Whitney - July 13, 1947

Elizabeth dropped me off at home. I thanked her for the ride and the wonderful time we had. I honestly enjoied every minute of what happened between the two of us, even though I knew I shouldn't have because I knew it was wrong. What would Cal think if he found out that I just cheated on him, with a woman no less! I know how I wasn't quite happy that he was having several affairs, but I quickly got over it. More importantly though, this will make me look bad if the press or even himself found out because then nobody would want to vote for him. I really want to go back to Cortez or more, more from her. But, I shouldn't really think about any of this now, what my main focus should be now is going to the lab to retrieve the zero matter before the council gets their hands on it.

I looked up at the windows of the mansion, the lights are off. Cal must have went to sleep, so he wouldn't notice if I took his car. I have extra keys which I took out of my purse and I walked down to the driveway and got in the car. I pulled out a briefcase under the passenger seat, there was a gun inside, that is only suppose to be used for emergency purposes. I plan on using it in case anybody got in my way at Isodyne, however I hope it doesn't come down to that. I then drove to the lab and when I got there I went in through the back door, which was opened because of the guards. I put my keys which I still had in my hand in the cuff of my bra. I went down the hall and I ascended the staircase to the room where they kept the zero matter.

I was shocked to see one of the lab's scientists in there, a colored man named Jason Wilkes with the zero matter in a container in his hands. Once he realized that I was there, he turned around and said, "Ma'am you really shouldn't be...Whitney Frost?"

"In the flesh," I said with a slight grin on my face as I began to walk towards him.

"Wow! I'm a big fan of yours."

I chuckled as I continued to slowly walk towards him.

"What are you doing here?" Wilkes asked me."You really shouldn't be here it's not safe."

"No it isn't, I answered. "In fact, I'm surprised to see you alive Dr. Wilkes."

"Excuse me?"

"Now, you're going to place the specimen in that case," I said pointing to the case on the ground. "And you're going to give it to me."

"Miss Frost, you have no idea what this stuff is capable of."

"Oh, On the contrary, I am the only person who knows what it is capable of," I said as I took a few more steps towards him and pulled the gun out of my purse, which I raised up to him."Now, hand it over."

In fear that I might shoot him, took a few steps back from me and said, "Miss Frost, you're making a terrible mistake. I can't in good conscious let you go through with it!"

"So you're willing to die for this crisis of conscious?"

"I'm starting to think that was your plan for me no matter what," I shook my head when he said that and then he continued, "I also think you're smart enough not to shot me while, I'm holding this!"

Well, he was right about that if I attempted to pull the trigger on this gun and if the bullet hit the container of zero matter it would come out, and this lab would be in ruins. This is because the zero matter is an explosive substance. To my surprise, however, before I could even pull the trigger, Dr. Wilkes with one of his hands flicked the gun out of my hand, and with that I whacked him straight across the face. I then went to grab the container of zero matter from him, dropping my purse in the process. I then struggled with him for complete grip of the container and as I doing so, Dr. Wilkes and I moved towards the balcony and both lost grip of the container. It ended up falling to the ground and breaking and the zero matter came out and began to expand. Dr. Wilkes and I both looked down at the growing mass of zero matter, knowing probably what was going to happen next, told me, "Run!"

We then began to run out of there as the zero matter rose up in the air and began to let out huge gusts of winds like a tornado's vortex. I then felt the matter's winds thrust me through the wall causing it to break and causing me to fall sideways on the ground. When I picked myself up from the ground, I noticed that the zero matter had disappeared and so did Dr. Wilkes. The matter must have pushed him farther away. Luckily, I didn't sprain my ankles or anything like that, so I ran to the car, hopped in and began to drive pretty quickly.

