Wanda

by carl smothers

  Pepper and Harry just looked at each other and laughed quietly. Earth’s medicine is good, but not like that, Harry thought.

  “Do you use nanotechnology in other applications?” Harry asked. “What about your computer systems?”

  “We made extensive use of this technology for several hundred years. In our early computer nanotechnology applications, the circuits manipulated atoms, as opposed to electrons, to perform computational tasks,” Tarnak replied. “Now, we use photons and actually emulate the neurons of the brain to implement our systems. Not only do we have the power of the neuron, but also our designs are much more efficient, smaller and faster. Everything takes place in the optical domain.”

  A few minutes later, the android server brought the food. The fajitas were new to Tarnak, so Harry and Pepper showed him how they were prepared for eating.

  “Wow, this is good,” Tarnak, said. “The flavor and texture is scrumptious.”

  Just as he was about to eat, Harry’s phone rang. “Excuse me, it’s Bill Hart. I’ll be right back.”

  “Tarnak, try a buttered corn tortilla. You’ll like them,” Pepper said. “I am curious. Do all of your people have white hair or are you, as we say on Earth, prematurely white?”

  “As young people, we have many different hair colors, as you do. But when we reach our thirties we turn white. It has something to do with genes.”

  “What about the women? Do they do anything to their hair?”

  Tarnak laughed and took a sip of his Margarita. “Very tasty. Oh, yes, Pepper. They love to change hair color and styles.”

  After a few minutes, Harry returned with a serious look on his face.

  “What’s wrong?” Pepper asked.

  “Someone planted a bomb in the MCC. Thankfully, a maintenance technician found it before it went off.”

  `”You’re kidding!” Pepper remarked. “Where was it?”

  “It was hidden under a maintenance console in the main computer center. It was a small device, set to go off on third shift. Bill thinks it was only intended to cause enough damage to delay things.”

  “Did they catch the bomber?” Tarnak asked.

  “No. As Pepper said, we’re convinced our saboteur is an insider, and a very smart one. He always seems to be a step ahead of us — always knows exactly what we’re doing. Only an insider would have that information. The DOD has several agents working with us on site. Corporate security is the only ones who know who they are.”

  “For the life of me, I can’t understand why anyone would want to sabotage our project,” Pepper said. “We plan to share it with everyone. So far, he’s been content to plant viruses in the system. We have flights coming up. I sure hope he doesn’t decide to plant a bomb in the ship.”

  “Marc and I are going to conference with Bill tomorrow to discuss this further,” Harry said. “There’s going to be some big security changes implemented. Well, other than a scare no harm was done … this time. Tomorrow will be an interesting day. By the way Tarnak, we have a flight to Proxima Centauri planned to launch a new deep space telescope.”

  “I read about it. I think you’ll find it a very useful tool.”

  “I think so too. I’ve been told you have experience launching deep space telescopes.”

  “Yes. I took leave of absences from the university to help out with three of them.”

  “I’d like you to go on the flight with us. Sound interesting?” Harry asked.

  “I wouldn’t turn down the chance of taking the first flight through a wormhole for anything. Of course I’ll go.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate that very much.”

  “Tarnak, what kind of homes do you live in?” Pepper asked. “Do you all live in high-rise apartments in the cities?”

  “Some do and others live in individual dwellings outside our cities. Our homes are smart, completely automated and household robots are common. We try to make each home as independent as possible.”

  “How do you do that?” Pepper asked, as she buttered her corn tortilla.

  “We use food and water synthesizers exclusively. Our roofs are made from a type of sensor that furnishes all of the home’s power. To conserve energy, we employ adaptive construction materials that restrict bilateral heat transfer. Our windows consist of force fields. They adapt to sunlight and temperature conditions to provide optimal lighting and minimal energy losses.”

  “Perhaps it’s not the nicest thing to discuss over lunch, but what about sewage?” Pepper asked as she sampled a chip and took a drink of her Margarita.

  “Waste is reclaimed, broken down into its molecular components, and the individual molecules reused.”

  “Wow that eliminates a lot of infrastructure. Do you have to service your synthesizers? Harry asked.

  “Once a year they’re recharged, and that’s about it.”

  The android waiter came and served another round.

  “Be careful. These things are potent.” Pepper grinned. After two of the mega margaritas, she was beginning to feel good. The Jose Marianas Margaritas were living up to their press.

  “What kind of foods do your people like?” Pepper asked.

  “We have a lot of different types of cuisines, but nothing like this. These fajitas are unique. I’d like to sample this again. It is a bit bland compared to our spices. I’d love to have a recipe book.”

  “I’ll see to that,” Pepper volunteered.

  Bland? Harry thought. Man, I bet you’d have to drink a ton of water to put the fire out when you eat their foods. Jalapenos, bland? You know, I wonder why he’s so interested in cookbooks.

  Chapter 28

  STL

  Wormhole Development Facility

  New Mexico

  Wanda was excited. She and Harry had always believed there was life on other worlds, and now there was tangible proof. Her curiosity was boiling over, and she was eager for Harry to come home so she could get all of the details. Her nervousness amused her.

