The third station bay contained the tools that he and some collaborating Individuals would use after the microscopic Bridge had been created. The initial aperture of the Bridge, the Bridgehead, would be only a few atomic diameters, just sufficient for manipulation with a beam of coherent light or a stream of charged particles.
Light was preferred because massive particles significantly altered the energy balance between the two Bridgeheads, the station end gaining energy with each passing particle and the Bridgehead in the other Bubble losing a corresponding energy. This could build up to the point of instability, when it became necessary to annihilate or create dark matter at the Bridgeheads to redress the energy balance. The same effect occurred when light passed through the Bridge, but the size of the effect was much smaller. He practiced with the coherent light manipulator, Writing the assembly of a simple nanomachine from the molecules of the station wall, then Reading it to verify the accuracy of the process.
Satisfied now, and with a rising sense of excitement, Tunnel Maker touched the central neural node, activating the trigger mechanism that would initiate the complex Bridge-making process.
Extrapolations of the periodic structures found in recent recordings from the new Bubble indicated that a concentration of energy sufficient for a Bridge trigger might be expected to resume in one or two rotations. It was now only a matter of time. Feeling simultaneously proud and impatient, Tunnel Maker set himself to wait for a trigger.
15
ALICE FOLLOWED THE VISITOR INFORMATION signs dotting the SSC west campus, finally parking her car near the entrance of a low building with a geometrical roof. She recognized it as one of the “architectural statement” variety, although she could not quite make out what the statement was supposed to say. She wondered if the convoluted roof was watertight in a good Texas rainstorm. In her experience there was a good correlation between architectural masterpieces and leaky roofs. As she stepped out of her air-conditioned car, the wall of Central Texas heat hit her like a physical blow. She was feeling a bit nervous and hoped she wouldn’t start to sweat.
She walked through the wide door marked SSC administrative offices and up to the broad counter. The air-conditioning felt wonderful. A woman behind one of the desks rose and walked over. She was tall and thin, pretty in a sharp-featured way, with dark eyes and long wavy black hair. She wore a low-cut white blouse with a necklace that featured several crystals of different colors with a central double-fish astrological symbol as a pendant. “May I help you?” she asked.
“Yes,” said Alice. She held out her press credentials. “I’m Alice Lang. I’m a journalist with Search magazine. I have a 1 p.m. appointment with Dr. Roy Schwitters, the SSC director.”
“Oh, of course,” the woman said. “I’m Belinda. Welcome to the Super Collider.” She smiled. “I’m very sorry, Ms. Lang, but Dr. Schwitters’s schedule has slipped a bit today. He’s still busy with Dr. Wang right now. Perhaps I could arrange for you to talk to somebody else.”
Just then a tall woman with gray hair done in a bun entered the building.
“Oh, Dr. Troy!” Belinda called.
The woman turned and walked to the counter.
“Dr. Troy, I’d like you to meet Alice Lang,” Belinda said. “She’s a reporter from Search magazine, and she’s here to do a story on the Collider.” She turned to Alice. “And Alice, this is Dr. Edwina Troy. She’s the SSC deputy director for operations. She headed the group that designed the SSC and now her group runs it.”
They smiled and shook hands.
“Do you have time to talk to me now, Dr. Troy?” Alice asked.
“Call me Edwina,” said the other woman. “I’d be delighted to talk to you about our accelerator. I could tell you some good stories about how we designed and built it. But I’m afraid this isn’t a good time. I have to get ready for a presentation.”
Alice made an appointment to interview her the following day, and Edwina left.
“She’s a very nice person,” said Belinda. “Too bad she couldn’t talk now. I’ll try to find someone else.” She took some papers from a plastic rack on the counter. “You need to do a little paperwork, so we can get you the proper access cards for the experimental areas and you can visit the experiments and interview the scientists. It’s not a big thing, but to keep the Washington crowd happy you’ll have to provide us with some information and sign a few release forms. Then we’ll get you your SSC press credentials, your access cards, and your radiation badge.”
“I’ll need a radiation badge?” Alice asked. She wasn’t sure she liked the implications of that.
“Oh, don’t worry,” Belinda said, smiling. “You won’t be exposed to any radiation made by the Collider. Nobody is, because it’s turned off whenever we go near it. But everyone who enters an area where there might be the possibility of increased radiation is required by federal regulations to carry a radiation badge. It’s just a sensible precaution. To get access to the places where the physicists work, you’ll need a radiation badge like the ones they carry. Okay?”
Alice nodded, still feeling a bit apprehensive.
Belinda’s “little paperwork,” as it turned out, consumed the better part of half an hour. Alice was just finishing the last form when a manlike machine rolled up to the counter. It was about the height and size of a man’s torso, a rectangular box with rounded corners, apparently propelled on cleated rubber tank treads. Atop the contraption was a curved full-color image of a man’s face and head. The head glowed with an eerie light, like a television screen that had been transformed into a head. The head was that of a rather good-looking man with blond hair, a darker blond beard streaked with gray, and ruddy cheeks. The man’s eyes looked unnaturally bright and sparkling, as if concealed lights were illuminating them.
“Hi, Belinda,” said the machine.
Alice watched the machine suspiciously. Was this some kind of joke they played on visitors?
“Hello, George,” Belinda replied. “Where are you? Seattle?”
“No,” the machine said. “I’m just over at LEM. This is finals week at the University of Washington, but I gave my students a take-home final last week and got away early. My grades are all turned in, so I’m here for the summer.”
Belinda turned. “Alice, I’d like you to meet Professor George Griffin.” She seemed amused by Alice’s bewilderment. “George, this is Alice Lang. She’s a reporter with Search magazine, and she’s just arrived here. She’s doing a story about the laboratory.”
Alice wondered if she should offer to shake hands with the machine, then noticed that it didn’t have any hands.
There was a whirring sound as the head swiveled in her direction. It smiled. “I’m delighted to meet you, Alice,” it said in a rich baritone voice. “Have you ever interacted with a remote before?”
“N-no,” she replied, feeling unsure of what to do. “Are you some kind of… of robot?”
Belinda and the machine laughed. Then the face of the machine looked embarrassed. “I apologize for laughing, Alice. No, I’m not a robot. I’m a human being of male persuasion who is presently sitting in a recliner a few miles away, conducting my business at the SSC office using telepresence. This machine is a telepresence remote that belongs to the laboratory. It’s a brand-new technology that was developed here.”