Core Beliefs - Chapter 60 - Gone Right

Core Beliefs – Chapter 60 - Gone Right.

In St. Louis, the next two days at the clinic passed without much detectable activity, but behind the scenes, Matt, Ling, and Mellissa spent hours preparing the DNA strains that would transform Charley and Charlie.

Melissa checked and rechecked the double helix combinations. Matt revised the protein clusters until the genetic material became stable and compatible with the cells of their new host.

From the island, Clarence crosschecked every aspect of the nano-bots, verifying that Ling had assembled the molecules precisely.

***

At the Silo, Chris and Suchet, for the first time following the disaster, entered the darkened underground of the silo.

Suited in enviro-suits, with air tanks on their backs, they descended in the elevator.

“Toxicity levels are higher here,” Chris said.

The digital display on the air-monitoring meter raced upward as the two scientists reached the fifth level. Chris pulled the elevator gate open. They walked to the entrance of the hidden facility. The beams of their flashlights danced on the darkened tunnels.

As Suchet passed the open titanium door, his stomach knotted. His thoughts raced back to the blackness of the night and how Charley had risked his life.

Chris led, his eyes glancing at the meter.

“We would have been dead in hours,” Chris said. He held the meter out to Suchet.

“Never again,” Suchet said. “I will not have lives at risk over my foolishness.”

“We,” Chris said, “remember, we’re a team. We both have the responsibility of making sure that no one is ever at risk because of our actions.”

They wove through the dark to the great room. Working together, they dismantled the experiment.

“Let’s get out of here. We’ve got to get ventilation going and string extension cords for power.”

***

Three days later, with the help of Eldridge and Elvin, Chris and Suchet removed the failed power supply and connected two smaller, temporary units to the system. The cause of the system failure still baffled Suchet.

With the experiment disconnected, they applied power to the control room and other areas. The tunnels again glowed with luminescent brilliance.

Chris, Suchet, Eldridge, and Elvin inspected the entry door.

“That boy had no chance,” Eldridge said. “This thing was going to get him no matter what.”

Suchet and Chris watched and listened as Eldridge demonstrated the door mechanism’s geometry.

“Yep, once that last pin came out, the door was gonna move fast,” Eldridge said.

They examined the hydraulic cylinders and the hinge points. Bloodstains blotted the mechanism.

“He got hurt early on,” Eldridge said, “and kept on, knowing it was going to get worse. It seems to me he did what he had to do for his friends.”

Suchet bowed his head. “Never again.” He looked at Chris, “We must redesign everything for safety and redundancy.

Chris nodded, “I agree, and we need to take time to plan it right.”

Eldridge and Elvin spent two days reattaching the hydraulic cylinders. It took ropes and pulleys to jack the door and components into position, the same as when they originally helped install it.

Chris and Suchet sketched ideas for safety upgrades.

***

In St. Louis, Doug and Ellie had only one day left before returning to school. Matt and Ling took them for a quiet dinner. Ling and Ellie discussed her classes and instructors for more than an hour.

On Monday, the 30th, Doug and Ellie flew to Houston, and Charley and Charlie started the DNA treatment.

In Wichita, Chris and Suchet continued planning wholesale changes to the silo and its systems, including emergency exits.

Matt suggested they wait a few days before making any changes. He planned to fly Doug and Ellie to Wichita the coming weekend to assist in determining what caused the power to fail.

Tuesday, after returning to school, Ellie’s Dean advised that changes would be made to her curriculum and that she would work directly with Dr. Mary Poplar, Associate Head of Surgery at Baylor Medical.

Charlie and Charley finished their DNA treatments on Thursday, and both experienced sensations similar to those of Matt and Ling, becoming more aware of their bodies and minds.

Charley mentally explored his mind and even recovered images from damaged areas. He reordered them much the same as Matt had.

“Think it’s best to remove the plates from my leg,” Charley told Ling. “Uncle Matt helped me understand how I could speed the healing.”

