Chapter 1

A new age of civilization was given birth on live television.

"Live from Studio 1A on Rockefeller Plaza! This is Matt Lauer and Katie Curac. Today we have a world exclusive interview and demonstration by Troy Blackdeer. His discovery and inventions will shake the world like the discoveries of electricity and magnetism once did. After these messages, Katie will begin with a demonstration you have simply got to see, to believe."

After paying the network's bills, the camera brought Katie's smiling face to a close up. Then it panned back to take in a stage with several covered devices, and a balding middle-aged man.

"Good morning. Today is February fourth 2006, and it is my honor to introduce Troy Blackdeer," Katie began, and then turning to Troy, simply stopped and said, "I don't know where to begin, Troy. Why don't you tell the world what you have for us, here, today?"

The camera zoomed in for a close up of the square jawed, powerfully built, smiling face. The world was seeing for the first of many times. Balding, with his long black hair pulled back in a ponytail, his brown skinned face grew more serious. He began to speak in deep modulated tones.

"Well, Katie, I've found that no one will believe my words until they see a demonstration, anyway. I've decided to start with a brief demonstration, first. Then maybe I'll have everybody's attention."

With that, he stood so swiftly that the camera couldn't keep him in the picture. The camera crew quickly panned back to take in the whole set.

Walking over to a table, Troy picked up two belts, each with two disks attached, one on each side. He then motioned Katie over, handed her a belt, and strapped the other belt on his own waist.

Troy reached down to the dial in the front of the belt, looked to Katie to see that she was ready, and they both turned their dials clockwise, a full turn. Suddenly, both Troy and Katie pushed off the floor, and drifted slowly towards the ceiling.

"Katie, how does it feel to be weightless?" Troy asked with a huge grin.

He pushed off the ceiling with a hand, and imparted a slow rotation to his decent.

"What you are seeing is the first public demonstration of the technology based upon my discovery. This is a personal gravity control belt. It allows me to set how much gravity I wish to feel. Through this technology (at very low cost, I might add), these devices can limit or even exclude the effects of gravity on any given volume."

He reached to his belt and turned the dial counterclockwise a quarter turn and began to accelerate slowly towards the floor.

When he reached the floor, he continued speaking as he began doing slow motion bunny hops, across the stage.

"At this setting I weigh slightly more than I would on the moon, and so, I move much like the astronauts of the Apollo missions did on their moonwalks. One advantage that I have, is that I can now experience it without wearing a bulky spacesuit. Its much more fun! Isn't it, Katie?"

Katie squealed in delight as Troy grabbed her ankle. With one hand and swung her in an underhand throwing motion. He released her at the top of the arc. Katie was sent slowly spinning head over heels, across the set. She bounced like a balloon off both the ceiling then the wall, before Troy offered her a hand, which she took. Giggling like a schoolgirl, she reached to her belt, and slowly turned the dial back towards the off position.

"That is so much FUN!" Katie exclaimed breathlessly. "Perhaps now with the preliminaries taken care of, you'd like to explain what we just saw."

"As I said, this is the first demonstration of a whole new technology. It has the effect of reducing or eliminating the effects of gravity, on a volume of space surrounding one of these devices," he said. He held up the belt, with one disk prominently displayed for the camera. "Each one of these disks contains two or more low power superconducting coils, and a refrigeration unit, to keep them at seventy degrees below zero. That is the temperature needed for them to retain their superconducting properties. A simple nine volt battery is the power source."

Katie broke in, "That is amazing! You mean that this effect can be achieved with only a nine volt battery as the power source?"

"Indeed, Katie. The effect is achieved by creating very high frequency matter waves in the superconductor. Most of the power from the nine volt battery is used to power the refrigeration unit. A single nine volt battery will operate the device for about 24 hours," Troy said. He paused, then smiled as he continued, waving his hand back at the still covered devices on the set. "In fact you've given me a perfect segue into the next, and perhaps the most important, of the other devices my company will be offering."

"Two of the most important issues facing society today, are power and pollution. With the ability to reduce gravity on a given volume, both problems are solved by simply tricking the Second Law of Thermodynamics," he said.

Then he theatrically swept the cloth from a large upright glass device. He pointed to the four small disks arranged on the right side of the glass.

"By eliminating gravity's effects on one side of the toroid, the weight of the water on the other side begins to push it upward," Troy said. "We eventually get a constant flow of water through the tube. By adding a simple water turbine to the apparatus, we can draw power indefinitely, with no pollution!"

"The production units will not be made of glass, the way this demonstration model is. We added a canister of dye, so that you can see the water flowing. So ... now I'll start the dye, and turn on the gravity devices," Troy said.

