Landon wanted the rest of chapter 1 and what landon wants, Landon gets.
Recap: Pixie was off sulking in her own private room, dreaming of a man, Maaka, who left her when they were both in Basic. Quite sad really.
Tam Laboratories, Washington D.C., North America, May 15th, 2157
Warrant Officer Maaka Makoare looked over to his companion, Colonel Jonathon Newton. The tall and lanky man seemed completely oblivious to everything happening around him. The man was build like a scarecrow. His gaunt frame seemed to consist of nothing but skin and bones. Maaka however was wise enough to know that such a facade was nothing more than an illusion. Even at well over sixty years of age, the man was a graceful as a viper. Each step he took, each motion he made spoke of someone far more dangerous than they seemed to be.
Rather than speaking to Colonel Newton, Maaka simply busied himself with looking through his notes. The papers consisted of dry and boring requisition orders, bills, blueprints, and a whole melange of other engineering and accounting information all mixed together thanks to some bumbleheaded secretary who hadn’t the smarts to sort them properly before sending the documents to him. Dee-tee-eff, he grumbled to himself as he flipped one section of a requisition order back to right side up and put the sheet in order with the rest. For what wasn’t the first time, he wished that the U.N. would hurry up and convert to paperless alternatives. True, there was an advantage in having everything in paperwork. Such documents were much harder to create copies or forgeries. But it seemed ridiculous that he had to sort through this cluttered mess
Maaka’s job was not to play around at being a glorified secretary to the Colonel. He was supposed to be his first assistant in terms of basically everything. Maaka didn’t care for the term gopher, as in “go for that, go for this”, but he couldn’t think of better description. He most definitely was not a paper pusher. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted from a familiar voice.
“Working hard, Warrant Officer?” Dr. Emmanuel Tam asked.
“Just about usual, sir” Maaka responded.
Times was he would have been completely startled and unable to speak when addressed by a man such as Emmanuel Tam. Dr. Tam was widely considered to be one of the smartest inventors in the world, as well as among the richest people alive. When speaking of him, comparisons were always made to people such as Nikola Tesla, Albert Einstein, and several other billionaire entrepreneurs or scientists. Dr. Tam had always been respectful enough to address him by his position rather than just Maaka. He was familiar enough with the Colonel however that each addressed each other by their first names.
The genius of Dr. Tam was what had given power to almost every city on the planet. The massive powercasters were now a common sight, regardless of where you were in the world. Even here at his laboratories, the local powercaster stood only several hundred meters away. Dr. Tam had joked that primitive movie studios had once held water towers on their grounds. Instead of a water tower, his laboratory had a powercaster connected to a below-ground fusion reactor that powered the majority of D.C. instead.
Beyond powercasters and more efficient fusion reactors, Dr. Tam had also contributed heavily to the space program, and it was largely thanks to him that the U.N. had sent men back to Mars and already had them en route to the Galilean satellites around Jupiter. His laboratory was the largest private technology contractor to the U.N., taking in billions of Geos every year in funding.
And Colonel Newton was the U.N.’s Chief Liaison to Tam Laboratories, deciding what projects were worth funding, and what was not. Maaka was pleased to know that he had a hand in such decisions now a well.
“What have you got for me, Emmanuel?” Colonel Newton asked in his dry voice. “You could hardly contain your excitement when you called me.”
“Ah yes. Well, I can’t exactly tell you it out here. I’ve been… ah… keeping it out of the public workers ear,” Dr. Tam said, sounding both excited and nervous. The man ran a hand through his silvered hair as he spoke. He was a light man, probably a little more heavy set than Colonel Newton but still lanky. He was dressed in a long lab coat, and underneath it he wore his standard turtleneck sweatshirt and khaki cargo pants. Ever since Maaka had started working here he had worn the same setup. Maaka suspected that Dr. Tam’s wardrobe hadn’t changed much in the man’s several decades of life.
“Then lead to where we can discuss it,” Colonel Newton said, gesturing with his hand.
Maaka had never thought he would one day find himself working alongside the sides of Dr. Emmanuel Tam, nor Colonel Jonathon Newton. Colonel Newton was not as well known as was Dr. Tam, but those who styled themselves military historians were certainly aware who he was.
The U.N.’s current incarnation was only about a century old and the organization was still a work in progress. A century ago the outfit had been nothing more but a ramshackle alliance between several countries while most countries disregarded it entirely. The world’s superpowers had decided to drop away from it, seeing the U.N. as an ineffective relic from another age that was unable to serve as an appropriate peace broker during the titanic conflict raging around the world known simply as World War Three.
But two intelligent and shrewd individuals in the U.N. saw the opportunity they needed to turn the organization from ramshackle coalition to a powerful global organization. Those two individuals were well known throughout the world now and each one’s name was spoken with a voice of reverence and respect. Secretary General Irina Gorchakova and the supreme commander for the U.N. Peacekeeping forces, General Heinrich Katzenmeir.
