Read Online Timeline by Michael Crichton - Free Book Online

was genuine and warm. “I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your taking the time to see me.”
    “Not at all,” Johnston said, taking her hand in his. “You have come a long way, Miss Delvert. I am pleased to help you in any way I can.”
    Johnston continued to hold her hand. She continued to smile at him. This went on for ten seconds more, while she said that he was too kind and he said on the contrary, it was the very least he could do for her.
    :
    They walked through the monastery excavations, a tight little group: the Professor and Miss Delvert in the front, Bellin and Chris following behind, not too close, but still trying to hear the discussion. Bellin wore a quiet, satisfied smile; it occurred to Chris that there was more than one way to deal with a troublesome culture minister.
    As for the Professor, his wife had been dead for many years, and although there were rumors, Chris had never seen him with another woman. He was fascinated to watch him now. Johnston did not change his manner; he simply gave the reporter his undivided attention. He conveyed the impression that there was nothing in the world more important than she was. And Chris had a feeling that Delvert’s questions were much less contentious than she had planned.
    “As you know, Professor,” she said, “for some time now, my newspaper has been working on a story about the American company ITC.”
    “Yes, I’m aware of that.”
    “Am I correct that ITC sponsors this site?”
    “Yes, they do.”
    She said, “We have been told they contribute a million dollars a year.”
    “That’s about right.”
    They walked on for a moment. She seemed to be trying to frame her next question carefully.
    “There are some at the newspaper,” she said, “who think that’s a great deal of money to spend on medieval archaeology.”
    “Well, you can tell them at the newspaper,” Johnston said, “that it’s not. In fact, it’s average for a large site like this. ITC gives us two hundred and fifty in direct costs, a hundred and a quarter in indirect costs paid to the university, another eighty in scholarships, stipends, and travel and living expenses, and fifty for laboratory and archiving costs.”
    “But surely there is much more than that,” she said, playing with her hair with her pen, and blinking rapidly. Chris thought, She’s batting her eyes at him. He’d never seen a woman do that. You had to be French to pull it off.
    The Professor appeared not to notice. “Yes, there is certainly more,” he said, “but it doesn’t go to us. The rest is reconstruction costs for the site itself. That is separately accounted, since as you know, reconstruction costs are shared with the French government.”
    “Of course,” she said. “So the half million dollars your own team spends is in your view quite usual?”
    “Well, we can ask François,” Johnston said. “But there are twenty-seven archaeological sites being worked in this corner of France. They range from the Paleolithic dig that the University of Zurich is doing with Carnegie-Mellon, to the Roman castrum, the fort, that the University of Bordeaux is doing with Oxford. The average annual cost of these projects is about half a million dollars a year.”
    “I did not know that.” She was staring into his eyes, openly admiring. Too openly, Chris thought. It suddenly occurred to him that he might have misjudged what was happening. This might simply be her way of getting a story.
    Johnston glanced back at Bellin, who was walking behind him. “François? What would you say?”
    “I believe you know what you are doing — I mean, saying,” Bellin said. “Funding varies from four to six hundred thousand U.S. Scandinavians, Germans and Americans cost more. Paleolithic costs more. But yes, half a million could be an average number.”
    Miss Delvert remained focused on Johnston: “And for your funding, Professor Johnston, how much contact are you required to have with ITC?”
    “Almost