you sure?”

“They have a battalion of lawyers and Bill Wallace is in charge of them. He didn’t tell you?”

“He told me that he was a fact checker for them. He was there to make sure people working at GASA were safe.” “The Anti-Space Initiative is doing everything in their power to shut down space exploration. They have stonewalled a lot of funding and right now and all construction of new starships has been put on hold.” “I can’t believe it.” I was really mad but also remembered that I kept secrets from Bill too. Still this was a big detail to keep from me.” “So you found out I was with him?”

“Once GASA released all of you, they decided to keep an eye on you, for your protection. After all this time there are still people who wouldn’t understand your situation. Or want to.” “GASA’s been spying on us? I don’t who to be madder at, the Anti-Space jerks or GASA.”

“I’m sorry you found out this way. The goal was to not interfere with your lives but to make sure you were able to function the way you wanted to-either as a civilian or a GASA member.” “So what do I do?”

“You’re relationship with Mr. Wallace for the time being is still your personal affair, however, if the Anti-Space Initiative continues to interfere with GASA operations, you may be forced to make some difficult decisions.” “I see. Since I am returning to the Kennedy on the 27th, I will try to stay out of trouble.”

“I’m sorry, if this upsets you, but we have to protect GASA’s interests. Unless, you decide to resign from it, which is your prerogative, we’ll expect that you will act with the organization’s best interests in mind.” “Oh I will.” I wasn’t trying to hide my annoyance at all. Cleveland wasn’t trying antagonize me but he was doing a good job of it. He got up and bade us farewell. I walked him to the door. He turned to me and said, “I understand you are in a strange position right now. Just tread lightly. If you need any legal assistance-“ I cut him off. “I’ll contact your office, thanks.” He nodded and left quickly.

I took a few moments to figure out my next move. I sat down at the comm and searched Bill’s background. I looked up the Anti-Space Initiative and some of their activities. They are passionate in their beliefs but not a group that I would want a lot contact with. Then I searched their website for Bill. Cleveland was right, with one exception. Bill’s personal page did not disparage space travel as much as question it. He posed thoughtful, non-threatening posts and managed to be relatively neutral. Once I was satisfied, I decided to head back to the bungalow. Bill was still working on his briefs. He stopped and came out to the couch. I thought I would be angrier, but I was puzzled. “Hey Babe. How’d the meeting go?” “It was interesting. Why didn’t you tell me you were Chief Counsel for Anti-Space?”

Bill went pale for a moment. Then he took a deep breath. “I didn’t want you to think less of me. We never talked shop so I didn’t think to correct it. I really do just research stuff.” “You do more than that. You litigate.”

“Only when it comes to safety. My superiors know that I have a moderate stance.”

“That’s a hell of a way to replace out, Bill.”

“Endy, I didn’t want to be a lawyer to you. I’m sorry. I do fight for safety in space, I just do it from the inside. I’ve lost money because I wouldn’t take certain cases.” “All right. Just deal straight from now on, Okay?”

“Deal.”

It was a cool night so after a light supper, we went over the fire pit and had cocktails. I rather enjoyed out-drinking Bill. I think he tried to get me drunk a few times but it backfired. So now we just enjoy the drinks and fill moments as much as we can. We started to make out but then he surprised me with a gift. It was a gorgeous dress. “I got your sizes from your wardrobe. I have a tux and tomorrow night we have reservations for Zanzibar in the North End.” “I’m impressed. This dress is amazing and Zanzibar is the most prestigious restaurants in Boston! One thing though-we’re not taking the hoverbike, right?” “Right I have a car. It’s not as fast but we can be in the city in an hour.”

“Sounds like a date.” We continued our make out session.