Chapter 13

It was a nice rumble in the sack. We repeated the performance, again, the next morning. After breakfast (down stairs, as I don’t really care for eating in bed), I headed off with my contingent of bodyguards, to my old lab. They set up a perimeter, but I requested that they not enter.

I spent an hour cleaning up the place. Then I logged on and contacted the Alphan’s by instant messenger. Soon, a Vortex appeared, and unloaded a large crate of supplies. Leaving the crate where it was, I opened up a second box that had been shipped, it included a journal made by my other self.

I opened it up at random spots, and began reading:

“My experiment will soon be put to reality, as we are performing the first test, tonight. I have decided that this must be Universe Prime, because there have yet to be any Vortex appearances here, during my life.”

I remembered writing the same in my journal, so I skipped ahead.

“The test was a partial success. Though the resulting energies caused a flash fire in our Vortex room; for just an instant, I could see the shimmering colors of the Vortex. The fire has destroyed the electronics, and cut power. I’m not sure if the Vortex we opened is still there, or if it evaporated disappearing forever.”

What I was reading, didn’t seem right. I had heard of nothing like this happening to the Alphans, so I skipped ahead, to see what else had happened.

“We have managed to create a stable Vortex to another universe. But our control of it is sporadic. We can open it for only a few hours at a time, and it keeps moving in relation to the other universe. We have glimpsed planets and stars, from who knows where in space, but have yet been unable to hold it still. We have not been able to focus on Earth, or the alien spacecraft. Months have gone by since our initial experiments, and now we have reports of a second ship coming in, as well. I continually ask myself if this is the end, or the beginning of a new hope for humanity?”

I found this fascinating, and couldn’t seem to pull myself away. The phone was ringing, and finally I answered it.

“Hello, Hello,” I said.

“Hi, TJ. It’s George. I have those students you wanted. They’ve all signed on as university employees, and realize that they will be receiving full course credit for their work with you. I have them heading over to your lab site, and they should be there in another hour.”

“That’s great, George. Having them as university employees will be great. I will give them a stipend as employees from my company, to make up their full wage, and reimburse the University.”

“Very good. I like the idea of keeping these guys attached to the university. It’s going to bring us some major prestige, when we are the only place offering stasis technology as a course. They are all grad students (who are looking to get their doctorates), and a few are hoping to become professors, here.”

“I’ll do what I can to help them. You do have me off the schedule for teaching, during the upcoming semester, right?”

“Sure do, took you right off the schedule, as soon as your recall orders were sent to us.”

“Great, I guess that really does make it official.”

“Congratulations, by the way. I’ve been asked about renaming a building here at the campus after you, once you get your Medal.”

“If you must, I would forgive you, eventually.”

“It won’t be right away. These things take at least two years.”

“Great. I have a hard enough time believing the publicity that this has caused me.”

“Did you hear that The Enquirer was offering a million dollars for your location?”

“Yes. Piece of trash magazine. I also heard that People Magazine, and USA Today have all matched the offer.”

“Didn’t hear about that. Well, good luck avoiding the media, is all I can say.”

“George? I was just thinking. How about you line up interviews with those three first, and take the reward, for the University.”

“Sounds great, will do.”

“Good talking to you, George. Remember to give me a few days notice, before those interviews.”

“Will do, TJ. Have good day.”

I was pretty stoked that I had been able to do so much for the University. It always was running short of funds. Mainly because it was always funding it’s brightest students education, experiments, and research.

I went back to reading my old journal.

“I have finally licked the location problem. The newest Vortex we have created (after closing and sealing the first) leads straight to Earth. Now I have to figure out how to move it. Getting it stopped has prove difficult enough. But to move it the way I want is going to take time, and perseverance, and maybe just a little luck.”

I skipped forward a few pages, past equations and diagrams.

“With the Vortex finally at our command, we are able to move it to the alien craft. Teams have traveled to the nearest ship, but have reported no living creatures. Is this a robotic probe, sent out to make interstellar contact? Our teams have only traveled along the outside of the craft, looking for a way inside. I think that they hold the record for the humans farthest from home, as the craft is still some distance away.

“Newest calculations show it reaching a polar orbit in the next few weeks. I hope that by then we have access to this craft, and are able to learn some of their secrets. The General here, has me working on a Vortex that can reach farther back in time. The first Vortex, as well as this one, reaches back only a few seconds.”

Again, I flipped forward. I was wondering, still, how this could be. If we were Gamma, then these other Vortex’s didn’t make any sense.

“I seem to have licked the time/distance problem. Bruce helped with this one. He really is great at this, when he stops drooling over Sandy. The two of them are so hot and heavy lately. It’s not surprising. I guess I would be pretty smitten too, if she hadn’t kneed me in the crotch, for my teasing.”

