He had another thought, Sounds like Raymond was right about the stuff being another state of matter. Raymond guessed it was another form of water and now Seba says it was made out of water. But what the hell’s this stuff about making them out of “air?” Harris could understand that it’d be nice to have an exotic material that was light as air, but he couldn’t fathom how you could change the state of matter of “air” since it was a mixture of several different gases. If you tried to change the state of air to “frozen,” first the water vapor froze, then the carbon dioxide, the argon, the nitrogen, and finally the oxygen. You’d have layers of different materials of different densities rather than an apparently homogenously dense material like the mirrored plates.
Maybe if they start with air. They let water, carbon dioxide, and argon condense out, then make their material out of the nitrogen when it condenses? Maybe, but how the hell do they get to this new state?!
He closed his eyes in frustration. It doesn’t matter how they do it, I’ve got to get on board with them, he thought. But how?
Chapter Eight
A specimen of Stade
Mary looked up when she heard her assistant let out a little grunt. The young man was batting something around his cubicle. It was flashy. Her first thought was that he’d folded up a piece of aluminum foil and started playing some kind of game—the kind of silly juggling game that gave some young men such pleasure.
She blinked. Whatever he was knocking around looked like a mirror. And it seemed to float through the air without falling. Mylar balloon, almost depleted of its helium? she wondered. Gabe finally got it with a solid grab and Mary thought the fun was over… but the damned thing got away from him.
Mary stood and cleared her throat. She didn’t want Mr. Prakant coming in and, not only finding Gabe playing some kind of juvenile game, but also finding Mary sitting there watching him like a spectator.
Gabe gave her a sheepish glance, then said, “Sorry Ms. Willis.” He made another grab, but the thing got away from him again. She had the feeling it would’ve flown across the room except that it flew something like a feather does—slowly, with floaty twisting.
It was coming her way, so in order to put a stop to the foolishness, she stepped over and caught it. Cleanly, she thought. After all, she’d been a three-sport athlete in high school. But when her fingers closed on it, it simply slipped through them. Like trying to catch a greased piglet, but worse, she thought, remembering a trick her brothers had played on her back when they were kids on the farm.
She wiped her fingers, expecting oil, but they seemed clean. Remembering how they’d caught the pig, she stepped after it and surrounded it with a basket of her fingers. Success!
She turned on the shamefaced Gabe, “What is this!” Partly she was asking a rhetorical question about how he’d come to be screwing around, and partly she wanted to know where she could get a slippery, floats-in-air mirror for her grandkids.
“Um, it came in the mail, Ms. Willis.”
Mary blinked. “In the mail?”
He nodded. “It’s like the letter we got before, but this time it came in a 9 x 12 envelope with smaller envelopes inside. One of the smaller envelopes had this mirror in it.”
“Let me see.”
He took her to his desk and showed her the envelope and the smaller 5 x 7 envelope that’d had the mirror in it. She had him hold it open so she could slide the mirror back in it.
She riffled through the papers. One was an NDA and she thought it was the same as the document she’d given Prakant before. The letter was different though. Of note, it said, “…we have become concerned that interest in our new material, Stade, has been low because the various companies we’ve offered options on the material have not believed its physical properties are possible. Therefore, we are providing these test samples so you can evaluate the suitability of the material yourself. We would note that the material’s low weight, heat tolerance, and extreme strength make it especially suitable for rocket engines and its extreme thermal resistance makes it particularly good for cryogenic tankage…”
Mary contemplated how to proceed and felt a knot forming in her stomach. Should she give this to a junior engineer like Prakant had told her, or did his previous rejection still stand? Then she thought about the floating mirror. That stuff’s so… unbelievable. Could it actually be something new?
~~~
Mary walked into one of the big open-plan spaces where many of the junior engineers worked. She wasn’t sure who to talk to, so she stood fidgeting for a moment. A pleasant-looking young man, stopped on his way by, “Can I help you?”