Harry and Annabel took care of the surgery, amazed at Charley’s rate of recovery.

Checking on their daughter, they found Charlie recounting every aspect of her life. She could answer any question about any event. Along with recall, her problem-solving ability improved to the point that she fought boredom by rewriting her doctoral thesis in her head.

The news of the pending marriage of Charlie and Charley circulated among the family and friends, and though no date had been set, the smart money was on it being soon.

***

Thursday, May 3rd, Ruben Coruthers, his wife Lana, and their daughter Mandy arrived at the island to relieve Clarence and his family. They spent two days unloading additional equipment and getting familiar with the facilities.

Clarence’s family had enjoyed the time and achieved more facility expansion than planned. Ruben’s family would focus on the amenities and improving the livability of the spaces. More furnishings, lots of tools, and scientific apparatus comprised the majority of the new materials.

***

Doug and Ellie arrived in Wichita early Friday evening, May 4th. Charlotte transported them to Armonia House. Chris, Suchet, Pavitra, and the twins showed up for supper.

Doug looked at Chris and Suchet as the time neared 8:00. “We came to help. I suggest we get after it.”

The Fantastic Four climbed into Suchet’s vehicle and took off for the silo with food and supplies to bunker in for the night. The twins came along, eager to watch, learn, and help in any way they could.

“Suchet, tell me about the experiment. I want to understand every aspect,” Doug said.

“It was designed to be a molecular binder,” Suchet began. “The intent was for the device to create a high-tinsel link of the molecules away from the generation point. It should have bonded a thin layer of molecules, strengthening their cohesion by a factor of millions.”

Doug and Ellie interviewed each person, culminating in eight stories to compare.

The next step was a data review. After hours of scouring computer files, “I’ve spotted a pattern,” Ellie whispered to Doug. “Locate the timeframe of the abnormal activity.”

The two compared notes, and as midnight approached, Doug sat at his laptop generating comparative assessments.

“Kamna, Iyla, show me the failed power module,” Ellie said.

The twins took her to the storage room where the bulky unit sat on the floor. Ellie examined it.

“Kamna, would you get the cutting laser? We need to open it up.”

Normally, they would have used a toolbox, but the last assembled unit now resided on the island.

It took the better part of two hours for the small industrial laser to slice a corner off the titanium cube, giving access to the interior. Ellie inspected the charred inside of the sphere and carefully scraped samples of the debris. A theory formulated.

Ellie and the girls returned to the lab and found Doug busily compiling a program based on the data from Suchet and Chris.

Suchet and Chris stood in a corner of the room, mumbling as they stared at a whiteboard, reviewing the hundreds of calculations they had made for the experiment.

“Honey,” Ellie whispered to Doug, telling him of her theory regarding what had happened.

“Oh shit!” Doug grasped the concept and plunged into his programming, modifying it based on Ellie’s thoughts.

Ellie, Ilya, and Kamna moved through the facility, checking the condition of various power terminals. “See the discoloration on the terminals?” Ellie showed the girls.

“I see some distortion to the insulation as well, Iyla pointed out.

***

The team had worked almost twelve hours straight. Chris looked around at the faces and realized everyone was dog-tired. Rather than leave the silo, they inflated mattresses and slept on the control room floor.

Doug slept less than four hours before he was back at his computer coding. Ellie and the others woke up less than an hour later.

Ellie asked Chris and Suchet to sit with her at another computer. She built a data table asking Suchet and Chris to insert values for calculations tied to the experiment. Suchet pulled his notes, and Chris went to the computer used to control the experiment and verified the data.

When the tabular database was complete, Ellie copied the information to an SD card and handed it to Doug. He had finished the program and double-checked the logic and the language. Doug loaded the data and copied the information to a file. He made some identifier changes and, after confirming with Ellie, hit the execute key.

The program outputted rows of numbers and relational factors. Parallel columns streamed, comparing actual vs. projected data.

It took less than five minutes to process the data. Doug sent the results to the wide-format printer on the lower level of the old control room.