I stopped there, in total shock. I could see how this other universe had played out. I was thankful that I was the one in Sandy’s life, and not Bruce. But I wondered if that meant that the Alphan Bruce I had talked to with the instant messenger, was the same one who had been screwing the Alphan Sandy? I knew that her Alphan version was dead; but I never thought about what that really meant, because my Alphan version was dead, too.

The journal continued.

“The General has ordered an expeditionary force of tanks to move through the Vortex. They are travelling about one thousand years back in time. I am excited about seeing the effects of this travel, and curious about the General putting these people in so much danger. I happened to overhear a soldier talking about how half of the scouts traveling to the spaceship have gone brain dead.”

I knew the reason for that. It was in some of the first information that the Alphan’s taught us. The brain stores information by means of quantum states, at the edge of neurons. When you travel through a Vortex; the fabric of space that your atoms are normally connected to, leave that fabric behind, and reattach to the new fabric of the universe you are stepping into. It seemed to be a random fifty-fifty chance, if you went to a time where you already existed, if your brain would reattach to the same quantum fabric as your other self. If it doesn’t, you go brain dead. If it does, your other self goes brain dead. And brain dead, means totally dead, very quickly.

I skipped forward to the event of the big expedition.

“Today five hundred men died. I sent them through at the order of the General. The men went through first to secure the area, followed by several tanks, and a couple of supply trucks. They were reporting back through the radio that no men were feeling any side effects from Vortexing through, just as Sandy and Bruce hypothesized.

“Just as the first tank started to make its way through, the Vortex began to wobble and shimmer, uncontrollably. There was a blast of radiation and fire from the Vortex, and it closed. It did more than close, it simply was destroyed. I have used every tool here on the base, and can find no trace of it. I can still find a trace of that original Vortex, but nothing from the expedition to our second.”

Poor bastards. Killed in a universe implosion. I knew they probably didn’t suffer much, as their universe was destroyed by the mass imbalance. That wouldn’t happen now. We had a transparent Vortex that allowed the fabric of the universes to ebb and flow through it. As long as it functioned, any amount of mass could move through the Vortex. I went back to reading, feeling slightly sick to my stomach.

“I have several theories, but the General seems to like Bruce’s. That it was all the metal that we sent through in the form of the large tank. Sandy agrees with me, saying that it is the large amounts of mass. I have proposed another experiment, where we send large blocks of stone through the Vortex. We calculate to see how much mass can go through the Vortex, until it begins to show signs of instability.

“The General has approved it, and we have the rocks coming in, on Tuesday.”

I flipped forward to the journal notes for that day.

“I was right, it was the amount of mass. We sent through a five man team, first to secure the area, then began tossing the rocks through. After about five thousand pounds the Vortex began to wobble, and become unstable. I radioed through to the men, and they began to toss the rocks back. As they did the Vortex again stabilized. I have set the safety limit of mass through the Vortex at four thousand pounds.

“The General was unhappy with this, until I explained that putting an equal amount of weight back through, stabilized the Vortex. Then more could be sent. He immediately ordered that we disassemble some large earth moving equipment. His plan was that we could exchange dirt, for material and supplies. The five man team passed all the rocks back through the Vortex, and we sent them back through with supplies to set up camp. They were to start to look for material that could easily be moved back through the Vortex, until the backhoe was transferred.”

A novel idea. I was impressed with them, for thinking of such an idea. But I realized it had serious problems. From my own experience, I realized it would be easier to pump water back through, to balance the mass exchange. I wondered why my counterpart did not mention the idea.

As I was mulling this over, my new team arrived. I went outside, and greeted them. After handshakes, and protestations of my supposed greatness, and thanks for saving the Earth; I finally told them to ‘can’ the praise.

Leaving my security team outside, I took the group in. I showed them the computer, and explained to them that we were unable to talk about what was going on, until after we made a trip to the new lab.

I typed in instructions, and moved toward one wall of the building. A Vortex opened up behind me, and I spoke over the surprised shouts my new crew made.

“OK, guys! Everybody through the Vortex! Then go on through the next one you see, on the other side,” I told them.

They responded quickly. Soon, they had all moved through. I followed them to my new complex. As I passed through the Alphan universe, I again received a small package from a military officer, standing guard over the Vortex passage. I returned his salute, as he snapped his heels and came to attention.

Coming through, I found my group arranged in a small half circle, awaiting my arrival. The Vortex closed behind me, and I began my little speech.

“Ladies, and Gentleman. As you know, you have been assigned to work here, under supervision of the University. What you do not know is that you will also be considered employees of my new company: Unbreakable Bolts. I will be teaching you everything I know about stasis technology. We will be working on building both robotic stasis manufacturing, as well as building special order parts for various contracts, mostly for the government.

