Nexus of Time

by Mark Riverstone

  "Aff...rmative. Two......ecurity extr..."

  "I'll send comm alert when it is time. Douchette out."

  General puts away the device. He listens, but doesn't hear anyone coming. While tapping on a computer console, the computer locks and demands a password. He then looks for an open drive port, pulls a memory stick out of this shirt pocket and puts it in an open port. A message pops up on the screen.

  "Unauthorized devices plugged in port...device contents deleted...tracker placed on device."

  "What?!...shit" General Douchette yanks the device from the port. The alert messages disappear from the screen.

  "Damn Committee eggheads. I need a new I.T. department. Useless trolls."

  Frustrated, the general sits in a chair and waits motionless. Walter opens the door and enters with a tall dark-haired well-built Mediterranean man with a beard who wears a nautical hat and dark blue command uniform draped with badges and bars, touting accommodations from around the world. His large wide eyes and mustache-lined smile ooze a charm that make a person want to listen, while his swagger exudes confidence tempting one to follow.

  "We will view the demonstration from in here, Captain Nemolopolus. Oh, and may I introduce you to General Douchette," presents Walter.

  "General Douchette, pleasure to meet you. And congratulations on your appointment as Head of D.O.D. Dark Projects. I look forward to seeing how you control the helm of your command."

  "This is the infamous Captain Nemo I hear so much about. I'm glad you attended, so I could give this to you in person."

  General Douchette pulls out a folded-up document.

  "What is this, dear General?"

  "It is notification of military judicial forfeiture and seizure of the Barge and its assets: physical, intellectual and digital, to the Department of Defense."

  Captain Nemolopolus smiles and rips up the document.

  "Captain, that is not the only copy, and if you don't comply, I will have you arrested."

  "Nice try, General Douche."

  "Douchette."

  "I applaud your gumption, even if ridiculous. I've been around much longer than you, General, and you aren't the first fool to lead the DOD."

  "How dare you!"

  "The Barge is and always will be in international geography, where the DOD has no jurisdiction. I am considered a diplomat by the US Government, and every other government, so I, my transport, and those who accompany me are under diplomatic immunity. But what surprises me is I am sure people in your circle advised you not to do this. Despite being short-sighted and greedy for power, you will eventually need the Barge's help and research. Every one of your predecessors did, as did NASA, the US Armed Forces, Black Ops, and some of your Dark Project contractors."

  "That was their weakness, not mine. DOD Dark Projects should be the pinnacle of research, not a floating box in the ocean too afraid to come ashore."

  Captain Nemolopolus laughs, "Because I find you amusing, General Douchie, I will forgive you when you apologize in the future."

  "You'll wish you took me more seriously than your childish name play."

  Walter tries to diffuse the tension, "Ok, now that everyone is here, maybe we can get on with the demonstration. Let me check with my lab and see if we are ready, and we will begin. If it's fine with you two."

  Nemolopolus responds politely, "Thank you, Professor Tomb. I am eager for your presentation."

  General Douchette scoffs, "I didn't come out here for the conversations. Let's get this over with."

  Walter goes to the blast panel covered window, then speaks out loud into a console mic.

  "Professor Stone, is everything ready to begin?"

  "Yes, Professor Tomb," replies Burt over an intercom.

  Walter hits another button and the blast panel opens, revealing Burt in a white hooded lab jumpsuit and cloth booties over his shoes. Two other Committee technicians stand by him. In the middle of the room is a ceramic pedestal four feet high. On the top of the ceramic pedestal is a hyperrectangle cuboid, a Zeus Box. Polyurethane clamps cup the four vertical corners of the cuboid, binding it to the pedestal. There is an airplane propeller blade on a wheeled stand connected to a horizontal axle rod with a flat metal plate on the other end. Across the room is a small wheeled stand with nine-volt batteries and wire connectors with electrodes on the ends, and another cart holding a large electronic device.

  Walter speaks into the mic, "Let in the observing scientists if you please."

