Her high-wattage smile confirmed his suspicions but she swallowed whatever she intended to say when Phillip arrived. He caught sight of her and grinned.

  “Hi, Cynthia, is the doc…” His words trailed off when he caught sight of Marcus seated at the table. “Hey, Doc. I didn’t see you there.”

  “That much is—” He caught his assistant’s warning look. “It’s good to see you, Phillip.”

  The young man caught the exchange, but his grin didn’t fade. “Thanks for bringing me on board, Doc.” He frowned. “Although…I have no idea what we’re doing.”

  “Cynthia has paperwork for you to read through and sign,” he told him.

  “But first, you might want to look out the window,” Cynthia added and pointed to where shields covered the meeting room’s windows.

  Phillip cast her a strange look but went to do as he was instructed. The scientist waited in silence as the youngster studied the panel beside the window and determined how to activate the shields on the other side.

  In seconds, his face went from mildly curious to shocked. “This isn’t Australia!”

  “No.”

  He glanced at his boss and turned to the view beyond the glass again. “This… This looks like something from the States.”

  His gaze traced the dried riverbed, the piles of rubble, and the twisted vegetation. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say it was the site of some kind of nuclear accident.”

  In the silence, he stared at it a little longer while he wracked his brains for which nuclear accident it might be. The scientist simply waited. He knew the kid had the background knowledge for it but wasn’t sure if he could pull it up.

  “Brown’s Ferry? Holy shit!” It took him less time than Marcus had thought it would, but his student certainly exceeded his expectations. The young man frowned. “But what are we doing out here?”

  Again, he waited and saw the moment when the penny dropped.

  Phillip gave a short gasp of shock, recoiled from the window, and punched the controls to close the shutters.

  “Tell me we’re shielded,” the student demanded and glanced at himself as if he expected to see his skin peel from his bones. He felt along his arms and chest. “We’re not… We’re not…exposed, are we?”

  Marcus chuckled. “No, Phillip. We are not exposed. Read the dossier and tell me if you still want to go ahead.”

  The young man paused. “You told me this was a project that would save the Earth…and maybe go a long way toward repairing what we’d done to it.”

  And by we, they all knew he meant humans.

  “And I meant every word,” he hastened to reassure the boy. “This project will help us save our world.”

  Phillip gave him a wary look. “Are you sure of it?”

  “I’ve bet my career and the rest of my life on it,” he told him, “I believe in it that much.”

  The young man walked to Cynthia and held his hand out. “I’m interested,” he stated firmly as another figure materialized into the room.

  “Window,” Phillip told them quickly, took his folder, and settled at a separate table.

  The newcomer gave him a strange look but crossed to the window anyway. She was followed by two men who arrived as she moved toward it. They were joined a moment later by the half-dozen other scientists who entered and saw them clustered around it.

  A collective gasp as they opened the shutters was the only sound in a long stretch of silence.

  The woman turned to Marcus. “What is this all about, Rimmer? It’s not like we need reminding of what’s gone wrong in the past.”

  He arched an eyebrow at her. “Don’t you wish you could fix it, Gemma?”

  “I…” She stopped and studied his face. “You’re not kidding, are you?”

  “You know me,” he said as he shook his head firmly. “I don’t have a sense of humor. Or so my students say.” He slanted a glance at Phillip.

  The young man’s face and neck flushed red and he kept his eyes determinedly on the page. At first, Marcus thought he’d put his foot in it again, but he caught sight of the smile the kid tried to suppress.

  “Well,” Gemma interjected. “Regardless of what your students say, I want some assurances.”

  He pointed at his assistant. “Cynthia has a file for you.”

  The group moved as one and formed a line in front of her without needing to be told. He suppressed a smile of his own. Even he knew better than to crowd the woman. She liked to do things in an orderly fashion and she didn’t like to be rushed.

  As he waited while each of his potential recruits took their folders, he wondered how many of them would join him. It hadn’t been easy to select who to invite for the first stage. Firstly, because there weren’t that many in the field and secondly, because he knew many of them had given up on working the environmental angle in favor of more lucrative defense contracts.

  He wanted people who were as interested as he was. Gemma was one of the few who was genuinely bothered by the problem. The others…well, he’d done a little digging and asked Cynthia what she thought.

  She’d surprised him by coming back with a dossier on each one so he could make a final decision. He definitely didn’t pay her enough, he reminded himself.

  Marcus frowned. Maybe he could ask One R&D if they’d help with that because he couldn’t afford to lose her. The scientists—their faces settled into somewhat serious expressions—found places at the conference tables and settled to read their dossiers. He shifted his focus from them to the one that lay before him.

  Even though he was familiar with what they wanted to do, he was still taken aback by the scope of what they were about to attempt. Had he really been a part of planning this?

  He read it again and ignored the disbelieving faces that turned in his direction.

  “Are you serious?” Gemma’s question shouldn’t have come as a surprise.

  Mindful of what Cynthia had said earlier, he swallowed his initial retort.

  “As a heart attack,” he responded and kept his voice and gaze level.

  “But…magic?” she asked, and he gave a heartfelt sigh.

