Core Beliefs: Chapter 2

Chapter 2: What happened

The morning of September 24, Matt woke at 6:25 a.m. as usual, no alarm needed. Monday through Friday, for the last twelve years, he had maintained a rigid schedule. It had not always been like this. Matt had not always lived alone in the four-bedroom, three-bath house in an upscale St Louis suburban neighborhood.

He had once shared the house with his wife, Marilyn, and daughter, Elizabeth. It had been a home filled with laughter, noise, and joyful energy, and what to Matt seemed fountains of life, but that was a dozen years ago, before a drunk driver took away the two loves of his life.

At first, Matt was devastated, then furious. In those days, the staff dreaded seeing him, often subjected to explosive outbursts. Matt wasn’t being deliberately mean, just emotionally overwhelmed. Somehow over the course of a year, Matt made a breakthrough. He came to grips with the reality that he had to move forward or quit. Matt had never quit anything. Deep down, he didn’t know how, and he wasn’t going to start. Therefore, he threw himself into his work and his companies and with singular focus, he measured every day by how well he did for the businesses. No vacations and few days off meant that he was an ever-present and always guiding force.

He never developed close friends, just strong work relationships. He could not think about any kind of romance, so despite his tremendous accomplishments and success, Matt was alone.

His morning routines were as predictable as the evening, except for burning food. Checking his corporate email, he saw a reminder from Lucy Olenrude, his administrative assistant, for the 8:00 a.m. meeting. He switched to personal email, cleared the junk and saw a response from Dr. Kumar. He noticed it had an attachment. Not having time to read the document, he sent everything to the printer, finished dressing, placed the resulting documents in his briefcase, grabbed his suit jacket, and was off.

He pulled into his parking slot at Lasticorp before 8:00 a.m., walked in through the front door where Alice, the receptionist, promptly greeted him.

Matt smiled and acknowledged the greeting, headed for his office, set down his briefcase, picked up a legal pad, and proceeded to the conference room on the opposite side of the lobby.

This was a once-a-week meeting, which he kept elemental. Most of the staff was in the room and as Matt took his seat Martin Helford head of inventory control and Helen Waltrip, human resources, entered the room.

Everyone knew the routine. Each department would report, keeping content concise. Today’s meeting had no surprises and ended at 8:25.

Matt wrapped up a few lose ends in his office, gave instructions to Lucy to reschedule an accounting meeting, and notify Marcus Corush at Inter-Mol, another of his companies, that he couldn’t participate in a conference call to Wheatley University.

9:00 a.m., Matt headed for his car and driving faster than normal, risking a few yellow lights, something he never did, he arrived at Cor-Digital less than an hour later. Parking in one of the visitor’s spaces, he grabbed his briefcase and strode for the main entrance.

Cor-Digital had started as a design and manufacturing company for ultrasound devices used in hospitals and doctor’s offices. They had expanded into components for CT scanners, x-ray and other imaging equipment, and recently into radiation equipment for cancer treatment. Chris Martin was the Vice President and lead engineer for Research and Development.

Chris had made significant improvements to these cutting-edge technologies. Matt knew that Chris was a genius and gave him cart-blanche with his R&D efforts, including a side project for NASA, not the norm for the company, but it looked like it could be profitable, so Matt let Chris chase it hard. He appreciated that Chris constantly thought outside the box and seemed to have an intuitive knack for solutions.

Stepping into the lobby, it was all Matt could do to not shout Chris’s name, barely remembering his instructions to pose this as a surprise visit. He crossed to the receptionist, one hand gripping the briefcase handle, and the other clinched around his keys in his pocket and waited for the young lady to make eye contact.

She folded a letter, slipped it into an envelope, licked it and Matt almost screamed. Finally, her eyes met his.

“Hello, I’m Matt Lehman,” he said as calmly as possible, knowing a trickle of sweat slipped across his temple. “I was in the area and just want to stop by.”

Her expression said everything. The poor girl did not know who Matt Lehman was, and her eyes followed the tiny bead of moisture sliding south.

“Could you contact Dr. Martin and see if he could spare me a couple of minutes?” he asked.

