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PROJECT RM: GENESIS

PART I OF THE GENESIS SERIALS

Peter A. Schoemann

An Eck-Schoe Productions and Publications, LLC book

Publisher, Copyright, and Additional Information

Project RM: Genesis by Peter A. Schoemann published by Eck-Schoe Productions and Publications, LLC, 6932 Sylvan Woods Drive, Sanford, Florida 32771

www.EckSchoe.com

Copyright © 2018 by Peter A. Schoemann

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law. For permissions contact: [email protected].

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, incidents, and dialogue are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Ebook ISBN-13: 978-1-7320509-2-1

Editing by Natasha Simons

Cover design and interior design by Xavier Comas

To my children. Keep dreaming and keep working toward those dreams.

CHAPTER 1

[October 23, 1962]

Nuclear holocaust: three billion people incinerated or decaying from radiation poisoning. That’s what should have scared Joseph Solomon more than anything. Yet as he stared out the porthole of the yacht, watching the Miami coast shrink into the horizon, the slight touch of Laurel Lyons’s hand on his shoulder frightened him more. Irrational, yes, but no less true. Cuba, its Soviet missiles, and possible worldwide devastation came in a distant second to the five-foot, four-inch seventeen-year old with her thick-rimmed glasses and pony-tailed, brunette hair.

Joseph tensed at her touch until her fingers slid off and fell to her side. As he exhaled, he noticed something odd. He turned to query the only additional person in the cabin, his mentor, who was standing nearby at the bottom of the staircase to the deck above. “Sir, why are we heading east?” he asked Professor Drucker.

The professor simply smiled back at his sixteen-year old assistant.

Tall for his age, Joseph still felt small in the presence of his towering teacher. “I thought we were going to stay within sight of the coast for the test.” As a long-time recipient of defense department grants, Professor Drucker’s lab regularly tested new technologies; since his arrival two years earlier, Joseph had assisted the professor in his efforts. Given the current predicament, they had to complete the final test on a new radar-jamming system and turn over the results to the Department of Defense as soon as possible.

The professor looked to Laurel, then back to Joseph. “That’s because today’s test is a little different.”

“What do you mean, sir?”

“Today’s test is of something of much greater importance: you.”

Joseph’s chest tightened.

“Stop,” Laurel blurted, her British accent inflected with alarm. “Please, turn back.”

The professor stared her down. “Not a chance. It’s time you deal with reality—both of you.”

Joseph’s hands went to his stomach. He was unsure whether the onset of nausea had emanated from the abrupt change in the professor’s demeanor or the sudden rocking of the yacht.

Laurel stepped toward the professor, smiling and stroking her hair. Joseph wondered whether she were going to use a little womanly persuasion—a thought that stung him, even in those few seconds. Instead, she grabbed the professor’s arm, twisted around, and threw him to the ground. She raised her leg, as if she were about to stomp him in the face.

Joseph yelled, “What are you doing?”

“Trust me,” she said, but before her foot reached its target, the pilot of the boat—who had slipped into the cabin—pulled her into a bear hug.

Joseph couldn’t move, but his heart raced.

The professor rose and pat Joseph on the back. “Don’t worry. It’s going to be all right, for both of you.”

He walked over to the struggling Laurel and pulled a gun from his pocket. “Thank you, Peter. As soon as this is under control, get back upstairs and steer us into calmer waters.”

Joseph’s mouth opened, but no words came out.

The professor raised the gun. “Stupid. Very stupid.”

Spurred by some reserve of courage, Joseph rushed the professor and grabbed him from behind. Joseph’s control over his mentor lasted less than a second. In one move, Professor Drucker broke the hold, spun around, and punched him in the gut.

He crumpled to the floor, his body balling up and his hands shooting to his mouth and again to his midsection. One hand soothed his stomach and the other restrained the need to retch as the pilot-less boat continued to heave and sway on the rough Atlantic sea. But the professor’s attack on Joseph paled in comparison to what he did next. Joseph could do nothing but watch as he smashed the handle of his gun into the back of Laurel’s skull. The impact sent her glasses flying and her petite body slumping to the ground.

Joseph lay helpless next to her, hoping she was all right. The professor’s steel-toed boot pressed like a vice into his neck and the side of his face, grinding him into the long strands of the white shag carpet. He gasped for the salty air as the foot relented for what felt like the final few breaths of life. How could this have happened? he wondered. “My parents…I…we trusted you. Why?”

The professor said, “Are you asking why I betrayed you? I didn’t. Your parents entrusted me with your development, and I unlocked your talent. Now look at you, my polymath. With my oversight, you’ve achieved more than most do in a lifetime at only sixteen. You’re already a mechanical engineer, a chemist, and an astrophysicist; and, with the books I’ve given you, you’re an expert in so much more. I bet you could even pass the medical boards right now. Thanks to me, you’re becoming a true renaissance man.” Laurel’s body lay still, but her eyes were open and fixed on their attacker. “Although, you still have some work to do with the girls.”

Joseph looked away from both of them. Why had the