by Ford, S. M.
Chapter 18
PELLEGRINO’S PROJECT
Unable to contain ourselves, Rosi and I climbed the narrow stairs to Greg’s attic lab early the next morning. We knocked on the tiny door, and after a few moments Greg opened it. He looked like he’d been up all night. Ignoring his haggard appearance, I blurted out “Well? What’d you find?!” Greg yawned, rubbed his already red eyes, and sat down. “Gather ‘round. Have seat. This might take awhile.” Rosi and I plopped down together on a single chair next to Greg’s cluttered workbench. “So, I told you last night that I’d been working on something off and on for a few years now that looks really similar to Pellegrino’s diagrams, right?” Rosi and I nodded eagerly. “Well, what Pellegrino had was the very rudimentary beginnings of an anti-apogee device. He could never have finished it, though. When he buried this document it was around the year 1890. All he had to work with at that time was Newtonian physics, which was all the world knew back then. You know, from Sir Isaac Newton who came up with his theories way back in the late 1600s. Einstein didn’t even publish his Theory Of Relativity until 1905, fifteen years after Pellegrino buried his notes and bounced. Einstein’s understanding of the laws of physics would be critical in completing this device. However, and this is really critical, Pellegrino did have several components in his design that were completely lacking in my theories. I’m gonna need a bit more time, but I think we might be on to something here ladies.”
Rosi and I spent the next weeks carting food and water and coffee and energy drinks up to Greg in his attic lab. We didn’t want him to have to stop his research for even one minute. It was already enough of a time stealer that his lab didn’t have a toilet and he had to stop working just to use the bathroom a couple of times a day. School started for Greg on September 7, but luckily, he was on home school. Aunt Thiya said he was smarter than her, and allowed him to work through the required materials on his own. Greg was academically and mentally years ahead of the eighth grade curriculum, so he had plenty of time to devote to the project.
On the twenty-ninth day of Greg’s sequester, I was just snuggling down into bed after a long day of internet searches. I’d found a few Bartlett families outside of Sweetwater Wyoming, and had spent the entire day following endless trails to nowhere. Exhausted, I crawled into bed and shut off the lights. Gazing up at the night sky through the enormous skylight over my bed, I wondered what life had been like for Pellegrino after he left the safety of the family here in Freedom. It must have been a frightening existence, all alone in the world during a time when anyone who was the slightest bit different was sure to be persecuted. Even now, in the twenty-first century, some people still felt the need to persecute those who held different beliefs or had different lifestyles. It must have been horrible back in 1890. If I was from Paris I’d say Ooh la la lala la la la... My cell phone blared and I jumped to silence it. This late at night it had to be something important, but there was no need to wake Mom and Dad and have them asking questions. It was Rosi. “Cal! Get this! Greg just called me! He said he’s built a prototype!” She lowered her voice to a whisper now. “And it works!” I had to see this for myself. I couldn’t risk leaving the house again so late, though. After our late night trip to Whiskey Lake last week, Mom and Dad had been acting awfully suspicious. It was like they knew I had done something, but weren’t willing to tip their hand yet. They had definitely been keeping a sharp pair of eyes on me since then, though. I curled up under the heavy covers again, willing myself to sleep. I was too excited about what tomorrow might bring, but staying up all night wasn’t going to help. Sleep finally came, and I was just at that point between awake and fully asleep, when If I was from Paris I’d say ooh la la lala la la la ... my cell phone blared again. I jumped, searched the blankets for the offending noisemaker, and hastily picked up the call. This time it was Donna. “Hey Calli, hope you weren’t asleep girl! Listen, I found something just now that you definitely need to know!” I was instantly fully awake again! “Ya, I was asleep, but no biggie. What’s up Donna? What’d you find?!” Donna’s voice wavered with excitement. “You know my Dad’s a doctor... Well, I had this