“The scale! It’s down an ounce.”
I look at her, then the scale. We are an ounce lighter! And it didn’t even seem like we added many bits. “Should we add a few more?” We both look at the monitor.
“Appears like there’s still more room to me,” she says, analyzing the image on the screen. “Let’s do it.”
I reopen the envelope and begin pouring bits again while she continues to watch the monitor.
“Oh man!” she exclaims. “Keep going Tyler! This is incredible!”
“What? What?” I ask impatiently, wanting to quit my job and see what she’s talking about.
“Apparently they’ve reached the outer limits of the containment field. The wave of bits is beginning to double back over itself. The top of the upper row is turning a deeper blue and the bottom of the lower bits is fading out to a greenish-yellow color. The spectrum is beautiful. Finish emptying the envelope and take a look.”
It doesn’t take much longer before the bits are all together and I get my chance to look. It is more beautiful than Jen described, but I don’t think I could have found any better words. As I watch, the last of the new group I have been pouring reaches the containment field. The pulse is being carried through a much wider color spectrum by the double rows of bits, which are quickly settling themselves in the center of the field. It appears nearly half the group has doubled up in the center with the single layer remaining on the outer fringes.
“Five point six,” I think I hear Jen say.
“What?” I reply, coming out of my thoughts.
“The scale!” she says. “It’s at five pounds, six ounces now. It’s like the doubling of the bits has doubled the gravity canceling effect.
“Cool!” I grin, saying the only thing I can think of at the moment. “How far do you think we can take this?”
“I don’t know. But we’ll need more bits won’t we?”
“Yeah. The envelope is empty, but we have a few more black bits standing by from the initial nano harvest.” It’s a goofy sounding term, ‘nano harvest’, and I have no idea where it came from, but Jen grins so it’s good.
“I see we’re going to have a few terms to add to the scientific dictionary by the time we’re done with this,” she comments as I retrieve the bottle and begin preparing more converts.
“We’re changing more than the dictionary, Jen.” I stop my activity. “If this keeps going the way it has so far, we’re on the verge of changing transportation as we’ve known it since... since man invented the wheel! Think about it! No more rubber tires; just floating on gravity!”
“Like that car-like thingy in that old movie your Gramps watches every once in a while.”
“Yeah! And even getting into space. Those gigantic tubes of explosive propellant won’t be needed to escape Earth’s gravity anymore. Just add a little power to the bits here, and everything will just float up to where it’s needed.”
“Bummer,” Jen says with feigned disappointment. “I like watching liftoffs. They’re exciting.”
“Well, maybe they’ll still do a few, just for space purists like you.” I laugh, elated with the potential we are uncovering.
I slide the black bits into the bottle. Then it occurs to me. “Crap!” I shout.
“What?”
“I’m pretty sure all of the gray bits are in the tube. We’re going to have to turn the containment field off to get some to add to the bottle.”
“Well…” Jen grabs a magnifying glass and peers into the empty envelope. “How many do you think we’d need? There are two in here, stuck in the fold at the bottom.”
“I guess it’s time to find out. Two should work as well as ten I would think. And after the first ones hit, there’ll be more. It might just take a little longer to get going.”
“Here you go then.” She curls the small envelope into a funnel, and holds it up and slightly into the bottle. Tapping the envelope, we watch but don’t see any movement. Lowering the envelope, she looks into the bottle with the magnifying glass. “I see one of them,” she announces.
“Well then, here goes.” We hold our breath, straining to hear the telltale pop as I rotate the bottle a couple of times. I look at her. She negatively shakes her head.
“Do it longer,” she suggests.
Again we hold our breath. I rotate the bottle, tilting it slightly one way then the other to try and increase the chance of success. The reward finally comes as we notice a small blue spark accompanied by a soft pop. I continue the process and finally achieve the expected popcorn popping sounds. Soon we have more material to continue the experiment. Jen is making notes in her own notebook when I look up to ask, “Ready?”
“Ready!” she confirms.
“You want to pour again?”
“No. I want to watch some more.”
“Okay then. Here they come.” I begin pouring, and it hits me how quickly I am getting used to the process.
“Hold it,” Jen says quietly. “I think we’re almost at the limit.”
I close the envelope and join her in looking at the monitor. I don’t think I could ever thank Gramps enough for the camera. It really makes the experimentation a lot easier.
“They’re stacking again,” Jen observes, “without the second layer reaching the edge of the first layer. They’re probably following the magnetic barriers set up by the coils.”
“That kind of makes sense,” I agree. I glance over at the scale. “Two point eight, Jen. Will you look at that! It’s doubled again. The lift is growing exponentially.”
Jen looks up, first at me, then at the scale. An expression of wonder crosses her face and, though I can’t hear it, I see her lips form a ‘Wow’ as she takes in the new information. “I wonder what will happen if we add a little more power to the coils now?” She looks at me, getting more excited by the string of events.
“Let’s find out. Which group of coils do you think we should try first?”
“I don’t know. Think about it. If we raise the power on both, it’ll just compress the bits. If we power the top, it’ll press them down. If we power the bottom it’s going to push them up.” She seems to grind her teeth for a moment, trying to decide what to do. “What do you think?”
