Rocket! An Ell Donsaii story #4) (3 page)

Hugging her back Roger said, “Damn, girl! Why didn’t you say something?”

She drew back and raised an eyebrow, “Didn’t want to throw you off—or make the professors think I was trying to influence your findings as they regarded my theory.”

The door opened behind Roger. Professor Johnson leaned out, “Roger?” He motioned him back in. Suddenly Johnson’s eyes lit on Ell. He turned back to the room behind him and said, “I’ll be just a moment.” Then he stepped out into the hall and said, “Ms. Donsaii, a word please?”

Ell, dreading the possibility that Johnson would be confrontational again, stepped down the hall with him.

He said, “I would like to thank you very much, not just for funding my research application. Though, I’ll admit that your prompt authorization of the funding for my project surprised me no end. But, what I really want to thank you for is the audio-video record you forwarded of our interactions. I’m embarrassed to say that I had no idea just
how
obnoxious I can be until I watched your video of myself being an ass
from the perspective
of the person I was treating so poorly. Old habits are very hard to break but I
am
making a sincere effort.”

Ell’s eyebrows rose, “I am
so
happy to hear that Dr. Johnson!”

He said, “I have to get back in there with Roger’s doctoral committee but I hope you’ll have a drink with us at the traditional West 87 celebration?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

West 87 was crowded with well wishers. James held up his glass, “To
Doctor
Emmerit!”

A chorus of “Hear, hear,” resounded.

Johnson said, “I’ll buy one more round for you hooligans, then
Dr
. Emmerit and I are going to take on all comers at the pool table.”

James chortled, “Oh, you’re going
down
tonight Professor. Ell, will you be my partner again?”

Laughing, Ell shook her head vigorously.

Once more drinks had been delivered James turned to Ell again. “Come on. You know the Professor just thinks it was luck that let us beat them last time. We’ve got to take them on again and show them the error of their ways!”

Ell raised her eyebrows, “It
was
luck!”

“No way!” James grabbed her elbow and tugged her toward the tables where Roger and Dr. Johnson were racking the balls.

Ell dragged her feet, protesting feebly but then Emma said, “Come on Ell. Show us what you can do at pool like you did at foosball.”

This urging reminded Ell how she had regretted playing “full on” at foosball the year before. Her athletic abilities had stunned the group but left her feeling embarrassed to be known as someone with bizarre abilities. She turned to Emma and whispered, “No! There are too many people watching! I don’t want strangers thinking I’m some kind of freak! Help me get out of this?”

Emma looked into Ell’s eyes a moment, seeing the anxiety there and then said, “Sorry James, Ell and I need to have a little ‘girl talk.’ Jerry, you play as James’ partner.” She assertively led Ell back to the booth despite some lingering protests.

Once they were seated Emma said, “So, if I’m going to protect you here, you’re going to have to spill the beans. What’s going on between you and Roger?”

Ell shrugged, “We’re just good friends.”

Emma’s eyes widened, “Hah. ‘Just good friends’ don’t submit a paper to the APS simply in hopes they can visit their ‘friend’ in Las Vegas.”

Ell tilted her head, “
Really
good friends?”

Emma snorted, “I should say. You gonna make an honest man out of him?”

Ell rolled her eyes, “
He’d
need to participate in that you know. Besides, remember I’m only nineteen? You might find it hard to believe but Roger’s the
first
boy I ever kissed. I probably should see a little more of the world before I settle down don’t you think?”

In shock Emma said, “Your
first
kiss! Age eighteen! You’ve
got
to be kidding!”

Ell stared at her hands, “I’m a late bloomer?”

Emma grinned at her. “So you’re gonna play the field first?!”

Ell shrugged and looked embarrassed, “Maybe? I don’t know. I like Roger a
lot
.”

When almost all his well wishers had left West 87 Roger turned to Ell, James and Jerry, saying, “I’m done in and heading to the barn. See you guys next week.”

Ell said, “I’ll walk you home. You’ll be needing some protection from the ‘Rigellians.” She winked at Jerry.

