Binary Code

Part of him wanted to believe this was just a gamble on one newspaper Editor’s part, a sensational hunch that the world
altering historical significance of this date in history would repeat itself again on the same date a half century later with
the Revelation the entire planet Earth was holding their breath for.

But another part of him was positive that they all knew as he did with certainty, that Today was THE day. Sam did not
read past the headlines, he knew the story better then anyone. Later he would find out it was not just the New York
Times, but every major newspaper worldwide had gambled on the same headline on this date.

He left his office and headed down the corridor to see Ari, asking Stella to accompany him. Sam glances at his watch,
07:32. He has studied military history all his life, and scours his mind to recall the exact time of the Dec. 7th attack on
Pearl Harbor in 1941, then remembers it was 07:48 A.M. He quickens his pace as he heads down the hallway.

------------------------------------------
They encountered Clem getting off the elevator and headed in the same direction. Clem and Sam spoke at exactly the
same instant, and exactly the same words:

“Did you see the Statue of Liberty …” Both men stopped and stared at each other almost speechless. Sam broke the
silence saying “Clem, I had such a definite feeling that our Creator lit that torch to show Ari the path to Heaven today.”
“You might be close Sam”, says Clem, “but I believe it was the right place and the wrong person, I believe it was …”

Stella finishes Clem’s sentence “ it was a little girl named Emily that lit that torch, all the way from Heaven. A little girl
who is apparently getting impatient and was tired of waiting for Ari. She has messages she wants to send to her
Mommy and to her dog, and she wants Ari to get up to Heaven where she is waiting for him to teach her how.”

As they were reflecting on these thoughts Agent Sullivan came up to Sam and asked for a moment of his time. Security
was guarding the top floor of the building which had been locked down all week. A.J. felt it was a wise precautionary
measure to prevent some crackpot trying to gain publicity from crashing in. Sullivan told Sam: “Sir, a retired Air Force
Major has requested your attention in an urgent matter. I know who he is Sam, I can vouch for him.”

Sam agrees and Sullivan escorts him to a small conference room next to the Board Room where a gentleman in uniform
is waiting. Sullivan introduces Major Bernard Francis Fisher, U.S. Air Force [retired] who gives Sam a firm handshake and
says “Good Morning Lieutenant Preston, very pleased to meet you.” The name and even the face seem familiar to Sam,
but he can’t place the context. He never knew much Air Force brass, although only being 10 or 15 years older then Sam
Major Fisher could certainly have served in the same war Sam did.

The Major has his Air Force uniform on, and Sam gazes at the collection of ribbons on his chest, noting the Bronze Star
ribbon, and the Silver Star on the top row, next to the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Force equivalent of the Navy

95

Cross which is the second highest honor ever awarded in combat. Curiously there is one more service medal to the left
of the Distinguished Flying Cross, which Sam cannot understand as that position, top row left side placement is always
reserved for the highest citation received. He sees a glimpse of a light blue ribbon with small stars under the Major’s
lapel of his uniform, and suddenly realizes whose hand he is shaking. He then says “This is quite and honor SIR.”
Major Fisher was the recipient of the U.S. military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor. He was the first living Air
Force recipient of the medal (all previous awards to USAF personnel had been posthumous), and the first USAF member
to receive the medal in the Vietnam War.
Major Fisher then brings out a small box with a gold seal on the top, and carefully opens it. He takes out what many
know exists but few have ever seen, the Congressional Medal of Honor:

Sam is overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of the Medal, and even more stunned by the image in the center of the
pendant, Lady Liberty in solid gold. Today is unfolding like a dream for him, it is the identical image of the illuminated
face he shared with Stella only moments ago. The single word on the Medal reads VALOR.
Major Fisher begins to speak, he is brief and to the point. “This Medal has served me well Lieutenant Preston, but now I
wish for it to accompany Mr. Kingsley on his final Mission. I would be greatly honored if he would accept this and wear it
with pride.”
“We all have Valor in our Souls” he continues, “but most people expend the fixed amount of this virtue they possess
gradually over their lifetimes in very small amounts. A warrior often uses all his Valor in one brief endeavor. We call
these men heroes, and we give them medals. Please give this Medal to Mr. Kingsley, I believe somehow he may turn out
to be a much greater hero than I was.”

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Saluting sharply the Major then leaves the room, and Sam exhales a very long breath.

Leaving the small room Sam joins Stella and Clem and they enter Ari’s suite. He relates the story of his meeting with
Major Fisher and hands Ari the small blue box, which Ari somehow finds the strength to open. Sam continues as Ari
realizes the magnitude of this gift he just received, “Nineteen times in history the same man has been awarded the Medal
of Honor twice, but never in history has the same Medal ever been awarded to two people, until this moment.”

As Ari holds up the blue ribbon Sam says “Put it on Ari, Major Fisher insisted on that, he wants you to wear this Medal
today, and to have it around your neck when your Mission begins.”

