Foundation

by M J Kendrick

  FOUNDATION

  The Iridium Rainbow Chronicles, Book One

  M.J. KENDRICK

  Foundation—Book One, The Iridium Rainbow Chronicles

  © 2019 by Marcus Kendrick. All rights reserved.

  No portion of this book, except for brief review, may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without the written consent and permission of the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Characters, names, dialogues, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, whether living or dead, businesses, locales, or events other than those specifically cited are unintentional and purely coincidental or are used for the purpose of illustration only.

  The publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors, omissions, or contrary interpretation of the subject matter herein. The author and publisher assume no responsibility or liability whatsoever on the behalf of any purchaser or reader of these materials. The publisher and author do not have any control over and do not assume any responsibility for third-party websites or their content.

  First edition.

  Cover by Dusan Arsenic @ Spellbound Self-Publishing

  Print ISBN: 978-0-9876424-4-8

  eBook ISBN: 978-0-9876424-5-5

  Dedication

  For my family and friends and the great science-fiction writers who have inspired us and opened our minds to the endless wonders of the universe.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  PART ONE

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  PART TWO

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  Part One

  Chapter One

  Dr. David Reese had just finished updating his files on the latest experimental results.

  His two co-scientists, Dr. Rose Maddon and Dr. Frederick Keel, had been with him for a little over nine years and were as eager as he was to push the boundaries of their research in nanotechnology. The years of constant, painstaking experiments meant that they were all in perfect sync and were swift to prep the routine setups, almost as if it were second nature.

  Today was no different. As a native Australian, Rose kept everyone amused with her jovial, laid-back attitude, but, like David and Freddie, she was keen to move on and complete this latest round of testing.

  David looked over to Rose, who had propped one foot up on to her seat as she worked her computer. He always wondered how she managed that, and just put it down to her athletic five-foot-seven frame. When he’d first met her, he’d been convinced she was younger than she’d said—maybe it was down to her big eyes, fresh complexion, and constant smile. The fact that she always kept her light brown hair short looked to him as though she enjoyed an active outdoor life and would rather be playing volleyball on a beach somewhere. Her several bracelets jangled, focusing his attention.

  “Is everything set up and ready?” he asked as he stood and walked over to the test bench.

  “Sure is, boss. Ready when you are.”

  “Good. This should hopefully be the last magnaflow test for this batch. How’s the block holding up?”

  Rose inspected the awkwardly shaped iridium alloy matrix ingot they had set up, its oddly formed, silvery surfaces glinting in the dim light.

  Happy that it was securely clamped down and all of the sensors were holding fast, she smiled and said, “Yup, we’re good to go.”

  “All right, then,” said David. “Freddie, start recording and power up.”

  Freddie began the routine procedure and engaged the recorders. As soon as the sensors registered as being online, he began applying a magnetic flow to the ingot and powered up the apparatus.

  Immediately, there was a huge, bone-rattling bang. The deafening noise startling them, the three scientists winced as the facility-wide alarm pierced their ears. They shot glances over to the apparatus only to see remnants of the clamp and scattered shards of glass. The block had shattered the first layer of the laminated partition that separated David’s lab from the one next door. Pieces of clamp, sensor wires, and broken equipment covered the bench and floor.

  Rose stood. “What the fu—” she exclaimed.

  David and Freddie rushed over to the bench.

  “What the hell happened?” asked David as he picked up pieces of the clamp that had been torn from the bench.

  Freddie retrieved the block that had been fired across the lab. “The block’s here. It must have hit the glass and ricocheted across the room.”

  David looked at the glass. Dr. Bellows, who occupied the adjacent lab, was screaming at him and waving his arms in silent protest from behind the soundproofed partition. His lab’s amber warning lights rapidly flashed, panicking his staff as they ran around silently screaming at each other.

  The alarm ceased.

  “Oops,” said Rose. “There’s gonna be hell to pay. He’s not going to let this one go.”

  David sighed. “That’s all we need. Damn! Let’s clear this mess up. I’ll see if he’ll talk to me.”

  David left Rose and Freddie to the clear up the mess and went to see Dr. Bellows.

  Fifteen minutes later, David returned and said, “That guy is a real jerk. He just wouldn’t shut up.”

  Freddie looked through the partition to see Dr. Bellows storming out of his lab, arms still flailing. “Where’s he going?” he asked.

  “Don’t know, don’t care,” said David, although he was pretty sure that Dr. Bellows was headed straight for the professor’s office. That meant only one thing—he was going to be summoned.

  “Damn!” he said again, as the ramifications began to set in.

