Defiant

by Laurence Dahners

  Shan frowned, “You know, your constant belittling of my jetlag tolerance is probably gonna turn me into a eunuch.”

  “Hah!” She leapt up from the couch and took him by the hand, pulling him back toward the bedroom. Tossing him a crooked smile over her shoulder, she said, “Well then, honeymoon boy, we’d better exercise your manhood while it’s still functional.”

  ***

  Ell lay, head on Shan’s shoulder, running a finger gently over his chest. Shan said, “So what did you have graphed on the screen in the other room?”

  “Oh I’m using Mathematica to display what we know about the conditions for formation of the various carbon allotropes. It just seems to me that a good graph would help us understand it better. If we understood it, we might be able to move away from following a recipe that the sigmas told us created a particular allotrope to being able to say, ‘this particular set of conditions should optimally synthesize… say diamond.’”

  “Really? Can I look at that? The pattern you had up looks like a…” He paused at her upraised hand.

  Ell’s eyes had widened before she put up her halting hand, “Of course! Come in and look. I’ve been stymied! Don’t tell me what pattern you’re seeing, I don’t want to influence you. I’ll just tell you what’s being graphed and then let you play with it while I make a breakfast to restore your strength.”

  Ell came back in the living room of their little villa carrying a small tray loaded with sliced toasted bagels slathered in butter. A tub of cream cheese was in her other hand. “What do you think? Does it fit the pattern you thought it did?”

  Shan stared at the plate she had in her hands with widened eyes. “Was once the day when, seeing that, I would have thought you’d invited some people over for breakfast… But, I’ll bet you’re planning to eat all but one of those bagels by yourself aren’t you?”

  Ell blushed faintly, “Hey, I have been getting a lot of exercise the past few days you know?”

  Shan barked a laugh, “You know you’d eat all of that even if you hadn’t just been kicking ass in the Olympics!”

  “Not so! I made myself an extra bagel ‘cause of all that extra exercise.”

  Shan shook his head and picked up half a bagel. “I should just be glad I’m not the one having to keep you in food.” He scooped up some cream cheese and put a dollop on one side. He took a large bite and leaned back expansively, stretching his arms on the back of the couch and chewing contentedly.

  “Hey!” Ell poked him in the side. “I made you these fine bagels; you can’t just sit there chewing your cud. You owe me your thoughts on the graph.”

  Shan lifted a chin towards the wall screen, “Read ‘em and weep, my little lady. Read ‘em and weep. Then I think you should put more cream cheese on my bagel, I’m kinda tired from all that work.”

  Ell’s head snapped around and she focused on the screen. A three dimensional graph that looked somewhat like an undulating landscape had some of the sigma’s specified conditions near some sharp peaks and other sigma specifications near some of the deep valleys. “My God Shan,” she hissed, “That’s gorgeous! I’ve been assuming that the sigma’s specifications were optimal, but you’re thinking I couldn’t get them to fit because they aren’t actually the best conditions, right? You think if we adjusted the conditions to fall on the peaks of this plot we’d get even better formation of those particular allotropes?”

  “That’s what I think,” he waved a negligent hand. “However, I am but a humble theoretical mathematician. Merely a simple soul, schooled in the use of this modest computational engine.”

  Ell snorted, “Humble!” Picking up the tub of cream cheese she spread some on a bagel and, taking a big bite, dropped back against the couch to stare at the display. “As soon as I finish this meager breakfast, I’m gonna have to take you out and demonstrate my admiration.”

  “I thought you just demonstrated that in the other room?”

  ***

  When Gary arrived at D5R in the morning, his AI told him he had a message from Ell that had arrived the night before. He was to pick up a PGR chip from Sheila that would link him directly to Ell’s AI so she could send him a confidential message.

  Sheila handed him the chip, telling him that Ell had said he should keep that particular chip for future restricted communications.

