Contagium The Way We Were, Page 3

  Chapter 3 The Hawking Dimension

  Tuesday Morning, 10 am. Jeth and Shoab are standing in front of the outer entrance to sector 51. Jeth turns his head toward Shoab "You ready?"

  Shoab without hesitating "Absolutely."

  Jeth "First we'll read you into the program." Jeth placed his right hand in a lighted box near the door.

  Wendy's voice came over a speaker above the door. "Good morning Jeth!"

  "Good morning Wendy! We're reading Shoab into the project today."

  Wendy hesitated for a second "Ok Jeth. Shoab, welcome to the program!"

  Shoab calmly replied "Thanks Wendy."

  Wendy promptly replied "You're welcome Shoab!"

  The doors open showing a narrow lighted walkway leading to another door. Shoab could make out the silhouette of two guards holding rail guns. A little unsettled, Shoab started to realize the seriousness of the project. As Jeth and Shoab got closer the two guards stood at attention saluting Jeth. Jeth spoke in a low serious voice "At ease." Jeth walked up to the second door and placed his right hand in another lighted box. The doors suddenly opened to a massive warehouse. Row after row as far as Shoab could see the entire floor was humming away with logic catalysts.

  Shoab thought to himself "Why are all these needed for communication?"

  Jeth pointed over to a side room where a women scientist stood waiting. Jeth opened the door "Shoab this is Cynda, chief architect on this project, she'll read you in." Shoab was slightly intimidate as Cynda's stare was serious and unwelcoming.

  Cynda pointed to a chair as she turned her back to walk over to the display table "Hi Shoab, please have a seat."

  Shoab a little taken back just replied "Hello."

  Jeth looked over as Shoab was sitting down "I'll see you in a few." As Jeth shut the door behind him the lights slowly dimmed as the words Project Contagium appeared in a hologram on the center briefing table.

  Cynda standing on the other side of the table looked over at Shoab "Welcome to Project Contagium. We've been working on a system that is able to transmit and receive messages from the Hawking dimension."

  Shoab half in disbelief spoke up "Wait a second, communicating with another dimension? I know other dimensions are in popular scientific theory right now, but."

  Cynda cut him off "It's not theory. We have been working on this for ten years. Our team of scientists have proven it does exist. We've selected you because of your work with time equations on Quantum mechanics. We need your expertise to hopefully make our first true connection."

  Shoab thought to himself "Jeth is such a liar. He didn't recommend me for this project, the team of scientists did."

  Cynda pointing out the window into the warehouse "All information from those logic catalysts are sent to a central ghost crystal. You know the new power plant 300 miles north of here?"

  "Oh yeah, my transporter passes it on the way to work."

  Cynda continued "The entire power plant was solely built to power the ghost crystal and the bank of logic catalysts. Our scientists cannot figure out how to keep the crystal from overheating while at full power, which is needed to activate communication to the Hawking dimension. Here's my master design of the system." Shoab was a little overwhelmed at the complexity of the design. Cynda slowly traced a larger loop on the diagram with her pointer "You see, the logic catalysts not only determine what frequency the crystal should resonate but also receives instant feedback from the crystal. With this feedback loop the bank of logic catalysts act like a tuning fork for the crystal, continually calibrating the perfect resonance frequency until the connection is made."

  Just then Jeth walked into the room and looked up at the diagram "Whoa! look's like we're really geeking out in here. How's everything going?"

  Cynda replied "We're reviewing the master design."

  Shoab leaned over the table pointing at a part of the design "Would it be possible to increase the cycle rate on these neutron switches? This may slightly increase the processing speed allowing the crystal to stay under safe temperature at full power." Cynda leaned over the table to take a closure look.

  Cynda scarily intelligent and brash, not to mention her skills in hand to hand combat, intimidated most men at DASPA. No matter how well she performed at work she always felt second guessed by Mosh. She felt he meddled too much in her business, always asking too many questions. She was convinced it was because he couldn't stand a woman was the architect for the project.

  Mosh the lead scientist on the project was the most respected employee at DASPA. He was nearly 920 years old and had a wealth of knowledge. Mosh, the oldest employee, was at DASPA since it's inception 750 years ago. He carried a gravitas that was respected by both military and the scientific community.

  Cynda continued her assessment of Shoab's suggestion "I think you might have something there. What you're suggesting would have a 75% probability of success." Shoab thought that comment was a little show offish. Cynda continued "I'll run your suggestion by our team of scientists." Shoab looked behind Cynda where Jeth was standing to see what he thought. Jeth was a million miles away focused on Cynda's figure. Cynda still starring at the design spoke up "Jeth, if I get approval from Mosh can I make the change to the master design?"

  Jeth startled "Absolutely, if you get Mosh's approval then I'm all for it." Jeth turned to Shoab with a slight grin on his face, "Cynda has the most valuable set of skills and assets in this program. If you need anything, please let her know."

  Shoab not showing his annoyance at Jeth's unprofessionalism "Will do Jeth."

  After the project briefing Jeth and Shoab proceeded to the main observation room. The 10 foot diameter ghost crystal was floating in a dark blue liquid. The pool was surrounded by 4 inch thick radiation proof glass protecting the observation deck. The crystal was a faint hue of blue. While they were staring at the crystal Jeth looked over at Shoab "We've included multiple hardware outputs for our holographic display, and audio in case we get any compatible data from the dimension. Also, don't go beyond the radiation proof glass. We're not sure if the radiation levels will be harmful when this thing goes to full power."

  Just then General Milson walked into the room "Commander Jeth."

  Jeth saluted "Sir yes sir."

  General Milson "At ease, I hear Shoab had some suggestions to get the crystal to run at full power."

  Jeth replied in slightly deeper voice "Yes sir, I knew he wouldn't let us down General Milson. Shoab, this is General Milson. He's the lead Commander for Project Contagium." Shoab smiled as he shook General Milson's hand.

  General Milson with a look of approval "Excellent work Shoab. I've ordered our team of scientists to begin implementing your suggestion immediately. They told me we should be ready for a test run this Friday. Jeth, introduce Shoab to your direct reports so they can follow up with him on any questions."

  Jeth snapped to attention "Will do Sir."