Dr. Morgan watched the computer monitor intently as he gradually varied the frequency harmonics. His eyes were red rimmed from exhaustion. This was their fifth trial run today. They were all tired. The high pitched whine of the machine in the inner lab seemed to vibrate his very bones, he thought, as he continued to sweep the frequency higher. Phillips monitored his station intently, carefully watching for any signs of disturbance. With the machine armature spinning at such a high RPM, a single out of phase vibration would cause it to tear itself apart in moments, and bring their entire experiment to its end. Ted watched the machine through the glass that separated the inner lab. Then suddenly, Morgan saw the frequency wave form flatline, even though the machine still spun madly.
“Phillips! What’s going on?” He yelled above the ear piercing whine.
“Sir?”
“What is going on? I’m flatlined!”
“Nothing, sir. The Harmonics appear balanced, sir.” Ted rushed over to Morgan and looked over his shoulder. He too saw the steady flat line.
“How can this be?” Morgan asked.
“Phillips! Fire the gamma beam!” Ted yelled.
“But-” Began Morgan.
“Now!” Ted reiterated. Phillips nodded, as he realized the ramification that the flatline implied. He quickly keyed the sequence to initiate the beam. “Hold that frequency!” Ted yelled at Morgan.
“Phillips! Wait! You can’t initiate the beam now!” Morgan yelled back. “It could blow the entire system!” Phillips looked up, first at Morgan, then at Ted. His finger hovered over the enter button. “Wait!” repeated Morgan.
“Do it!” Ted yelled. Phillips let his finger drop to the button. The lights flickered within the lab as the power surged to feed the gamma ray beam. An invisible high powered energy beam shot across the inner lab. The center of the spinning machine suddenly grew white hot, as if it contained the power of the sun itself. Ted watched as the spinning of the machine increased in speed. The bone rendering whine became even louder. His hands came to his ears reflexively.
“I’ve got a vibration!” Phillips yelled out, the concern evident in his voice.
“Shut it down!” Morgan yelled, as he came out of his seat.
“No!” Ted yelled, as he pushed the doctor back into his chair.
“It’s a Torsional vibration! Magnitude point zero five!” Phillips yelled over the continually rising pitch of the machine’s whine. A look of horror crossed Morgan’s face.
“We have to shut it down!” Morgan yelled. Ted pointed over the Doctor’s shoulder at the screen in front of them.
“Look!” He yelled. Dr. Morgan turned back and saw that frequency indicator was no longer flat. As he watched he began to see it quiver at first, and then suddenly it leapt into a long asynchronous sine wave, with amplitude readings that were off of the scale.
“Magnitude point zero nine!” Phillips yelled, as Morgan quickly adjusted the scale of his readout. The full wave form became visible.
“Is that...?” Ted asked, unsure how to complete his question.
“Yes.” Morgan said, almost to himself. “Yes.” He said again with amazement.
“Magnitude point one three!” Phillips yelled.
“Kill the beam!” Ted shouted, and Phillips frantically began to key the sequence to deactivate the gamma beam. Suddenly the blinding brightness from the inner lab winked out. The lights flickered again.
“Magnitude point zero eight!” Phillips yelled out. His expression revealed his relief that the vibration had begun to recede. Morgan made a slight adjustment to the frequency, and the machine’s pitch rose quickly and suddenly became inaudible. Silence filled the room, until Phillips spoke up again. “We’re at magnitude point zero two and falling.” Ted slowly walked over to the window and looked into inner lab. The machine still spun at a blinding speed, and all around the opening in the center, blue arcs of electricity sparked. He stared in disbelief as he suddenly saw a figure materialize on the other side of the opening, and walk down the far side of the ramp. Ted watched as the man turned to look back into the portal. He could clearly see the face now. The man he saw, was himself.
Chapter 13
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