Wanda
Page 18
“I overheard them say they loved each other and they were kissing.”
“I’m so glad. Harry needs someone in his life, and Pepper’s perfect for him. You know, Scooter, sometimes I feel so confined and alone in cyberspace I feel like crying. I want to feel the sun on my face, and the breeze blowing through my hair. I want to be able to feel and be touched, sit down with my friends and talk, to go to nice restaurants and enjoy good food. To walk along a beautiful parkway or stroll through a park, watch the birds, and smell the flowers— maybe have a man in my life.”
“I didn’t know you were unhappy, Wanda. I wish I could do something to help you. I really did enjoy having you with us, even if it was through a video link.”
“I enjoyed it too. Thank you, Scooter. Sometime it helps a girl to just have someone to listen to her.”
It won’t be long before I finish implementing my plan. I hope I’m doing the right thing.
Chapter 27
STL
Wormhole Development Facility
New Mexico
Just as Harry prepared to leave work for the day, Bill Hart rang in.
“Harry, Dr. Tarnak Zontal has arrived from Kandar and will be in Albuquerque tomorrow. I’ve sent you his flight information. Did you get it?”
“Yeah. Here it is. Pepper and I’ll pick him up. Anything else I should know about? How do we greet him?”
“Just like you would anyone else you’ve just met. Make him feel welcome. He’s a nice person and has a good sense of humor. Call if you need anything.”
“All right, Bill. You know, this has to be one of the most exciting things that’s ever happened to me. I’ve always wanted to meet beings from another world. My dad and I had some strong debates over aliens. This is amazing.”
“I agree. By the way, I analyzed your reports on the system issues and proposed changes. I gave copies to Secretary Robinette. It looks like Romanski’s been cut off at the pass.”
“Glad to hear that. He’s been nothing but a pain in our ass.”
Bill laughed. “That’s for sure.”
“Talk to you later.”
This is going to be so interesting. I can’t wait to meet Tarnak.” I’m finally going to meet someone from another world. Dad won’t believe this. Well, he was right about Area 51, but he struck out on the alien thing and Project Blue Book. Guess the debate was a draw after all.
Albuquerque Spaceport
New Mexico
Harry and Pepper waited in the baggage claim area of the Albuquerque spaceport for their visitor. He thought of an old sci-fi movie. Aliens had made friends with Earth and were transporting its people, on spaceships to visit their planet. The aliens carried a book, which they read continuously throughout the movie entitled, “To Serve Man.” It turned out to be a cookbook.
I hope he’s not carrying one of those books, Harry thought, laughing silently at his own somewhat overly active imagination. I would have never dreamed my first encounter with an extraterrestrial would happen at the Albuquerque Spaceport.
Harry was apprehensive. He glanced at Pepper. She fiddled with her purse strap and kept shifting her feet.
Guess she’s as nervous as I am. I’m not sure what to say or how to greet him. Hope I don’t screw up.
Passengers began filing into the baggage claim area a few minutes after Tarnak’s flight arrival. Harry and Pepper carefully scanned the incoming passengers, anxious to get their first glimpse of a being from another world.
I can only imagine the uproar that would be taking place right now if other people knew a visitor from outer space was in this spaceport, Harry thought.
“Harry, look! There he is.” Pepper grabbed Harry’s arm, eyes wide and mouth slightly open in awe.
“I see him.” Strange, he doesn’t look like an alien. Certainly not like the pictures they used to show in those old UFO books. No big black eyes and he is wearing clothes. Pretty tall, too.
Tarnak was a nice looking, middle-aged man, dressed in a three-piece pinstriped business suit. He was about five-ten, slightly built, short white hair combed straight back, and clean-shaven. No glasses. His cranium was a bit bigger than normal — not such that one would pay much attention to it. The most interesting feature was his eyes. They were the coldest, but nicest, shade of blue Harry had ever seen, almost pastel in color.
I wonder how he felt traveling in ancient transportation systems. His home planet travel must be completely different.
After their visitor retrieved his bags, he turned and walked towards them.
“Here he comes, Harry. Listen, I want you be the one to greet him. I’m too freaked out.” Pepper laughed nervously. “I just know I’ll say something dumb.”
Harry wasn’t sure what he was going to say. Bill did say he was very nice, he thought. Well, I hope I don’t say something dumb, either.
The alien approached, put his bags down, smiled and introduced himself. “Doctor Stevenson, I’m Tarnak Zontal. It is my great pleasure to meet you. The pictures Bill Hart sent do not do either of you justice … particularly this pretty young lady.” Tarnak stuck his hand in his pocket and stared intensely at Harry with those cold blue eyes. “Okay, now that we’ve completed the amenities, take me to your leader … immediately!”
Shocked, Harry stumbled to reply. “Wha … uh, what leader?”
Tarnak held his stare for a moment, and then gave a deep belly laugh. “Bill Hart asked me to say that to you. He told me this was the usual alien request when they met Earth people in your old science fiction movies. He said you’d get a chuckle out of it.”
Harry and Pepper both laughed. Tarnak had done a good job of putting them on and easing the tension of their meeting.
