The Einstein Nexus - Chapter 2

Ancient Earths

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The following day Paul and Rudy were in Paul’s room and continuing their research into the wormhole generator with the help of their AI-agents. Rudy ran across an article about its development that contained an unusual photograph.

“The article says that it was a model that Dr. Whitehead had discovered in his research, and that it was a working model,” said Rudy.

“A working model of a wormhole generator?” asked Paul.

“Apparently,” said Rudy.

“Where is it now?” asked Paul.

“The article doesn’t say.”

“I wonder if we could build something like it from the photograph and the information on the generator that we’ve found,” said Paul.

Rudy, your 3D printer could build something like it with the proper materials.

“Did you hear that Paul?” asked Rudy.

“Yeah, straight from Simon to Rothmeyer to me,” said Paul.

“Let’s try it then,” said Rudy.

Paul and Rudy, with the help of their agents, had a model of the device within a week.

As the boys looked over the model, Paul said, “I wonder why no one ever built it.”

“Well, we don’t know that no one has built one,” said Rudy. “And you finding that old book with the information we needed was kind of lucky. We might be the first to put all the pieces together.”

“You ready to turn it on?” asked Paul.

“Ready,” said Rudy.

The model was a one-foot-long cylinder about three inches in diameter. It was wrapped with a conductor along its entire length, much as a solenoid is wired. At one end was attached a disk which could spin up when the device was powered. The disk was of a special design. Four layers of different materials baked together, lead-zirconium-titanium-rhenium.

Paul had paid for the specially made disk out of his school wallet, listing it as a school project.

Two large, clean-energy, non-lithium battery packs, usually used for off-grid activities like camping, powered the small device.

Paul, through augmentation, told Rothmeyer to start the experiment. Neither boy was sure what to expect.

The boys were sitting on Paul’s bed. Across the room, on his desk, the disk of the model started to spin. Paul had Rothmeyer updating him through the augmentation link as the disk spun up. RPMs and current through the device were the important measurements.

RPMs nominal, Paul.

“You hear that, Rudy?”

“Yeah, Paul.”

A low buzz came from the model, and the sound started growing in intensity while rising in frequency. Then something happened that the boys hadn’t expected: a pinkish glow came from the air around the disk.

“Look at that, Paul,” said Rudy. “You think it’s going to catch fire?”

“I think that’s molecules in the air being energized. The electrons are jumping energy levels in the atoms and giving off light,” said Paul.

As the boys watched the device, a small almost clear sphere appeared just beyond the spinning disk. It was about the same size as the disk, four or five inches in diameter. They continued watching as the sphere began to clear and solidify like a soap bubble hanging in the air.

Paul noticed some papers on the desk stirring as he felt a breeze coming from that side of the room, The hum of the device had gone ultrasonic, and then another, smaller spheroid-like bubble appeared farther from the device than the first.

Current is approaching maximum, Paul.

“Get ready Rudy, it’s going to happen,” said Paul.

The boys watched as the second spheroid began to solidify, but before it was finished, a whirl of objects flew off the desk and into the near spheroid, coming out the far spheroid and slamming against the wall. Luckily, they weren’t large objects, just papers, pencils, and clips. Then an old book lurched from the desk and into the spheroids and slammed against the wall with a force that caused the wall to shake.

Overload!

Suddenly the spheroid-like bubbles dissipated with a pop, and the machine began to smoke. That, too, ended with a loud bang. The door to Paul’s room opened, and there stood his mom.

“Paul,” said his mom, “what’s going on in here?”

“Just a science experiment Mom, it kinda got out of hand,” said Paul.

“I’d say,” said his mom, moving to the window and waving her hand to open it.

Then his dad was at the door.

“What are you two doing in here?” he asked.

“Their science experiment burned up,” said his mom, still waving the smoke out the window.

“I didn’t know you had a science experiment in your studies,” said his dad.

“It was an extra-credit thing, Dad,” said Paul.

“Well, obviously, you shouldn’t be doing it in here,” said his father.

“Yeah, we won’t do it again, Dad,” said Paul.

His father looked at his wife.

“Well, maybe you can do it in my shop out back, I don’t use it too much anymore, but I think you need to come up with some safety features before you try it again,” he said.

“Oh, we will Dad,” said Paul.

Rudy quickly nodded yes.

After Paul’s folks had left, Rudy said, “What do you think happened?”

Paul was looking at Rothmeyer.

“You didn’t hear Rothmeyer?” asked Paul.

“No, something knocked Simon offline,” said Rudy.

“According to Rothmeyer we had a huge spike in current at the end,” said Paul.

“Yeah, I expected that,” said Rudy.

“No, you don’t understand, Rudy. The current peaked way beyond what those power supplies could provide.”

“How much?”

