Cloak of the Light: Wars of the Realm, Book 1

by Black, Chuck

  Finally, he gave up studying and numbed his mind with some television. Then he logged online, checked his simulated investments, and played a game of Domination. By the time five o’clock rolled around, Drew felt like his old, grounded self.

  He grabbed his backpack—which was nearly empty except for a bottle of water, his notebook, and his physics book—slung it over his right shoulder, and made his way toward the student union. He sat down on a bench and enjoyed listening to the sounds of a busy academic campus transforming into that of a weekend-hungry student body. Faint music played from one of the dorms not far away. A couple on their bicycles whizzed by, and a mixed posse of four students were talking about a party they were excited to get to as they crossed the street and journeyed on to the edge of campus.

  Ben approached from the direction of his own dorm. “You ready?”

  Drew stood and realized that fifty feet away was the spot where the mysterious man had been standing in the picture. He looked that direction, then across the street toward the physics building. Drew shook his head. No way Ben’s theory was right.

  “Sure, Ben. Let’s put your mind at ease. I’d like to get a good look at Dr. Waseem’s LASOK anyway.”

  They walked across the street and into the physics building. The student labs were on the main floor, and Dr. Waseem’s research lab was on the second floor. They made their way upstairs, passing a lone student who didn’t even look at them. Midway down the empty hallway, Ben used his key to open the door to a small, windowless office where four TAs shared a couple of desks. It was dark and empty now.

  Drew reached for the lights.

  “Don’t.” Ben’s voice was hushed.

  Drew cast a sharp glance at Ben. “Why not? I thought you said this was legit.”

  “It is. I’ve been given permission to access this office and the lab. I just think it would be wise not to draw too much attention.”

  They felt their way across the office. There was just enough light coming from the glowing blue computer power buttons on two systems to keep from bumping into desks and chairs.

  “Does the university know how close Dr. Waseem was to successfully accelerating light?”

  Ben shook his head. “I don’t think so. The rest of the physics staff considered him a bit of a quack. No one ever believed it was possible. They only put up with him because of the research grant he was awarded. The Feds gave him six million to do his research.”

  Drew let out a low whistle. “Well, somebody in the government must have thought it possible if they gave him that kind of money.”

  On the other end of the small office was another door leading to the lab. Drew knew that because he had visited Ben numerous times in this cubicle of an office. Ben swiped a security access card, and a small green light illumined on the front of the reader. He pushed on the door, and they stepped inside.

  The blinds were drawn on all the windows. Since it was still daylight, the room was bright enough to function in without turning on the lights. Drew felt a little apprehensive and couldn’t help thinking that being discovered might not bode well for them. Was Ben trying to hide from university staff … or his imaginary aliens?

  Ben made his way to the desk on the far wall and busied himself checking notes. Drew eased his backpack off his shoulder and set it on a stool near the door. He walked to the center of the lab, where a long, broad bench held the most fascinating array of electrical and optical equipment he had ever seen.

  “So this is what six million can buy.” His eyes were wide, soaking in the technological marvel before him. Whether it worked or not, it was just plain cool, even if he wasn’t a complete physics nut. He recognized a powerful laser assembly at one end of the bench, but that was about it. The rest of the equipment was something out of a high-tech futuristic thriller movie. Mirrors, glass plates, steel rods, long cylindrical transparent tubes, electronic test equipment, power supplies, and a dozen other unknown devices were all placed at strategic locations to perform some function that Drew could only guess at.

  Near the far end of the bench was what looked like an electron microscope, but there had been some obvious major modifications to it. Some of the access panels had been removed, and a network of wires and fiber optic cables were fed to the inner portions of the machine. The viewer itself looked like it had been modified too.

  Ben joined him. “What do you think?”

  “Do you actually understand this?” Drew felt wholly unqualified to even be in the room.

  “Yes … at least in theory. I’ve been helping the professor conduct tests for months. The last few weeks he has had me prep all the equipment for him before he comes to the lab. It takes about thirty minutes to get it all ready. The plasma generator is what takes the longest,” Ben said, pointing to one of the larger pieces of equipment near the electron microscope—or whatever it was.

  Drew just shook his head. He’d known Ben was brilliant; he just never realized how brilliant. That the doctor entrusted Ben with such responsibility was a testimony to Ben’s drive and intelligence. Apparently he was more than just a TA. Perhaps even more than a research assistant.

  “How does it work?” Drew asked. “And remember I’m no genius like you.”

  Ben began flipping switches and turning dials as he watched gauges and looked at digital readouts. He talked as he went.

  “The theory is quite simple, but the implementation is extremely complex, kind of like splitting the atom. LASOK stands for light accelerator by stimulated optical kinetics. A few years ago, groundbreaking research at Harvard University proved that light can actually be slowed down by passing it through a Bose-Einstein condensate. Dr. Waseem theorized that if light can be slowed down as it travels through a medium, then it should be able to be sped up as well. Einstein limits as defined by his theory of relativity are based on the speed of light. If one can increase the speed of light, the theory remains intact, but there is a new upper limit and a new point of reference. Are you following?”

