Evacuation (The Seamus Chronicles Book 2) (8 page)

Even Liam managed to make it to the morning meeting today. For all his ruggedness, he is kind of soft. While he would be happy to lie in a puddle of mud for three hours hunting a wild boar, he can’t stop fussing about a tiny bit of not even visible chafing from the crutches. I will never understand how his mind works. Still, it’s good to have him back on his feet.

One of the major tasks in the response protocol was to collect samples of a wide variety of life forms. The goal is to basically build seedling starter packs so plants can grow as soon as life can return to Earth. There are a number of natural history museums in the United States and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway, but we won’t have access to them. I guess we can leave a note for future generations so they can find these depositories. The starter packs go into a lead-lined box whose lid will open based on Geiger counter readings.

William and the girls have done amazing work. Not only have they begun construction on the box and collected a bunch of samples, but they are also duplicating everything. At first I didn’t understand the need for redundancy, but William explained it this morning. The duplicate set of samples is coming with us. If we get to a planet that can support life but is barren, he wants to be able to use a seedling starter pack. I had never thought about growing food on a distant planet, but I’m really glad they did. 

“With Liam hobbled, he has been helping research the launch process for our nuclear warheads. He’s been able to get access to a number of documents and we have an excellent idea of how to launch the warheads,” Randy says, serious but relaxed. “We are currently working to locate the warheads.”

Liam surprises me yet again. I have been visiting him regularly and know that there was a computer with him, but I thought that he was playing video games. In one sense, his brain works well for doing research. Every path has the potential for success; if he has the idea, it’s possible that someone else had it as well. I’m glad, for him and us, that he is able to help in ways other than taking out the trash and carrying heavy things.

Naturally I consider our update the most exciting. We have been getting great results from our simulation environment and are getting ready to conduct a real-world test. The power pack that Cassandra built is being modified with a Tantalum cage. The cage will be crude and the test small-scale, but it is still exciting. For the first time in history, humans will safely manipulate time-space on purpose. At least that’s what I am hoping for.

It’s frustrating to me that the others are not duly excited. Coming up with the formula and simulation environment would have been worth a Nobel Prize. Actual implementation of the concept would create an immediate World Heritage site. But today it’s just a minor status update. I always claimed to be in it for the science and not the acknowledgment, I guess it’s time to prove that.

With the meeting adjourned, I wait quietly in the hallway. My hope is that Sofie will come out alone and we can arrange a time and place to meet this afternoon. For a flash of an instant, I am deeply concerned about the risk we are all taking. What if my warp drive fails? What if I kill us all? But then I see the physics and my formula comes to life, and I know I am right and the warp is going to happen.              

“Seamus, can I ask you about the electron gate?” Cassandra says, speaking to me from the door of the lab.

“Sure.” My not-quite-girlfriend has me wanting to wait, but I still have to make warp drive a reality.

“The failure case we are going off of to create the warp drive is based on the lack of an electron gate. Should I remove the gate from my power pack to reproduce that situation?” she asks. She is at the workbench, ready to remove the electron gate.

“Cassandra, I don’t understand how to work with you.” I take a seat on a stool near the workbench. “We have similar IQ’s but you have so much education and experience with real-world science. I technically never graduated high school,” I say.

“I thought this is what you wanted from me.” She’s looking at me with distress in her eyes. “I can see how brilliant you are. Sometimes I don’t like it, but I know this is my opportunity to work for someone incredibly unique. I was always praised for asking questions. I had a professor when I was 12 who said, ‘The confidence to ask questions is what separates the genius from the merely intelligent.’”

“Thank you, but you should be working
with
me, not for me,” I say. I’m not sure what my point really is or how to make it.

“My first grad assistant was thirty. I was seventeen.” She has a smile at the memory. “He hated me and I hated him. I wanted him to be smarter and he wanted me to show more respect for his age,” she says. “I don’t hate you and I feel like you have come to respect me. But I cannot get smarter.”

“You are plenty smart enough.” This is a fact, not patronizing. “It’s just that you are very structured. I need you to have an original crazy thought every now and again.”

“From the time I was eight, I have been tested and taught things. ‘Directed learning’ is what my mother called it.” This is not a memory that solicits a smile. “I have always been challenged to solve problems or help out with projects. There was never an opportunity for me to experience creativity.”

“Well, this is your opportunity.” I don’t feel enough like leader to boldly make this statement but I’m glad that I get to eek it out. “Don’t ask me about the electron gate. Work through the options and then make a decision. It’s okay to be wrong. If we want to trade quotes, my Dad always said, ‘If you don’t make a mistake, you’re not really trying.’”

