by T J Trapp
“I get it,” Daniel said, looking at Erin, then Alec. “I knew you must be here for some reason other than just to help our company.”
✽✽✽
Over the next few days Alec worked closely with Daniel. He was pleased with Daniel’s rapid progress in understanding the mechanics of Dark energy. He is so much better than any of my apprentice ‘wizards’ in Theland, Alec mused.
Alec converted some of the extra space in the shop to be his special laboratory and workplace and ordered the components and exotic materials that he needed to build a portal. With Daniel’s assistance, he used the new three-dimensional printer to make several of the components for the portal controller. Then Alec sensed the dark energy signature of the appropriate material sample and converted a portion of the newly fabricated component into the proper material.
The computer-controlled metal lathes and mills that were already in the shop made precision machining a snap. The sides of the hexagonal rod controller for a portal had to be precisely the same. In Theland, Alec had spent days on each controller getting the angles and dimensions to the required degree of precision, and had to discard many defective controller attempts. Here, with a computer-controlled mill and a simple jig, one of the shop machinists turned this laborious chore into a twenty-minute task.
Daniel had quickly grasped the theory governing portal operations and within a week the first working portal was operational. They tried it, moving from one end of the shop to the other. By the end of the day, almost everyone in the shop had taken a test ride on the device. Reminds them of Disneyland, Alec thought.
As they were cleaning up their workspaces after the successful portal try-out, Daniel asked, “Mr. Thelander, you know an incredible amount about dark energy. Where did you learn it all?”
Alec paused. “I was involved with dark energy during the golden days of dark energy research. I worked with and learned from the best.”
“Wow, those days ended almost twenty years ago. You don’t look that old, boss.”
Alec smiled and didn’t answer.
“Did you ever meet that famous guy, Holden? You said you were familiar with his work. I understand that he was the greatest. It is too bad that he died prematurely.”
“Yes, I knew him,” Alec replied, at a loss for a better answer.
“Wow – you knew him? What was he like? I mean he must have been brilliant.”
“Well … he seemed like a nice guy …” Alec answered.
“So what happened to make you leave the country, boss?”
“I left the Institute … unexpectedly … and wound up … figuring out new applications for dark energy … in a different country,” Alec said, haltingly. “And then, while I was out of the country, I met Erin and fell in love. I ended up living in Erin’s country and have been working there ever since.”
“Love can do that to all of us,” Daniel replied sympathetically.
“In her land, there was very little to build upon. I had to create all the materials I needed from scratch. Without a sample it was difficult to produce some materials. Sometimes I spent months creating a material without being sure I was correct. But here, I can order a sample material with my cell and get same-day delivery. Then I can sense the dark energy signature in that sample, and replicate the material from the dark energy signature. We have done things here in a couple of days that that took me almost a year.”
“Wow, it is hard to imagine there are still places on this world where you don’t have same-day delivery.”
“I didn’t have delivery at all,” Alec replied.
Daniel looked at him, uncomprehendingly. Alec decided to change the subject.
“Daniel, I anticipate that we will need a handful of portals to move things from the ranch and to move around on the ranch. Probably a half-dozen or so. Why don’t you make the rest of the portals? I need to focus on the next task: making rings.”
“What’s the deal with these rings, boss?” Daniel asked. “I figure there’s something special about them or you would just be making them out of gold or whatever.”
“Yes,” Alec answered, “they are indeed special. In some ways they are similar to the medallions. The medallions allow the user to control positive dark energy. The rings are made in a unique way that gives the wearer the ability to control the negative forms of dark energy. The best analogy I can think of is that the rings are kind of like a version of a smart watch. They augment other abilities.”
“Oh – those. I remember the old smart watches from when I was a kid. Haven’t seen one in years – no one uses them anymore. ‘Smart rings.’ Nice.”
Alec continued to clean up his workbench.
“How do you know how to make them?” Daniel asked after a few minutes.
“I’m going by memory, but I read up on how to do it from some old … research papers … that I came across, in some of the archives back home.”
✽✽✽
Alec clearly remembered the theory behind the rings from what he had read in the elf archives back in New Haven. Converting theory to practice involved figuring out the subtleties of the elf language and resolving details that were not obvious in advance. Alec knew the ring had three layers: a rare earth inner material that was infused with tricrystals, a second layer of a different rare earth material, and then a third protective outer layer of platinum or gold. Sylvia easily obtained all of the rare earth materials needed to compose the two inner layers of the ring. Over the next few days, Alec created the first new ring after several false starts. Erin rejected it after briefly trying it on. Several more attempts brought no greater success.
“Help me out here, Daniel,” Alec said one morning. “You’re pretty much done with the portals and I can’t seem to get the materials to cooperate for these rings.” The two of them worked most of the day trying to get the layers of materials in a proper configuration. Late that afternoon, Sylvia popped her head into the shop and saw Alec and Daniel hunched over the workbench. Alec was using a microscope to work with a thin metal band.