A baffled expression blanketed her face for a five count before suddenly realization materialized, and she picked up the phone.

The phone had barely rung when she heard Dr. Martin’s voice with a controlled “Yes, Margaret?”

“Dr. Martin, there is a Mr. Lehman at the desk. He says he was in the area and wanted to drop by. He asked if you could spare a couple of minutes?”

***

“Margret, please tell Mr. Lehman I will be there shortly.”

Chris hung up, took a deep breath, and nervously strode for the lobby. With a smooth but brisk pace, it took him more than two-minutes to make the four-minute walk. When he arrived, he found John Sanders, the company’s Human Resources Manager, chatting with Matt. Matt reiterated that he was in the area and wanted to check on some R&D projects.

John had introduced Matt to Margaret. The cute, petite brunet, now with a scarlet face, after realizing this was the owner of the company and her boss, blubbered apologies and painfully begged forgiveness for not recognizing him.

It took minutes to calm things enough for Matt and Chris to escape.

Chris stood almost 6’3” and a very trim 185 lbs. This contrasted with Matt’s 5’10” and two-hundred-forty-pound out-of-shape body. Chris had dark brown hair and eyes and walked in long strides that had grey-headed Matt hustling.

“Going to your office?” Matt asked.

“No,” Chris softly snapped. “Lab 7. B-Wing.”

“What’s going on?” Matt asked.

“Not here. When we get to the lab,” Chris whispered.

The laboratories were in a segregated portion of the facility for isolation purposes. It surprised Matt when Chris not only scanned his security badge to access the wing but also used his master key to unlock the door. He wondered if there had been a theft but held his silence.

Chris relocked the door and led the way to Lab #7. The lab was a moderate-sized suite, and Matt remembered it was where Chris was doing the NASA thing. Chris used both his ID badge and his key once more to access the lab and again locked the door behind them.

The suite had three rooms: the control room, a storage room, and the actual site of the experiment. They entered the control room, and Chris indicated Matt should take a seat.

Matt did not want to sit. Matt wanted an explanation, but Chris was occupied unlocking a desk, where he slipped a laptop computer from the bottom drawer, plugged in the power supply, and started the machine.

Matt, reluctantly settled in a chair, barely containing the anxiety raging on the inside.

“Okay, here’s the story,” Chris said. “Late yesterday afternoon, I set the lab to start a series of tests on layered frequency beams.”

‘Yep, the NASA thing,’ Matt thought.

“The intent was to see if I could generate a high-density signal utilizing multiple complex frequencies embedded into a single beam. I don’t think anyone has ever tried this technique before.”

Matt tried to listen, but inside he was all but yelling, ‘Get to the Damn Point!’

“I was prepared for some unusual things to happen,” Chris said in an exasperated gasp, “but what actually occurred was nothing I could foresee in my wildest dreams.”

Matt wanted to grab Chris and shake him, but instead he screamed, “Chris! What in the hell happened!”

Shock flooded Chris’ face. An awkward ten count passed. “This way,” he said, leading Matt toward the experiment room. They walked fifteen feet down a concrete hallway. Once again, Chris used his ID card and a key to unlock the door, swung it in, and stood back.

Matt peered into the room, completely unprepared for the sight that greeted him. It looked as if someone had taken a giant eraser, removing portions of a heavy steel table. Parts of the equipment were missing, and even data cables ended abruptly. Most noticeably, there was a hole, a perfect symmetrically spherical hole, in the floor. Every aspect of this invisible orb was smooth and aligned with the missing elements above. The void was eerie and disturbing.

Matt stared at Chris and stammered before sputtering, “Chris, what happened? Was there an explosion? What?”

Chris smiled and chuckled nervously. “Mr. Lehman, I don’t know.” He hesitated before continuing, “I can tell you what it was not. It wasn’t an explosion. There’s no debris. I thought the beam might have melted or vaporized things, but there is no sign of heat, much less combustion. What occurred here defies so many laws of physics, I can only fantasize about what this means.”

