Time Storm Shockwave (18 page)

“Just like an air hockey puck,” Stewart speculated.

“But there’s no air blowing out the bottom, or up from the floor,” Mark pointed out.

“I didn’t mean it had air
—” Stewart explained “—I just meant …I’m not sure what I meant.”

“It’s not really that different,
” Kathleen said.

Stewart smiled and stood up a little straighter. Ashlyn
looked down, and scratched her eyebrow to cover another smile. She gave Mark a sideways glance.

The Atlanteans provided the Egyptians and the Mayans with these devices. She pointed to a small device attached to the block. It looked like a remote control and was about the same size.

“What is that?” Mark couldn’t resist.

“It’s a
nano remote control of sorts.”

“
Yeah”—Mark laughed—“I thought it looked like my Sony remote, but where can I buy one?”

“But
—” Ashlyn furrowed her brow “—how does it work?”

“
Unfortunately”—Kathleen answered—“the writings don’t provide us with any information on how the devices were built.”

“That sucks,
” Stewart said.

She
smiled at him a little too long, and then said to all of them, “According to their writings, they thought the technology was too dangerous to share with others, so they didn’t write it down. We’ve tried to reverse-engineer some of it but …” she shrugged.

“Have you had any success with the reverse engineering?”
Mark asked.

“I believe that at least one of the scientists had some success, though I haven’t seen him around for a while.”

“What is his name?” Ashlyn tried to act casual.

Kathleen thought for a minute and then answered, “I’m not sure of his first name, it was Bob or Robert or something, but his last name was Sorenson.”

Ashlyn bit her lower lip and Mark looked over at her. She turned her eyes ever so slightly until she made contact with his and then nodded her head almost imperceptibly.

Chapter 1
6

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and

I
’m not sure about the universe. —  Albert Einstein

~

Mark, Stewart, and Ashlyn had walked back to the main building and were eating lunch, hoping to avoid the admiral all together. Ashlyn’s last encounter with him had been quite unpleasant, but she knew she would have to see him eventually.

The main building, apparently called the Genesis Station, didn’t seem terribly impressive anymore. She had guffawed when she heard the name, positive that the arrogant admiral had named it.

There never seemed to be
very many people around. Of course, the area was reserved for VIPs and officers, but there must be troops somewhere. The admiral had hinted at some big project.

“Hey
Mark”—Stewart asked—“how do you think that levitation device works?”

Mark shrugged.

“Come on, you have to have some theory about it, you always do. I saw the way that you looked at it, and I’ve known you long enough to tell when you are trying to figure something out.”

“Yeah
—” Ashlyn suggested “—give it your best shot. I have no clue; you must at least have some idea.”

He
finished chewing a bite of his club sandwich then said, “Well, I think that it must be the same way that they are holding the water back from over our heads.” He took another bite of his sandwich casually as if he had answered their question fully.

“
Come on—” she complained “—that doesn’t tell us anything …especially me, and you totally lost me on the whole diamagnetic diamond fiber phosphorescent frog thing.”

“I’m not sure I used phosphorescent and frog in the same sentence, but I’ll try.” Mark
laughed.

Ashlyn scowled at him
.

“It could be something like this. If they can reverse the spin of the electrons, and their writings say they can, then they would have access to the strong and weak atomic forces, as well. They might be able
to dramatically enhance the diamagnetic properties of the limestone.” He took another bite.

“I
hope you aren’t finished”—Ashlyn shook her head—“sometimes you forget that the rest of us don’t have an IQ of 200.”

Mark rolled his eyes.
“My IQ is not 200.”

“Then what is it?” Stewart
asked flippantly.

Mark ignored the question.
“The problem is that we don’t really know what gravity is. According to quantum-physics, there is a hypothetical particle called a graviton that mediates gravity. In string-theory, gravitons still exist, but they are in strings rather than points. The theory of relativity doesn’t use gravitons at all.”

“Sorry I
asked”—she scowled—“that’s too confusing; isn’t there any simpler explanation like floating cookies or frogs?”

Mark started to laugh
, but Ashlyn shot him a look that silenced him. “It could be related to the Hutchison effect.”

“The what?”
she asked.

