The apparatus began to work and the gate seemed to have the possibility of opening. The space in the interior of the circle between them became fuzzy, almost opaque. Each team member focused on achieving the highest frequency, so the data could transfer from the current circle to the new one they were trying to open, and they watched for some sign the automatic natural processes were taking over as expected. Phoebe held her father’s hands and focused her energy with her eyes closed. George could feel the difference added by her tiny presence over the last trial run, and knew that she as his adjuvant did have an additive effect to his abilities. They focused with all their energy, but after a few minutes of the effect seeming to build, it began to level off and they could hold out no longer. The energy in the circle broke and they fell to their knees, or to a laying position. A comet streaked by in the sky and though it was outside the immediate mountain zone, they could hear its shrieking noise as it tore through the atmosphere. ‘Please let that have burned up and not impacted anywhere’ Saraceni thought to himself, looking around at the beaten team before him. They had failed.
Chapter 28
In a few moments, they arose.
“We have to try again,” Enam said.
“What went wrong?” Gabriel said to Saraceni.
“I don’t know," Saraceni responded and all were silent. “We have to call this in.”
“Let’s just wait a minute. We need to try to figure out what might have gone wrong. We should call it in when we have a plan. Otherwise, everyone will freak out,” Juliet said.
“Okay, let’s break it down and see what we can come up with," Saraceni began.
“Alright,” Enam started, “We need a quantum gate, and for that we need a very long linear string of quantum dots that are raised from ground state.”
“Check,” Saraceni said, motioning to the apparatus.
“And we needed a low-decoherence or no-decoherence environment,” Enam continued.
“Right, we hauled our cookies all the way to the top of this mountain cause y’all said it was low decoherence,” Chandra commented.
“And we needed a swapping operation, which we were to create by raising the frequencies of our dark matter,” Enam progressed. Saraceni did not check this item so quickly. Juliet sensed his hesitancy.
“Saraceni, how close did we get in the test?” she asked.
“Pretty close,” he was deliberately vague, “but you weren’t right there. However, you’ve all improved since then.”
“I think we found our problem. We just aren’t getting it done,” Juliet said.
“Maybe,” Gabriel interjected, “but let’s not make any assumptions. What was the fourth thing?”
“We were counting on the natural occurrence to kick in,” Alexander offered.
“Right, well that was a big assumption. I mean, we could do everything right and maybe this natural occurrence doesn’t just catch on. Maybe you can’t force it,” Gabriel said.
“All our tests show it should be able to be artificially begun and then self-propagate from there. It is the same as other fields where we’ve had similar theories that have turned out. There’s no reason it shouldn’t work,” Saraceni said.
“Well, let’s attack this scientifically,” Gabriel began, “Where have these gates been witnessed to open before-are they always in the same location?”
“They happen so fast, we can’t really tell where they originate, but no one has ever witnessed one opening before,” Kyle explained.
“No one? Ever? Well, that’s something. Sounds improbable,” Juliet said.
“Unless the location was invisible, or the occurrence itself was invisible,” Jane thought aloud.
“Or hidden,” Gabriel added.
“Maybe the coherence time is just too short,” Enam said, “Even if we were 100% successful, if it can only be maintained a fraction of the time it needs to stay coherent before decoherence disassembles the assemblage, it wouldn’t catch.”
“Do you know the coherence time? I mean, the exact calculation?” Gabriel asked Saraceni.
“No. Those calculations were prebuilt into the equipment settings, but I think Ruth does,” Saraceni responded.
“Okay, let’s call it in, and get some other information,” George suggested.
“Agreed," Saraceni said.
Alexander reached Athena on the communication device and after a few moments the team learned the coherence time, and had the answers to all the other questions they could think of.
