13
As the nonessential personnel gathered inside the observation room, Virginia went from one of her nuclear science technicians to the other, making sure their safeguards were in place. In case of any power fluctuation, especially when high-powered lasers were concerned, she wanted the ability for each team member to have the wherewithal to shut the test run down. The last item on her list were the power couplings that snaked in through the exterior conduit through the basement. The four-inch thick cables were strong enough to carry the current that would illuminate all of Chicago. The three power lines hummed with power from the nuclear plant generated by the USS Los Angeles.
Master Chief Jenks sat at the main control console with Moira Mendelsohn. The old woman was excited and near giddiness to see her doorway once again becoming ready for operations. She received the old butterfly feeling as she thought about her own heady and far-too-adventurous transports back into a world that no longer existed. With eyes smiling the old woman lifted a cigarette to her mouth and lit it. Just as one of his staff was going to inform Madam that there was no smoking, Niles shook his head. He was not about to tell one of the most brilliant people in world history that she couldn’t smoke a cigarette — it was time to stop being ridiculous.
“It amazes me that anyone would have trusted this thing enough to go through it,” the master chief mumbled.
Moira, with the cigarette dangling from her red lips, reached out and brought down the intensity of the floodlights that illuminated the large doorway. The ceramic composite material used in this second doorway was an advancement that Moira was unfamiliar with but she immediately saw the benefits of the material. Whoever the traitorous element in her company consisted of they had done a remarkable job duplicating her original doorway. She could not fathom how they reengineered the Welsian Doorway in the first place, but she did have suspicions that she kept to herself for the time being.
“This new material will have a far better effect at conducting the electrical charge suffered by the Traveler through their system without the pain associated with entering the field. Marvelous engineering.”
“Painful, was it?” Jenks asked as he watched the Traveler sitting as calm as if she were at the opera. “The early experiments, I mean?”
She smiled and turned the rheostat for the lowest lighting mark. She turned to Jenks. “It was as if someone were drilling into your bones with a red-hot poker. And you asked why would someone go through an untested apparatus such as the doorway. Some of us had very little choice in that decision.”
“Nazis, huh?” Jenks asked with an admiration he had yet to show for the woman.
“Yes, Nazis.”
“Now those are some fellas I would have liked to meet up with.”
“No, Master Chief Jenks”—Moira turned away—“you would not.” She stubbed out her cigarette and then faced the doorway once more.
Jenks was about to say something when Virginia nudged him aside as she slid into her chair.
“Excuse the hell out of me,” he said.
“Is he bothering you?” she asked Moira.
“No, just answering some of the master chief’s naiveté.”
“God, we’ll be here all night,” Virginia said as she hurriedly spoke into her walkie-talkie before Jenks could retort with something idiotic.
“Los Angeles, let’s start off with only fifty percent power profile. We’ll start here at twenty-five percent.”
“Reactor is at redline — fifty minus.”
“Thank you Los Angeles. Emergency shutdown on my command.”
“Roger, control has the scram call.”
“This is so far beyond my basic understanding of the universe and how it works,” Ellenshaw said as he watched the glimmering square with the ceramic doorway in its circular form in the middle. The doorway was capable of fitting six men side by side and large enough for a tracked vehicle to traverse.
“Don’t feel alone, Professor,” Compton agreed.
“In essence the lasers engage a form of disintegration on the subject matter?” Charlie asked.
“It’s a form of light transfer of solid material. The subject is basically sectioned by Europa. Back in 1942 it was a program that guessed at the reconstruction of the Traveler upon arriving in the chosen dimension and then reformed the subject, or the Traveler. The applications for this technology are far more than just dimensional shifting,” Niles said as he watched below as a technician adjusted the focus of the sixty-five laser apertures lining the doorway.
“Are you talking about transport?” Jack asked as he watched Jason and Will walk in and set down at the far end of the room. They had just checked on security but he knew they were far from happy with him and his decision making of late. When the door opened he had hoped it would have been Sarah and Anya.
“Yes, real Star Trek stuff, I know, but there you have it.”
“Doctor, we have discussed this before in our ‘what if’ sessions. This technology cannot be allowed to—”
Niles held up a hand, staying Jack’s argument before it could be voiced, only because it was his own argument to begin with.
The lights dimmed and then flashed on and off as the Los Angeles sent the small percentage of power coursing through the building’s old wiring system. The test was starting.
The protective glass shield below that fronted the technician’s consoles that fed telemetry to the doorway’s geopositioning system, a program hurriedly designed by Virginia and Jenks with the assistance of Europa, slid up from the rubber-lined flooring. The specialized glass was treated with gold shavings that assisted the electrical charge to disburse more evenly to protect the control personnel. As Moira watched on she saw many of the same design characteristics of her own doorway in building 117. But whoever built this had spared no expense, which gave her pause as she thought of possible suspects in the copying of her technology. The prohibitive cost alone eliminated most everybody in her sphere of influence — almost.
Moira looked over at Virginia, who stood leaning on the console as she looked at the Wellsian Doorway. She shook her head. “Incomplete science,” she mumbled under her breath.
“I heard that,” Jenks said as he reached for the ever-present cigar stub but forgot about the clean room protocols — with the exception of the Traveler, evidently. He looked at Virginia. “If you have doubts about this hunk of science fiction, you damn well better say so now,” Jenks said as his eyes went to a smiling Moira Mendelsohn.
Virginia Pollock looked down at the master chief and allowed her thumb to lightly play at his hand and then she smiled.
“Sometimes, when you’re desperate to help a friend”—she glanced at Moira—“you do it not just because you can, but because you have already lost far too many friends. Sometimes, Harold, you take risks.”
“You said it yourself, it’s an incomplete science. We don’t know enough about this. What long-term effects will there be on the Traveler?”
“I daresay, Master Chief, that I will outlive you by a goodly margin,” Moira said as she turned and looked at the copy of her creation. She thought inwardly, Thomsen’s creation is more accurate.
Jenks took in a deep breath in anticipation of countering Virginia when she cut short the debate on the morality and safety issues.
“Initiate power sequencing.”
Jenks was caught off guard as he saw the glass wall that had appeared in front of the station turn a darker shade as it reacted to the electrical charge coursing through it. This was another engineering feat coordinated by the Group. The brightness of the doorway’s discharge could blind those watching from their tech stations.