by Paul Anlee
The problem, in Larry’s opinion, was that the people involved in the RAF project were reckless and drunk on their own egos. They were pushing forbidden knowledge onto a society that was not ready to receive it. Mankind would not be ready for such power until it had acknowledged the absolute supremacy of the Lord and the need for His holy guidance in all endeavors.
It might take him decades to understand the papers that Darian, Greg, and Kathy had been working on. Deciphering their work, with Yeshua’s wisdom steering his heart, would make the basis for a nice career at the University of Houston. Or he could take on a post with the New Confederacy Department of Defense, if the government decided to classify the work as sensitive. That might be even better.
The loss of Darian and the RAF generator would irreversibly cripple the project at SFU and, if that didn’t, the investigation into Darian’s disappearance would. Kathy and Greg are going to have a tough time, as prime suspects, getting budgets and journal papers approved. Serves them right.
At the airport in Austin, “Jeff” escorted Larry over to another nondescript sedan, gray this time, that was parked at the end of the tarmac. They drove almost an hour out of the city and past the suburbs before arriving at the estate of Reverend Alan LaMontagne, head of the Church of Yeshua’s True Guard, the official religion of the New Confederacy.
The estate was in keeping with the stature of the head of the largest church in North America. An ornate double-wide cast-iron gate complete with guard hut greeted visitors. Majestic elms sheltered the kilometer-long driveway leading to the main house. Manicured lawns butted up against carefully planted clusters of tidy shrubs. The main house was easily over a thousand square meters and featured an attached chapel.
Not as ostentatious as I expected—Larry thought, as he got out of the car and stretched his legs. Somewhat understated and tasteful, almost traditional.
“Ah, Dr. Rusalov, you’ve made it,” the Reverend came down the front steps to greet Larry. “I trust you had a good journey, given the circumstances, that is. Lunch will be in a few hours. Perhaps we could enjoy a chat, first.”
He invited Larry into the house. “Jeff” followed them in. They made their way through the foyer and into the study. Larry caught a glimpse of the expansive living and entertaining areas. Apart from the three of them, there was no sign of anyone else in the building.
The Reverend is more animated than the last time we met—Larry observed. Walking more upright. Greater vitality. It must be the better climate here. It was pretty chilly in Vancouver last November. I imagine the cold, damp weather there took a toll on him.
Looking into the Reverend’s eyes reminded Larry of the strong sense of purpose he used to see in Darian. He adjusted the backpack on his shoulders. I’m sure he’s excited to have a look at this.
LaMontagne closed the door behind them, leaving “Jeff” to stand guard outside. The Reverend invited Larry to take a seat behind the desk “Perhaps you could show me the generator,” he said, pointing to Larry’s backpack. “I’m very eager to see it in operation.”
“Of course,” replied Larry, digging into his satchel to retrieve the laptop. “It doesn’t look like much, just an average computer.”
“But it’s so much more, isn’t it?”
Before he fired up the RAF generator, Larry paused. “You know, I’m curious,” he said. “This thing is contrary to everything I know you believe in. Its only purpose is to subvert the Natural Laws that God gave this universe. Why are you so supportive that I should continue working with it?”
LaMontagne rubbed his chin, thoughtfully. “True. It is an abomination. But the science, as difficult as it may be to comprehend, is out in the world now. Far better that we should control its use than the heathens living outside of God’s Grace. Don’t you agree?”
Larry pursed his lips. “Well, only a few people on the planet understand the theory. Even I don’t get it all, yet.” He realized he wasn’t helping his future position. “I mean, without a functioning field generator, it’s all just speculation. And we have the only working generator in the world, right here.” He patted the keyboard gently. “As far as everyone else is concerned, the failed live test proved the theory wrong.”
“And now that we will have time to study it, we will know how best to use it to the glory of God.”
