Heiser-The-Facade - Sparkling Eyes

"You've overstated your case--badly, in my judgment.""You still don't get it, do you?" Brian chuckled good-naturedly, reaching for histoothbrush. "You made the choice to be alone; I had the choice made for me. I don't wantto be single, but that's the way it is. And since I don't look at it as a calling, there's no wayI'd ever be cut out for the priesthood even if I were Catholic.""There's still hope, you know," the old cleric said seriously, placing his hand onBrian's shoulder. "You're still young.""Trust me no woman of sound mind is ever going to take an interest.""I meant to become a Jesuit," he grinned.Brian laughed. "You're really a piece of work!""Just persistent.""Good morning, everyone," the Colonel said as he opened the meeting, dressed asusual in full military garb, removing his hat. "I'd like to get things moving as soon aspossible." Without hesitation he surrendered the floor to the first speaker.Deidre and Melissa had been, respectively, scheduled to open the meeting bypresenting ten-minute summations on their thoughts related to the task at hand.Nonetheless, the only anticipation welling up inside of any of them concerned how Mark,Kevin, and Malcolm were going to challenge the Colonel and Neil. None of them had, ofcourse, forgotten the loyalty oaths they'd signed and the recriminations that awaited eachof them were the Colonel to retaliate. They'd all gotten the same encrypted files, but noone knew how the altercation would transpire or where it would lead. The feeling thatsuch a situation was unavoidable wasn't quelled by the presence of the short, sandyhairedIan Marcus, a student of Carl Sagan's, whose credentials included a Ph.D. fromCornell and a stint with NASA's Astrobiology Institute. It was easy to think of him as abrilliant but committed lackey. Unlike the rest of the team, who were noticeably dresseddown in more mundane summer attire or jeans, he appeared stiff in his dress slacks,bowtie, and lab coat, and sat dutifully next to the Colonel in-stead of his scientificcompatriots. Deidre Harper silently pulled her chair up to the table, and put on herreading glasses."I'd like to start out with a brief background description of just what my subfieldof mass hysteria concerns," she began. "What most mental health professionals mean byhysteria is paranoid behavior patterns and a sense of powerlessness in relation toauthority. Until very recently, many scholars and professionals relegated serious masshysteria to the superstitious eras of the past. This was in part due to their optimisticassumption that people of our modern era successfully process the events of their lives inaccord with the assured results of our enlightened, scientific worldview. Allegedly, themodern, college-educated individual, fully aware of the power of the individual tocontrol one's destiny, is surely governed more by reason than emotion.""Folks," Deidre announced, looking up from her paper and out toward the teammembers, "I hope this isn't a rude awakening for any of you, but if you agree with thatassessment, it's time to get your head out of the sand and get a firm grasp on the obvious.I think we all remember the way people acted at the turn of the millennium and the waythey still lose their minds over mysterious illnesses and vi-ruses like Gulf War syndromeand so-called flesh-eating bacteria. Then there's the coming global weather crisis being86