“Yes, thank you,” she said, then pulled out her big gun, “I’m Mr. Prakant’s senior admin. He told me to have a junior engineer evaluate a new material. Whom would you suggest?”
When she looked up at him, she got the impression he’d just finished rolling his eyes. Pointing at a young woman working in front of a large display covered with design drawings, he said, “Take it to April Lee, she’s the most junior.” He chuckled, “They always get saddled with the crap jobs.”
As Mary walked over she wondered whether Lee really was the most junior, or just the most junior woman. Should Mary be upset that she’d been told to dump a crap job on a woman, or excited that a woman might get an amazing opportunity with this weird material? She stopped just behind Lee’s shoulder and waited to be noticed.
Lee seemed very focused and didn’t seem to notice Mary’s presence. After a minute passed, Mary cleared her throat.
Lee turned, looking harried. “Yes?” she asked impatiently.
Feeling terrible, Mary said, “Hi. We’ve received a sample of a new material from an outside vendor. Mr. Prakant’s asked to have it evaluated.”
Lee frowned. “Why are you bringing it to me? I’m very junior.”
Uncomfortably, Mary said, “Um, Mr. Prakant told me to have it evaluated by a junior engineer before—”
Lee interrupted, her eyes darting around the room, “Who put you up to this?”
“Um, Mr. Prakant said—”
“Who are you?”
Mary stiffened a little, irritated to be treated so abruptly by the young woman. Drawing herself up, “I’m Mary Willis, Mr. Prakant’s senior admin.”
“And he told you to bring this to me? He doesn’t even know who I am.”
“No. He said to take it to a junior engineer and see if it was worth wasting his time on. So—”
“And how’d you come to pick me?”
“A young man told me you were the most junior,” Mary said, turning to look for the young man who’d said it. To her dismay she saw a number of young men looking her way and grinning. The one who’d told her to bring it to April looked hugely amused.
Lee said, “It was Jerome Stitt, wasn’t it? That blond prick over there with the shit-eating grin on his face?”
Mary looked. Lee was pointing at the right guy. “Yes,” she said restraining her anger until she could be sure it was warranted. “Are you not the most junior?”
“No! I’m just the one those immature assholes like to crap on.”
Mary’s temper flared, but she tamped it down. Stepping closer to Lee, she leaned down and spoke in a low voice, “I’d like to suggest that you take a quick look at this material. It really is astonishing. Perhaps the best revenge you could have on those guys would come from being the one to bring it to Prakant’s attention?”
“Yeah, like I’d ever be the one who got to show it to him.”
“I can make that happen,” Mary said.
Lee gave her an appraising look. “Really?”
Mary returned a decisive nod. “Look at the sample. If you don’t think it’s interesting, tell me which junior engineer to take it to.”
Looking reluctant, Lee said, “I’d have to take it down for a lot of testing before I’d know anything. And, I’ve got assigned work stacking up.”
Frustrated, Mary said, “Let’s just walk over to that side conference room a
nd get out the specimen for you to see and touch. I promise you; you’ve never seen anything like it. If you don’t think it’s worth more testing, I’ll abjectly apologize.”
Lee held out her hand, “All right, all right! I’ll look at it, but I don’t need to go to a conf—”
This time Mary interrupted Lee. “If I show it to you here, all those idiots,” she gestured back behind her, “are going to see it and it won’t be just your discovery.”
“Just put it here, on my desk,” Lee said, rolling her eyes. “They won’t see it; we’ll be blocking their line of sight.”
“Trust me for a moment—”
“Just show it to me!”
Mary exploded, though quietly. “Do you think I’m stupid?” she hissed. Lee looked up with a flash of anger, but Mary interrupted her before Lee could even start to speak. Mary continued, “I’m trying to help you by giving you an opportunity to evaluate something unique and take it to the boss. You’re being a real bitch! Now, either you do it my way or I’ll go find some other young engineer and give this opportunity to her!”