Larry wasn’t sure he liked how the Reverend used “we” in the context of studying the generator. “Yes, once I am settled into my new position, I’ll have lots of time to go over the theory and to develop a deeper understanding of the device.” He subtly emphasized the “I.”
“Without Dr. Leigh, how will you be able to reverse engineer the theory from nothing more than a working field generator?”
“Before I left, I was able to download almost everything the entire team has produced. I have notes, papers, and design schematics all right here.” He patted the keyboard again. “Greg and Kathy will have an impossible time recreating everything without their notes. Besides, they’ve never seen the generator work. They have no evidence the theory is even sound. I’m sure they’ll be leaving in humiliation very soon.”
“You erased everything? That’s rather diabolical for a simple scientist, isn’t it?”
Larry smiled. “I’ve had several weeks to think about what I’d do when the day came. I knew I’d be discovered sooner or later.” The laptop beeped to indicate the system had been loaded.
Larry typed in a few commands. “You can see all the files I downloaded from the server.” He indicated the directories loaded with documents, images, and simulation code.
Watching over his shoulder, the Reverend nodded his approval. “Can you show me the system in action?”
“Sure, it’s actually pretty easy to use. I have to admit, Kathy designed a great user interface.” A few keystrokes called up the main control program. “You have to tell it which file of basic parametric equations to use by picking from this browser.” He indicated a small panel with a set of filenames.
“Ah, yes, the virtual particle resonance parameters,” LaMontagne interjected.
Larry looked back at the older man, surprised. “You have been doing your homework. Setting up the equations is quite a lot more work than using them. I’ve been making copies of some basic sets and experimenting by changing just one parameter at a time. Once I’ve gotten deeper into the math, I’ll be a bit more adventurous.”
“Yes. Let’s start with something simple,” said LaMontagne.
“This is the most basic configuration Darian set up.” Larry pointed to a small series of equations in a separate window. “The idea was to alter only the speed of light in a vacuum.”
“That seems like quite a significant a goal to me.”
“Yes, well, it won’t give you faster-than-light travel or anything like that. The effect is confined to a small volume where the fields are properly tuned. But it’s very easy to test…with the right equipment.”
“Can you show me?”
Larry laughed. “Unless you have a vacuum chamber and a laser interferometer around here, it won’t look like much. Wait a minute.” He leaned forward and called up another set of equations, then copied a few terms from that one into the first file. “Okay, I’ve adjusted for the atmosphere so I can at least show you what the system looks like when it works.”
“That would be very interesting,” said the Reverend.
Larry adjusted the laptop so the generated fields wouldn’t overlap with any of the furniture in the room. He entered a few commands and a small blue sphere popped into existence, hovering over a nearby coffee table.
The Reverend straightened and walked over to the sphere. “Remarkable,” he said. “Why is it blue?”
“That’s because of the shift in wavelength of the incident light. The change in velocity causes the colors to be blue-shifted. Actually, most of the light has been shifted into the ultraviolet range so I wouldn’t stand too close to it for very long. What you see here is the shifted red and infrared series.”
&
nbsp; The Reverend stepped back. “And you say this was among the simpler of the equation series?”
“Yes. I’ve gained a lot of experience since this level, with much more complicated sets of equations.”
“Is that how you killed Dr. Leigh? Or did you use more traditional methods and hide the body?”
“No,” Larry answered, a little uncomfortable talking about such things so openly. “I can show you the field I used, but I don’t think you want to be anywhere near where I project it.”
LaMontagne quickly took position just behind the desk where Larry sat. “I’ll make it big enough so you can see it, but not as big as the one I used to hold Darian. It has very strong boundaries against the matter in this universe so once I’ve set it up, you’ll be quite safe. You can even touch it if you like.” He pushed a few buttons and the little blue bubble disappeared, but was soon replaced by a one-meter gray sphere.
LaMontagne rushed over to examine the new globe. He glanced at Larry, curiosity burning in his eyes.
“Go ahead. It’s safe to touch,” encouraged Larry.