Matt struggled with Chris’ words, but immediately realized this was big, really big. Desperately trying to regain control, Matt asked, “Chris, in your wildest fantasy, what do you think?”

“Well, sir,” Chris exhaled, “the thing that stands out the most is that matter is missing. One of the basic laws of physics is that matter cannot be created or destroyed, only converted. So, to put things bluntly, if it’s not here and things didn’t blow up, where is it?” Chris continued, “At the moment that this occurred,” pointing to the hole. “There was an anomaly in the wave forms. You see, my experiment used electro-magnetic waves, and whether we’re talking light waves, radio waves, or even radiation, all electro-magnetic waves emit at 90 degrees from the source of the wave.”

Matt didn’t quite comprehend this but could tell that Chris had more to say.

“The anomaly I found in the final millisecond of the data was of a completely different wave, one that radiates at a 45-degree angle from the source plane. Sir, the only wave we know that behaves like that is gravity.”

“Gravity?” Matt was now thoroughly confused. “How did gravity waves get into this type of experiment, and what does that have to do with the hole?” He was trying to wrap his mind around things, knowing it would likely need to be repeated, probably numerous times.

“Everything!” Chris replied. “That is, everything about the hole and gravity being related. How gravity waves got into the experiment, I haven’t a clue.”

“Okay, Chris,” Matt huffed, “take it slow, because you’re already way over my head.”

“Well, there is a lot of scientific evidence that the effects of gravity are far more reaching and affect more things than we have begun to understand. Gravity not only makes apples fall, it holds planets in orbit, can even bend light waves, and, most recently, we’ve learned that it can potentially bend space itself. You know, super black holes where the gravity is so intense that not even light can escape. But the explanation best supported by the facts of what happened here is that somehow this experiment created a gravity field so small but intense that it folded space.”

Matt gazed into Chris’s eyes and could see that even he struggled with the concept.

“Okay, Chris, you folded space. What does that mean?”

“Well, I think what I’m trying to say is that the gravity field or whatever I generated brought together a space from somewhere else into the space in this room. When the power source collapsed, the overlapping area shifted to another space or possibly a completely different dimension. I just don’t have a clue.”

Matt’s opinion of Chris skyrocketed as more and more sank in. Matt appreciated the idea that one of his people could just say, “I don’t know” to him and be comfortable about it. He measured his people by their honesty as well as ability.

“Let’s go back to the control room,” Chris said. “Let me show you something.”

Chris double locked the experiment room, and they walked back to the control room. Once there, he tugged a thumb drive from his pocket and plugged it into the laptop. In seconds, the computer recognized two files. One labeled video, the other data.

“I took the critical data off the computers to keep it safe,” Chris said.

He clicked the video file, hit play. Matt could see the time bar moving and an image of the experiment room filled with equipment.

“This is when I neared 90% power on the generator.” Chris pointed to the time bar. There was little change. Matt half expected a beam of light or some other indicator that something was happening. Another three minutes went by. Impatience had started crawling up Matt’s spine. He found himself fidgeting with his keys in his pocket.

“This is where I approached full power,” Chris’ voice climbed a notch, both in volume and in pitch.

Matt thought he saw a change in the video, like heat waves in the desert, but these were barely discernible and much smaller. Then, almost instantly, an opaque black orb began to emerge, and the video became fuzzy. Static coursed through the frames, but it was clear enough to see that the black orb was becoming larger and more solid. Instantly, the video went blank.

Stunned and shocked, it took several seconds before Matt finally spoke, “I saw it, but I don’t believe it. This is like something out of a science fiction film.”

“Believe it,” Chris replied excitedly, “The more I think about this, the more I am sure that the phenomenon generated in that room was unlike anything ever seen before. Mr. Lehman, do you realize how big this is?” Chris pled.

Matt understood that he did not comprehend the ramifications, but he did recognize the uniqueness and instinctively knew that this was very important.

“Okay, Chris, I know this is really big, but I don’t have a clue, except that you generated this phenomenon, and it is truly unique, so help me.”

“To be blunt, Mr. Lehman, this is scary. I’m not sure that the world is ready for this. What we do from this point forward may have ramifications for all humanity.”