“What are you doing, boss?” Sylvia asked.
“Trying to make a ring. I explained to you the other day how these rings can augment the control of negative dark energy. In order to do that, I have to distribute the tricrystals as uniformly as possible in the inner ring material. The best way I can imagine to do that is to make nanoparticle sized tricrystals and distribute them uniformly throughout the metal band. I can make nanoparticle tricrystals, but I have to do it one at a time, and then I need to have the location correct. I need a huge number of nanoparticles, so this is taking forever – but I am sure this will work. Eventually.”
Sylvia started to laugh, and laughed and laughed. Alec stopped what he was doing and looked at her.
“What’s so funny?” he asked, somewhat annoyed.
“Oh boss! Daniel is helping you with this also? Nothing like letting a physicist and an engineer trying to do chemistry! You want tricrystal nanoparticles coated with a metal surface and evenly distributed in another metal, and you are making them and placing them there one at a time. That might be the way a physicist would do it, but it is the stupidest way that a chemist can imagine! Do you know how long that will take?”
Alec looked a little glum. “Unfortunately, I am finding out, but I was hoping that I could figure out a way to speed up the process as I went.”
“Sorry boss, I know you are a great physicist and Daniel is a hot shot engineer, but you are both pretending to be ‘chemists.’ Why don’t you get a real chemist to make what you need?”
“I gather that you have a better idea?” Alec said, trying not to sound too huffy.
“Better than spending a lifetime trying to put little particles in the right place? Sure, I have a better idea! Lots of ‘em! Make me a batch of your tricrystals, and give me two days, and I will have what you want without a problem.”
“How? What are you going to do?”
“What any good chemist would do,” Sylvia said, grinning. �
��I will grind your tricrystals, and then sieve them to extract the ones that are the right nano particle size. My first choice is to use one of my vapor-deposition machines to deposit the first rare earth layer on the particles. If I do the deposition in a simple column I will produce a coated particle. That process has been around for at least fifty years, maybe longer.” She looked at Alec. “Maybe they didn’t teach you that, in your fancy physics department back where you came from.”
Alec shook his head, trying not to look foolish.
“After that I will have to experiment a little to figure out the right heat-treat temperature, but as soon as I do, I will have particles coated with your first rare earth. Then I can mix the coated particles in your second rare earth matrix and produce the material you want.” She patted Daniel’s arm. “Daniel can figure out how to make a strip for your ring. I expect that he would either roll it or extrude it, instead of trying to mill something that thin. Huh, Dan?”
Daniel nodded in agreement.
Sylvia continued, “That should give you the inner two layers of material. After that it should be a straightforward job to put the protective outer layer on and finish your ring.”
Alec only looked foolish for a second or so before he regained his composure and set to work to produce enough tricrystals for Sylvia to use. Sylvia collected the material and took it back to her chem lab. Alec could hear her muttering.
“Men – why won’t they ever learn to ask for help?” she said, under her breath, as she left.
✽✽✽
When Erin did a performance test with the new ring, she beamed with delight. “Perfect. This is better than any of the old elf rings we’ve been using. I can sense the world with much more clarity! It’s as good as the one from my ancestors!”
“Great!” Alec said, pleased.
“Thank you, Great Wizard,” she said with a smile.
“We have Daniel and Sylvia to thank for this. Without their specialized knowledge, I might have spent years overcoming some of the problems to make this.”
“It is good that you have figured out how to come over your problems,” she said. “We will need rings for all my fighters, as well as your two dark energy users, so that they will be protected when the next elf encounter happens. I hope that you can make that many without any more problems.”
She quit admiring the new ring and looked at Alec. “I know you do not want to train too many dark energy users because they take a lot of your time, but I think that you should train one of my fighters to be a dark energy user. If I am fighting when you are not around, I would like a back-up source of dark energy. I do not want to again be in the situation that I was in with Colin when we were fighting the elves – where he couldn’t provide enough dark energy for me to win what should have been an easy fight.”
“Good idea. I can do that. Do you have anyone in mind?”
“Pick the one who has the most ability with dark energy.”
“You don’t want me to pick a young and handsome one? You might have to spend a lot of time with him if anything ever happens to me.”
Erin just rolled her eyes.
✽✽✽
Alec stopped in Sylvia’s lab, donut in hand, as she was using the dark energy from the collector to make a batch of a complex material. Might as well take a few minutes this morning and check on how she’s doing, he thought. Sylvia was smoothly drawing the dark energy from the collector to make the material. As she drew dark energy, Alec felt a little bobble in the dark energy background. Feels like Daniel is also using dark energy. The bobble in the dark energy background grew into a minor instability. Sylvia started to damp the instability as he had taught her. The instability declined; then another bobble appeared in the background. The instability started to grow. This time, Sylvia was a little slow and lost control of the oscillation; the instability started to grow out of control. Alec fed dark energy to Sylvia and the two of them worked to reduce the instability; finally, with their coordinated efforts they reduced the instability; then both released the dark energy. Sylvia’s hands were sweating. She looked at Alec.