“I’m going to leave the electron gate on. If we control the flow of electrons, we may be able to control the size of the inflection.” She’s made a decision and I think it’s the right one.

We transition to work quickly. Because of the complexities of welding Tantalum, we need to make the cage with a crude crisscross of wires that are not fastened together where they intersect. Our simulation environment was very precise; our actual implementation, not so much. I hope that wire instability or fluctuation in the spacing between the wires does not cause a catastrophic failure.

In addition to my concerns about the cage, I have never tested my electron gate design at the upper tolerance levels. Asking the gate to throttle back from full open may not work the way I hope it does. The failure case for full open could be a complete warp followed by an explosive return. Imagine a rubber band being stretched to its limits and then being let go—let’s just say that the energy being released would not go unnoticed.

While not fast, the work goes smoothly. Cassandra and I had achieved a similar level of harmony during construction of the first power pack. I wonder what we could have achieved together if the virus hadn’t been unleashed. Regardless, our test will be conducted as planned. I need to keep my focus on the positive and visualize success.

“I need to make a minor update to the controller logic,” I say as I leave the workbench.

“A simple timer subroutine should let us automate the ramp up and cycle down so that we can be a safe distance away,” she says, and surprises me a little by completing my thought. “Can you imagine the energy released by time-space snapping back into place?” Cassandra is shaking her head at the thought.

“I wonder if it would be enough to dislodge Earth from its place on the continuum?” My mind is starting to race through the possibilities.

“Save that for another time. We’re good to go.” She knows how I can get distracted, and I am grateful for her keeping me on task. “Are you thinking about the end of the runway?”

“Yeah, that’s perfect.” I wasn’t thinking that, but it makes sense, so let’s just roll with it. “I can actually finish the timing subroutine while we drive.”

Cassandra carries the modified reactor and I have the laptop. We head out to my Maserati and somewhat unceremoniously place the first-ever warp drive in the back seat. I need to write a few lines of code, so I climb in the passenger seat while she gets behind the wheel.

At the end of the runway, we park next to Liam’s disabled Land Rover. There is not a lot to set up, but I want to make sure the drive unit is on stable footing. Just because there are no mechanical components does not mean that vibrations will not occur. After checking and double-checking the setup, I hear the rumble of a plane in the distance. It is several miles out and I think we can run the test before it gets here.

“I’m gonna let her rip,” I say to Cassandra excitedly.

“Hold on.” Cassandra is not impressed with my speed. “How long of a delay did you give us? Where are we going to stand? Shouldn’t we wait until the plane lands?”

“I gave us thirty seconds. Why don’t you move the Maserati back to what you think is a safe distance, I’ll hit the start button and run back to meet you.” I can’t believe she can think of anything other than trying this out.

“And your father? He’s not exactly a seasoned aviator. You can’t warp time-space while he’s trying to land and expect nothing to happen,” she says, and she is calm and completely in control of her emotions.

I know she’s right. This is part of the growing up I need to do. If I could have exhibited this level of control when developing my power pack, it would have been done years sooner. But a kid on Christmas seems bored compared to how excited I am. Deep breaths time.

“You’re right. We should wait until he passes,” I say, and walk to stand quietly next to the drive unit. Cassandra gets in the Maserati and moves it 50 feet down the runway.

As the C-130 transport passes overhead, I wave up to my Dad and press the enter key, engaging the sequence. Then, suddenly afraid, I run like hell to Cassandra and the Maserati.

“I kissed Cassandra,” I say. This is not a good way to start a conversation with someone you consider your girlfriend.

“Really?” Sofie flashes a brief, fake smile.

“It wasn’t romantic.” I wish it were clear how much I regret this. “It didn’t mean anything, it just sort of happened when the test went well.”

“Well, it’s been over six months since you kissed me,” she says. She sounds hurt-mad. “I guess that didn’t mean anything either.”

Maybe I should kiss her now and this will be all over? I’d probably get slapped and make it even worse.

“I wasn’t sure you remembered.” Maybe I can get away with being a naive nerd.

“Oh, nice try,” Sofie says. She has heard plenty of lines in her life. “Even if I didn’t remember, you should know I would be upset about you kissing someone else.”

“I’ve never had a girlfriend before.” This is true but I’m not sure how it bears on the conversation.

“So what?!” Her face is bright and angry. “Not kissing other girls is not hard to figure out. Especially if you’re a genius!”

“You’re right and I’m so sorry,” I say. I think she just acknowledged that she’s my girlfriend. “We could actually see the inflection in the time-space fabric. My theory was right and we’re going to be able to get off the planet. It was so exciting and such a relief that I hugged her.”