Between Gorchakova’s shred political manipulations and Katzenmeir’s flawless tactical plannings, the U.N. broke out from Asia which had served as its power base since 2030, and began executing what was simply called the G-K Plan. As the war raged on throughout the world leading to the deaths of millions, the U.N. wisely remained neutral, and maneuvered throughout the globe, using money and resources drawn from numerous wealthy benefactors to find countries on the verge of collapse. The war had depleted so many third world countries of their money and resources, that anarchy was less than a step away. Gorchakova’s plan was simple. The U.N. would wait until the country was on the verge of collapse and then the U.N. would arrive, offer aid and support in return for nothing control of the government. Given the only alternative was anarchy and total economic collapse many countries grudgingly acquiesced to the request, and only five years after beginning the plan, the U.N. found itself in control of the entirety of the Southern Hemisphere and almost 50% of the Northern.
Once it had established such a populous power base to work from, Katzenmeir took charge, drawing army recruits from the billions that the U.N. now governed over, creating an army of immense size. Katzenmeir continued subjugating smaller countries and conquering larger ones until the U.N. found itself in control of the world and the war was over less than ten years after the plan began. Katzenmeir and Gorchakova were hailed as heroes for uniting the planet and stopping the conflict even if some could argue with their methods.
Colonel Newton factored into the situation quite simply. After the world was united, General Katzenmeir moved throughout the government finally settling with taking control of the space program. While there he constantly kept a cadre of younger officers, the “Think Tank” as it was called, around him at all times. He had such a group during his time as Supreme Commander, but with his transition into politics and the semi-private sector, the situation demanded a new setup. Colonel Newton had been younger than Maaka was then, but he had been probably one of the most influential members of the Think Tank.
To have a connection with someone who had been handpicked by the Old Bear himself was hard to believe. In fact it—
“Warrant, did you hear me?” Colonel Newton asked looking at Maaka with his brow furled in scrutiny.
“Sorry sir. I was distracted by these papers,” Maaka said, not missing a beat in finding an alibi for his deep thinking.
“Nevermind. It’s a non-vital issue. I’ll ask later,” Colonel Newton said, looking back towards Dr. Tam.
Dr. Tam let the two of them through the labyrinthine corridors of the laboratories. The walls were a glistening pristine white, and were interrupted every so often by a plain white door with a number on the side. Maaka knew that the number stood for something explaining what was in the lab, but he had no idea what any of the numbers stood for. Trade secret of some kind, he thought. All around them lab technicians, engineers and other scientists bustled about their tasks with only a few senior personnel bothering to acknowledge Dr. Tam in hushed tones as they hurdled past off to some unknown task elsewhere in the building.
Dr. Tam remained silent throughout their walk as he led them hopefully to his lab, but from the way he held himself, Maaka saw that the man easily three times his own age was as excited as a six-year old, and Maaka felt his own anticipation rise as a result. By sheer virtue of his position he was able to be exposed to some of the most advanced technology in the world. Objects and electronics that were kept at maximum secrecy were nothing more but an arm’s length away. Just shut up about it. That was rule number one.
Dr. Tam led them to a nondescript elevator and Maaka followed Dr. Tam and Colonel Newton inside. The magnetic accelerators on the rails of the elevator sent the pod shooting down to the underground testing center. So it was going to be a prototype then? It would have to be. The only technology that was to be found this far belowground was prototypes. What did Dr. Tam have a prototype of that we don’t know about? He thought he was completely aware of all the ongoing projects at the laboratories.
A split second after the elevator began the descent; he felt the crushing g-forces as the elevator slowed back down. They had descended almost one hundred kilometers below the surface, and had transversed the distance in less than eight seconds. Maaka gave it no mind as the door hissed open, and Dr. Tam strode through it.
They continued down another featureless hallway, with large iron doors covering the walls this time around. Each one was covered in locks and sensors, but Maaka sincerely doubted that anyone could have gotten this far down into the complex without any authorization. He had passed at least two dozen security scanners throughout the building. Eye scanners dotted virtually every crossroad and t-junction in the building and armed security forces were stationed only a minute away from virtually every spot in the building.
Dr. Tam led them to the end of the hall to a nondescript door. He pressed his thumb up against the scanner, while simultaneously holding his face forward. Another eye scanner came down and took images of his retinas. He winced as the thumb scanner then pricked his finger drawing a small sample tissue for a DNA analysis. The automated systems were satisfied that Dr. Tam was authorized for this area, and the door clanked and shuddered as electronic magnet locks disengaged themselves. The automated systems silently creaked the door open, and Dr. Tam boldly strode inside.
Maaka wasn’t exactly sure what he was looking at. A massive mechanical structure sat in the middle of a room. Numerous tubes sprang out of its monstrous carapace connecting to the walls. Whirs and clicks came from the accompanying machinery, but the machine was silent beyond that. Everything in the room was focused down on this machine, but Maaka could not figure out what it was.