Matt felt the magnitude finally sinking in. “Chris, what are you thinking?”

“We have to hide this away!” Chris all but yelled. “We have to remove everything associated with this lab and this experiment and put it somewhere safe where it can’t be traced or found. If the government even catches a sniff of this, you can kiss it and any hopes of it being used for humanity’s benefit goodbye!”

Chris’s take was a bit melodramatic for Matt. He wondered if Chris was being paranoid, but as he pondered the situation, his instincts told him Chris was probably right. He also recognized the nobleness of Chris’s character.

“Okay, Chris,” I think I’m starting to grasp the scope of this.” Matt took a few steps, then a few more, circling one of the tables in the room. He recognized that they were on the brink of possibly the most important decision he had ever made.

“Let’s start by looking back,” Matt said. “The equipment in the lab, where is it from, and can others figure out what it does?”

“I’m sure that no one has a clue about the potential of the hardware,” Chris said. “The components came from various vendors; the specialty electronics were my design and fabricated in several facilities. I did the final assembly and the programming.”

“Good!” Matt sighed, “Has anyone else seen the assembled unit?”

“No,” Chris replied. “Since this was for NASA, it was isolated from normal protocols, and I’m the one who conceived the scope. I’ve kept all the notes and records in private files, and nothing is referenced in corporate documents other than that NASA sent an inquiry. The closest thing to exposure is the email I sent you, and it didn’t say anything. I did not even want to risk talking on the phone. Call me crazy, this is exciting stuff, but it is really very scary.”

“Chris, can we clean the room and then rig it for an explosion to cover what happened?”

“You want to destroy the lab?” Chris’ voice cracked.

“Chris, I only propose it as a quick means to cover and mask what actually happened. We remove the real equipment and all affected materials. There’s not that much. I could order cases to hold everything but the table, and I’m sure we could disassemble that and crate it. We could bring in dummy equipment and set an explosive large enough to create the damage.”

Matt watched as Chris did a double blink and held his breath for a five-count.

“Matt, I don’t think an explosion is a good idea. You would have an outside Fire Marshal and probably police. Any competent investigator would establish the source and determine quickly that it had been deliberately set.”

Chris was ahead of the curve and was correct. No explosion, there had to be another way. “Okay, Chris, we can still get the experiment room stripped to the walls without much effort. The question is how to deal with the floor. How do we handle that?”

Matt could tell Chris was starting to enjoy the challenge of solving problems. It was a turn-on, and this was different from most of the ones Chris worked on. It was like a recreational mental jigsaw puzzle.

Chris paced. Something clicked, and his expression exploded into a grin.

“Simple and straightforward. Let’s try this,” Chris said. “I saw a hydraulic lab table in a trade magazine a few weeks ago. Its design lets it sink all the way to the floor on a center post that extends up and down via an internal hydraulic cylinder. The key point is that the post and its support base need to be buried below floor level and anchored in concrete. We order one, bring in a contractor with instructions to install it. If he asks how the hole got there, we simply say the previous contractor was pulled from the job and we can’t discuss it any further.”

Matt smiled and foresaw little risk of raising questions.

“Chris, I think you’ve got a plan. Now, this is Friday. I suggest we measure everything, and I can get equipment crates ordered. I know a place that stocks multiple sizes. We use them all the time for shipping sensitive products to our customers, so it won’t seem unusual. I can have them here by Tuesday morning. We can get this stuff disassembled and ready to pack-”

“Mr. Lehman,” Chris interrupted, “I think it’s best if you have as little association with this as possible. You get the cases ordered, but let me handle the disassembly and packing. Additionally, I’ll have several days of work with the computers. All the programs and files will have to be wiped, and these machines reformatted and reloaded with new programs for other research.”

Once again, it was hard to disagree with Chris.

“Okay, what should I do?” Matt asked.

“Well, sir, I think for starters, you need to find us a place to carry on.”         “What kind of lab will you need?” Matt asked.

“Honestly, I don’t know. I need time to put some thought into it.”

“Chris, let’s get the measurements of the things in the experiment room, and you can think about this and give me the requirements later.”

