Emmy would start the experiment. Dag was monitoring the electronics, Sigmund was monitoring the safety system which would signal if the skyrmion moved from its cradle even slightly. Dr. Jackson was watching the streaming data and various other technicians were at their stations.
Emmy started the current generator to top off the isotopics. Once she was satisfied that they were ready she touched the screen and dumped the stored charge into the superconducting rings. The now familiar thump was heard from the lab.
Once she had got a go from each team member Emmy started altering the current in certain rings of the cradle. Sigmund noted that the skyrmion was beginning to move. Emmy watched on the wallscreen as the plasma ball seemed to shift to one side. While still attached to the cradle magnetically Emmy altered the currents again and the skyrmion settled back in the cradle.
“Okay,” she said. “I'm going to try to move it outside the cradle and back. Are we ready?”
Everyone signaled go.
Again Emmy adjusted the superconducting ring currents and the plasma ball slowly moved to one side and separated from the cradle. It was now floating on its own magnetic fields and moving towards a lab wall.
“I'm going to try to alter its motion now,” said Emmy.
This time she touched a slide control on the screen that was marked for left, right movement. At first the skyrmion didn't seem to respond then it slowed its progress towards the wall and paused. After what seemed a long time to Emmy it begin to move back towards its cradle.
Emmy began to feel excited.
“I've lost telemetry,” said Dr. Jackson.
“We have a malfunction in the electronics,” said Dag.
Emmy was distracted looking at Dag and didn't see that the skyrmion was passing back through the cradle. By the time she turned to look at the wallscreen the skyrmion was clearing the other side of the cradle and picking up speed. She had missed her chance to capture it.
The skyrmion continued moving faster toward the lab wall until they could hear the familiar buzzing that indicated the skyrmion was cutting its way through the wall like a blow torch. The wallscreen showed nothing but a brilliant light which eventually dimmed. The skyrmion was through the wall.
Sigmund alerted the perimeter observers.
The observers stationed outside the building were to watch for any signs of the emergence of a skyrmion and note the direction it took.
After a minute Emmy asked Sigmund to initiate a call out from the observers. One by one each observer made a clear call to the control room. No one had seen a skyrmion. After five minutes and no sighting Emmy relaxed. The berm had held, the skyrmion had dissipated its energy trying to escape.
“It appears our containment system has worked,” said Sigmund rather cheerily. Emmy only nodded.
Post experiment analysis was conducted in the briefing room.
“Okay, Dag do you have any idea what happened with the electronics, why we lost telemetry?”
“Well Miss all I can say is that the electronics is something of a black box even to me although I have studied the schematics quite intensively. But it seems the designer knowing that his electronics could not be shielded from the intense electromagnetic noise of the nearby plasma instead used that noise to power and to communicate. It's quite remarkable.”
“So where is the problem?”
“I believe the problem is on our end. We are using electronics that does shield for such interference. It's really a compatibility issue. Essentially our electronics sometimes marks the data stream from the experiment's electronics as a noise source.”
“I don't understand Dag?”
“Well think of a person talking to another person. It is probably easy for those two people to stay in sync, so to speak. Now think of one person talking to two other people. This is still possible if the other two take turns or don't talk over each other too often. But what happens if we add another, and another, and another almost without limit. Communication will breakdown. The lab electronics is the single person in my analogy trying to understand a myriad of voices, the skyrmion electronics.”
“Okay then what do we do?”
“We redesign the lab electronics for compatibility.”
“Can you do that?”
“I can try with the help of the lab's engineers.”
“Okay Dag I'll leave that up to you. When you are ready let the rest of us know and we will schedule a test specifically for the new electronics design.”
Georgetta had finally agreed. She would sneak the master plan out of the planning office so that Awannti could piece together the Beleni's ultimate purpose. But getting the plans out would not be easy. Somehow they had to be hidden so well that even if Georgetta was randomly searched they could not be found.
“We hide them in your programming.”
“Awannti, I'm not sure I like you or anyone mucking with my programming,” said Georgetta with a look of disgust.
“They've done it to me Georgetta and not for such a good cause.”
Georgetta realized he was right. She knew about the picket the Beleni had put in Awannti's code. She thought of how unfair it was and that helped her reach a decision.
“Okay I'll do it but when we are finished with this business I'll want it removed.”
“Good. I'll get started then and add it while you sleep. You won't feel a thing,” promised Awannti.
Georgetta wasn't smiling though.
This is a real trick, thought Awannti, one simulation reprogramming another.
Awannti carefully entered the security code to access Georgetta's programming. The code was scrambled and presented as a cyber-key. Then a challenge and response mechanism had to be satisfied before Awannti could see the code. Once available he carefully inserted the routine that he had written that afternoon into a miscellaneous area in the code. The key phrase was Tiagi calling which would be given to Georgetta on a piece of paper. When she was ready to record the Beleni's plan she would take the paper out and read it. When she had finished she would take a second paper out and read that phrase to terminate recording. In between she would scan the plan's documents. When she slept Awannti would download the information.
