Foundation

by M J Kendrick

  Carlton relaxed a little. “So what should I do? This is definitely one area that is alien to me.”

  William was looking quite positive.

  “Well, it’s not alien to me, and it’s a scenario that I’m familiar with. Long before my father sold the family business, he had been caught up in similar situations, three actually, all involving claims on discoveries or innovations. The first one his company lost badly, the second one the company ended up retaining but conceded a colossal percentage in royalties, and by the time the company was faced with it a third time, he had everything covered off before it began and prevented any hostile attempts or claims from ever being started.”

  “Wow,” said Carlton. “I take it there were big monies involved.”

  “Absolutely, and that’s my point exactly. None of these claims would ever have come about if there was no commercial value, no matter how important the discoveries were, and it’s not restricted to the pharmaceutical industry. If there’s money involved, you can bet your bottom dollar that someone will try and take it.”

  Carlton understood what William was saying.

  “I guess you’re right, but what’s playing on my mind is that I’ve already made the discovery, so to speak, and if what you’re saying is right, and I don’t doubt that it is, then surely Omni already have grounds for a claim.”

  William was again nodding in agreement. “Look, at the moment, you and I are the only ones who know about this. You haven’t announced the discovery, published any papers, or informed anyone. The only record is what you have here in your research, your findings, this portfolio, and what’s in your head.”

  Carlton held up his portfolio. “Yes, I haven’t even told my folks yet.”

  “Good,” said William, “then everything about this is tightly contained, and we are going to keep it that way for the time being. Now, I want you to understand something. In order for this to work, you are going to have to be a little ruthless. I know that is going to make you feel uncomfortable, and, at times, you will probably hate yourself, but if you want this to remain your discovery and your career, then you have to protect the find, and this is the only way.”

  Carlton realized William was absolutely right and knew that he would find it hard at times, but he also desperately wanted to realize his ambitions and follow his inner dreams. Nevertheless, he felt nervous. He knew he was at a turning point in his life. In his mind, he could see a tangible way to really make space travel a possibility, which both excited him and frightened him at the same time. He briefly thought of the conversation he’d had with Lucy, and felt driven by his own words: “If I build it, you can get us there.”

  William was right. This was the only way.

  “Okay, so what should we do first?” Carlton asked, after a brief moment of thought.

  William leaned back. “We start at the beginning. The very first thing you must do is go and invest in a decent external hard drive. Buy it yourself. Do not use anything that was once someone else’s, even your family, then transfer everything, and I mean everything, that is specific to the actual discovery on to it. Leave no trace on your PC and ensure that all dates are removed.

  “The same applies to your printed stuff. Burn what you don’t need and remove any dates from documents that you do. Speak to no one about the discovery or what you have done.

  “As far as anyone is concerned, you haven’t even looked at the stuff you were given yet. You can use our studies and curriculum as the reasons why. In short, you haven’t made the discovery yet, and it doesn’t exist.”

  “Crikey, it seems a bit drastic,” said Carlton.

  “It is, but we need time to build some foundations to carry your discovery that is isolated from any person or organization. I’ll start that ball rolling over spring break. In the meantime, just carry on as normal, but anything you do in relation to your discovery, do in secret. Also, when you’re back home, you’ll have to make arrangements to return the equipment and iridium block.”

  Carlton was looking nervous and confused. “But without the iridium block and the equipment, I won’t be able to continue with any further research.”

  William handed back the portfolio he had been holding. “Unfortunately, that’s something you’re going to have to live with and work around, but it is vitally important that you do it. Ideally find a way to have the iridium block openly recycled. We need to create a buffer between anything Omni and you making the discovery.”

  Carlton was shaking his head. “I know you’re right. I’ll try and cover off what I can for now, but that equipment is expensive. I could never afford to replace it with my own, and the chance of getting hold of any iridium is nigh on impossible.”