  Burt goes to the door of the lab and opens it. Three people enter wearing similar hooded jump suits and booties, except two of the jump suits are light green worn by white men, and one is light blue worn by an Indian woman.

  Walter turns to Douchette and Nemolopolus, "What are the names of your observing representatives?"

  General Douchette responds, "Dr. Romanov and Dr. Stein."

  Captain Nemolopolus adds, "You can call her Sandy."

  Walter asks Nemolopolus, "She doesn't prefer doctor or a scholarly title?"

  Captain Nemolopolus smiles, "Titles are not important. Only abilities. The Barge is a family, so Sandy is fine."

  General Douchette says in a derisive tone, "Well kumbaya, aren't you quaint."

  Walter ignores the comment and presses a button speaking into the mic, "Welcome, Dr. Romanov and Stein from the DOD, and Sandy from the Barge. You met Professor Stone who will conduct the demonstration. Please follow his instructions and enjoy. You may begin, Professor Stone."

  Burt turns to face the observation window. "Thank you, Professor Tomb. This hyperrectangle has a height and two square end faces of thirty centimeters five millimeters, and a length of sixty-one centimeters. Though we lack a classification regarding its material makeup, we determined that the primary elements used are gallium, nitrogen and iridium. What I can say for sure is it behaves as a supersolid. How it holds shape or was forged, we cannot determine, but its surface has no friction, the atoms in it work as one, and it has polarized and magnetic properties. The stand is a ceramic that contains no metals, and the clamps are thermosetting polymers, a rigid polyurethane. Without those clamps, the cuboid would slide off the stand and around the room. The cuboid is heat, cold and corrosion resistant. If everyone will glance at the monitors..."

  On a large monitor inside the lab, and one inside the observation room, a transparent three-dimensional rendering shows a rotating cuboid with a long cylinder encased in the middle running most the length minus a few centimeters on each end. There is an even gap between the cylinder and the encasing hyperrectangle.

  "As you can see here it is not solid, but a designed device with an internal cylinder. Between the cylinder and the surrounding casing is a fluid, or rather, a superfluid. This device has many extraordinary qualities. First, both the supersolid and superfluid remain in their state at normal environmental temperatures. As your scientists in here well know, we can briefly sustain superfluid states with certain helium and nitrogen isotopes, and only at absolute zero Kelvin, negative two hundred and seventy-three Celsius or negative four hundred and sixty Fahrenheit. The closest science came to a supersolid is the solidification of nitrogen, and that is only a temporary state. This supersolid here is a compound and maintains a constant stable state."

  Burt pushes the cart with the batteries, wires and electrodes to the block.

  "Professor Tomb and I determined that the purpose for this device in all its simplicity is quite significant. We believe it operates as a perpetual turbine and power amplifier. When in operation, the internal cylinder rotates without friction, inside the cuboid. The magnetic design allows components to attach to the cuboid and rotate with the cuboid's internal cylinder without having to affix or connect anything in a traditional sense. At the moment, the internal cylinder is still."

  Burt connects two electrodes to specific points on one cube end, and two more electrodes around the center. The center electrodes are wired to a power meter on the cart. He then picks up a small nine-volt battery with a modified end cli
pped to the two end electrodes.

  "With a minimal power source such as a nine-volt battery, we can get the cylinder inside rotating."

  On the visual display the cylinder rotates with direction arrows displaying rotation path. Number fields on the display's edge representing rotation speed and power amps rapidly increasing. The cylinder spins faster and faster.

  "As you see, a battery can power it. Inside, the cylinder is experiencing frictionless perpetual motion, so removing the power will not affect the cylinder speed or rotation."

  Burt removes the electrodes from the cuboid and pushes the battery cart aside. The cylinder on the screen continues to rotate.

