The Gravity of Anti-Gravity by Tim Blagge

this. She has captured my concept with concise clarity.”
    “Mr. Burton, be careful,” Dr. Brooks commented. “We don’t want any sexual harassment suits rolling in.”
    “If two wonderful complements qualify as sexual harassment, then keep them coming.” Stella said.
    After Dr. Brooks finished looking over Stella’s outline, he was stunned too. “Great work Dr. Morton. Bill, she’s done the best job here. Let’s formalize her presentation for our meeting Monday morning. If we finish it tonight, we can take the weekend off.”
    “That would be great.” I said. “With the whirlwind I’ve been riding the last few weeks, I could use the rest. I’m sure you two are tired too.”
    “True. Now let’s get to work” said Dr. Brooks.
     
    I got home at 8 PM exhausted. I was disappointed that Stella hadn’t invited me over but I reasoned it was because she was as tired as I was. I went straight to bed and didn’t wake up until ten the next morning.
    I decided to have a leisurely day before my date with Brenda. I called Jerry to see if he was ready for an update from me on the world’s biggest fiasco. I was able to organize a meeting with Pops, Grandma, Joanna and Jerry about 5 PM. It turned out that Jerry was taking Joanna out for a night on the town before he left to go back to the Army so he agreed to come over early. We all went to the barn.
    “I guess there is some truth to the saying that ‘criminals always return to the scene of the crime’,” Jerry commented.
    “Criminal or hero,” I replied, “it’s in the mind of the beholder.”
    “Heavy stuff,” Jerry said and then his mood brightened, “so what’s up? You know I’m in a hurry. I’ve got a date with a hottie!”
    In response, Joanna smiled, blushed and looked at Jerry lovingly.
    Then I began to explain the plan we had devised at JPL.
    “Remember,” I said. “What I am going to tell you must remain strictly confidential. I hate to remind everyone again, but just because everything looks rosy now, don’t forget the situation could get ugly very fast.”
    “To keep us all telling the same story, remember the only two people involved are Pops and me, and that Pops never understood the purpose of what he was doing. The rest of you have to play stupid. You know nothing!” I said.
    “You can count on me,” Jerry chuckled.
    “The FBI will probably interview all of you and you have to act surprised if they hint at the project.” I told the group. “These guys are masters at reading body language, so this is a test of your acting skill. Just keep it light and keep asking why they are interviewing you.”
    “The FBI guys will probably find me under a rock in Afghanistan,” said Jerry. “Do you think they’ll want to wrinkle their suits and go there for an interview?”
    “No Jerry, It’ll be the CIA, if it’s anybody. Let’s all agree not to volunteer the information that Jerry was here at all, except to take Joanna out. Maybe they won’t consider him a person of interest and he’ll escape their interview. By the way Jerry, I gather from what you just said that you are going back to Afghanistan?”
    “I don’t know for sure yet. I’m going for yet another four weeks of advanced training. Then I’ll find out.” Jerry answered.
    “So for me, D-day is Monday,” I continued “That’s when we will tell the Feds what happened. My boss, Dr. Brooks and my associate Dr. Morton are going to explain that the time wave was just an unfortunate side effect from my anti-gravity experiment; that it was an accident of huge unforeseen proportions. From there we are going to convince the government to let us do the research and experimentation at JPL.”
    “That’s all I have to report and in your reality, I’ve told you nothing. Mentioning anything to anybody out side our circle will result in certain and instantaneous death. I added the last part for effect, but you get my drift. If I come home Monday night, all went well. If I