Linkage: The Narrows of Time

Chapter 5

Elegance





Drew was seated next toLucas at the lab’s center worktable when the lab doors buzzedbehind him. He hoped it was Trevor and the new lab technician. Heturned his wheelchair around and saw a lovely young Asian standingnext to Trevor. She was a petite, dark-haired beauty with an adorablefigure, who revealed a gorgeous set of white teeth when she smiled.

“Hi,” she said toDrew.

Drew’s tongueshriveled up and swallowed the words in his mouth, leaving him tomuster an uneven grunt. His lungs forgot how to breathe properly,taking shorter and shorter breaths.

Her hair shimmeredunder the lab’s fluorescent lights like heat waves rising up fromthe desert sand. Her long curls wrapped around her neck and cascadedgracefully down the front of her shoulder. Drew couldn’t help butstare at her: She was a vision, a goddess who wore a yellow flowerjust above her right ear.

Lucas extended hisright hand to her. “Hi, I’m Dr. Lucas Ramsay. Welcome to ProjectAG-356-12.”

She bowed her head andshook Lucas’ hand. “Hello, I’m Abby Park.”

She looked at Drew. Hedropped his paperwork.

Lucas chuckled. “Andthis slobbering member of the male species is my brother, Drew.” Heheld out an open palm toward Drew. “Trevor, I assume you havealready introduced yourself to Abby?”

"Ja, Idid."

“Have you signed yournon-disclosure agreement?” Lucas asked her. Abby nodded. “Well,then, let’s get started,” he said, motioning for her to followhim toward the reactor chamber, only a seven-step walk. It was on theside of the room opposite from the lab’s entrance doors.

Drew remained behindwith Trevor to organize the items scattered over the top of therectangular worktable in the center of the room. He could not takehis eyes off her.

* * *

Lucasbegan her introduction with the control station located just to theright of the reactor chamber’s door. Attached to the wall below theviewing window was a seven-foot-wide stainless-steel counter with aflat panel computer screen at each end. In front of each console wasa black wireless keyboard and matching mouse.

In between the twostations was an angled instrument panel that covered up most of thewall below the viewing window. The panel was covered with switches,knobs, instrument gauges, and the like. Two rolling desk chairs wereoffset to the left, leaving room for a third on the right end of thecounter.

“This is the PrimaryControl Station where all the action happens. Drew sits to the right,and the other console is mine. The chair in the middle is yours.”

Abby opened her spiralnotebook and started taking notes. “What about Trevor?”

“He usually standsover there and monitors his system,” Lucas said, pointing at threeheavy-gauge steel shelving units installed on the wall to the left ofthe reactor chamber. They were loaded with rack-mounted computerequipment actively processing data with their LED lights flashing andtheir hard drives whirling. A retractable network console was locatedwaist-high in the center rack with its hide-a-way keyboard pulled outon sliding rails.

“Trevor designed thesystem from the ground up and it controls our reactor. Everythingelse is networked to the university’s mainframe and we share CPUtime across all active experiments.”

Lucas guided her to apair of tall, red-and-blue storage cabinets on the other side of theroom. He opened the first storage unit, which contained an assortmentof hand tools, cleaning supplies, paper, pens, and othermiscellaneous materials.

“If you ever need anysupplies, you’ll find them in here.”

He removed a clipboardhanging on a magnetic hook inside the cabinet’s door. “Just besure to write down what you used in this inventory log. Dr. Kleezebeewants every penny accounted for.”

He opened the secondcabinet, which held an array of equipment, wire, and other electronicparts. He pulled out a handheld device the size of a DVD case andheld it up in front of her. “Radiological detector. Hopefully,we’ll never have to use this puppy.”

“How likely is that?”

“Not very. We’vespent the past eighteen months making sure this experiment isperfectly safe.”

“But there’realways risks, right?”

“Sure, but I wouldn’tbe too concerned. Kleezebee made sure we took every precaution.”

Abby allowed herselftime to scribble in her notebook. “Can I see the reactor?”

“Sure. I was planningon showing you that next.”

He walked to the doorto the reactor chamber. Drew followed along behind them. Lucas ledAbby into a smaller room just inside the chamber’s entrance; Drewstayed outside. They were standing in a closet-sized room thatresembled a two-door airlock system, like those found aboard asubmarine.