  Drew hesitated. “Marginally.” It was enough to keep Ben going.

  “In simple terms, Dr. Waseem developed a plasma-and-laser-excited optical lens that energizes photons as they pass through the lens. The increased energy state of the photons causes acceleration pretty much just opposite of the effect that a Bose-Einstein condensate would have on light, namely, slowing it down.”

  “And that’s in simple terms?” Drew scratched his head.

  Ben huffed. “Yes, it is, without getting into quantum physics.”

  Drew’s own interest in physics was a mere hobby compared to what was happening here. He was way out of his league. Good thing he decided to study mathematics and finance instead.

  Ben continued to turn on equipment and make adjustments as the machine came alive.

  “How much can light be accelerated, and how do you know if it actually works?”

  Ben didn’t even look up as he answered. “The speed of light in a vacuum is 299,792.458 kilometers per second. We have successfully accelerated light to 299,792.693 kilometers per second.”

  “Let me get this right. Dr. Waseem spent six million dollars to accelerate light by .2 kilometers per second?”

  Ben kept working, but a slight smile lifted his mouth. “I don’t think you grasp the significance of what I just said. Until Dr. Waseem created the LASOK, nothing in the universe traveled faster than 299,792.458 kilometers per second. That was the limit for all of reality. He just broke through into another whole realm of possibilities.”

  “How does this relate to the photo you showed me?”

  “For nearly all our tests, we only measured the increase of light speed quantitatively. It was during our last test that the doctor wanted to see if there were any visual effects resulting from the acceleration. Through a system of mirrors and lenses”—Ben pointed to five mirrors positioned around the periphery of the room that focused into the large scope machine to the right—“one can look through the LASOK lens in the optical kinetic stimulator and s
ee a view of the outside. Take a look.”

  Ben pointed to the viewer. Drew went to the machine and looked through the eyepieces. He could see the same view that was captured in the pictures Ben had shown him earlier. Drew saw a person walk out of the union and knew this was a real-time viewing of just outside the physics building.

  “Is this with light accelerated?”

  Ben shook his head. “No. The plasma generator is not quite ready, and the laser still needs to be focused. In five minutes we will be able to see exactly what the doctor saw yesterday. By varying the phase shift of the plasma and the amplification of the laser, Dr. Waseem discovered he could vary the speed of light within a narrow limited range.”

  “Sort of like tuning in on a particular range of the spectrum?”

  “Not really. That would mean only changing the frequency of the light, which gives you different colors. By changing the speed, you would have an infinite number of entire spectrums you could tune in on. Comprendes?”

  Drew looked up from the viewer. He was trying hard to follow Ben, but his brain operated in a whole different way. “I think so … Can the image be adjusted to some place other than the union across the street?”

  “Yes, but the doctor chose the union because it had the most activity.”

  Ben was focused on the plasma generator, so Drew let him concentrate without interruption. After a few minutes, Ben grabbed a notebook and compared some of the notes in it with readings on a couple of test instruments. He tweaked a few more settings, then stood and took a deep breath. The entire machine pulsed with life, as if anxious to shout to the world of its existence.

  “We’re set.” Ben seemed satisfied. “Once I engage the plasma generator and the laser, any light passing through the optical kinetic accelerator will be moving faster than it’s supposed to.”

  “Can I look?”

  Ben grinned at Drew’s excitement. “That’s why we’re here, isn’t it?” He pushed the button that activated the laser, and a bright green light beam bounced through a series of mirrors and prisms that ended at the optical kinetic accelerator, where the viewer was. He then placed his finger on a toggle switch and snapped it up. The plasma generator purred to life, creating an orange glowing gaseous plasma that pulsed through a wavy glass tube. It also terminated at the optical kinetic accelerator.

  Ben looked at Drew and nodded.

  Drew shivered as he looked through the viewer. Would he see some hideous alien beast? But the view looked exactly as it had before Ben activated the LASOK. Drew waited a few seconds, but nothing changed.

  He looked up from the viewer. “Looks the same to me.”

  Ben walked over and bent over to look through the viewer. He looked for a couple of minutes. “Maybe he or they aren’t there for us to see.”

  “And maybe there is nothing for us to see.”

  Ben went back to the plasma generator. He made a few adjustments as Drew spoke.

  “Look, Ben. Accelerating light is already a Nobel Prize–winning event. You don’t have to do that and discover aliens all in the same day.”

  “Maybe the light needs to be tuned to a different speed … Or maybe we just need people to see. Perhaps now isn’t the best time to do this.”

  Drew sighed. There had to be some way to satisfy Ben’s requirements and end his quest, or at least postpone it. “What if instead of looking outside, we direct the mirrors to look back into the lab … at us?”

  Ben looked up at the mirror near the port in the wall that allowed them to see down at the union. “That’s not a bad idea.”

  He grabbed a chair and moved toward the mirror. He jumped up and started turning the mirror back toward the room.

  “Look in the viewer until you get a good view of the lab,” he called out to Drew.

  Drew positioned his eyes in the viewer and watched the lab come into view.

  “A little to the left … oops … other way. A little more. Hold it! Right there. I can see most of this half of the lab. It still looks normal. Everything looks a little … blurry.”

