Mars- The Red Planet Awakens

by Paul Reaver

  "You have good news for me?" asked John.

  "Well, I'm not ready to power our facility with fusion power yet, but I'm making much better progress than I'd anticipated."

  "So how far along are you?" asked John.

  "I can power my miniature turbine line enough to light this tiny bulb for approximately 30 milliseconds. Doesn't sound like much, I know, but it's progress."

  Since John held a handful of scientific degrees himself, he knew this was a considerable understatement. Once the initial success was achieved, and was reproducible, he knew the progress would grow geometrically. "Great work," he said. "So, you should be ready to power the facility in, what, a week or so?"

  Max smiled and said, "Might take two weeks."

  "I'll hold you to that," said John. "Let me know if there's anything you need."

  Max smiled again and said, "I always do!"

  Smiling back, John turned with a wave and left the lab.

  Geographically in the complex, Roberta’s lab was next. Her niche was nanotechnology. This was an area of science that had kept scientists busy for many years, but no one had yet been able to snag the brass ring, although they had made significant progress.

  The nanoscopic scale (or nanoscale) usually refers to structures with a length scale applicable to nanotechnology, usually given as 1-100 nanometers. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter. You can’t walk up to a wall and immediately teleport to the other side of it, but at the nanoscale level, an electron can – it’s called electron tunneling. This aspect of nanotechnology held the promise of some exciting developments.

  Engineers such as Roberta were trying to use nano-size wires to create smaller, more powerful microprocessors. This is on the threshold of creating computers that are far beyond the mere phrase “supercomputer.”

  Doctors are working with ways to use nanoparticles in medical applications. Still, there is a long way to go before nanotechnology dominates medical technology and medical markets. However, Roberta was keeping her eyes open for medical applications of nanotechnology as she worked with it, though the medical field was not her main focus.

  Currently, scientists find two nano-sized structures of particular interest: nanowires and carbon nanotubes. Nanowires are wires with a very tiny diameter, sometimes as small as 1 nanometer. Scientists hope to use them to build small transistors for computer chips and other electronic devices. In the last couple of years, carbon nanotubes have overshadowed nanowires. Scientists are still learning about these structures, but what they have discovered so far is very exciting.

  A carbon nanotube is a nano-size cylinder of carbon atoms. Imagine a sheet of carbon atoms, which would look like a sheet of hexagons due to their hexagonal shape. If you roll that sheet into a tube, you'd have a carbon nanotube. Carbon nanotube properties depend on how you roll the sheet. In other words, even though all carbon nanotubes consist of carbon, they can be very different from one another based on how you align the individual atoms.

  With the right arrangement of atoms, you can create a carbon nanotube that's hundreds of times stronger than steel but six times lighter. Engineers plan to make building material out of carbon nanotubes, particularly for things like cars and airplanes. Lighter vehicles would mean better fuel efficiency, and the added strength translates to increased passenger safety.

  Nanotechnology is rapidly becoming an interdisciplinary field. Biologists, chemists, physicists, doctors, and engineers are all involved in the study of substances at the nanoscale. Roberta held degrees in all these sciences. Nanotechnology is also related to quantum physics, and since John was an expert in both fields, he worked closely with Roberta to help her projects progress. Although Max worked primarily with the cold fusion project, he had begun to work with Roberta on nanotechnology.

  With all this information, it is evident that nanotechnology is a science well worth pursuing. And it was just the type of project on which John’s team liked to focus because it has so much potential.

  “How are things going on the ‘really tiny things’ front?” John asked, smiling.

  “Very well, John,” she said. “With my expensive new toy, the microscope we acquired, I can observe the various particles so we can advance to the next level. I may need your help later in the week. Can I make use of some space on your calendar?”

  “Absolutely,” said John. “Just let me know.”

  “Ok, thanks,” said Roberta. “I’ll set something up for us to meet. See you later.”

  John moved on to visit with Abigail.