“So you started it.” Sofie has her hands on her hips in a defiant stance. “Funny, I didn’t think there was supposed to be hugging in science. Cold hard facts and everything.”

“We had just accomplished something incredible,” I say. I can’t believe she’s focused on the kiss and not the fact that we warped time-space. “I got caught in the moment; it will never happen again.”

How long do these fights drag on? I made a mistake, acknowledged it and she’s mad. That’s fine, but I hope we don’t keep rehashing this all night. I want to go back to the lab and work on the big version of our device. If things go well, we can do another test tomorrow with a significantly larger field.

“Well then I guess you won’t be kissing anyone for a long time then,” Sofie says, and storms off.

Am I supposed to follow her? I kind of don’t want to get yelled at anymore. It feels like if she cools down a little bit and I don’t kiss Cassandra again, we can get past this. But what do I know? She may be thinking that if I don’t follow her it means I like Cassandra more. Or if I do follow her it might mean I don’t listen to her and she won’t think the same of me. This is so hard.

My heart is racing and I’m full of adrenaline. I might as well put it to good use in the lab and start construction of the full-scale warp unit. We have all the components and our test showed that we can get by with the crude implementation if the tantalum cage. If I work through the night, I’ll be able to get about half of it done before Cassandra wakes up.

What do I do when Cassandra comes into the lab? Do I have to leave? That simply will not work; we have been working together well and if we are going to get off the planet and survive we need to keep working together. We can’t afford to have things get weird between Cassandra and me.

This will be the third working version of my reactor. One could argue that the second version, built by Cassandra, was a major upgrade from the original. This third version will be a minor upgrade from hers. I’ve come up with some changes for the electron gate controller and efficiency in the field generator. The changes may not be noticeable, but they do make it better.     

I wonder where Sofie went after storming off? Did she go find Grace? Can Grace really be considered objective about me? I’m sure Grace would stand up for me, wouldn’t she? ARRRGGGH. Why is it that when I’m with Sofie all I can think about is my latest invention, and when I am trying to work, all I can think about is Sofie? It isn’t just tonight either. It happened the other day sitting on the grass with her, too.

What was it then? ‘How close is ‘just right’?’ Why did that make me think about the warp drive?

Because we may wind up being a million miles off on our measure of how far away the habitable planet really is. We’ll need the solar sail to close the distance if we get close but not close enough. Last time I had this thought, Cassandra was updating the simulation environment and we didn’t talk about it. Now I should probably wait until the full-scale warp unit is complete.

The containment field generator is old technology to me. While I work on building it, my subconscious is actively trying to figure out details around dealing with the acceleration from engaging the solar sail. I have to find some synergy between the warp unit and the solar sail. If I can get them to work in concert, there will be less of a chance for getting stranded part of the way to a target planet.

The time goes by quickly. I like the combination of working on something with my hands and figuring out something else with my brain. Making conceptual and physical progress is the most fulfilling thing I can think of. Today’s morning meeting will be fun; there is a lot of good news to share. Except that I’ll have to see Sofie.

Our new world is so undefined that I’m not sure what the end game is with Sofie. Is marriage even something we will do now? There is no prom or homecoming dance to ask her to. There are no major corporations making sure we don’t miss Valentine’s Day. Are we supposed to just get together and see how long it lasts?

Cassandra comes into the lab about an hour before the morning meeting. She is glowing and bubbly, at least as much as she can be. If I have to deal with her emotions too, I might snap. There is no way she can think that our kiss meant something. Or maybe the bounce in her step means she is in love with me? I better excuse myself; we can put this off until after the meeting.

“Where are you going?” Cassandra asks, trying her best to maintain a neutral face. “Who should do the talking at the meeting this morning?”

“Why don’t you do it?” This doesn’t need to be debated. “I really don’t care and I’ve been up all night working on the full-scale drive unit.”

“You’ve made awesome progress. Thank you,” she says. Now she’s smiling even more.

“Listen, Cassandra.” I’ve never had to let a girl down before, easy or otherwise. I can’t afford to screw this up though. “When we kissed yesterday, that was...” How do I finish this?

“A mistake?” She is ready to help. “I’m sorry, too. I know that you and Sofie are close and I wasn’t trying to do anything sinister. I won’t say it wasn’t nice, but it was just a spur of the moment reaction. It won’t happen again.”

“Thank you.” It may be that I’m so tired, but this feels like a huge relief.

“Now fill me in on the progress you’ve made,” she says. Cassandra is back at the workbench ready to get going. “I feel like I’m going to lose you shortly after the meeting and I want to make sure I can pick up where you left off.”

