Read Dark Genesis: The Birth of the Psi Corps for Free Online

of it, but to see more than a cupful at a time was rare. To be all but surrounded by it was a miracle, and he silently toasted the owner’s enterprise in having the restaurant butted up against one of the nodes of the colony’s cooling/water-processing torus. The place was packed to capacity when Alice Kimbrell walked in, but she had no trouble spotting him when he stood. He admired her as she approached. He liked something about her eyes, and the crisp wear of her modest grey suit, almost like a uniform.
    “Dr. Kimbrell,” he said, extending his hand.
    She took it, stiffly.
    “Senator.”
    “Please, have a seat.” Once she had done so, he flashed her a smile. “Quite a coincidence, both of us bein’ on the Moon right now. Did you come to see Heimdal launched? I could’ve gotten you front-row seats.”
    “I came to see you.”
    He raised an eyebrow.
    “I’m flattered. That’s an expensive jaunt for a private citizen.”
    She acknowledged that with a curt nod.
    “I heard you were here.”
    “I’ll be in Geneva in six days. Or you could have called me.”
    “It’s too important to wait-or to trust to the cornlinks.”
    “Really.”
    “Yes. And I still wish we had gone somewhere more-private.”
    He broadened his smile.
    “My papa used to say you ought not to bend to tie your shoe in the neighbor’s pumpkin patch.”
    “What does that mean?”
    “Well, a pumpkin is a sort of big-“
    “I know what a pumpkin is. 1 mean, what are you implying?” He idly tapped one of his chopsticks. “How many reporters do you see right now?”
    She looked around.
    “None.”
    “There are two, at least. If I’m to meet with the woman who turned the world upside down, I want to do it where everyone can see. If you came to my room, they might wonder what secret we were exchangin’. Worse, they might think we were joining the Ex-sex club. You want to see that in the papers?” The waitress, a small, whine-haired woman with a heavy Austrian accent, chose that moment to arrive.
    “Drink with dinner?”
    “Scotch. Laphroig,” Alice said.
    “Make mine an Evan Williams.”
    Alice raised an eyebrow.
    `They keep a bottle just for me. I am the hero of this colony, you know.
    11 ‘lyes, but-conect me if I’m wrong-isn’t Evan Williams fairly cheap, awful stuff?”
    “Cheap, yes, awful, yes. But it’s the oldest distillery in North America, which has to count for somethin’. More to the point-it reminds me of where I’m from and who I am. Now Laphraoig, that’s good, expensive stuff.”
    “It reminds me of who I am,” Alice replied. The drinks arrived.
    “Here’s to knowin’ where you’re from,” Lee said, and they clinked glasses, and both took a drink.
    “Healthy stuff,” he observed. “It’ll grow moss on Lunar soil.” He cocked his head quizzically. “So what are we here to talk about, Doctor?”
    “Can they hear us? The reporters?”
    He shrugged.
    “It’s against the law to eavesdrop. I ought to know, I’m on the Technology and Privacy Committee.” He leaned forward. “You must feel very pleased. The last of your critics have pretty much shut up, haven’t they? Now that so many studies have replicated the findings you published.”
    She stared at him.
    “Vindicated? How can I feel vindicated by the deaths of more than ten thousand people? The massacre Wednesday in Shanxi? The bombing in Utah? The rioting in Chicago-the spacings in Armstrong?”
    “All right,” he soothed. “I get your point. Dr. Kimbrell, as you must know, every new discovery has its price. These findings would have been published, with or without you.”
    “I realize that, Senator. But the very simple fact is that it was me.” Her sipping escalated to a moderate gulp. “And you were dragged through the heap for it. And now that that’s done, you’re draggin’ yourself through the heap.”
    “No. Just taking responsibility.”
    “Which brings you to me? Because I can’t imagine that you flew all the way to the