Jennifer Ayers was out
of the elevator before the doors had fully opened. It wasn’t often that her
boss asked her to come to his office. Ken Johnson relished the slightest
opportunity to leave his office and go into the trenches. It was widely believed among the staff, that
he created opportunities when none existed.
Johnson didn't have the
demeanor of any supervisor she had ever worked under. He seemed to prefer the
comradery of his fellow analysts over the solitary confinement of a
supervisor's office. She believed that Ken would have gladly stayed in the
amphitheater styled room he called The Arena; had not the director of the
Office of Planetary Protection practically begged his best analyst to accept a
promotion to division supervisor. That's why the early morning phone call, a
mixture of urgency and excitement, seemed so was totally out of character for
her new boss.
“What's up, Kenjamin?”
she asked, addressing him by his anointed nickname as she opened the office
door.
She stopped short as
her eyes adjusted to the dimly lit room. Johnson was seated on the couch,
staring at the giant flat screen on his office wall. Her gaze turned to the
television.
“Is that what I think
it is?”
“Yep. It's one of the
two photos you sent over last week.
Here's the other one,” he said as he pressed a button on the
remote.
One more press of a
button and the two photos were side by side.
“It's just as we
thought. The ball lightning is identical in both shots.”
Johnson motioned for
her to come over to the couch.
“I think you're going
to want to sit down for this next one.”
She sat down as he
continued, “This was sent over by the analysts at the European OPP. It was taken by a drone over Syria about
eight months ago.”
Another button press,
and the photo settled in alongside the other two.
Jennifer couldn't
believe what she was seeing. All three photos showed identical bolts of ball
lightning.
Johnson pressed a
button one more time.
“This was taken by a
security camera at a radio telescope in Bolivia about two months ago.”
Two side-by-side bolts
of ball lightning displayed on the giant screen.
“And finally, ladies
and gentlemen, prepare to be amazed. Please do not adjust your eyes,” Ken said,
as if he was the ringmaster of some atmospheric phenomenon circus.
Another photo took over
the big screen.
“What the hell, Ken?”
“This was taken by KLAS
in Las Vegas. They were setting up their cameras for a New Year's Eve fireworks
display.”
One last press of a
button and the photo took its place alongside the other four.
“The primary lightning
bolts are identical in four of the photos. The secondary lightning bolts are
identical in two of the photos.”
“That's impossible,
Ken. Lightning doesn't symmetrically duplicate like that.”
“Lightning doesn't, but
…”
“Are you saying that
those aren't lightning bolts?”
“Jen, what do you know
about the Law of Vibration?”
“Well, in general,
everything in the universe vibrates at a different speed.”
“When you say
everything in the universe, what does that include?”
“Everything, from rocks
to people. Ken, are you saying that those bolts of lightning could be living
organisms?”
“I don't know. What I do know is that computers have been
running simulated vibrational analyses of the photos. We have two distinct sets
of whatever those are.”
“Are these four
instances the only known occurrences of this phenomenon?”
“Computers, both here
and at European OPP, have been running searches for the last 48 hours. Nothing
has shown up before the first occurrence on New Year's Eve.“
“So, whatever that is,
it first appeared in Las Vegas.”
“Jen, go back and
assemble a team. Keep it under the radar. I'll get the director to authorize a
G650. I think a few days in the desert will do us all a world of good.”