Ted Talk

Ted stood behind the curtain on the right-hand side of the stage, watching the previous speaker take questions. This was it; he knew that if things went badly, if he let stage fright overwhelm him, then it would be tough to recover afterwards. His career would tank, and no one would be there to help pick up the pieces. He would lose his funding, his standing in the industry, and likely become a laughingstock. Ione would probably ask for a divorce; he knew how much social status meant to her, knew that he would lose her respect. She might run back to Daddy, taking the kids with her.

He imagined his father-in-law's reaction. Sir Sean Black would commiserate on the surface, but underneath, he would be delighted. All his warnings to his daughter about her getting together with this “loser” would be justified. And the funding would dry up, of course. A significant portion of the project's funding came from Sir Sean’s company, an international conglomerate. If the other sources of finance dried up, then Sean would quickly follow suit. He would pull the plug faster than you could say “technical difficulties.”

“Don’t worry, darling,” Ione had said this morning as she helped him with his bowtie. “You’ll be just fine.”

“I’m not so sure, babe,” he had said quietly. “Even when I present the evidence, there will be many who just won’t believe me. Look at all these idiots who say the moon landings were fake. This could be a hundred times worse.”

“They’re just fanatics, conspiracy theorists. No one will take them seriously,” she finished tying his bow tie and stepped back a couple of paces, looking him up and down.

“I’m just an engineer, you know how much I hate public speaking.”

“But you have evidence,” she said.

“There will be some who will say I faked it, whatever evidence I produce. But it’s not really them I’m concerned about. If I can’t take the mainstream scientific community with me, it’s game over.”

“You have allies,” she protested.

“If I’m not convincing, they will quickly disappear, to protect their own reputations, their own funding sources.”

“It’s not them I’m worried about,” she pouted. “It’s all those women at the cocktail party afterwards.”

They both laughed, and then she followed him out to the waiting limousine, provided by Sir Sean’s company. The driver leaped out smartly and held the car door open as they got into the rear seats.

In the car, Ted rehearsed the speech in his mind, taking comfort in the feel of Ione’s hand in his, but he could feel the familiar panic in the pit of his stomach and tasted bile in the back of his throat. On arrival at the lecture hall, he helped Ione out of the car, kissed her on the cheek, and, without speaking, quickly made his way to the backstage area while she joined her father in the front row.

Finally, the previous speaker concluded his question-and-answer session, acknowledged the desultory applause from the audience, and the master of ceremonies, a well-known professor at the university hosting the event, announced Ted.

I’ll tell them straight, he thought, simple is best. He walked hesitantly onto the stage, stopping at the microphone stand. He greeted the professor, then straightened up and looked out across the audience. Behind him, the big screen lit up with his first slide.

“Ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues,” he began. “I have an announcement to make that will fundamentally change our understanding of the universe and our place within it.”

The hubbub subsided, and he paused for a moment, holding the silence while looking out over the audience. Then he told them.