by Ruskin Bond
The first substantial equipment to the right side was the specially designed electron microscope that Virendra had bought from MatTech. Soon after entering the inner room Brennan stood before it quietly for a while, nearly oblivious of his company, then walked to the left to the laboratory table where he laid down his heavy black briefcase, and returned to the instrument. He did not seem to have any immediate queries for Virendra; it appeared that he was closely studying an object about which he had heard and read a lot but was seeing for the first time.
The machine was a novel one for its manufacturer MatTech, because it was an unusual combination of an electron microscope with a built-in arrangement to expose a solid sample to chemical reactions, so that any change of surface structure could be detected in situ. Virendra conceived this dynamic electron microscopy technique as he thought it would answer some long-standing questions about paths of surface rearrangements and would pioneer a powerful new experimental method as well. This required design changes in the electron beam optics as well as in the ultrahigh vacuum pumping system, and MatTech had no proven expertise in designing such composite systems. Yet, Virendra was constrained to opt for MatTech for two reasons. First, though the European company Dulcet had an instrument to offer that precisely fulfilled all the specifications Virendra had sought, the cost was way beyond what was sanctioned by the research sponsoring agency; and he failed to persuade the agency that with the funds that they sanctioned it was impossible to get an instrument that would deliver the end result. Second, the agents of MatTech in this country, Crescent Instruments, were literally overwhelmingly on Virendra for securing the order at a price Virendra had funds for, making every commitment possible on the way. Virendra thought little of Crescent who hardly comprehended what the equipment was supposed to do, but strangely, the more competent MatTech also agreed to deliver an equipment of Virendra's specifications at a price acceptable to Virendra. Virendra was in a dilemma. In one case clearly he had no money to buy a well-tested equipment. In the other it was a matter of considerable risk; despite the claims and commitments of the company, at the end he might or might not have an equipment. To him, however, there was little choice; the funding organisation was such that there was no hope of getting additional funds. He therefore decided to opt for MatTech, and was now paying another kind of price.
Brennan turned to Virendra and asked, 'What did Mr Stafford precisely demonstrate while he was here?'
'Well,' Virendra replied, 'he turned on the main vacuum system, showed that the ultrahigh vacuum system was working. He then turned on the electron beam, and after necessary adjustments showed the electron micrograph of a single crystal of nickel which we had provided as a specimen. But as soon as we bled sample gas in, at as low a pressure as one torr, the micrograph first became blurred, then it entirely disappeared from the screen. Every time the system was pumped down to ultrahigh vacuum situation there would be an image, but none after the sample gas was led in, the only condition in which we were interested.'
'Do you recall what the pressure was in the electron beam chamber?' Brennan put a second question.
'It was more than what it was under ultrahigh vacuum condition, even though the interacting gas was already pumped out from the sample chamber.' Virendra was prompt in response.
'And there was no image?' Brennan inquired.
'No image.'
Brennan went into a pensive mode. After a couple of minutes during which he remained immersed in his thoughts, he asked again, 'After how long did the image return?'
'After about a couple of hours,' Virendra replied. But it was also his turn to ask a question. He inquired, 'Didn't Mr Stafford submit a detailed report to MatTech about his findings? Answers to all your questions should have been there.'
Brennan did not reply immediately. Probably he did not have a satisfactory reply. With his head lowered he kept looking at the instrument sombrely for some time. But a question had been asked, time was passing, pressure was building in the atmosphere. Perhaps even Brennan felt it. After a while he raised his head, but without looking at Virendra said somewhat tonelessly, 'No, in my brief there is no mention of such detailed findings.'
This was a non-answer to the question, and both sides realised it. It was almost divulging a breach elsewhere. But Virendra decided not to press it any further, and waited for Brennan to take the next initiative.
Brennan also was probably deciding what he should do next. He seemed to opt for a practical alternative to an invitation to passivity. He turned to Virendra and suggested, 'Let me do the following. We will first turn the machine on, then in a couple of hours' time shall be in a position to test the machine for ultrahigh vacuum situation. After we test it under that condition, we can then make the necessary connections for gas inflow, and subsequently I can put in the image intensifier, which is actually an electron beam intensity augmenter to see what the resulting improvements are. And during the time the machine pumps down, we could sit down and discuss the formalities involved in this transaction.'
Virendra had long ago decided not to suggest any initiative from his side, and leave all the steps to the visitors. He realised the legal implications; so it was prudent to be reserved. He would help all the way through, because after all, it was his and his students' research progress that was at stake. He responded, 'Fine, whatever you decide will be the way it will be done. You are doing the installation, so it will be solely your decision, unless you specifically seek our advice.'
Brennan perceived the technical twist, but did not react to it. He went back to the long table, unlocked his briefcase with a key, snapped it open, and looked at the contents. Exposure of the contents explained why the case was heavy. It was quite compartmentalised, with electronic devices, testers, and vacuum components neatly arranged. Behind the upper flap were papers and other documents, neatly strapped in. Virendra loitered near the equipment waiting for Brennan to call the next step. Brennan returned with a blueprint in his hand, checked something, and asked Virendra, 'Can we turn the power on?'
