Entanglement by Gregg Braden Page B

screen in front of the chalkboard so it covered his elaborate equation. Finally he opened the door for Jack.
    â€œAll right, come on. Try plugging in over there. In the third station, there’s an outlet on the side.”
    In minutes, Jack’s laptop was plugged in and set up at one of the student lab tables. He logged back on to Skype, but Charlie’s name was still grayed out.
    â€œAny word?” Peter asked.
    Jack shook his head. “Nothing yet. Ernesto, a guy in his unit, said he’s due back at the base by 2:30, our time.”
    Peter looked up at the clock—it was 1:34.
    â€œWell, I’m sure he’ll call. Can I get you anything? I just made some coffee.”
    â€œI don’t do caffeine. You got any herbal tea?”
    â€œYou don’t do caffeine? You’ve never had my coffee,” Peter said proudly. He waited a moment. “You want herbal tea? All right. I think there’s some in the teachers’ lounge.”
    â€œNah—that’s all right. Maybe water?”
    Peter filled a glass and handed it to him. “How long has your brother been in Afghanistan?”
    â€œTwo years. He should have been back by now, but you know how they extend everybody.”
    â€œYeah. It must be hard. Him being so far away.”
    â€œYeah.” Jack rubbed his eyes. “Man, I’m getting crazy with this shit.”
    Peter stood beside him expectantly, waiting for more.
    â€œThis is the longest we’ve ever been apart. Plus, it’s the first time we ever disagreed about anything as big as this.”
    â€œWhat did you disagree about?”
    â€œOur father ended up spending our college nest egg, so we both knew we had to get to college on our own. Charlie became friendly with this recruiter who was hanging around town and decided to enlist. The recruiter tried to get me to enlist, too.”
    â€œAnd I take it you weren’t interested?”
    Jack gave him an incredulous look. “Are you kidding?”
    â€œSo what’s your financial plan?”
    â€œComputer work, teacher-assistant work—anything except the military. Anyway, when we were alone, I gave Charlie a hard time. He was always against war—both of us are. He’s a vegetarian and pacifist, like me. But he wouldn’t listen. He figured this was his ticket out, that his service would be short and that he’d collect a lot of money. We fought over it.”
    â€œA physical fight?”
    â€œNo, but yelling—and we never fight. I can count the times on one hand. So it was super upsetting. Before I knew it, I heard he was wearing his uniform around, and people were talking about how brave he was. God, it was like World War II or something.”
    â€œMaybe you were jealous?”
    He shrugged. “Maybe. Problem is, we never got to really talk to each other alone after that discussion, everything happened so fast. I had to go out of town for a job, and when I came back, he was gone. Now it’s almost impossible to get ahold of him for more than a few minutes … or make him understand what I’m saying.”
    â€œSo exactly what happened to Charlie that you’re so upset about now?” Peter asked him.
    â€œI’m not totally sure,” Charlie said. “But it could be really bad.”
    â€œWhat does that mean? Did you get a call? Was there something on the news?”
    â€œNo, no.”
    â€œDid this Ernesto guy tell you something?”
    â€œNot really.”
    â€œI don’t understand.”
    â€œLook, I don’t know how to explain it, but I just know he’s in serious danger right now.”
    â€œWhat do you mean, you just know?”
    Jack took a deep breath. “I saw something happen to him.”
    â€œYou saw ?”
    â€œYes. Saw. A premonition, or a dream.”
    â€œOkay, so you broke into school in the middle of the night because you had a bad dream.”
    â€œMy brother could be dying over