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can
afford so I’m going to get right to the point,” said the man
cloaked in shadows who addressed the group. “I’ve been given
permission to identify one of our members because she may have just
the information we’ve been hoping for.”
    Murmurs rippled through the group, but
despite their obvious surprise and excitement, they were careful to
keep their voices low.
    The shadowy figure held up a hand.
“Brenda’s brother was working on a secret, government sponsored
project. As far as she knew, he’d been killed in an ‘accident’ that
the government blamed on one of our splinter groups. He’s here
today to tell us what really happened.”
    Carly felt the jolt that went through
Devlin at that announcement. She was shocked herself. She certainly
hadn’t heard Devlin say anything to that effect. He’d told both her
and Brenda that he didn’t know what happened.
    Brenda joined the shadowy figure
holding the floor.
    “My brother, Devlin Bear, was working
on a top level security project at Area 173 in New Mexico when the
facility was destroyed a year ago. As you’ve all probably heard,
there were, supposedly, no survivors. My family was informed that
Devlin was positively identified as one of the
casualties.
    “I believe now, though, that he did in
fact survive and he’s with us here today to tell us what he can
about the project and the accident.”
    Carly glanced at Devlin. It was too
dark to really see his expression, but she could tell from the
stiffness of his movements that he wasn’t happy about the way
things were going. Nevertheless, he moved forward to join Brenda
and the other man.
    He surveyed the group and Carly
realized abruptly, with a surge of fear, that their identities
weren’t safe from him.
    What if he was nothing more than a
‘plant’ the government had sent to ferret out the rebels, she
thought in sudden horror?
    “The project I was working on for the
government was, as you’ve heard, a top level security project.
Regardless, it had no weapons potential that I’m aware of,” Devlin
began. “There was some potential that it could have military
applications and that was the reason for the security.”
    “What were you working on?” someone in
the back, who’d clearly made an almost comical attempt to disguise
their voice, asked.
    Several people snickered, but it seemed
as much a nervous reaction as actual humor.
    Devlin hesitated. “Dimensional
theory.”
    “And that had the potential for
military applications?”
    Devlin shrugged. Again, he seemed
reluctant to proceed. He glanced around at the group. “As happens
quite often, though, I found something … unexpected. An alternate
universe. That had far more potential in benefitting mankind that
anything I’d expected to find and … I didn’t report it.”
    He shifted uncomfortably. “It was a
moral dilemma when I was under contract, but the implications were
so fantastic that they couldn’t be ignored. I knew if I turned it
over to the government some private sector would be allowed to
exploit it and mankind in general would certainly benefit, but at
cost when I felt like it should be free to everyone.
    “Without getting into technical
explanations that some of you might find confusing, this universe
exists in tandem with our own and it is pure energy. Tapping in to
the moon’s resources saved us from complete disaster when we tapped
out of the oil and natural gas used in the past, but we all know
how that turned out. The government allowed private industry to
exploit it and, economically, the common citizen only benefitted in
so far as being able to continue to struggle to pay for their
energy needs.
    “I’d managed to develop a … well, I
called it a gate. I hadn’t gotten far enough in my research to
figure out a way to capture the energy for use when the facility
exploded.”
    There was a prolonged, expectant
silence when he stopped speaking. Carly was dimly aware of it, but
she was as caught up in speculating