He pressed one button and a cloud of green dye began to form on the left side of the clear toroid, he then pressed another button, and immediately the cloud of dye was pulled down and attenuated, until within seconds it was a constant stream from the midpoint of the torus to the bottom. There the blades of the turbine broke it up, as they spun ever faster.

Troy stepped back and spoke again, "This small version is now generating over one kilowatt of constant output, more than enough for most homes' electrical and heating needs."

Over the last several minutes, the call volume to the network had climbed steadily. Suddenly, the phone system was completely overwhelmed. The Today Show's producer watched in amazement as the network's 'website hits', shot to an all-time high, then doubled and redoubled. Human civilization held its breath.

"So this technology is not only fun, but will cause some changes to society?" prompted Katie.

"Oh, yes! Cheap and pollution free power, that can be brought to wherever it's needed? That alone will have a dramatic effect on the energy industry, the power utilities, and eventually on the growth patterns of cities. My company plans to sell a unit sized to meet the needs of most residential properties for from $500 to $1,500. At that price, the average homeowner can buy one of these units, and pay it off with the savings from their electric bill in six to nine months. Furthermore, we will sell larger commercial and industrial units at costs that will reduce the energy costs of manufacturers by fourfold."

"That's amazing", Katie said breathlessly. She shook her head in negation, "I've said that too many times, this morning, but its true! You've mentioned your company, what is its name? And where are you headquartered? Perhaps you'd tell us how you propose to license this technology."

Troy leaned back and smiled, "Well I'm calling the company Gravity Industries Inc., or GI2, for short. Our headquarters is in Kansas City, MO, but we have already set up several regional factories. To answer the licensure question, we will be making actual gravity devices, and a line of products based upon them. But will be letting anyone in the world license the technology to manufacture their own, for a nominal fee per unit. I personally own the patents and twenty five percent of GI2, so I expect to set a record for becoming the richest man in the world! After all, it took Bill Gates nearly twenty years from the start of Microsoft to becoming the world's richest man. I think I will do it in less then five years. I expect to make billions in licensing from the automotive industry alone."

"Wait! Wait! You're saying you expect GM, Ford and the other major automobile manufacturers to buy this technology? To make what? Flying Cars?" Katie sputtered indignantly.

"Yes. Actually, I'm in negotiations with all of the motorcycle, automobile, and heavy equipment manufacturers at this time. I expect that you'll be seeing some new products from them, including retrofit kits," Troy said. He stopped and grinned as he continued, "That would lead us to our next demonstration."

He rose, and walked to another cloth-covered shape.

"This is an example of what can be done with our technology," he paused theatrically and grasping the cloth, "This is the sort of thing we expect the motorcycle companies to come up with. This is a very rough example, put together hastily by my engineers."

As he swept the cloth aside, a strange looking, and highly modified Harley-Davidson motorcycle was revealed. The wheels had been removed, replaced by four cylindrical housings. They were a foot long and a foot in diameter, paired front and back, and supported by struts about two feet from the centerline.

Troy stepped up and swung his leg over the seat, and pointed to the housings.

"Each of those housings contains a small but powerful electrical turbine. It is mounted on gimbals, so that the entire array can direct thrust in almost any direction. One of the reasons I don't want to get into the automobile business is dealing with the safety issues for a mass-marketed vehicle. In fact, this prototype is so tricky that I had to tell Matt he couldn't drive it this time."

Troy put on his helmet, and turned the key to start the Harley, which roared to life. Quickly, the producer switched to the mike built into the helmet.

"Without the gravity devices turned on, the 1200cc engine simply can't generate enough thrust for lift off, it simply doesn't have the power to weight ratio that is necessary," Troy said, raising his voice to speak over the rumble of the idling Harley as he manipulated the controls. Reaching for a dial in the center, he continued, "By turning the gravity down to 10%, there is a downward bias. I can still retain control near the ground. It requires actually directing the thrust downward to lift off, but now it has a power to weight ratio of three to one. That is, by the way, twice as good as an F22 fighter. Now, Matt insisted in being along for this ride so come and get on now, Matt. Also, Matt's helmet has been equipped with a camera, in addition to a microphone, so the viewers will see what he does."

Matt Lauer ran over, dressed in riding leathers, and a helmet with the visor up.

"We have opened up one of the big plate windows to the street, do you think you can maneuver through that?" Matt asked, pointing to the right side of the set.

"I hope certainly hope so, or this will be the shortest and most embarrassing demonstration on record," grinned Troy.

Reaching up and dropping his visor, Troy activated the turbines and applied power slowly. The motorcycle rose slowly as great gusts of backwash blew across the set, then in a tricky bit of maneuvering, he rotated and accelerated slowly toward the street, and the crowd outside. As the pair emerged onto the street, the crowd edged forward to catch a glimpse. As soon as they cleared the building, Troy gunned the motor and turned the gravity negation to full, the motorcycle tore for the sky accelerating to over one hundred twenty miles per hour in less than twenty seconds.