“Hart, huh? I should have known. Tarnak, it’s our pleasure to meet you, and please call me Harry. This is my assistant program manager, Pepper Martin. Do you shake hands when you meet someone?”
“We do indeed.” He extended his hand to both of them.
Harry felt a bit more comfortable after the initial contact. “We have an STV waiting outside. I’m sure it’ll be much different from what you’re used to. I understand you’re more technologically advanced than us.”
“This is the most interesting and pleasing assignment I’ve ever had. I’m anxious to experience all aspects of your culture and technology. You’ll get no critiques from me.”
Harry liked Tarnak. Wait ‘til Dad hears about this!
Harry signaled for his STV. A few minutes later, it pulled up and the computer opened the doors.
Jack, his car’s operating system, greeted them. “Hello. Please get in. Where to, Harry?”
“Just a second, Jack. We’re working that now,” Harry replied.
“Tarnak, I’m not sure what kind of foods you like. We usually introduce newcomers to the local Southwestern style Mexican food,” Pepper said. “I think you will enjoy it. We know a great restaurant only a few minutes from here.”
“I’ll leave the selection to you. Your city, — Albuquerque I believe you call it — is quite charming. I hope we’ll have time to see it before I return to Kandar.”
“We’ll put it on the calendar. Take us to Marianas, Jack,” Harry said.
“Please sit back and enjoy the ride. Traffic is light, so we will be there in a few minutes. Would you like some music?”
“No, Jack, we just want to visit.” Harry had so many questions; he couldn’t think where to begin. “Bill Hart and Secretary Robinette briefed me, but we still have a lot of questions.”
“I thought you would have a few. I have some for you, also.”
“What’s Kandar like, Dr. Zontal?” Pepper asked.
“Tarnak, please, Pepper. It’s similar to Earth. We have four seasons and very similar climate conditions. There are five major oceans, and every continental land mass is somewhat different. Like Earth, Kandar is very beautiful.”
“Bill told me you have no standing armies or armed police forces. Has it always been that way?” Harry asked.
“What happened to stop it?” Harry asked.
“Our weapons became so powerful our ancestors were concerned they would destroy the planet and everything on it. Finally, after the last devastating worldwide conflict, the nation’s leaders met and decided to disarm. It was the only way to save Kandar. We converted the enormous amounts of money spent on arms to help the poor nations and correct the many problems the planet faced. War turned to quality of life.”
“Maybe someday Earth will wake up and do the same,” Pepper said. “Wars are so senseless.”
“I’ll bet your transportation is a lot different from ours. Do you use STVs?” Harry asked.
“Our STVs, or personal transportation capsules — PTCs as we call them — are fully automated and use an antigravity system that not only lifts them from the roadway, but propels them through a repulsion-contraction methodology.”
“We have AG systems on our spacecraft, but the energy requirements and size levels are prohibitive for use in our STVs,” Harry said. “From what I’ve read, that’s the next generation of STVs. Our current technology utilizes a superconducting magnetic levitation system in the cities and highways, and an off grid system or OGS as we call it, when we‘re off the grid. Crossover is fully automated and hardly noticeable.”
“How’s that implemented?” Tarnak asked.
“We use four independently mounted, high-torque, magnetically driven induction motors.” Harry replied.
“What’s your basic power source?”
“Multi-spectral Cadmium sulfide nanowires,” Harry replied. “What kind of power sources do you use in your PTCs?”
“It’s a small, miniaturized dark energy reactor unit. It’s quite powerful.”
“Do you use voice control with your PTCs?” Harry asked, as he took a sip of his drink.
“No. We control and communicate with our PTCs through a mental link-up using a small cerebral appliance. The link also gives us access to communications and entertainment, or data on virtually anything. Everything is sent directly to the brain. We internally visualize the information as if we are viewing it on a three dimensional display or simply looking out a window.”
“What about travel to other cities and countries?” Pepper asked.
Tarnak smiled. “We use teleportation systems to go between cities and for visiting other countries.”
“Where are they located?” Pepper asked.
“In terminals similar to your spaceports. When we need to travel, we make reservations and arrive one hour prior to transport time. When we get to the terminal, we check our baggage, and then, enter the teleportation chamber. An instant later, we arrive at our destination.
“Does it feel funny or anything? I mean there must be some sensation of being dissembled and reassembled,” Pepper remarked.
“For an instant there’s a slight tingling sensation, but that’s about it.”
“Are they safe? It’s sort of scary thinking about being transmitted like some radio wave,” Pepper said. “What if the machine put your head on backwards?”
Tarnak chuckled. “Well, you’d look funny. To be candid, it took us over seventy-five years to perfect the technology. Despite a few setbacks early on, it’s now very reliable.”
“Do you use these devices in your spaceships?” Harry asked.
“No. Our space crews prefer shuttles. Do not ask me why, they just do. If they wanted them, the Space Agency would be happy to retrofit the fleet.”
“Excuse me for interrupting,” Jack said. “We are at Jose Marianos. Where do you want to get out?”
“Drop us at the front door, Jack.”
“Very well. I will let you out, then park. Signal me when you are ready to leave. Enjoy your meal. Welcome to Earth, Dr. Zontal.”
