The guard escorted Jonathan to the fourth-floor conference room. Behind them, the reality star continued to whine about not having her equipment, about having to write everything down by hand. “Do you see these nails?” she griped to the guard. “I cannot be expected to write everything down and maintain my manicure. Can’t you possibly understand that? Aren’t you a woman?”

That statement made both Jonathan and the other guard stop and turn around.

“Ma’am, you are upset about leaving your electronics downstairs, so you have two choices. You can leave right now, and I will take you back to your belongings. Or, you can go to your meeting and talk about it on your show. Your choice.” The young woman was well-trained by Gerard. The flat tone sounded almost identical. He’d be proud. She stood at parade rest, a learned stance in the military where your hands are crossed behind your back, feet shoulder-width apart. She waited patiently for a response, as did the other guard and Jonathan.

Crossing her arms and pouting, the influencer half-sighed, half-spat, “Fine.” Jonathan felt her eyes rolling from his vantage point, recognizing the stance of his sweet Emily when he wasn’t listening to her. Jonathan’s guard tapped him on the shoulder, snapping Jonathan back to himself.

“Oh, sorry.” The guard opened the door, where Dr. Shankle loudly protested to the senators and a high-level security cleared person of influence from the DoD.

“That’s simply not possible!” Dr. Shankle shouted, banging his fist on the table. The sound of the door’s click stopped Dr. Shankle in the middle of his rant. He saw Jonathan. “Well, it’s about time, Jonathan. What kept you?”

One of the senators looked at his watch. “Not that this hasn’t been informative, Dr. Shankle,” he started to stand, “but I have committee meetings.”

The gentleman from the DoD motioned for him to sit back down. “Gentlemen, please. Mr. Von Otto, thank you for joining us. I must apologize for the senator’s rudeness, but I’m afraid he’s correct. We don’t have much time.” Jonathan looked down at his watch, which he was allowed to have in the room. He had exactly fifteen minutes to tell the senators and the DoD what he and Dr. Shankle planned.

“Thank you, senators. Dr. Shankle, please sit down.” He nodded to the DoD department head. “I’m sorry, sir. We’ve not met,” he walked over to shake his hand, “Jonathan Von Otto.”

“Yes, Mr. Von Otto. I’m aware of your plans. Please, explain to the senators.”

“Certainly,” he answered, never getting the man’s name. Not even a badge identified him, unlike both senators. “To put it plainly, gentlemen, Dr. Shankle and I believe we’ve discovered a way to travel through time without gravity, relativity, and needing to travel faster than light, per Einstien’s theory.”

The senators laughed. “That’s almost as improbable as the so-called God particle.”

“Is it, though?” the DoD head asked. “I believe that Dr. Shankle and Mr. Von Otto have theoretically proven what Einstein could not, as do several of the most distinguished particle physicists in the world. And, what these men need is federal funding.”

“Yes. Exactly right. We need funding to start building and continuing the research. We believe we could travel through time in less than a year with federal funding and access to military technology.”

“You can’t expect us to pass this through Congress without any oversight committee catching wind of the implications of it, do you?”

The Department of Defense chief simply nodded. “This will be a covert research facility. Funding will come jointly from California and Washington D.C., with the bulk of the tech and funding coming from Washington. What you two need to do,” he pointed at both senators, “is stress the importance of this operation and what it will do for the economy of California,” he glanced at the California senator, “and how much the federal government will gain in economic development,” he nodded to the other senator. “Gentlemen, this isn’t something we’re going to debate. The President is in firm agreement with Dr. Shankle and Mr. Von Otto. And she feels doing nothing would impede the possibility of technological advancement.”

“That’s absolutely ridiculous!” the Atlanta senator shouted. “Where does she get off?”

“Excuse me, senator,” the DoD head roared without shouting. “That is my President you are referring to, so you will be respectful of the office. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, sir.”

“We can make your lives miserable, or we can make absolutely certain you and your extended families are well provided for. What will it be, gentlemen?”

Both senators nodded, knowing that to do otherwise would be political and social suicide. “And, look at that, Jonathan.” Jonathan looked at his watch. All that took less than five minutes. “Plenty of time for both of you to get to your committee meetings and propose this project. And, gentlemen, I assure you. It will be approved. All you have to do is suggest it.” He stood and walked to the door, stopping just long enough to shake Jonathan’s hand. “Good luck, Mr. Von Otto.”

“Thank you, sir.” The three men left the room, leaving Jonathan and Dr. Shankle.

“Well, that went well,” Dr. Shankle remarked.

Jonathan sighed. “Yeah. We’ll see.”