  "As I mentioned before, there are magnetic qualities to the object. Those traits belong to the cylinder inside, not the casing." Burt turns to his two lab technicians, "Please bring the propeller over for attachment." Burt turns back to face the window, "Our technicians will now attach this airplane propeller to the cube. All they need to do is place the steel plate at the end of the long axle against a square end of the cuboid, and the magnetism will lock this metal plate to the internal cylinder. This outer plate will then rotate with the internal cylinder which in turn will spin the propeller. The supersolid supplies a frictionless surface against the plate, so no loss of speed or energy is experienced as the cylinder rotates the blade."

  A lab assistant moves the propeller until the plate touches the square side of the cuboid. When they touch, the plate sticks, and the propeller spins at high speed. So fast, the propeller blows heavy wind against everyone standing in the room. The propeller blade is a blur.

  "As you can see, the propeller is moving at high speeds. This blade will continue at this speed, theoretically forever, and has never slowed during our test runs. This unit can produce enough power and torque to fly a plane, and it only took the energy of nine-volt battery to start it. You can see from the display the internal cylinder is not only turning the propeller, it is generating power within itself.

  "With more power added at continuous intervals, this device generates enough power to fly the Grey craft it belonged to, power its systems, and the cloaking field. The ship contained mere cubic feet of a compressed hydrogen isotope as its fuel. That fuel was used to power this cuboid, and this cuboid could amplify the power to a level consistent with propelling them around the planet and under the oceans." Burt turns to the lab technicians. "Could you now disconnect the propeller from the cuboid?"

  The assistant activates a machine that moves the propeller stand away from the bound cuboid. The metal plate disconnects, and the propeller loses velocity and slows.

  "Even though the propeller is disconnected from the cuboid, if you look at the display, you will see the cylinder inside is still rotating inside and uses no power. The Greys have the ability to stop it. Controlling the cylinder speed allows them to control the output of the cube without having to disconnect it. This is where magnetism can stop the cylinder rotation."

  The assistants grab a cart with wheels. On top is an electronic device plugged into a wall with two handheld paddles similar to those on a defibrillator. Burt moves over to the equipment on the cart. Each of the two assistants grabs a paddle. One assistant holds one paddle against one of the long sides of the cuboid, while the other does the same on the other side.

  "What I am about to do is use this device to apply the reverse polarity of the internal cylinder with these paddles. The magnetic forces will repel, pushing against each other and slowing the cylinder to a stop."

  Burt turns on the device. On the display monitors, the three-dimensional model shows the internal cylinder stopping. Burt then turns off the device.

  "You may remove the paddles," orders Burt.

  The assistants put the paddles back on the cart.

  "That's it. We named this artifact a Zeus Box. Zeus can conjure and cast lightning bolts at will. This device can create energy without consumption. Thank you for your time."

  The scientist in the lab politely clap hands.

  In the observation booth, General Douchette reaches into his pocket and presses a button on the side of the communicator he was speaking into earlier. Captain Nemolopolus turns to Walter with a smile.

  "Very nice demonstration, Professor Tomb. Great job theorizing its function without having to damage the device to uncover its inner workings."

  "If we disassembled the device, we wouldn't be able to put it back together, and the inner components could prove to be incredibly problematic. The inner superfluid has a containment issue. We tried to take a micro scraping of the supersolid exterior, but we couldn't keep the sample on a slide or still enough to observe. We've used spectroscopy and x-rays, but avoided MRI due to its magnetic qualities."

  In the lab, three armed DOD soldiers burst into the lab. One is carrying a case, and hands it to the two DOD science observers in the light green lab outfits. The soldiers point the weapons at the three lab technicians and the Barge scientist Sandy in blue.

  "Step away from the device," commands one of the armed soldiers in the lab.

  The scientist moves away against the walls.

  In the observation room, General Douchette draws his pistol and points it at Walter and Captain Nemolopolus. Two more soldiers open the observation room door and enter with weapons drawn.

  "Gentlemen, please remain calm and don't touch anything."

  Walter yells angrily, "General, what are you doing?!"

  Captain Nemolopolus says calmly, "I believe this is his version of scientific eminent domain, without compensation."