I can’t imagine what will happen in either case. Finally, and I don’t think she’d likes the answer, I say, “Let’s just wing it. Try them both little by little. I just don’t think there is any way we can predict what’s going to happen. Heck, we don’t even know how it’s happening to begin with, which makes it harder to hypothesize what might happen next.” I realize I’m babbling and so does she. She is looking at me like I have just said the dumbest thing in the world.
“I guess that makes some kind of sense to someone,” she jokes. “But that’s the case, so let’s start with the top coils. Watch the monitor and let me know what’s going on.”
“Okay,” I say, turning to watch.
“I’m turning the dial now.”
“Nothing yet. How definitive is that dial, anyway?”
“It goes in milliamps.”
“Sure doesn’t take much to keep these little guys in place does it?”
“No. Anything yet?”
“Umm, I’m not sure. You’re increasing the top coils, right?”
“Yeah.”
“It seems to be growing a little more peak.”
She comes over to look for herself. “I kind of expected something like that.”
“Uh huh.”
“No. Really. If the power increases, it’ll draw the bits upwards. It only makes sense,” she says.
“I believe you,” I reply. “Do you think it’s stretching the bits?”
“No, I think it’s drawing them into a tighter configuration with more bits lining up on top of one another,” she explains. “And if that’s what they’re doing, the scale should have a different read out too. Punch the ‘hundredths’ button for the readout, would you?”
I reset the digital readout. “One point one five. Wow! Y
ou’re right.” She looks at me, seemingly pleased with her analysis. “So, what if we increase the bottom set of coils, Miss Smarty?” I tease.
“I’ll bet the same thing happens only in the opposite direction. The bits will continue to align themselves horizontally and the amount of lift will continue to increase.”
“We’ll see.”
She proceeds to spin the dial on the other transformer, and we watch as the gray bits do exactly as she thought.
“This is so cool,” I comment after she has brought the two coils to the same power level. The scale now reads one point one three.
“And what do you think will happen if we add more bits again?” she asks me.
“We’ll see the peaks remain where they are and the new bits will fill the void left by the stacks?”
“Good guess. Let’s find out.”
I pick up the envelope with the remaining gray bits in it and let them go up the tube. It is interesting to see that they move a little faster due to the amount of power that is being applied to the coils, which is really very small. “That’s it. That’s all of the little floaters we have tonight.”
“We’re at one point one on the scale,” Jen informs me. Let’s do a little more power now.” She reaches for the dials. “I’m going to do both simultaneously, one notch at a time. Maybe you should keep an eye on the scale.”
“Okay. I’ll read off the numbers.”
“I’ll try and take a look at the monitor in between increments. Here goes.”
I watch the scale start to move. “One point zero eight,” I say a moment later.
“Here’s comes another one.”
“One point zero five.”
“The bits in the monitor are getting even more extreme in their colors. I’m going two notches this time.”
“Easy girl. Point one five. We’re under a pound.” My heart is racing. “Whoa. Point ten.”
“Just a little bit more.”
“Point zero four! Zero! Jen stop!”
“Stopped!” she confirms.
I look at the number again. It definitely reads zero. “Why isn’t it floating?”
“The wires are holding it down,” Jen says in a whisper. “Look at the monitor.”
I shift my gaze to the pulsing bits. At the top they are now a reddish-blue fading down to a yellow-white at the bottom. I turn and put my hand up to the coils to check for heat. There isn’t any.
“I wish we would have hung the wires from overhead,” Jen says after we have stared at the display for a while. “I’ll bet we could get those things off the ground.”
“We’d have to have a way to keep it from tipping, too. Seems to me the coils are the heaviest spot.”
“We can easily add ballast,” she suggests. “It would probably float straight up then.”
“Probably,” I agree, and turn to have another look at the monitor while she makes notes. “I’ll create a DVD of tonight for you to include in your notes if you want.”
“That would be nice,” she says, without looking up.
I look around at the scale, at the coils on top, and at the settings the transformer dials. I try to imagine in my head how this would all fit into the saucer that is slowly taking shape in the hangar over at the launch facility. “We’re sure going to need a lot of these to get our ship to float,” I say softly.
“What?” Jen replies, closing her notebook.
“The saucer - G minus 1. We’re going to need an awful lot of coils and bits and control to make the whole thing work.”
“Definitely,” she agrees. “And we have to do it all so that nobody knows what we’re doing either.”
I nod. Doing it is one thing. Doing it in secret is going to make it more difficult.
“Let’s try and unload this thing. I’m going to turn the power down to where it started.”
I watch as the peaks in the monitor flatten out, the colors and pulse returning to what might be considered their normal state. I reach up to make sure the funnel is secure and notice there is no envelope taped over the spout. “Make a note,” I say. “We need to attach the envelope before we start just in case we lose power.”
“Duly noted,” she confirms.
I hold an envelope over the spout to capture the bits. “Ready for power off,” I inform Jen.
“Power off,” she confirms, “And I see the bits exiting the containment field.”
