The Audon was waving his arm and moving up and down in his chair. Jan saw him and looked at Michael, “I think he should be allowed to speak.”
Michael leaned over and said, “Go ahead.”
“Are you trying to tell me that everything is predetermined?”
“That’s how Einstein explained this.”
“Yes, but are you saying that free will doesn’t exist?”
“If you can prove it does, Einstein’s explanation falls apart.”
“But…OK, let’s say I have a multi-surfaced ball with many behaviors on it. I roll it and it comes up ‘lay on the floor’.”
“Einstein would say it was predetermined that it would come up that way.”
“And if I ignore the first roll, roll it again and it says jump up twice.”
“Einstein would say it was predetermined you would roll it twice.”
“That’s absolutely asinine!”
Michael watched Jan interacting with the Audon and was amazed that the Leader was not at all angered by her. She seemed to disarm him with her smile and gentle delivery.
Jan looked at the scientists sitting in front of her and said, “It really isn’t. Many here today believe exactly that and they possess more information than many of us here.” Many of the scientists nodded.
The Audon snorted, “That’s a circular argument. No matter what happens, you can always say it was predetermined.”
Jan shrugged, “If you can prove free will, the argument falls apart. But so far, no one has come up with an experiment to prove free will.”
Michael smiled and said, “Thank you, Commodore.” Jan nodded, walked around the table, and handed Michael the microphone. He watched her go back to her seat and heard Josey say, “Jan, you make my head hurt!”
Jay kept his eyes on Michael and heard Josey. He saw something in Michael’s eyes as Michael looked at him. Jay closed his eyes and nodded slightly. He opened them and saw Michael smiling. He knew he had a new brother. Michael turned around as Jan said, “If you would just read the material, you’d get it.”
“Forget it; you’re the reader.” Jay winced and knew Michael was listening. Oh well.
The Welken looked at Michael with his head cocked to the side, “What does all this mean, First Commander?”
Michael smiled. The Welken was with him. “I intend to conduct an experiment that will prove we have free will.”
Everyone in the room, and especially the scientists, were surprised by the comment.
“And exactly how do you intend to do that?”
“We’re going to prove that it’s possible to move in normal space faster than in the barrier.”
“Now that I would like to see.”
Michael turned around and looked at Jan, “Which school do you belong to?”
Jan turned from Josey and said, “I don’t believe everything is predestined. I believe those waves and objects are still in some kind of contact.”
“With your permission, I’d like to do something.”
“What is that?”
Michael looked at the Goran High Leader, “I want you to take her thoughts on this subject and share them with all of the scientists in the room. Especially Amanda, Trevor, Budge and Nudge.”
Amanda said, “Hey, I agree with Einstein.”
“Then you won’t mind seeing a different point of view.” Michael looked at Jan and saw her uneasiness. Michael smiled, “Come on, Jan. Averel has invaded your privacy more times than you can count and she’s never revealed what she sees. The High Leader will only share information that relates to the topic you just discussed.”
“Are you certain about that?”
The Goran Leader stood up, “You may be assured that is all that will be shared.”
Jan sighed and tilted her head, “Let’s get this over with.” The Goran stood up and stared at Jan. Every scientist and engineer in the huge room closed their eyes as the information was linked to their minds.
It took longer than Michael expected and at the end the Goran said, “There was a great deal she didn’t mention.”
Jan shrugged, “I didn’t want to sound crazy.”
Michael looked at Nudge and Budge and saw their eyes were looking off in the distance. Many of the scientists had that expression and Amanda said, “OH MY HARD HEAD!”
Trevor smiled, “Looks like old Einstein took the simple route.” Amanda nodded and Michael said, “I’m going to adjourn this meeting for now. The Leaders of the Alliance Members please plan to meet with me tomorrow morning.”
The meeting ended and the attendees rushed up to the front table. Michael listened to those around him but kept his eyes on Jay. Josey started to walk past him and he grabbed her arm and whispered in her ear. Her eyebrows came together and Jay whispered in her ear again. Her eyes widened and she turned and looked at Michael who was staring at her. Josey saw his expression and after a moment, nodded. Michael softly smiled at her and she returned it. She started walking away and Jay took her arm again, “Are you all right?”
“I am. I think I realized when he started discussing relativity that I was out of my league. However, there is one person that I’ve given a lot of thought to and it’s time I did something about it.” Jay’s head went back as she walked down the row on the back wall and stopped in front of Budge, “I have a question I need your help answering.”
Budge smiled, “What is that, Josey?”
“What does it take for a girl to get a man’s attention?”
Budge’s head went back, “Are you talking about yourself?”
“Who else?”
“Well that’s easy; just walk in the room.”
“Then why have you ignored me?” Budge’s mouth fell open and Josey said, “Come on, we’ll discuss it over dinner.” Budge closed his mouth and rushed to catch up with her. She took his hand as they left the room.
Nudge walked up next to Jay, put his arm on his shoulder, and watched them leave. “Now that’s something I didn’t expect.” Jay nodded. “Do you think he’s up to the task?”
Jay started laughing, “Probably not but we won’t tell him.” Nudge laughed and they shook hands.
Michael listened to the exchange and smiled. He looked at Jan, who was surrounded by scientists. She glanced his way and saw him staring at her. She saw something in his eyes and, after a moment, she smiled. She didn’t need telepathy to see what Michael was feeling. She turned back to the scientists and didn’t care if this was predestined or not. Life had just changed.
Chapter Sixteen
Michael looked at Jan sitting at the weapon’s console on their new Attackship and saw she was nervous. “Hey.”
Jan replied in a shaky voice, “Hey.”
Michael stared at her and took a breath. He looked at the floor and then looked up at her, “I need you to try and understand something.”
“Such as?”
Michael blew out the breath he was holding. “I’m certain that you’re aware that I’m attracted to you?” Jan stared at him and then nodded. “The thing is, I’ve never been in a relationship with a woman. I was deprived of that in school and I’m moving through uncharted space here. I don’t know how to act, what to say, or any of the other things a man would do with someone he was attracted toward. If you are frightened of me, we will never look at what this could possibly become. We’ll be stuck in place without moving forward. That frightens me more than I can say. I’m out of my depth here.”