“If we can't get that electronics working I think the experiment is finished Jack.”
“What about Eric, Emmy can we get him back?”
“I've tried but his mom doesn't want Eric to have anything else to do with us. She thinks its too dangerous. And I can't blame her, it is too dangerous.”
“But the consequence of failure is to be vulnerable to these continuing attacks. Just the other day fourteen people were killed when a plasma sphere derailed an electric. The people aren't going to put up with it much longer.”
“What can they do Jack?”
“I don't know but you can bet law and order will quickly unravel if the government can't protect its people.”
The Emmie announced a call from Sigmund at the front desk, a young man named Eric Jordan wished to see Emmy. Emmy looked at Jack a moment then rushed out of her office to the atrium.
Chapter 18
Chet had lived in one of the city-tower complexes on Earth all his life until the war came. When it became clear to him that the Aggies couldn't stop the attacks he had left with his family. Eventually others had banded together with Chet's family to start a community.
At first the robots had made things easy. But there wasn't the infrastructure to support such machines outside the tower complexes so eventually the robots left.
By working together the people learned to grow enough food to keep them going. But now that the tower complexes were up and running again some of the neighbors were talking about going back. Chet was trying to talk them out of it.
“I know Daryl, life would be physically easier back in the complexes. But are you willing to trade that for piece of mind?”
“Chet you're a lot younger than me. You don't know how difficult the manual labor is getting.”
“My boy Harry
's helping you ain't he?”
“Yes and I appreciate it too. Without Harry I probably wouldn't grow enough to keep me and the wife fed. But Chet that just makes my case. Me and my wife are a drag on the community. You all would be better off without us. Going to the complex is more like retirement to us.”
“Daryl, you and Jenny are a part of this community and not a drag on it. However we have no way of forcing you to stay, it's your decision.”
“Well I think we've made it.”
Daryl and Jenny hadn't been the first to go back to the complexes. But they were the first to leave from the core of old-timers that had helped establish the community. If they found it more desirable to live there then any one could. Eventually there wouldn't be enough people to keep the community going.
Chet worried about the community's future. Walking out after dinner one night he took the trail up the side of one of the highest hills. From the top he could see several miles to the south. From there as dusk displaced day he could see the lights of the nearest complex come on.
Chet watched as the light faded and his eyes adapted and the glow on the horizon brightened. He knew from the broadcasts and traveling strangers that at least fifty million people were there now including Daryl and Jenny.
The crackling over his head drew his attention. There far up he saw three fireballs streaking down the sky. They seemed to be heading in the general direction of the complex. Chet got to his feet as they got nearer the ground and the complex. He waited, he expected some kind of flare, some kind of explosion as the fireballs hit near the complex. But he saw nothing. The fireballs eventually were too low to be seen and he saw no signs of an explosion and heard nothing but the usual night insects.
He shook his head and headed home still not decided on how to preserve the community or even if it should be preserved.
Alice Mills had never left her tower complex, even during the worse of the troubles. She felt she was too old to strike out for the backwoods and so had stayed and kept in touch with all her friends and acquaintances and even the everyday people that made up the backdrop of her life. It had paid off. When she needed something someone had it and when she had something she gave it to someone in greater need.
Her social connections and her robots had kept her going until some semblance of order was restored. Now that they all felt safe they were drifting apart. Alice was visiting everyone as often as she could but many were becoming busy again in the mundane affairs of their lives. This evening she was dining with Denise, an old friend that felt much the same as Alice.
“I don't know Alice. What we lost in material comfort we gained in social comfort.”
The pair were sidewalk dining at one of the reopened restaurants near where they lived. The menu was sill pretty basic but experiencing the old familiar routines of their lives more than made up for the basic fare.
“Yes it almost made up for the inconveniences but why can't we have both?”
“I know what you are saying. I don't think I have an answer. What people put together in hard times they pull apart when times are better. It's called the human condition as if that explains it.”
Alice was just about to reply when her eye caught the movement of light. There from a side street shown a brilliant glow like a noon sun casting its light amongst the darkening dusk. And it seemed to be moving toward the intersection. Alice would soon be able to see the light source.
“Look behind you Denise.”
Denise turned her chair to see the approaching light and then it burst into view. For a brief second the women were blinded, they both held their hands to their eyes trying to shield enough to see the cause. And then it crossed their street and continued down a side street.
“What was that Denise could you tell?”
“No, it was too bright, I was blinded.”
“Let's check the news,” said Alice as she pulled out her Emmie and unfolded it.