“This, Jonathon, is the future,” Dr. Tam said with eyes full of glee as he spread his arms wide.
Colonel Newton looked to Dr. Tam and then started to walk towards the machine. His first few steps were cautious, but when Dr. Tam didn’t prevent him from going close to the object, Colonel Newton approached much more quickly. Maaka was unsure whether even Colonel Newton knew what it was, and the man gave Maaka no clues as to his thoughts.
Colonel Newton looked to Dr. Tam expectedly for answers, but neither said a word. Even then, the gaze that passed between them seemed to communicate something that Maaka didn’t know. He suspected that Colonel Newton had some theories about the identity of the object but did not want to right out ask what it was. Finally Maaka broke the silence.
“What is it?”
Dr. Tam, still brimming with uncontained excitement walks over and put his hand on the machine, patting it like a proud parent. Dr. Tam wasn’t married, but Maaka suspected the paternal feeling wasn’t that far removed.
“This,” he said, “is a gravity induction engine. A very fresh prototype.”
“A gravity inductor?!” Colonel Newton exclaimed, his cool exterior disintegrating as his eyes almost seemed to pop out as he looked at Dr. Tam. “When were you making this? Where were you making this? You said you didn’t think one could be made!”
Gravity inductor? The name sounded familiar to Maaka but he couldn’t place it properly.
“I was wrong. It was only two years ago. I was taking a shower, and the uh… process itself sort of popped into my head. I was only playing with the design as an on-again off-again project while I worked on other things. I didn’t think it would go anywhere but I made a uh... major breakthrough about two months back. I almost haven’t left the lab since.”
“How did you get it to work?” Colonel Newton asked.
“Well, I will admit that the technology is far cruder than I would have hoped for.,” he walked over to one of the tubes connecting to the wall. “The particle accelerator is also far larger than I had initially planned. I had to feed the inductor directly into the main accelerator for the laboratory to get it working. This is not a portable prototype”
Maaka was completely lost now. He had considered himself far luckier than he suspected that he had as much of a clue about how the technology in this lab worked. But he wasn’t so sure about this one. Dr. Tam was going into full techno-jargon now as he explained the intricate workings of his machine to Colonel Newton. He slowed his thoughts down and took the words apart. Gravity inductor? Simply a gravity inducer? Is that what he means?It seemed simple now.
“…and so this machine simply siphons off the gravitons from the reacted particles in order to create the field. Unfortunately there isn’t much manipulation I can perform,” Dr. Tam was saying.
“So it creates gravity fields?” Maaka asked, taking a risk at sounding stupid if he asked the wrong thing.
“Essentially, yes. But you can only create localized fields. Flying cars, personal levitation packs. Shields against weaponry, the possibilities of this are almost limitless.” He turned to face Colonel Newton as his face split into a grin. “Far enough along, and you could create a star drive to leave the solar system and move at a reasonable generation ship rate!”
“Does it work now?” Colonel Newton asked.
Instead of answering the question, Dr. Tam walked over to the side of the machine where a button pad lay resting on the surface. It was tethered to the machine with just a rudimentary rope. He pressed the button, and immediately the machine began whirring and buzzing. Maaka almost braced himself for an explosion as the sound reached an apex, and he winced and closed his eyes. An odd sensation instead came over him and he opened his eyes.
He was now floating in the air almost two feet above the ground. He wiggled around futilely as he tried to change his position. Dr. Tam and Colonel Newton were just as well floating above the ground, and Dr. Tam was holding on to tether attached to the machine. More specifically he was holding on to the button.
“Right now, it’s just generating a field above us roughly equal to the planet’s own gravity pull. But it’s so small; it only extends for about the size of this room. And it…” he said before being interrupted.
The machine cut off with a sputter, and everything in the room immediately plummeted to the ground. Maaka landed on his rear with a painful thump, as did Colonel Newton. Dr. Tam evidently had learned from previous experiences with the machine and instead landed on his feet. All around them tools clattered to the ground as they hit the floor.
Dr. Tam laughed the laugh of an exuberant child, as he helped Colonel Newton to his feet. “Ahem. As I was about to say, it doesn’t last tremendously long. It burns through fuel like crazy. And I’m sure our power bill is going to skyrocket.”
“This is… this is tremendous, Emmanuel,” Colonel Newton said, struggling for words. “By God, if you haven’t cemented your legacy enough as is, this certainly will.”
Maaka had to agree with Colonel Newton’s statement as he rose from his sitting position on the ground. He wondered how this would change the world. Just another step towards the future. An odd thought fluttered to the front of his head from some unknown region of his mind. Pixie… if she could see me now. But he was quite sure she didn’t want to do anything with him at all. He sighed as he looked back to Dr Tam who was still grinning like a loon.