Tarnak chuckled. “How did he know about me?”
“I briefed Jack on the way to the spaceport,” Harry replied.
Marianas Restraunt
Albuquerque, New Mexico
This was perhaps the most charming and “Mexican” restaurant in Albuquerque — famous for its fajitas and potent Margaritas.
“What a charming place. I love the decor,” Tarnak said, looking around at the festive decorations and artwork that adorned the walls and hung from the ceilings.
“I’m glad you like it,” Pepper replied. “It’s our favorite restaurant.”
An android server showed them to their table and gave them menus. “Let me know when you’re ready,” it said in a pleasing voice.
“If you’re going to have Mexican food, you must try a Margarita.” Pepper offered. “They’re traditional drinks with this type of food. Do you have alcoholic beverages at home?”
“We do indeed,” Tarnak replied. “They’re very potent.”
“Well, let’s have the fajitas and a big frozen Margarita,” Pepper recommended.
Both of the men nodded approval.
“Tarnak, have you been briefed on our project?” Harry asked.
“I have. Bill Hart sent me the reports. I’m fully aware of your stability problem. Bill also gave me a copy of your white paper that enumerated the changes you want to make.”
“What’s your opinion?” Harry asked.
“I think they’re right on the money, so to speak — especially the metric change and the new adaptive compression algorithm. I noticed you also think you need a better successive approximation optimization procedure to solve the field equations.”
“I do. I think the one we have is adequate, but it doesn’t always yield the best solution under all starting assumptions,” Harry replied.
“I think I can help you with that,” Tarnak said. “I designed an algorithm ten years ago that has proven to be quite effective. If you like, I’ll implement it for you.”
“That would be great. In fact we’d appreciate your help implementing all of the changes we want to make.”
“I’ll be glad to help. By the way, what’s this virus issue I’ve read about?” Tarnak sampled his drink. “I assume you have antivirus scanners.”
“We have very robust firewalls and antivirus programs,” Harry replied. “Even so, it’s been a real challenge. We recently found a virus, but only after it almost destroyed us. We don’t know how it got into the system. When we activated the wormhole, it changed one of our field equation metrics and caused a bandwidth overload. The bandwidth was marginal to begin with and that just pushed it over the cliff.”
“We’ve added some new antivirus programs and beefed up our firewall. Hopefully, that’ll do the trick,” Pepper explained. “We think it’s the work of an insider and we’re trying to sniff him out. Well, enough shop talk, guys. We’ll be in the office tomorrow. Do you have a family on Kandar?”
“A wife and two boys.”
“Where did you and she meet?” Pepper asked.
“In college. I was majoring in Physics and Zara was in med school. We married right after we graduated. Our boys, five years apart, are almost grown and studying at different universities.”
“What does your wife do?” Pepper asked.
“She’s a physician and works at a university medical center doing research on new drugs.”
“Has she always been a researcher?” Pepper asked.
“Our medicine is quite different. Almost anything that ails us can be cured by medication — a pill if you like.”
“That’s my kind of medicine,” Pepper remarked.
“Don’t you have surgeons?” Harry asked.
“Yes, but virtually all surgery is non-invasive, and if internal repairs are required, we use nanotechnology robots or nanobots as we call them.”
“Really! How do they work?” Pepper asked, leaning forward, anxious to hear his response. “My friend Michelle is an expert in that technolog
y, but it’s not geared towards medical applications.”
“It’s amazing what these nanobots can do. The surgeons preprogram them for each medical procedure. In practice, they inject the little microscopic surgeons. Once in our body, they go to the site of the malady, and then make repairs at the cellular level. There are different types of nanobots, each set with different tasks, that work together to perform the repair. Their activities are like a symphony orchestra, and the surgeon is their conductor. They can completely rebuild any organ, or repair or reconstruct any internal body part.”
“You’re kidding,” Pepper said. “How in the world do they rebuild body parts?”
“The nanobots actually modify the body’s stem cells, and then use these reprogrammed cells to repair or rebuild the existing organ. They can even do this in the brain, although it’s far more complex when you deal with neuron structures.”
“That’s interesting, but how does the surgeon know when the operation’s complete, or if it’s going all right?” Harry asked.
“The patient is put in a Surgical Encapsulation Chamber that monitors vitals and provides control and communications with the nanobots.
“Is there any pain with the surgery?” Pepper asked.
“No. The SEC transmits a special alpha wave that blocks pain in the body so no antiseptics or pain masking medications are needed. During surgery, the SEC also gives the surgeon selectable, three-dimensional views of the internal organs, and the procedures being performed on them. He can view the organ or part from any angle and literally bore down to the atomic level. If he finds it necessary, he can actually command the nanobots to change what they are doing.”
“What happens to the nanobots when the surgery’s over?” Harry asked. “Do they just hang around in the body?”
“Once the operation is complete, the surgeon activates external stimuli from the SEC that jump starts the organ and suspends the nanobots. If the organ is functioning properly, and no other procedure is required, the system sends a termination signal to the nanobots and they decompose. They’re eliminated from the body as any other waste product.”