Dr. Zack's Basement
This is a continuation of the previous
chapter
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Cybersix sipped at her decaf, wishing
it was warmer. She sympathized with Dr. Zacharias, having an idea
of what it felt like to be hunted. She glanced at him again, and
noted the look in his eye that told her he knew what she was thinking.
Embarassed, she turned her eyes to the counter tops strewn with 1000
note bills drying out. The denominations and number of bills worried
her, "Tell me, Dr. Zacharias, where did you get all that money?" she asked,
looking him straight in the eye.
he grinned, "I can understand your concern about their legality. I'm normally not this open, but I have a good feeling about you. My people feelings are rarely wrong, so I don't have any problems showing you my little basement operation. Would you like to have a look?"
"Can I come along?" Julian asked.
"Only if you promise not to tell anyone else." Cybersix spoke for Dr. Zack, "We don't want burglars trying to steal things from him." "And if it's legal." she thought privately.
Dr. Zack got up, walked around Data 7, and led the way through a corridor and down a staircase to the basement.
"WOW!" Julian gasped when Dr. Zack flicked the lights on.
The basement was immense, seeming to be larger than the townhouse itself. Pillars wrapped in cloth held up steel girders that provided the foundation for the two floor townhouse. Various sections were walled off with plywood or concrete blocks. Work benches, piled high with tools or half-bulit projects, were scattered about the place. Several computers were in various areas of the basement, the displays active with screen savers.
"A handyman's heaven!" Cybersix remarked with a smile, "I wouldn't have thought that a theoretical scientist like yourself would get his hands dirty."
"Some of my colleagues are like that, but I have a practical side that yearns for self expression." he remarked with a smile. He led them past several benches holding projects in various stages of assembly, around the far corner, to a door leading into a rather long, sealed-off section in plywood. He flicked on a light, opened the door, and beckoned them inside.
Cybersix would have been hard pressed to describe the contents of the long, narrow room. Several computers were in it, and there was a long pole mounted along the wall with pistons attached to it. Smaller rods were welded to the pole and went into beakers full of cloudy white liquid. The beakers sat on devices that she recognized, from Lucas' chemistry lab, as being magnetic stirrers. A magnet could be dropped into the beaker, and the rotating magnetic field in the device would spin the magnet, making it an effective stirrer.
As she looked at the strange setup, there was a click, and the pole began to shake, agitating the rods in the beakers for a few seconds before stopping again.
Dr. Zack went to one beaker and pulled it out from under the rod. There was a small, wire mesh cage welded to the end of the rod. Dr. Zack used his thumb to flick the bottom of the cage out, and caught a small, silver half-ball in the palm of his hand, about twice the size of a BB or shotgun shell pellet. He rubbed at it with his fingers as he turned to show it to them, the silver coming off on his fingers as a dark colored pellet came into view. The light streaming through it cast a deep red spurt of color across his palm.
"A ruby?" Cybersix hazarded.
He nodded, "Synthetic, to be sure, but the computer agitates the cages and adds flaws to the crystalline structure to make it look real. The jewelers I've been selling them to can't tell the difference between synthetics created in this manner and the real thing."
"How do you do it?" she asked, holding out her hand when he motioned for her to do so. He dropped it onto her palm, and she poked at it with her finger.
"Rubies are really special forms of Aluminum Oxide, which comes in several forms. A different form creates sapphires, but the most common form is corundum, which is used as an abrasive because it is second only to diamonds in hardness. It comes ground up in very fine powders, which I add to the beakers. I add one kind of nanite, which tears up the powder into an atomic suspension. I then heat the suspension to destroy the nanites. I then crush a cheap ruby, dip the pieces into a bath of a second type of nanite, and dump those into the beakers. This second kind of nanite hooks to the ruby crystal structure and runs along it like a train on rails, picking the aluminum oxide molecules out of the suspension and forcing them into the crystalline structure, and simultaneously moving the nanite forward. A rotating magnetic field supplies the power to the nanite, as well as keeping the aluminum oxide from coming out of solution. Of course, there are billions of these nanites. I happen to specialize in creating nanite factories that can produce them in abundance."
She passed the ruby to Julian, "But why rubies? Aren't diamonds more valuable?"
