The Upward Path
This takes place about 45 minutes after
the close of the previous chapter.
---------------
Dr. Zack puffed on his pipe and glanced
down at Data 7, "Full yet, friend?"
"MMMMRRRRR!" Data 7 licked the sauce pan as if to indicate, "Definitely not!"
"Oh dear. That was my last filet mignon. You'll have to settle for some T-bone steaks I've got in the freezer. I'll have to go shopping tomorrow." He said as he got up, "How are you doing, Julian?"
"MMMph! Great!" Julian swallowed the byte of hamburger he was chewing. The remains of Three Happy Meals were strewn on Dr. Zack's kitchen table. Cybersix had settled for decaf, while the host had consumed four high strength Tylenols and an equal number of candy bars. Julian was eyeing the three that remained on the table.
"Data 7, you're eating the good doctor out of house and home!" She chided him.
Data 7 gave her a look that could only possibly mean, "Quiet, Sis! I'm milking this for all it's worth!"
"Now T-Bones, I've got plenty of!" Dr. Zack called out from the storage room. He came in with several in his arms, which he popped into the microwave and set on high for 10 minutes, "The bones will heat the meat up, but I'll have to cut the meat off of them to keep him from choking on them."
"Can't have that! Not after this night!" Cybersix said, who had been wildly relieved upon seeing this particular doctor instead of a hit-creature from the other doctor in her life.
Dr. Zack sat down and looked across at Cybersix, "So, if he was Cyber 29, and you are Cybersix, that leaves at least 27 of your brothers and sisters unaccounted for."
She sighed, "Closer to 5000," she said, "All accounted for."
"Hmmm." Dr. Zack glanced at Julian, who was looking at Cybersix strangely, "I can get the story later. Want one, Julian?" he asked, picking up a candy bar.
"Can I?" He asked.
"Sure." he said, handing it over.
Cybersix decided it was time to further satisfy her curiosity. Upon hearing that Data 7 was a panther with the brain of a Cyber that was her closest friend and brother, Dr. Zack had practically fallen over himself apologizing to Data 7, who was not in a forgiving mood. Leastways not on an empty stomach. "Many insults are mended over a good meal." he said, inviting all of them to his townhouse for an evening snack, stopping by to pick up something appropriate for Julian. Dr. Zacharias seemed to be familiar with the preferences of felines, for he had presented his entire stock of filet mignons to Data 7's critical eye and discerning palate.
"So, Dr. Zacharias, what can you tell me about your thermal underwear?"
"Mmmm. Well, it IS thermal underwear, but each thread is really a small wire in plastic insulation. The insulation has billions of special nanites mixed into the plastic.
"Nanites?"
"Mechanical machines built at the molecular level. These particular nanites are about five times the size of bacteria, and contain small assemblies of monoregular aluminum bits joined to magnetized nickel bits, imprisoned in a cage, like a three dimensional compass. When electricity is run through the central wire, the magnetized nickel bits rotate to align with the magnetic field. This indirectly aligns the monoregular aluminum bits, creating. in effect, a very long line of monoregular aluminum. You recall the effects of monoregular silicon dioxide."
"I do?"
"The axe."
"Oh, yes! Now I remember!"
"Essentially, the effect of monoregular aluminum is to generate a field with pizeoelectric properties. Put pressure on the field, and its energy is converted to electricity, which fortunately happens to be polarized in the direction of the current already flowing. Put a volt down the wire, put pressure on the wire, and you get 10 or 20 volts instead of one. If it went in the opposite direction, it'd destroy the magnetic field orienting the iron bits, destroying in turn the orientation of the monoregular bits, resulting in the collapse of the monoregular field."
Cybersix blinked.
"Ummm. Data 7 bites on my arm. The field sucks up the pressure, turns it into electricity, and puts it into a quantum battery made out of monoregular copper sulfide."
"Oh my. Is THAT how you defeated those Fixed Ideas?"
"I never leave home without it." Dr. Zacharias assured her, "They try to hit me, and my suit soaks up the energy from their punches. Even works with molecular motion, which is merely motion of atoms due to thermal energy. They press against the field, and the pressure is converted to electricity."
"So why does it turn from black to white?" Julian asked.
"Did you understand all that I said?" He asked.
"Nah. Just the part after Data 7 biting your arm."
"So why aren't you in school?"
"School's for the birds!" Julian scoffed, "I can get along without it!"
"You could have good clothes, three meals a day, and a roof over your head, young man."
"I'd rather be on my own!"
Dr. Zack chuckled, "A good citizen of Yanqui New Hampshire!"
"You calling me a Yanqui?"
"No. Just a good citizen of New Hampshire. I visited the place during the fall. Beautiful! The leaves in the trees turn all shades of yellow, red, and orange during the fall!"
Cybersix listened with interest. She could never leave Meridiana, so she envied Dr. Zack, "Oh, to see the world!" she thought wishfully.
"They have their state motto on their license plate: Live free or die." Dr. Zack continued.
"Now THAT is a good motto to live by." Cybersix said decisively.
"Yeah!" Julian agreed, "Sounds like a great place to be!"
"I agree." Dr. Zack nodded, "One man told me that all men who wish to live free, no matter where they live, are also citizens of New Hampshire. But back to your question. The suit turns from white to black because it's absorbing the light waves. Apparently, the vibrational properties of light are interpreted as pressure by the field."
"Like a solar cell!" Cybersix breathed.
Dr. Zack nodded again, "100% efficient."
