by TJ Viola
*****
The flight back to Cheyenne Mountain felt like an eternity to Danny. He was anxious to implement his new ideas, and teetering on the verge of a nervous breakdown. To make matters worse, he was suffering from a painful migraine probably caused by the cerebral overload he experienced. Crystal did her best to calm him, but to no avail. He was virtually out of control and almost unintelligible.
“Danny, you need to calm down. I’ve never seen you so agitated.”
“Crystal, it was incredible. It’s still incredible. Images are colliding, mixing, coming and going so fast. My mind is connecting information from the deepest recesses of my brain at a rate I’m unable to control. It’s like watching a lightning storm at night. You don’t know where the next flash will appear or when, and before you can react, it’s gone and a new one strikes.”
Crystal held his hand trying to comfort him.
“My head hurts. Too much information. Why won’t it stop?”
“Danny, try and contact Yolan. Maybe she can help you control your thoughts.”
“I can’t, I can’t concentrate. The pain is just overwhelming.”
They rode in silence, Crystal holding tightly to Danny and periodically wiping the tears from his cheeks.
The commandos riding with Danny and Crystal didn’t know whom they were escorting or why they were so important to the government, but they all thought that Danny definitely belonged in a psych ward. The helicopter finally arrived at its destination and Danny was rushed to his quarters where the facility physician gave him a strong sedative that put him into a deep sleep.
Unfortunately, the sedative had little effect on his brain activity as the images continued, causing his mind to teeter on the edge of an abyss from which he might never return.
The biosphere control room emergency alarm sounded once again, bringing everyone back together. Most present didn’t understand what was happening to Danny. Upon entering and seeing the confused images of Danny’s thoughts, Mylo knew Danny was in serious trouble and took control.
“Yolan, you must break into his thoughts, now!”
“I’ve been trying. He’s not responding.”
“Boost the transmission power. You must disrupt his thought pattern. Do it now!”
“I’m already transmitting at maximum power. His mind is closed.”
Zeiss interrupted. “Rolo, what is happening to Danny?”
“His mind is in a type of electrical overload and if you don’t somehow disrupt the current, he’ll probably go into a deep coma.”
Everyone felt helpless as they watched new images flash across the monitor at ever increasing speeds, accelerating exponentially.
“Rolo and Bounce!” Titch shouted. “They can interrupt his brain’s electrical pattern!”
Mylo understood the implications of Titch’s sudden outburst. “Yolan, order Rolo and Bounce to stabilize Danny’s brain waves back to his normal pattern. Now!”
As Rolo and Bounce burst into Danny’s room, Crystal tried to keep them away from him, thinking he needed his rest.
“Crystal, his mind is still overactive and approaching meltdown. We need to help.”
She stepped out of the way, not fully understanding exactly their intent, but she trusted their judgment and watched as they held their hands over Danny’s head. Immediately sparks of electricity emanated from their fingertips slowly engulfing Danny’s entire body and, at the same time, electrifying the air in the entire room. Crystal’s gut reaction was to interrupt them as Danny’s body was pierced with electricity, but as the air around her interacted with her own electrical pattern, she felt an overwhelming sense of peace.
The mental images displayed on the biosphere’s monitor slowed to a normal rate as Danny was pulled back from the abyss, his mind finally quieted. Zeiss was holding his breath and let out an audible sigh of relief. All their efforts, years of work almost ended in a matter of minutes. The enormity of what they were all trying to achieve and the frailty of their situation almost overwhelmed him. Fortunately, he was able to keep his exterior composure.
“Okay, everyone, the crisis is over,” Mylo said. “Titch, that was brilliant!”
Everyone came over to congratulate her. Everyone, that is, except Yolan.
*****
Zeiss decided to send another android to assist Danny, not in the scientific realm, but to help him manage the pressure, which was rapidly mounting as time was running out for Earth. Fortuitously, Bridge also had concerns about Danny’s mental stability and requested the government hire a distinguished psychiatrist to be part of Danny’s team. It was a simple matter for Zeiss to alter the government’s database so they would select his android with its impeccable background and references. It was Mylo, whom Zeiss assigned to work through the android, Doctor Jones, that would assist Danny and assure his mental stability. Mylo had instant access to all the knowledge needed to help Danny since he could tap into the Grillion hidden base neuro-network for expertise.
After several days of rest, Danny was anxious to begin work and implement his new insights, so he called an early morning team meeting to brief his colleagues and establish a course of experimentation. As soon as Dr. Jones entered the conference room, he detected that electronic surveillance equipment was present. He immediately informed Danny.
“Danny, are you aware that this room is being monitored with audio and visual surveillance equipment?”
Danny was stunned by this revelation and, at first, thought Jones was mistaken. “If that’s true, why didn’t Rolo and Bounce notify me earlier?”
“They would have had to be scanning their environment for different communication frequencies. Since they earlier interacted with Earthlings quite extensively, Earth’s communication frequencies were filtered out in order to prevent any interference with signals originating from the base computers. My android scanner is still fully operational, since I never left the base.”