Chris gladly jumped at the task of getting the measurements. They finished, and Matt looked at his watch. It was 2:40. He’d lost track of time, again, and realized they had been locked in the room together for much too long. Folks would be getting curious, and that was one thing Matt wanted to avoid.

“Chris, how secure is this space when you leave?”

“No one can get in here without my permission and my presence to access the lab. I’ve coded the ID card machines to only allow my card to work. If asked about it, I will explain that we have been notified of an outside security threat and are taking extra precautions.”

Matt felt that if they could get everything cleaned out by the end of next week, then normal procedures could go back into effect.

“Okay, Chris, I’ll order the cases, and I will find us a place as soon as you tell me what you need. I’ll also need to get you out of Cor-Digital. If this is going to be a secret, then you can’t be running back and forth between your responsibilities here and creating gravity warps, black holes, or whatever the hell happened. I think you want to pursue this, and I’m prepared to support the effort.”

“Yes, sir,” Chris chuckled, “I really do want to stay with the mysterious making-holes-in-things stuff.”

They both laughed, and somehow Matt knew that he had made the right decision.

Chris carefully locked everything, and the men made their way to the reception area. Matt thanked Chris for his time and made sure the receptionist heard that he would need to consult Chris regarding some R&D at the other facilities. He had one last thought and asked Chris to walk him to his car.

“Chris, I know tomorrow is Saturday,” as they approached Matt’s old Buick, “but any chance I could get you to come over to my house and brainstorm some more?”

“What time?” Chris immediately asked.

“Let’s make it 2:00 in the afternoon, that will let both of us put some thoughts together.

Matt slipped into his car and started the drive home. More and more, the reality of what he had seen and heard sank in. At one point, he pulled into a shopping center parking lot and sat, trembling. “Who in the world am I to be the one to hold this secret, this responsibility?” he asked himself and the otherwise empty Buick. For twenty minutes, he questioned himself and his ability to be the caretaker of this, whatever it was.

Eventually, he calmed.

“I’m not alone. Chris is probably the perfect guy to work with on this. There are others as well.”

He put the Park Avenue in drive and headed for home. He had forgotten about picking up food, and once home, he went to the fridge and made a sandwich with the last of the lunch meat, again chasing it with a beer.

Going to the computer in his study, he triggered his email, cleared the spam, and had a belated birthday greeting from an acquaintance in Ohio. There were a couple of technical bulletins, which, for a change, he didn’t open. Switching accounts, he read his corporate email and saw only routine stuff. Per his normal routine, he opened his briefcase and removed the printed copy of Chris’s email.

“Do I file this or destroy it?” There was nothing of importance; the meeting was over, so he put it through the shredder.

Opening his home accounting software, he paid bills and generated a net worth report. He rarely did this and had to smile when he saw that, between his investments, property, and other holdings, his overall pecuniary value was 20.6 million dollars.

His financial status was impressive, but this number did not include the actual value of the five corporations. He realized that the financial requirements of the new venture might require changes. Lots of changes.

Going to a filing cabinet, he pulled the last quarter financials for the five companies. After ten minutes of scanning and jotting numbers, he penciled a figure. The total shocked him, and again he laughed and asked, “Why haven’t I taken more vacations?”

The five corporations had a net worth of 2.3 billion dollars. Matt chuckled and trembled as the value of his life’s work came into focus.

“Okay, what to do? Sell something off or borrow against the business?”

He pondered various possibilities, but no clear solution appeared. It was a good time for his priority exercise. Creating a grid on a sheet of paper, he listed the prominent issues. It was a simple process and took no more than five minutes. He was not trying to answer or solve the issues; he was simply determining the order of importance. The result determined that his most pressing priority would be to structure the management organization within each of the five companies to function with less direct involvement on his part. People and systems needed to be in place to keep the corporations successful and profitable.

The companies were almost like his children. Letting them go seemed impossible, and he was concerned that without his daily involvement, things could flounder. That not only affected the finances but also the livelihood of lots of very good people. The last thing he wanted was to see anyone lose a job because of the new adventure.

