“We need a volunteer to sit in front of the laser and test some protective clothing, would you like to do that before or after our demonstration here?” Brisson said icily as she closed in on him.
Leroy was about to respond when he saw her wink at him before turning away. What has Latt done with her to get her to relax? Something has released the real Judy at last! He pretended to cough in an attempt to cover his amusement and pleasure at this startling discovery.
Isaac glanced from person to person, aware that the inter-play of the group was good, and an indication of real team spirit. He turned to Latt once more. “From the information you gave me, I understand that you have already operated this Inducer successfully on a number of occasions.”
“Yes, four times in the last week,” Latt admitted freely.
“Perhaps a demonstration now would help us get over the perceptions inevitably induced (if I can use that word) by its appearance.”
Latt nodded. “You will need to stand back at least four feet from the device. The gravity effects are not smooth over that distance, and the poor tuning and efficiency also is confirmed by waste energy which emanates in the form of ‘ssoft’ x-rays and infrared radiation. Both the infrared and the x-rays get absorbed – the x-rays in a few centimetres of air, the infrared in a metre or so. There is also a lot of harmonic noise induced by oscillating components and framework – this does not get absorbed by the air.” He handed them all hearing protectors and waited while they put the muff-like sound dampening coverings over their ears. “The device is quite fragile,” Latt continued, almost shouting so he could be heard. “So I will start at minimum power and bring it up slowly to a level sufficient to raise the entire structure from the bench.” He put on his own protectors and started the process by flipping the power switch on the end of the coiled cable lying on the bench before him. Stepping back, Latt started to move several large levers slowly upwards on the solid metal panel bolted to the wall by the door. Immediately a low hum could be heard, and the floor started to vibrate under their feet.
“Notice we have covered the roof, floor, walls and doors with soundproof materials in an attempt to cut the sound down as much as possible,” Judy shouted. “Also, there is a line of tape on the floor indicating the boundary between the observation area and the danger area.”
Isaac and Ed nodded after glancing down to confirm they were outside the area of concern, content to watch for the present. Leroy continued to lean on the far end of the bench, aware that the circle cut across the scarred old wooden surface several feet in front of him.
The sound moved rapidly up beyond the audible range, then the harmonics started a moment later, sounding quieter at first. Isaac put one hand out and felt the heat on his palm. The sound increased in volume once more, as Latt shifted all five levers beyond the half-way mark, and the tension rods and wires started to sway slightly. Leroy stood up, finding the vibrations transmitted through the bench to be too uncomfortable on his elbows. A further move to higher power levels took them safely past this point, and the oscillations became invisible again. Latt seemed to be finding the control levers to be increasingly stiff, as he inched them upwards a fraction more.
“Thiss last part is very tricky, as we have not constructed a device capable of withstanding any impact with the surroundings.” He turned and pointed to the device that was now humming at several different frequencies. “I use thiss smaller control to induce the last point zero eight of Earth’s gravity to a total of point nine nine five, and then thiss auxiliary one to provide the point zero zero nine which will allow for slow movement up to a point a safe four feet from the insulation below the roof.”
Isaac and Ed watched in anticipation, while Leroy walked slowly around to stand next to Judy. He looked at her hands; she was rubbing them together like Lady Macbeth.
Judy concentrated alternately on Latt, the control panel and the device; Leroy’s presence right beside her did not seem to affect her single-mindedness one bit.
“Here it goes!” Latt announced, and he twisted the controls once more. The ungainly contraption lifted slowly from the bench and rose to a point some fifteen feet above their heads, where it stopped, held down by three fine nylon cables that were now stretched into a rough pyramid. The sound level seemed to have decreased slightly, and all three visitors stood and watched for several minutes, without attempting any further questions. Even Leroy postponed his planned interrogation of Judy and watched without speaking.
“Latt, can I examine the bench, now it is safely out of range?” he asked finally.
“Certainly,” Latt responded. He watched with interest as the NUIT communications expert pulled what looked like an ordinary cellular phone from the pocket of his jacket and started to press various buttons on it in rapid succession. Leroy climbed up on the bench and listened to the interference for a moment.
“How much longer do you intend to run it?” Leroy asked, after he had tried several more settings.
“How much longer do you intend to sit there?” Judy called out before Latt could respond.
Leroy turned to her, grinned a little sheepishly and jumped down, returning to the ‘safe’ side of the taped line.
“Here it comes!” Latt announced, and the reduction in frequency was accompanied by the gradual, almost floating descent of the Gravity Inducer, until it settled on its nylon braces in a position just a few millimetres from its point of origin. He continued the slow power-down operation, and all of them endured the reversed sequence of sound effects and vibrations somewhat impatiently. Judy coiled the restraining ropes neatly on the bench and stepped back out of the way once more.
Finally, Latt shut down the device completely and pulled off his hearing protectors.
Ed sighed with relief. “It takes your breath away!”
Isaac smiled. “At least it proves that it can be done,” he said quietly.