  “Can you think of any other way?”

  “And it says the Witch devised the initial concept. What exactly are her qualifications?”

  “She is the foremost magical engineer in the world,” Marcus told her, not entirely concerned by the fact that he made it up as he went along.

  “So she does have engineering qualifications, then?”

  “She is the world’s foremost magical practitioner,” he answered, and Gemma gave a bark of laughter.

  “She’s the world’s only magical practitioner!”

  “Not so,” he retorted. “She’s one of many. There is a whole university of them in NorAm, and that’s not including the ones the Federation Navy is recruiting.”

  The woman exhaled an exasperated sigh. “But she’s the first—the one who started it all. Who knew she had time to expand her education at the same time?”

  “One R&D saw to her education and had her work on several new pieces of technology,” Marcus explained.

  “While she was off making nice with the Meligornians and Dreth?” She sounded openly skeptical and he couldn’t blame her. He’d had his moments of underestimating Stephanie Morgana.

  “Yes. The girl’s put in very long hours.”

  “Hmmm.” Gemma gave him a speculative look. “And how exactly did you get involved in this?”

  She hefted her folder at him.

  Marcus blushed. “Honestly? She came to me with an idea and I told her she was out of her mind and didn’t know what she was talking about.”

  That stopped her and she stared at him, her mouth agape.

  “You what?” she asked when she recovered from the initial shock.

  “I told her she was out of her tiny little mind,” he repeated, still not quite able to believe his audacity himself.

  “And she still brought you in on it?”

  He caught Cynthia’s expression and tucked his chin to his chest.

  “I begged,” he mumbled, and Gemma leaned forward in her seat.

  “I beg your pardon?” she demanded. “You what?”

  Thoroughly uncomfortable now but conscious of the need for honesty, he cleared his throat and raised his head. “I begged,” he repeated and made sure the two words were clear.

  The woman leaned back in her seat. “You…begged,” she echoed. “Really?”

  “She challenged me to run this weird and improbable theory,” he admitted. “And she asked constantly how it was progressing, so I had to check. Well, I found out it had worked.” He sighed. “Heaven help me, but it worked.” He spread his hands as if to indicate the obvious truth. “How could I let a chance like this go by? It’s not like this planet has a chance in Hades without it.”

  Gemma regarded him in silent contemplation. She stared at him for so long that he shifted uncomfortably under her gaze.

  “I had to do something,” he explained and added, “What would you have done?”

  She set her folder on the desk in front of her and lifted her pen.

  “I’d have begged, too,” she admitted and signed on the first line where she needed to. “I’m merely glad I didn’t have to.”

  Without the slightest hesitation, she signed the next line. “Thank you for bringing me on board for this.”

  When she signed a third time, Marcus felt some of the tension drain out of him.

  “Truly?”

  She glanced up. “Truly. I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

  “Me neither,” Trey Wilson added and signed his sheets efficiently.

  Trey was one of the long shots Cynthia had said he should include.

  “The man’s profile fits the bill,” she’d insisted when he had questioned her choice.

  “But he works for defense.”

  “He also volunteers for the Tanami Restoration Project, grows modified Huon pines for the South-West Reconstructioneers, and is trying to recover Karri and Jarrah tree genetics so the Centralian Zoo has something to add to its native plants display for what used to be West Australia.”

  “Oh,” had been all he could think to say.

  Trey hadn’t been on his radar at all. Now, the man was seated at the table across from him, read every page, and signed rapidly at every opportunity.

  “I will resign my post with defense the second I get out of here,” he told him, “and I’ll pay the early release penalty and whatever fines they want to throw at me for refusing to turn up to work tomorrow—or ever.”

  “Tomorrow?” Marcus asked in a dazed voice. “But—”

  “But nothing,” the man interjected firmly. “I’ve waited my whole life for an opportunity like this. I’m not about to let it get away.”

  The scientist gaped at him and turned to Cynthia. “Can he do that?”

  She smiled back. “There’s nothing to say he can’t.”

  “But he’s—”

  “It’s my choice,” Trey declared belligerently, “and I intend to take it. I hope my new bosses understand.”

  “I’m your new boss,” Marcus told him tiredly, “and I’m still not sure I get it.”

  The man merely beamed at him, and Gemma grinned as she completed the last signature with a flourish.

  “Don’t worry, boss. You will soon.”

  He couldn’t suppress a groan. “Not you, too?”

  Her grin widened. “We’ll see you bright and early tomorrow morning—unless there’s some way we can start now…”

  She left that hanging and gave him a questioning look.

  “Well…” Marcus began, but Cynthia cleared her throat. “Yes, Cynthia?”

  “It will depend on what everyone else wants to do,” she explained, and it came as a surprise that every last one of them had signed.

  “What?” Nathan Tidwell demanded when he saw his astonished look. “You didn’t think we would?”

  “I…uh…” he stammered while his brain tried to catch up.

  Nathan snorted. “I don’t know why you invited us if you didn’t mean it,” he grumbled and glanced at Trey. “I’m not like some who can simply pull up stumps. My bosses knew what they were doing when they designed my contract so I’ll join you in a week instead of tomorrow, but if that’s good enough—”

  “Oh, it is. It is,” Marcus hastened to assure him. “I’m merely a little shocked.”