“At least ten times. Then the current sensor failed. It could have been higher,” said Paul.

“Where did it come from?” asked Rudy.

“That’s the question, isn’t it?” said Paul.

“So, what do we do now?”

“We run it again out in Dad’s workshop with better instrumentation and protections,” said Paul.

It took almost two weeks before the boys were ready to try again. They had everything set up, and it was almost dark.

“Ready?” asked Paul.

“Yeah,” said Rudy.

Paul started the experiment. As before, a low buzz started, but this time it rose in frequency and intensity faster. Then the glow began, darker and redder than before. Just as the sound passed into the ultrasonic, a glowing white spheroid appeared off the end of the device, where the disk was spinning faster and faster.

When the second, farther away spheroid appeared, the breeze started.

“This is like before,” said Rudy. “We should shut it down before it catches fire.”

“Don’t worry, this time the circuit breaker we put in will blow long before that,” said Paul.

The light coming from the spheroids was now becoming a bright white. The wind was noticeably strengthening; loose items were beginning to be blown around. Soon there was a trail of debris disappearing into one spheroid, coming out the other, and then circling around.

Paul, the current indicator.

Paul looked at Rothmeyer’s screen, which showed a current above the current the circuit breaker could carry.

“That’s impossible,” said Paul aloud.

By now the wind had become a roar as it was pulled into one of the spheroids and expelled from the other.

“I’m going to shut it down,” shouted Paul, who then ordered Rothmeyer to turn off the power supplies. Nothing happened.

Paul moved to the power supplies and hit their power switches. He saw the indicators turn from green to red, but the roaring didn’t stop.

“We should get out of here,” shouted Rudy who was already backing toward the door.

But Paul was hesitant. He didn’t want his dad’s workshop destroyed. He frantically began unplugging the power supplies, although he suspected it would do no good. He was right.

He began to feel dizzy. He stared at the device and the glowing spheroids. The two spheres seemed to be getting closer and closer. The wind was howling as the spheres merged in a flash of light. It seemed to Paul that everything was racing faster and faster.

He saw people, cars, planes, and even rockets slowly moving as in a cartoon. Then everything stopped and he was unconscious.

Rudy was outside, still backing away from the workshop. The whole building was enveloped in a white, opaque spheroid. There was a flash of light that made Rudy cover his eyes and turn away.

By the time he could see again the building looked normal, Paul’s mom and dad and sister were beside him.

“Where’s Paul, Rudy?” asked his mom.

Rudy pointed at the workshop. Paul’s dad rushed into the building followed by his mom. They found Paul on the floor, breathing shallowly in a deep sleep.

“Tests have shown nothing,” said the doctor to Paul’s parents.

They had taken him to the nearest emergency room.

“We’ll keep him here and monitor him. It seems to be a deep sleep, not a coma, as if he’s very tired. I think he’ll recover fine though,” said the doctor.

“Thank you, doctor,” said Paul’s dad.

After the doctor had left the room he said, “Why don’t you go home and rest, Harriet? I’ll stay with Paul tonight.”

“No, Walter, I don’t want to leave him,” she said.

“I know, but Charlotte needs her rest,” he said.

Paul’s mom was quiet a moment.

“You’re right. I’ll take Charlotte home so she can get her sleep, but you call me if anything, anything at all, happens,” she said.

“I promise, honey,” he said as he kissed her.

After his wife had left, Paul’s dad sat down in the chair next to Paul’s bed and tried to relax. He closed his eyes but kept thinking over and over about what might have happened. He should have listened more carefully to Paul when he explained the experiment and what they were doing to make it safe. Obviously, something hadn’t worked as Paul expected.

Paul was in a private room that had a bench seat under the large window. Walter Anderson had dozed off there but immediately woke when he heard his son gasp. Walter got up and moved quickly to the side of the bed.

“Paul,” he said, “can you hear me?”

“Yeah, dad, where am I?”

“You are in the hospital; you’ve been asleep over twenty hours,” said his father, looking at the clock on the wall.

“I guess I was tired,” said Paul. “All I remember is being in the workshop and the experiment and some crazy dreams.”

“Dad,” he said, waking more fully, “the circuit breaker didn’t blow even though the current indicator was way above its capacity. I can’t understand it.”

“I don’t think you should do that experiment again, Paul, no matter the scholastic credits you’ll get. It’s just too dangerous,” said his dad.

“You’re probably right,” said Paul.

“Now, I’m going to let the nurse know you’re awake. Are you hungry?”

“Yeah, I guess I am,” said Paul.

Before his dad could get out the door, Paul asked, “Dad, where is Rothmeyer?”

“Probably still in the workshop,” said his dad as he slipped out the door.

Without Rothmeyer, there was nothing much for Paul to do except wait for his food.

“But those dreams were crazy,” he said to himself.