In our last episode, Candace Dare and Emily Rogers (The Green Girl) with Emily’s parents arrive at MIT. They are there to meet with the Admissions Board in hopes of attending. Emily wanted to demonstrate her “special abilities: and had Candace Dare shoot her.
The admissions board stared in horror at the demonstration. The board erupted as one.
“How dare you…” the Dean tried to say.
“Horace, wait!” the old curmudgeon James interrupted.
“James, please, I know you are incensed, but…” the Dean tried to speak.
“No, I am not incensed, but I am intrigued.”
“What are you saying?”
“Give me a moment, Horace.” James turned to Emily.
“Miss Rogers, how did this happen?”
Candace Dare interrupted. “I’m sorry, Professor, the exact nature of Miss Rogers’ condition cannot be disclosed. Suffice it to say, this was caused by an accident.”
“Colonel Dare, I appreciate the sensitivity of the military’s errors. But if we are to admit a victim of the army’s callousness, we would like to know any other foreseeable problems.”
Dare remained silent to the old professor’s accusations.
The Professor turned again to Emily. He smiled. “Miss Rogers, I should no want you to be uncomfortable, but is there ant way I could examine the impact point?”
Emily did not ask Dare for permission. She modestly pulled her blouse out of her skirt. The professor examined the spot.
Her skin tone was a darker green at the impact point, with a spidery image around the impact point.
“Fascinating,” the old man whispered. He paused.
He looked thoughtful. “Rogers, Rogers, is this the work of Andrew Rogers?”
“Yes, he’s my uncle,” Emily said before Dare could stop her.
The professor turned to Colonel Dare. “How much testing did you do?”
Dare hesitated before answering. “We sent her to Aberdeen.”
The Professor snorted. “You sent her to Aberdeen Proving Grounds? She is a young woman, not a weapons system. Typical bureaucratic inefficiency!”
Before Dare could answer, the old professor turned to Horace. “We will take her, but only on two conditions.”
“And they are?” Horace asked.
“First, we will test her.”
“Professor, she has been tested,” Dare said.
“She has been tested as a weapon, not as an extraordinary achievement in physics.”
“Physics?” Horace scoffed. “Don’t mean biomedical sciences, Professor?”
“That’s what I first thought, Horace. Did you not see the impact point? Those spider webs designs. Her body built some structure to absorb the impact. It did so in less than a hundredth of a second. A force that could deflect such a powerful force can only be met with physical sciences.”
“You would share these findings with the Army?” Dare asked.
“I would not,” the old professor snapped. “Which brings me to my second condition.”
“Which is?” The Dean asked.
“Her tuition will come from the physics department. We will pay for her education, her room and board.”
“But the Army is willing to pay,” Horace objected.
“If they pay, dear Horace, then they will be entitled to our findings.”
“What have you against the government, Professor?”
The old man glared at Dare.
“I will tell you, Colonel, and then we will never speak of this again. I was trained in the finest universities in Europe. I attended colleges in Berlin and in Paris. That was before the Nazis came. Then I was hunted like a dog, and forced to leave my home. Most of my family was slain. I was able to find a position here in America.
“Meanwhile, the United States Government denied what was going on in Europe. They did not help people to escape. They did not help my family, and I will not help them now.”
“I understand,” Candace Dare replied.
“How can you possibly understand?”
Candace Dare took a deep breath. “After I graduated from nursing school, I was given a month before I had to report to the Army. I visited my grandmother in Paris. Two week later, the Nazis invaded. My grandmother was killed. I was taken by the Nazis and forced to work in a hospital with wounded German soldiers. I was locked in a small room every night to rest.
“They brought in a prisoner one day. He was from the French underground. I was assigned to him. He had some high importance to the organization. The Underground staged a daring raid and I was rescued. I worked for the Underground, destroying nazi bases, saving who I could and killing German officers. We fought the Germans until my group was destroyed, killing my fiancée.
“When the Americans saved me, they had me marked as Absent Without Leave and were going to try me as a deserter. General DeGaulle intervened. He thought that trying one of his ‘Killer Angels’ would be bad for French-American relationships. I was re-assigned to an intelligence unit and recently promoted to DARPA.”
The old man approached Dare and held out his hand. “You really do understand, Colonel. Very well, I can work with you.”
“Does that mean we will accept the army’s money?” Horace asked.
“No!” Dare and the professor answered in unison.
Emily laughed, wiping the tears from her eyes after hearing Candace’s story.
The professor approached the Rogers family. “Emily is report here by August first. I will have some tests conducted at the Harvard Medical School. She will have a quick orientation. Her schedule will be quite full for the next seven years. We will allow short vacations to visit family, and possibly the Colonel.”
“Seven year?” Emily gasped.
“Quite so, Miss Rogers. You will not leave here until you earned your Doctorate. Are you sure you are up to the task?
“I am, Professor. How can I ever thank you?” Emily stammered.
“Getting your doctoral robes will be all the thanks I need,” the old man answered. “Then perhaps I can retire.”