  “Try the eyepiece focus.”

  Drew found a knob near the viewer and turned it until the room became crystal clear … almost too clear. Something was different.

  “Got it. It looks a little weird, but no aliens,” he said with a laugh.

  Ben went back to the laser and plasma generator. “I’m going to accelerate the light a little at a time, and you tell me if anything changes.”

  Drew watched as Ben came into view standing by the instruments. As Ben made adjustments, everything in the viewer shifted slightly. Drew couldn’t describe it, but it made him feel queasy.

  “Anything?”

  “No, keep going.”

  “I’m nearly maxed,” Ben said.

  “I don’t see—wait!” Just then, part of the image darkened near the door to the office. It looked strangely familiar.

  “That’s max, Drew.”

  “Go a little more.” Drew tried to focus on the darker area in the viewer. It moved slightly, but he couldn’t tell if that was just another shift similar to what he had been seeing all along.

  “Overdriving the plasma generator is dangerous, Drew. What do you see?”

  He could almost see it. “You have to go just a little more.”

  “Okay, but only for a few seconds.”

  Drew concentrated as Ben took the power level of the plasma generator into the red ever so carefully. The door area darkened more, then sharpened—and disappeared. Drew’s heart nearly stopped.

  “Back just a bit! Slowly.” His heart raced. Either his eyes had tricked him or the darkened area was much more than just a visual shift. Shivers skittered from his neck clear to his legs and back to the top of his head.

  The image in the view shifted again—

  And then he saw it.

  “Stop!”

  Drew lost his breath, and his eyes watered. As clear as he saw Ben standing at the controls of the plasma generator, he saw a man standing near the lab doorway. He was in the room just a few feet behind Drew. He couldn’t speak or move … Fear held him fast. His entire body ached with goose bumps.

  The man wasn’t looking at the viewer. He was glaring at Drew’s back and occasionally glancing toward Ben. He was large and looked like a character straight out of an apocalyptic movie, complete with a long, dark coat, tight leather gloves, and sharp facial features. His face was fierce and his eyes were dark gray, almost black. If this was an alien …

  He wasn’t friendly.

  Drew couldn’t take it anymore. He slowly turned away from the viewer to face the door.

  “What is it, Drew? What do you see?” Ben sounded as fearful as Drew felt.

  Drew swallowed hard as he gazed toward the door and the ominous invisible man, knowing against all reason that he was just a few feet away. Just then, the LASOK made a strange noise. Ben turned back to the controls.

  “It’s overloading! I have to shut it down!”

  “Wait!” Drew spun back to the viewer. The image flickered, but the man was still there. Drew watched, horrified, as the man reached behind his head and drew a sword as black as coal. Before Drew could call out, the man moved with blinding speed toward Ben—

  And thrust the dark blade right through him.

  “Ben!”

  But Drew screamed too late. The controls Ben had been working exploded, shooting a shower of sparks in every direction. The last image Drew saw was the bright, hot-white plasma burning into his eyes. The sound of another explosion and glass shattering filled his ears as he was thrown backward.

  Then the world went black.

  10

  DARKNESS

  Drew could hear sounds pounding into his ears, but they made no sense to him. It sounded as if he were trying to listen under two feet of water. Over the next few seconds, the sounds cleared and made sense, but why were people talking so loudly right next to his head? They weren’t shouting, but they might as well have been, for it hurt his ears to hear the
m. He tried to open his eyes, but nothing happened. As full consciousness came, so did his senses—and pain.

  His head throbbed, then pounded. His eyes felt like they were on fire. He reached to touch them, but he couldn’t move his hands.

  “Lie still,” an even louder female voice said next to him. “You’ve been in an accident.”

  “My eyes hurt.” His voice boomed like it had been amped.

  “Doctor, he’s awake.”

  The woman’s voice hurt his ears. “Please don’t talk so loud! What’s happening?”

  Drew heard footsteps pounding on the floor.

  “You’re going to be all right, son.” A man’s voice. The doctor? He sounded like he was talking in a voice that could have been heard two hundred feet away.

  Drew cringed. “Quit shouting,” he said as loud as he dared.

  Drew was aware of everything touching his body, from the IV in his hand to the bed sheet touching his legs down to his toes. And the smells of the hospital were overwhelming. Antiseptic, plastic, urine, body odor—didn’t they have air filters?

  “My eyes hurt. What happened … where am I?”

  “You were in an accident at the university, and you are in the hospital. You hit your head and received a concussion that left you unconscious for over ten hours.”

  Drew’s memory came rushing back—the lab, Ben, the LASOK, and … the man! His heart raced, and he could hear every beat. It made the throbbing in his head even worse. How was he even alive? What did it all mean?

  “Ben … where’s Ben?” There was a pause, and Drew’s stomach clenched. “Where’s Ben?”

  The man’s voice came again. It had to be the doctor. “He’s being treated for burns on his neck and chest.”

  Burns? Drew remembered seeing the dark man run him through with a sword. “Is he … going to live?”

  “Of course, the burns are minor.”

  “I want to see him. Can I go to him?”