“You’d think so.” Amber frowned. “But you’d be surprised how much pushback there is in academia over that kind of research.”
Peyton chuckled a little and shrugged. “I find it funny that in a world where we have to seriously worry about things like necromancers, people find the idea of a few little green men so out there. I mean, to me at least, discovering magic seems like a bigger deal than finding other guys who invented tools and nukes.”
“I know.” Amber shook her head and rolled her eyes. “That’s the problem. Paradigms lock too easily. Everyone wants to pretend like they know the answers so they can look smart.” She sighed. “Anyway, lot of people in the department doing a lot of interesting research, and maybe I shouldn’t be telling you this, but I think they’re closer to being able to prove some of this stuff than people think.” She patted the edge of the table. “Which is why we’re moving on to some of these more direct projects. If we know aliens are here, that makes contacting them either here or elsewhere just a matter of applied engineering, right?”
Peyton nodded slowly, keeping his breathing steady. He’d need to tell Shay all this later. When they’d discussed the spacecraft research that might link to vimanas she’d seemed more impressed than annoyed, but if the department were looking seriously into aliens, that might mean they’d end up stumbling onto the truth somehow about Brownstone.
The hacker didn’t want to have to explain to his sometimes very angry, always gun-toting boss how his girlfriend had helped, even indirectly, bring down the government on her boyfriend.
Still, he wasn’t sure if it’d actually be a problem. The general projects described seemed more about phoning ET at home, but there was still that risk.
Shit. Is this the end of my relationship? I lose out on my relationship because of her relationship? Better put on my background researcher hat. If I get some information Shay can use it’ll be less of an issue, or we can do an even better job of protecting Brownstone.
Peyton cleared his throat. “I’m a nerd boy. I’d love to see some of this alien research. You know really dig into the papers and the data.”
Amber sighed and looked away. “I really shouldn’t have mentioned it. I’ve already told you too much, really. Look, I’d love to, and I’m sure eventually they’ll publish it, but right now you don’t have the clearance to look at the data or the initial reports.”
"What do you mean, clearance? It’s scientific research, not CIA spy plans.”
“Most of our funding is from the government.”
Peyton shrugged. “And how is that different from most research? Half the politicians complain about all the tax dollars being spent on research about stuff they don’t understand. I wouldn’t be surprised if the next election, someone’s complaining about spending taxpayer dollars on looking for aliens.”
Amber shook her head. “It’s not run-of-the-mill NSF funding or anything like that. Lots of special DOE and DOD money. It’s annoying. Lots of restrictions. No foreign nationals, which means no Oricerans or people who are too wrapped up in Oriceran stuff, which excludes a large chunk of the magic-using population. You know how hard it is to do magic-adjacent research with those kinds of limitations?”
Peyton stared down at the equipment covering the table, his stomach tightening and a chill running down his spine. A government project that involved potential contact with extraterrestrials and had a high security clearance.
The temptation to poke around in the university systems to look for financial information rose, but he quickly quashed it.
It has to be Project Nephilim or Project Ragnarok funding. Probably. But I don’t want to poke around and get them looking at Amber in a bad way. Given the kind of bullshit Durand was pulling, who knows what they might do to her if they got suspicious?
Just wonder why they want to chat with aliens but don’t want anyone else to know. Seems mighty paranoid. Preparing to nuke someone we haven’t even talked to yet? Even if they are here, maybe they are just working part-time at In-N-Out.
Peyton forced a smile onto his face. “Oh, well, we all have secrets.”
Peyton blinked as he stared at Shay. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“You don’t care?”
Shay shrugged. “No, I don’t. Just don’t tell her what we know and we’ll be fine. Why did you think I’d care?”
“I don’t know. I thought you’d be worried about Brownstone.”
She snorted. “She’s not the one who might go after Brownstone. If anything, she might be useful later on. Time to go old-school spy. Seduce the target if necessary. Screw your way to useful information.”
Peyton groaned. “Do you honestly not care, or is this just a thing where you think you can use her later?”
“Both.” Shay shrugged. “Anyway, no, I don’t give a shit if you keep getting sweaty in the sheets with the nerd girl. If it becomes a problem, we’ll handle it.”
Peyton nodded slowly, still surprised. He didn’t have to dump his girlfriend. If anything, Shay was telling him to double down on their relationship.
She rolled her eyes. “And wipe that grin off your face. We’ve got more important shit to talk about than your girlfriend.”
“Like what?”
“Weber’s files.”
A rooster crowed loudly from Peyton’s computer.
No, no, no. Come on, Randy.
He frowned and spun toward the computer. His fingers flew across the keyboard, and then his jaw dropped.
Shay stepped into the office with a frown. “What’s wrong?”
“Randy…” Peyton shook his head. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“What about your asshole brother?”
Peyton swallowed. “He’s dead.”
Shay arched a brow. “He’s dead?” Peyton nodded. “That’s convenient.”
“Convenient? That’s my brother you’re talking about!”
She rolled her eyes. “Your brother who tried to have you killed. Your brother who kept after you even after we tried to Scrooge him. We had to screw up his finances to get him to stop because he was such a greedy fuck. So, yeah, I’m not mourning the loss of Randy