Matt Lauer let out an involuntary scream of fear, which turned to a whoop of triumph as they cleared the skyline and settled in to cruise at three thousand feet and one hundred thirty five miles per hour. "My God Troy how fast will this thing go?"

"With the 1200cc engine generating electricity for the turbines, she can cruise at one hundred and twenty miles per hour for three hours. She has a maximum speed of about one hundred and fifty miles per hour flying straight and level."

"What about maximum altitude?" Matt asked.

"Maximum altitude?" Troy mulled the unexpected question, "Well the gravity devices work at any height. But the engine is an air breather, and so are we. So, without pressure suits and oxygen masks, we need to stay below 10,000 to 12,000 feet."

With that he brought the cycle into a steep dive that brought them swooping around the Statue of Liberty and heading them back towards Manhattan. They approached Rockefeller Plaza at a more sedate speed of fifty miles per hour, and five hundred feet of altitude. They looked down and saw that the crowd had grown dramatically. It now spilled down to Times Square.

"Wow, what a crowd Matt. Want to give them a real show?" Troy inquired with a mischievous grin.

"Why not?" Matt replied and wiggled his feet deeper into the stirrups provided and tightening his grip around Troy's waist.

"Now remember, since we are weightless, you won't be pulled off by gravity, but there are still centripetal effects, when we change directions," Troy said, grinning evilly, "So ... HOLD ON!"

Turning one set of turbines up and the other down, Troy applied power slowly until they were corkscrewing over the crowd. The crowd went wild. Hearing their cheers, he turned all four turbines to a forty-five degree angle. He did a loop before landing next to Katie Curac, in the opening in the center of the street, protected by the barriers amidst the crowd.

Matt staggered to his feet, again feeling the effects of gravity.

He took off his helmet and over the roar of the crowd shouted, "That was the greatest ride ever!"

As the crowd roared with renewed enthusiasm, Matt turned to Troy.

"So now, maybe you'll tell us how you did this? I mean scientists have been saying for over a hundred years that it was impossible. What did you find out, that allowed you make this amazing discovery?"

"Well", Troy began, "My situation is not so different than that of Einstein, I dropped out of college, instead of high school as he did, but I always questioned what we were being taught. The scientific community couldn't do what I've done, because the Theory of General Relativity had become cannon. It is part of their belief system. Anyone questioning its tenets, was thrown out of the realm of hard science. They were relegated to mysticism and metaphysics.

"Back in college I realized that although we had theories that allowed us to derive the value of almost all physical constants. The value of the Universal Gravitational Constant had no theoretical underpinnings. So, despite its elegance, and ability to predict certain phenomena, General Relativity didn't meet all the criteria for a physical law.

"Furthermore, in my studies of Classical Physics and Quantum Mechanics, I saw how theories are eventually replaced. The first step is for some experiment to give different result than predicted by the theory," Troy said. He paused, clasped his hands in front of himself, and continued, "Now, historically, the scientific establishment will not pay attention to the first contradictory results. After all, they have invested their entire lives to that system of beliefs. Scientists are even less likely to admit that they have been wrong their entire lives, than anyone else."

Matt, listening intently, broke in, "But what contradictory results? I don't remember hearing about any experiments that gave results that contradicted General Relativity."

Troy smiled knowingly.

"Ah, now there's the irony of the situation. A series of experiments to measure the Universal Gravitational Constant were meant to improve the accuracy of our knowledge of this physical constant. It turns out we know the value of most of the physical constants to six or more decimals. But the last serious measurements of the Universal Gravitational Constant (or 'Big G', as physicists call it), was done in the 1870's. It was still considered 'cutting edge' science, then. We only know its value to within four percent. Some in the scientific community noticed this, and decided to do something about it. Four different groups decided upon different methods to measure Big G, to something like one in ten thousandths accuracy."

"And why didn't we hear about this?" Matt asked.

"Well, because if you asked the scientific community what to make of the results, rather than rethink everything they believed; they said that the experiments where flawed, and their results even more so." Shaking his head Troy continued, "That was the same way that Rutherford and Einstein's initial experimental results were received. As far back as college, I realized our understanding of Gravity was trailing the rest of the physics, by as much as a century. I assumed that General Relativity was a good descriptor of macroscopic effects. This is much like the way Electromagnetic Theory and Maxwell's Equations describe the effects of electrostatic and electromagnetic phenomena, but say nothing about the quantum effects that provide the deeper understanding of these same phenomena. That deeper understanding gave us access to superconductor, semiconductor and nuclear technologies."

Katie leaned in and asked, "What were these results, and what clue did they give you that led to this discovery?"