Chris collected the nine pages. The six people gathered around the conference table.

“Your experiment worked perfectly…except for one thing,” Ellie gazed at Suchet.

“What do you mean, it worked perfectly?” Suchet stared.

“Suchet, you did create your field of linked molecules,” Ellie smiled. “Your numbers for distance and bonding were correct.”

“Then, what happened!” the scientist asked, his eyes imploring her for an answer.

Ellie slid a sheet of the output from Doug’s program to Suchet.

“Suchet, Chris, look at the conductive power levels,” she said.

They did, and to their surprise, the power fluctuated wildly: in a split second, it went to zero, then to almost 200% of the designed rating.

And though the experiment had only run for seconds, the data was incontrovertible. There had been horrendous fluctuations in the power demand.

“What does this mean?” Suchet asked.

“What might cause this in a load circuit, Chris?” Ellie asked.

Chris started listing potential causes and, after several, said, “Reverse flow into the circuit?”

“Bingo! I think we have a winner,” Doug said.

Suchet and Chris stared at them, bewildered.

“There wasn’t any power connected at the other end!” Chris said.

“Suchet, how much power did it take to generate the field?” Doug asked.

Suchet looked at his notes, “Twenty-eight thousand volts at 278amps. 7.784 million watts.”

“How much power does it take to sustain the field?” Ellie asked.

It was as if a lightning bolt had simultaneously hit Chris and Suchet.

“It takes less power to sustain it,” Suchet said. “Significantly less.”

“The excess energy could not dissipate because of the barrier created by the force field,” Ellie said,

“So, it had to find somewhere to go,” Chris mumbled in realization.

“The force field would load,” Ellie added, “that is where we saw the maximum levels. Once loaded, the power requirement would drop. That’s where we see the values approaching zero. But like a capacitor, the generated energy accumulated within your containment zone, surging to almost 200% before finding an outlet, the only available conduit out of the shielded zone. The pent-up energy surged back through the power grid. The cycle repeated until the power from the barrier drove back into the antimatter power supply, disrupting the electromagnetic field.”

She waited a moment for the information to sink in. “With the magnetic field inside the power module weakened, the antimatter was no longer held captive and reacted with the inside of the sphere.”

“Boom, power gone,” Doug said.

“It all fits,” Iyla said.

“Remember,” Suchet looked at his girls, “no matter how smart you are, there are always things that you will overlook or do not realize should be factored into your formulas and designs. That is why there is strength in numbers, and having brilliant friends is a benefit.”

“Did we damage the facility’s power conductors?” Suchet asked.

“Some terminal damage, but the cupro-silver main conductors are 1 inch by 6 inch, capable of carrying nine times the load you used,” Chris said, “But we need to build more safety, fusing, circuit breakers, monitoring, and disconnect contactors.”

Heads nodded. The team realized they had work to do.

Chris glanced at the clock on the wall. It said 7:00 something, but he didn’t know if it was morning or night.

Doug checked the computer. “It’s 7:00 p.m. Saturday, March 5^th,” he sighed.

“Everyone, we need rest,” Chris said.

They headed for Armonia House.

Chris called Charlotte, “The whiz kids figured it out. We need food and rest before going any further.”

***

“What’s the latest word on Charley?” Doug asked while they were snacking.

“Your mom called and gave an update,” Charlotte said. “They’re doing very well. Since tomorrow is Charlie’s birthday, Joe and Cynthia are going to try to get them out of the clinic for dinner somewhere.” A sly grin crossed Charlotte’s face. “They plan to have a small wedding ceremony here at Armonia House but haven’t set a date.”

They finished the food, relaxed a bit, but their minds were amped, and an urgency hung in the air.

“Are we up for another round in the Silo?” Doug asked.

The vote was unanimous, and a little after 10:30 Saturday night, they returned to the sanctum under the fields.

Doug and Suchet hashed through the power calculations and quickly determined they needed some form of feedback to properly regulate the power.