Stella moves forward to put the Medal around Ari’s neck, everyone in the room spellbound by the moment.

A few moments later Ari calls Sam to his side, his voice is now just a hoarse whisper, and he says to Sam “My friend,
now it is my turn: I have a favor to ask you.”

Continuing Ari says “Today is a day everything must be in balance, so if you repay the small favor you asked me last
week, our slate also will be in balance.”

Sam replies “Of course Ari, anything you wish.”

Ari continues “Sam, have you and Stella set a date for your marriage?”

“Yes Ari, we were thinking December 24th, Christmas Eve. And you are invited!” answers Sam trying to force a smile at
his last statement.

“I am afraid I will most likely have other engagements on that date Sam, and I could not be present. Probably some
Chess tournament with St. Peter or other worthy oponent, or some such nonsense.”

Ari goes on: “Sam, I would like you and Stella to get married right here, so I may a part of this joyous event. But we
must do it soon, I don’t have much time left Sam.”

Sam looks at his watch, 08:03 AM, apparently the 07:48 significance will not play a role in this day 50 years later.

Ari continues, “I have everything set for you, Charles has your Marriage License signed by a New York State Supreme
Court Judge whom I used to play poker with, your blood tests have been waived by the Judge based on records from the
last time you each donated blood, I have even taken the liberty of providing a tuxedo for you and for each member of

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the wedding party, Clem, A.J., Will, and Chuck.”

Sam interjects while smiling broadly “I don’t know Ari, I am pretty hard to fit, very long arms and narrow through the
hips…”

Ari doesn’t miss a beat, “I had Will break into your apartment and steal your old tuxedo, then had my tailor in Milan
make you a new one, shoes and everything” pointing as Charles opens a large armoir and shows Sam five tuxedos
hanging neatly, and one beautiful white lace dress, as Ari continues “and even a lovely Wedding dress for Miss Stella,
and a small necklace as a wedding gift from me. Charles has also had two rings made for you at Tiffany’s which I believe
you will find more then adequate, and Clem managed to create some gizmo to scan each of you and precisely calculate
your ring sizes.”

“In addition I am an ordained minister, although of dubious background, and it would be a great honor for me to
perform the ceremony.” concludes Ari.

Stella is beaming, Sam is dumfounded, but on a more serious note Ari again mentions “We must hurry Sam, there is not
much time.”

They agree and change quickly, the tuxedos fit to a ‘T’, the rings are gorgeous, the diamond necklace for Stella is
absolutely breathaking, and she totally adores her dress which fits perfectly. Sam asks Chuck Miller to be his Best Man,
A.J. and Will to be the ushers, when suddenly Stella blurts out “I have no bridesmaid, and we need a flower girl!”

“I took care of that.” whispers Ari, and in comes running Sam’s niece Caitlyn in a pretty blue dress carrying a basket of
white Lillies, followed by Alexandra Johansen carrying a bouquet of red roses for Stella. Johansen gives Stella a long
hug, and a light kiss on the cheek for Sam.

“And one final guest I took the liberty of inviting” says Ari as Charles escorts an elderly woman in her finest dress, Mr.
Kolanowski’s wife, Ishka, whom Stella is delighted to see. “And of course, Clem will give the bride away, who else?”
exclaims Ari.

The ceremony is brief but very emotional, and Ari joins them as Man and Wife.

It is apparent that the excitement has left Ari exhausted, and all of the wedding party and guests bid him goodbye and
leave the room.

“My bouquet Sam, I never got to throw it !” cries Stella as a they are headed back to Sam’s office. As they walk by the
Board Room where a large crowd has gathered the G2 members meet them and offer their heartfelt congratulations to
both Sam and Stella. Suddenly Mrs. Kolanowski calls out “Mrs. Preston !” surprising Stella initially, the first time she has

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ever been called by that name. Mrs. Kolanowski hands her a bouquet of beautiful blue Irises, telling her they are from
her own flower garden.

Sam takes Stella by the hand and leads her up the stairwell to the Helipad, and they move to the railing on the edge of
the roof overlooking the street below. The streets are packed, 10’s of thousands of people crowded in front of the
Vertex Buiding, awaiting news of the Revelation mission. Sam gestures down and Stella throws her wedding bouquet
and the other flowers off the roof.

Flowers apparently never hit terminal velocity even when dropped from 79 stories, each petal becoming a tiny
parachute. As the wind tore apart each little flower then gently formed a large blanket of petals, combining the fields of
Red, White and Blue into a tapestry of patriotic color. One single person didn’t catch Stella’s bouquet, thousands did!

At that moment she felt like the luckiest woman in the world.

_______________________________
Setting: Board Room on the top floor.
As the culmination of the Mission had been approaching over the last few days, A.J. and Will with the assistance of the
entire G2 staff had been setting up a massive world-wide communications network, with live Video and Audio feeds
from the Vertex Building to all four corners of the Earth. The Ball Room on the 10th floor had been designated at the
Press Center, with thousands of reporters and countless news crews packing in over the last 24 hours. The Board Room
was reserved for an even more elite group of correspondents and news moguls, including some very famous network
anchors.