“And I see the pale-blue trail heading up the funnel.” I can actually feel the envelope balloon in my fingers.
“Careful. You’ve got more bits there than you’ve ever had before. They could float away on you.”
I tighten my fingers on the envelope as the last wisp of blue passes out of the funnel. “Everybody in for the night,” I say as I close the flap. “See if there’s a plastic paperclip in the top drawer, would you?”
Jen opens the drawer and rummages through. “Yep. Here’s five for you,” she says, handing them over.
With the envelope clipped, I lower my right hand, place my left over the top and let go. Just as Jen cautioned, the envelope quickly floats up into my left hand.
“Here,” she says, draining her water glass. “Put them under glass.” I turn the glass upside down. “Wait,” she suddenly adds. “Let’s weigh them first.”
She opens her notebook again, reads the weight of the coils and tubes and makes an entry. Then she weighs the empty glass. “Now put the envelope in it.” She weighs the upside down glass again and makes another entry. “I should be able to start doing some estimates with this,” she says with satisfaction.
“I’m feeling a little tired all of the sudden.”
“Yeah, the adrenaline rush has subsided, hasn’t it.”
“I guess. You going to pack all of this stuff up tonight.”
“Yep. I want to strengthen the structure a bit more, add some ballast, and figure out how to hang the wires. We’re going to fly next time, I guarantee it.”
She packs her equipment neatly away into the boxes. “So when should we try to fly?” I ask.
“How about in two weeks? I think I have to pull a double shift at the diner next weekend. Wendy’s going out of town, and I told her I’d fill in.”
“Okay.” It would be nice to have some time off. This is almost becoming a job.
“That’s it,” she says as the last item is stowed away. “This was really fun.”
“Yeah, I think so too. Not exactly your average Friday night activity, but definitely something unique to do.”
I follow with one of the boxes of parts as she makes her way down and out to her scooter. I kind of hope tonight might end in the same way as our last experiment session, but she just hops on the scooter, flips the switch, and says, “Night, Ty.”
“Bye, Jen,” I call after her, trying not to sound too disappointed.
Tunnel Work
Jared and I are told to expect hard work for the next couple of weeks. His dad has decided to put us down in the maglev preparation area to clean the tunnel. “It’s huge,” Jared had warned me. He figures it will take us at least a month. We are to start at the far end which is about three-quarters of a mile away from the building. I am disheartened to think that we are going to have to walk the same distance we had been driving during our rides out to the graveyard to scavenge plane parts. I ask if it would be okay to bring the hy-ped down to ride the distance but Jared said there is too much stuff to carry. Then he got a sly smile and assured me there is a better way.
Monday morning we make our way down the steps of Building ‘F’, buckets, brushes and hoses in tow, and into the underground corridors that will deliver us to our new assignment. It seems like the long way around, but the only other steps down are in the hangar the shiff is in, and we’re still not allowed in that building.
Unlike our other recent venture, this time the lights can be turned on in the stairwell to the prep area. I can see a set of footprints in the thin layer of dust on the stairs. We follow them down about three quarters of the w
ay on one side, where they turn and head back up the other side. I remember Uncle Earl’s revelation about that night’s activities. This is where he must have been listening to us before our ascent that night.
Making our own fresh footprints, we reach the landing at the foot of the stairs. Across the tunnel is the staircase which we had climbed to make our discovery inside the shiff. I can hear faint noises coming from that staircase as the decommissioning activities continue.
We turn left, heading down the tunnel leading to the prep area. Low-voltage LEDs light our way enough that I can see the double doors at the end. As we come up to them, I see another door set into the wall on the right with a red and yellow sign which warns ‘High Voltage - Keep Out’. Jared pulls out a ring of eight or nine keys his dad has given him. The keys are mostly the large brass ones used to open doors, and just a couple of smaller, silver ones. He holds them up towards me with a grin on his face and says, “The keys to the kingdom.”
He fits the first brass key into the handle to unlock the door and flips a switch just inside the doorway to the little room. I stand and watch as Jared walks over to a breaker box, isolates one of the small silver keys on the ring, and unlocks its door. It opens with a soft squeak. Inside are lots of switches each with a label telling what they control. “Go tell me if anything happens out there,” Jared says, nodding towards the big room.
I push my way through the double doors and set my tools down to rest my arms. There is sufficient light from the high windows to look around, but it has little effect in the darkness of the rail tunnel. Standing and staring out into the huge room I call back to him. “Ready!” I hear the first crack as he begins throwing the circuit breakers to their ‘On’ position. Down the long rail tunnel to the left, a faint glow begins at the far end. To get a better view I walk further into the growing light until I come to a wall defining an interior room. A little to my right is a closed door labeled ‘Control Room’ with dark black lettering.
With each click of a breaker, the light gets brighter and the long, black arm of the maglev rail becomes better defined. Bigger and bigger the mouth of the tunnel seems to get, and wider the rail appears until the light is bright enough to illuminate the far end of the prep room. To the right of the tunnel’s mouth, I notice winged shapes under large shrouds; the experimental space planes.
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