Nebula Read Online Free Page B

would be taken care of. It’s really a win-win for everyone.”
    “I don’t see it that way. In fact, if I didn’t know you better, I’d be pretty suspicious that you and your friends have something to do with this. I’ll think about your offer, but that would be my last choice. I have some friends who might be able to bail me out. If not, maybe we can talk again, but I have to tell you that all my problems seem to have started when I got involved with you and your damned project.”
    “OK, do what you want. But if you do want me to try to get my associates to help you, we only have another couple of days before the offer expires, since we need to fill that position and will have to contact the number two on the list.”
    Getting help from friends was easier said than done. Everyone who Harry contacted seemed to want to keep a distance from him. They were all friendly enough, but no one could help with the funding and seemed a bit nervous even talking about it. That got Harry thinking. If Walt’s sponsors had such deep pockets and were so powerful that they could run a very elaborate and secret operation like the one that he had a glimpse of a few days ago, maybe they could also intimidate other organizations to make sure that Harry would have no choice but to join their project. He decided to confront Walt directly.
    He went to Walt’s laboratory in one of the nearby buildings on campus. Walt was busy with one of his grad students, going over some circuit designs and puzzling over some test data that was obviously not what they thought it should be. A few other students and one of the postdocs were off to the side, installing some sort of weird looking contraption on a scaffold hung from the ceiling. The whole appearance of the lab had a Rube Goldberg look to it, but Harry knew that everything must have been well planned and perfectly installed. Walt was a perfectionist and was one of the world’s foremost researchers in the field of plasma physics. He approached Walt and the student and waited for an opportunity to speak without disrupting the train of thought too much.
    Walt backed away from the lab table, and Harry took that opportunity to catch his attention. “We need to talk – now!”
    Walt turned and smiled at Harry. “Sure, no problem, we were just about finished here. Donny, go run those tests we just talked about. I think that you’ll see exactly what I predicted. Then, you can change the damping constant and I bet it’ll work like we want.”
    When they got to Walt’s office and closed the door, Harry didn’t waste any time getting right down to the subject. He approached Walt and jabbed his finger into Walt’s chest. He was clearly pissed off. “What the hell is going on? Your friends are behind all my problems. Admit it, dammit. Tell me yes or no. Is this being done deliberately by your friends to force me onto the project?”
    Walt hesitated for a few seconds before replying. “Believe me, Harry. I had nothing to do with this. I wouldn’t do that sort of thing to you. But the senior leaders in our project are determined to get you to join. Our second choice is nowhere as experienced as you are in areas that are important to us. They’ve obviously called in some big chips to put pressure on you. From what I’ve heard, they’re giving you no choice but to join us. They’ll make sure that if you don’t you’ll never be able to get any significant research grants again. They’re even preparing to put pressure directly on the university to try to have you dismissed or at least assigned to duties that you wouldn’t tolerate for long.”
    “Why are those sons of bitches doing this to me? I’ll keep all your damned secrets, and I’ll even agree to work with you part time if that’s what they want. Why in hell do they need me to give up my entire life for them? You seem to be doing well enough working part time for them and still having your research.”
    “I can’t go into details,