Near Future 1: Awakening

by Randal Sloan

  Miranda nodded and opened a screen using the room's VR system. The other two stared at her when she started pulling up screens that they had never seen before. She was looking at what was under construction around the campus.

  "Are those admin level screens?" Zeke asked her. "We don't even have that level in our computer classes. How did you get access?"

  "I don't know for sure. I think I was accidentally given too high of an access, but I'm not going to ask them to take it away. Are you?"

  "No. Never look a gift horse in the mouth. That's something my dad always says. So what have you found?"

  "The only major construction is at the telescope, which is a couple of months behind schedule. Really disappointing for my astronomy class. The company doing the work at least looks legit, but they probably have subcontractors too."

  "Let's look somewhere else for now. That's a long way off from the soccer field. I just don't see how it could be there."

  "I got the impression our team at the library was only here for covert surveillance. Again, it just seems too far from the soccer field anyway." Miranda stared a minute. "Ok, this is odd. A crew showed up last week to change out the bulbs at the soccer field. Their paperwork appeared to be valid, but they weren't on the schedule. Supposed to be the new high-efficiency bulbs that Space Tech has very recently introduced to replace the old bulbs that use a lot more power. That part at least looks legit. Their new technology uses LED bulbs that shine on a tiny core of exotic matter. They direct the light from the LED's onto the exotic matter to generate an amplified burst of light. So it takes a lot less power to produce a bright light. For the exotic matter, it only takes a relatively small magnetic containment field since it is such a small amount."

  "So what if they modified the bulbs to allow the containment field to fail? Would that give us an explosion?"

  "No, the amount of exotic matter is too small. It would at worst case cause the bulb to burst and they have a high density glass container intended to catch that. Even if that failed, a few people would get showered with glass fragments, certainly not a horrific event that would make newspaper headlines. They are actually considered safer than standard bulbs. No, it's not just the bulbs, but this is it. I just feel it."

  Emily had been listening to the two of them with her mouth hanging open. They were way ahead of her. But she knew everyone was really, really tired. She could tell Miranda looked like she was about to pass out. She was getting worried about her. She interrupted the two of them before they could get going again. "You know guys, maybe we should take a break. I know your brain is special, Miranda. I bet if you sleep on it overnight, you will figure it out. You two have been so distracted, you didn't see the VR alert telling us that all classes are cancelled tomorrow. At least they are taking it seriously, the work of Doctor Ted I bet. Anyway, I suggest we meet tomorrow morning in the coffee shop and try again since we will have all day to work on it."

  Miranda knew Emily was right. Plus she was pushing too hard again and was getting close to another headache. She really was about to have to stop. "You're right. We all need to sleep on it. Maybe it will come to one of us."

  Zeke laughed. "So you guys are saying, we'll have to wait till tomorrow to save the world? But I really have to say, this has been a lot of fun. I just wish it wasn't so serious."

  Emily smiled at them. "Fun for the two of you. I felt like I was watching a ping-pong game, with the ball going back and forth between you." Her smile deepened. "I've just got to say it. The two of you are amazing together."

  Zeke recognized that was one of her special little smiles. But he couldn't argue with her. Neither could Miranda, apparently.

  #

  James (Jimmy) Cooper, DHS, had not had a good year. He and the man he currently worked for did not get along, and he had been getting the assignments nobody else wanted for the last several months. Mostly the boring dead ends that did nothing to help his career. His latest assignment looked like it was going to be another one of those, at least as far as the dead ends went. It at least didn't sound boring. The call had come out for all available resources to provide security for a threatened terrorist attack at the Space Tech sponsored Space Academy. His boss had studied the information briefly, and decided that it was much more likely to be a dud. The number of resources dedicated to stopping the attack meant that not even the Organization would be stupid enough to go ahead with it. So he sent Jimmy by himself.

  Jimmy was feeling pretty down after he arrived on the earliest flight he could get. A very sleepy rental agent took entirely too long to get him a vehicle. He had to settle for the only one they had available, more or less a piece of junk, but at least it had gotten him to where he needed to be. He was surprised to find that he was one of the earliest to arrive.

  That was when Jimmy's luck changed. The commander of the DHS forces had worked with Jimmy a few years before, and the two had gotten along pretty well. He immediately asked him if he would work as his assistant and coordinator, since his people had not yet arrived on location. Jimmy accepted the position without a second thought, immediately getting to work setting up their command post. As the teams arrived, he would assign them to a specific task based on the needs and resources and their abilities.

  It was crazy how many people were coming in, so it was soon extremely busy in the command center. Someone had pulled out all the stops on this one. Space Tech had a lot of pull and the lead on the possible attack seemed solid. Plus, if anything happened at the school, it would be a huge publicity nightmare. At least he was too busy to be bored.

