* * *
Edwards did not look directly at Clifford as he spoke, but kept his eyes fixed on the wine glass in his hand while he absently swirled the contents round and round inside.
“One of the subjects that I wanted to raise with you, Dr. Clifford, was the matter of . . . ah . . . the technical paper of yours that we discussed some time ago . . . the one dealing with rotations in k-space and so on.”
“I mentioned it to Walter a day or two ago,” Clifford replied, then added pointedly: “He said the matter was closed and that was that.” Clifford had learned enough from Aub to guess that a sudden change of attitude was being hinted at, although at that stage he had no clues as to the form the change might take. He made the comment to angle the impending conversation from his perspective of the situation—his “official” perspective anyway.
“Yes, I know.” Edwards frowned at his glass for a second. “But at that time Walter was not fully up to date on the latest discussions I’ve been having with Washington.”
“I was only handing down the policy I’d been given up to then,” Massey added, taking his lead dutifully. “But it seems like the prof’s been putting up a good fight for you behind the scenes after all.”
Clifford ignored the sycophancy and asked simply:
“So?”
A demonstration of candor seemed called for. Placing his hands palms-down on the table, Edwards looked up at Clifford. “I admit that our reactions to your request were somewhat, shall we say, negative . . . too much so. I’ve had second thoughts on the subject since and have mentioned it . . . confidentially, you understand . . . to one or two of my acquaintances at the Bureau.” He paused, waiting for an appropriate response, but Clifford continued to sip his drink and said nothing. “Opinions there are that, as you said, the subject is of academic interest and should therefore be pursued further, but that it has no immediate military or security significance. In other words, they are favorably disposed toward the idea of publication . . . in order to attract the attention of other scientific bodies, as you asked.” He sat back in his chair and regarded Clifford expectantly.
Clifford set his glass down slowly on the table and did not answer at once. From the things that Aub had already told him, he was pretty certain that the matter had been raised in Washington in ways that represented far more than confidential words with one or two acquaintances. The subject was no doubt causing quite a stir in high places, but Edwards was not saying so. Why? Several major scientific institutions were becoming actively involved at a time when a world crisis was approaching fast. That situation could never have come about if the military was not interested—very interested. And yet Edwards was declining to admit this side of the issue and was attempting instead to push the academic implications as an excuse for reversing his earlier decision and taking things further. Why?
A waitress appeared at the table to clear the main-course dishes. They sat in silence until she had finished and departed.
“That’s fine then,” Clifford said. “I’ve already signed the request. All you have to do is get on with it.”
“Well, it’s not quite that simple,” Edwards answered. Clifford sighed. Nothing was ever simple. “Some of the statements that you make are rather provocative, to say the least, and there are parts that, as I’m sure you would agree, do contain some still somewhat speculative assertions. What I’d like you to do is spend some time going over those areas more thoroughly and producing more in the way of substantiating evidence. Also, there are a few mathematical points that I think ought to be expounded more clearly. If you could manage that, I think we’d see a clear way through to getting the paper published.”
“It wouldn’t look good for Washington to bounce it back for the same reasons,” Massey supplied. “Much better if we got it absolutely clean here first.”
“In fact, I’m now prepared to authorize you full access to whatever facilities you need at ACRE to get on with it,” Edwards added. “Also, we can assign somebody else to take over the projects that you’re running . . . to give you more of a free hand. Right, Walt?”