Chris, Ellie, and the twins worked on assembling three smaller power supplies. Small was relative; each could power five city blocks. It took five hours to activate the units.

The control room and the experiment chamber would have independent power, and the door needed a standalone power source. They pulled the various components from storage. At almost four in the morning, Chris activated the connection on the last module. The control room sprang to life, the new independent power source in place. Doug and Suchet had finished the calculations but still needed a way to gather feedback to regulate the device’s input power.

“Is there some kind of sensor we can use?” Kamna asked.

“Yes, a monitor circuit in line with the power supply.” Chris thought for a bit. “We can measure the RF, reflected frequencies.”

Chris fed the idea to Doug, who sat down to compose a program to modulate the power based on the returning RF signal. Chris sketched the electrical schematics and had the control board assembled in an hour.

Ellie and the twins had returned from the great room, where they had reconnected the field generator.

At 9:00 Sunday morning, exhausted, everyone headed to Armonia House for nourishment and a break.

***

They slept until Charlotte woke them to gather in the living room to make a call to the clinic. Soon they were on a video call, wishing Charlie a happy birthday, and Doug kidding Charley about the extreme efforts he had taken to get out of a little work.

The call was good, and hearing Charley speak clearly was a thrill. They all understood the original diagnosis. More than a few tears fell as the realization hit that Charley was going to be okay.

After devouring supper, the six again headed underground.

***

Sunday evening, Joe had arranged a little dinner party to celebrate Charlie’s birthday at a local restaurant. They maneuvered Charley into a wheelchair, and Joe and Cynthia drove Charlie and Charley to the restaurant. Matt and Ling, along with Charlie’s Mom and Dad, joined them in a private room that Joe had arranged.

Charlie received several gifts and was very grateful for the love and kindness shown to her.

At the end of the meal, the waiters brought in a cake, but it was obvious there were too many candles for Charlie. In fact, there were almost twice as many candles on the cake. Written in white icing was, “Happy Birthday, Ling!”

“Ling,” Joe said, “since you spent your birthday saving Charley. We felt a belated celebration was the least we could do.”

Cynthia pointed out that the cake was Charlie’s idea. The party was a good one, and Ling said that Charley could probably travel starting the following Wednesday. She suggested that medical support be close by and that the Morgans’ going to KC would be ideal.

***

Back in Wichita, Suchet felt good about the latest calculations and design modifications, but he was not going to take any chances. He ordered the main door of the facility locked in the open position and advised Chris that they would only power the molecular binder for 3 seconds on the first attempt, then analyze the data before continuing. No one argued.

For the next six hours, they started and stopped, analyzed and adjusted, and finally, at 6:00 a.m. Monday, May 7th, they had the device operating and stable.

Chris and Suchet took a variety of instruments and proceeded to the great room, intent on reading the magnetic and electrical characteristics. They seemed satisfied that the molecular binder functioned as designed and affected a predetermined area.

“I’m declaring it safe,” Chris radioed to the rest of the crew.

The others came into the room. Doug brought a hammer, and after Suchet and Chris were finished taking readings. He flung it with all his strength at the barrier. Since the barrier was linked to air molecules, it was transparent except for some minor distortions. Doug imagined the hammer would bounce off. It was, therefore, a bit of a surprise when it stuck where it contacted the barrier, almost ten feet above the floor.

Doug wasn’t the only one surprised. Everyone scrambled for things to heave at the invisible wall. After about fifteen minutes, two dozen items hung suspended in midair.

Ellie walked closer, “I can feel the air thickening.”

“It seems to be progressive, at least on this side,” Suchet said.

“Now we need to see what it’s like inside the shield,” Chris added.

“If we position loaves of bread inside, though, and outside where the shield should be, we can tell where it affects things,” Kamna said.

They called Suchet’s wife, and once Pavitra delivered the loaves to the silo, they placed them on the floor and tied them to poles.

Chris was concerned that the shield might affect the information received through the communication cables, so he set up a computer inside the area and connected assorted sensors.