Lee took a big breath and let it out slowly. She got up from her chair and turned toward the conference rooms. Mary heard her mutter, “This better be good.”
Mary closed the door behind them after they entered. Opening the big envelope, she got out the papers and the two small envelopes.
Lee pounced on the papers as soon as she saw the top one was titled “Material Properties.”
Mary was opening one of the smaller envelopes when Lee disgustedly said, “This is absolute bullshit!”
Mary froze with an anxious feeling that she’d misread the uniqueness of what they’d been sent. Then she remembered how hard it was to catch the mirrors. Grinning to herself, she pulled the smaller envelope open and held it out to Lee. “Here’s a sample.”
Lee stood, “I don’t need to see it. Hell, they didn’t even print up honest material property results…”
She’d turned to go when Mary pinched the sample at its back end and it shot out of the envelope in front of Lee. As before, it flew like a weightless feather, tumbling slower and slower through the air, but not falling. Startled, Lee drew back, eyes widening in astonishment, “What the hell!”
Mary said, “It’s really light, isn’t it?”
“This is their sample?!” Lee said, watching the slowly twisting mirror.
Mary nodded, waiting impatiently for Lee to try to grab it, anticipating the amusement of watching her fail.
“Wait,” Lee said, turning back to the material data sheet. “I thought they claimed a density of 1g/cc? That thing shouldn’t float… Oh, someone wrote in that our samples are lighter. They can’t have the same specs then!” She turned to look at the floating mirror, musing to herself, “What is it, some kind of aerogel?” She looked down at the specs, then turned back to the mirror, “But an aerogel couldn’t have anything even approaching these other properties…”
Finally, Lee reached for the mirror. Mary choked back a snort when the mirror slid right through her fingers.
Lee looked at her fingers, probably searching for oil like Mary had when she’d first encountered the material. Lee wiped her fingers on her pants, then reached for the mirror again. This time when the mirror slipped away, Mary couldn’t hold in her giggle.
Lee gave her a look, “You knew it was this slippery?”
“Oh, yes,” Mary said, a little breathlessly. “It got out of the envelope over in my office. Had a hell of a time getting it back in.”
“And you didn’t say anything because…?”
“You wouldn’t have believed me anyway. Besides, it says the coefficient of friction’s zero right there on the material properties sheet.”
“But… that’s ridiculous…” Lee said. This time she spoke plaintively rather than angrily. She made another couple of attempts to capture the sample.
Mary stepped over and caught it in a basket of her fingers, then presented it to Lee. “Here, feel it while I’ve got it trapped.”
Gingerly Lee did so. “It’s warm,” she said with surprise.
Mary nodded, “And it really does seem frictionless, doesn’t it?”
Lee slowly shook her head. “That’s not…” she broke off, sliding her fingers back and forth over the specimen. “Sure feels that way though,” she said as if talking to herself. She looked up at Mary, “Can you hold it still while I try to bend it?”
Mary nodded and Lee reached between Mary’s fingers to grasp the plate and try to bend it like you might fold a piece of paper.
Lee drew her head back, seeming surprised. “It can’t be that strong, can it?” she asked, as if to herself.
Mary nodded, “Don’t the specs say it’s really strong?”
Lee shrugged, “Yeah, but they’re claiming strength that’s beyond the realm of plausible. There’s no material that’s even close to what they’re contending.”
“Their letter says this’s something completely new…”
Lee let go of the sample and pulled out a chair. “Let me read what they’ve said.” She picked up the sheaf of papers from the envelope and started reading the letter. “They don’t even give an address!” she exclaimed. She shook her head disbelievingly, “As if this is from some person, not even a company!”
Mary, said, “There’s a twist tie on the papers there. Can you put it through one of the holes to provide a grip? Then open the envelope so I can slide this back in it? I’ve got work to do and I trust you’re able to decide whether or not this is worth Mr. Prakant’s time without me?”
