Foundation

by M J Kendrick

  “Yes, and that is exactly what it’s designed to do,” said Jean.

  “Does the staff rating scale we instigated have anything to do with this?” asked Susan.

  “It most certainly does. It was a great help, and thanks to Beatrice, it’s enabled me to get a head start on the phase assignments, potentially saving what probably would have been months of aggravation further down the line.

  “We need these early stages to get underway and become efficient to the point of routine as soon as humanly possible.”

  Melanie was looking a little curious. “Why the rush?” she asked. “I thought we had plenty of time.”

  “I’m glad you asked,” Jean said. “To answer your question, yes, we do have more than enough time, and you are right in that we don’t need to rush, but . . .” she paused momentarily and looked quickly at each of her team. “I want to create some time. There are some things that I need from each of you that I would like to keep out of sight and to ourselves and especially away from Omni. They can’t get wind of this. Well, not just yet anyway, as they may take it from us. It’s going to be a challenge as we can’t be seen to deviate from our phase two responsibilities.”

  Daniel lowered his head slightly and mumbled, “Here it comes.”

  Jean gave a little smile and looked at each member of her team.

  “Melanie,” she began, “I want you to quietly start a side project on the inert gases that we use. Make sure you’re inconspicuous. I’ll give you the framework in the next few days, but basically, I want you to focus your research on nitrogen density absorption.

  “Susan, I want you to formulate an extended test and fusion program for the Hybrid/Syntho element of HSP34d1, and, in particular, the areas just before and after the currently used parameters.

  “This is going to interact with Melanie’s findings, so start with the research and data that was carried out in the initial development. Work closely together on this.

  “Daniel, I want you to devise a series of ‘out of office hours’ tests that are completely isolated and sectioned off from anything involved with the phase two program. Make sure they are well apart. Also, we are going to need some precision fabrication done on the QT. I’ll need you to locate a suitable area somewhere here in ACR that is preferably well below the radar. And, finally, Beatrice, I want you to quietly accumulate anything Daniel needs in the way of equipment. Do it over a period of time, not too much time, though also find a way to somehow ensure that we can mask off any attention to this particular workload. See that it’s buried. In other words, I need you to carefully cover our tracks in what we are doing.”

  “And what exactly are we doing?” asked Beatrice.

  “We... are going to build a stasis pod!”

  Chapter Nine

  David had been notified that he was to attend a morning meeting over at ACR with all the other heads of departments. Naturally, he had completely forgotten. It was only Jean checking through her emails whilst they prepared dinner that she saw the reminder in her electronic diary. With everything that had been going on, she too had completely forgotten.

  “Damn,” she exclaimed, “it’s the teddy bear’s picnic meeting in the morning.”

  “What?” replied David as he mindlessly stirred the bubbling pan of spaghetti.

  Carlton was happily gurgling away in a rocker beside Jean.

  “Is it that time of the year already?” David asked.

  “Tell me about it,” remarked Jean. “Right now, it’s the last thing I need.”

  “That busy, huh? Same here, but thinking about it, we do actually enjoy it. Remember last year?”

  Jean giggled, thinking back to how Professor Stanton’s drunken rendition of “American Pie” had them all in stitches.

  The teddy bear’s picnic was an annual event that brought both facilities together to give them a chance to unwind, mingle, and generally let their hair down a little. It was introduced by Guy when he first joined ACR and was organized every other year alternately between himself and Professor Stanton. It was a great success and something that everyone looked forward to.

  “When is it?” asked David.

  “End of next month,” said Jean. “It looks like all the heads are going to be at the planning meeting. I hope it doesn’t take too long. I’ve a mountain of stuff to wade through as it is.”

  “Well, at least it means we all get to go to work together for once,” said David grinning and looking down at Carlton, whose smiley, giggly gurgles and rapidly kicking legs suggested that he happily agreed.

  The meeting had only kept them for an hour, and they came away having learned of all the exciting and fun activities that would be part of this year’s picnic. Pleasing to most was the addition of more bars. Both facilities’ numbers had grown significantly, and, subsequently, so had the size of the picnic. It was now more like a large outdoor event and definitely seen by all as not to be missed.

  Both Jean and David found themselves quickly caught up in the infectious enthusiasm. It was clear that everyone liked a party. Jean wondered if the bevy of beauties within her new team might have anything to do with it. Their presence certainly hadn’t gone unnoticed by the male scientists at both facilities. Even David had to admit that he doubted any of the men would miss this year’s event, as he left to head back to the farm.

  When David arrived in his lab, his team was almost in the exact same positions as when he had left the previous evening.

  “Hope you haven’t been here all night,” he said.

  Rose and Jayne quickly caught on and chuckled.

  “Sorry I’m a little late, teddy bears picnic meeting. Completely slipped my mind,” he added.

  “No worries, boss,” said Rose in true Aussie fashion. “We pulled up your diary just before dawn.”