Latt walked over and they each shook his hand in turn.
Leroy spoke out reluctantly. “I think any further testing of this device would need to be done in an RF shielded room, or we’ll have the authorities after us for disrupting communications. You were broadcasting white noise over the frequencies used by several of the local radio stations, and the amplitude probably swamped their signals for several blocks from here.”
“I do not intend to use thiss device again,” Latt announced. “It has served its purpose now. We need to discuss what improvements we sshould attempt to include in the next version.”
“Radio frequency suppression will certainly be one of them, but I think we will have to move this historical version and the new, completed device back to Cold Lake for security reasons before any further testing is done, so there won’t be so much to interfere with,” Ed responded in confirmation.
Leroy felt a little ridiculous not to have realised this next sequence of events, but then he saw that only his pride in his own ability to put the important pieces of a puzzle together without missing any crucial ones had suffered. He noticed that Judy had picked up a used mug from a small side table, and had walked off, presumably to get herself some kind of drink from the kitchen facilities in the next room, so he decided to join her.
“Don’t worry,” she said to him in a low voice when he stepped up beside her. “It’s all going to seem crazy for the next few months. Have some genuine North Saskatchewan River water.”
“Thanks,” he muttered as she passed him a glass of the ice-cold tap water. “I see you have managed to keep right up to the forefront of technology with Latt. You must work very well with him.”
Judy looked at him, pleased to see that he looked as big and reliable as she remembered him to be, and saw there was more to his question than he had stated. “Not really. I don’t understand the smallest part of the theory of these Inducers. The math is way beyond me.” She rinsed and filled her own mug again, and took a long sip. “And I have mostly acted as a construction planner and circuit builder.” She saw that Leroy wanted more, as a real
friend would. “As for how I manage to work so well with Latt, well I can only say he treats me as a human being, and not like I have been treated by some of the other… well, men I have known.”
“I’m glad you’ve found someone a cut above the ordinary,” Leroy said honestly. “I guess his upbringing didn’t teach him to compare feminine measurements like most of us macho types.”
Judy coloured. “I never thought of you like that, at least not after the first meeting of NUIT staff. As for Latt, well, you’re right, he’s much more than that. He’s really thoughtful; he finds the bad things about our world very worrying, but although he doesn’t understand how some people can sometimes abuse those unprepared and unable to protect themselves, he can understand how much the actions of those people hurt… the innocent.” She saw that her comments had explained much to Leroy about her involvement with Latt. “Do you think Ed has noticed my interest in Latt?”
Leroy’s eyes narrowed as he realised she knew that her boss had an extra interest in her, beyond that concern he would naturally demonstrate as her employer. “He’s a big boy, don’t worry about him. You should just concern yourself with what you have got yourself into.” He glanced back through the open door and confirmed that Ed, Isaac and Latt were still deep in conversation by the experimental Gravity Inducer. “I’m not really qualified to talk about this, but you should remember his upbringing has probably buried most of his more pleasant emotions beyond reach. I’d recommend you don’t get too involved; you’ll just get hurt.”
Judy looked at him defiantly. “Recommendation noted. I’ll make my own decisions, though.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound like your big brother.”
“I never had one. Maybe if I had…” She let the statement go open-ended.
“My only sister is four years younger than you. I guess I’m trying to protect you like I did her,” Leroy explained with a smile that eased the slight tension back below detectable levels.
“You can be my honorary big brother!” Judy said, half teasing. “As for his feelings, well, I thought mine had been buried too. I can wait a while yet.”
Fraser caught the slight emphasis she placed on the word ‘thought’. “Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you, little sister.”
“Jealous?”
Leroy grinned a little sheepishly. “Would it make any difference if I was?”
“No.” Judy blushed. “He’s the only person I’ve ever felt about this way. I didn’t mean to insinuate you were like those others, just seeing what they can get for free.”
Leroy just smiled, his teeth gleaming brightly at her as he accepted her back-handed compliment.
“Thanks for talking about it all,” she said softly. “I knew I had been too–”
“Don’t say it,” Leroy interrupted. “I never gave any real consideration to why you were so–”
“Bad experience as a child,” she said hastily, before she lost her courage. “Let’s just leave it at that.”
“If you had grown up in darkest Detroit, like I did, you would realise that was all you needed to say.”
Judy saw the bleakness in his eyes and some of her self-pity faded as she recognised for the first time that her friends had not lived their lives in sterile bubbles either.
Leroy looked back into the laboratory and saw that the others were starting to drift over towards the rather basic facilities of the room he and Judy occupied.
“Just remember that I’m willing to listen, if you ever need to talk. I recognised that you were someone special, very soon after I realised you had better looks than you gave yourself credit for.” He smiled crookedly, and the bleakness was hidden again. “You’ll know Latt survived his childhood and youth without permanent scars if you can get him to notice that, too.”
Judy blushed again, reminding herself that his words were a compliment that had been given freely, without ulterior motives, and that she did not have any reason to feel ashamed of her looks.