  Chapter Two

  David had always felt he was a “never quite there” person. There had always been that elusive nanotechnology breakthrough that was just out of his reach. In truth, he had actually pioneered several major breakthroughs that had been treated very matter-of-factly, much to his disgust, and were quietly absorbed into his work. The true magnitude of his discoveries had purposely been kept a closely guarded secret within the hierarchy in their attempts to keep the ever-present, ruthless Israeli competition from learning how advanced David’s research really was.

  David sat quietly pondering his current predicament and felt his anger toward Bellows grow. He was sure the other man had been behind him being passed up for promotion, always making jibing comments about his work to anyone who would listen.

  Imperceptibly shaking his head in disdain, he nervously glanced up at the clock above his boss’s secretary’s desk, the annoying ticking playing loudly on his mind. It occurred to him that in the ten years or so he’d been at Berry Farm Research, he still didn’t know her first name. It was always “Miss Janovich.” She had already been there when he had first arrived at “the farm,” as it was affectionately known
, always smiling and pleasant. He’d always thought that she had just the slightest hint of an Eastern European twang to some of her words, although this had lessened over the years—changed from when she had first explained to him how the research facility had been built on the site of an old blueberry farm on the day he had first joined. She was slightly plump with heavy makeup and an even heavier, overpowering perfume. Thinking about her age while he waited, he guessed her to be in her mid-to-late forties.

  Maybe that would explain why she is still a “miss,” he mused to himself.

  “Professor Stanton shouldn’t be much longer. He’s probably on one of those long calls he gets so tied up with,” she offered, smiling. No doubt trying to ease his obvious discomfort at the reprimand he was about to face.

  It was almost ten past eleven, and those ten minutes past the scheduled time of the dreaded meeting showed itself in an onslaught of profuse sweating, making David feel even more uncomfortable. He played over in his mind just how he would explain yesterday’s events, thoughts that had kept him from sleep and had seen him arrive at the labs before seven that morning.

  David’s head jolted. Snatched from the brink of dozing off, a brief wave of darkness clouded his eyes just as the buzzer sounded and snapped him back to reality.

  “Is Dr. Reese there?” came the tinny voice from the somewhat dated intercom.

  “Yes, Professor.”

  “Good. Ask him to come in, if you please.”

  David was already standing and straightening his clothing, which had crumpled during his nervous wait, when an overwhelming feeling of déjà vu washed over him.

  “The professor is ready for you now, Dr. Reese. You can go right in.”

  Sweeping his strange feeling of recollection aside, David approached the thick, over-painted door next to Miss Janovich’s desk. Tapping lightly on the woodwork, he swung it open to see Professor Stanton’s rather imposing, woody, book-laden office, which seemed out of place and time when compared with the stark, clinical labs that made up seventy percent of the facility.

  “Dr. Reese, please take a seat.”

  The professor pointed to a chair that was slightly lower and had been strategically placed in front of the professor’s aged, leather-clad desk, which looked as old as the professor’s tweed jacket and paisley bow tie that went hand-in-hand with his unkempt, thinning white hair. Had he placed it there to maximize intimidation and ensure David faced the full brunt of what was coming?

  But perhaps that was just in his mind.

  He sat down and unsuccessfully tried to put on a brave face. The professor was frowning as he leafed through the handwritten report that had been submitted by Dr. Bellows.

  Professor Stanton looked up over the top of the report. “Do you realize just what a kerfuffle this episode has caused? We’ve escaped a full official inquiry by the skin of our teeth.”

  David was about to reply with his rehearsed explanation.

  “What were you thinking?” continued the professor. “With all the safety protocols in place, accidents of this nature just do not happen. The ramifications, had there been a breach, could have been catastrophic for the facility, let alone yourself and the other members of your team—and Dr. Bellows’s team, for that matter.”

  “Professor,” David began, “I am truly sorry. No one could have predicted the chain of events. Of course it’s not how we normally operate, as you know. It was just an error—a simple, minor error with the surrounding clamp that held the material. It was just too tight, and when it failed, it caused the nano matrix ingot to ping out!”

  “Ping out!” The professor looked like he was about to have a hernia. “Ping out,” he repeated. “Nothing just ‘pings out,’ especially with enough force to crack the laminated, toughened glass panels separating your labs!”

  “Sir, I understand that, but in this case, the nano matrix ingot was iridium-based and therefore extremely dense. Plus, as luck would have it, the sharper pointed edge that formed during the manufacture of the ingot was the part that made contact with the glass and caused the fracture. It was an unfortunate accumulation of events that otherwise would not have been an issue. However, it did happen. Fortunately, there was no breach from Dr. Bellows’s side, and his containment remained intact.”

  “That is very fortunate for you, Dr. Reese, and I hope I need not emphasize the consequences should that not have been the case. Everyone is more than aware of just how volatile and dangerous Dr. Bellows’s area is. We may not like the fact that his work is nothing more than a way to increase yield and make bigger bombs, but he has the ear of the Omni board. Heaven knows he reminds us all of it at every possible opportunity!”