“The reactor’s aclean-room, so we use this decontamination chamber each timepersonnel or material enters the chamber.” Lucas reached around herand closed the thick outer door. He turned around and powered on atwelve-inch LCD monitor to the right of the inner door. Drew’s faceappeared on the screen once the image stabilized.

“He’s sitting infront of his console at the Primary Control Station,” Lucas toldher.

Lucas opened a cabinetto his left and gathered one of the six yellow protective suitshanging inside. Below them were several pairs of steel-toed boots andchemical-resistant gloves. A handful of voice-operated microphonesand earpieces were sitting on the top shelf.

“A Hazmat suit?”she asked.

“Yes, Level A.Provides airtight protection from all forms of chemicals, includinggasses and vapors. Safety protocols require we use them inside thereactor.” He pulled out a second suit and handed it to her. “Weeven have one in your size. Put this on. Let me know if you needassistance.”

Lucas used thereflective glass to watch her wiggle and slide her perfect ass intothe bottom of the suit. His face flushed with blood, as did the restof his body. He wondered what it looked like underneath—probablymilky white and smooth since she did not appear to be much of a sunworshiper. He didn’t see any panty lines underneath her whitestretch pants, so perhaps she was wearing a thong or nothing at all.He smiled. She was definitely an improvement over their previousassistant, Gracie. She pulled the suit higher, nearing the sculptedcurves of her breasts that were tucked away inside her skin-tight,pink t-shirt. He prayed she’d ask for help, but she didn’t. Thenshe froze for a moment, turning her head slightly as if she sensedhim gawking at her flawless body. He looked away and fiddled with thevideo screen, pretending to adjust its screen.

* * *

Fiveminutes later, both of them were wearing their protective gear,including boots, gloves, and the voice-activated communicationdevices.

“Abby, can you hearme? Is your comm unit working?”

“Yes, it is. Can wego inside the reactor?”

“Wait until Drew doeshis thing and gives us the all clear signal.” Lucas looked at thepea-sized camera mounted above the video monitor. “Okay, brother,we’re ready.”

An upward stream of airblew past them as the process began. Thirty seconds later, Drew gavehis brother a thumbs-up signal. Lucas entered a five-digit numericalcode into a keypad next to the video monitor and waited for the innerdoor to unlock and slide open. They both stepped inside.

The reactor was a metalsphere the size of a commercial walk-in freezer, with a series ofcables and heavy industrial piping above it that fed into thebackside of the unit. There were dozens of valves, conduits, andother industrial components leading to and from the reactor’s base.

“What’s kind ofmaterial is this?” she asked, tapping on the reactor’s housingwith her pen.

“It’s one of Dr.Kleezebee’s inventions. He calls it VX-312. We call it tri-tanium.”

“Like in Star Trek,”she quipped.

“Exactly. It’s achemically altered blend of hardened titanium and tungstencomposites, which have been infused with a series of interwovenmembranes of nanocrystalline diamond fiber. It can withstandfusion-level temperatures and intense gravimetric sheer.”

She adjusted herheadgear, then pointed to one of the eight rectangular devicesinstalled evenly around the perimeter of the reactor in forty-fivedegree increments. “What are these?”

“Superconductingelectromagnets. They’ve been specifically calibrated to allow us tocontrol our gravity wave experiment.” Lucas saw her looking up atthe elongated tube attached to the dome of the reactor, whichextended to the ceiling at a 45-degree angle. “That fires afocused, cold neutron beam at the core. It’s what jump-starts theexperiment.”

He unlatched and slidopen a protective shroud covering the midsection of the reactor.Inside was a white, egg-shaped receptacle the size of a thermosbottle, which was being held at the exact center by a surroundinglattice of non-metal struts.

“What goes inside?”she asked after looking inside.

“That’s the reallycool part. Follow me and I’ll show you.”

They completeddecontamination procedures and removed their hazmat suits beforestepping out of the chamber. They returned to the center worktablewhere Trevor was standing.

Drew joined them,maneuvering his wheelchair up an elongated aluminum ramp and onto apermanently installed platform next to the worktable.

Lucas pointed to thethree metal boxes near his feet. “These were just delivered today.Trevor, would you do the honors?”