When I arrived home, I quietly opened the door and went in. I went down the hall to an extra room where Cal and I keep most of our clothes. I then turned on the light and went behind my wardrobe which had a mirror behind it, to examine my body. I saw a few scrapes but nothing severe, that is until I pushed a few strands of my hair back to see a pretty deep cut on my forehead. As I closely examined it, I noticed that it wasn't blood seeping out of my cut on my forehead, but zero matter. I must have gotten a cut on my face and the zero matter must have went inside it. That must explain why the matter disappeared into to thin air, as well as Dr. Wilkes. After this discovery, tears began to fall down my cheeks. A substance I desperately wanted to study more and possibly use to change the world was now inside me. Not only that, if Cal saw this cut, it would turn away voters for his senate campaign. I then went to go turn off the light and close the door, so that way Cal wouldn't be able to see me when he wakes up. I went to go hide behind the wardrobe and fell to floor, weeping nervously in the dark.

I remained there for about a half hour still weeping as dawn's daylight began to shine through the window behind me. I then heard a phone ring. I'm sure it must have been the council. They must have found out about the explosion and wanted to tell Cal about it. I heard Cal come down the stairs and answer the phone. About three minutes later, I heard knocking on the door and Cal asking, "Whitney, honey are you there?" He knocked again. "I need to talk to you. There was an accident down at the lab. The zero matter, it's all gone." I then pushed back a few strands of my hair behind my ear and looked at the crack again.

He knocked on the door again and shouted, "Whitney!" I knew he wasn't going to quit knocking on the door. So, I pushed my hair to the front of my forehead to cover up the crack. I then got up to open the door. Cal, the minute he walked in the room and walked behind my wardrobe to turn on one of the lamps and he then turned his attention to me, now noticing my tears and quivering body.

"Whitney, honey what's wrong?" he asked

I really didn't want to tell him that I was at the lab when the explosion happened, or that I was the one who was partially who caused it and I certainly didn't want to tell him about how the zero matter went inside me, and I knew had to tell him the truth, but I couldn't tell him the whole truth.

"Nothing." I answered with hesitation.

" I know there's something wrong with you otherwise you wouldn't be cry_," he paused thought to himself for a minute."You were at the lab,weren't you?" I rolled my eyes at him.

"I told you that the council wanted to focus my senate campaign! What part of that didn't you understand?"

"I really don't care what the council wants!" I shouted " I tried to do what was best for us and besides after you hear how the explosion occurred, you won't even looked at what I did as so wrong. He looked at a me a little strangely as continued, "When I first came to the lab. I saw Dr. Wilkes with a container with the zero matter inside of it. He must have been getting it for the SSR or maybe even for his own usage, so that way they could further investigate Jane Scott's death and possibly the matter's properties. Wanting to get the matter away from me, I threatened him with the gun from your car. Then he knocked it out of my hand and we fought over the container until it slipped out of our hands and fell over the balcony. The container crashed on the ground and the matter started to expand and huge winds pushed me through the wall. When I got up I noticed that the zero matter vanished into thin air and Dr. Wilkes was nowhere to be found."

"Are you ok?" He said as his anger turned into concern.

"Yes, I just got a few scratches, but nothing serious" I lied.

"Do you know how bad this will look for my campaign?" He said quickly changing the subject. "The fact that I'm getting investigated by someone who is suppose to be a loyal scientist at the lab and the fact that you there interfering with the council's doings is ten times worse."

"I'm sorry Cal."

"No, you're not Whitney, otherwise you wouldn't have went there."

"I know how to make it right," I assured him. "We can say that Dr. Wilkes was a Russian spy who was looking for a stronger type of energy, for the Soviets. So, he figured that he would get a job at the lab because Isodeyne's the only lab that would take a colored man. So, he figured that if he went there he would investigate the lab and see if there was anything he could take back to Russia."

"That's good plan dear," he said with a smile as he went to kiss me on the head. "I'll go and call Mortimer and have him make it the top headline in The L.A. Tribune."