“Back in 1979 a guy by the name of Hutchison discovered how to levitate stuff.”

“There’s no proof of that,” Stewart argued.

“B
oth the American and Canadian governments have tried to take his equipment from him, and NASA has been studying some of his research,” Mark replied.

“So
the guy says,” Stewart argued—playing devil’s advocate.

“Actually the NASA thing is true. I know because I personally found a reference to its use on the NASA
web site.”

“Honestly
Stewart”—Ashlyn interrupted their debate—“I don’t know why you feel the need to argue so much lately. Impossible, possible, what does it matter? Obviously, we are discussing things that seem impossible no matter what explanation you use.”

Stewart looked away, and then after a moment he faced her. “I don’t know the answer to that. Every since I was captured and beaten, I’ve been irritable. Maybe if the infirmary gives me some more pain meds—” he smirked “—I’ll be more agreeable.”

She looked down at her food, losing her appetite quickly.
Everything is my fault anyway. I should be nicer to him.
“Sorry”—she shook her head—“go ahead Mark.”

“
Okay”—he pushed his empty plate away and leaned back—“well the guy was trying to reproduce some of the tests and equipment of Nikola Tesla in a small apartment, and objects just started doing random things. Pretty much everything that happens in the Bermuda Triangle has happened in his lab. He’s shown like seven hundred people, maybe it’s more, I don’t remember.”

“I
f that’s true”—she cocked her head—“why can’t he prove it?”

“The weird stuff doesn’t happen on demand; it happens at random times and it does random things. So it can’t necessarily be duplicated in a lab.”

“You mean like paranormal stuff …ghosts?” she asked feeling lost again.

“
No—” he scratched his chin “—here’s the thing, he doesn’t claim that the equipment is doing the levitating. It’s somehow channeling random unseen energy, which is naturally occurring like zero-point energy, or the Casimir effect we talked about earlier—” Mark stopped to sip the last of his soda “—when it comes to science, you have to keep an open mind.”

“
I have no idea what those things are.” She furrowed her brow.

“They are pretty much the same
thing”—he answered—“the Casimir effect is a measurable proof of zero-point energy; kind of like an apple falling from a tree is proof of the existence of gravity. Zero-point energy is the energy that exists in a vacuum or in the absence of matter.”

She opened her mouth slightly and then shook her head. “Never mind, I’m not going to understand this anyway.”

Not willing to give up, he tried again. “Wait”—he pursed his lips—“when you add heat to water, it boils or moves faster because you have added energy. Zero-point energy is what is left over if you remove all the heat. In a sense, it’s free energy.”

She looked over at Stewart.
He’s getting this, why can’t I?
“I’m sorry, but that doesn’t give me any new information.”

“
Well”—Mark sighed—“let’s move on. Hutchison suggested that you could use certain fundamental frequencies to block the forces of gravity.”

“It seems you have a theory for everything—” she put her face in her hands and then looked up “—wait, i
sn’t that zero-point thing something from
Stargate
?”

“Yeah
—” he laughed “—the zero-point module, ZPM. I’m guessing they got the idea from real science. Zero-point energy has been proven to exist.”

“If the Atlanteans could manipulate everything like you are
suggesting”—she shrugged—“why worry about gravity or all those other things at all? Why not just create a pillow of air under the huge blocks using nanotechnology. Couldn’t they bind it together somehow? Then it would be like the air hockey puck Stewart was suggesting, right?”

Mark and Stewart both stared at Ashlyn
long enough that she became uncomfortable. “What?”

“
Sorry”—Mark shook his head—“I just hadn’t ever thought of anything that simple. Maybe it could work. We know so little about nanotechnology now; obviously the Atlanteans were far more advanced.”

“I
think”—Stewart smiled—“I’m gonna go with her theory.”

Suddenly,
Ashlyn’s expression changed, and the blood drained from her face.

“What’s wrong
?” Mark asked.

“We have company,” she answered softly.

The admiral walked up behind Mark. “May I join you?” he asked the group.

As
if, we have a choice.
She swallowed hard. The admiral walked around the table and sat next to her. Her skin crawled, and she forced herself to maintain her composure.