The process took almost ten hours, making it nearly midnight on Monday, May 7th, when they initiated the experiment. Everyone watched their monitors closely, and after twenty minutes, they shut down the experiment. Every indication was that the shield had materialized and maintained itself where predicted.

Iyla took photographs of the bread. A clear pattern emerged, with crushed loaves directly in line with the shield wall. What was interesting was that the compression wall appeared most dense at the interior surface, like a solid shell, and progressively less dense as it extended outward from that point.

The team returned the computer from inside the shield wall to the control room, analyzed the data, and, to all appearances, the environment inside the shield wall was perfectly normal.

“One more time,” Suchet said.

He walked to the Great Room, stood in the center, and instructed Chris to pulse the shield. Suchet noted no effect from the pulse. He instructed Chris to go for five seconds. After five seconds, Suchet advised still no effect from the shield. The next time lasted one minute, and then five minutes, and finally for fifteen minutes. At no time did Suchet feel any abnormal effects associated with the shield. They shut down the systems and left the silo at 4:00 on Tuesday morning.

Ellie and Doug caught a flight at eight in the morning and reported to their classes, exhausted but fulfilled.

***

On Wednesday, Joe drove Charlie and Charley to Kansas City. Harry Morgan rented a car and drove Cynthia and Annabel. They all settled into the Lehman house in Overland Park. Ling had ordered at least another week before either Charley or Charlie tried to go back to the silo. Three days later, Charley walked without the use of crutches or a cane.

***

Friday, May 18th, was a special day. The twins were graduating. It was quite an achievement. They were graduating a year early as valedictorian and salutatorian of their class. There was a full contingent in the stands cheering the girls. Charlotte had promised the girls a party the following night.

The girls invited twenty of their classmates to Armonia House. While the kids partied in the garden, Matt, Chris, Suchet, Charlie, and Charley assessed the status of all the enterprises undertaken that year.

“I’m planning another meeting of Dlrow Wen,” Matt said. “We need more scientists and technicians to help with development and production. I also believed we should soon place a permanent colony on the island.”

“We’re ready to go back,” Charlie said.

That’s a possibility,” Matt said, “but I expect a wedding first.”

***

Ten days later, Suchet, Pavitra, and the twins were on a flight to the South Pacific for a month on the island. Suchet set up advanced labs for manufacturing power supplies and converters. It was the first step in making the island an active production facility.

***

On June 18th, a simple wedding ceremony took place at Armonia House. Charlie and Charley were married in front of their parents, Matt, Ling, Timmy, and the Martin family. They had no plans for a honeymoon because they were going to the most romantic spot they could imagine: the island.

Following the DNA treatment, Charley’s mind had become ever sharper. He conceived several revisions to his original island design, including new ideas for transportation. He and Matt reviewed the changes, and Matt fully supported them. Charlie was now able to grasp tremendous amounts of information, had developed a high level of competency across the technologies, and contributed regularly.

On July 4th, the new Mr. and Mrs. Lehman arrived on the island to find that Suchet and Pavitra were ready to head home, but the twins were begging to stay.

Suchet was firm that the twins needed to go home to start school. He promised a surprise once they returned to Wichita.

***

Once the Kumar family settled back in Wichita, Suchet sprang the surprise on the girls. They had been accepted to Wheatley University, and if they wanted to go, they could live with Doug and Ellie. Excitedly, the two girls started making plans. Suchet reminded them of their commitment to the various projects at the silo and on the island, and he expected those to be addressed.

***

During the next two months, three shipments would arrive on the island. The newlyweds had happily signed on for a five-month stint.

***

Mid July, another meeting of the Council of Dlrow Wen occurred. Others had been solicited, and more people committed to going to the island and helping make it ready for permanent occupation.

They also reported that, in addition to Charley and Charlie, nine others had received the DNA treatment and were responding as expected. Several more signed up for the regenerative DNA, and schedules were set.

Suchet and Chris started back to work on the molecular linking technology. Doug had sent several concepts, including a directional one, like a shield.