I was glad that I was able to save him from the humiliation of the press and from anyone finding out that I was at the lab to get the zero matter and that I was there during the explosion. I hope the council didn't find out that I was there with Dr. Wilkes because they might think that Cal put me up to it, when in reality it was my on my own free will. If they did find out they would kick Cal out of the Council and I may lose my acting career, which will not make Cal happy because nobody would want to vote for him if he is wife ends up being nothing but a plain old housewife. The most important fact of this whole matter was, that nobody not even Cal, could really know where the zero matter went or what really happened to Dr. Wilkes. Most importantly, I couldn't let anyone see this crack on my face.

Later that morning, I called the movie studio and told Ken that I wasn't feeling well. Cal went to tell our story to the police and he also went to go meet with council about having Mortimer, a member who controls all the newspapers west of the Mississippi River, have the L.A. Tribune write our bogus story. Cal also told me he was going to have the council send a bunch of their men to go to Dr. Wilkes' home and plant incriminating evidence against him such as a Russian passport and a plane ticket to Moscow to make this communist finger pointing look a little more realistic. I decided that I would go see Elizabeth at the Cortez again because I didn't know what to do with the rest of my day. I figured that Cal would probably be home before I would go, so I decided to tell him that I came to the conclusion that I was ready quit acting. I figured that the studio might find out about the crack, with black goop seeping out of my head no matter how hard I tried to hide it.

I took a shower and then went to my vanity to go do my hair and makeup. I then dryed my hair and then curled it. After I was done doing that, I lift part of my hair up to further examine the crack in the mirror. I then touched it with my finger and I realized that the dab of zero matter that came out of it just ended up absorbing through my skin. All of sudden, I heard the door open. Cal must be home. Nervously, I quickly pushed the part of my hair that I was holding back over the crack and I heard Cal clearing his throat. I then began to pretend that I was fixing my hair with my hands and I told Cal, "You scared the life out of me."

"Front page above the fold," Cal said as I turned around to see him holding the newspaper which most likely contained our Dr. Wilkes story. "You were right," he continues as he threw the newspaper on top of my vanity. "Commie angle was perfect. The cops didn't doubt our story for a minute."

"Well, you're the one who sold it!" I told him as I played with my hair again and smiled. "I'm not the only actor in the house, hmm."

"Why aren't you at work?" he asked.

"Oh, I wasn't feeling well this morning I_"

"You OK?" he asked as went to put his hand on my forehead to see if I had a fever. I then pushed back my head, so that way he couldn't reach it. God forbid he saw the crack!

"Yes," I said grabbing his hand and smiling. "I'm better now."

"Good, I'm going to pull the 39 Moet out of the cella." he said as he headed for the door.

"Cal," I then said turning to face him. "What if told you I would like to retire from acting?" I then smiled at him for his approval.

"You mean after the election, right?" he answered me as my smile quickly changed to a frown. "I'd hate for anything to overshadow the campaign now."

"No, of course. It was just idle thoughts and..ha" I said fake chuckling as I turned back to my vanity to look at the newspaper.

Cal then walked back into the room, and put his hands on my shoulders and said, "Well, when win this thing and move to Washington you can retire and have all the babies you want!" He then leaned in to kiss me on the check as I pretended to act happy and chuckle.

"Mm, that sounds wonderful."
He then nodded at me and left the room. He absolutely misunderstood why I wanted to retire from acting. I did want to have children someday, but that wasn't the reason. Anyway even if I tried to have a baby, the zero matter in my body may affect its growth and development, if I can't invent a device or something to get the matter out of me. It would be best to find away to get this out of me for more than one reason and then I guess after that I would have to forget about my studies on it. Mainly because Cal would be furious if he found out about what really happened to the matter and how it's affected me. I guess I don't have a choice but to go back to work tomorrow to satisfy him even though I'm not pleased with it, now do I? But, luckily after Cal and I had our "celebratory" drinks together, I was able to sneak off to Elizabeth's because he had to meet with the council again. The only problem is what what she think if she saw the crack?