The Reverend extended a finger to poke the bubble. The surface resisted depression where his finger prodded. He pushed a bit harder then tried to shove it, first with one hand, then with both. It wouldn’t budge.
Larry laughed. “The field is referentially locked to the entire planet. You would have to be able to literally move the Earth to budge it. Its boundary is made up of the difference in natural laws that exists between our two universes. Except for what the equations allow to pass, it’s impenetrable.
“A force field,” gushed the Reverend.
“Well, I hadn’t thought of that use but, yes, it could be,” replied Larry. “Right now, it’s set to allow light and sound to penetrate so it wouldn’t be a very good force field but we could probably adjust that.”
“Amazing! But how did you use this to do away with Dr. Leigh?”
“The sphere was just the trap. I set up a series of equations to slowly reduce the size of electron orbitals inside until they collapsed completely, and chemistry became impossible. The microverse that held Darian shrunk until it stopped supporting the chemistry of life and then even farther. As far as I know, it still exists; it’s just smaller than a proton.”
“Did he suffer? Or did he just…disappear?”
“For the way he treated me—all because I chose not to take his lattice virus and become something inhuman—and for his arrogance toward God’s Creation? Yes, he suffered,” Larry confirmed. His defiant chin and indignant tone challenged the Reverend to fault him.
“May his soul find peace,” said the Reverend.
Larry frowned for a second but backed down, subdued by LaMontagne’s humility. “Whatever is left of his soul.”
LaMontagne waited for Larry to continue, expecting there to be more, but that was all Larry would say. He set the RAF generator back to INACTIVE and closed the lid.
“I hope you’re satisfied; I’ve done what I said I’d do. I trust I will be properly compensated.”
“Mmm,” replied the Reverend moving toward the door, “indeed you will be, Dr. Rusalov. Although one might argue that upholding God’s laws in the universe and vanquishing those foes who would seek to irresponsibly change the natural way of things might be reward enough.”
Larry brows furrowed and he was about to respond when LaMontagne laughed. “Fear not, Dr. Rusalov. Larry. We deeply appreciate what you have done on behalf of our Lord and His People. You will be suitably rewarded, as we have discussed, with a tenured position.” He called “Jeff” back into the room.
“Please take Dr. Rusalov to the Private Guest House so he can clean up,” he instructed. “See that he is comfortable there until lunch is served.”
Larry picked up the laptop back in one hand and his backpack with the other.
“Why don’t you leave that here?” LaMontagne suggested. “We’ll have a chance for further demonstrations after lunch.”
Larry stopped mid-action, “Sure, why not?” He set the laptop back down, zipped up his backpack and slung it over his shoulders. Following “Jeff” out of the study, he turned back to LaMontagne. “See you soon.”
The Reverend smiled and nodded but said nothing. He returned to his desk as “Jeff” escorted Larry to back to the car.
The gray sedan stood in the driveway where they’d left it about an hour earlier, but someone had popped the trunk. “Jeff” opened the driver’s side door and started to get in. As he did, he asked Larry, “Would you mind closing that for me?” Larry walked around to the back of the vehicle.
As Larry reached up to close the trunk, “Jeff” hesitated and held up an index finger as if he’d just remembered something. He stepped out of the car. “Do you see a leather bag in there? Could you bring that up front for me, please?”
Larry could see the bag pushed to the back of the trunk. “This black one?” he asked. “Sure.” He put down his backpack and reached for the other bag. He heard footsteps behind him and turned. A gloved hand held the biggest pistol Larry had ever seen, and it was pointed directly at his head. A shot rang out.
The Reverend Alan LaMontagne gazed out the window of his study in time to see Larry’s lifeless body slide down the back end of the car. He watched as Jeff–that was, indeed, his real name—bent down and lifted the body into the trunk, tossed the gun in after it, and slammed the lid closed.
