"Team Three. Happy to hear your voices. Over."

"Let me be the first to say, welcome to space," Maddox said. "I've said everything on the ground that I needed to say. Everyone knows the monumental job we have ahead of us but this is the best group of people to accomplish what might seem impossible. We know what we're doing and we know what needs to be done.

"As I explained yesterday, we will have these brief conferences on a daily basis, even if just for progress reports. That's it, ladies and gentlemen. We have the rest of the day to get comfortable in our new homes before Team One starts the first shift in the morning. Get plenty of rest, tomorrow is another big day."

CHAPTER NINE.

EARLY MORNING OF MAY 18, 2015.

The pounding footsteps of multiple men resonated throughout the hollow metal hallway. The sound was so loud that Tyler Ainsworth could hear it even though he was in his room and his door was closed. In fact, the hardest part for Tyler to discern in his semi-conscious state was whether the footsteps were real or part of his dream.

After not sleeping for nearly a day while studying his company's financial numbers, Tyler had been taken by the military and held captive for nearly 24 hours more. By the time he returned to the construction site and his seacraft, the owner of Ainsworth Industries was exhausted. All he'd wanted was sleep but his mental endurance was further drained after being bombarded with questions by his overly inquisitive assistant and the overly paranoid Huffington.

Once he dealt with each man, Tyler collapsed on his bed and fell asleep quicker than he ever had in his life.

His sleep had been dreamless for the first few hours, his mind too tired to do any thinking, even unconsciously. But after those few hours, Tyler's rest had been interrupted by Marc, who he'd warned not to disrupt him for any reason. Before Tyler had the chance to chastise his assistant, Marc dropped another bombshell on him.

"Mr. Ainsworth, I'm sorry to wake you. But you have to turn on the TV and see what's happening."

Although television would be irrelevant once the seacraft was used to avert Comet Clement, Tyler still had a small set in his room for the meantime. When he turned it on, he saw video footage of space shuttles disappearing into the sky.

"Speculation is that construction on the space station has begun," Marc explained to his groggy boss. "There's footage of shuttles lifting off at three different launch sites around the country. Edwards Air Force Base, Cape Canaveral and somewhere else I can't remember. There's no telling if other shuttles launched without the media even knowing."

"How is the President explaining this?" Tyler asked, the cobwebs in his mind swept away by shock.

"He's nowhere to be found," Marc said. "And neither is Secretary of Defense James Armour. He used to be the head of NASA, you know. He can't be found either."

"I know who Armour is," Tyler snapped, pondering the implications of the timely disappearance of these two powerful men.

So Marshall and Armour are nowhere to be found, Tyler thought, realizing that the two 'Inner Circle' members must be together somewhere. The White House Chief of Staff must be with them as well.

"What about Peter Mansfield?" Tyler asked. "Any word from the media on his whereabouts?"

"Funny you should mention him," Marc responded. "He's the only person talking at the White House." This news came as a slight surprise to Tyler, who figured the three would be together.

Someone has to run interference with the media. Someone has to be available to avoid giving the media truthful answers.

"About ten minutes ago, he informed the press that the appearance of the shuttles is connected to the space station. He wouldn't commit to anything more specific than that," Marc said.

"And what exactly did he say about Marshall?" Tyler asked.

"He only said the President is not in Washington, D.C. and that making his location known to the public could threaten his security. All he'd say was that Marshall is currently meeting with people about the space station and he'll be addressing the media tomorrow."

Once the shock of the shuttles' appearance wore off and Tyler realized that no significant facts were being released, he found himself succumbing to fatigue again. He sent Marc away but not before explaining the dire consequences to Marc's career if he interrupted his sleep again.

The footsteps grew louder until they suddenly stopped. When there was a knock at his door, Tyler emerged from his slumber and realized his mind had not been playing tricks on him.

Didn't the footsteps sound like more than one person?

Tyler immediately worried that Admiral Matthews and his goons returned to hassle him some more. Before he had time to ponder the reason for the military's second visit, Tyler heard his door creak open. He sat up in his bed and watched Marc enter the room.

