Chapter 4 - Richard Voss ArrivesRichard Voss walked toward them wearing a navy suit that had never seen dirt.
He smiled.
“Wendell.”
Wendell didn't move.
“What are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same.”
Richard looked around.
“Taking a scenic drive?”
“Something like that.”
Richard's smile faded.
His eyes moved toward Jaylen.
Then the workshop.
Then back to Wendell.
“I heard your SUV broke down.”
Wendell said nothing.
Richard laughed softly.
“Small town gossip travels fast.”
Marcus stepped forward.
Richard glanced at him.
“Relax.”
Marcus didn't.
Richard looked at Jaylen.
“Is this the Tate boy?”
Jaylen moved closer to Wendell.
Richard noticed.
“That makes things easier.”
Wendell's voice became cold.
“Explain.”
“I've been trying to locate him for years.”
“Why?”
Richard paused.
“His father stole company property.”
Jaylen's face changed.
“He didn't steal anything.”
Richard looked at him.
“Children rarely understand what adults do.”
Wendell stepped between them.
“You have no authority here.”
Richard smiled.
“Actually, I do.”
He held up a legal document.
“Hayes Renewables owns the intellectual property developed by Daniel Tate while employed by the company.”
Wendell looked at the document.
“That isn't the original agreement.”
“You reviewed it?”
“I wrote the contract.”
Richard's face tightened.
“So you know what belongs to us.”
“Not everything Daniel created belonged to the company.”
Richard's smile disappeared.
“Then perhaps we should discuss this somewhere more private.”
“No.”
Richard leaned closer.
“You're making a serious mistake.”
Wendell didn't blink.
“Leave.”
Richard turned.
Then looked back.
“One thing.”
He pointed toward Jaylen.
“If he has anything related to Project Orion, you need to hand it over.”
Jaylen's fists clenched.
Wendell said quietly:
“Get off my property.”
Richard walked away.
But before he climbed into the SUV, he looked directly at Jaylen.
“Your father couldn't keep it hidden.”
He paused.
“You won't either.”
The convoy disappeared.
Silence returned.
Marcus turned toward Wendell.
“Sir, we need to move.”
“Agreed.”
Jaylen looked frightened.
“What is Project Orion?”
Wendell answered honestly.
“I don't know.”
Marcus opened Daniel's notebook.
“There is a reference here.”
He pointed.
ORION PROTOCOL — THREE CONDITIONS.
Heat.
Pressure.
Synchronization.
Jaylen frowned.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“What?”
“The third condition isn't synchronization.”
Wendell looked at him.
“What is it?”
Jaylen grabbed a pencil.
He crossed out the word.
Then wrote:
RECOVERY.
Wendell stared.
“Why?”
“Because my dad had the wrong model.”
“You corrected him?”
“He corrected himself.”
Jaylen flipped to another page.
There was a second set of calculations.
Wendell looked closer.
“This is your handwriting.”
Jaylen nodded.
“How old were you?”
“Eleven.”
Wendell went silent.
At eleven, most children were learning fractions.
Jaylen had been redesigning an energy system that had defeated teams of PhDs.
“Show me the prototype,” Wendell said.
Jaylen hesitated.
Then he pulled out an old key.
“There is another place.”
“Where?”
“My dad's old barn.”
They drove twenty minutes deeper into the countryside.
The barn was abandoned.
Jaylen unlocked it.
Inside stood a metal container the size of a refrigerator.
He pulled a lever.
The container opened.
Inside was the completed device.
Wendell stared.
The machine was unlike the crude prototype in the workshop.
Compact.
Clean.
Elegant.
Jaylen switched it on.
The machine began to hum.
A digital meter climbed.
Twenty percent.
Forty.
Sixty.
Eighty.
Ninety-six.
Then the display changed.
Wendell's face went pale.
OUTPUT STABILITY: 99.97%
That number didn't belong in a teenager's barn.
It belonged in the future.
Jaylen looked at Wendell.
“My dad said if I ever finished this, I should find someone who understood what it could do.”
Wendell slowly nodded.
“I understand.”
Then every light in the barn went out.
The machine stopped.
Marcus looked toward the door.
May you like
“We're not alone.”
A red laser dot appeared on Wendell's chest.
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