“Lela and the team found some additional info on the mineral. The team is pulling up the monitors to replay now. It’ll be just a minute,” Athena said. Alexander leaned over struggling for breath, and Saraceni feared he was using all his energy to communicate. It wasn’t designed to have lengthy conversations like this. Juliet’s necklace, and some of the purple mountain mineral started carrying a small light within. He was surprised, but before he could think about the property itself, Juliet herself gained his focus. He motioned to her to come over and instructed Alexander to ask Ruth if Wood was there.
“Yes, he’s here,” Athena responded.
“Put him on,” Alexander advised, at Saraceni’s instruction. Saraceni handed the communication device to Juliet. She looked at him curiously.
“I thought this only worked for kindreds,” she said, confused.
“Right,” he answered, “Ruth wouldn’t confirm it for me, but she didn’t deny it either, so let’s see if I’m right.” He looked at her intensely, hoping. Juliet had more strength to start with, 8.5 on her own. She could afford the depletion more than Alexander could at this point. If they were to get another shot, he needed to stay at least with high enough energy levels to carry his weight.
“Wood?” she said into the device, feeling self-conscious speaking to him in front of the others.
“Juliet?” he responded slowly, not sure if she could hear him and somewhat dazed that it might work for them.
“I can hear you!” she smiled.
“Great! Listen, decoherence is at 98%. You must work quickly. Lela’s team found that the mineral takes on the frequencies of many properties, not just sound. Many properties would self-build within that mineral, independently of the environment,” Wood repeated Ruth’s words one by one.
“Of course!” Gabriel said. He looked at his Dad, “Nothing happens without a reason. Saraceni, where is this mineral from?”
“It’s found all around the mountain. We find small pieces every now and then. We’ve built up a decent amount over a long time,” Saraceni responded.
“Are there any caves around here?” Gabriel asked.
“There’s one, about a quarter way down the mountain on the far side, opposite of the direction we came up, but I’ve only seen it in photos. It’s not near any steppes or decent rock trails,” George said. Gabriel turned to Saraceni.
“Saraceni, I think the mineral is inside the mountain. Like a giant geode. Like in Africa. If I’m right, we should be doing this from inside the mountain, not on top of it. The interns tests in Africa showed results were amplified a thousandfold when they were inside the cavern. It must protect itself from decoherence somehow in the mass or continuity or volume of it,” Gabriel said.
“Gabriel, you’re asking me to take a huge risk. Take all these people down the treacherous side of a mountain-at night-and redo the test from inside when all our data shows open fields are needed,” Saraceni said.
“I think Gabriel’s right,” Alexander jumped in, “Think about it. The mineral self-propagates properties. What if-just what if-it has naturally-occurring quantum dot nanocrystals embedded in the mineral itself? You wouldn’t need to create them artificially-they’d already be there. Everything else needed is already in nature-why wouldn’t this be? And if that were the case, with a whole mountain full of them, inside the crystal lattice the quantum dots could give rise to a vibration which, instead of competing and canceling out each other’s amplitudes, just pile one on top of the next creating a hug
e tidal wave of oscillation at the same frequency. That’s why the sound didn’t diminish. In effect, it did become self-propagating.”
“It’s the only plausible explanation,” Gabriel said, “and besides, it’s better than anything we’ve had so far. It has to be worth a try.” Saraceni paused, looking around the group.
“You’ve asked us to trust you-all this time,” David Running Wolf added, looking at Gabriel for support in his argument to Saraceni, “Now you need to trust us.”
It seemed Saraceni had succeeded. Gabriel was now a leader, and everyone was following him. Saraceni just hoped they weren’t following him to their deaths, to the deaths of everyone. Another tremor shook the ground. The sky smelled of ozone and a lightning storm without any thunder or rain could be seen on the next ridge, coming their way. The barely perceptible sound of lightning alone moving through the distant air was eerie.
“Okay, let’s do it,” Saraceni said. Juliet sent in the communication of their plans as the others moved quickly to the mountain’s edge.
“I’ll go down to the cavern first and make sure it has the crystal walls we expect. No point in all of us going down there if it’s just a dirt floor and rock walls,” Running Wolf said.