Virendra looked towards Sreekanth. Sreekanth walked around the instrument to get to the rear side, took a long cable to the voltage stabiliser, made some connections, turned on a couple of switches there, and returned to the front. He looked at Brennan and said, 'The machine can now be turned on from the front panel.'
Brennan listened to Sreekanth, nodded and said, 'Excellent.' He looked at the blueprint in his hand again, then looked at the many control panels of the large boxlike structure on which the pumping system of the electron microscope was mounted. The actual electron microscope enclosure was a tall cylindrical structure to the right of the pumping system and the control panel manifold. He pulled out the swivel chair on wheels that had been pushed into the space below the control panel, sat, and turned the main switch on the power panel. Several indicator lights came to life on the various instrument panels. Inside the boxlike structure where the pumping system was mounted, there was first a gurgle from the mechanical pumps. But it was soon taken over by the whine of the turbopumps – it sounded like a jet airplane taking off. Brennan sat back and fixed his attention on the pressure control panel on which the digital pressure readout meter had just come alive.
The numbers indicating pressure in torr rapidly changed as the pumps worked inside and brought the pressure down inside the electron microscope and also the chamber that contained the sample mounting arrangement. There were no indications of anything wrong with the vacuum pumping system; the pressure was already in the millitorr region in minutes and was steadily going down. Everyone there knew that in such pumping systems the pressure usually goes down to minus four, minus five range rather quickly; to go further down from there was a time consuming affair.
Brennan was not saying anything but expressionlessly going through a general visual inspection of all the control panels while the pressure on the meter continued to go down from minus four torr range to the minus five torr range. Once or twice he turned a couple of knobs on th
e control panels seemingly more to get a feel rather than with some specific purpose. Mounted to the right side of the control panel but turned towards the operator was a fairly large-sized monitor screen on which the electron micrograph could be viewed. There would be nothing there now, but Brennan flipped a switch on and then turned a couple of knobs to check whether the monitor was otherwise operational. There was a regular computer monitor at the centre of the control panel; he turned that on as well. He tried a couple of commands to check whether the monitor was working all right, seemed satisfied with its response, turned this one as well as the micrograph monitor view screen off, and looked at the pressure meter again.
The pressure now was still in the low minus five range; within minutes it would move into the minus six range; all indications were there that the vacuum system was holding out all right. From here onwards the pressure would go down quite slowly, and one would only turn on the microscope electron beam when the pressure inside reached the minus seven range. The heat of the electron beam does some outgassing, and that helps the process of further lowering the pressure. It would easily take another thirty to forty-five minutes to reach that stage, so there was little point in keeping sitting in front of it until then and merely wait. Brennan got up from his chair and turned around. Virendra, his students, and Agarwal were all standing behind Brennan at a distance and were watching him all this time. Brennan looked at Virendra, and said, 'Well, so far so good. It will take some time now for the pressure to go down to minus seven. I don't think we should do anything with the instrument until we reach that stage. Maybe we can use this time to discuss the formal aspects concerning the order. What do you think?'
'That would be fine. Let's do that.' Virendra agreed without displaying any emotion. He then turned around to face the students who were standing a bit behind them. He looked at Sreekanth and said, 'Why don't you be here and take charge of the instrument for a while. Actually there is nothing to do except watch the pressure, and let us know when it reaches the mid-minus-seven range. Dr Brennan and I are sitting down for some discussions in the other room.' Sreekanth nodded, and said in a near whisper, 'Yes, sir.'
Virendra then faced Brennan and said, 'Maybe we can go to the other lab. That's a bit quieter.'
'Sure,' Brennan promptly responded, and then added, 'let me pick up my papers.'
Virendra nodded, agreeing. Brennan walked down to the laboratory table where his open briefcase sat, pulled out a packet of papers under the strap of the upper flap, closed the briefcase and examined the papers, seemingly to check whether he got the right ones. When he was satisfied, he turned around to face Virendra, and waited for Virendra to suggest the next course of action. Virendra turned slightly to the right to face the far side of the laboratory and taking a step towards that direction said, 'Please come this way.' Then, in the middle of the stride he turned his head back and looking towards Agarwal added, 'Mr Agarwal, please join us.' Agarwal was until then stationary, but appeared ready for the call. He said, 'Sure,' and followed Virendra and Brennan. The students were left behind near the instrument.
Virendra walked to the door at the far left corner of the room. He opened the door, and as he pushed the door in, said, 'Please come in.' Virendra, along with Brennan and Agarwal, entered the other laboratory.
This was an equally spacious laboratory as the first one, except that this had no large commercial equipment in it. In the middle of the room there were several instruments, but it was not obvious what their purpose was, and Virendra did not say anything about them. Along one of the walls here also was a long laboratory table with a row of chairs in front of it and a series of glass-doored cupboards mounted along the wall. Some of those cupboards contained small parts of electronic and vacuum equipment; some contained paper and documents. The laboratory table was mostly clean, except only a few small items scattered all along the table. Virendra reached the near part of the table where there were some laboratory notebooks of students and a couple of books. He picked them up and placed the stack near the wall on the table, and then facing the visitors and pointing at the chairs in front of the table said, 'Do sit down.' Then he backed out a couple of steps to make room for Brennan and Agarwal to reach the chairs. As Brennan and Agarwal walked to the chairs and were about to sit, Virendra said, 'Please give me one more minute. I have to instruct a student about something; I will be back in a moment.' They both nodded in approval, but Virendra did not wait for that; he had already turned his back towards them and walked out to the front room pulling the door behind softly, almost closing it.