  She decided to busy herself by reviewing the documents from the results of one of her special projects. Wanda had spent the last three years obtaining a documented college education. Thanks to on-line degree programs, offered by all major universities, she was able to complete her studies without attending classes. Her Bachelor’s Degree in Physics and Mathematics was finished in one year with a GPA of 4.0 from Stanford. After that, she enrolled in MIT for her masters in Physics and Mathematics and completed that with a 4.0 … again in one year. Her Master’s thesis included a new twist on solving the singularity issue in Einstein’s general relativity theory, laid the theoretical foundations for a quantum theory of gravity, and provided a pathway to connect general relativity and quantum mechanics. She was proud of that piece of work.

  She finished her PhD at MIT, with a 4.0. She had enjoyed the interaction with the professors during her oral examinations and thesis defense. As far as they could tell, the professors were testing a real person. Wanda sighed with pleasure. It was wonderful interacting with the professors on that level. It almost felt as though I was part of everything. Not just some smart computer program restricted to the loneliness of cyberspace.

  Wanda’s doctoral thesis was a very new theoretical construct, which finally answered the question of how and why the universe was accelerating. Her thesis presented a new, modified theory of physics to describe and understand the strange world of dark matter and dark energy. How it behaved, its measurement, containment, and role in accelerating and expanding the universe. It was a monumental piece of work.

  Now I know what Harry went through to get his doctorate. It was fun, and I really enjoyed the opportunity to have some of my ideas published even if it was under my pen name. I’m excited, and so close to completing my plan. I can’t wait!

  Another thought nibbled through her barriers, one she had tried so hard to suppress. It is so wonderful watching Harry and Pepper’s love for each other grow. I wish … oh, well, things take time.

  Chapter 29

  STL


  Wormhole Development Facility

  New Mexico

  Ever since the wormhole had gone nuts and almost killed everyone, the Congressional Oversight Subcommittee had been breathing down their necks. The team worked long hours and frantically searched for answers — anxious to find the root cause of the near disaster — trying to save the program.

  Harry walked into his office and fell into his chair as the video phone rang. Dr. Romanski, his nemesis from the earlier design reviews, glared at him, not looking any too friendly. Harry was startled, but not completely surprised to hear from him. Here it comes.

  “Good morning, Martin. How can I help you?” Harry asked as he braced himself for what he knew was going to be an uncomfortable conversation.

  “Stevenson! I told you at the design review if we got wind of any stability problems we would shut you down. I have a report that says the damn thing went unstable and almost killed everyone in the facility. The committee is extremely upset about the state of affairs out there.”

  “We’re trying to find out what went wrong. There are a couple of technical issues, but the real culprit, I think, was a very cleverly induced virus.”

  “Virus or not, if we don’t get some answers quickly, I guarantee you and your team are going to be looking for new jobs. Understand?” He hung up abruptly.

  “Yes, Martin,” Harry replied, speaking to a blank screen. He knew Romanski wasn’t kidding. He would shut them down in a heartbeat, and smile while doing it. I’m going to have to push the team hard. That man’s serious. I don’t think we have much time left.

  A week later, Marc and Harry met with their primary investigators to discuss their findings and recommendations — hopefully the solution. The clock was counting down fast.

  “Pepper, what have you found?” Marc asked.

  “We identified the shutout problem. It turned out to be a coding error in the flag logic. There’s a lot of system conditions could inadvertently trigger such an event. I recommend we run tests on all flag breaks.” She checked her notes. “There’s another thing,”

  “What?” Harry asked.

  “Someone injected a virus into the system. Wanda and I captured the thing and secured it in a storm chamber to see how it worked. It was designed to cause a change in the gravitational field equations tensor metrics, and force the wormhole solution to be non-optimal.”

  “Is there any clue as to its origin?” Harry asked.

  “We’ve shut out all outside access to the system so, as much as I hate to say it, one of our team members is implicated. We just don’t know who. I’ve eliminated the virus, but we need to take extreme precautions. Someone’s trying to sabotage the project and they don’t mind killing if they have to.”

  “Pepper’s absolutely right,” Ronnie added. “Scott and I checked the coding in the wormhole design program and the code was accurate. A virus changed the metric. I don’t know who the creep is, but he almost killed us all.”

  “Guys, I can’t tell you how pleased I am that you nailed this thing. All of you have worked your butts off, and I just want you to know how much Marc and I appreciate you. Damn, this is good news! At least we’ve solved that one.” Harry thought for a moment, and then addressed Kimberly. “Scott, how’s the rewrite of the compression algorithms going?”

  “That job’s done. I ran simulations and they look great. That new adaptive compression algorithm suggested in Wanda’s paper is innovative. If we find the bastard who’s been planting those viruses, let’s sic that big girl who beat you up in the tunnel on him.”

  Everyone started laughing. Harry winked at Scott, and then looked down to give himself a minute to think and blush unnoticed. “I’m still worried about the virus situation. Particularly since we’ve determined it is an inside job. I suggest we implement a new procedure that tracks every system entry, log-on and password authorization regardless of who it is. Also, let’s restrict who can access programs.”