He visibly shuddered, "There are several problems with diamonds. Firstly, they really aren't as valuable as rubies, since there are more diamond mines than ruby mines. Secondly, there is a cartel that is interested in maintaining the artificially high prices, and would start inquiries if unusually fine stones started turning up that they didn't account for. I have an aversion to cartels interested in maintaining artificially high market prices, if you haven't noticed."
"I've noticed." she remarked dryly, reaching down and sqeezing Julian's shoulder when he put his hand into his pocket. The one holding the ruby, that is. He made a face and pulled it out again and handed it back to Dr. Zack.
Dr. Zack chuckled, then dropped the pellet into a tray filled with a silvery looking liquid, "But those problems are minor compared to the major problem with making diamonds using nanites."
"Which is?" Cybersix prompted him.
"What are diamonds made of?"
"Carbon. Crystalized carbon."
"Right. And what are we made of?"
"Carbon." She blinked, "oh dear." she breathed, a bit shocked.
He nodded "If the nanites got out, they would attack carbon based life forms, tearing the cells apart and slowly turning them into diamonds. This-" he indicated the tray before fishing out the ruby with his fingers, "acts on aluminum oxide only, and nothing else, so it is perfectly safe, as you can see." he held up his silver-tipped fingers to show them, then placed the ruby back into its cage.
She shuddered, remembering her thoughts about machines crawling in between her body cells when she first talked to Lucas about Dr. Zack.
There was a scratching at the door. She opened the door, and a frustrated looking Data 7 looked up at her, "Are you done, brother?" she asked him.
"Mmmmrrrr!" he rumbled pleasantly. There was a definite bulge about his midsection.
She grinned at him, "Are you too stuffed to go hunting for another of Von Richter's creations?"
"What?" Dr. Zacharias asked her, "Who was that again?"
"Von Richter. The man who created us."
"I've heard that name someplace before." He thought for a moment, frowning from obvious irritation at being unable to recall the memory, "It'll probably come to me eventually."
"Oh WOW!"
Both adult's heads jerked toward the sound. Julian had run up to a table next to the wall to their right. An electric train sat on the table, obviously the magnet that had drawn Julian's attention. Both smiled as they joined Julian, who was rolling it forwards and backwards on the track.
"Does it work?" he asked, looking up at Dr. Zack.
He nodded, reached over, and twisted a dial. The train took off, rounding the curve at the head of the table, and then down along a trestle about 14 meters long that ran along the long side of the basement. It went behind a bale of hay at the far end, then came back. Cybersix noticed that there was a fake wall, made of cinder blocks, set about 2 meters away from the real wall, and next to which the train was now running, coming back to them. Also, the far end of the room was stacked from bottom to top with bales of hay.
Dr. Zack twisted the dial, making the train came to a halt in front of them.
"Not very exciting, is it?" he asked, smiling.
"Yeah. Kinda just goes and comes around in a big circle." Julian commented, petting Data-7's head.
"What's it for?" Cybersix asked, noticing the wooden blocks screwed into the two flatcars behind the train. There were narrow slots cut deeply into them.
Dr. Zack reached under the table and came up with a handful of what looked like wooden tounge depressors, only longer. He pushed five into the five slots, so that they stood straight up. He then twisted the dial, making the train run down to the far end of the corridor, making it stop behind the bale of hay. The five tounge depressors rouse up from behind the bale of hay by about 20 centimeters. There was a whirring sound from something behind the bale of hay, and the tounge depressors wriggled a little.
Cybersix turned to Dr. Zack, wondering what was going on when she saw him unbutton his sweater, reach inside, and pull out a pistol with a long, narrow barrel and a long handle. He flicked the safety off and aimed.
POW! POW! POW! POW! POW!
The top two centimeters of each tounge depressor flew into pieces, one after another. He flicked the safety back on.
"Ohhh man!" Julian gasped, "All five!"
"Dr. Zacharias!" Cybersix marvelled, "Where on earth did you learn to shoot like that?"
"Lots and lots of practice." He chuckled and motioned to the shelf running along the wall bearing several trophies.
"Is that an Olympic trophy?" Cybersix asked, "The one in the center?"
Dr. Zack uncharacteristically scowled, "Yes. Olympic trials two years ago. I came in sixth."
She looked at him quizzically, and somewhat expectantly.
He noticed, then added, "I think I could have won the Olympic berth. It seems that while we were on lunch break, someone sneaked into the firing range and turned the setscrews on the handle. I missed a few times before I compensated. Didn't notice the screw turned out more than normal until I got home."