  William again looked sympathetic. “I understand, but we’ll have some time, and I’m sure we’ll be able to cobble together enough equipment to get you quietly started. I have a few ideas, and I’m sure you must have some stuff of your own. Try to view it as a necessary sacrifice.”

  After William had left, Carlton chewed over what they had discussed. For over an hour, he sat at his desk thinking through everything. He knew William was right about everything, and, although he totally agreed, it would take a little longer for him to fully accept what had to be done.

  ***

  By the time spring break had arrived, Carlton had removed all traces of the discovery and transferred everything to his new, high-security hard drive. All written documentation had been to the barbecue, and Comet was once again fully loaded. Carlton felt as though he was deleting a major part of his life but was also pleased that he and William had a plan, and that grateful thought allowed him to look forward to the future.

  Any apprehensions about how his parents, and particularly his father, would take the fact that he had returned all of the equipment had soon vanished when he told them of his impressive results and where he was academically.

  Conversations at home soon returned to happy normality, and Carlton felt relaxed. He was having breakfast with his father when Jean asked, “How are things with you and Lucy?”

  “Mom, I keep telling you, there is no me and Lucy—we’re just good friends. I’ve hardly seen her or the other Smarties much recently with all the work we’ve had to do.”

  “I’m sure she likes you,” continued Jean. “Maybe you should invite her over in the summer break.”

  Carlton smelt a rat.

  “You guys are up to something,” he said. “All right, what is it?”

  Jean was smiling. “Well, we thought it might be a nice idea if we all did something together, like a week down at the lakes. We could rent one of those big houseboat thingies.”

  Carlton rolled his eyes, having been in this position before. He just sighed and said, “When are they coming?”

  Jean joined them at the breakfast table and excitedly said, “We’ve booked for the second week of the summer break. They’re coming here for two days, and then we’re all going to drive down.”

  Carlton smiled. He loved going to the lakes. It was always great fun, and although he would never admit it, he was pleased that Lucy would be there.

  “That’s fantastic, Mom, what a great idea. I love it there.”

  “I thought so too,” said David. “We can catch up on some fishing. We haven’t done that for years.”

  “I’d like that,” said Carlton eagerly. “I love it in the early evening when everything is so still, and kind of relaxing.”

  David nodded, lost in thought as he visualized the scene, before he snapped out of it and said, “It’s a date then. Now, I’ve got to get over to the lab. Do you fancy coming along?”

  “Sure, Dad, why not?” said Carlton as matter of factly as he could. Carlton was desperate to get to the lab and see what he could learn about Bellows’s work, in particular what isotopes he had been using, and he had a plan on how to approach the subject.

  “All right then,” said David, “you might as well bring that ingot with you for recycling while we’re there if you don�
�t need it anymore.”

  Carlton had the iridium ingot casually lying around their lounge to mask its importance. He had already returned all of the equipment when he first arrived home, dismissing the investigation as fruitless, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to part with the iridium ingot straight away. He’d felt bad at having to lie to everyone. William had guessed right about it being difficult, but he also felt that he had grown a sense of responsibility toward what the discovery meant to both himself and to his innermost dreams.

  As hard as it was for him, he knew he had to look at the bigger picture. His mind was made up. He was committed to follow it through.

  “Okay, Dad, I’ll grab it. It’s right here. Do you fancy a go at driving Comet?”

  Picking up the key, David smiled and said, “Try and stop me.”

  Rose had shown an eager Carlton their newest recycling setup, which was considerably larger than he remembered.

  “We had to increase the capacity and efficiency to keep up with tether production.”

  Carlton was impressed.

  “How much do you feed it?” he asked wide-eyed.

  “Oh, this sucker’s hungry,” said Rose. “There’s a constant supply of unused residuals from the pyramids as fresh ingots take over, so they’re bunged in here, fifty or so at a time each hour, more sometimes if the guys forget to collect them. It’s all automated, so virtually impossible to stuff up.”

  Carlton was giggling at Rose’s Australian terms.

  “Shall I ‘bung’ mine in there, then?” Carlton said, smiling.