He was starting to list his key staff members when the phone rang. Matt figured it was a solicitation call and was going to let it go to the answering machine, but on the third ring, he grabbed the phone.

“Hello.”

“Hello, Big Brother!” It was Joseph Lehman, Matt’s only sibling.

“Hi Joe,” Matt responded. They went through the usual how are you doing, Matt asked about Joe’s wife and kids. At twenty-two and nineteen, the kids were grown. Joe said Charles was finishing his Junior Year at the University of Kansas, and Doug had decided to take a year off and work before starting college.

Doug’s decision to work made Matt smile, recalling that at 14, after his dad passed away, Matt had started working to help with the family finances.

They casually chatted when a thought hit Matt. “Joe, could I tap you for some legal advice?”

As a business attorney in Kansas City and a partner in a small law firm specializing in Corporate Law, Matt had solicited his brother’s advice many times. Matt felt that if anyone could give him guidance, it was Joe.

“Sure, Matt. Moreover, since you’re my brother, I won’t even charge you my normally extravagant hourly rate, just the friendly family fee.”

“Joe, here’s the deal,” Matt chuckled at his brother’s disingenuous threat. “I have an opportunity to start a new venture, but it would require significant hands-on. Therefore, it would cut the time I could devote to the existing companies. I want to retain control but also want them to be a little more self-sufficient. I may also need to raise substantial capital, and I’m unsure whether to borrow against existing companies or sell part or all of one or more. I know this is out of the blue, but I would like to have your gut feelings.

“Feels a little impulsive.” Joe’s voice had dropped to his lawyer’s cross-examination tone

“Maybe,” Matt admitted, “but Joe, I haven’t felt this sure about something in a long time.”                              

“Okay,” Joe responded, “a couple of questions to help me get a better picture. This new venture won’t fit within one of the existing companies?”

“No, it needs to be a standalone.”

“Matt, how much time will this new enterprise take you away from the other businesses?”

“It could be up to fifty percent.” The number surprised Matt as he said it. But inside, he had a sense that his gut reaction was right. That’s how so much of his life had worked. The gut was better than the head.

“Is your existing staff prepared to operate the multiple companies?” Joe asked.

“Joe, I’ve handpicked most of these people, and they are quality folks, and even better, they really get along. It’s not a question of their abilities and qualifications. My main concern is that they don’t lose their sense of direction.

My contribution, in the past few years, has been keeping us focused on who we are as companies and identifying new markets and products, but the key staff really run the everyday show.”

It was quiet from the other end of the line. Matt considered saying something more, but he recognized his brother was going through his normal methodical click-off-the-boxes analysis.

“Matt, do you think your staff and employees would be interested in buying a part of each corporation? Say you offered the employees a stock purchase plan?”

The idea resonated. Matt found a smile creeping across his face.

“Okay, Joe, how do I present this to the employees?”

“If I were in your shoes, I would call individual staff meetings, place the subject on the table, and see what the interest level would be. Let them know that if they are interested, you will work out the details and make a formal proposal.

Matt saw the simplicity of the approach. “Okay, Joe, for the umpteenth time, you’ve bailed me out.”

Joe had been waiting for Matt to say this and had his standard response ready,

“Where do I send the bill?”

To which Matt laughingly responded, “Same place as always.”

Joe finally cornered Matt on coming to his birthday, and Matt, after some kidding and stalling, confirmed he would be there. The brothers said their goodbyes and hung up.

***

Joe knew that once he had Matt’s commitment, he would be at the party. He was also a bit mystified, wondering what would prompt Matt to start a new venture and be willing to sell part or even all of an existing company? Joe knew the businesses were Matt’s life. Since the death of Marilyn and Lizzy, they were what kept Matt sane and stable and were his greatest emotional investment. So, Joe was a little worried, but more so, curious.

***

Matt felt like he’d made a breakthrough, which led to clarification on how to handle his top priority. It had been a good call, helping Matt address one of his main issues and get a plan in place. He made a few notes and decided that it was time to hit the sack. He needed to be fresh in the morning and ready for Chris in the afternoon.