“I’m going with you,” Jack added.
“What about Phoebe?” Jane asked. If they both went, whose back would carry the little girl?
“I’ll take her,” Enam said, “I felt pretty strong on the way up. I can handle it.”
Running Wolf and Jack descended into the dark. The sun had been gone for some time now. The lightning in the sky from the storm nearby, though threatening, actually did help them to see, plus the moon was almost full. They blazed the trail and set the anchors as they descended which would give the others a more secure path to follow. Just feet from the top of the cave, David grabbed a handhold and let his foot dangle, searching for the next stepping stone. He thought he had it, but his large size 12 foot had more out than in and he lost his footing, hanging only by one arm with much slack in the rope. Jack grabbed him and helped pull him back to a position of safety.
“Thanks, man,” David said, breathless.
“Well, ya know, I do mountains tons of times bigger than this with my superhero brother back home,” Jack deepened his voice to mimic Running Wolf.
“Funny,” David responded sarcastically, not entertained with the impression, but smiled briefly anyway at Jack’s ribbing. They pushed their legs out from the cliff face. Letting out some slack on the rope, they swung into the cave with enough momentum to grab onto an edge and pull themselves in, first David and then Jack.
“Wow! Amazing!” Jack exclaimed looking around. The cave was huge, easily ten times bigger than they expected, and entirely encrusted in the crystalline mineral. It was photoflourescent, emitting its own soft light glow of gentle purple light.
“Well, at least we don’t have to worry about trying this in the dark,” David said, sticking his head out of the cave and giving a long, loud whistle to let the others know that they were correct and to head on down.
Chapter 29
As quickly as they could, the remaining team members made their way into the cavern. David Running Wolf helped each and every one, pulling them in, removing their packs. As he continued with the second half of the recruits, the first to arrive began setting up the equipment. Running Wolf took Phoebe from Enam, who barely seemed out of breath.
“You’re strong!” she said. Then, looking around the cavern for the first time she added, “Oooh, pretty, all the little crystals are talking to each other!”
The cavern held a mild purple photo-fluorescence generated from within the mineral walls themselves. Though made of a different mineral, it was reminiscent of the cavern in Africa, but for being entirely closed in. No open sunshine could have streamed in even in the daytime. The mineral was more densely packed and sparkled more brilliantly, almost as if it were a substance foreign to the region. As the recruits arrived, the glowing intensified very subtly. When Gabriel, the last, stepped in, the presence of all the recruits triggered the room to light up to the luminosity of a regularly lit room.
“Well, that’s helpful,” Gabriel commented. The ground shook mildly. A few rocks, having come from the short distance of cliffs above, tumbled by the cavern opening to the starry sky outside
“It’s worse everywhere else,” Saraceni reminded, “and in The Cupel.”
Word had spread about the earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis and meteors in The Cupel. The decoherence was at 98%, and while that applied to both The Cupel and True Earth, the effects were felt sooner and more acutely in The Cupel because of its’ small scale. A small ripple of energy on True Earth represented a cosmic blast in The Cupel. As they finished setting up the equipment, Jane and Jack, closest to the entrance, noticed a meteor shower outside. Hundreds of meteors streaked across the sky.
“Okay, let’s do this,” Gabriel announced, confident that this time the Gate would open to the next circle. The recruits stood in a circle-this time, Phoebe right in front of George holding his hands. They all concentrated intensely. Saraceni monitored as best he could and adjusted the equipment when he thought it would help. Otherwise, he felt helpless. He had taught them to this point and now had to just sit and watch the fate of himself and all living things unfold. The large, halo-like circle of light began to form over the collective arrangement of the recruits almost instantly this time. In a few short minutes, it grew to an intensity that surpassed anything they had seen in the trials.