“Oh,” she said loudly as Isaac entered the kitchen. “There are some cans of pop in the fridge here, if anyone wants one.”
Leroy turned his back to the others and gave her an exaggerated look of shock and hurt feelings.
She took a playful swing at him, then smiled as she pulled open the door to display the hidden goods. “You didn’t say you wanted anything else but water!”
Ed looked at her relaxed disposition as he walked in behind Latt. “Make the most of this quiet day, er Judy,” he began, using her first name as a kind of experiment. “Latt will be wanting you to calculate the kind of weight reduction we can expect by going to large scale integrated circuits and the like.”
“Yes, Judy,” Isaac concurred, “Ed has agreed to let you stay on as technical assistant here indefinitely, as Latt assures him you are indispensable. We need to know how big to build the first prototype vessel, and what kind of power-to-weight ratio we can expect from the second generation Gravity Inducers.”
Judy tried to contain her excitement. “Has it been decided whether we will use the reactor you brought back from Mars, or whether a replica should be constructed, so we can preserve the original for future studies?”
“We are keeping our options open on that.” Latt passed out cans to the group as they crowded into the small room. “Issaac will use the information about Narlav reactor technology that I have transferred from the Railcar and stored in the computer here, to investigate that option. The reactor we brought back from Mars has two complete setss of sspares, so the manufacturing that is needed to assemble a new one is only the parts for the framework, covers, connectors and shielding, though there iss not very much shielding required, as the reactor uses almost all the atomic particles produced in its processes. For now we will assume the reactor to be used will weigh twice what the Narlav original weighs. We hope that it might be a fraction more powerful, also, but we’ll accept whatever we get, within reasson. And once we have an overall weight estimate for the Drive components, we will submit our detailed schematics for the Inducer components to the five different manufacturers so that the design and production process can begin.”
Judy looked worried. “But I thought we would be working on the reactor development. What will we do after completing the design estimate?”
“I don’t understand the theory behind the reactor dessign,” Latt explained without any sign of discomfort at revealing his limitations. “The parts that need to be made can be built to the specifications in the spares listing, again without my input, so I would jusst be a spare wheel…” he looked around to see if the expression worked. “If Isaac needs me, he can call me.”
“Latt hasn’t stopped working since we landed,” Isaac explained with great care. “This period while the Inducer components are being produced will give him an opportunity to relax and find out for himself why this world is worth saving. There’ll be lots for him to do in a week or two, but for now I’d rather he take a break, so he doesn’t get too stressed to be useful to the project later on.”
Latt grinned at Judy. “I want to see ssome of the ‘sights’ – places like the ones Ruth told me about, when we were stuck on Marss. My only problem is that I somehow found my way across the Galaxy, but I don’t know my way around this planet.”
Ed cleared his throat. “As Latt is the most important extra-terrestrial to ever come to our aid,” – also the only one! – “I decided to assign you, Judy, as his guide and assistant for the duration of his first tour. You are of course aware of the security risk involved.” He looked at her with all seriousness. “To test out the practicality of such an expedition, you will need to accompany him on a ‘trial run’, as it were, to Niagara Falls, leaving early Saturday.”
“Latt assures me it will be feasible to hammer out the weight estimate by tomorrow night,” Isaac’s eyes sparkled with amusement as he watched her undisguised emotions flowing across her face. “What do you think?”
“I– I don’t know what to say!” Judy began, looking more flus
tered than any of them except Latt had ever before observed her to be. “How will you manage the technical aspects without security-rated personnel to assist?”
“Ed has initiated a check of several post-graduates I tutored at university, and the first three will start work up in Cold Lake tomorrow, as my ‘fingers’, shall we say?” Isaac explained. “I could ask Ed if he could spare someone else for this–”
“Oh no! I’ll do it,” Judy interrupted rapidly. “It’s just that I wasn’t expecting such an– I mean I thought I would have to stay up here in the cold and…”
“Just do your job, Brisson.” Leroy shook her hand, then winked at her. He leaned over, making a show of brushing some particle of dust off her shoulder, so he could whisper into her ear:” And don’t forget what we discussed earlier.”
“Funds for this ‘operation’ have been allocated by Mr. Terrance Stadt, as a token of his appreciation to Latt for, as he phrased it: ‘truck driving, live animal conveyance, and repair of said truck on the worst roads under the most extreme conditions imaginable’,” Isaac winked at Latt to convey the message he knew Terry had written between the lines, and turned to Judy, confirming she too understood the motivation, as a precaution to prevent her developing any financial phobias. “He said that what he knew of you made him feel confident that Latt would find the trip at least as interesting with you as he would with Terry, himself, if time permitted him to make such a tour.”
“But he doesn’t even know me!” Judy squeaked.
Isaac laughed, enjoying the whole situation more than he ever imagined he would when he had first heard it suggested. “I think Ruth spoke to him.”
Ed and Leroy joined in the laughter here, though Ed’s response started a little after his communications expert’s.
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