  In the lab, the two scientists remove an electric tool from the case.

  General replies, "I promised you, Professor Tomb, not to take the artifact, and I am not. I'm taking a sample. And Captain Nemolopolus, I told you your ship must surrender to the DOD. It will be under the control of my men shortly."

  "And my diplomatic immunity?" asks the captain.

  "I'm not much for diplomacy," scoffs General Douchette.

  In the lab, the scientists place the electric device on top of the cuboid. It punctures the cuboid, drilling deep into it extracting a core sample.

  Walter begs, "General, don't do what you are doing. You will permanently damage the device."

  "I don't care about the device. The design is so simple it can be made from memory. My interest is with the materials composing it. The applications for them by the Department of Defense and other Dark Projects are limitless. You may not be capable of figuring out what it is made of, but I certainly will."

  The device extracts a core sample inside an alloy casing. Immediately, a liquid seeps through the alloy core casing as if porous.

  A DOD scientist yells from within the lab, "General, the fluid is leaking through the core container."

  General speaks into the mic, "Put it into another container and get it on the ship ASAP."

  The DOD scientists shove the whole core container into another larger container from the case and rush it out of the lab. The armed guards who burst into the lab grab the case and rush out with weapons ready. The remaining scientists panic as the liquid inside the cuboid climbs up the core hole in the top, and runs along the surface as if leaking upward, defying gravity.

  General speaks on his communicator, "Major, the package is on its way. Did your men secure the Barge transport?"

  "No...gen......They had weap...s like I...never seen. All our men...dead."

  "Get back to our helicopter, I'll be there in a minute."

  Angry, the general turns to Captain Nemolopolus, "You will be charged with the death of my men."

  Nemolopolus confronts him, "You failed to take my craft by force, and threatened me with military jurisprudence that doesn't apply to me? It is your fault your men are dead, not mine."

  "You will not be beyond my reach forever," warns General Douchette.

  "Maybe not. But my technology will."

  "Get out of my way." The general pushes past Captain Nemolopolus heading to the door where his soldiers stand g
uard. Out of the room, General Douchette passes by the Committee guard in the hallway being held at gunpoint. The door closes, leaving Walter and Nemolopolus alone.

  From inside the lab, Burt calls out, "Professor Tomb, we don't have any way to contain a superfluid! What do we do?"

  Walter thinks. Captain Nemolopolus grabs Walter by the arm.

  "Professor Tomb, I may have something. I keep on my transport ship a silicon-lined iridium chamber for containing anything we come across while off Barge, volatile or toxic. The chamber seals and the inside can become a vacuum, or we fill it with either hydrogen, oxygen or nitrogen for high pressure. Some superfluids solidify under high pressure, but if this one doesn't, it might at least increase its viscosity, preventing it from free-flowing out of the casing."

  "Get it in here fast. Please!"

  Captain Nemolopolus speaks into his communicator, "Nemolopolus to Mantis. Bring the pressure chamber to the lab stat! This is an emergency..." Captain Nemolopolus holds communicator aside and speaks to Walter, "Can your men meet mine at the loading entrance and take them to this lab?"

  "Sure."

  Nemolopolus speaks back into the communicator, "...there will be Committee personnel meeting you at the loading entrance to escort you to the lab. Hurry."

  Walter leans and speaks into the console mic to talk with Burt in the observation lab, "Professor Stone, hang tight, Nemolopolus has a way to contain it."

  Nemolopolus leans forward to speak into the mic, "Sandy, they are bringing in the pressure chamber from the Mantis. Figure out where you want to detach the pedestal clamps to get it into the chamber."

  Walter picks up a phone connected to the console and punches in numbers, "Security, is the DOD still in the bunker?"

  Over the phone speaker, Security responds.

  "They are getting on their helicopter now and starting takeoff."

  "Get a security detail to the loading entrance near the Barge transport and escort the Barge personnel to the observation lab."

  "Right away, Professor Tomb."