Henry Gallant Saga 2: Lieutenant Henry Gallant

by H. Peter Alesso

  Site-A was the largest construction area, since the accelerator required a circular track with a twenty-kilometer radius. Remarkably, the entire process was in full operation after only one week.

  Gallant was proud of the progress they had made, but they had a tough journey to go before he could declare success.

  While the mine began producing heavy metal ores, a foundry and fabrication facility were being built halfway between the mine and Hallo at the edge of the jungle, where they could get the ore delivered and still enjoy the manpower of the town.

  The mining and support operations were well under-way and Gallant turned his attention to constructing a heavy-water extraction facility along the shore outside Hallo to produce the deuterium-tritium they needed.

  Each of these separate operations required endless coordination by Gallant and Howard. Neumann reviewed their reports and continued to display his penchant as a perfectionist, constantly demanding ever more progress without excuses.

  The townspeople were helpful and cooperative, but a growing discontent could be felt, both with the demands for so much labor as well as the deal the UP and Wolfe had made.

  Junior’s SSP kept Wolfe and the Elysium Council up to date, as they impatiently awaited additional shipments of weapons.

  ***

  During the following week, Gallant began supervising construction of the forge and manufacturing facilities north of Hallo. Progress was slow, but steady and he was pleased with the cooperation the citizens were providing his crewmen.

  He was standing next to a computer-generated holograph of the site when he saw Junior approaching at a rapid pace.

  “I’ve been trying to catch you for days. You’re hopping around from site to site like a jackrabbit,” said Junior.

  Gallant doubted Junior had any idea what a jackrabbit was. “What can I do for you?”

  Junior stopped next to Gallant and crossed his arms. “For starters, I wanted to tell you we weren’t able to recover the flyer or your sample bag from your crash site.”

  He focused his eyes on Gallant as if he were examining an interesting new toy. He stuck his tongue to roof of his mouth and made a clucking sound—once—twice.

  “I was lucky to make a controlled crash-landing on the lake. Given how sketchy my idea of the crash location was, I didn’t expect you to recover any of my equipment.”

  Junior said, “Not smart—taking a vulnerable young woman on a risky exploration trip—at night, into the jungle, dodging dragors—for three days.” He broke up his speech by repeatedly making the clucking sounds as if to add emphasis to crucial points.

  “It was never my plan to take Alaina, but once she volunteered as a guide, I was glad to have her.”

  “What do you mean by that?” spat Junior with rising anger, grabbing Gallant’s shirt—twisting a clump of material.

  Gallant calmly put his own hand over Junior’s. Clamping down on it, he twisted the hand out and away from his body, breaking Junior’s grip and causing him considerable pain.

  “Oww, aww, yow.”

  “I meant she knew the jungle and its creatures. Her expertise was essential to my survival.”

  “Don’t you ever . . .” Junior began, rubbing his sore wrist.

  “What?”

  “Stay away from Alaina. That’s all. Stay away,” said Junior, as he slunk off.

  ***

  Chief Howard looked perplexed.

  Standing in front of Gallant in the control room at site-A, he said, “I’m confused about your plan for replenishing the Intrepid’s dark matter supply. My engineering expertise is controlling the flow of dark matter from the containment chamber into a hot reactor. I don’t understand how we’re going to create dark matter from scratch.”

  Gallant said, “To create exotic dark material, we’ll have to build an accelerator. We’ll create weakly interactive massive particles and confine them inside a superconducting plasma bottle.”

  Howard’s perplexed expression didn’t change. “I’ve never manufactured dark matter from an accelerator. What’s the process?”

  “The physics principle behind it is straight forward. We’ll build a superconducting supercollider accelerator capable of generating 50 Trillion eV. Then we’ll accelerate heavy metal particles to extremely high velocities and slam them into other heavy particles.”

  Gallant slapped his hands together to illustrate the principle.

  Smack.