  #

  Emily, Zeke and Miranda met the next morning in the coffee shop. Miranda hadn't come up with anything else, and neither had the other two. Everything in Miranda's thoughts circled around the new bulbs, but no matter what she tried, she couldn't find anything that could create an explosion. They went through every possibility they could imagine. What if they somehow applied a huge voltage short to the lights? No, when they studied the possibilities with that, the LED's would burn out and the magnetic field would actually get stronger, causing the exotic matter to collapse back into its original form and become inert. Could they have somehow increased the amount of exotic matter to be high enough to be dangerous? After looking at the bulbs, it didn't look possible with the area inside the bulb that they had to work in. Plus the magnetic field would have to be larger and the bulbs passed the school's testing when they installed them, using approximately the same amount of power as would be expected. The school's electrician had signed off on it, so they didn't think it could have been faked.

  After a frustrating couple of hours, they took a break and walked across campus as far as they could go toward the soccer field, joining a large number of their fellow students who had come out in curiosity. It was a very large group of students since no one had classes. The approach to the soccer field was barricaded and a rather large man was standing guard. They could see a huge tent just beyond the barricade that was obviously being used as a command center.

  They watched as security teams crisscrossed the field carrying all kinds of electronic equipment and leading dogs around the whole area. For most of the students there, it was a way to pass the time and it was something interesting to watch. Unfortunately for the three of them, watching didn't have the same charm. They knew how serious it was.

  After watching for a while, Miranda looked at the other two. "I don't see any way they could get through all that, but I feel strongly about this one, almost a premonition I think. I need to do something. We need to have all the weapons in our arsenal, literally. I want to get a DHS friendly pass so I can have my sniper rifle available. I'm not sure they will believe us, but at the same time I will try to pass on what we know to the DHS forces."

  Knowing they would need help to get through the agent stationed at the barricade, Miranda made a VR call to the Sergeant who had trained her on the sniper rifle. When she explained what she wanted, he agreed to help. Shortly thereafter he arrived
at their location, and the four of them went up to the officer guarding the barricades. Explaining that the three had information on the planned attack, the Sarge convinced the man to let them speak to someone in charge. Miranda could tell if it had been just the three of them, he would have sent them away, but the Master Sergeant was rather insistent and was the type of man you couldn't ignore. Finally the man radioed in and then turned back to their little group. "Alright, I can only let two of you go in. There's not enough room in the DHS tent for all of you."

  Zeke and Emily looked at Miranda and Zeke told her. "That has to be you and the Sarge. I will go see if I can find Joe to see if he has any ideas. I've got confidence you will figure it out anyway. We will stay in touch."

  "I want to talk to some of my friends too," Emily told her. "Some of them are going to be pretty nervous and hopefully I can help them stay calm."

  The two turned and started back the way they had come, so the man looked at Miranda and the Sarge. "Ok, the two of you go directly to the command tent. Make sure it is without any detours. Ask for Jimmy Cooper. He's very busy, so you may have to wait a while."

  When they got to the command tent, it was a crazy mess. They did have to wait several minutes, but there was nothing they could do but wait. Finally the man came over to see them and introduced himself. "I am Jimmy Cooper and I understand the two of you need to talk to me. You have some information regarding the situation here, is that correct?" He looked to the Sergeant, assuming he was the leader of them.

  The Sarge nodded. "Yes, I am Master Sergeant John Lewis, the military weapon and self-defense instructor for the school, and this is Miranda Summerlin, one of my best students. We do have information, but she is the one you need to talk to. I'm just here to vouch for her."

  Miranda had to give the man credit. He didn't turn around and walk away like she had expected him to do. "We are here because we know about the terrorist threat. I am the one who originally reported it. I received a message from a man who is undercover in the Organization, and then talked with him directly when I accidentally ran into him. He was very clear about the soccer game being the target tonight. I reported this information to Doctor Ted Randolph, and he verified that they had a man on the inside. I assume Doctor Randolph is the one who put all this in motion."

  Jimmy nodded, "Yes, he put DHS, Space Tech, and the school all together. But we already know all the details from him. What exactly are you here to talk about?"

  Miranda looked directly at him. She needed to sell her case at least enough to get him thinking about it. "My friends and I have been looking at this since last night. The two men I saw from the Organization were here in the guise of a subcontractor crew pulling fiber optic cable. It appears that they were only here for the surveillance, and the inside man could not tell us any details other than the timing and location. We believe the threat has been engineered by the group that is supporting the Organization as opposed to the normal Organization terrorist group. Therefore, we think whatever they are planning is already in place.

  "We looked at the idea of a construction or maintenance crew being used to get it here. Whatever it is, it has to be some means of triggering a large explosion. What we have found potentially points to the bulbs used for the lighting at the soccer field. A week ago all of the bulbs in the soccer stadium lights were replaced by the new super efficiency bulbs from Space Tech. The paperwork for the replacement work was perfect, but it was not on the schedule. The school let them proceed, thinking it was a simple scheduling error. The man doing the schedules was on vacation so they couldn't ask him, something the planners may have used to help pull this off. The replacement bulbs are a new design recently introduced by Space Tech, and use a tiny amount of exotic matter to amplify a standard LED light to give us the bright light at a fraction of the power requirements. We believe this is linked to the attack, but we have not been able to determine how it is linked."

  Miranda could tell Jimmy was rather skeptical. "I know this sounds far-fetched, but I believe it is the absolute truth, and I believe it is much worse than anyone thinks it is. That same deep-seated conviction that makes me believe that this is the source, makes me think it will be really bad. But we can't seem to find the trigger."