  “What!” said David, horrified that they had indeed been there all night. The eruption of laughter told him Rose was jesting, and he smiled. “Okay, okay, I get it, so what have we got?”

  Jayne and Rose both and walked over to the viewport. David joined them and peered through at the shiny, still partially formed RMI. Turning to the others, he looked disappointed. “So what happened?” he asked.

  Jayne looked briefly at Rose then back to David. “You might want to sit down for this.”

  David drew a long breath and sighed, showing his obvious disappointment. They all slid the nearest chairs together and sat down by the viewing port.

  “Okay, let’s have it,” said David.

  Jayne read from her clipboard, which held the analysis results. “I’ll just go over the high points,” she said. “The RMI formation cycle was completed in just over two hours with full integrity and a 56 percent enhancement across the board. Bar’s new platform increased the uniformity of the block substantially.”

  She handed a beautifully formed shiny rectangle over to David, which he gently tossed up and down in his hand.

  “It’s lighter than I expected,” he said.

  “It’s lighter than any of us expected,” added Jayne. “Not only that, but the first analysis suggests that the increased rate of growth will transport through to the filament growing stage.”

  David’s mind was racing. “When I saw the RMI on the growing platform, I thought the cycle had failed. This is beyond fantastic.”

  Rose tilted her head toward the viewport. “What you’re seeing in there is RMI number five. We grew two more last night, and this is the second one this morning. We anticipated that you would want us to run several repeat analysis tests as the initial results were so... well, for want of a better word, brilliant.”

  David sat back in his chair and looked over their heads, his eyes slightly flicking back and forth as he rapidly digested the information.

  Rose and Jayne continued to patiently sit facing him.

  “Okay,” he said finally. “Get Freddie and Bar in here and have them analyze the last two RMIs. You two finish up with the two that you’re working on then go and reconfigure the test area
urgently for a preliminary filament growth sample.”

  The two girls jumped up and, like whirling dervishes, set about their tasks, whilst David returned to his desk to bury himself in figures. This news meant he could finally figure out the diameter of the finished tether, and, more importantly, exactly how many ingots they needed.

  ***

  When Jean finally made it into her lab, most of the moves had already taken place, although it still resembled organized chaos as scientists weaved past each other, bustling to and from workstations and equipment. Jean was unsure who might still be in the process of moving and who was starting their phase two assignments.

  Beatrice was in high demand but had total control of the prolific activity and a good handle on exactly who was doing what. Melanie was at her workstation with her new team going over assignments. Daniel was working on some equipment, and Susan was nowhere to be seen. Overall she was satisfied that everything was well in hand.

  Upon seeing Jean settling in behind her desk, Daniel stopped what he was doing and made a point of working his way back to his own desk, making sure to pass within her earshot. “The game is afoot,” he mouthed as he strode by.

  Jean gave an almost imperceptible single nod and immediately set about her work.

  ***

  By the end of the next day, David had devoured all of the new data and completed his calculations. The results on paper were both astonishing and staggering. He called for his team to clean up, grab coffee, and join him for the next hour or so. They needed to discuss the results and ramifications.

  Jayne had cleared one of the spare desks and arranged seating, and, very soon, they were all gathered and settled.

  Freddie and Bar welcomed the break from the monotony of the never-ending installation as they all chatted and joked until David was ready.

  “Before we get into this, how far are we along with the installation?” David asked.

  “Not as far as we would have liked,” replied Freddie. “We’re flat out in there, but progress is slow.”

  “We could do with some help,” said Bar, nodding in agreement.

  “All right,” said David. “I was hoping we could handle it ourselves, but looking at it, it’s just too big a task, and I want you on this.” He briefly held up his wad of papers. “I’m going to request, or perhaps commandeer is a better way to phrase it, twenty or so unsuspecting souls to get on the case. I’ll clear it with Professor Stanton after we’ve finished here. You’ll have to train and oversee them initially, but I’m sure that won’t be an issue. Most of the folk here at the farm are more than capable, but be sure to keep a tight lip on the operation and make doubly sure everything is secured away whilst they are in the lab.

  “Hopefully, that large of a workforce will button everything up in a few days.”

  “Now that’s what I’m talking about,” said Bar, obviously delighted with the news.

  David turned his gaze to Rose, who, anticipating the forthcoming question, said, “Since growing and analyzing the first of the new nanofilaments that we used to capture the preliminary rate of growth data, we’ve revamped the growth testing area to include the upgraded configuration, and it’s almost ready for calibration.”

  Jayne partially held up her hand, indicating she was about to cut in.

  “But,” she began, taking the conversation, “hearing what you’ve just said, it’s highly likely that the test will be ready to commence smack bang in the middle of the installation. With all the additional people milling about, I think we should hang back a little until they’re finished.”

  David slightly cocked his head, and with a small frown of genuine curiosity, asked, “Oh, why’s that, then?”

  Jayne raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips. “Well, for one thing, with all that’s been going on recently around here, you may have not kept as up to date as I have on what other organizations are doing around the planet, or where they are with their research. I don’t know if you realize just how far ahead of them that we are here, and that makes us a target. Especially since news of us landing the tether contract was made public.”