But they were disappointed, there wasn't much on the news which was mostly celebrity headlines. They did find one small story called into a local news coordinator and the usual eyewitness reports that were an exaggerated mess.
“Alice maybe we should get back to our apartments. I don't feel so safe out here.”
“Sure Denise I'll walk you back.”
Eric's mom had relented. Eric and his father had convinced her that her son had an important job to do if they were ever to stop the globes. He was now in a meeting with Emmy's team.
“Reports are coming from Earth that people there are now seeing the globes,” said Jack.
“The same as we see here?” asked Sigmund.
“Apparently though eyewitness reports vary. Some report them one meter in diameter and others say they are two. But all describe them as looking the same as ours. The one major difference is that except for some indirect actions causing accidents there doesn't seem to be any report of direct damage or loss of life from the globes. They are mostly seen as a nuisance.”
“That could change,” said Dag.
“Yes I suppose it could. But those are the facts as I have them.”
“Thank you Jack,” said Emmy. “One thing we can take from these reports is that it is just as important as ever that we stop these globes, nuisance or worse.”
Everyone agreed.
“So are we ready for our next test tomorrow?”
There was general assent.
“Very well then let's proceed. I should tell all of you though that I've had discussions with the government and they are getting highly concerned with our lack of progress. Which is to say this might be our last chance.”
The meeting broke up. Jack stayed behind with Emmy.
“That's some tough news for the team to take,” he said.
“I know Jack but it's true and I wanted them to know because if this is to be our last shot I want everyone to be completely focused.”
The experiment started as usual with Emmy powering up the current generator to top off the isotopics. She then dumped the current into the superconducting coils of the cradle. Once she saw that the magnetic fields had been established she injected the CO2 plasma. The skyrmion came alive with a white glow and the whirl of sub-surface patterns.
Emmy looked at Jack, he nodded, it was time.
She slowly adjusted the circulating currents and the skyrmion moved a bit in the cradle. Another adjustment and it moved back the other way. Now came the important test.
Emmy adjusted the cradle currents and then dropped them and the skyrmion launched into the lab room. She looked at the telemetry. It appeared they still had a link so now she sent the command to the electronics. The electronics, creating its own magnetic fields although small compared to the skyrmion's was enough to warp those larger fields. The skyrmion started adjusting its velocity. It slowed in its approach to the lab wall, eventually stopping and turning back.
Emmy was excited. The tiny magnetic guide fields were having an effect. The skyrmion's larger magnetic field was being shaped by the guide fields. The larger fields were interacting with the external magnetic fields of the habitat which were created by superconductors to deflect charged particles of the local space weather.
The skyrmion was approaching the cradle. As it passed through Emmy activated the fields of the cradle which captured the skyrmion. She shut down the currents, the experiment ended to applause.
The celebration was short lived as the government wanted a field ready unit immediately. The idea was that the smaller skyrmions would be generated and then merged into the larger plasma globes of the Beleni. If all went well then the magnetic fields of the skyrmion could influence the magnetic fields of the larger globe and control its motion. Just as the tiny control fields influenced the skyrmion.
But scaling up from an experimental result to a robust field unit takes an experienced engineering team. Upon hearing from Emmy of the initial success a team from the government showed up the next day to impound all records and interview all the team members. Some mem
bers of Emmy's team rushed to her office to complain.
She only pointed out that this is what they had been working towards and that they should cooperate with the government team as much as possible. To Jack she admitted that she was relieved that the government was taking over. She had fulfilled her original desire which was to finish her grandfather's work. She hoped to get back to her studies and her research at the university. Jack suggested they take a holiday once the government team was finished with them. Emmy thought it a lovely idea.
The New Hope habitat was a twin cylinder design rigidly attached at the endpoints and spinning in opposite directions to cancel each cylinder's moment of inertia. This allowed more easy station keeping. One of the cylinders contained the residential and commercial centers while the other contained the agriculture and light industrial especially pertaining to the processing of agricultural foodstuffs. Most of the work was done by robotics.
At either end of the agricultural cylinder forest land was allowed to grow almost as naturally as back on Earth. The forest scaled the endcap as if it were a mountain side. Here people from the other cylinder could come on vacation to experience an almost open air type of freedom. And that is what Emmy and Jack were doing.
They disembarked from the electric that had brought them from their overnight stay in a nearby inn. Adopting hiking gear Emmy and Jack started up the mountain. Well trodden paths safely marked the ascent. The climb was not difficult though the steepness increased as they went further and further. As compensation for the harder climb the gravitational force diminished as the center of rotation was approached.
Emmy and Jack hiked for over three miles winding their way ever higher until they came upon an overlook and decided to break for lunch. The inn prepared meal was consumed while they sat looking out across the huge cylinder in the direction of the opposite end which could not be seen in the humidity rich atmosphere. Finishing the lunch Jack was the first to speak.
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