He continued to watch as Jeff started the car, backed up a couple of meters, turned off the main driveway, and headed toward the lush gardens at the rear of the estate.
The Reverend sat down at his desk and opened the lid of the laptop. He replayed his lattice recording of Larry’s fingers as they moved over the keyboard to enter the password. The display stopped at the RAF generator control program, ready to accept his command.
The Very Reverend Alan LaMontagne smiled as he loaded a file with a simple set of equations into the generator’s parameters. He pressed ACTIVE, and a small blue sphere appeared in the air a few meters in front of his desk.
Points to Ponder
Book Club & Study Questions
The Deplosion series is not intended to be just a story. In addition to providing a thrilling read, it is meant to be a vehicle for discussing a variety of deep philosophical, religious, scientific, and social issues. Following are some questions to help stimulate further thought. Additional discussion can be found on the Paul Anlee Facebook page and science and philosophy blog (www.paulanlee.com).
1) Sharon Leigh used a genetically-engineered virus to grow a semiconductor lattice in her brain. That lattice made her smarter than any human alive but it also led to her accidental death. If such a treatment were offered to you, would you take it? What about an implanted device that gave you internet connection? What about the DirectVR briefly described in Chapter 11 that allows you to more fully experience movies, as if you were dreaming?
2) The dendy lattices were developed using synthetic biology. The “ceraffices” described in Alumston are all grown buildings, with the basic structure a genetically-engineered tree. What kinds of limitations, if any, should we place on such research and technology?
3) The idea of preserving a brain-dead mother’s life so she can bring a baby to term is a controversial one, both from an ethical and legal perspective. Should the mother’s wishes (say, to be removed from life support) supersede that of her unborn baby? How does this issue relate to the controversy around abortion?
4) Teenaged Darian dismisses the notion of God, the Creator, on what he sees as rational grounds, then provides an evolutionary argument for why faith is so powerful in humans. Are these two notions at odds with each other? Can a rational person dismiss God yet find reasons for faith? Is religious faith something that can even be discussed rationally and logically, or does it belong to the realm of spirit, emotion, and feelings only?
5) Almost everything in Darian’s Philosopher’s Café lecture was scientific fact. To the best of my knowledge, everything up to the fi
rst mention of “resonance” between virtual particles is factual. That’s where I slip into speculation, which may or may not prove to be correct some day. How much of what came before or after that point, did you find believable?
6) Larry states that Darian, Greg, and Kathy are arrogant and filled with hubris to think they have a right to the God-like power of changing the laws of nature. Is this adequate reason for him to kill Darian and take the RAF generator? Did the Reality Assertion Field push past the limits to places where science should not dare to go? Do you think there should be such limits to research? Why or why not? Discuss specific examples
.
Reality Incursion - NF
Deplosion Chronologic: Book 2
Paul Anlee
Darian Publishing House
Chatham, Ontario, Canada
“People demand Freedom of Speech as compensation for the Freedom of Thought, which they seldom use.”
- Kierkegaard
1
The 4:30 a.m. lattice call jarred the couple out of their dreams.
For crying out loud, it’s not even morning yet. And, it’s Sunday—Kathy groaned.
It was Darian—no surprise—calling through their private lattice network. He’d never been much for preamble or propriety.
Hi, Darian, what’s up? What time is it? Kathy dragged herself toward consciousness and rubbed her sleep-crusted eyes.
It works—was all he sent; his transmitted voice was quiet and matter-of-fact.
It works? What works?—her brain pushed through the mental fog to process what her boss was saying. She sat up and stretched her neck. Then it hit her. IT works!
“Greg, wake up!” she squealed. “Darian got it working,” She shook her unconscious partner’s shoulder. “It works!”
Greg was fully awake in a flash.
I’m sorry about calling so early—Darian said. No—he laughed, almost giddy. That’s not true, I’m not sorry at all. I was going to tell you in person later this morning but I couldn’t wait. Look at this!