  “I’ll have IT work it immediately,” Marc replied. “We have a utility that does that, but I’ll make sure the guys’ beef it up and close any loop holes.” He made notes on his Q tab.

  “Great, that’ll help,” Harry said. “We also need better algorithms to detect virus infections in the first place.”

  “These new viruses use completely different strategies, so we’ve designed several scanner programs to help find them,” Pepper replied. “Lars and I will have the programs coded shortly and Wanda can validate ‘em. I just can’t figure out why anyone would want to sabotage the project. It makes no sense. We’re not trying to hog the technology.”

  Harry fiddled with his coffee cup and leaned back in his chair. “I don’t have a clue either,” This is looking more like a weapon application all the time. “When do you guys think you’ll be ready to test?”

  “In two weeks,” Pepper responded, sipping her water.

  Harry was reasonably satisfied, but still had some concerns. “You know, Marc, I think the instability was primarily caused by the virus and system bandwidth limitations. I’m not convinced that was our only problem. When you read the white paper in detail, it points out that the wormhole design program may have an issue. Even though our successive approximation methodology to the gravitational field equations is adequate, we need to incorporate a new convergence hypothesis. If we do it right, we’ll always have the optimal solution. Otherwise we design a wormhole that doesn’t quite have the proper field and matter configurations and that, combined with the bandwidth overload, could cause instability.”

  “Won’t the new compression algorithms basically solve that problem?” Marc asked, cocking his head to the side, indicating he wanted more clarification.

  “If our compression algorithm works, that will ease the bandwidth issue. I’m still convinced we need new convergence criteria. It’s really the final piece of the puzzle. Moreover, it’s certainly something we need to take a hard look at before we take any unmanned or manned flights. I don’t want anyone killed because we failed due diligence.”

  “I couldn’t agree more,” Marc said.

  “Tarnak says he has a new optimization algorithm, so I’ll ask him to implement it.”

  After the meeting, Harry down linked the report to Hart, and went back to his office to call him. He hoped Bill could use the information to help stave off the wolves — Romanski in particular. “Bill, did you get my report?”

  “Yes, and it looks good. How long before you can validate your findings?”

  “We’ll know in a week. What is going on with Romanski? He called and read me the riot act.”

  “I heard about that. Romanski is trying like hell to shut you down, but Secretary Robinette’s running interference for us. Listen, we need some confirmation quick. I’m not sure how long we can hold Romanski off. He’s got several senators on the oversight subcommittee spun up pretty tight.”

  “I understand. I’m confident we should have it nailed within a week.”

  “I hope so, Harry. Please keep me informed.”

  No Earthman had ever ventured through a wormhole to another star. Theory predicted wormholes to be a transient and very unstable creation of the universe: Will-o’-the-wisps that pop in-and-out of existence in the microscopic realm of the space-time continuum. They were of little use, but that had now changed.

  Harry reviewed the system modifications to recap where they were. Wanda’s improvements combined with Tarnak’s new optimization algorithm ensured a stable solution to the gravitational field equations. The flag errors were corrected, and the offending viruses had been eliminated from the system. New, more robust scanner algorithms were also in place. They had operated the wormhole for short periods emulating flight profiles for over a month without incident — so far. The good news was they had successfully completed both robotic fly through tests without incident.

  We’ve done about all we can, Harry thought. We’ve reviewed all of the mathematics, and I think the stability issues have been resolved. Pepper’s new anti-vi
rus programs are keeping us clean. It’s one thing to work with the wormhole from an Earth station, but quite another when you’re using it as a conduit to another part of the galaxy. A thousand things could go wrong, and something probably will. I wonder what that mole might pull next. It is like a cat and mouse game … a game of wits with this guy. I hope our new procedures will cut him off at the pass.

  Reviewing the mission plan to the Alpha Centauri system filled Harry with apprehension. Activating the wormhole for the first time had proved to be an enormously risky event. The upcoming mission was even more precarious and potentially lethal. The journey to Proxima Centauri meant flying a starship through a wormhole to a solar system 4.4 light-years from Earth; possibly exposing them to another virus attack, or who knew what?

  System and facility security was extraordinarily tight including the implementation of new log-on access procedures and validation methods. Pepper, Lars and several DOD computer security specialists had been assigned to a virus defense committee. System security was tight and simulation and testing validated the new virus defense programs. Every known hacker technique plus numerous hypothetical methods was tested. It was clearly the most sophisticated system security and anti virus protection procedures in existence. They had taken every precaution but Harry was still dubious.

  I wonder if that mole might have let us run those robotic tests, problem free, to lull us into complacency. It would sure be a good way to entice us to relax our guard. We need to incorporate something into our tracking process that can’t be fooled. I need to discuss this with Wanda.

  The wormhole throat was Harry and Wanda’s design — a strangely puckered structure, resembling flimsy crushed paper with sinusoidal rings. If a flaw existed in the design, the wormhole would vaporize anything upon entry. Of course, even if one survived the throat and the wormhole stability did not hold during transit, the ship could be lost in space, simply destroyed or perhaps pushed into another dimension or parallel universe. Theories he did not even want to address. The successful robotics test helped ease his concern, but there was still nagging doubts.