Trevor lifted one ofthe boxes with ease and put it on the worktable before cutting thebands of yellow security tape with a pair of sheers. He unsnappedthree metal clasps along the front of the box, opened its hingedcover, and then pushed the box closer to Lucas with one hand.

Lucas put on a pair ofsafety gloves before removing the surface layer of the packagingmaterial. Inside was a perfectly round black sphere the size of abaseball. Lucas removed the sphere with both hands, straining to liftthe object up high enough for all to see.

“This material iscalled ‘Unbiunium’ which is a new super-heavy element recentlydiscovered by the U.S. Navy. Its atomic weight is 121, which is whywe call it ‘Element 121’ or E-121 for short.”

“I thought elementslarger than ninety-two on the Periodic Table were theoretical and donot occur naturally. Even if they could be synthesized by fusing twoheavy elements together, wouldn’t the resulting substance beunstable and instantly decay into lighter elements?”

Lucas’ arms weregetting tired. He lowered the sphere down to chest level and held itstill for her inspection. “Yet here it is, stable, and in solidform. Kleezebee said he pulled a lot of strings to get us access tothese samples.”

“Where did the Navydiscover it?”

“In an unexploreddeep sea trench off the coast of Mexico, near Chicxulub, just off theYucatan peninsula. From what Kleezebee told us, the Navy found asubstantial amount of it.”

“Chicxulub? Isn’tthat where they found the impact crater that killed off thedinosaurs?”

Lucas nodded. “Yes,it was.”

Abby stared at theground before responding in a softer tone, “I do remember readingsomething about a gravimetric anomaly found at that impact site. Isuppose it’s possible that E-121 may have had something to do withthat.” She leaned over and peeked inside the shipping container.

Lucas was excited to besharing his talisman with the new assistant. “This special materialhas very unique properties, which are essential to the last phase ofour project. Without it, we can’t run the experiment. Super-heavyelements like E-121 have an ultra-strong gravity field that extendswell beyond the perimeter of its atom, making it accessible. Justlike any other field in the electromagnetic spectrum, E-121’sgravitational wave has a specific frequency and amplitude. Since wecan access it, we plan on using the reactor to control it.”

“Are you trying tomanipulate the element’s strong nuclear force bonding its particlestogether?”

“No. We plan to morphthe actual gravity field itself,” Drew replied, picking up anegg-shaped capsule sitting next to him on the work surface. Heunscrewed the capsule’s domed-shaped lid before holding out thebottom half with both hands.

“Don’t you thinkTrevor should take it from here?” Lucas asked.

“Nope, I got it,”Drew replied, resting his elbows on the table.

Lucas wanted to saysomething else, but didn’t. He put the E-121 sample into thecontainer and screwed on its lid. Drew tugged the capsule across thetabletop and put it in his lap, partially wedged between his legs.

Lucas told Abby, “We’lluse E-121 as the catalyst for our experiment. We hope to compact oneside of the element’s immense gravitational field under the controlof the powerful electromagnetic system, which will, in turn, push outor bulge an equal and opposite reaction on the other side. While thequantum morphing occurs, we expect the surrounding subspace tocounteract the change in force and effectively push against ourmaterial to maintain spatial equilibrium.”

Abby nodded severaltimes while writing in her journal. She folded her arms with thenotebook pressed flat up against her chest. “Assuming I understandyou correctly, in theory that could result in transmutation of thelaws of gravity or ‘anti-gravity,’ as it were. Like what wouldhappen if you pushed against the side of a floating soap bubble.”

Lucas nodded. “Wehope this will lead to a revolutionary new type of interstellarpropulsion system, which is why NASA agreed to fund this project inthe first place.”

“The powerrequirements must be enormous,” she said.

“That’s where thecold neutron beam comes into play. While an atom’s strong nuclearforce is trillions of times stronger than gravity, we believe there’san underlying quantum energy stream that’s even more powerful.”

Drew was smiling whenhe added, “So powerful in fact, that we should be able to use it tomanipulate E-121’s gravity field.”

“Did you say quantumenergy stream?” she asked Lucas.

“If we can preciselymatch the frequency of E-121’s gravity wave, the beam should beable to wedge open a crack between the exposed section of thegravitational field and the element’s perimeter. This should allowus to tap into the energy matrix connecting our universe to the next.With it, we should have an endless supply of energy to power ourexperiment.”

Abby’s mouth dropped open and she did not respond.