From the pale, shocked expression Tyler saw on his assistant's face, he knew something was wrong. And that something had to be Admiral Matthews.

"What the hell do they want now?" his tired voice groaned. Tyler did not look forward to being taken again. "And why the hell did you let them in the craft? Or even on the construction site for that matter? Don't you learn?"

Though Tyler did not think it possible, his assistant suddenly appeared more surprised that his boss knew what was happening.

"How did you know they were here, Mr. Ainsworth?"

"It doesn't take a genius to figure out you weren't alone. And you knew better than to interrupt me again so somebody important has to be with you," Tyler said. "But that's still no excuse. In fact, they shouldn't have been admitted here in the first place, which brings us back to my previous question. Why did you allow them on site?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Ainsworth. There was nothing I could do to stop them. They landed their helicopter inside the gates of the complex," Marc explained.

"Helicopter?" Tyler thought, wondering what happened to the Humvee. "They must be serious, huh?"

"Yes, sir," Marc said. "I don't think they would've come for something insignificant."

"Okay, let them in so I can get this over with," Tyler said.

Marc walked out of the room and returned a moment later. Tyler was busy putting on his shoes when two men followed his assistant into the room. Tyler continued tying his shoes, even when he noticed from his peripheral view that the admiral had one fewer man this time and they both wore suits instead of normal military garb.

"Back so soon?" Tyler asked.

When one of the men answered, his voice sounded very familiar. Tyler knew it didn't belong to one of his three earlier guests.

"Strange, I don't remember being here in the first place," a famous voice said.

Now was Tyler's turn to be shocked. Standing in front of him was President George Marshall and Secretary of Defense James Armour, two of the most important men in the world. Even more importantly to Tyler, these were two of three members of the 'Inner Circle.' With a single glance at the two men now before him, any doubt or question that Tyler might've had about the existence of Comet Clement was completely wiped away.

Once the initial shock of seeing Marshall and Armour abated, Tyler felt surprisingly cool and collected. He was armed with the knowledge that these two men had come all the way to upstate Washington just to speak with him, even though the rest of the country was in search of answers about the shuttle launches.

"Marc, give us some privacy," Tyler ordered.

Tyler's assistant had gawked at the President the entire time, hardly able to believe he was so close to the most powerful leader in the world. His facial expression turned to extreme disappointment at being ordered to leave yet he knew better than to argue with his boss.

"Yes, sir," Marc said, heading for the door.

Before he closed the door behind him, Tyler had one last demand of his assistant.

"And Marc, please leave the seacraft. I don't think now would be an appropriate moment for you to eavesdrop by the door."

When Marc's footsteps faded down the hallway, Tyler turned to his two special guests.

"The comet must be an even bigger secret than I thought if you two came all the way here," he said confidently. "At least I have total confirmation now that it really does exist."

"If I had known you were having doubts, I might've handled this visit differently," President Marshall admitted. He walked across the room and sat down in the leather chair behind Tyler's desk. "But now that you know for sure, I want to know how you found out about Comet Clement?"

President Marshall always appeared docile and friendly on television. But he pierced Tyler's soul with his steely gaze. When Tyler turned to James Armour, he did not see the same James Armour from the space station selection committee. In fact, Armour appeared even angrier than the President.

Although the two men would not be happy with his response, there was no way Tyler could compromise his source of information. Tyler did not know exactly how this was going to play out but something told him not to cave, that saying too much could prove detrimental to the completion of his seacraft. The source of his comet information was the only leverage he had and he did not intend to give that up.

"I'm sorry, Mr. President. I cannot divulge my source at this time," Tyler said, trying to keep his cool in the increasingly uncomfortable confrontation. "But if you don't mind, I would love to know how you found out about my craft."

"It wasn't difficult," Armour said. For the first time, Tyler noticed Armour clutching a briefcase. "Hiding the existence of a structure as large as this one would be nearly impossible."

"I understand," Tyler said. "Like hiding the launch of three space shuttles would be hard to hide."

The President ignored Tyler, not wanting to divert from the conversation at hand.