“I see the three of you have
rested—” he motioned for a waiter “—and I’m told you visited the Library. I trust your questions have been answered satisfactorily.”

No one spoke.

“Mark—” the admiral nodded “—I want you to help me on my project.”

“
Yeah”—Mark clinched his jaw—“you mentioned that last night.”

“Yes I did
. I’m going to fill you in on the details, and you can choose if you want to help. How does that sound?”

“I guess
—” Mark hesitated “—that depends on what would happen if I choose not to.”

“Well
—” the admiral leaned back “—that is the question, isn’t it? Let’s just say, it would be unwise of you to refuse my invitation. If you work with me, all three of you will continue to be free and even have a high position in the new order if you would like.”

“New order?”
Ashlyn leaned forward.

The admiral stared at her too long.
“Since 1959”—he began—“when the dome of Atlantis was discovered, the information became Top, Top Secret and Eyes Only to a very few elite personnel. Over the years, the number has grown some, but it still remains a small number with an extremely high classified level of clearance.”

“
We’ve figured that part out—” Mark said dryly “—you’ve been doing tests of some sort down here, haven’t you? That’s why my readings were off the chart over here, and the reason you sent Dierdra to kill me.”

“Very
astute”—the admiral appeared to be genuinely impressed—“you are the first person that has been able to find us in all these years.”

“So Atlantis, or shall I say, some
of the things …devices in the sunken part of Atlantis are the cause of all the Bermuda Triangle events? I’d like to blame it on the navy, but I know that even Christopher Columbus reported strange events in the Triangle, and that rules out military experiments.”

She was surprised by Mark’s revelation about Columbus but said nothing.

“Actually”—the admiral raised his eyebrows—“you have that a little backwards. The Triangle events are naturally occurring, and there are several other places on the globe with similar activity. It has to do with the Earth’s core.”

“Okay,” Mark said hesitantly.

“The Earth is a gigantic dynamo if you will”—the admiral motioned with his hands—“huge oceans of liquid molten iron, spinning around the core, create the strong, electromagnetic field that protects the Earth.”

“Yes, that is the accepted theory,” Mark agreed.

“The Lorentz force causes eddies to form in the currents of magma”—Admiral Preston continued—“these eddies create the random electromagnetic anomalies around the world. They are just like sun spots, as simple as that.”

“And you have proof of this?”

“That’s what the Atlanteans believed—” the admiral sat forward “—it’s in their writings, and they seem to have known what they were talking about.”

“
Okay”—Mark accepted the information—“what is your project?”

“Originally the plan was to reverse engineer technology from Atlantis to reprogram the human brain. Ashlyn was one of our test
subjects, as you know. The idea was to reprogram the minds of high-ranking leaders throughout the world to spread democracy.”

“Ha
!—” Mark scoffed “—you expect me to believe you were going to take over the world by reprogramming people’s brains in the name of democracy? That’s a lot more like secret dictatorship.”

“
Why not”—the admiral threw out—“that’s what we have now?”

“We elect our officials, and we aren’t programmed to act like robots.”

Ashlyn and Stewart both listened intently but didn’t say anything.

“The media programs bend the public to
our will. Believe whatever you wish if it makes you happy”—the admiral leaned back—“but what I am saying is the truth. Everything is controlled, and it has all been orchestrated so perfectly that it has created the flawless illusion of freedom.”

Mark didn’t say anything.

The admiral leaned forward, “It’s all a lie.”

Mark glanced at Stewart and then at Ashlyn.
I wish I had an argument for that,
she thought. She shook her head almost imperceptively.

“Ashlyn showed us that reprogramming wouldn’t work
—” the admiral took a deep breath and his eyes bored into her “—we found that we couldn’t overcome the aspect of free will. So we moved on to the idea of replacing leaders and officials with clones who would see things our way.”

“What does any of this have to do with me?”
Mark asked.

“
You have the ability to help me, and in the process, settle all debts.”

It was clear that, by the word
debts
, he meant her debts—
my debts!—
she cringed.

“I’m not going to help you make clones—” Mark stated flatly “—even if I wanted to, I’m a physicist, not a biologist or …whatever kind of scientist you need.”