“Thanks, boss. That would have been a problem if you hadn’t been here.”
Alec nodded. Yes, bigger than you might realize.
“I guess we need to schedule our efforts when we are using the collectors,” Sylvia said ruefully. “I knew that Daniel was going to use them this morning, but I thought I would get this one sample finished before he started.”
After leaving Sylvia, Alec dropped in to see Frederick. Frederick knew that Alec had something on his mind when he stopped in like that. After talking about the weather, sports, and donuts for a few minutes, Alec got to the point.
“I am concerned about something. We almost had an accident this morning that could have destroyed the building and all our inventory and equipment, and that could have killed everyone. I would like to relocate the collector to another building, away from this shop, that is isolated and where we can do our intense work with dark energy. It needs to be away from here, and really not too close to any other buildings. Transportation between the two locations is not an issue – we can use the portals to go back and forth. Do you have any ideas?”
Frederick though for a few moments. “I know of a second shop that would be perfect for our use. The current owner has just moved to a bigger space and is selling it. It is in a deserted warehouse district, so not much is around it. It is down-state, so it’s not really very close, but like you said, with your portals the location doesn’t matter.”
“Sounds good,” Alec said. “You can figure out the details for me.”
“Sure, Mr. Thelander. I could use the extra space where your collector is anyways.”
“Then it’s a deal.” Alec shook Frederick’s hand.
36 – The Ranch
Alec looked around their little room at the rooming hotel.
“We’ve been here now over three months. I’m getting really tired of this place.”
“‘Three months’ is … three turns of your single moon?”
“Yes.”
“And we are no closer to home,” Erin mused.
“Well, no, but really, in a way, yes,” Alec said, slightly miffed. “I’ve got a lot of the stuff in place that I need to build a transporter to get us back to Theland.”
“I know you are working hard, my Great Wizard, but I wish it wasn’t taking so long.”
“It’s time to find a ranch for us,” Alec continued. “I figure that I will need about an acre for the building that will house the transporter, and then, with a decent buffer, I will need about 10 acres for that, plus another acre or so for our house, and then – let’s see – about double that for enough space for you to train your guard force, and a bunkhouse for them.”
“And how do we do this in your country? Where is the queen who will allot us this land?”
“Um, no, we don’t have a ‘queen.’ We will have to pay for our ranch, but, don’t worry, we have enough money, with the profit from the shop and the residual from the insurance settlement for my purported ‘death.’
“We will need to go look for a place. I would like for it to be in the South, so we can continue working throughout the winter and don’t have to wait out these winter storms like the one projected for next week.”
“Where is ‘the South’? Is it in the Uessahay?”
“Yes, I’m thinking of the southern part of the USA. It’s too far to drive, so we will have to fly there.”
“‘Fly?’”
“Yes, on a big metal ‘bird,’ sort of like a really big driverless, but one that can go through the air, and has a driver. A pilot.”
“Your world is very strange, my Consort.”
“We are having lunch with Celeste tomorrow – are you ready to go on a trip? After lunch?”
Erin smiled. “I am ready for anything that will get us home to the children.”
Lunch with Celeste was enjoyable, as always. School was going well for her and she was s
tarting to relish her classes – she had made the amazing discovery that learning new things was enjoyable, and that if she paid attention in class and read the material, she could learn interesting things. Most of the conversation at lunch involved the nuts and bolts of the details of her life.
“I am trying to decide what I am going to do this summer,” she said. “Uncle Al thinks maybe I should get a job, maybe one that pays a little better than at Professor Smidt’s office or the museum, so that I can learn about ‘real life,’ as he calls it.”
“‘Real life’ would be a good thing to learn about,” Alec said.
“Why don’t you come to work for us?” Erin said, without thinking. “I haven’t talked to Mr. Alec about it, but I bet that you could learn how to use dark energy.”
“That would be cool,” the young woman said enthusiastically. “Maybe I could even learn to make a flower! Are they hard to do?”
Alec smiled at her. “Anything that you can visualize, you can make.”
✽✽✽
Erin delighted in riding on the great metal birds. As a child she had learned to read the maps made by the scholars in Theland and understood that looking from the windows of the airplane gave her a perspective much like a map. She pressed her face to the little oval window and excitedly called out the topographic feathers of the lands passing below – trees, rivers, roads, farmsteads. The Dallas airport was a fascination to her – huge interior spaces with thousands of people, all rushing from one metal bird perch to another, riding little driverless carts hooked together in long wagon trains, screens flashing numbers and words in a dizzying holographic display, strange smells of old food and sweaty people, and everywhere a cacophonic din.
“Instead of a ‘queen,’ we will see an ‘agent,” Alec explained to her when they reached their destination and procured their own driverless.
“And what does this ‘agent’ do?”
“She will show us properties – different tracts that we could use for our ranch – and then we will decide which one we want to buy.”