“Yes,” Lee said, popping to her feet. “Thanks for bringing this to me… and especially for keeping after me until I actually gave it a look. I… I apologize for the way I acted.”
Mary started to say it was okay, but stopped. Instead, she gave Lee a little grin, “You should apologize. You were acting like a man. I was just about to find someone nice to give it to.”
“Sorry,” Lee said, looking abashed. “I’d like to make the defense that the guys in that room have driven me crazy, but… there’s really no excuse.”
“Right,” Mary said, giving her a wink, “there isn’t. But, we girls need to stick together, so, if you decide it’s worth Mr. Prakant’s time, call me. Mary Willis. I’ll get you an appointment and help you get your revenge on the boys.”
***
James Harris looked in the mirror. He thought, I look like shit warmed over.
He hadn’t been sleeping. Just lying awake at night suffering from FOMO—fear of missing out—in the worst way. That little shit’s going to change the world and I’m not going to be part of it. He’s gonna be richer than Midas and I won’t have any part of that either.
He took a Tums and reminded himself he wasn’t about to lose money; he was only going to miss out on getting rich. It’s not a disaster, only a missed opportunity.
Shaking his head at his own seemingly uncontrollable impulses, he went to his closet and got out his 9mm. He disassembled and cleaned it. He checked his ammunition. It was five years old. He realized he had no idea how long ammo lasted. I’d better get a new box, he thought distantly.
He wandered out into the family room. His wife studied him for a moment. “Jim…? You’re taking your meds, right?”
“Uh-huh,” he lied. He didn’t feel guilty about it. His meds dulled the sharpness he’d need to handle this situation.
***
Mary ushered April Lee into Mr. Prakant’s office. “Mr. Prakant, this is April Lee, the young engineer I told you about. She’s the one who took on the testing of that new material you told me to have evaluated.” Feeling like she was babbling, Mary shut up.
“Hello, Ms. Lee. What’d you find?” Prakant laughed, “Mary’s sure excited about it. I’m sure the properties of their material aren’t what they claimed, but if it’s even a little better than what we’ve got…?”
Lee didn’t seem intimidated talking to the CTO, but Mary thought that might be because of what she’d lear
ned in the testing lab. Lee said, “Sir, the stuff may be even more astonishing than the numbers they sent you the first time.” She bulled ahead despite Prakant’s raised eyebrows. “The density they reported was 1g/cc, the same as water, but the sample we received has a density of 0.00122 g/cc, about the same as air, depending on temperature and pressure.”
“What?! And they’re solid?”
Lee nodded.
“You realize they’d float in the air if that were so?”
“Of course, sir.” She held the 5 x 7 envelope out vertically and unfolded its flap.
Prakant reached out for it, but Lee jerked the envelope down quickly, leaving the 3 x 6-inch mirror floating in the air before Prakant. Prakant blinked at it for a moment, then reached out, saying, “You think it’s partially filled with helium?”
Lee didn’t address the question, instead saying, “It really is frictionless, sir…” she broke off when Prakant grabbed at the mirror and it promptly slipped out of his grasp.
“What the hell?” Prakant said, looking first at his fingertips, then back at the mirror. “What in all damnation?!” He grabbed at it again. It got away from him a second time.
Proving she’d learned from Mary, Lee stepped over and surrounded it with a basket of fingers. “It’s the perfect bearing material, sir. Completely frictionless.”
Prakant gave her a stunned look, “But it can’t be strong enough for a bearing. Helium filled, it’d have incredibly thin walls.” He shook his head, “No matter what the walls are made of, it has to be weak…” he trailed off thoughtfully, tilting his head as he studied it. “Maybe it’s an aerogel using helium? A heliogel, so to speak?”
Lee quietly said, “Sir, it’s so strong we can’t reach its limits with our testing equipment.”
Prakant’s eyes flashed up to Lee’s, then back to the specimen. “You’re saying…” He trailed off uncertainly.
A Pause in Space-Time Page 10