Nightly news broadcasts each evening had shown the World waiting on the edge of their seats, breathlessly awaiting the
Revelation. Sports stadiums all over the world, some holding 100,000 in South America and on other continents began
filling up, with giant video screens monitoring the news of the event. At the final moment Will was designated to flip all
the Live feed from the Apocalypse Room over to these worldwide locations, where it was anticipated virtually the entire
population of the planet Earth would be viewing the same event at the same exact moment.

Will and A.J. had both worked all night on the final preparations, as if they already knew, as it seemed most of the rest of
the world appeared to … that today was going to be THE day.

Sam and Clem stopped in the Board Room briefly, shook a few hands and had some brief discussions with Will and A.J.
Sam glanced at his watch, 11:48 AM, and it crossed his mind how coincidental that he looked at his watch exactly 4 hours
to the minute after the exact time of the Pearl Harbor attack 50 years ago. Glancing around the Board Room as he had
so many times in his long career here he barely noticed the 24 clocks on the wall, second and minute hands precisely
synchronized, but each of them exactly one hour apart, representing the 24 time zones of the Earth. Each had a plaque
with a name of a City or location under the clock, New York, London, and so on, and suddenly he let out a cry of

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surprise when he saw under the fifth clock to the left of Eastern Standard time (New York), was the single word
“Hawaii”.

Grabbing Clem by the shoulder and shaking him violently Sam almost screamed “Clem, I know the TIME! 12:48 hours
Clem, I never adjusted for the Time Zones!”

Looking up at the clocks Clem immediately understood what Sam had just brilliantly determined, and then began trying
to calm Sam down.

“Brilliant Sam, I believe you are almost correct. Your theory is completely reasonable, but you made one tiny error.
Hawaii is now on UTC-10, which is determined by subracting 10 hours from Coordinated Universal Time, as you have
done, and we are indeed five hours ahead of that on UTC-5 here in New York. So your assumption that precisely fifty
years of time since 07:48 hours on December 7th, 1941 in Pearl Harbor will actually occur here five hours later on the
clocks, or at 12:48 PM in New York today, was very nearly correct.”

“However in 1941 Hawaii was not on UTC-10”, continued Clem, “in actuality from 1900 until 1947 GMT minus -10:30 was
used as standard time in Hawaii [1], so the exact moment fifty years after 1941 in New York will occur at precisely five and
one half hours later then the recorded time of the attack in Hawaii, which wil be at 1300 hours 18 minutes military time,
or 01:18 PM.”

Sam did not even take time to marvel at Clem’s seemingly infinite wealth of knowledge, he just followed the math and
found himself agreeing. There was no doubt in either man’s mind that they now knew the precise time of the ever
nearing Apokálypsis.

Sam went back to his office to get Stella, he wanted her by his side from this minute on and Ari had also requested she
be present, actually he had insisted..

Clem took the opportunity for one last meeting alone with Ari, under the pretext of some final checks he wanted to
make on the MRE equipment.

[1] This historical quirk of Hawaii’s true Time Zone was not fabricated for this story, it is absolutely correct.

Setting: Ari’s suite. Clem and Ari are alone.
Ari was conscious when Clem entered, and even tried to show signs of how pleased he was to see Clem, but it turned
out to be more a grimace then an actual smile.

“Sam has calculated the time, I believe he is correct.” said Clem.

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When he told Ari 01:18PM Ari just nodded his head in agreement, he already knew without a lot of clocks or Time Zones
to calculate it for him. Less then 90 minutes remained.

Ari motioned to Clem to come nearer, and whispered in a barely audible tone to Clem “Did you see anything inspiring
today my friend, possibly a beautiful Lady with a golden torch being illuminated from Heaven?”

Clem was dumfounded, asked Ari “How did you know Ari, there are no windows in this room anymore ?”

Ari pointed to the manuscript he had received from the Daila Lama, and saying “It is all in here my friend.” as he tried
reaching for it to hand it to Clem.

Clem walked around the bed and with a nod from Ari making it totally clear he had permission, he reached for the
manuscript and opened it to a page where Ari had left a beautiful deep blue silk bookmark with golden embroidery.

Reading the large script on the otherwise blank page aloud, he said in Latin:

Et fax accensa fuerit via ducit ad caelum, ubi invenies notitiam quaeris.

and being fluent in the ancient language he then repeated aloud, mostly to himself but also seeing approval in Ari’s eyes
that his translation was correct:

And a torch shall be lit guiding your way to the Heavens
where you shall find the knowledge you seek.