  He continued, “Heavy metal atoms are nothing more than large collections of quarks and gluons. When they collide, they create a small but extremely hot fireball. We’ll be watching for newly created particles streaming away from the interaction, such as condensate OO-Quark-antiquark pairs. The higher the velocity and the heavier the target, the more exotic are the newly created particles. The resultant dark matter is then confined inside a containment field bottle, ten centimeters in diameter and a meter long.”

  Howard shook his head. “I’m not worried about constructing the accelerator. Once we mine the raw materials, we can manufacture magnets, vacuum tubing, and control systems using a three dimensional printer. In addition, our new synthetic-bonding process will weld the pieces together. And we can run the devices using AI controlled procedures. However, it’s the physics behind creating dark matter that’s confusing. Can you give me the context?”

  “I’d be glad to, but if this gets too detailed, interrupt me and I’ll skip ahead.”

  “Trust me, if I get lost, I’ll zone-out.”

  Gallant chuckled, “During the Big Bang, spontaneous symmetry breaking created matter—and eventually life—including your inquiring mind.”

  Howard smiled. “Yeah, I’m inquiring, but keep it basic.”

  “Sure. Understanding the origin of mass is one of the greatest challenges of science. Going back to a tiny fraction of a second after the Big Bang, the original single force of nature split apart. It split into four forces while an inflationary process exponentially expanded the size of the universe. Under those extremely hot conditions, fundamental particles formed and traveled at the speed of light.”

  “I’m familiar with that. I know things in empty space become weightless, but gravity affects all forms of energy, even ones with no mass,” said Howard.

  “Force-carrying bosons—gluons, gravitons, and photons—all have zero mass, but they all feel the effects of gravity.”

  “Then, how did the Big Bang create mass?” asked Howard.

  “After another tiny fraction of a second, elementary particles—six leptons and six quarks—acquired mass through the Higgs mechanism. All particles interacting with the Higgs field have mass, directly proportional to the strength of the interaction. The moment the Higgs field went from zero to nonzero, it created a phase transition, similar to the phenomena of liquid water turning into ice.”

  “I understand water turning into ice. As the temperature decreases, the liquid rapidly becomes a solid through a nonlinear change in density,” said Howard, shifting from foot to foot.

  “That’s right. Today, only five per cent of the universe is composed of ordinary matter, another twenty three per cent consists of exotic dark matter particles. They interact with the Weak force and Higgs field. In addition, since we know the universe is accelerating, its rate of expansion is due to dark energy. Dark energy is a property of the vacuum of space itself, referred to as the cosmological constant.”

  “Go on. What exactly is a Higg’s particle?”

  “When you’re traveling between stars and look out of the ship’s viewport, you see empty space. But what appears as empty space is an exotic superconducting Higgs field. A Higgs boson is a vibration in the field. The vibration can create a massive particle, or set up another kind of field, such as electromagnetic field. As a result, a Higgs particle can turn into a virtual charged massive particle and then decay into a photon.”

  “I see. But what is spontaneous symmetry breaking?”

  “Spontaneous symmetry breaking is a nonlinear jumping fro
m one state of matter to another state. For example, if I turn over a bowl and place a marble on top, it forms a symmetric position. The symmetry is broken when the marble falls in one direction.”

  “Oh, I see. When the marble is slightly disturbed, it rolls and breaks the symmetry of the position.”

  Gallant nodded, “Exactly. Symmetry is the most fundamental property in the universe.”

  CHAPTER 17

  DEALMAKERS

  The climate of Kauai had a dramatic impact on the design and comfort of house construction in Hallo. From sea level to the peaks of volcanoes, moisture-filled trade winds blew ninety percent of the daytime, causing micro-changes in climate. Instead of a sun-drenched tropical paradise as many expected, many locations suffered perpetual nimbus clouds and over four hundred centimeters of rainfall yearly. The rainy areas were mostly north of Hallo, extending into the jungle regions adjacent to the volcanoes. In contrast, near-desert conditions prevailed a few dozen kilometers to the west of Hallo. In between were rich farmlands and large grazing ranches for livestock. Hallo property owners were grateful for the trade winds because the nearby farms and animal pens could produce unpleasant odors. Many of the individual homes maintained large gardens to have fresh fruit and vegetables at their fingertips. Considering the tropical trees grew at a rate of four meters a year, crops were bountiful.