“Dr. Jones, before we begin work on the Gaser, I need to know how extensively we are being monitored. I’ll ask Crystal to give you a tour of the entire facility so you can determine the level of surveillance.”
Danny canceled the meeting under the pretense that he was still feeling ill and asked Crystal to give Dr. Jones a tour while he took a short nap. Crystal was concerned and expressed her desire to remain with Danny and only acquiesced after Danny insisted that he was fine and just needed some additional rest. She gave Jones a complete tour of the facility, including all the sleeping quarters. On the way back to Danny’s room, Dr. Jones reported his findings telepathically to Danny.
“The whole facility is being monitored for visual and audio, except for the sleeping quarters and rest rooms that are monitored only for sound.”
Danny wasn’t surprised by the findings and fully understood the implications; his government had no intention of sharing his work and he couldn’t help but wonder what would happen to him and Crystal once their work was completed. It was quite possible they would be considered a homeland security risk and dealt with accordingly.
“When you and Crystal enter my room, talk about how impressed you were with the facility, while I let Crystal know about your findings.”
As soon as they entered the room, Danny handed Crystal a slate computer with a message: The facility is being monitored; however, our quarters are only wired for sound. We need to use the computer for this conversation.
Crystal didn’t hesitate as she frantically wrote her response. Why would Bridge betray us like this?
The government clearly wants to keep our work a secret. Once they have the Gaser, we’ll probably become a liability.
This is unbelievable. What are we going to do?
I’m not sure. I’ll contact Zeiss and Yolan and get their advice. I also want to understand why I became so disoriented during the trip back from my parents. In the meantime, we need to delay any work on the Gaser.
Crystal agreed and Danny, for the benefit of the eavesdroppers, indicated he needed to rest
for the remainder of the day and possibly for a few more.
As soon as everyone left Danny’s quarters, Zeiss contacted Danny. “You gave us quite a scare. How are you feeling?
“I’m fine now, thanks to Rolo and Bounce, but what happened? I thought my head was going to explode!”
“Actually, you need to thank Titch. Another few minutes and you would have entered a permanent comatose state. It was Titch who realized that your only chance for survival lay with Rolo and Bounce.”
Images of Titch teaching him how to use his aura for self-defense flooded his mind and he made a mental note that someday, hopefully in the not-too-distant future, he would thank her in person.
“I’m certainly grateful to the entire team, but I want to understand what happened and if it’s likely to happen again.”
Zeiss had learned a long time ago that the best policy was to be as open as possible with Danny; otherwise, he would focus on the subject, impacting his ability to concentrate on his work.
“You had a very unusual psychic event. Over the last several years you have been working on developing the Gaser and with each passing day, your subconscious has been storing pieces of the puzzle. Suddenly, something triggered your conscious mind to connect all this information, thereby completing the puzzle. Once you started to connect seemingly unrelated information, a chain reaction occurred causing your mind to accelerate at an explosive rate. If we hadn’t been able to get control of your thoughts, you would have had the equivalent of a mental breakdown.”
Danny appreciated Zeiss’s honesty, but he still didn’t understand why it happened.
“At first, I was very excited. I had such insight, and the images were indescribable. It was like an out-of-body experience; I was more than human, I was matter itself. Then, suddenly, I lost control. I was just a conduit for a barrage of images that continued to accelerate. What I really want to know is, why did this happen?”
“You must recall,” Zeiss responded, “many years ago when we first met in the base, we enhanced your brain’s utilization from around ten percent to greater than ninety-five percent. Since your mind didn’t evolve naturally to this level of utilization, there is a potential for side effects.”
Danny understood the implications and became concerned that he might experience other unexpected consequences. “I had other physical and mental enhancements, and I would, therefore, assume that other side effects might also exist.”
Zeiss was quick to respond; he didn’t want Danny to worry about what might happen in the future, but to totally focus on his mission. “Let’s not concern ourselves with remote possibilities. The main issue is that you’re now okay and we have a difficult mission to complete.”
Zeiss turned to Yolan and indicated that she should take over the conversation and get Danny back on track.
“Danny, our immediate focus needs to be how to deal with the fact that your government is spying on your research efforts. We all know that if past performance is any indication of future behavior, your life and Crystal’s will be at risk if they get control of the Gaser.”
Unfortunately, he knew Yolan’s assessment was all too accurate, and even if he were free to continue his efforts, it would be almost impossible to get worldwide cooperation to defend against the Ammagans.
“I agree,” Danny responded. “I believe we have three plausible options to consider: we can move our research efforts to your Rocky Mountain base, we can continue as if we are unaware of the surveillance, or we can take advantage of the situation and mislead them.”
Zeiss was intrigued by the third option. “I believe your first two options present an unacceptable amount of risk; however, I’m interested in hearing more about how we can mislead the surveillance effort.”
“The only member of our core research team who is unable to communicate telepathically is Crystal, so we have the ability to say one thing while communicating something totally different. I know it sounds confusing, so, for example, we could specify the wrong alloys, or change the temperature calibration on some of the critical processing equipment. There are probably a hundred variables we could falsify while communicating the proper information telepathically.”
