Love Story: In The Web of Life Ken Renshaw (the best novels to read TXT) 📖

and Stevens. Temporarily, I amassigned to another case that will be over in about ..."

Sam interrupted. "What kind of case is moreimportant than ChralMed's?

"None! This is a prior commitment. The trialwill be over in about a month."

Sam inserted with an angry voice, "What kind oftrial is over in a month?"

It is a liability caseinvolving...."

Sam put his hands palm down on the table. "Youare not working on ChralMed's case because you are on someslip and fallliability case?"

"It involves a child's death and a former CIApsychic spy."

Sam stood erect, as if called toattention.

"Well, then, more power to you. Go after thisso-called psychic. I am a member of a skeptics' organizationdedicated to exposing fraud by all claimed psychic practitioners.There has not been one instance where could not expose trickery orfaulty data analysis of any claimed demonstration. Get thebastards. They're the scourges of our age"

Bob was looking chagrined. His eyes weresaying, 'Help me out here.'

Sam's face got redder and his eyes glared. Hespoke in a louder voice, "All these claims about ESP are a bunch ofcrap. ESP is against all laws of physics and reason." He wasshouting.

"It's a good thing we have skeptical scientistsdedicated to disproving all bullshit claims of ESP and otherparanormal activities."

I could tell he was starting on an even longertirade. I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket, pretended to reada text message, and said, "Pleased to meet you Sam. I am afraid Ihave to excuse myself for another meeting."

As I left, Sam continued his rant at Bob. Ithought to myself, "He's your grizzly bear. You get the collar onhim."

****

I had previously decided to get a secondopinion of Candice's work from someone in the scientific community.I contact Dr. Peter Gallagher, an elderly physicist at UCLA who, inthe process of retiring, had taken on the role of 'expert witness'in legal cases. He had been a good witness in one of my patentcases. I wanted to sit down with him and see what he thought aboutCandice's work. We had arranged to meet at his office at UCLA.Peter arranged for guest parking for me and emailed me a map ofcampus.

UCLA has been in a period of great expansion inthe past decades. Big, boxy industrial looking buildings with nounique features were side-by side in the new area. It appeared thatUCLA had decided not to waste money on architects when they builtthe new additions. As I drove through, I thought how dismal anisolated researcher must be, working on a small grant, in a warrenof offices in nondescript buildings. Strangely, Google and Applehave centers that are like campuses, while UCLA has researchcenters that look like high-rise industrial parks.

Peter's office was in Sihler Hall, one of theolder buildings in the original part of campus, looking as thoughit had been built in the nineteen thirties– a red brick exterior,white cement trim, only three stories tall, situated overlooking anopen space with lawns and trees. I walked up to the third floor toPeter's office. His small office, looking out on the green space,crammed with books, was somehow very tidy and organized.

Peter was a jolly–looking gray-haired man,balding, paunchy, wearing a worn sport coat and a sport shirt witha bolo tie.

"Good to see you again, Dave. Sit down. Anytrouble getting parked?"

"No, I'd forgotten how beautiful it is in thispart of campus."

"I'm lucky, I guess on being on a facultycommittee that requires me to be up here. One of my friends callsthe new part of campus as 'E2L-ville' since, for many people downthere, English is a second language. 'Big Research DollarGranteese' is the native language. They need to build and fillthose buildings as fast as they can. Big science means big researchbucks, which means prestigiouspositions, which means prestigious university.

"Up here, we still deal with something callededucation.

"But, you didn't come out here to talk abouthow it was in the old days. I read Dr. Montgomery's papers and I amquite impressed. I had a couple of my peers also look at them.Nobody could find any scientific flaws! But, the eight-spaceparadigm is the kind of thing that would be hard to get accepted.Much of that big science juggernaut on the south campus would haveto reorient its direction. Many people in many prestigiouspositions would have to significantly alter their programs. Theywould have to add crow to the south campus cafeteria menus becausemany people would need to eat it.

"The first law of science is:you never can convince someone about somethingnew if it will cost them money, from grants or departmentbudgets.

"The second law is: academia never accepts new ideas until the old onesretire.

"Dr. Montgomery's ideas are perfectly sound. Itwill probably take a generation or more for anything like that toget academic acceptance. However, I'll be glad to testify to herpaper's soundness for you."

"Good!" I replied.

Peter looking into the distance added, "Rightafter I graduated, I had to serve my ROTC commitment. It was towardthe end of the war in Vietnam. I was assigned to a menial job in anaircraft carrier.

"A Carrier Task Force is an amazing thing tosee in action. The carrier carrying the Flag officer is at thecenter. Around that are screens of destroyers, and sometimesmissile frigates, tankers carrying fuel oil, supply ships, etc.Tens of thousands of men going the same direction.

"If the man on the bridge with the stars on hisshoulders says, 'change the course by thirty degrees,' slowly butsurely, all those ships change to the new direction, withoutaltering the formation. It is awesome!

"Changing the scientific direction of thosepeople in the block buildings in the south campus would be muchmore difficult!"

"Maybe our trial will add some stars toshoulders of those who might like to try." I replied.

"It could change the practice of medicine byhaving doctors consider symptoms and maladies that might originatefrom other space times!"

Peter and I discussed the case and hissuggestions on how to approach it for a while, and then Ileft.

****

It took an hour to get to Candice's house inAltadena, built on the rolling hills on the border of where theland gives way to steep brush–covered