Chapter 36

After the tsunami cleanup, after the prescribed period of national mourning, after the investigation into the confiscation of the Flintkote boat absolved him from any violation of Maritime law, Chief petty officer Mahiro Sato was finally at peace to look into the directions for building his portal.

The boat was refurbished at National Expense and returned to the Flintkote family along with the thanks of a grateful nation. The Flintkotes were unstinting with neither labor nor finances.

The directions that Hero Caretaker Ellen gave Mahiro Sato for building the portal:

On a doorframe of glass of sufficient size to step through, the builder is to place thin films of various metals electronically isolated from each other. The layers are to be of gold, aluminum, tin, platinum, copper, and zinc in that order with a final layer to be made of electrum. Passing through the frame with a blue sapphire of sufficient size will send a signal through the ether to the machinery of a distant planet. The machinery will cause the immediate transferal of the individual passing through the frame to the distant planet. (Crossroads Rules. A Story in the Damsels In Distress Universe by Lazlo Zalezac. Copyright© 2005 by Lazlo Zalezac) Directions edited by OMWP to remove ambiguities.)

In the Orient, metal foil is a staple with several art crafts, so Mahiro-san had it easy finding the materials. Insulating the metals? Not so much. The foils must not contact each other. Paper alone won’t do it. In the final analysis, Kapton Tape - 1 Mil thick and stuck to both sides of the paper with silicon adhesive did the trick. To keep out moisture the tape sealed the edges of the perimeter of both inner and outer edges.

The glass cutter commissioned to cut the man sized square in the middle of the single pane of glass might have wondered at the job but careful work produced a a single piece of glass with the required panel.

Assembled and fitted with a fine wood frame was then hung on the back of his bath door. The panel shimmered and Sato could see his reflection as in a mirror. A mirror of high quality but a mirror that gave no idea that it wasn’t solid.