  “Yeah, just lob it in,” said Rose, totally oblivious to Carlton’s playful mockery.

  Carlton tossed the iridium ingot into the small hopper, and it silently disappeared, taking all traces of the discovery with it.

  Carlton was sitting with Bar, Freddie, and Rose by the coffee machine. They were all chatting about the phenomenal amounts of tether being produced. The conversation soon turned to Carlton’s results at MIT.

  “At that rate, it won’t be long before you get your first PhD,” said Freddie.

  Carlton raised his eyebrows. “If I can keep the momentum up and put in the hours, could be as early as next year.”

  “That’s fantastic,” said Bar. “What are you covering at the moment?”

  “We’ve just touched on conductive radiation through different metallic media at varying temperatures. It’s a tough one that I could do with some help on.”

  Carlton felt a little guilty. He had successfully covered off that subject months ago, and with ease, but this was a good way to broach the subject of Bellows’s work all those years ago.

  “Can’t help you there,” said Freddie. “We’ve never needed that. Outside of our field, sorry.”

  Bar nodded in agreement, but Rose said, “That was creepy Bellows’s area, so maybe you should ask Shaune. He used to work in Bellows’s lab. He was a junior back then, go talk to him. He’s right over on pyramid two.”

  Carlton jumped up a little too enthusiastically. This was what he had been waiting for. Hopefully, he would be able to get some valuable answers. He would have to be super careful about how he asked his questions as he didn’t want to give any indication of what he knew.

  “Thanks,” he said. “I’ll go see him now.”

  Carlton knew Shaune. He had worked with him in the past when they had teamed up while wiring up and testing the pyramid growth bed platforms, just before Carlton had joined MIT.

  As Carlton approached pyramid two, Shaune looked up and smiled. They both started quietly singing “Plug Screw Twist,” and then laughed.

  “Hi, Carlton, what brings you to the sharp end?”

  After Carlton explained about his studies and digested the advice Shaune offered, he steered the conversation around to Shaune’s time in Bellows’s lab.

  “Did you find it of use working with Dr. Bellows?” asked Carlton, after they had started talking about monitoring methods.

  “Oh, definitely,” replied Shaune. “Actually, that was what I spent most of my time doing back then. Don’t forget I was only junior and always ended up with the more menial tasks. Bellows never let anyone else get involved with the juicy stuff. I seem to remember constantly having to try and figure out what he would be doing next so we knew what to look for.”

  “Not much of a communicator then,” said Carlton fishing for more.

  Shaune chuckled. “You can say that again, we were always in the dark. We didn’t even know it was Bellows that put in the complaint to Professor Stanton about your dad’s accident until they came and replaced the broken glass. I do remember having to secure and isolate all the isotopes he had around the lab, though.”

  “I heard that he wasn’t much good when he was here,” said Carlton.

  Shaune nodded. “On reflection, I’d have to agree, but, at the time, we thought he was brilliant. He was working on a way to alter the properties in some of the isotopes in the Gamma band.”

  “Maybe that’s why he borrowed the iridium ingot from Dad’s lab?” said Carlton excitedly.

  “Yes, it was,” said Shaune, “but, if I remember correctly, he dismissed it quickly because it was a nano tube alloy matrix. I think he thought it was just a pure iridium ingot, guess we’ll never know for sure. He left shortly after and took most of his research with him.”

  “What happened to him?” asked Carlton.

  Shaune raised his eyebrows and cocked his head. “He went back to lecturing. I heard he died a few years ago, liver cancer or something. Don’t think anyone will miss him, though, he wasn’t a very nice person.”

  “So I heard,” said Carlton. “Anyway, I’d better get back to the others. Thanks for the great advice. It helps a lot.”

  Shaune smiled. “Anytime, buddy, glad to be of help.”

  Carlton had what he needed. He had been piecing things together in his head as Shaune was speaking. Holding concentration had been difficult, and he would have to put it to the back of his mind until he was alone in his room and could think hard.