Much like the tales of ‘your whole life flashing before you’ during an accident or other life changing moment, Clem’s mind
flashed through a very high speed series of images covering the scientist’s entire life, blackboards full of complex
equations, images of tiny organisms seen through microscopes, breathtaking scenes of the Cosmos viewed through
giant telescopes, but mostly, almost as if it were the Grand Finale of a stupendous fireworks display, he saw one rocket
launch after another, the most primitive images of Sputnik and Explorer 1, John Glenn in Friendship 7, and all the others
that followed, even the ill-fated Challenger STS-51-L’s tragic explosion after 73 seconds. He had been a part of many of
those Missions, and now it all came full circle, as he realized that he had been born and endowed with the almost
phenomenal intellect he was blessed with for only one real purpose, this Mission.

He took Ari’s hand, felt not fear but only amazing strength from this colossus of a man who was barely alive, holding on
for the last few moments of his life only through his indomitable spirit… and in Ari’s eyes he saw the answer he had been
praying for but never really letting himself believe in, and the answer filled his Soul with joy.

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December 7, 1991 01:18 PM
The final group in Ari’s room, each felt as if they were witnessing an experience of Biblical significance.
Sam in a trembling voice : “Farewell my friend Aristotle”.
Ari whispers: “Farewell my friend Samuel, however rest assured that this is not the last time you will hear from me.”
Ari reaches his hand out to touch Sam with his outstretched finger:

The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo

The vision had become Reality, and Reality had become the vision.

A loud beep interrupts the serene moment and the vital signs monitor shows Ari has flatlined.
Regardless of what his heavy heart is feeling Clem springs into action with Dr. Johansen at his side. The EKG has
triggered the large digital stopwatch behind Ari’s bed and it begins clicking off the seconds and 1/100ths of a second.
Ari waits until precisely 48.3011 seconds when a buzzer sounds and he removes the lead shield from the absolute final
version of the MKE SOFT MEDIA final generation receiver. The timing was precisely derived over and over again by
calculating the square root of the known distance to the farthest limit of the Solar System divided by the Speed of Light,
and the G2 minds and Clem had agreed it was necessary to shield the unit from Ari’s body after his instant of death for
that interval to prevent the possibility of Ari triggering the signal in his last dying instant or even by nerve impulses
shortly after.

The Apokálypsis Monitor as it had come to be referred to in the final days, simply had one digital display with a large

LED number displaying a 12 inch high Zero:

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“How long Clem?” asked Sam breathlessly.

“Any instant now Sam, the Speed of Light.” replied Clem.

The entire World seemed to hold it’s breath. In Times Square, in Yankee Stadium across the City, across the Nation,
across the Planet, streets packed, stadiums overflowing, everywhere … the seconds seemed to take forever as they
passed.

Still nothing…. Clem’s mind is racing as he goes over every step of the calculations in his mind, he was so certain and so
convinced by Ari that this would come to be as they had worked and prayed so hard for.

The digital counter shows 03 minutes 46 seconds have passed, the 1/100ths of a second race by at blinding speed on the
clock display, and still there is only the huge ZERO on the screen.

Anxious looks all around, the few in the Room have not moved a muscle, in the packed Board Room every eye is glued
to the live feed from Ari’s suite, as are the thousands in the 10th floor Press area and the lobby, the same anxious
tension mirrored there and in several billion sets of eyes around the Planet.

The digital counter shows 05 minutes 18 seconds have passed, and still there is only the huge ZERO on the screen.

At 10:00 minutes Clem begans to shake his head, and announces to the members of the inner circle around him “I believe
there can only be one scientific conclusion if we have done our work correctly, which I am quite certain that we have,
and that is that there is no signal coming from Aristotle Kingsley.”

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They wait a full 30:00 minutes, but the atmosphere has changed, defeat hangs in the room like a heavy curtain of gloom.
They finally file out of the room one at a time.

“We have to get away from here Stella” says Sam as he takes her by the hand and hurriedly pulls her all the way to his
office. It’s the Marine officer in charge now, not the C.E.O. of Vertex, and he senses trouble. Looking out his window
to the crowd below in the street he sees an angry mob, Chuck comes in moments later and says to him as his bodyguard
“Sam, I don’t think it’s safe for you out there. That crowd either feels like you failed them or that you have become a
bearer of very bad news, the worst news in the history of mankind. And the worldwide monitors in the Board Room
indicate it’s not just here in front of the Vertex Building, it’s happening across the Globe.”

Chuck was correct, in every corner of the world large crowds and small ones were sharing the same realization, and for
the first time Sam understood the consequences of his actions on a global scale. Grasping the danger of the situation he
gathered up Clem and Will and A.J. along with Stella and led the group up the stairwell to the Helipad.

Moments later the bird was airborne, their takeoff hardly noticed by the crowds in the street. Clem was shaking his
head over and over again, as if checking his work a thousand times in his mind. After approximately 3 minutes of flying
Sam was the first one to speak, and his question startled all of the group onboard when he asked Chuck: “Did you ever
read a Bible passage to me Chuck?”

Taking off his radio headset, not quite certain he heard the question correctly, Chuck asked sam to ‘say-again’ [1], and
Sam repeated the question.