  The man smiled and gestured to the window. “That is Brown’s Ferry, isn’t it?”

  Marcus nodded.

  “I’ve always wanted to do something about that,” he told him. He tapped the folder in front of him. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would ever be possible.”

  “Well, that’s what this project is supposed to determine,” his new boss told him and tapped the folder, “starting with what we have here and extrapolating if we have to.”

  “Oh, we’re gonna have to, all right,” Gemma told him, “and that will be the fun part.”

  She jerked a thumb at Phillip. “So, what does Junior here have to offer? I assume you invited him to the table for more than his youth and good looks?”

  The young man stared at her, then looked from the female scientist to Marcus, his expression one of bewilderment.

  “He is here,” he told Gemma and ignored the kid’s confusion, “because he happens to be one of the foremost experts in his field and we’ll need him.”

  The boy’s jaw dropped, and Cynthia rolled her eyes.

  “Doctor Rimmer!”

  He shook his head and stared at the ceiling. “Well, that wasn’t exactly how I’d intended to tell him he’d passed,” he stated, “but it’s true.” He fixed the boy with his most serious stare. “You are, as of now, the leading scientist in your field. When I told you your thesis was ground-breaking, I wasn’t kidding and it has been an honor to work with you.”

  Phillip stared at him. “You can’t mean that, Doc.” His voice was hoarse with emotion, and Marcus shrugged.

  “You’re not arguing with me again, are you, Phillip?”

  The boy gaped at him, realized his mouth was hanging open, and closed it with a snap before he swallowed. “Well…no, sir.”

  “And what have I told you about calling me sir?” he added with a groan.

  “Um…”

  Gemma laughed. “Stop tormenting the poor kid, Marcus. If you say he’s the top of his field and even defined a new one, we believe you. Fuck knows you’ve given the rest of us enough grief over the years.”

  Marcus raked a hand through his hair. Phillip stared again, but at least the kid had kept his mouth shut this time. There was nothing like having someone gaping at you like an eight-year-old seeing his first rollercoaster to put you off your intro speech.

  Thankfully, the others remained silent and let him gather his thoughts.

  “Cynthia, would you mind making sure their paperwork is in order so we can move on to the next stage?”

  “I can do that,” his assistant told him and began to collect the folders.

  Trey pushed his seat back and stretched his legs, and Marcus began to appreciate why he’d heard others refer to the guy as intimidating. He had to be six-foot-four and close to a hundred kilos—and he was ripped.

  The way he stretched in his seat reminded him of a big cat. He wondered how the man managed it, but before he could pursue that thought further, Cynthia spoke.

  She set the last folder on her virtual desk. “Everything’s in order, Doctor Rimmer. You all need to sign the NDA covering this session and you’ll be good to take them through to the facility.

  “The facility?” Gemma’s voice was full of curiosity. “Where?”

  He gave her a secretive smile and picked his pen up to sign the NDA that materialized on the desk in front of him. Around the room, the others mimicked his actions, their excitement palpable. This time, the papers were thrust into Cynthia’s hands.

  “Are we good?” the female scientist asked impatiently.

  His assistant scanned each sheet and a small smile played across her lips. He shook his head. Gemma should know better than to push his assistant and Cynthia was having far too much fun.

  She took the papers and filed them in the correct folders before she nodded to him. “Everything’s in order, Dr. Rimmer.”

  Marcus looked at the scientists and the expressions they wore reminded him of kids at Christmas.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, “follow me.”

  Cynthia snorted at his dramatics but joined them as he led them to the next room.

  “Whoa…” was in said the most reverent tone he had ever heard Nathan use.

  The man all but ran to the computers under the symbol of his specialty. Gemma looked around the room and found the terminal meant for her, and one by one, the others did the same.

  He couldn’t restrain a smile as they settled into the chairs that would encapsulate their bodies while they operated the machines with the keyboards and controls placed at their fingertips.

  “Oh, man,” Gemma chuckled. “This is one hell of a sweet set-up. Now, what is it you wanted us to do?”

  Marcus swallowed. “Well, you’ve all read the briefs, yes?”

  “Yes,” issued as a unified response from everyone.

  “Then you need to familiarize yourselves with your gear before we try a run-through of the main project itself.”

  “All right,” and “No problem,” and “Okay,” were spoken from around the room and he nodded with satisfaction as they settled to work.

  Five hours later, he swore a blue streak as orange and blue fire engulfed his chair and his team screamed in unison.

  “Again…” he told them, his voice ragged with pain when the room reset around them.

  “Again.” Gemma growled but her expression was determined.

  “Yup.” Nathan panted a few breaths. “We almost had it that time.”

  “Fucking asshole magic,” Trey muttered. “I’ll teach it to get constipated and blow me all to shit!”

  They had focused on the attempt to build the generator core. Thus far, they had the section that drew eMU and gMU into the center and delivered it into the cables that penetrated the contaminated earth beneath the center.

  That part of the process worked fine.