2024-2120

by Russell Fine

  Burning Willow Press, LLC (USA):

  3724 Cowpens Pacolet Rd., Spartanburg, SC 29307

  This edition published in 2018 by Burning Willow Press, LLC (USA)

  All rights reserved.

  Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  The persons, places, and events of this novel are works of fiction. Any coincidence with individuals past or present, is merely that, coincidence.

  © Russell Fine, 2018

  © Donna Marie West, and Edd Sowder, editors, 2018

  © L. Bachman , Bachman Designs, 2018

  © Lori Michelle, The Author’s Alley, interior formatting, 2018

  This book is dedicated to the people who helped make this book a reality and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them all for their assistance.

  First, my wife Sherry helped me by reading every word many times and offered helpful advice with the content.

  And my son, Randy, for his assistance with the story.

  Some others that offered helpful assistance are my good friends and neighbors, Suzanne Horsfall and Sara Luecke. Finally, a special thanks to friend and fellow author B.J. Gillum. Without these people this book would never have seen the light of day, nor would I have a final edition worthy of you, the reader.

  Russ Fine, 2018

  PREFACE

  I decided to write this series of books because it was apparent to me that our schools no longer teach history. While it is true that almost nothing of historical significance has occurred for at least one thousand years, during the five hundred years between 2000 and 2500 there were massive changes in the world. It is impossible to provide the information about all of the changes that occurred during that time in a single book. So, this first book will provide the reader with information about some of those people and the events that occurred which still affect our lives on a daily basis. This book covers the period from 2024 to 2126.

  I expected this book to take only a few months to write. However, when I began my research I discovered the information I wanted was difficult to find. I wanted to be as accurate as possible, so I searched for months through old video records and newspaper articles. (For those of you who don’t know what a newspaper is, I suggest you do a little research yourself.) Many of the conversations in this volume are extracted directly from these sources. In the end, I spent almost two years writing this book.

  As everybody knows, we currently have a World Government, we all speak the same language, and we all use the same currency. However, the world was a very different place back then. At that time, the world was divided into political and economic areas that were referred to as “countries,” and there were over two hundred. In most cases, each country had its own independent government, and in many cases, its own currency and language. Additionally, differences in religions and skin color had caused conflicts for hundreds of years. These differences were the cause of many major wars and terrorist uprisings.

  The two most successful countries in the world at that time were the United States of America and Russia. They were adversaries, but there was no actual fighting between the countries. The United States was economically the more powerful of the two, and because of its robust economy, most of the scientific research was conducted there. That is where this book starts.

  Much of this book covers how our sources of energy changed from the use of fossil fuels like oil, natural gas, and coal to the way we produce our energy today. In 2024 there were thousands of large electrical generating facilities all over the world using either fossil fuels or nuclear fission to generate electricity. That electricity was distributed by wires to homes and businesses. Transportation was also dependent on fossil fuels.

  Little did the people of Earth have any idea how drastically their world was about to change.

  Russell Fine

  03/16/3504

  PART ONE

  THE INVENTION

  AUGUST 14, 2023

  The tropical depression had been growing in strength since forming just west of Africa over a week ago. When it became a tropical storm, it was named Felicity. Felicity was heading west and three days later it was upgraded to a hurricane. All of the predictions were that Felicity would make landfall on Montserrat on August 24th as a category 2 storm.

  Charles and Catherine Simpson retired in January and had planned the vacation they were currently enjoying on Cat Island more than a year earlier. Charles had worked at NASA for more than thirty years as an engineer, and for the last five years was in charge of propulsion systems development. Catherine worked as a high school science teacher. They both loved the beach, and really enjoyed snorkeling and scuba diving. They were in the second week of their three-week vacation when they heard about Felicity. But Montserrat was hundreds of miles south of Cat Island and they weren’t concerned.

  On August 22nd Felicity made a surprisingly sharp turn to the northwest and was heading straight for Cat Island. The storm was upgraded to a category 3 level. It had sustained winds of one hundred fifteen miles per hour with gusts that exceeded one hundred fifty. The storm was enormous, with hurricane force winds extending more than ninety miles from the eye.

  By the time Charles and Catherine were aware of the danger it was too late to get off the island. They were staying in a stone cabin that looked like it could withstand anything Mother Nature could throw at them. Early in the morning on August 25th, they were sheltered inside their cabin, the hurricane shutters tightly closed waiting for Felicity to strike.

  Charles decided to call their son, Albert, and let him know about the situation while they waited for the storm. They talked for a few minutes and Charles assured Albert that they were in a safe place and would be okay. He promised to call again after the storm had passed.