  Jimmy looked at her intently. Some of her deep conviction rubbed off on him a little bit. "I don't know very much about exotic matter, but it certainly sounds dangerous. Just for the moment, assuming you are right and it really is that bad, if we tried to evacuate everyone, I suspect that would cause them to trigger it early, still not a good solution. I can tell you right now that's not going to happen anyway with the limited evidence you have. So what exactly can we do to help you?."

  Miranda nodded. She was surprised she had been able to get that much from him. "I need two things. I need access to the Space Tech technicians who designed the bulbs, and I need something from you. I need DHS friendly passes from you for the Sergeant and me. We need to be able to carry our sniper rifles and use them if we find the trigger for this." The man started to say something but she went on before he could. "I have received the full certification from Sarge, who is one of the best in the business. I know you have already checked our records."

  "Yes, I could see the Sarge, but why you? You are just a student."

  The Sarge looked at him. "You see a student. I see the most accomplished shooter I have ever known. This girl is that good, although she doesn't have any experience. I propose you give it to us both, contingent on me staying with her at all times."

  Jimmy stood there a minute. "I know for a fact that I have absolutely lost it, but I believe the two of you. Based on that stipulation, I will agree to do as you ask. I may get in trouble over it, but my career isn't going anywhere, so I don't have that much to lose." He waved to the man handling the DHS passes, holding up two fingers. The man picked up two passes, bringing them over to him. Jimmy held the passes out before them and said, "Do the two of you pledge to carry these in honor, in accordance to our regulations, and swear to obey DHS officers?" They both nodded and said in unison, "Aye Sir!" He looked at Miranda and went on, "Do you agree to the additional stipulations placed upon you, to remain in the company of the Sergeant," and turning back to the Sergeant, "and do you accept full responsibility for her?" Again, the two said in unison, "Yes Sir!"

  Solemnly he handed the passes to them, and they just as solemnly accepted them. By carrying them, they would be generating at all times a DHS friendly signal, a supposedly uncompromisable signal. It declared to all security personnel that the bearer was accepted by DHS, and not to be subjected to suspicion if seen carrying a weapon, in their case a sniper rifle. Jimmy accessed his VR and sent Miranda a VR link. "That will connect you to the Space Tech technical group. It will only work on a secure VR system."

  Miranda looked at the Sarge and asked, "Is it ok if we go to your office to do this work? Then we can go into the armory if we determine we need to put this all to use." When the Sarge nodded, she turned to Jimmy. "Thank you for your help. I really believe this will make a difference."

  Jimmy nodded, "I don't mean this badly, but I hope you are wrong and this is all for nothing. Just in case, go with care and God's grace." He hurried back to his station, his queue already backed up, and he immediately began working through the list.

  #

  Miranda made her new home in the Sarge's office, using his VR system to research the problem. She knew that they were running out of time but still she had to start over one more time. They had been too focused on the bulbs, and what they thought that meant they had available as a triggering system. Instead she needed to figure out what was possible with the amount of exotic matter available in the bulbs, and then look for what could trigger that result. So she needed to start her research over, looking at experiments with exotic matter.

  She contacted Space Tech Technical, using the code she had been given. The man who answered was rather skeptical when he heard what she wanted. She knew he saw her as only a student. His immedia
te response was, "Who are you to be asking for this information? I can't give this kind of information out to just anyone."

  Miranda had been afraid that would happen. She pointed to the symbol of DHS in their secure VR connection, expanding it out for both of them to see. "You see my credentials as provided by DHS, and you know that they are valid. Please provide me with all the information you have on exotic matter. It is a matter of urgency."

  Deciding that she was probably doing the research for someone else, the man finally said, "Ok, I will give you what we have, not that I think you will be able to do anything with it. It is very extensive." He laughed. It was a lot of information. "I expect it will take you days to complete your research, but here it is." He sent it through the secure VR link. "This will take a few minutes. The connection will terminate when completed." He turned off his VR without further comment. Miranda was not very happy with his attitude, but she watched as the information came through.

  As soon as the download was complete, Miranda immediately began her research, moving as fast as she could move using the standard VR interface. It was indeed a huge amount of information! A lot of it was completely irrelevant, but she had to dig through it all. They were running out of time. She needed to find something soon if they were going to be able to do something about it. She knew she was stressing too, and she couldn't dare let a headache stop her.

  Forcing herself to relax a little bit, she got to work. She had been working several minutes, scanning what would have taken someone else hours, when she found a publication on the amplification of laser energy with exotic matter. Excitedly she began reading it in detail, feeling that she was close.

  When she had finished reading the publication, Miranda knew that this was it. When hit with a laser at certain frequencies, the exotic matter would do a state conversion that would absorb the power from the laser. But that state was not stable and would fall back to the original state, dumping the amplified output of the energy absorbed in a tiny, tiny fraction of a second. The amount of power stored was a combination of the duration of the pulse of laser light and the power of the laser. The bigger the two of them, the more energy that would be stored. She now had the trigger! She only had to find where it was located.