Zeta Disconnect: Leap (chapter 8)

16 August 2032, 1906 GMT / University of Sydney, Australia

The ‘New Science’ building was a five story building with a large courtyard, situated at the south end of Victoria Park, across from the end of Cleveland Street. ‘New Science’ was not the name on the plaque on the front stairs, but the students had their own names for most of the buildings, and they usually caught on. Even the campus maps, now call it ‘New Science’, rather than let students get lost.

Craig used the Northwest exit from the building, over a hundred students in tow behind him. Some of them were speaking in excited, hushed tones, many of them were wondering aloud how everyone was going to fit into Doctor Zangski’s lab. Not far away, Craig saw the Quantum Research building, where it sat nestled in the small space created where University Place met Parramatta Road. It was a tall narrow building with mirrored windows, and a giant concrete loop decorating the roof. Craig always thought it an ugly building. It wasn’t even a proper rectangle; it was shaped to fit the space it was built in. It looked very little like the rest of the campus buildings, and was set away from them visually, like it was being shunned by the rest of the architecture at the party.

“Doctor Richards,” a student called out to him from the group. He waited for the student to continue, without turning. “It that a particle accelerator there on the roof?”

Craig smiled to himself at the question, “No, that’s an ugly lump of concrete; our only particle accelerator is in the basement of the building we just left”

“Oh,” the student sounded disappointed.

As the group approached the front stairs of the Quantum Research building, Jonathan came out to meet them. His coat was bright in the August sun, and whipped around him as he stood on the steps, hands on his hips. Craig found it a very comical pose, especially with the thick glasses, and bush mustache. He resembled a young, trim, Groucho Marx in a white cape. A few of the female students giggled, but Craig couldn’t tell if they were making fun of Jonathan or if they were attracted to him. Young women seemed to be attracted strange things in young men lately, or perhaps they always were, and he was finally old enough to notice. For his own part, Craig grinned and tried to make light of the obvious space issue, “Doctor Zangski, your audience has arrived”, he gestured with one hand toward the large class, “Now, where will you put them?”

“I have just the place,” Jonathan smiled, “I had some of the grad students move all of the equipment up to the observation lab on the fifth floor.”

“That equipment is delicate,” Craig admonished, “I hope that whatever you have to show me will still work after being jostled up the elevator.”

“Come on, they should be done setting it back up by the time your students are settled into the viewing area.”

—–

As Craig and Jonathan entered the observation lab, Jonathan pressed a small toggle on the wall, and watched as the glass around the sunken lab retracted into the ceiling, allowing the students in the seats above to hear him without using the speaker system. When he spoke however, he addressed Craig Directly, “This morning, I discovered what was causing all of the physical matter that we send through the tunnel to be converted to radiation energy.”

Craig heard some of the students shift in their seats, and some mumbling began. He forced himself to be skeptical, so that he wouldn’t get too excited, “It just came to you?” he asked raising an eyebrow, “I didn’t even know hat you were working on that problem. Kilgore has been leading that research for almost fifteen years, and I would have heard if he had pulled you onto his team.”

“I know it’s strange. I was working on my logs when I found that I had accidentally thrown away a record that I needed from yesterday’s particle transmission. I had to go out to the dumpster to find it. Well, I never did find the record I needed, but I did find this interesting document that the Astronomy lab had thrown out, and I was thinking about it while I showered, and-”

Craig raised a hand to cut him off. “I don’t need to hear about your post-garbage shower, just tell me what you came up with.”

“It was the RE Inhibiter!” Jonathan blurted out. “As a side-effect, it seems to be emitting a strong beam of a very specific frequency of gamma rays, right into the center of the tunnel. Once I figured out that these rays were causing the matter disbandment, I simply hooked a very strong electromagnetic generator to the ring, and used it to pull the Gamma radiation toward the edge of the ring. That’s why the tunnel has this strange twisting look, now.

“It is odd.” Craig agreed, glancing at the twisting tunnel. The ring that was creating the tunnel was about 2 feet across, and suspended on its side, above a steel table by two aluminum arms. They had created larger ones, some big enough to drive a truck through, but most of their experiments were done with these small versions. The tunnel itself was pearlescent, as always, but now it had a strange optical quality. It was almost like it was spinning, but it wasn’t spinning at the same time. He had to force himself to look away. He glanced up at the students in the audience area. He saw that some of them were also starring at the tunnel, transfixed. He turned back to Jonathan, still skeptical. “Show me,” he said simply.

In response Jonathan reached over to a small control panel, and turned a dial. Then, from his pocket, he produced a well used yellow pencil with a new-looking eraser. He held the pencil out over the tunnel, and dropped it. The pencil disappeared into the space inside the ring. Several very quiet seconds passed before the pencil clattered to the table below.

Craig was astonished. Amazed. It worked. Jonathan was right, and it really worked.

Jonathan, however, didn’t look pleased, “That’s odd,” he said, “The settings should have only sent it ahead one second.”

Craig smiled, “Details, Jonathan. That can be worked out later! You did it!” he was almost yelling in his exuberance, “Don’t you see? We can finally get started! Our real work can finally begin!”

He reached out and grabbed Jonathan by the shoulders, pulling him in for a sudden and unexpected embrace. Craig was uncharacteristically crying into Jonathan’s stunned shoulder. He was not prone to sudden outbursts of emotion. He had been waiting so long for this to work. As Craig broke the embrace, he heard the students up in the observation area begin to clap.

Look for the next chapter of Zeta Disconnet: Part 2 next week on Short-Media. In the meantime, comment on this chapter in our forums.