"That's awful!" Julian frowned, while Cybersix merely sighed in sympathy.
"Want to try it, Julian?" Dr. Zack suddenly asked, turning to the table. He pushed a button, then twisting the dial.
"Sure!" Julian said excitedly. The train came back to their end of the room. Dr. Zack replaced the tounge depressors and returned the train to the far end of the room. He then carefully put the gun into Julian's hand, flicked the safety off, and helped him as he fired the gun about 10 times, nicking one of the depressors, "Whew! It's as hard as it looks! Your turn now, Cybersix!"
"My turn?" Cybersix grimaced, blinking, "Uhhhh!"
"Yeah! You should try it!" Julian urged her, "I'd like to see how you'd do! C'mon!"
"I-ahhh." She started, swaying as Data 7 bumped his head against her right thigh, "Data 7! Please!" she batted at him.
Dr. Zack noted her discomfort, "It's a modified 22 caliber Olympic shooting pistol, with solid tips. Intended for competition and small game." He shrugged, "Can't hurt anything in here with the bales of hay, and the bullets will ricochet into the bales."
"Yeah, and ya' probably can't even hit them either!" Julian snickered.
Momentarily stung, Cybersix took the gun, hefted it for a second, then took the same stance as Dr. Zack. Her thumb found the safety and flicked it off.
POW!
About 15 centimeters of the leftmost tounge depressor flew, spinning, into the air. It came down quickly in a wide arc.
POW!
It split into two wildly spinning pieces that fell to the ground.
POW! POW!
Dr. Zack gaped, speechless, not believing his eyes as splinters exploded in the middle of the shooting gallery..
POW! POW!
POW! POW!
"Wow!" Julian gasped as the pile of splinters in the middle of the room grew.
POW! POW!
Cybersix put the gun down on the table, turned, and wiped at her eyes quickly, "God! I don't want to even TOUCH one of those things ever again!" She thought, "Forgive me, Papa!"
"DATA 7! Did you see that!??" Julian gasped.
Dr. Zack picked up the gun, flicked the safety off, then pulled the clip out, replacing it with a fresh one holding 40 rounds. He then replaced it into the holster he wore under the sweater, "That has got to be the most impressive shooting I have ever seen, young lady! Where did YOU learn how to do that?" He asked her.
She rubbed her hand against the leather of her thigh, as if trying to rub pine tar off of her palms. And looking as if she was not succeeding, "ummm. First time." she mumbled. She turned to Data 7, "Ready to hunt, brother?"
"Hunt?" Dr. Zack asked, "Hunt what?"
"I heard this loud, roaring sound and went to investigate, but didn't find anything or anybody that would account for it. I did find your old boss, Julian."
"Manny?" Julian perked up and began to look nervous, "He tried to steal Dr. Zack's money from him. I hope he doesn't try to get me to steal wallets again!"
"No. He won't." she assured him confidently, glad to have diverted everyone's attention away from her display of shooting skills. "I probably should have missed a few," she thought, "But papa always said never to hold back, but always do the best you could."
"He won't?"
"I had a-nice-talk with him. He won't." she repeated to him. She turned to Dr. Zack as he closed the door, "Thanks for the meal and coffee, Dr. Zack, but we'll have to leave now and find out what Von Richter has cooked up for me."
"Oh! No need to worry about that, my dear Cybersix! I made that loud noise to chase Manny and his band away."
"You did?" she looked at him skeptically, "But how-"
He smiled, "An interesting side effect of my subatomic vision. It's a form of telekinesis, the ability to move objects with the mind, and acts like an atomic force microscope, capable of moving atoms as well as examining them. I use it to build my nano-factories. It turns out that space just happens to be granular and quantized, just like matter. At a small enough scale, my ability can open up holes in space."
The look on Cybersix's face made him realize he had better demonstrate. He turned to look across the room and concentrated.
Cybersix blinked when there was a ripple in the middle of the air, as if it was water, and someone had touched the surface with their finger. The ripple widened, and she saw tjhe surface of a workbench through a hole that grew to 20 centimeters in diameter. Gingerly, Dr. Zack reached through it and picked up an iron wrench with a yellow plastic handle cover lying on the workbench. He rapped the table with it. Their heads jerked to the sound of rapping across the room, and gasped at the disembodied hand that floated above a workbench, holding a wrench!