  She had probably been the second most successful team member, next to Mark, only on a smaller scale. She was working on the ability to make objects invisible. Based loosely on electromagnetism, her process, in essence, pushed the stream of photons away from the object she was making invisible. Using a reverse process to make them rejoin their original path after passing the object made it appear that nothing looked amiss to anyone viewing the object. The downside was that it took a tremendous amount of energy to alter the photon path for a tiny object, so she could not make it portable because it required a large power supply. She was fervently hoping that Max would achieve a breakthrough with his fusion project - that would give her the kind of power she needed. If he could also manage to make his fusion generator portable, then she could make her device portable.

  She was also working on a project for a science that was in its infancy, if you could even say it had evolved that far: time travel. There are at least several ways to approach it. Time travel is the concept of movement between specific points in time, similar to movement between different points in space. Hypothetically this would be done via a time machine, either as a vehicle or a portal, and connecting to distant points in spacetime either to an earlier time or to a later time. Currently, it’s uncertain if time travel to the past is physically possible, though the consensus of physicists worldwide is that it is not. However, the current belief is that forward time travel is possible, but so far, no one has isolated a practical approach. All there are is theories. Still, she had it on the back burner.

  Abigail happened to be facing the door when John entered and saw him come in. She looked at him with a sunny smile and said, “Hi, John!”

  “Hey there,” he said.

  She said, "You're going to ask me how things are coming along, aren't you?"

  "Well, the thought had crossed my mind," said John, smiling back. “So, how is it going?"

  "Watch," she said.

  On the "invisibility platform," a small raised area on her workbench, was an object of a very unusual geometric shape. On either side of the object were twin devices resembling corrugated metal bars, both longer and taller than the object. She flipped a switch and, immediately, the object disappeared. Well, it mostly disappeared. Several corners and points were still visible. This was as Abigail expected. She was working on challenging herself with more complicated objects to make invisible. Smooth objects were easier to work with. Oddly-shaped objects made it more difficult to bend the photon stream and rejoin it after it passed the object.

  "Looks like that's an excellent work in progress," said John.

  "Definitely," said Abigail, "but it gets better all the time. Yesterday you could still see about one-third of the object when the field was activated. As you know, making the invisibility ‘cloak’ able to hide irregular objects is the challenge."

  “Glad to hear you’re making progress. Once we get it to the point where we can hide big objects, it will be an extremely useful tool. Keep up the good work!”

  “Thanks, John!” said Abigail, and turned back to her work as John left the lab.

  John’s last stop was with Jose. He was working on teleportation. Though John had an affinity for all of his teams’ projects, he leaned toward this one as being his favorite. Time travel would have been his favorite, but the fact that it was presently (more or less) out of reach while teleportation was in development made the difference.

  Jose was a great guy. He never met
a stranger. His personality made him a pleasure to work with, although John thought that all of his team members were great people.

  “Hi,” said John.

  “Hi,” replied Jose. “How are you?”

  “I’m fine,” said John. “Just stopped by to see how things were going.”

  “Pretty well, actually,” said Jose. “I can move little bitty things for little bitty distances.”

  John couldn’t hold back his laughter, and when he composed himself, he said, “Well, that’s good news. Tell me more.”