“Yes Sam actually I did, when I thought I was losing you at Khe Sahn I quoted the 23rd Psalm passage to you, ‘Yea
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of Death, I will fear no evil.’ considering the fact that at the

time we were most definitely in the shadow of Death, it seemed quite appropriate at the time.”

“Good thing you knew that one passage Chuck, seems to have helped us get out of there in one piece.” says Sam.

“Not just that one passage Sam, I pretty much know the entire Bible word for word, or at least I did when I was a kid,
my father was an evangelist in Oklahoma and I studied the Bible for years at home.” replies Chuck.

“You wouldn’t happen to know how far it is to Heaven would you Chuck, is that in the Bible anywhere?”

[1] Military personnel never use the word ‘repeat’ in a radio transmission, to prevent the possibility of it being misinterpreted, as in a bombing mission

gone wrong being reported and the reply ‘repeat that?’ being misunderstood as the instruction to repeat the mission, or do it again.

104

“Well in a way I guess it is, in the Book of Psalms there is a passage that quotes God as having looked down on the
‘Heavens and the stars’ after creation, so if I had to guess as a pilot I would say Heaven is not in our Solar system or on the
edge of it, because from Heaven God saw many stars, so He must have been somewhere on the edge of the Universe,
but not much closer in my opinion.”

“OH MY GOD, turn this chopper around !” shouted Clem standing up so abruptly he struck his head on the roof of the
fuselage and landed right back in his seat.

“Chuck can you get Dr. Johansen for me on your radio, and hurry!” pleaded Clem.

Seconds later Clem was rattling off figures to Johansen over the radio, scribbling numbers and equations himself on a
pad he had pulled from his pocket, and as the helicopter sped back to the Vertex Building he announced to Sam: “One
hour and 23 minutes, Ari’s signal has to travel from the edge of the Universe back to us at the speed of light, not from
the edge of the Solar system.” Looking at his watch he sees the time is 02:23 PM and shouts to Chuck:

“18 minutes left Chuck, can you get us back in time?” Sam knows if anyone can, it would be Chuck.

“Yes SIR, I can.” replies Chuck, the helicopter banking steeply and accelerating to full velocity.

They hit the dead center of the giant Yellow circle on the helipad 11 minutes later, and hit hard, Chuck coming in like he
had been so well known for into hot LZ’s [Landing Zones] in Vietnam, everyone pouring out of the chopper with the
doors open even before the rotors stopped turning.

Dr. Johansen was waiting and as they practically ran down the steel staircase she and Clem were comparing numbers,
shouting at the top of their lungs over the noise of the big turbine engines of the Bell 410 winding down.

Setting: Ari’s room, 1400 hours 19 minutes or 02:19 PM
Clem immediately reset the digital counter and switched it to a countdown mode, it showed 03 minutes left exactly.

Johansen was rebooting the Apokálypsis Monitor and in a few seconds she had it back on line, the ever present giant
ZERO digit staring at them again.

Ari was still present in the room, but the physicians had covered him with a white sheet. Sam pulled the sheet down and
unveiled Ari’s face, which looked calm and serene. A very remarkable man, even in Death. The Congressional Medal of
Honor was still around his neck.

The digital counter showed 02:15 and seconds clicked by audibly, the group in the room was already practically holding

105

their breath.
02:01 . . .
01:48 . . .
01:32 . . .
Sam thought of Chuck’s story, the 23rd Psalm, another connection with the 01 hours and 23 minutes Clem had
recalculated the travel time of Ari’s signal.
01:11 . . .
01:03 . . .
All eyes were riveted on the giant ZERO in the display, Clem now counting off the seconds on the digital countdown
display aloud: 46, 45, 44, 43, 42, 41 …..
Sam didn’t think he could take two failures of this magnitude in one day, and now he was half a minute from finding out
if mankind was ever indeed going to witness God’s signature….

Clem had not stopped the countdown he was reciting aloud: 36, 35, 34, 33, 32, 31 ….

Sam thought of his lifelong friend Aristotle Kingsley, then his mind pictured an image of Janek Kolanowski and the old
Univac 1103a.
Clem was still going: 17, 16, 15, 14, 13 ….
And now Sam saw Ari again, their first meeting at Mission Control at Cape Canaveral in 1974, his first space launch, when
he had heard the same familiar numbers Clem was now calmly counting down:

10, 9, 8, 7, 6…

Sam squeezed Stella’s hand with all his might and drew her even closer to him…

5

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4
3
2
1

The monitor flickered for a few instants, not a soul in the room, maybe in the entire world, even drew a breath, and
finally there it was, a message from across the Universe exactly as Clem had calculated and predicted, maybe the simplest
operation in the world, watching the ZERO turn into a big lovely amazing incredible fat number ONE!

There was not any shouting or excitement or jumping up and down, although eventually everyone did start breathing
again, and Sam just kept squeezing Stella’s hand as hard as he could.
Around the City, across the nation, in all four corners of the Earth there was sheer pandemonium, from Yankee Stadium
to the Eiffel Tower, from the Maracanã stadium in Rio de Janeiro to the Taj Mahal, from Buckingham Palace to a tiny
monastery in Tibet, the world rejoiced.