Alexander felt his entire body filled with flowing energy as it warmed up. Each recruit felt the small vibrating sensations, except Juliet. Her necklace emitted a beam of white laser light directly out from it which then reflected around the room 16 times in a geometric pattern. The crystals under their feet brightened with luminosity, which spread out from the crystals under the feet to those next to them, and those next to them, in a chain reaction that spread throughout the entire cavern, then the entire mountain, until every tiny nanocrystal was lit up with energy. The recruits concentrated their energies toward their dark DNA and raised their own frequency. As they did so, the entire mountain was transformed into the switch to convert the data from the present circle to the new one.
In a blinding flash, the circle above their heads spread outward, beyond the cavern, beyond the mountain, past the horizon and into the distant edges of the universe. In an instant, the gate was created and the new circle opened up. The circle of light provided a beautiful contrast against the falling meteor shower and a planet full of cheers could be heard faintly, as if listening to a stadium of people from miles away. All the recruits fell to the floor and the room went nearly dark, back to the gentle ambient glow intrinsic to the crystals in their natural state. The recruits were not exhausted, sick or ill this time. Instead, they felt energized. They turned to Saraceni.
“Did we do it?” Juliet asked. Saraceni smiled.
“No instruments in here, so I’m not sure, but I daresay we did,” he replied, truly relaxed since the first moment he had received this assignment. The recruits cheered and hugged one another. George spun Phoebe around. Chandra started to do her victory dance, not seen since the day of the last footrace. They looked outside and saw the beautiful starry sky, silent and still, restful and reassuring.
Success was confirmed when they returned to the training facility.
“Decoherence is at 2%,” Ruth reported as they departed the chopper, “That’s the normal range of background effects that is always present.”
Wood was waiting there at the landing zone’s edge, and when Juliet arrived, he took her aside, kissing her for the first time.
“Oh, is that all I have to do to win your affection. Well, I’ll just have to go save the world again tomorrow.” She blushed.
“You may regret saying that when you get your next assignment,” he said.
“There’s a huge celebration in the main ballroom of the Central Palace Union. Everyone is so looking forward to
meeting you all,” Wood reported.
“You mean we finally get to go somewhere besides the training facility?” Jane said, “Well, hallelujah, I thought we’d never leave here.”
Athena Aquila took Alexander’s hand and walked back toward the training facility.
Gabriel stopped into the monitoring room. He knew thousands of such monitoring rooms were afire with activity, still battling the never-ending efforts of the Dark Janae, but this one was empty. He adeptly started the monitor and tuned the frequency to see Lela, Gretchen and Bianca, packing boxes at his parent’s house. He quickly learned that Gretchen and Caleb were moving into his parent’s house, and Lela was leaving her own place.
“Lela, thank you so much for letting us stay here while you are gone. We’ll take great care of it,” Gretchen said. She unpacked a beautifully framed picture of her own mother standing next to Athena Aquila, the first item she wanted to place on the wall in her new home. Lela smiled.
“I couldn’t imagine it going outside the family, and since I won’t be here…” she grinned.
“Now, how long will you be there? When does James get new orders?” Bianca asked.
“I’m not sure when he gets new orders, but I’m getting a one year lease at my new place. It’s about five minutes away from his. It’ll be so exciting to launch my own research team. I’ve had this idea for a decade, and I can think of no better time to finally dig in and see what we can do to help people,” she said.
“I can’t believe you two are finally going to be able to give it a real try,” Bianca said. “I bet I’m a bridesmaid inside of a year. Maybe I’ll bring that Brett along as my date.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves! Let’s just see if I can stand the guy a week straight,” Lela reprimanded, laughing, knowing the truth.
“They’d be really proud of you,” Gretchen said, grabbing Lela’s hand. Lela felt small tears rise up, but took a breath instead. She knew she would always miss her family and only hoped she could honor their memory with her own contributions to science. Gabriel smiled, looking at Gretchen one last time, and turned the monitor off.
The Cupel Recruits Page 29