"I know you've been trying to get investors," Marshall said. "Just because you were trying to go abroad to find them doesn't mean they would keep silent about what you were trying to sell."

"I assure you, Mr. President. Maintaining total secrecy was not my intention," Tyler lied. "With the omnipresence in the news of your space station, it's doubtful that my small project would matter to most people. After all, it pales in comparison to what you're trying to accomplish."

"Your small project?" Armour said. "In only a few years, you went through all of your company's money putting this small project together. Your father was too great a businessman to ever approve such a risky venture."

Admiral Matthews had made similar comparisons between Tyler and his father when he tried extracting information. Tyler knew it was only a ploy to provoke him but could not contain his anger at the mention of Tyler Senior.

"My father had no vision," he snapped. "Besides, I don't know why the two of you would bring up the idea of money being important. We all know damn well that the notion of good business sense will mean nothing in a few short years."

"Just because you know about Comet Clement doesn't necessarily mean you know as much of the situation as you think," Armour said.

The former astronaut smirked for the first time, immediately making Tyler nervous. Tyler turned to the President.

"Did you know that we had a plan to deflect the comet off its path?" Marshall asked.

It was time for Tyler to smirk.

They still make the mistake of underestimating me.

"You must be talking about Neil Peterson," Tyler said, noting a slight look of surprise on Marshall's face. "I know all about him and his mission to push the comet off course by using a nuclear weapon."

"But do you know how that mission ended?" Armour asked.

"Of course I do," Tyler answered. "The entire world knows what happened to that mission, at least sort of. The story of the probe exploding after entering space was all over the news."

President Marshall chuckled.

"Don't believe everything you see on TV," he said.

"What do you mean? Are you saying the probe didn't explode?" Tyler asked.

President Marshall nodded.

"And you expect me to actually believe that?" Tyler asked.

"It would be silly of me to fly all the way across the country, while the media is trying to hunt me down I should add, just so I could come here and lie to you," Marshall said.

Tyler stared at the President, trying to find any indication of weakness or sign that he was telling anything but the entire truth. He found none.

"Still don't believe me?" Marshall asked, sensing the skepticism. "Convince him, James."

The Secretary of Defense immediately began asking Tyler questions.

"How were we going to push the comet off course?" Armour asked.

"By using a nuke," Tyler answered.

"So if a nuke was on board and the probe blew up, don't you think the explosion would've resulted in a pretty big bang?"

"Yes."

"Big enough for some photos to capture it, some telescopic images perhaps? Do you remember seeing such photos?"

Tyler remembered the extensive media coverage of the probe's destruction-it had happened just after he was released from Mimosa Grove-but could not recall a single image of the explosion.

"No, I don't remember any pictures," Tyler admitted.

He was already convinced that Marshall was telling the truth but this did not stop Armour from trying to convince him.

"That's because there were no pictures of it," Armour said. "And if a nuclear weapon exploded just beyond the Earth's atmosphere, don't you think consequences of such an explosion would have drifted to the surface?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

"There would have been, believe me. A nuke detonating just above the atmosphere would be devastating once the radiation drifted down," Armour explained. "That sort of poisoning would not just disintegrate. Do you remember reading about any mysterious radiation poisoning after the probe's supposed destruction?"

"No, I don't," Tyler said, becoming angry that Armour was explaining this to him like he was an idiot. Truth was, Tyler began to feel like an idiot for never realizing any of this.

"And don't you think it's coincidental that NASA was shut down so soon after the accident?" Armour asked. "After any major space incident like that, NASA investigations normally take months to complete. If we hadn't pulled the plug on the agency, there would've been the chance of discovering the probe intact. Don't you think?"

Tyler felt like his father was lecturing him again, as Armour was apparently taking great pleasure in making him feel like a fool. It was time for Tyler to put an end to this lecture.

"Did I just tank my entire company for no good reason?"

President Marshall and James Armour looked at each other. After a long pause, the President spoke again.

"No," Marshall said simply. "As a matter of fact, Neil Peterson's mission did not succeed."