107

Sam knelt next to Ari and silently prayed with his head bowed, and when he finished Stella took his place, then Clem,
then Chuck, Johansen, A.J., and Will. What each of them was sharing with Ari at that moment was never discussed,
not even between Sam and Stella.
Sam then embraced Clem and nearly cracked his ribs with the force of his grip, briefly realizing he had never hugged
Clem on any occasion in all the years they worked together, and also gave Dr. Johansen a long embrace, but much more
gently.
Before they left the Vertex Building the group stopped on the 15th floor, the K-2 Lab which was no longer of any use.
Sam stood in front of the old Univac mainframe and stared for a while at the portrait of Janek Kolanowski, marveling
that an old janitor who couldn’t wear a watch had been responsible for the answer to the longest held secret in
mankind’s history.
Clem was standing next to A.J. who spoke and said “The only thing is, I guess we will never know if the signal was truly
from Ari, or just some astronomically improbable coincidence of some stray radiation altering the SOFT MEDIA.”
Clem seemed to ignore A.J. and answered his question with another question, “A.J., do you have the correct time?”
A.J. looked at his Rolex on his left wrist and saw the sweep second hand suddenly stop, and then it took exactly three
revolutions of the dial backwards, in a counter-clockwise manner. The minute and hour hand then spun clockwise a few
revolutions and stopped at precisely 12:07, [December 7th].
Clem just nodded at A.J. and looked up at Kolanowski’s portrait, almost thinking he noticed a little bit of a smile in the
photo that he had not observed before. A.J.’s Rolex never worked again from that moment on.
They all walked out of the building at this time, barely being noticed by the massive crowds in the sheer pandemonium
engulfing the millions of people in the City who had spilled out into every street and avenue.
Sam looked up at the sky and said simply “God Bless you Aristotle, my dear friend.”

THE END.

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Epilogue:

One year later.
The Vertex Group closed it’s doors in January of 1992, the stock holders being highly rewarded and the staff and
employees all receiving retirement pensions that were astounding, but even that barely made a dent in the funds left
over from Ari’s fortune, which had all been transferred to the Vertex account.

Charles, Ari’s accountant and trusted personal assistant assured Sam that Ari’s iron clad Will left the entire fortune to
Sam to do with as he pleased.

Sam set up a massive endowment fund for scholarships in the greatest Universities around the world, ensuring tens of
thousands of brilliant young minds around the planet would receive the finest scientific educations regardless of their
financial conditions or ethnic backgrounds.

Clem was named as the Executive Director of the endowment fund, and spent the rest of his career traveling the world
over meeting and interviewing the candidates for Ari’s never ending scholarships.

The Vertex Building, rather then being sold, was turned into the

Emily Fletcher Memorial Children’s Hospital
And Research Institute

which included the finest state of the art burn center in the world, and for which no patient was ever charged a dime.
Chuck Miller flew care flights for the Hospital until he died 14 years later. Dr. Alexandra Johansen went back to Harvard
Med School where she obtained her Medical doctorate in record time and became the Chief of Staff, where her brilliant
intellect no long cared about test tubes and equations but was more interested in caring for children that needed her
compassion so desperately.

Sam and Stella volunteered at the Hospital daily and put in countless hours every month, never seeming to tire of their
work, or of being together. A.J. and Will both served on the Board of Directors.

The entire G2 staff stayed on and the Astrophysics Reasearch Institute eventually turned their focus to pure medical
reasearch, but was always still referred to as A.R.I., the brilliant scientists very proud to always mention they worked for
‘ARI’.

On the 15th floor an old Univac mainframe computer always remained, with a bull’s-eye painted on the front cabinet,
and a photo of an old Polish gentlemen above it. Over the years fewer and fewer people could remember why it was
there, but it was never moved.

109

The Medal of Honor and the manuscript were buried with Ari. The Chamber of the Apokálypsis was sealed off and
only Sam and Clem ever had access to it again. Sam would sometimes go there to meditate, although on one occasion
Stella went to find him there and heard him talking to someone for quite some time. She waited and did not interrupt,
however when Sam came out he was alone.
The world did change, proof of the afterlife made an immeasurable difference in how people lived their lives and treated
each other from that fatefull day on … and December 7th was never again referred to as ‘a Date which will live in infamy
forever’.
d.k. Feb. 21, 2012

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Appendix:

As a writer I did not have any permission or authorization to include Major Bernard Fisher as a character in this fictional
work. As an American and a veteran, maybe I did, we all have the right to determine who our heroes are. Should this work
every be published this matter will be addressed.
Here is his true story:
Bernard Francis "Bernie" Fisher (born January 11, 1927) is a retired United States Air Force officer and a recipient of the
U.S. military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor. He was the first living Air Force recipient of the medal (all previous
awards to USAF personnel had been posthumous), and the first USAF member to receive the medal in the Vietnam War.