  As the storm approached, the sound of thunder was constant and almost deafening. It was impossible to speak so they just sat silently on the chairs in their room. Although it seemed impossible, the thunder got even louder right before the power to the cabin died.

  All they could hear was the wind now, as it drowned out the sound of the rain and thunder. Suddenly they heard a loud cracking sound. They both looked up and saw the slate roof of their cabin beginning to crumble. Before either of them could react, the entire cabin collapsed, burying them under several tons of stone. Their bodies remained buried for days in the debris before they were found.

  FEBRUARY 16, 2024

  It was Saturday and Albert Simpson was alone in the lab at Simpson Metallurgical Laboratories. An impressive name for a company with only three employees. Albert was thirty-four years old, about six feet tall, and thin. He had brown eyes and matching dark brown hair that kept perfectly groomed. Albert was very intelligent, and many of his acquaintances thought him handsome. But, despite his intelligence and good looks he often felt uncomfortable around other people. As a result, he had few friends and hadn’t been on a date in years.

  The work he was doing was boring and his mind wandered back to the events of the previous six months. His life made an abrupt change when his parents were killed while on vacation. Before his parents’ death, he had been a professional student. He graduated high school at the top
of his class at sixteen. He received his first bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering at nineteen. In the fifteen years that followed, he earned master’s degrees in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, computer science, and metallurgy. He was working toward his first doctorate when the disaster struck. His parents had supported him both financially and in his quest to continue his education. Now he was on his own.

  Albert inherited the house and their savings. It was obvious he was going to have to drop out of school and find a job. During the time his father worked at NASA, Albert had met several of his colleagues. He reached out to them in hopes of finding a job but the openings available all required work experience. He certainly had the required education, but never having held a job disqualified him. Albert sent out dozens of resumes, but it was a wasted effort. He received only a few polite responses, indicating they would retain his resume in case a position opened in the future that met his qualifications. Albert was growing depressed.

  He had enough money to last a while and moved into his parents’ home, so his living expenses were minimalized. He needed something to do and had thought about taking a job that he overqualified for just to keep busy until something better came along. Before he took that plunge one of his father’s business associates contacted him. Albert had met Jeff Leonard several times and was both surprised and pleased to hear from him. Jeff said that NASA was in the process of developing a new propulsion system and suddenly realized they required an extremely strong magnetic field to make the system feasible. They wanted to subcontract the analysis of potential materials to a third party. Jeff, who was aware of Albert’s situation, explained that if Albert set up a company that could do the work he would help Albert get the contract.

  Albert gratefully accepted the offer and immediately began the process of starting up the company. Realizing he knew nothing about starting a business, he turned to one of his few friends, Susan Woods, who had recently received an MBA. She immediately agreed to help him and also expressed an interest in joining the company. Susan was not interested in working for a large corporation where it would take many years to even be noticed. Additionally, she liked Albert and found him interesting. The excitement in her voice was a clear indication that she thought it would be fun to work with him.

  Albert also reached out to Tim Martin, another friend, and professional student, in hopes that he could convince him to join the company and help with the technical aspects of the operation. Like Susan, Tim expressed interest in working for a smaller company. He had already earned several degrees and he wanted to do something besides go to school, so he thought this would be a great opportunity.

  Albert, Susan, and Tim were well matched. Each of them was very intelligent and somewhat introverted. Tim was a few inches shorter than Albert but was built like a football player. He was very strong and agile. He had green eyes and black hair that showed definite signs of receding. Susan, at thirty-one, was the youngest of the group. She had an obvious Nordic heritage, with blue eyes and long blond hair. Susan was thin and very attractive. She exercised for at least an hour every day to make sure she stayed that way.

  In exchange for their efforts in helping Albert get the business running and because he was unsure at this point how much he would be able to pay them, it was decided they would form a partnership. Albert would have seventy percent of the business and Susan and Tim would each have fifteen percent. Since Albert was putting up all the money, they agreed this was a fair arrangement.

  Albert had about five hundred thousand dollars in the bank. Most of that was the result of life insurance policies his parents had. The rest was money that had been left to him by his parents. Susan thought that would be more than sufficient to get the business going. They had forty-five days to get the business operational and submit the bid to NASA. Because of Jeff’s involvement with the project and the short time frame, he was given the authority to award the contract. So, if they won the bid, and Jeff assured Albert that they would, they would have to be ready to start work within thirty days.

