The Red Phoenix 12: Strength Comes in Numbers Read Online Free Page A

my crew having knowledge of it, okay!” Aldridge said in an intense voice.
     
    The room was silent.
     
    “If the world is to change, it will be because of me! Understand?” Aldridge added.
     
    The room was quiet. Miles and the others stood, staring.
     
    “Are you with me?” Aldridge asked, looking at each of them.
     
    Miles and the others glanced at each other with uncertainty.
     
    “I said are you with me?” asked Aldridge in a louder voice.
     
    “So, you want us to study it?” asked Miles.
     
    “Yes!” Aldridge answered in an excited voice. “Study it. Learn about it. Find out what it’s made of.”
     
    There was another brief moment of silence.
     
    “I’m in,” said Hart.
     
    “Me too,” stated Heaton.
     
    “I’ll do it,” Dunn added.
     
    “What about you, Miles?” asked Aldridge.
     
    “Count me in,” said Miles, delaying his response. “But my one concern is this…”
     
    “What’s that?” asked Aldridge.
     
    “Where in the hell are we supposed to tell the world this was discovered?” Miles asked. “I mean are you just going get up there on national TV and tell everyone you found this thing on the moon but kept it a secret?”
     
    “Leave that part to me,” Hart intervened.
     
    “What do you have in mind, Hauser?” asked Heaton.
     
    “We have several projects running in Sector Nine,” Hart answered. “I can document that you’ve been helping us with the projects and aided in the discovery due to a freak accident. I’ve been the lead engineer for the past three years. It would be private and require little or no supervision from anybody.”
     
    “A freak accident?” asked Aldridge.
     
    “Sure,” Hart responded.
     
    “I understand,” stated Miles. “Aldridge will suggest adding a combustible substance to the experiment, which will cause an explosion in the lab. This source of energy will be the new pretended specimen born.”
     
    “I like it,” stated Aldridge, after thinking on it. “It’s not exactly what I had in mind, but it sounds good. Plenty of room to cover things up a bit. When do we begin?”
     
    “Well, first we need to get it secured into the lab at Sector Nine and find out what it’s made of,” Miles answered. “Then we’ll know what we’re really dealing with.”
     
    “Let’s get started,” stated Aldridge, sounding eager.
     
    ***
     
    A few months later, Aldridge paced around a spacious lab at N.A.S.A. with a set of locked double-entry doors, watching Miles and the others experiment with the apparition as it floated inside a square-shaped, three-hundred gallon glass aquarium that was bordered with metal stripping.
     
    Hart sat at a computer terminal, watching the readings of the energy specimen on his screen like he didn’t want to miss anything. Miles controlled a pair of robotic arms that reached into the glass case. Heaton paced the floor with a clipboard, writing something down while Dunn stood at a counter, pouring a red fluid from a glass flask into a green fluid in another one.
     
    Miles moved the robot fingers close to the light with caution and care. The light zapped his metallic-covered arms and hands with tiny streaks of purple lightning bolts.
     
    “Hmm,” he said, withdrawing his metal hands.
     
    “What?” asked Aldridge.
     
    “It’s very sensitive,” Miles answered. “It doesn’t like to be touched, fondled or played with. I’m guessing that it doesn’t like being in this glass containment either.”
     
    “Well, here is something new,” said Hart, staring at his computer screen, sitting at his desk.
     
    “What do you got?” asked Aldridge.
     
    “It contains a high content of tritium, ninety-seven point eight percent,” Hart answered.
     
    “What does that mean?” asked Aldridge.
     
    “Well, it would explain its self-lighting ability, especially in its core, which is one of tritium’s qualities,” stated Hart in a concerned tone.
     
    “And?” asked Aldridge, noticing Hart’s