idea. I thought, maybe we could find Pellegrino by searching medical records. I mean, everybody has to go to the doctor at some point, right? Even vampires get sick!” What a great idea. Donna was not only the best bestie I could have, but she was smart, too. “Yeah, medical records are a great idea, Donna. But with all the privacy laws there’s no way we can access that stuff.” Donna paused before she answered, and when she did her voice was low. “Well, that’s true Cal. But ... you've gotta promise to never say anything about this to anybody... I hacked my Dad’s computer at work... He’s a doctor, so he has access to health records for almost anyone. I think I might’ve found him, Cal. Pellegrino, I mean.” I think I had stopped breathing at some point, but drew a deep breath now. “Of course I’d never say anything! I don’t want your Dad to get in trouble. This doesn’t even have anything to do with him! Donna, tell me everything, please!” It seemed that Donna had paid an after hours visit to her Dad’s office. She had the keys, and all the access codes. Since it was her Dad’s private practice, getting in had been easy peasy. Apparently there is a database that all doctors and insurance companies can access. The database holds health records for millions of people, and is used mostly by life insurance companies to vett applicants before granting life insurance coverage. Sort of a secret to the general population, but those in the industry were very familiar with it. Donna knew about it because she had spent so much time over the years at her Dad’s office after school. She had heard the office manager and the admin staff making reference to it while they worked. Donna, who was a big time gamer and had been coding since she was eight years old, had encountered no problems hacking into the database. What she found when she searched for Pellegrino Bartlett was definitely a game changer. “Cal, the records I found match Pellegrino’s name, and his birthdate, although there is a notation in his file that whomever entered his birth year must have made an error. It cites his birth year as 1875! Anyway, Pellegrino had a procedure done. He had a vasectomy!” This was too good to be true. If it was accurate, our search was over! Pellegrino could not have had any children! I wanted to scream, but kept my voice low, reminding myself that Mom and Dad were sleeping. “Donna, are you serious?! You just blew this whole thing wide open! Ohmygod, thank you Donna! I’ve gotta call Rosi right now!” Before we hung up I filled Donna in on Greg’s progress with the prototype of Pellegrino’s anti-apogee device. We agreed that Donna should come down to Freedom first thing in the morning. I wanted her to witness our test of the device. She had been there every step of the way with us on this journey, she had been instrumental several times in solving this riddle, and she was like part of the family. We ended our call, and I called Rosi back. She screamed so loudly when I gave her the news that I thought my parents had surely heard her, even though she was on the phone with me a half mile away. We agreed to meet in Greg’s lab first thing in the morning.
Sleep had been impossible. I had finally given up trying, and spent the night reviewing the curse. I wanted to be sure we had everything we needed and that we had not misread any of the clues within it. This morning I was bleary eyed and pale from lack of sleep, but oddly more energized than I could ever remember being. Maybe I was starting to share Mom’s ability to function on little to no sleep?
We met in front of Rosi and Greg’s house just after 8. Donna had stopped by Starbucks on the way in, and had a tray of all our favorites. Rosi leaned in the driver’s window, kissed Donna’s forehead and happily took the tray of goodies. “I think I love you. Mmmm, white mocha!” Donna smirked. “You love who?! Me or the white mocha that you’re cuddling?” Rosi peered over the steaming hot cup and grinned. “Yes.” Donna climbed out of the car and gave Rosi a shove. “That’s what I thought. I’ve been outdone by a mocha.” They linked arms and we headed into the house, all talking at the same time. This was how our conversations always went; three different
topics, with everyone talking over and around everyone else. I felt really lucky to be part of such a close-knit group. Before moving to Freedom, Donna and I had been besties for years; adding Rosi to the mix had made things even better, if that was possible!