  Overall the town of Hallo enjoyed stable warm tropical weather year-round. Housing construction used low-pitched roofs with overhanging eaves to improve air flow and ventilation. The foundations were heavily reinforced with rebar because of frequent earthquakes accompanying the nearby volcanoes. Bugs, birds, and rodent infestations, along with large temperature changes from day to night, were frequent problems for the local residents.

  The Hepburn house was pleasing to the eye. It was a simple two-story structure with a spacious floor plan. The windows and doors were left open for improved air circulation. The house was painted a pleasant pale green with dark green eaves and window frames. The landscaping was well kept, and the vegetation was cut away from the house to avoid a buildup of dead material. White, yellow, and green flowers and plants adorned the walkways around the house.

  Inside the furniture was simple but attractive and comfortable.

  Gallant had been impressed with Hepburns’ home when he had visited it previously and he expected to enjoy a relaxed visit this evening, but that was not to be the case.

  He had come to draw on Alaina’s grandfather’s vast asteroid mining AI control systems experience to learn how to improve the efficiency of the UP mining and manufacturing operations here on Elysium. However, James Hepburn’s cold reception was unexpected.

  The professor sat in his living room, frowning.

  Hepburn’s words were harsh and vitriolic as he lashed out. “Why are you arming Wolfe? Before you came, Wolfe’s Special Security Police had only a few crude revolvers. Now they’re walking around with laser handguns and plasma rifles. You’re undermining our people’s rights. We want a democracy on Elysium, not a dictatorship. I demand you stop immediately.”

  Gallant took his most diplomatic posture. “My commanding officer has approved the agreement with President Wolfe. In return for the rights and assistance to mine and manufacture equipment to refit our ship, we’ve agreed to provide a limited number of small arms weapons. It was our understanding they would be used for the defense and protection of Elysium’s population. I also was informed this was agreed to by the Elysium Council and a plebiscite would be held as soon as possible to ratify it.”

  “A plebiscite—what a farce! Like all the so-called elections we have held.” Hepburn was livid, his fists clenched. “You must not give Wolfe more guns. If you allow us time, we can organize a town meeting of Elysium citizens to discuss providing access to the heavy metals you desire without this appalling arrangement.”

  “We don’t have the luxury of time.” Gallant crossed his arms. “The Titans are a serious threat. We can’t sit idle while you resolve your internal politics. We must refit our ship and prepare for battle.”

  Hepburn faced away from Gallant, collecting himself, unclenching his fists. “True. True. I can’t expect you to take my concerns seriously while you have other worries—different priorities.”

  “I’m sorry.” He waited to see if Hepburn would ask him to leave.

  After several minutes of silence, Hepburn said, “Very well. I can see this is beyond the simple powers of persuasion of a single man, council member or not. But you came to ask about the mining and manufacturing operation, didn’t you? I have looked over the planned layout and the equipment assignments you sent over earlier. Here are my notes and suggestions for the AI control systems and software.”

  “Thank you, Professor. I appreciate your insights.”

  “You appreciate my insights on building a mining operation but not my insights on building a society.” He sighed. “You’re young. It may take time for you to understand where your responsibilities lie.”

  Gallant stirred, troubled.

  “Was there anything else?”

  “Professor, what can you tell me about the planetary force field Wolfe controls? Did he build it? Was there a design and construction team? What’s its power source?”

  “Humph,” said Hepburn. “He didn’t design anything. He didn’t build anything either.”

  Thinking of the ancient technology in the ruins, Gallant asked, “Who did?”