On March 10, 1966, he led a two-ship element of Skyraiders to the A Shau Valley to support troops in contact with the enemy.
Six "Spads" [1] were striking numerous emplacements when the A-1 piloted by Major D. W. "Jump" Myers was hit and forced
to crash-land on the airstrip of a CIDG-Special Forces camp [2]. Myers bellied in on the 2,500-foot runway and took cover
behind an embankment on the edge of the strip while Fisher directed the rescue effort. Since the closest helicopter was 30
minutes away and the enemy was only 200 yards (180 m) from Myers, Fisher quickly decided to land his two-seat A-1E on the
strip and pick up his friend. Under the cover provided by the other A-1s, he landed in the valley, taxied to Myer's position, and
loaded the downed airman into the empty seat. Dodging shell holes and debris on the steel-planked runway, Fisher took off
safely despite many hits on his aircraft by small-arms fire.
The rescue at A Shau was similar to an event that occurred on August 4, 1944 during World War II. On that date, Captain
Richard "Dick" Willsie's P-38 was damaged by flak near Ploieşti, Romania. After both engines failed, Willsie crash-landed but
was rescued from capture when Flight Officer Dick Andrews landed his P-38 on the field, squeezed Willsie into the cockpit,
and flew back to base. By remarkable coincidence, both Willsie and Andrews were also involved in the A Shau rescue. Willsie
was the commanding officer of the 602nd Air Commando Squadron to which Myers was assigned, and Andrews flew top
cover during the entire rescue.
Fisher had earned a Silver Star the day before while flying support for the same battle.
Major Fisher returned to the United States, and, on January 19, 1967, was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Lyndon B.
Johnson.
__________________________.
[1] Douglas A-1 Skyraider attack aircraft flown in the Vietnam war, nicknamed “Spads” after a French WW-1 fighter.
[2] Civilian Irregular Defense Group which was devised by the CIA to develop South Vietnamese irregular military units from minority
populations, for which Special Forces teams did the majority of the training.

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Author’s notes:

If you got this far then maybe you found the story worth reading. I have never written anything before, so I was hoping the
story would carry the reader’s interest more then my writing skills.

I termed this a ‘Screenplay’, which I now realize it is not, because I did not think it would be long enough to qualify as a
novel, and I despise all those goofy words for little novels … novella or whatever. However weighing in at 50,282 words it
does easily exceed the 40,000 word minimum to be considered a novel, so I guess that’s what it is.

Most of the computer science information is factual, much of the rest is at least plausible.

Almost all of the historical and military information is factual, I tried to do my research diligently, and I lived through the
time period of the story, going through a lot of what the characters did in many ways.

Some of the science is factual, Clem’s interest in neuroimaging, Positron emission tomography and Single photon emission
computed tomography are all actual scientific fields that are quite close to the science used in the story, and yeah… that’s really
what toothpaste is made of, whatever he called it.

Major Bernard Fisher’s role in the story was ficticious but it is with great respect and honor to his Valor that I singled him out
as the only actual living person in the story, and for me it would be imperative that you please read the true story of his
heroism presented in the Appendix.

The timeline should hold up pretty well if scrutinized, most of the systems described existed at the times they are featured in
the plot, even the curious twist about the Pearl Harbor Time Zone in 1941 is absolutely factual, and I found it very interesting
that it played a key role in the story.

The most fun for me was in creating the characters, and I absolutely had to visualize an actor or someone I know personally
for each role in order to picture their part in the story. Although either Sean Connery or Anthony Hopkins would have been
excellent for Ari, I actually pictured Anthony Quinn as I was writing every line Ari spoke. For me Anthony Quinn was one of
my favorite actors ever, in particular in Zorba the Greek, but more importantly he always seemed larger then life, and his
Greek backround and imposing stature are just the exact character Ari was. If you are observant you will see it is his photo in
the front page news image of the New York Times on 12/7/1991 on page 68.

Mr. Kolanowski was actually modeled on a gardener at my Uncle’s villa in France. His name was Rizotto, I knew him in the
late 50’s and early 60’s when I was a young boy, although he was Italian and French rather then Polish. It was his appearance
and character that was in my mind when I envisioned Kolanowski. His role in the story was my favorite part. After several
hours of searching random photos on geneology websites I came up with the portrait used in this story, which was exactly as I
pictured him.

For me Harrison Ford would be perfect as Sam, Will Smith as Will [of course], and Sam Sheppard the most perfect match in
the entire story as Chuck Miller.

Clem seemed very real to me, and while writing his parts I pictured David McCallum, not as he was in The Man from
U.N.C.L.E. as Illya Kuryaken but the role he plays now on NCIS as the Medical Examiner. Clem was also a lot of fun to have
in the story, his scene at the General Meeting where he takes the floor from Sam is also one of my favorites.