The hour we spend in debriefing goes by quickly. Grace let us know the meeting was starting about five minutes ago and we are the last ones to enter the room. Except for Sofie. William lets us know that she will not be joining us. One of the kids is throwing up and she has agreed to stay with him while he’s not feeling well.

It turns out that the plane landing yesterday was not just Dad practicing touch-and-go’s but actually returning from Antarctica. I have been so wrapped up in building the warp unit that I didn’t know Dad left, let alone that he had been gone for almost three days. I’m a little surprised that none of them wanted to attend the morning meeting.

“The team from McMurdo has requested to be quarantined,” Mom says, kicking things off by answering a question that must have been brought to her before the meeting. “Paddrick has a list of items  they require for creating a test for the sore loser virus. Not surprisingly, this team is a jackpot of good people. There are at least four pilots and two medical doctors. All of them are scientists, inventors and survivors. We’ll give them time, but soon they will all join in and lend a hand where it makes sense.”

After that, the meeting is eerily efficient. Forty-five minutes to update half the population of Earth on our progress toward cataloging seeds, developing warp drive and destroying the planet. If this were an old government department, we wouldn’t even be able to get agreement on the time of the meeting, let alone make this much progress.

There continues to be indifference to our success in developing warp drive. It is noted, however, that based on our excellent progress, the need for the space plane is growing. In a matter of days, we’ll be able to begin the process of preparing a manned craft for completing a warp jump. Dad has noted that he is comfortable with flying and is willing to ferry the experimental craft here. He hopes to be ready to leave in the next two to three days, but drops a cryptic comment about discussing the schedule offline.

After the meeting, I return to the lab with Cassandra. I bark at her over moving my cup of coffee and she does not like it. I know that I’m not really mad at her. My frustration comes from not seeing Sofie this morning and my exhaustion. 

“You need to lay down and sleep before you mess everything up,” Cassandra says. She is not going to let me continue working. I wonder if she is referring to the warp unit or my relationships with her and with Sofie. Doesn’t really matter.

Without a word, I walk over to a corner of the lab, grab a sweatshirt and then lay down on the floor. The sweatshirt is rolled up to resemble a pillow and I am asleep before I can even think about how uncomfortable I am.

My dream is terrifying; I desperately want to wake up. We’ve completed a warp jump but Sofie is stuck on the other side. In an effort to keep the warp open too long, we cause a tear in the fabric of time-space. I must spend eternity seeing Sofie but not being able to speak to her or touch her. The subtext of the dream is clear, but that doesn’t help me. Waking up and getting back to work; that would help me.

“Wake up, sleepy head.” Cassandra is roughly shaking my arm. “If you can get it in gear, we can run a test before dark.”

Groggily, I rise to my feet. I guess she has completed the warp unit. My estimate had been about 24 hours to build a new power pack. Incorporating the elements to create a warp drive did not add significantly to that projection. Between my 11 hours last night and nine from Cassandra today, it seems like we were able to get one built in 20 hours.

“This is a little bigger than the last one. Would you mind carrying it down to the car?” Cassandra has the laptop and is already headed out the door.

I grab the warp unit and follow her. The late afternoon sky is red and the darkness is coming quickly. We had better hurry, so I pick up my pace. At the Maserati, Cassandra climbs into the passenger seat and I pop the trunk. The warp unit is about the size of a medium suitcase and fits nicely inside. Once I’m in the driver seat, I start the car and stomp on the accelerator. I can’t wait for this test to begin. It is a recent development, but I love driving fast.

At the end of the runway, I pull up next to Liam’s Land Rover again. This time I don’t bother to kill the engine. I hop out and unload the power pack while Cassandra climbs out of her seat. Then I move the car about 50 feet down the runway and jog back to join Cassandra at the warp unit. She has connected the laptop and is starting the data loggers so that we can record all the information.

“If this works, we can start planning for a warp jump tomorrow!” I am so excited. How could this not work? It is simply a larger version of something that we know works.

“Slow down. Let’s say
when
this works and not
if
, but let’s wait until it has actually worked before we start planning next steps.” Cassandra seems almost as giddy as I am but she keeps her head a little better.

“Come on! Hit enter! Let’s get warped!” This doesn’t sound like me or feel like me. I’m in a state of euphoria. In moments we could be standing 100 feet from another galaxy.

“There. Warp will begin in 30 seconds,” Cassandra says, grinning broadly.

This time we walk back to the car. There is no mad dash, no fear of the unknown. We are both so confident that we stop about 10 feet short of the car and turn to watch. There is a soft blue glow as the warp unit starts up and begins passing electrons.

There is a brilliant flash followed by an explosion so forceful we are both knocked to the ground. As I begin to blackout, I realize that the last sound I hear is the windows of the Maserati shattering.