  Hepburn said, “I can’t tell you. You’ll have to look for answers elsewhere.”

  ***

  Wolfe’s large three-story brick home was situated on a bluff overlooking Hallo. It was the largest house in the colony, with wood-carved eaves and a huge manicured lawn. A three-meter-high fence surrounded the property with a winding stone-paved walkway extending from the street entrance gate to the front door.

  An armed SSP guard was stationed at the main gate. When Gallant approached, the guard opened the gate without saying a word. Gallant walked along the path to the front door, which swung open as he stepped on the top step. All the windows and doors were closed tight, but the entire building was air conditioned and the temperature was a comfortable twenty-two degrees Celsius.

  A second SSP guard appeared and led Gallant to the ornate library, where a single large mahogany desk dominated the center of the room, behind which a comfortable-looking lounge chair overflowed with Wolfe’s large body.

  Once more Gallant was disturbed by the greeting he encountered.

  “I gave you my word and I delivered. I’ve given you access to mines near the volcano, along with all the men and equipment we could spare. What have you done for me?” demanded Wolfe.

  “We’ve delivered the rifles and handguns as per our agreement, but we won’t provide heavy plasma cannon until after the mining operation has been completed. As for the nuclear reactor construction, we will have to wait until we can manufacture the necessary parts.”

  “That was not my understanding,” said Wolfe, working his jaw up and down.

  “That’s the way it’s going to be,” said Gallant, nonchalantly.

  Wolfe drummed his finger on his desk for a minute as if examining his quarry for a better angle of attack. He stood up and pointed to a painting behind his desk. It showed a large house on the side of a mountain. “The Wolfe family has a huge mountain estate, but I prefer staying in this modest house so I can be close to my constituents.” He pointed to several other paintings on the walls. “The largest factory and the largest farm are also part of the Wolfe estates.”

  He waived to the SSP guard standing behind Gallant.

  The man stepped out of the room and closed the door.

  Wolfe fixed a wry smile on his face. “I trust your stay has improved since the nasty incident in the jungle? You must tell me all the details of the dreadful event, later, when we have completed our meeting.” He winked at Gallant, as if signaling a secret understanding between them.

  Gallant didn’t respond. Wolfe was the type to dismis
s detailed description of events as the concerns of others. Only things relevant to Wolfe were worthy of his time.

  “It’s been my experience with young idealists that—no matter what lies you tell yourself—in the end you’re out for yourself,” said Wolfe, fixing his stare squarely at Gallant.

  Gallant shook his head. What a character.

  “I hope you will trust me to continue to meet our commitments. I already gave you my word.”

  What’s that worth? The politics of this colony is already fractured.

  Wolfe tugged at the sleeve of his jacket as if trying to cover his oversized bulk.

  “Likewise, the people of Elysium are expecting you to meet your commitments,” Wolfe added.

  Gallant nodded, realizing the population might hold more diverse opinions.

  “Your little display of the United Planets’ brave rescue of Elysium—fighting off the threatening Titans, saving the long-lost colonists—has gained the favor of some. But you and I know you didn’t come here to rescue us. You were as shocked as we were when you discovered us.”

  Gallant leaned forward. “Are you concerned your domination of these people could slip? Is that why you are so careful to not throw me in prison, despite your disappointment in my performance?”

  “Lives depend on order and stability. The temperament of a population must be carefully measured to avoid unpleasant events and outcomes. You’ve introduced a random element into our society, and who knows what can happen? Our entire system could be under threat.”

  “It must be a fragile system if a few days visit from a traveler can disrupt it so completely.”

  “It’s fragile, if left unattended, but I am attending to it. I am.”

  Gallant would have more to negotiate with Wolfe, but trying to iron out difficulties of personnel and supplies wouldn’t be easy.

  He shared intelligence on the Titan destroyer and his general plan for its possible capture. He discussed subsequently turning the alien ship over to Wolfe’s men and training them.