The welder mentioned is a very good friend of mine to this day, ‘Nice’ is still his favorite word.

The 5th grade Honor Roll student was also real, and she is the most important person in my life, my daughter who is now
almost 15.

The description of stuff in the Mediterranean with the phosphorescent glow in the water is true, I experienced that myself in
1971 off the island of Igalini, in Crete. Not sure if it’s actually seaweed, might be some kind of plankton, close enough.

If the quality of my writing is a 7 but the realism of the characters is a 9 then I am very satisfied, that’s the way it felt to me all
along.

Kolanowski’s scenes are my favorites, his admiration and loyalty for Sam, his pride in his father, his willingness to kill
someone with no questions asked ‘even though I don’t want to, I will do it for you Mr. Sam’ and his total excitement over the
$10 [as he thought] stock certificate made him seem so real. The Freedom Fighter scene was pretty moving for me also.

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A few individual lines here and there stand out for me, when Will get’s Sam going over the Navy ‘Commander’ scene,
“ Will grinned with satisfaction at having riled up the tiger” from the first page of Chapter 7. And I got tears in my eyes when
I wrote the scene about Chuck Miller asking Sam if he could bring the little girl Emily back from Memphis, not sure if anyone
else did, when Sam looks up and sees Chuck crying…. that certainly worked for me anyway.

I liked the concept of ‘a nudge from God’, and “The vision had become Reality, and Reality had become the vision.” is
the best line in the whole thing.

If there is any real value in the story, that particular scene, the background about the fictitious Chuck Miller’s service in
Vietnam as well as Sam’s and the real story of M.O.H. recipient Major Fisher, maybe there is a message in there somewhere.
If you were ever trained to kill, as I was when I was 19, much later in your life you may find yourself wondering why they
never untrained us afterward. It’s an awful thing to dehumanize someone and then leave them with no idea how to deal with
it. Pay close attention if you will to the relationship between Sam and Chuck Miller. Chuck saves Sam’s life, and yet he
winds up feeling it was really Sam who later saved his life. Atoning for the Napalm destruction and death he had unleashed,
Chuck volunteers for three tours as a MedeVac helicopter pilot, which is still not enough to clear his conscience. Only Sam’s
help in turning him back into a caring human being with his Mercy flights as a civilian provides enough meaning and focus to
return his life to something he can accept. Emily is of course the culmination of that part of the story, and I did not dwell on
the parallels in Chuck’s life, because I thought it was obvious from the MedeVac flights in Vietnam to the one in Memphis,
his purpose in life came full circle and yet stayed the same. Chuck was a great man in this story, admirable in my opinion.

I did have a ‘vision’ the night before I wrote the final chapter, where I saw Michelangelo’s painting ‘The Creation of Adam’ as
the image of Ari’s last living moment, and it was then, not the next day when I wrote Chapter 14 that the words came to me to
describe that moment, ‘The vision had become Reality, and Reality had become the vision.’ That line described what I
saw in that scene perfectly, and those words seemed to capture the moment for me.

Clem’s theories may have gotten a little too complex at times, but the underlying principal of ‘non-coincidental opposites’
does make sense, and I thought for the most part he proved his theories were based on sound reasoning.

His description of ‘a nudge from God’ as the basis for all scientific clues was a great phrase to describe how scientists
somehow find inspiration when all seems lost. Thanks to Nicole, Dr. Johansen’s role is now a woman, still tall and blonde.

The H-2 disease and Latin name for it was something my daughter Nicole and I came up with together, and I also thought the
Latin phrase in the manuscript seemed very authentic. Not sure if the moment with the sunrise and the torch was as moving as
I hoped it would be, but the idea was a good one. I can just picture that, and when I found the image for the Air Force [each
branch of the Armed Forces actually has a slightly different M.O.H.] Medal of Honor with Lady Liberty and her face glowing
as if illuminated by that single ray from the Sun, I did get an uncanny feeling, that link in the story was not planned.

Other random thoughts, in case you didn’t notice, I love the Statue of Liberty and I love the Brooklyn Bridge, my two
favorite landmarks in New York. Like Sam, I knew all those facts about the bridge by heart.

I was on a long road trip about 10 years ago to Toronto, Ontario, driving alone on the 450 mile trip home at night in an old
black 928 Porsche. I started picturing this story, drove all night and by morning the story had unfolded in my mind in great
detail.

About three years later on another long road trip this time with my daughter, just the two of us, I believe we were headed for
Maryland, I began to tell her the story and I recall it took at least three hours while driving, although the story had nowhere
near the level of detail the written version has. When the story finished she was in tears, for a while actually, and for years
urged me to write it down, which I finally did thanks to her.

If my great respect for those who have served in our Military came through and was felt throughout the story then I am very
pleased with that, and this work can also be dedicated to All who Served.

If you have this story because I asked you to read it and would like to share it with someone else that is fine, just please let me
know first.

Thank you for reading this story, and for letting me share it with you.

Danny email: [email protected]

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