“I think that’s a brilliant plan,” Yolan said, “but how will Crystal be able to know what is actually taking place? She could inadvertently betray your deception.”
“Let me worry about Crystal. I think I have the perfect way to keep her informed without raising suspicion, and at the same time fulfill desires we’ve had for so many years.”
Crystal was patiently waiting for Danny to let her know the outcome of his conversation with Zeiss and Yolan when he suddenly turned toward her with a big smile. He came over, put his arms around her, and held her close. Crystal warmly responded but after a few moments gently pushed away, looking questioningly up into his eyes.
*****
Danny was feeling apprehensive because he wasn’t sure he could find the proper words to express his feelings or to overcome the anxiety Crystal would have, but it was now or never. The only reason Crystal hadn’t agreed to be married was because she felt marriage would be a distraction. Now that they needed to deceive the government surveillance team, it was essential that they had more time together to plan the deception without raising suspicions.
He invited Crystal to have dinner in his quarters, which she eagerly accepted knowing it would give them some much needed private time together, especially after their hectic visit to his parents and Danny’s recent brush with death. As soon as she entered his room, she knew something special was about to take place. The dinner table was adorned with fine china and crystal, as well as a colorful flower arrangement. The lights were turned down and her favorite music was playing in the background. Her first reaction was to turn and run—she knew what he was going to ask and all she could think about were the haunting images they had seen together. Somehow, she resisted the urge; somehow, she found the strength to enter his room, but she honestly didn’t know if she would have the strength to stay.
Danny recognized the look of panic on her face and tenderly pulled her closer and held her for several minutes while she gently wept away the images with each tear.
“Danny, I can’t. I just can’t. You must concentrate on your research. I’ll just be a distraction.”
“Crystal, how can you not realize, after all these years, that you are my strength? Without you at my side, encouraging me, understanding my fears, comforting me, and giving me the courage to face my demons, our demons, we wouldn’t have any chance to change what will happen in 2060. You are not a distraction, you are my strength; you are the reason I continue, the reason I still have hope.”
“If we fail!” Crystal said. “It’s so difficult to even contemplate.”
“Crystal, we saw one view of the future. I’m convinced there are many possible outcomes. Life isn’t preordained; we can make a difference and we will. I know in my heart that if we are one, united for eternity, the images we saw will change. Our lives alone have the power to change them.”
She wanted to believe him with all her being, and suddenly all the horrors disappeared and she saw a life filled with happiness.
“Danny, I love you so much. I always have and always will. Yes!”
The next day they were married by the facility chaplain. Rolo, Bounce, and Dr. Jones were present, as well as the members of the biosphere, who saw the ceremony through Danny’s thoughts and also felt his emotion and joy.
It was a happy occasion for everyone, except Yolan, who was falling ever deeper into a self-imposed state of depression.
*****
The team approached their research with a new sense of vigor. Armed with images of Danny’s revelations, they began to develop the last component of the Gaser, internal reflective mirrors.
The mayflies breaking the mirrored surface of the lake had triggered Danny’s dramatic insight that he needed to implant the ruby crystal surface with an appropriate metal alloy capable of reflecting ga
mma particles. The type of alloy and the implant concentration needed to be determined, but armed with the knowledge that they were on the right track and knowing that the Gaser was indeed possible fueled their creativity. They experimented with different concentrations of elements from the periodic table, hoping to find the correct combination of materials and concentration gradient that would cause some of the gamma particle to be reflected back along the ruby crystal axis, stimulating additional gamma particle production. In theory, as the population of reflected gamma particles increased, the stream of gamma particles emitted by the Gaser would transition from noncoherent to coherent, releasing an enormous amount of energy.
Six months passed without success, but Danny and Crystal never became discouraged because they realized it was just a matter of time, and they were correct. It was on June 8, 2053, that history was finally made. They had been continually working for twenty-six hours straight on a new alloy and had just completed an implant when Danny decided everyone needed to rest. Actually, only he and Crystal needed to rest, since the androids could work indefinitely, but as was their routine, they also retired to their quarters. Everyone had already left the laboratory except Danny, who was making final arrangements for testing their latest experiment. While placing the Gaser in the standby position, pointed at the ceiling, he inadvertently hit the firing mechanism, causing the pumping lasers to activate. He deactivated the system and, as far as he could tell, nothing had happened since gamma rays are invisible to the human eye, and all the detection equipment had already been turned off.
As he opened the door and reached to switch off the lights, he turned around for one last look and proceeded to exit. Just as he was about to step over the threshold, he stopped dead in his tracks. He had noticed something unusual, just at the edge of his peripheral vision. He slowly turned around and there it was, a small beam of light shining down from the ceiling. He noted the time, it was high noon, and the sun was directly over the mountain. He was absolutely stunned. The Gaser ray had penetrated to the surface of the mountain that was more than a mile above his head.