"But that means-"
"Yes. Imagine a world where every roof is covered with my cloth, absorbing the light rays and turning it into electricity to be stored in a box the size of a footstool. Power plants would be rendered obsolete. Even the nuclear fuel from nuclear power plants would produce electricity safely by wrapping the bundles in my cloth and absorbing energy from the radiation."
"No more pollution or global warming!" Cybersix got excited.
Dr. Zack raised a finger, "Alas, contrary to popular belief, power plants produce less than 30% of global air pollution. The remainder is created by cars and trucks. Nuclear plants contribute nothing to air pollution, but their nuclear pollution has the advantage of being easily detected and contained, a fact often overlooked in the heat of argument."
Cybersix was chagrined. She hadn't thought about THAT, "Still, 30% is a start, right?"
"True, but it's not enough to turn the tide. To get the other 70%, we need to handle the problem of transportation without bankrupting everyone who can't afford to buy new cars. It would be best to work within the bounds of the current vehicle infrastructure, which is centered around the internal combustion engine and a fuel delivery system that relies on it being a liquid. I have developed a nanite that could be added to engine oil that would condition the inner surfaces of existing gasoline engine pistons so that an alternative liquid fuel can be used instead of gasoline."
"But what other liquid fuel exists that would be less polluting?" Cybersix asked, "Alcohol?"
Dr. Zack smiled, "How much pollution does a Fixed Idea leave behind? Nothing, the last time I looked."
"Sustenance?" she looked at him, incredulous, "Sustenance as fuel for CARS?"
"I have reason to believe that a race car in the Indianapolis 500 that ran on sustenance and never needed refueling would gain some attention."
"Sustenance no closer than a gas station!" Her mind reeled at the thought, "Fill 'er up with 2 pints of sustenance, please. Thank you ma'am! See you next month." Aloud, she asked "But isn't sustenance an acid?" She remembered what Lucas had told Adrian about it. She had been so careful to drink every precious drop, that it would have seemed a dreadful waste to see what else it could do.
"Where'd you get that idea?" Dr. Zack looked at her quizzically.
"It burns holes in wood." she said.
Dr. Zacharias waved his hand, "That's an organic material. I had conjectured that some proteins and enzymes could release the excitated S shell electrons, while others would not. Thank for confirming it. But if it was an acid, why doesn't it eat through the metal end caps of the vials?"
"Oh. Right." she said. "Ouch. Last time I'm going to listen to Lucas about sustenance!"
"One thing I can say for sure right now about sustenance is that it is NOT a product of a chemical process. It doesn't come about by mixing secret ingredients X, Y, and Z." He said, getting up when the microwave started beeping.
"Why not?"
"Because chemical reactions only affect electrons in the outermost shell. The power of sustenance is coming from inner shell carbon electrons excitated enough to be pulled out to the outer shell, perhaps even taking part in chemical reactions." He piled a tray full of T-bone steaks, took it to the counter, set it down, and started looking for a meat knife, "No chemical reaction has enough energy to do that. It looks to me that sustenance is prepared beforehand, then charged somehow. It's the liquid equivalent of a rechargeable battery, only it can hold far more energy per gram." He found one and began to cut the bones out of the steaks.
"So you use your special cloth to get the energy to charge sustenance, then pipe it like oil to where it is needed." Cybersix got up to help the doctor. She took a knife, a steak, and began to cut, "Stop that Data 7!" she demanded, glancing behind her as Data 7 stropped himself against the back legs of both of them like a huge, black, hungry alley cat.
"Well hurry up!" was what Data 7's look seemed to say, "I'm still hungry!"
"Exactly!" He nodded, "Ever since the first campfire started mankind along the upward path, we have been burning the leaves and stems of dead plants. Only now, the journey is becoming more and more dangerous, for every step we take along the path of fire is pouring more and more poisons into the very air we breathe. We must either stop far short of the goal, or die from the noxious fumes." He paused and looked at her, "But when I look at those vials of sustenance, I see another path that glows green, and which continues upwards through clear, pure air, to the door that opens into space." He shrugged, "It will be the task of another to unlock that door, so that mankind can continue along the upward path to the stars." He resumed cutting on the steaks, "We're going to have enough problems staying alive before we get there." he added laconically.
"Eloquent words and a magnificent dream, Doctor Zack." Cybersix said, strangely moved.
He chuckled, "Something to say at the banquet at Stockholm, if I ever survive long enough to get a Nobel prize for all this!"
She laughed, then picked up the tray of sliced meat, "Here brother!" she said cheerfully, setting it down beside the table and taking her seat again. Data 7 sniffed, and showed his approval by digging in heartily.
"Doctor, why haven't you revealed all this?" She asked him when he sat back down, "I mean, it would be a start, right? It would make you an incredibly wealthy man. Is the solution so difficult that no one else on the planet can understand it?"
"Oh no! The actual proof is only about 3 pages of equations and a few constants that represent the materials required. Sustenance would probably add another page and a few more constants. I think a second year PhD student in physics could grasp the concept with some effort. The nanofactories are already constructed and waiting to be used."
"So what is your reason for keeping quiet?"
He thought a moment, "I sure would like to be filthy rich! Who wouldn't? But this scheme threatens the wealth of others with fewer scruples than I posess." He looked at her, "I have evidence, somewhat circumstantial I'll grant, that leads me to suspect that some have already died proposing less revolutionary solutions to this very same problem."
"Oh!" she thought, feeling a sudden chill, "No wonder you live in a fortress!"