  David looked surprised. “Are we talking about espionage?”

  Jayne looked sympathetically at him. “Look, David, I’ve had far more involvement with the outside world and the other leading organizations in this field during my time at Orbital than you have, and I can tell you that they are ruthless. I wouldn’t put anything past any one of them in their drive to get ahead. I guarantee that they’ll be dissecting every possible avenue as to why we were awarded the contract, and if they got even a hint of just one of your achievements, let alone all the other god knows how many, then yes, espionage must be viewed as a genuine concern.”

  “She’s right,” added Freddie. “We are light years ahead of everyone else, including the Israelis, who are supposed to be the world leaders, but even they are still working with carbon. None of them come anywhere near us on tensile strength, and they’re all still working in vacuums. None of them have successfully grown a triple wall tube, the best RoG is prehistoric by our standards, and their longest tube is only half a meter!”

  David nodded. “Phew, when you put it like that, then yes, you are right. I have completely lost track, what with Carlton being born, Jean’s project, and all of this. I hadn’t looked at the bigger picture. Absolutely, you’re right. We can’t afford to take any risks whatsoever, so let’s just get everything ready for now and secure the apparatus.”

  Jayne and Rose both nodded.

  “Now,” David said more firmly, “as you all know, the contract calls for 250 miles of tether, which doesn’t sound as big if you say it quickly,” he chuckled. “With the new data, we can accurately estimate that if we increase the block size by just 10 percent, we will need 1.5 million RMIs.”

  There was an audible gasp from each of the team.

  “Hold on,” said David. “It gets better. Even with our triple-walled, super-sized nano tubes, we are going to have to run in eights. Now, that’s far less than expected but still a whole bunch.”

  The team was mesmerized by every word.

  “Eight is the magic number, and it follows through to the final product. To simplify the stages, we are just going to refer to each of the processes according to size, so stage one will be the eight platforms that grow the nano tubes, two will be the filaments stage, three the strand stage, four the string stage, five the chord stage, six the rope stage, seven the cable stage, and lastly, eight, the final tether stage.

  “It’s going to mean some repositioning within the stranding and coiling area, but it shouldn’t be too severe as we nearly had it right the first time.”

  Freddie seized on the first question. “What are the breakpoints?”

  David flicked a page. “By my calculations, we can get away with twenty-five-mile runs. That’s the maximum size and volume that can be transported, so ten shipments of interlink coils.”

  “What about the storage issue? That’s going to be one hell of a big pile,” asked Bar.

  David was nodding. “The large cleared area in the grounds that back onto the coiling room is where an underground storage and loading facility is to be constructed. It involves a dedicated rail link that is being spurred of the main line in a massive fifty-mile loop. The loading mechanisms look similar to those huge lifting vehicles you see at docks for forty-foot containers, but ours will be fixed and operate in unison so that each completed shipment can be lifted and loaded in one go directly onto custom flatbed rail cars. That project wasn’t scheduled to begin for at least another eighteen months, but it now has to be brought forward.”

  “Crikey,” said Rose.

  “Crikey indeed,” said David. “This part of the tether project is huge. The engineering and construction side alone is mind-boggling, and before you ask, no, we’re not paying for it. Our beloved government is footing the bill.

  “It would seem that the powers to be up in Omni HQ are very well connected. One thing is for sure, the f
arm is about to change shape forever. Now, I know you are going to think up a whole bunch of questions, but right now, I need to get in to see the professor, so think on it overnight, and I’ll pick up with you in the morning. In the meantime, get cracking with the plan.”

  David left the dazed group and, fully armed with his results and data, went off to brief the professor. He planned to give him all of the good news first before he ransacked the personnel files.

  It was late afternoon, and, for David, it would be an even later night.

  ***

  In the following two months, Jean and David were like ships in the night, and short of the odd meal together, they had to resign themselves to communicating by notes left on pillows, tables, and late-night plates of sandwiches wrapped in cling film.

  They had both been totally absorbed in their work, so much so that they had to put in for a day off just so they could actually have a decent conversation and catch up on each other’s news.

  They had chosen Friday, the day before the teddy bears picnic, to finally tear themselves away from their work and their labs.

  Things had progressed well for them both, and it was hard to figure out which of the two projects was the biggest. David won that competition hands down with sheer size, but the potential of Jean’s work was becoming equally as huge, albeit for different reasons. Their day was spent deep in relaxed conversation, snacking, drinking wine, and taking photographs while playing with Carlton like adoring parents, as the stresses of their projects drifted away.

  They would remember this happy day for a very long time.

  The day of the picnic had finally arrived. It had been laid out in the immaculate landscaped grounds of ACR, and, in the glorious late summer sun, it truly was a sight to behold.

  Just about everything was there. Horse and pony rides, jugglers, clowns, and look-a-like movie stars mingled around.