  “OK,” he replied, pulling off his headband and socketing the chip in place as he headed for one of the little conference rooms. He had initially planned to just go out into the main research room where he usually worked and watch it on his HUD. With all the cloak and dagger over the chip though, he decided he ought to watch it in a private room, at least ‘til he knew what it was.

  Once connected securely, Ell’s AI delivered a brief recorded message on which Ell said, “Gary, I’ve been working with Shan Kinrais from the Math Department at UNC to plot out the conditions for formation of the various allotropes. He’s made a real breakthrough. See the attached graphic plot. We believe the plot diagrams the conditions where you will get the best formation of each different allotrope. Of note, please look at the two neighboring peaks at the upper right. You’ll see that, in this region, conditions for graphene and diamond are very close to one another except for a small difference in temperature. If this works out to be true, we believe that you should be able to stitch layers of graphene together with tetrahedral diamond bonds. What we call ‘graphend.’ You just apply a bit more heat with a micro laser beam at each point where you want to bond the sheets to one another. Lots of cross bonds for a material that you want to be stiff in bending, very few bonds for materials loaded mostly in tension but that you don’t want flaking apart.”

  Gary had opened the graph and his eye had already tracked to a graphene synthesis point that had conditions similar to what he was using to make graphene out at the space habitat. Could the conditions at the peak provide even cleaner or more rapid synthesis? Idly he wondered when Ell and Shan had found the time to collaborate. Ell had been competing in the Olympics and last he had heard Shan was on his honeymoon. Online he guessed.

  Then his brain caught up to what she’d said about stitching together layers of graphene and he felt prickles in his scalp…

  ***

  Shan walked out of the little kitchenette in their villa with a Zeos Pilsner in one hand. Ell stood at the window overlooking the caldera with her arms stretched out high and wide. He walked over and put his arms around her.

  Turning, she snuggled in to his embrace, tucking her head against his shoulder.

  Shan thought that the moment was close to perfect. All seemed to be right with their world.

  After a moment she leaned her head back and said, “Hey, feel like going to a deserted beach?”

  “Sure, but I already checked, the nice beaches on Santorini are all crowded.”

  “I was thinking maybe we’d go to one of the little deserted islands near here.”

  “Hah! Those islands look close on the map but they’re actually fifteen to twenty miles from here. If we hired a local boat it’d take a couple hours to get there and a couple more to come back. I’m not sure it’s worth it?”

  “Why don’t we fly?”

  “Deserted islands don’t have airports!”

  “Helicopter?”

  “Hmm, I know they have a chopper that takes people on tours of the island. Are you thinking we could charter it?”

  “Nope,” Ell raised an eyebrow. “But we could take the little ultralight quadcopter we brought in the Gulfstream.”

  Shan’s eyes widened, “What kind of helicopter would fit into that little jet?”

  Ell winked at him. “A little one.”

  An hour later Shan found himself beside a fairly deserted road, holding a small backpack with five gyro sandwiches and two collapsible cups. Ell and Steve were arguing about whether it was safe for her to take the little helicopter up. Nearby were a couple of SUVs Steve had rented for the security team.

  Shan stared at the device Ell had pulled o
ut of one of the SUVs. It had been in five pieces which she had snapped together. However, even after assembly, Ell had carried the entire thing by herself suggesting it wasn’t very heavy. Almost every part of it looked like it was made out of carbon fiber. It had a couple of large ducted fans, front and back, with smaller ones on each side, mounted a little closer to the back. She set it on its side, and snapped down three spindly little legs with wheels. The legs had all been folded up against the saddle which bridged from the front fan to the back one. Once she’d clicked the legs down, she flipped it up onto the wheels.

  The whole time Ell worked on the copter, Steve kept up a constant harangue about how dangerous this was, how it was probably against Greek law and that he couldn’t believe she would consider taking her new husband up in it. “You told me,” Steve said, “that Shan wouldn’t even approve of you flying these ‘copters, much less taking him with you!”