Jerry put a hand over his heart, “But then who’ll protect
me
?”

Ell raised her eyebrows, “Surely you jest! Everyone knows that Rigellians don’t like the taste of Alpha Centaurians!
You’re
perfectly safe.”

As they walked Ell was happy to find her hand in Roger’s again. “So, what
are
you gonna do with that shiny new doctorate?”

Roger shrugged, “I really don’t know. I
want
to do research. Sometimes I think I’d like to work for industry but I’m afraid of being told to work on some problem I’m not interested in. I’m thinking I’ll have to stay in academics, do a post-doc or something, then join the ranks of the professors. Right now I’m planning to spend some time looking around at what’s available since I’ve got the PhD pretty much wrapped up. Maybe the perfect job will find me?”

“What do you want to study in your research?”

“Hmmm, I’m kinda interested in a crazy new theory by this chick named Donsaii. Maybe you’ve heard of her?”

Ell grinned up at him and punched him lightly on the shoulder.

Roger said, “This is my place. I’d love to have you come in as long as you promise to behave yourself? No taking advantage of my drink addled state?”

Ell stopped, and when he stopped too she put her arms around him for a hug. “Maybe you shouldn’t invite me in then. Who knows what I’ll be tempted to do with you in such a pliable condition? I probably wouldn’t be able to leave without some kisses...” She leaned her head back and smiled up at him again.

He shrugged, “OK, I guess I could part with a few of those.” He grinned back and turned to open the door…

Chapter Two

Cape Canaveral.—Today’s launch of ILX Corporation’s Vulcan 5 rocket ended in failure when the rocket failed to stay on course and had to be destroyed. This is the second failure of the new Vulcan 5 launch vehicle that was expected to take over the supply of the aging International Space Station. More concerning is the fact that this launch was carrying the replacement rocket nozzle for the Space Station’s Crew Recovery Vehicle. The CRV’s nozzle had recently been destroyed by a micro meteorite, leaving the astronauts without a means to escape in case of an emergency. NASA director James Epaulding described this as one of a “perfect storm” of problems for the Station but said that they fully expect to solve these problems…

Ann Tandy parked her car so that the Century 21 Commercial Real Estate decal on its door would be obvious to anyone entering the empty parking lot. She walked over to the door of the closed QemZ research facility and checked to be sure that the digital key her AI’d downloaded would in fact open the door. She stepped inside,
Good, the heat is on.
She’d sent Jake out to warm up the building and check for any other problems that morning and Jake rarely failed to perform—but she always worried. She flipped on the lights and looked around.
Good, looks clean.
She walked down a hallway looking into the various offices and cubicles.

Ann checked the research/production area which consisted mostly of a huge empty space with a number of big chemical tanks and some industrial sized stainless steel tables. Satisfied, she walked back outside to wait for the prospective buyer. She’d been communicating with this “Raquel Blandon” for several days now. Blandon had been very reserved about who or what company she represented which made Ann nervous. She sounded kind of young and Ann had had the unsettling thought that she might be being “pranked.” Blandon had specified a facility in the Research Triangle Park near Chapel Hill with some large “industrial” rooms and a total of 10-20,000 square feet. Even with those broad specifications this QemZ facility was the only available place that really came close. Ann hoped it would meet their needs; she could really use a commission about now.

A car pulled into the lot and parked near Ann’s. A young brunette woman got out and began walking towards her. Ann’s heart sank. She
was
just a girl! Then to Ann’s immense relief another car pulled in and parked a few spaces away from the first car. Hopefully these would be the
real
buyers?

“Ms. Tandy?” The young woman said, putting out her hand to shake, “I’m Raquel Blandon.” Because Ann had her attention focused on the other car Blandon looked back over her shoulder at it. Three men had gotten out of the vehicle, but the men just started walking off around the far corner of the building. “Uh, the guys’ll just walk around the outside.” Blandon said.

Ann’s shoulders sagged. “
You’re
the one interested in this building?” she said dubiously.