In this room Sreekanth was still standing in front of the electron microscope; the other two students were standing together near the laboratory table. Virendra approached them and addressed the taller one, 'Varma, go home. Parvati should still be there. Ask her to make about a dozen sandwiches for Dr Brennan's and Mr Agarwal's lunch. And some tea. Ask her to put the tea in a thermos flask. Shortly before lunchtime one of her sons visits regularly; ask her to ask him to bring the sandwiches and the tea directly to the laboratory. I may reach home early or late; I am not sure.' He paused. 'Another thing,' he added, 'ask her whether there is bread at home; in case there is none and she needs help, please go to the shopping centre, buy, and give it to her. She would know where the money is. Do you have a bike with you?'
'Okay sir,' Varma replied, 'I don't have my bike here but will get one from somebody.' He looked at Virendra's eyes to find whether Virendra had anything more to say; there was nothing forthcoming. He then turned towards the main door and walked out.
Virendra looked at the other student and said, 'Mukul, very soon when Dr Brennan starts testing the machine he will ask for a gas inlet connection to the instrument. We should connect a nitric oxide gas line for exposure to the nickel sample, and although we have some gas we do not have a regulator to connect to the cylinder. Our own was borrowed by someone and was never returned. The only person on campus who has a nitric oxide regulator is Dr Jha of the materials science department. Could you go to his laboratory and see whether he would lend it to us for the day? I could call and ask him, but it would be bad if he said no, which I am afraid he might. If he says that to you, it will affect us less. Let us try your ability in public relations!' He smiled through his eyes. Mukul smiled back, said 'I will try,' and then walked towards the door.
With Mukul walking away, Virendra took a few steps and went to where Sreekanth was standing. 'How does it look,' Virendra inquired.
'It is three point two times ten to the power minus six. Still going down,' Sreekanth replied.
'Good,' Virendra said. 'Let us know when it crosses into minus seven. And let me find out in the mean time if these gentlemen have anything new to say,' he emphasised the word 'new.' 'I have little hope, but let us not give up.' What else but truth, ruthless truth, could Virendra tell Sreekanth? Sreekanth's work had been the worst sufferer as a result of this nonworking instrument. After saying this, with slow and introspective steps Virendra walked back to the other room.
As Virendra opened the door and entered the other room he felt a sudden silence fall between Brennan and Agarwal. Agarwal was sitting close to the table, his head resting on the palm of his right hand which stood vertically on his elbow resting on the table. He was looking in the direction of Brennan's eyes. Brennan was sitting near the door with his chair pushed away a little from the table. He had stretched his long legs into the space under the table and let his body slide somewhat with his back leaning at a slight angle to the backrest of the chair. He had turned his head to the right, in the direction of Agarwal, and seemed to be listening intently to something that Agarwal was saying. As soon as Virendra entered, both straightened up. Virendra pretended that he did not notice anything unusual; he pulled in another chair to Brennan's left and sat down. After he was settled in his seat, he exclaimed, 'Well, respite for some time!' and then gave enough time for Brennan and Agarwal to adjust to his arrival before turning towards them and smiling. They had quickly adjusted to
the new situation; so when Virendra smiled at them they smiled back as if in agreement to Virendra's exclamation. Their smiles met, although their thoughts were miles away from each other. While this was happening, Virendra wondered whether he should bring his file of correspondence with MatTech before he started the formal talks. He decided not to. The conflict was not of facts, but in their interpretation. As regards facts, Brennan's file probably contained all that he would ever need. Success or failure lay on how they were presented. For that there was no need for an additional document; he would try without such a mechanical aid.
Virendra knew that he had no special skill in formal talk which had legal and contractual overtones. He also knew that he was on the receiving side; any step that he took or caused which would stall the process of getting the instrument functional soon would hurt only them and not the supplier. The moves were thus delicate and difficult, and of a type of which he had no prior experience; for a commercial company, on the other hand, it was part of everyday business – they knew what the canonical steps were. But Virendra was sure of certain things; he knew that the machine that had been supplied was technically unsound, it was a total failure in delivering even the specifications that the written order said, it was delivered late nearly a year after the delivery commitment and a year after the company collected the full payment through the letter of credit, and it failed to meet its minimum obligations. He felt strength from these facts, and thought that was enough to take a correct, and if necessary, a firm stand.
'Well, shall we start some discussions?' Virendra generally inquired.
Agarwal looked at Brennan; Brennan looked at Virendra and said, 'Yes, I am ready.'
Virendra began with an inquiry, 'Where do we start?' He looked at Brennan and continued, 'This morning you made a statement about your understanding of the present status of the machine, and I could not agree with it. Perhaps we can return to that point and begin, and see whether we can make any progress.'