  Ell turned to him, hands on her hips. “Steve,” she grinned, “my mother doesn’t nag this much! Take it as a given that I’m going to go somewhere on this chopper. Shan’s a big boy, he can decide for himself whether he wants to go or not.” She turned to Shan, “I’m gonna take it up for a little ride to make sure everything’s working. That way you can see how it works and decide if you want to go for a ride too, OK?”

  Shan nodded numbly. He’d always pictured himself as the daredevil of his family. He’d be the one who would have to talk his wife into doing exciting stuff. But a little helicopter she’d designed herself and that the guys in the D5R machine shop built for her? Could his new wife be completely out of her mind?

  Ell went over to the SUV and pulled on some coverall type pants and a jacket then turned to Barrett, “Toss me my brain bucket.”

  Barrett actually handed her the helmet and she pulled it on, right over her HUD. She pushed the little ‘copter around to the other side of the SUV so the spectators would be protected from any accident. Straddling the seat she twisted the throttle a little then lifted and pulled back on the handlebars while looking at the rotors in the front duct. There were two rotors inside the duct and they began slowly counter rotating. She gradually sped them up; apparently feeling for vibration which would suggest something was out of balance. Then she pushed the handlebars forward while looking back over her shoulder at the back fan. It spun up smoothly as well. Centering the handlebars front to back she lifted and all four fans spun up. The two side ducts had single rotors in them, turning clockwise on the right and counterclockwise on the left. She twisted the throttle a little more and air began blowing out much harder. The lightweight craft lifted off the ground before it had thrown up very much dust.

  Staying close to the ground, Ell flew it off about a hundred yards away, then lifted into the air about twenty feet. She made some little circles and figure eights, then flew back over closer to the SUV and landed. As the rotors spun down, she lifted her visor, grinned at Shan and said, “You ready to go out to an island?”

  Shan looked over at Steve, “have you tried this out?”

  Steve rolled his eyes and shook his head.

  Shan frowned at Ell, “Are you sure it can lift both of us?”

  “Yup,” she patted the frame. “High strength carbon fiber. It’ll be even lighter when we can make it out of graphend, but for now this is pretty good stuff. The motors back in my barn that’re driving the fans put out a total of 500 horsepower so it’s actually way overpowered.”

  “What happens if the rotors come apart, do we have ‘chutes?”

  “If the rotors come apart our biggest problem would be shrapnel but that should be contained in the ducts. Fragments could fly out above or below the ducts, but that’s one of the reasons there are screens top and bottom over the ducts, though the top ones also keep the fans from sucking stuff in. So, the rotor shouldn’t hit us, but we would go down, so we won’t fly very high. We’d fall right into the Aegean out there. Water’s pretty warm, about 75oF so we’ll be OK for quite a while. We’ll just call Steve to rent a boat and come out after us.”

  “Do we wear life vests?”

  Ell slapped her jacket, “This thing is flotation Kevlar so you ain’t goin’ down unless you take it off.”

  Shan looked over at Steve who shook his head in frustration, then back at Ell who beamed unrepentantly.

  She said, “You gonna be a fuddy duddy, or you gonna climb on the bitch seat and live a little?”

  Shan shook his head woefully, “I’ll bet I’m gonna regret this. You got a helmet and Kevlar suit for me?”

  Ell pointed at the SUV, but when Shan turned Barrett was already standing behind him with a helmet and suit his size. A few minutes after that Shan was sitting on the back seat behind Ell. There were a couple of hand grips and Ell’s slender waist to hold onto. “What, no seat belt?”

  “I thought about it, but it seems like you’d want to be able to bail out. Motorcycles don’t have seat belts either. So grab hold and let’s go for a ride.” She turned her head and leaned back to look at him, “Or you could sit this one out.” She reached out and adjusted the mounting for the handlebars so they weren’t so close to her.

  Shan sighed, “Have you ever flown this thing before today?”

