shook her head. "They're flying the wrong way if they want to get there."
"Have patience, Lisa," Simon Ellenberg said, "they're learning. Maybe one of these days they'll even move past the idea of the absolute existence of matter."
Claudia laughed. "And solve the quantum measurement problem."
"All things are possible," Simon said.
***
In November of that year they were shocked by the assassination of President Kennedy in Dallas. They wondered if their people would someday be mentioned in connection with a government cover-up.
Chapter 3
In the summer of nineteen sixty-five, after graduating from high school, all twelve as valedictorians, the young people came back to the island without their parents. A meeting had been scheduled with the group's director, a time for decisions about their college education and careers. But play came first for the teenagers.
They built a bonfire on the beach in the late afternoon, frolicked in the water, teased each other about the hippie look-the long hair and the mod clothes they had grown accustomed to wearing. There was talk about love-ins, rock festivals, and the drug scene. With a battery operated radio they danced to the Beatles' She Loves You, drank Cokes and munched on chicken and chips, and laughingly reflected on their lives growing up in America. It was another happy gathering of beautiful young men and women who had volunteered to be a part of an operation called Sigma.
Later they assembled in small groups preparing for the interview scheduled for eight o'clock that night with Alexandria Day who lived on the island. "I don't know about the others," Julius Andrews said, "but I'm going to be a rancher."
"Too isolated a life for me," Curtis O'Connor said. "I'd rather live in a big city, but I have no idea what I'll be doing. I'll leave that up to Alexandria."
"What if she tells you to enter medical school and become a doctor?" Julius asked with a smile.
"Then that would be her decision, but you know as well as I do that she wouldn't choose a medical career for any of us, not if the original plan is to be followed."
Lisa overheard him, leaned back on her elbows, and said, "Curtis, do you really think we can accomplish all that Alexandria has in mind?"
He nodded. "With a little help from the others around the country. I've heard our people are everywhere, in just about every walk of life. They're looking to the twelve of us as the future strategic policy team, to be in position shortly after the turn of the century. We've got our work cut out for us, and I'm excited about the role I'm going to play, whatever that may be."
"Hey," Merriam hollered, "Carlton has an idea. We know in a few years we're going to be working together as a team, so he thinks we should name ourselves the Club of Apollo. What do you think?"
Jason Miller said, "Ah, Apollo, the god of light, foreteller of the future, the great musician and poet. Quite a mysterious fellow."
"Maybe we could have decoder rings," Frederick Craig said, "a password to get into our hiding place, a secret handshake."
After the laughter died down, Frank Jessops said, "I like the idea. In some ways we are a club, and nothing can keep us apart." He paused for a moment. "Have any of you given any consideration as to what might happen if our true identities are discovered?"
"Yes," Burton Obrey said, "another Valentine's Day massacre." He saw Lisa's expression quickly change. "But I don't think we should concern ourselves with the possibility of exposure. We've followed the plan to the letter and there's no reason--"
"You're right," Claudia said. "We came here to do a job under the deepest cover imaginable. Our mission will be accomplished." She looked around at the others. "Agreed?"
They all touched hands and spoke as one. "Agreed."
***
That night in Alexandria Day's office, a military career was selected for Frederick Craig and Frank Jessops, with West Point and the Naval Academy as the appropriate avenues for officer training. Merriam Livingston, Robert Ames, and Simon Ellenberg were to study law. For Carlton Matthews, teaching on the college level was to be the entry position for a subsequent move into government service. At his insistence, Julius Andrews could become a rancher, enter politics later. Burton Obrey, Lisa Jackson, Claudia Andrade, Curtis O'Conner, and Jason Miller would have a liberal arts education and become politically active immediately upon graduation.
The group would not see each other again in person until Merriam's marriage to George Vance three years later.
Chapter 4
Merriam Livingston-Vance paused from her remembrances and looked at the man sitting on a chair in the corner of the small room. "How do you feel?"
Carlton Matthews said, "Fine, but I am curious as to what the media is saying about our disappearances, and what the FBI is doing."
She grimaced. "Wild stories from every imaginable angle, but nothing close to the truth. And the FBI? Depends on which faction you're talking about."
He watched her slow pacing, smiled. "Merriam, I'm reminded of our get-together when we were eight, and seeing you doing what you're doing now. You walked up and down that beach after our little ceremony of pressing our hands in the sand. I had to go back to get you and bring you inside. Similar thoughts in your mind, then and now?"
She sat down in the other chair and leaned back, hands in her lap. "No, back then I was looking eagerly to the future." She shrugged. "Now, since it appears we won't be around much longer, my thoughts are turned to the past, the fun we all had when we met on the island, and how wonderful Charles and Anne were in helping me live what would be considered a normal life in this country. And finding George Vance in college. I didn't know he had been assigned to the group, and was delighted to see him again."
"And the wedding," Carlton said. "You were the first. It was quite a celebration with all of us there. We sang and danced most of the night, then followed you to the hotel for another round of toasts. Some contagious affair, that was. We all caught the marriage bug. I guess when George told us about the second wave that came in right after we did, we knew it wouldn't take long to find suitable partners."
"Marrying one of our own was the only proper course of action." She smiled. "And within a year the twelve had multiplied by two."
"Thank goodness. I know my life here has been much better having Eve at my side. Of course, with the twenty-four of us having such a close bond, it was almost as though we had our own little community. I guess family is a better word."
"It sure helped when we longed to be home," she said.
"Yes, but we adjusted to the American way of life early on by mixing and mingling with others as though we were one of them."
"Still it was our close association in later years that helped us meet our individual objectives," Merriam said. She thought for a moment. "I'm just glad I didn't have to run for political office. I don't think I would have found campaigning too pleasant."
Carlton laughed. "Me either. Do you remember when the polls said O'Conner would lose his senate race?"
"I