"Oh WOW!" Julian gasped, "That is COOL!"
Dr. Zack carefully pulled the wrench through the hole and showed it to Cybersix.
She shook her head, "I think I've had enough amazing revelations for today. I'm going to bed!"
"Woah! No!" Dr. Zack grabbed Julian's wrist and pulled it away from the edge of the hole he was about to touch, "That is the sharpest thing on earth right now, Julian!"
"Really?" Julian asked.
Dr. Zack nodded. He gripped the wrench at the base of the handle, poked it halfway through the hole, and swept it to one side, contacting the edge. There was a bright flash of light, brighter than a camera flash bulb. It made them all blink for a few seconds. The clatter of something metallic hitting the floor came from the other side of the room.
The edges of the hole seemed to ripple, then it disappeared in an instant.
"Are you okay, Dr. Zack?" Cybersix asked, noticing that the old man had pinched the bridge of his nose.
"That was the third time I did that today, and that's my limit." he admitted, "It uses a lot of blood sugar, and always gives me headaches, although they are getting less worse the more I do it."
"What was that flash of light?" she asked. Her nose wrinkled at the smell of burnt plastic, "And what's that smell?"
"Umm? Oh. The light came from iron atoms being cut in half when they hit the edge of the hole." he held up the wrench handle and pointed at the bubbling, melted centimeter of yellow plastic at the end. "The plastic got melted from the heat generated from atomic fission." he said. He smiled sheepishly, "I wouldn't do it with a rod of uranium 235 for all the tea in China."
"I'll take your word for that." she said decidedly, then pointed out, "But there was no noise."
"That's because I went across the room. The hole I opened up earlier had the other end about 100 kilometers straight up. No air up there, so the air down here rushed out through the hole because of the difference in air pressure." he smiled, leading them back around the room, "Sounds like a jet engine starting up."
"More like a hundred!" Julian said expressively. He blinked, "That hole in my boat! It appeared in mid air and shot water out of it! That was YOU!"
"Guilty!" Dr. Zack grinned, leading the way out of the basement, "I was just outside your porthole, off to one side. I had the other end about 10 meters below the waterline. I'm fairly accurate up to 20 meters."
"I'm definitely calling it a night." Cybersix said, "Thanks for everything, Dr. Zack. I'll walk Julian back to his house boat."
"It would still be pretty damp wouldn't it?" Dr. Zack asked. He walked over to the counter and picked a 1000 bill off the counter top, "This ought to put him up in a hotel for a couple of nights until his bed dries off."
"Dr. Zacharias..." Cybersix started.
"THIS," Dr. Zack stated stiffly, "is between Julian and me! Here, boy. Just for today, and only because I soaked your residence." He held the bill out.
"Gee! Thanks!" Julian accepted it gratefully.
"You'll have some left over, so I advise you use it wisely to find a more honest means of living." Dr. Zack stated firmly, "I normally don't abide thieves, but since you're a friend of Cybersix's, I'll overlook you taking advantage of my situation this time."
"Yes sir." Julian said meekly. He had some ideas, and needed time to practice.
"Good night Dr. Zacharias." Cybersix nodded as she shepherded her brother and Julian toward the front door.
"Good night. Stay on the walk, unless
you want a hole in your shoes." Dr. Zack warned them as he let them out
into the night.
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"Well, this has been some night!" Cybersix
said to Data 7, "I think you ended up enjoying it, didn't you?"
"Well, of course!" Data 7 seemed to indicate by licking his chops and belching.
Cybersix gave a short chuckle as she pulled the zipper down of her catsuit. The flap that held the vial of sustenance she had recovered the day before flapped against her collarbone. She had forgotten to put away with the rest of her frighteningly small stash in the box under her bed. She pulled it out of the little pouch she had sewn into the top.
Its green glow filled the dark room.
She looked at it for a few moments, then walked to the window and gazed up at the few stars that were able to shine through the backglow of the city lights.
"I see another path that glows green, and which continues upwards through clear, pure air, to the door that opens into space."
"Yes," she murmured to herself, "It was a good night."
She put the vial with the other two that were in the box under her bed. She grabbed the edges of her top to strip it off her shoulders when she noticed Data 7 regarding her with an odd, expectant look.
"YOU TURN AROUND!" she laughed, grabbing a pillow and throwing it at him.