  “Flew version one, which was more like a helicopter, about twenty times. This quadcopter version is number two. I’ve been up in it a couple times before that little run I just made to check it out.” Excitedly she started pointing out its features. “The front and rear ducted fans counter rotate to eliminate gyroscopic effects and each duct has a 175 horsepower engine powering the fans through ports. The two smaller 75 horse ducts pivot.” She pushed and pulled on the handlebars to show them pivoting front to back. When they’re straight down they help lift and tilt us side to side. Pivot them back and they push us forward so we can fly faster than a typical helicopter. Pivot them forward and they become our brakes to slow us down. The ‘copter has a pretty high powered AI controlling all the fans so if I pass out and let go of the handlebars it will just slowly lower itself down to the ground and land in an empty space. Driving it is pretty easy. The twist throttle supplies a general level of power. Lift the handlebars and it goes up. Lower them and it drops. Turn them left or right to go those directions, and tilt them to ‘bank’ it. Push the handlebars forward to go forward and pull them back to slow down or reverse. The AI controls it all by speeding and slowing the fans and pivoting the two side ducts.

  “Oh hell,” Shan sighed, “I guess I can’t drag this out any longer. Take me up and let’s check out the beaches.”

  “You’ve got a ported snorkel in that zippered upper left front pocket… just in case we fall in the water.” The rotors started spinning up as Shan closed his visor. When the wheels got light Ell pushed on the handlebars to tilt the ‘copter slightly forward. With a little more lift on the handlebars the hoverbike lifted off the ground and began skimming forward, over the road, across the beach, and out towards the Aegean.

  Ell lifted them a little higher and they sailed out over the tops of the waves at an altitude of about five feet.

  Shan found it breathtaking, a lot like his first ride on a motorcycle. But better!

  Once he felt comfortable, Ell lifted to about ten feet and made some exhilarating “S” turns, then turned up the speed as they headed northeast from Santorini. Despite the wind noise outside, with his HUD inside the helmet and noise cancellation from his AI he could still talk to Ell fairly easily. “How do we find an island out here?”

  “Well, Allan’s leading me to Anydros by GPS but…” she lifted the handlebars and they rose to about thirty feet where they could easily see a little island that had actually just been coming up over the horizon. “There it is.” Then she dropped back down to just above the water.

  Skimming along just above the water made it seem like they were going a lot faster. “How fast are we going?” Shan asked.

  “Only about eighty. We could go faster, but if we crash at those speeds, even water will hit us pretty hard. It isn’t
that far, so we should be there in about ten more minutes, even at this speed.”

  As they arrived at Anydros, Ell curved around the south end and swept up the eastern coast of the mile long island. She turned in at a small cove with a beach on the far side and coasted in for a landing just beyond the sand. Flipping up her visor, she turned to Shan, eyes dancing. “Was that great or what?” She leapt off the seat and pulled off her helmet and her “Raquel” wig.

  Shan dismounted and pulled off his helmet too, unable to keep the delight out of his eyes. “Yeah! That was great! When do I get to fly it?”

  Peeling off her Kevlar suit Ell said, “Hmm, the first time, I think you should fly it from the back seat with your arms around me. That way I can help if you start getting out of control.” She lifted an eyebrow, “I like having your arms around me.” She started unbuttoning her shirt.

  Thinking that she’d have a bikini under her clothes, Shan’s eyes widened when he saw she didn’t. “No swim suit?”

  Ell raised her eyebrows, “Who needs a suit? This island is deserted! She plucked her snorkel and some goggles out of the pocket on her Kevlar suit, then loped gracefully across the sand into the waves.

  Shan stared admiringly after her for a moment, then started digging for his own snorkel.

  After playing in the waves a while and snorkeling under them to look at the sea life, they walked back out of the sea. Ell spun joyously around, swinging her arms and laughing. “This is beautiful!”

  Shan nodded, “You are indeed.”

  “No, you doofus,” Ell beamed at him, “I meant the island and the sea and the beach and being alone on it with you.”

  “Well, that too.” Shan grinned at her. “I’m feeling hungry, how ‘bout we get around those gyros you put in my backpack?”