When we reached the top of the narrow attic stairs, the little door to Greg’s lab was already open. “I heard you all chattering downstairs like monkeys, so I opened the door. C’mon in. Please don’t spill anything.” We filed into the small space and hovered around Greg’s back. He was hunched down over his work bench. The goggles he had strapped to his face magnified his eyes. He looked like one of those little stuffed animals with the oversized, sad eyes. Donna giggled, Greg sighed loudly and Rosi patted his head like a puppy. “What’s up lil’ bro? Are ya cranky today? Here, Donna brought you a quad shot venti latte with 2 extra shots, 8 raw sugars and half ‘n’ half. Drink some. You need it, man.” Without looking up from his work, Greg reached his hand up for the drink. After taking a few sips, his shoulders relaxed a bit and he spun his chair around to face us. “Thanks, Donna. Sorry, you’re not a chattering monkey.” He pointed to Rosi and me. “But you two definitely are. Anyway, I assume Rosi has filled everyone in on this little gadget?” We all nodded. “As I said before, Pellegrino’s project was very similar to something I’d already been working on for quite some time. Apogee simulation. It was the only really scientific aspect of the curse, so I thought I’d give it a go. So, let me explain it in the best layman’s terms that I can. If I tell you exactly what I’ve done you frankly wouldn’t understand it anyway, no offense. So, let’s lay out some facts first. In Perigee we all ‘take false rest’ as the curse states. Perigee is when the Moon is closest to the Earth, and for us also includes the transitory time. Meaning, the time when the moon is in transition from Apogee to Perigee and back to Apogee again. Transitory time. When we are in trouble, and cannot control our Showing, is that one day of each month when the Moon is in full Apogee, or at it’s furthest point from the Earth. During Apogee, the gravitational effects of the Moon here on Earth are at their weakest. For reasons that are still somewhat ill-defined, we need the Moon’s gravity in order to maintain complete control of our physical form. Sort of a reverse from the old werewolf stories, right? Anyway, once the Moon’s gravity is at it’s lowest, it’s very similar to an electronic time-lock being opened. Once the lock is opened, our inner beast escapes our control. You get it so far?” We all nodded and sipped our coffee. “So, the gravitational pull of the moon on the particles the atmosphere consists of is not steady. The Moon actually creates a gravitational wave just like it does in the ocean, producing tides. The atmospheric particles are for the most part charged. There are oscillations in the charged particles caused by the gravitational waves and...” I shook my head to clear it. “Whoa. Greg. I totally got the first few things you said, but now... I think you’re no longer speaking in layman’s terms. Now your getting into physicist type stuff.” Greg looked disappointed, and took a deep breath. “Okay, so essentially what you need to know is this: We have to simulate Perigee during Apogee so that we can control our Showing. In order to do that, we need a device that will simulate the Moon’s gravitational pull. It gets complicated here, but I’ll do my best to simplify. When the original curse was cast over 250 years ago the Moon had a much stronger gravitational pull than it does now. For reasons that scientists do not know, that magnetic field, which caused the stronger gravity, has reduced greatly over time. Which means that now, in order to simulate modern day Perigee, we can utilize super strong neodymium magnets in concert with ions that have been accelerated in a synchotronic, or circular path. I’ve built a Van de Graaf Generator to accelerate ions. Remember, Einstein? An object in motion remains in motion? By using the Van de Graaf generator I can charge ions so that they will spin in a circular path forever, which means they can work indefinitely in this little gadget! I call it ... the A-Watch! You know, for ‘Apogee Watch?!”” Greg held up something that looked like a big, chunky wristwatch. He smiled proudly. “Ta-da!” Rosi spoke first, shaking her head slowly. “Greg, I think I speak for all three of us. I have no idea WHAT you really just said. It was really long, and I might’ve fallen asleep at some point, I’m not sure. BUT, aside from all that, you are a freakin’ rock star!” She reached across and bear hugged her brother. Donna and I jumped on top of them both, in a big dog-pile group hug. Greg yelled “Don’t squash the A-Watch!” His arm poked up and out of the huddle, suspending the watch above the fray. After extricating myself from the pile I pushed my hair out of my eyes and asked the important question. “So, does it work?” Greg nodded. “I’ve tested it numerous times...I took a non extensible string and tied it with a small solid ball. I hung this with a nail, and swung the pendulum. I measured the time period for small oscillations. And used this formula to find g, or gravity. He scribbled the formula on a whiteboard. “See?”
