Read Online The Weathermakers (1967) by Ben Bova - Free Book Online

ketch’s sails, and the four of us gathered in the cockpit to relax. It was cold enough for sweatshirts and coffee.
    “So this weather is made to order,” I said to Ted.
    “Sort of,” he replied. “Storm would’ve lifted off tomorrow, late in the afternoon. We just modified things a little to speed up the change.”
    “But how did you do it?”
    “Wasn’t too tough. Got some buddies of mine in an Air Force satellite to squirt their lasers at the right place . . . added a little heat to the High that was holding the storm over Boston. And one of the Climatology planes was making a practice run for Dr. Barneveldt, dropping cloud-seeding pellets. I just told them where to do the dumping, and when. That set up some low pressure for the storm to slide into. So it moved away. Ought to be going up the Bay of Fundy by now.”
    Barney looked worried. “Aren’t you afraid of getting the people who helped you into trouble? You had no authorization—”
    “They didn’t do anything more than they would’ve normally done,” Ted replied, a trifle impatiently, “The Air Force guys in the satellites have to run their lasers a certain number of times every day, to make sure they’re combat-ready. It’s part of their regular routine. Did it myself a gillion times when I was wearing a blue suit. And the Climatology plane was going to make a night run for your uncle. So they flew to one spot over the ocean instead of another. So who cares?”
    Tuli said, “I hope Dr. Rossman is as nonchalant about this as you are. He generally doesn’t like to have his employees doing things without his knowledge . . . and written approval.”
    “Listen,” Ted snapped. “He claimed weather control is impossible. Now I can show him it’s not. It’s that simple.”
    Which turned out to be the understatement of the year.

6. Squall

    T HE rest of the weekend was pleasant but inconsequential. Aunt Louise threw one of her usual Saturday-night parties, and invited half the island, including a couple of Japanese families—presumably for Tuli’s benefit. I met a lot of people I hadn’t seen since my last summer at Thornton, several years earlier. Aunt Louise kept steering me toward every girl in the house who was unmarried and over fifteen, while Ted stuck with Barney. Inevitably, someone brought out a guitar and folk singing started. Unexpectedly, though, Tuli turned out to be the hit of the evening when he began singing old Mongol sagas and translating them for us; most of them were fiercely violent, but some were poetic and haunting.
    Before we left on Monday morning, Aunt Louise promised to invite Father to Thornton for my birthday celebration. My real birthday wouldn’t be for another several months, but she intended to have a party for me within the next few weeks, since we weren’t sure how long I would stay in Boston.
    I drove the three of them to the Climatology building. Ted and Tuli hopped from my car to the weather-beaten Lotus, which Ted had left in the parking lot for the weekend, and took off for the morning’s classes at MIT.
    Barney, sitting beside me, waved as Ted cut in front of us and zoomed out toward the highway.
    “How do you think Dr. Rossman’s going to react to Ted’s weather modification?” I asked her.
    She let her worry show on her face. “He’ll probably find out about it this morning, before Ted comes back from class.”
    “Do you think there might be serious trouble?”
    “Dr. Rossman can be very strict about people doing things without his permission,” Barney said. “And Ted has a short temper, too.”
    We sat in silence for a few minutes. It was still a little early for the main shift; a few cars were starting to pull up and park. Off on the horizon, toward the west, I could see dark clouds starting to gather.
    “Perhaps I should try to stick around and talk with Ted after lunch,” I said.
    She thought it over before replying. “It might be a good idea if you offer to speak to Dr. Rossman,