  His father should be finished soon. When they got back home, he would Skype William with a coded update.

  William had arranged to meet Carlton back at the house in Wakefield the evening before the other Smarties returned from spring break. They needed the time to update each other fully and discuss the plan.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Back at Wakefield, Carlton explained everything in much greater detail so William could fully understand what would be needed and why.

  William had been making some rough notes as Carlton spoke and had compiled a list of equipment for sale that they could lay their hands on. When Carlton had finished, William looked up and smiled. “Okay, I think we can get around 70 percent of what you need without having to prostitute ourselves.”

  Carlton laughed at the thought. “Can’t say I’m not glad about that. What have you got?”

  “Well, I’ve managed to find most of what you need. It’s older stuff, nowhere nearly as good as what you had, but it’s available and should do the job, at least for now. The nano tube growing components you’ll have to cobble together yourself. Only you know what’s involved and what’s needed.”

  Carlton took the list of equipment. William had marked where it was located and what each asking price was.

  “This is pretty cool. I see what you mean about old, though—mind you, at least some of your shirts would’ve been in fashion when this stuff was made! But even at the bargain price of $48,000, it’s still way more than I can afford.”

  William looked down at his fading Hawaiian shirt and smiled. “You leave my shirts outta this. Anyway, you can’t talk, Mr. Romper Suit.” He took the list back with a playful swipe and held it so they could both read it at the same time. “Anyway, don’t worry about that figure just yet. Look, we can probably round up one or two pieces from here. I know Calisto has access to an electron microscope and Anton has a basic spectral analyzer that he doesn’t use. It’s not a top spec one, but it is b
rand new, plus I wouldn’t pay too much attention to the asking prices. We’ll beat them down for sure. I would say... if you can scrabble up around $20k, we should be able to get what you need.”

  Carlton looked pleased.

  “That I can do. I still have my $25k Christmas money that my parents gave me our first year here. I reckon I can get away with making a workable growth bed for a few grand, so it will give me a little leeway. Maybe I’ll have enough left to buy myself a new set of overalls.”

  “You mean romper suit.”

  Carlton laughed and looked at the list again, nodding. “This will definitely get me started, but I still have the problem of getting hold of some iridium. All this is for naught if I can’t get that. Also, I have to find a decent gamma source, and that will probably mean stripping down and modifying some pretty hefty, obsolete hospital equipment.”

  William sat back on Carlton’s bed. “One thing at a time, old chap. Let’s concentrate on getting this stuff sorted first. That alone is going to take a couple of months. As far as the iridium goes, I’m pretty sure Calisto can help us there. Don’t forget her father’s mine out in SA. I’m sure she said they produce a small quantity each year.

  “And as for your old hospital stuff, well, that’s easy. There are quite a few places that sell all kinds of old hospital equipment, and it can be had for next to nothing, most probably because it usually weighs a ton, and it’s bulky and awkward. The companies that take them away when they’re upgraded are only too pleased to get shot of them for a small profit. That’s how my father started out. He’s got some... er... interesting contacts.”

  Carlton was looking around his room while he was thinking. “That would work but for one thing. Assuming we find the right equipment, where would we put it? Let alone how the heck we could get it here.”

  William was smiling. “We don’t have to worry about that,” he said. “Let me tell you what I’ve been up to over the break. Firstly, I’ve formed a company for you through my dad’s old law firm. It was easy, and they were happy to do the work without asking any questions. It will be processed as soon as you sign and complete a couple of forms. You’ll have to come up with an address, which we can talk about next, and pick a name, but keep in mind that you don’t want to use anything that’s either comical, stupid, or gives any hint as to what the company does. Choose carefully—it will be with you for a long time. Now, back to the address... The nerdlab is never in a million years going to be big enough, plus we have to view this house as temporary. None of us are going to live here permanently once we’ve completed our time at MIT, so you’re going to have to think about premises somewhere else.