  Jose said, “Well, it is quantum teleportation, as you know. We’ve already discussed the physics and the theory that supports the process. As things change, that is, as they progress, I’ll let you know. So far, I’ve been able to send a single proton about 3 feet. And even at that, it’s not successful every time. But I expect that, given time, we will be able to teleport objects, ultimately including humans, over great distances. The factor that affects where and how far we can send an object is that we must know where the object is going before we send it. In other words, you can’t decide to teleport an object a distance of 50 feet to the south if you don’t know what’s there. If you do, it is entirely possible that whatever you send will materialize inside another solid object. I shudder to think what the reaction might be. It could be as simple as having the two objects become completely misshapen as they try to merge, or it could be as catastrophic as an explosive reaction. Theoretically, if there were going to be an adverse reaction as two objects occupy the same space, after the teleportation, I would have had such a negative response when teleporting a proton. Since my results indicate that I haven’t had anything adverse to occur, it would appear that there have been no negative results. There are two caveats to that statement, however. One is that there may be an adverse reaction occurring, and it’s so small that I’m not aware of it. The other is that a negative response is happening, and I don’t have any way to measure it. That’s what I am working on now, in conjunction with the teleportation: a way to measure any reaction when two objects, currently protons, try to occupy the same space at the same time. And last but not least, when we start to teleport large objects, there will almost always be an atmosphere at the destination. What will probably happen in that case is that the gas molecules will just get pushed out of the way. Only solid objects would give us trouble.

  “But let me elaborate as far as what the future of teleportation looks like to me. Let’s say that we perfect the process to the point where we can send objects of any size to any place. With quantum teleportation being a quantum event, theoretically anything is possible given the correct process. Teleportation could replace the need for a warehouse to send goods to a retail outlet using a truck, such as a warehouse sending food to stock a grocery store. And people could instantaneously go from one place to another. Right there, we’ve eliminated the need for delivery trucks to deliver goods, and cars or other types of transportation for people, to name two examples.

  “Realistically, these processes (and others like it) would take many years to come to full fruition. But it will happen. The impact on the world’s economy will be vast. What happens when you don’t need delivery trucks and semis to transport goods, and planes, cars, buses, trains, taxis, and so forth to transport people? The companies that currently base their business models on these types of transportation would theoretically go out of business; the need for their products, so to speak, would be little or none. Now, as I said, when transporter technology becomes mature to the point where it can do these things, it will be many years in the future. Economies and the companies they encompass should have a way to save their businesses via other sources of income. The transport companies (for goods and people, or at least the smart ones) will replace their trucks with teleportation devices. They will charge for the teleportation services and, in doing so, create an alternate revenue stream. The process of change should be slow enough to allow these companies to accomplish this without going out of business. Granted, they will have to invest money in these new technologies, and some will have to spend a great deal of money. But the transformation time for teleportation to replace current transportation should allow them to do so and still stay in business. After all, how many times in human history have new technologies developed that replaced the processes that were current at the time, and the technologies of various companies and countries adapted and therefore survived? Of course, they did not all survive. This is what I expect. I would assume this is something that you will have to discuss with Uncle Jim, and he’ll have to discuss it with his boss. From there, it will go pretty high up, so that the powers that be can develop a release timeline for the technology that will attempt to avoid completely disrupting the economics of the companies it will affect. I say this because it has happened many times with many technology shifts, and they weren’t always controlled shifts. The effect of new technologies has often been catastrophic. Our advantage with teleportation is that, at least currently, we control it. However, if the technology is released ‘out in the wild’ without a plan, there will be no control. And honestly, there may be no way to control it. To me, it’s unsettling. What’s even more disturbing is that most of the projects we are involved in will ultimately have similar technological effects. But let’s look at history without any preconceived notions. In the past, companies that created new technologies that had large footprints didn’t care about the effect it had on other companies. After all, they were in business strictly to make money. The goal of the companies with the new technologies was precisely to create and release them before any other companies could, therefore taking over the majority of the business in question. They would, of course, have to stop short of creating a monopoly. Humanity has survived, though many companies went out of business.”

  “Wow,” said John. “That’s what I would call the long version of the short story.”

  Jose grinned. “Yes, though I know you’ve already considered all of these things. But it’s my job to keep you up to date and advise you, so I’d rather give you more information than less. You can discard what you don’t need.”

  “I appreciate the input,” said John. “As you said, it’s not going to happen tomorrow. Any large-scale change such as you have described is many years in the future. Before I head back to my office, is there anything you need?”

  “No, I think I’m good for now,” said Jose. “Thanks anyway.”

