Shops, dormitories, recreational areas, a swimming pool, the Complex had everything its community of international researchers and their families required to approximate the illusion of normal daily life.
Including his ex-wife and son.
Vanessa and David. Vanessa Sharp , Coleman repeated in his mind. She was back to using her maiden name now. Had been, in fact, for the last six years. It still sounded strange. Like she had gone back in time to be the person she’d been before they married.
But she wasn’t that person anymore. She’d come a long way.
Coleman’s platoon was chosen for this operation because of Vanessa. During his briefing on the USS Coronado , no one said, ‘We know you were married to Vanessa Sharp’, but it hung unspoken. This morning when her picture appeared on the briefing screen, all eyes flicked his way. A onetime weapons inspector herself, the brass flagged Vanessa as both a critical operational objective and a potential problem.
Because Vanessa Sharp hated the military.
Her outspoken views were common knowledge. She could argue the topic for hours - American weapons-research traded like shares. Fraudulent military claims of biological weapons. Cover-ups after botched weapon trials – the list went on.
It was just a shame, Coleman thought, that her feelings manifested themselves after they had been married. They’d separated eight years ago. It was hardest on David, their son, with Coleman and Vanessa’s constant terse negotiations over the boy.
Coleman doubted he’d be as useful as the brass obviously hoped.
How would she feel about her ex-husband leading an uninvited team of armed Marines into her research facility? Accompanying weapons inspectors, no less. Hopefully she wouldn’t take it personally.
Please, who are you kidding? Everything is personal with her.
Trouble between them seemed inevitable. If they couldn’t agree on how much time Coleman could spend with David, his own son , then what chance did they have with this? Their arguments before the break-up had been bitter, but always just between them. Today a lot more was at stake than just a marriage.
Coleman mentally shoved aside the looming problem of Vanessa. Things would unfold however they would, and there was nothing he could do about it now. On the bright side, he’d be seeing David and where Vanessa had been hiding him for the last eleven months.
That’s not fair. We agreed this was better than boarding school. Don’t be bitter.
He took the opportunity to scan the research facility again from the air. Still thinking about David, he found his eyes drawn over to the dome.
The largest above-ground structure was a massive transparent biodome. Three hundred meters long, the oblong dome bulged from the desert like a futuristic space base. Under the dome nestled a sprawling botanical reserve. Landscaped for recreational purposes, the reserve dual-functioned as a living gene bank for genetic research. It reminded Coleman of the Eden Project in Cornwall, England, where a series of biodomes contained examples of widely varied ecosystems from around the world. He and Vanessa had backpacked across England before their engagement. The Eden biodomes were the highlight of her trip, but they were featherweights compared to this monster.
David raved about the dome during his phone calls. He said parts of it looked like Jurassic Park, and that he knew the place better than anyone in the Complex.
As if the plug and the biodome weren’t enough, there was more.
The lawn.
Visible from space, a two mile wide circle of
Including his ex-wife and son.
Vanessa and David. Vanessa Sharp , Coleman repeated in his mind. She was back to using her maiden name now. Had been, in fact, for the last six years. It still sounded strange. Like she had gone back in time to be the person she’d been before they married.
But she wasn’t that person anymore. She’d come a long way.
Coleman’s platoon was chosen for this operation because of Vanessa. During his briefing on the USS Coronado , no one said, ‘We know you were married to Vanessa Sharp’, but it hung unspoken. This morning when her picture appeared on the briefing screen, all eyes flicked his way. A onetime weapons inspector herself, the brass flagged Vanessa as both a critical operational objective and a potential problem.
Because Vanessa Sharp hated the military.
Her outspoken views were common knowledge. She could argue the topic for hours - American weapons-research traded like shares. Fraudulent military claims of biological weapons. Cover-ups after botched weapon trials – the list went on.
It was just a shame, Coleman thought, that her feelings manifested themselves after they had been married. They’d separated eight years ago. It was hardest on David, their son, with Coleman and Vanessa’s constant terse negotiations over the boy.
Coleman doubted he’d be as useful as the brass obviously hoped.
How would she feel about her ex-husband leading an uninvited team of armed Marines into her research facility? Accompanying weapons inspectors, no less. Hopefully she wouldn’t take it personally.
Please, who are you kidding? Everything is personal with her.
Trouble between them seemed inevitable. If they couldn’t agree on how much time Coleman could spend with David, his own son , then what chance did they have with this? Their arguments before the break-up had been bitter, but always just between them. Today a lot more was at stake than just a marriage.
Coleman mentally shoved aside the looming problem of Vanessa. Things would unfold however they would, and there was nothing he could do about it now. On the bright side, he’d be seeing David and where Vanessa had been hiding him for the last eleven months.
That’s not fair. We agreed this was better than boarding school. Don’t be bitter.
He took the opportunity to scan the research facility again from the air. Still thinking about David, he found his eyes drawn over to the dome.
The largest above-ground structure was a massive transparent biodome. Three hundred meters long, the oblong dome bulged from the desert like a futuristic space base. Under the dome nestled a sprawling botanical reserve. Landscaped for recreational purposes, the reserve dual-functioned as a living gene bank for genetic research. It reminded Coleman of the Eden Project in Cornwall, England, where a series of biodomes contained examples of widely varied ecosystems from around the world. He and Vanessa had backpacked across England before their engagement. The Eden biodomes were the highlight of her trip, but they were featherweights compared to this monster.
David raved about the dome during his phone calls. He said parts of it looked like Jurassic Park, and that he knew the place better than anyone in the Complex.
As if the plug and the biodome weren’t enough, there was more.
The lawn.
Visible from space, a two mile wide circle of
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