“Now, as my employees, all of you will be receiving an automatic salary of one hundred thousand dollars per year. You will also receive bonuses, based on creative thinking, as well as bonuses for creative work. Creativity is important here, as we will be creating the foundation of what is sure to become the most important industry on Earth.”

They were taken aback by my offer of money, as I had expected. They all thought they were simply going to receive typical university salary. Though not much, it would keep them in school.

“Now, first things first. I’m going to show you what stasis is, how it is created, and how to destroy it. Then I’m going to break you up into groups, and have you all work on a single project.”

I lead them over to a demonstration work table, where I had arranged for a basic stasis unit to be set up.

“This is a basic unit. Using eight micro gravity wave generators, tuned to a harmonic frequency, it alters the fabric of space. It creates an object that is outside all our dimensions, including time. Everything inside stops aging, and moving. The result is that from the outside, it appears to have been turned into a very shiny box.

“Now, it doesn’t take eight generators. It can also be done with two, or fifteen, or any number larger than one. Who, here, can tell me why I am using eight?”

I was in my element, teaching these bright young kids.

I pointed at one of them, and he answered.

“It takes eight, because your going to make a box. You needed one generator for every side.”

“Close,” I told him. “Boxes have six sides. Anyone else think they know?” I asked smiling at his mistake.

“It has eight corners,” someone piped up.

“Very good, one generator for every corner. Now, look, as I set this clock in the stasis field generation compartment. Notice the time.”

They all strained to see the old hand wound clock, ticking away.

“I’m going to put it in stasis, and I want you to watch what happens,” I said, reaching over to flick the switch to ‘on’.

There was a hum of power, and with a soundless pop, the clock was encased in a shiny, hyper reflective box. And of course, the box started to float up, and away from the generator.

“Two important things to note, here,” I told them.

“Any guesses as to what they are?” I said.

“It doesn’t take any electricity to keep it in stasis,” someone from the back shouted.

“It’s really reflective,” someone else said.

“It floats?” someone asked.

“Very good. Three very good observations. We’ll get to the reflectivity, in a moment. First, the power issue,” I said, praising them.

“It only needs power to be turned into a stasis form. It will need the same amount of power, for the stasis material to be returned to the normal fabric of space. Now, when it is in stasis, it is outside the bounds of physics and our universe. It’s reflective because nothing can pass through it, so everything must be reflected off of it. Everything except gravity waves, they continue to pass through a stasis field.

“Secondly, it floats. Now, stasis always float, no exceptions. Who has a guess as to why?” I asked, after laying the groundwork.

“Because if the laws of physics don’t exist inside, then it has no law governing its mass, or how that mass must work.” piped up one of the theoretical physicists I had requested.

“Very good. In fact; items in stasis, or just the stasis container itself has no mass at all. If you have no mass then that means you also have no ... what?”

Three different answers came from the group, “Inertia, Weight, Specific Gravity.”

“Who said: ‘Specific Gravity’?” I asked.

One in the back, raised her hand. I motioned her to come forward.

“Very good, you are right. I hadn’t thought about that consequence, before. The rest of you are correct, as well. Now who can tell me why it floats?

The same girl spoke up again, emboldened by my praise.

“If you displace water or air, then you are buoyed by force of the displaced medium. The lifting force, is equal to the weight of the volume of the medium being displaced.”

“Excellent. Air, at sea level, weighs 1.22 grams per liter. So take that into consideration, when creating large stasis objects,” I said, holding onto the box with the clock in it.

“Now, we are going to remove the clock from stasis. It is done with this device. It is also a micro gravity wave generator. It only has to come in physical contact with the item in stasis. It does not have to surround the area, as does the stasis generator.”

I attached it with a small suction cup, plugged it in, waited for the capacitor to charge, and hit the switch. The stasis field vanished, and the clock dropped onto the worktable.

“You’ll notice that the time has not changed on the clock? Also you may have noticed a brief visual distortion. The light waves traveling around the clock, were released, still moving in the same relative direction. In essence, it was like a momentary picture.

“Now, the project I have for you, is to join two stasis objects together. Behind me, are four tables. Divide up, as evenly as you can. On each table is a stasis generator, a stasis dissolver, and eight or nine stasis generation rods.

“The rods are made of copper, and attach to the generator’s output wires. You can mix and match them, as you please. Also included, are some clamps and suction cups, so you can hold your objects in place. The generation point is from the end tip of the rod, so be careful not to get anybody parts caught inside. If you do, you will lose them.” I said, grimly.

“My table here, has a large mirror over it. You can watch, as I demonstrate some aspects of stasis generation. Then you can attempt it, yourself.”

I went over to my table, as they broke apart into four groups. I swiveled the mirror so it would reflect the top of my table, and began to connect the rods to the wires from the gravity wave generator. I watched as they did the same.