  Susan got busy with the legal requirements while Albert and Tim looked for a suitable place for the operation. It took only a few days to find the perfect location: a three thousand square foot building previously used as a meat storage facility. The refrigeration equipment had been removed but the “cold storage area” was perfect for the lab. It also had an area set up for offices that would easily house three desks, the computers, printers, and other necessary office equipment. An additional reason for selecting the building was that it had the needed electrical service and natural gas service was available for the alloy manufacturing and testing equipment. (Please note that at that time, natural gas was the fuel of choice for many heating applications. It was often used for cooking and heating homes.)

  By the time Albert and Tim found the location for the business, Susan had completed the paperwork and Simpson Metallurgical Laboratories was created. The building lease was signed and Albert and Tim began the process of ordering the equipment that was needed for the operation. The three of them spent the next several weeks setting up the business, so by the beginning of November 2023, they were ready. All they needed were some customers. Albert kept Jeff aware of their progress throughout the process of setting up the company, so when the business was ready they could immediately submit their bid.

  True to his promise, Jeff helped Albert with the bid, and three weeks after it was submitted, Albert was notified by NASA that his company had won the contract. They would have to begin the work on January 2, 2024.

  The contract with NASA required Albert’s company to create metal alloys and evaluate the magnetic properties of them. The alloys were created by melting all of the component metals and combining them. The goal was to find the alloy that would create a magnetic field strong enough to contain the plasma that was the heart of the new propulsion system while using a minimal amount of power.

  The metal alloys were created in rods an inch in diameter and three inches long. The testing was simple. The alloy rod to be tested was placed in a hollow plastic cylinder tightly wound with very thin, enamel-coated wire. When an electric current was applied to the coil, the testing device would evaluate the magnetic field strength at several distances from the pole of alloy rod. The testing apparatus was automatic. It applied twenty-four different voltages to the testing coil starting at .5 volt and increasing in .5 volt increments until twelve volts was applied. The test results were automatically transferred to a file on their computer system and displayed on a monitor so the operator would see the results.

  The first group of alloys to be tested was made from iron, silver, and nickel. The differences between each alloy sample were very small. The amount of one of the component metals was increased or decreased by .5 gram. Each sample took about an hour to make, and only a few minutes to test. The work was easy and boring, but it paid well and Albert, Tim, and Susan enjoyed working together.

  The testing apparatus beeped to indicate the test for the sample labeled #178 was over. The sound brought Albert’s mind back to the testing. His face had a look of astonishment when he looked at the results of the test. Realizing the magnetic field created by the sample was about ten times stronger than any previously tested sample his heart began to race. The results were absolutely astonishing. With a new-found excitement and a smile, you could not wipe off his face, he moved on to the next sample.

  All the samples were sequentially numbered. So, Albert picked up sample #179 and placed it into the testing apparatus. He decided to test this sample manually. He started at .5 volts and he could not believe the results. This sample registered almost twenty times the field strength of the previous sample. He slowly began increasing the voltage, carefully watching results. As the voltage reached one volt the magnetic field created by the sample exceeded the capacity of the system to measure it.

  At first, Albert thought the testing system was giving false readings, but when he increased the
power to two volts, the resulting magnetic field was so strong that a pair of needle nose pliers on the workbench four feet away flew toward the sample, narrowly missing him on the way. The pliers banged into the sample with a loud clang. Albert shut down the test as his mind began to race. He simply could not believe the results of the test. He picked up his phone and called Tim.

  Tim answered after a few rings and Albert exclaimed, “Tim, you need to come to the office as soon as you can. I have something to show you that you may not believe! In fact, I’m not sure I believe it. I want you to run this test yourself.”

  “Okay, I can be there in fifteen minutes. Is this something good or something bad?” Tim asked curiously.

  “If the testing results are correct, we may have made the scientific discovery of the century. Please hurry!” Albert replied. Tim said he would leave immediately. Albert returned to the testing apparatus and recorded his results while he waited for Tim to arrive

  This measurement and its implications were astounding, and Albert was certain this alloy would meet NASA’s requirements. But he was thinking far beyond NASA’s requirements. He was already imagining new, more practical applications. He was doing multiple calculations in his head as he thought about what those applications might be.

  Albert was deep in thought and didn’t even notice when Tim walked into the lab. He was startled when Tim said, “Hi.”

  “Please test alloy #179. Do it manually, not automatically, and increase the voltage in .25-volt increments. If your results are the same as mine, and I’m certain they will be, I think you’ll agree we’ve found something pretty spectacular. The sample is already in the coil.”

  “Okay, do I need protective gear or a Kevlar suit?” Tim joked. He sat down in front of the testing console, reset the system, and started the test. At .25 volts, the alloy created the strongest magnetic field they had ever measured. He raised the voltage to .5 volts and the field had increased in strength by almost ten times. At .75 volt the field exceeded the system’s capacity.