  “You’re welcome,” said John, and headed out the door. As he walked, he rolled over in his mind the information Jose had given him. Jose was right. He would definitely have to have a conversation with James about the impact of teleportation.

  Chapter 2

  Though John fulfilled the management role for the teams, he was also a member of the groups in every sense of that role too. He had his own lab and his own projects. As with the other members of the team, he had a project that was his primary goal, as well as lesser goals that he also worked on. All of the team members had additional pet projects with which they worked, John included. However, all projects, since they were government-funded, required approval from James and, of course, had to fit within the budget; for his own projects, he was allowed the freedom of self-approval. Still, he was required to report them along with the rest of the projects in the project updates he regularly sent to James.

  John reached his lab and went straight to his computer. As with the other members of the team, his computer was not a computer in the normal sense; the display of information was 3-dimensional and hung projected in the air in front of him. He could move objects or display different information with a wave of his hands; finger movements produced more precise and intricate results. For more complex interactions, he could talk directly to the computer.

  “Malcolm,” he said, “please open the file for my brain wave project.” A voice that sounded like it came from all around him replied, “Certainly, John,” and the requested file took up the primary space in John’s aerial computer dis
play.

  The brain wave file included programs that John was working on as part of the project, and he activated the main application with the movement of a finger in the air. He said, “Malcolm, please activate the brain-wave transceiver.” “Activated, John,” was the response. Since this was John’s primary project, and he wanted to use brain waves to replace awkward physical and audio interfaces to control multiple devices, it explained why his first goal was to use brain waves for computer control and communication. For so long, people had relied on the slow and (as John thought) primitive mouse and keyboard interfaces to work with computers. With few (and mostly top-secret) exceptions, all computers continued to operate this way. The exceptions were the computers that were voice-activated and had the 3-D “heads-up” display like the one that John used. Advanced machines like this were, of course, not limited to government projects. There were many instances of advanced computers in the private sector, as well. John concluded that there was even a better way: using brain-wave computer control.

  John had been working on this project for almost a year. In that time, he had made some critical and significant strides. Since he had started from scratch, his achievements were that much more notable. It started with creating a device that could “read” brain waves. That first device was also primitive in comparison to the current iteration. Initially, the tool required that wires be attached directly to a helmet-like device that the user would wear on the head. From experimentation, John discerned what area of the brain was the source of the waves he needed for communication. The next step was the most time-consuming; it involved isolating the waves that corresponded to the thought that represented the command to send to the computer. Though he started with single-word commands, he was now working with short phrases. He had moved beyond the helmet stage to a brain-wave receiver that did not have to be physically worn by the sender. However, the receiver still had to be close (within a yard) to the person giving the commands. As with spoken commands, each brainwave command started with the keyword name “Malcolm.” This alerted the computer that communication was to follow. The name or designation would be different for each computer. Still, by using a name to precede a command, a person could communicate with multiple computers by merely using the correct name. Since a person would not want all of his or her thoughts to be transmitted, each brainwave communication was ended by the thought phrase (at least for John), “Malcolm, brainwave off.” Even if John did not do this, at this relatively early stage of the project, Malcolm would probably not understand the vast majority of the thoughts that John did not directly send to him. The brainwave commands required so much focus that any thoughts without the requisite concentration would sound “scrambled.” This was just another part of the fine-tuning that would have to take place to make this project a success, but John had come a long way in the past year. Abigail and Jose had started working with him on this project about six months ago. Bringing in the two other team members had helped immeasurably in the project’s progress; it allowed John to work on the project at a much higher level, and as indicated, feed helpful information back to the subordinate team members. When the word “subordinate” appeared in his mind, John shook it off. He did not think of the two team members as subordinates; he thought of them as colleagues. The reason he had taken the lead was so that the three of them could work in unity to produce the fastest and most effective results. But the input and insights from Jose and Abigail were crucial factors in the project’s rapid progress.