  The professor’s mood seemed to lighten a little. “Look David, we all know that Dr. Bellows, as proficient as he is, has always been more than a little miffed that you have the larger laboratory, even if it is only by a margin. Just so you are aware, I wasn’t alone in opposing his appointment, but there are those in Omni that clearly favor his work for a military application. It’s the only reason he is here and probably why he feels he is untouchable. That aside, he does have a very valid point when he says this cannot be allowed to go unchecked, especially given the radioactive nature of his lab’s content. There is far too much at stake to risk, and I don’t mean in yours or Dr. Bellows’s fields, but all the other areas we are delving into, including my own work in cold fusion. Something like this has ramifications that could affect us all... I need to know what additional safeguards you’re putting in place against anything like this ever happening again.”

  David held back a sigh of relief. It looked like he wasn’t getting axed.

  “Well, sir, firstly, I have ordered a thorough investigation of the apparatus that was directly in use at the time. Any faults or flaws that suggest a change or upgrade of the retaining clamps, or of any of the other equipment, will be implemented. Plus, we are altering the layout of the lab to accommodate the work stations and test beds to the far side. That will allow us to add reinforcement around the containment area and ensure that everything will remain in location. Nothing will be able to penetrate the screens into the general lab area or anywhere else. It may be overkill given the inert nature of our nanotechnology research and experiments, but better safe than sorry.”

  The professor looked up and smiled. “Very good. How soon will the work be completed?”

  David sighed. “Well, I’ve already submitted the work order early this morning, although I expect facilities management will call me with the usual tales of why it can’t be done straight away and how much work they have on as soon as I leave here.”

  The professor looked over the top of his glasses and smiled. “Don’t you worry about them. I’ll see to it that you get prioritized—anything to keep the board and Dr. Bellows off my back!”

  The professor stood, indicating the meeting was over. David, feeling more relaxed, found himself smiling as he stood and made his way toward the door. “Thank you, Professor.”

  “Thank me another time, David. Please don’t think this isn’t an admonishment. We cannot ignore the potential severity of yesterday’s events. It will be noted on your records, so please ensure it remains an isolated entry.”

  David nodded and left the room.

  “All done, Dr. Reese?” asked Miss Janovich.

  “Yes, thank goodness, back to my lab now.”

  As David walked back along the myriad of corridors, he couldn’t help but wonder if she had known he would get off lightly, as her matter-of-fact disposition had suggested, or if she was just generally happy, perhaps because she finally had a man in her life.

  David put the thought to bed as he returned to the niggling question of what really happened in the lab to cause the ingot to fire out of the clamp with as much force as it did.

  One thing was certain to him. The clamp was not the cause!

  ***

  David returned home later than usual, although usual would still be considered late by most people’s
way of thinking. It was just before ten, and as David entered his home, he was greeted with the much-welcomed smell of cooking.

  “Jean, I’m home,” he called from the hallway.

  “Hi, honey, how did it go today?” she asked from the kitchen.

  “Well, far better than I expected, I must admit, although I have definitely been told off!”

  Jean smiled as David came into the kitchen and propped his briefcase in its usual place by the side of the Welsh dresser.

  “Well then, sit down and tell me all about it,” she said as she served him a generous helping of lamb stew.

  David’s rumbling stomach reminded him of just how hungry he was. Wide-eyed and smiling, he tilted his head toward the plate. He nodded rapidly, encouraging Jean to add yet another spoonful. She watched with a wry smile as he rubbed his hands together and whispered, “Yessss,” before he quickly sat down and immediately started to eat.

  He was halfway finished by the time Jean had removed the apron from her slim figure and quickly gathered her brown, shoulder-length hair into ponytail with one of the abundant scrunchies that David always seemed to find lying around everywhere. She joined him at the table.

  “Slow down, cowboy.”

  They finished their meal quickly, and David recounted the full events of his day.

  “I should think you can count yourself lucky,” she said.

  “Yes, I should. I really thought I was going to get the boot, especially after the way Bellows was kicking up a storm.”

  Jean frowned. “You know he’s not the most likable of fellows. You should just avoid him.”

  David tilted his head and opened his hands upward. “Heaven knows I try, but it’s difficult when our labs are right next to each other. Still, at least I’m not alone. I think Professor Stanton tries to avoid him as well.”

  “That would not surprise me in the least,” remarked Jean.

  “Anyway,” said David, “whatever it was that the professor said to the facilities management guys, it certainly did the trick. They were in the lab making the alterations by midday! I suspect they’ll be working through the night. They were still there when I left.”