Blandon grinned at her and said, “Yep. I’m guessing you’re worried that I’m too young?”

Ann raised her eyebrows and said, “This facility
is
listing for 3.7 million dollars.”

Blandon nodded enigmatically and said, “I know. Shall we look around?”

Trying to avoid gnashing her teeth, Ann dispiritedly said, “Sure,” and opened the door.

To Ann’s surprise the girl spent only a few minutes in the office space, giving it at best a cursory examination. But she went over the industrial space with a fine-toothed comb. She examined each of the vats, looking at their outsides and then peering at their insides with a flashlight. She went outside and scrutinized each of the huge insulated liquid and gas storage tanks in the fenced in enclosure out back. Back inside she carefully looked over the industrial stainless steel tables and cabinets. She spent 20 minutes in the “machine shop,” exclaiming over and turning on and off every one of the large machines, including some that apparently communicated with the young lady’s AI once they had been powered up.

As she left the machine shop Blandon said, “We’ll offer 3.4 million. Please let me know if the sellers are agreeable?”

“What! Wait! Who do you represent? I’ll have to assure the buyers that you can actually finance the purchase.”

“Say that I represent…” the girl looked to one side as if thinking, “‘D5,’ a… new company. Check your account. I’ve just deposited 3.4 million. Of course I’ll expect to get it back if the sale doesn’t go through.”

In astonishment Ann looked up at her HUD (Heads Up Display) and saw her AI’s confirmation of the deposit.

“D5?”

“Yes Ma’am.” She grinned, “for ‘Dimension Five.’ Let me know what the sellers say.” she said, and turned to walk to her car.

***

Boston—Today, President Teller announced that he had brokered a deal with PGR Comm to license their “quantum entangled chip” technology to existing communications companies. This agreement has been trumpeted as a means to prevent the collapse of current cell phone, cable and other telecommunication companies due to their inability to compete with PGR Comm’s new chips. Such a meltdown of the communication industry had been forecast to result in the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs and those predictions had already resulted in huge losses in the stock market. President Teller proclaimed the agreement to be a means to “provide an orderly transition to a new technology in this important industry…”

Aaron Miller’s receptionist Sally looked up when the door to their waiting room opened. A slender young woman stepped in and walked over to Sally’s desk. The young lady had reddish blond hair and a pixie face. As she got closer Sally realized she was quite young. She had even features, brilliant green eyes and a flawless complexion. The young woman looked like a model,
but,
Sally frowned,
what would a model be doing in a patent attorney’s office? Is she lost?

The young lady said, “Hello, I’m Ell Donsaii. I have a spot on Mr. Miller’s schedule under the pseudonym ‘Blandon’?”

Startled, Sally recognized the young lady now. “Um, yes Ma’am! I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you. I’m sure Mr. Miller will see you now. He’s told me he’d see you anytime.” She tilted her head, “Why did you use a pseudonym?” Sally realized with embarrassment that she was burbling.

“Sorry, I don’t like having my real name on calendars. There are people out there who’ve caused me a lot of trouble.”

Sally’s AI confirmed that Mr. Miller wanted her to bring Ell back to his office. Sally said, “Right this way.” She indicated a door decorated with a Christmas wreath.

Miller enthusiastically met Ell at the door to his office, “Hello, hello, what can I do for you Ms. Donsaii?”

Ell shook his hand, “I’d like to submit another patent application please.”

Miller looked over her shoulder, “Is Dr. Smythe here?”

“Uh, no, this patent is separate from the previous one he helped me with. And…” she grinned at him, “thanks to you guys I have plenty of money to take
this
patent out without his help.”

Miller shook his head briefly, reminding himself that the previous patent had actually been for Ell Donsaii’s intellectual property, not Dr. Smythe’s. It was difficult to get his head around the fact that this pretty teenage girl was a genius. Because Dr. Smythe had brought her in the first time, Miller’s subconscious somehow always managed to attribute her brilliant invention to Smythe and thought of Donsaii as Smythe’s protégé, even though, intellectually, he knew better. “Excuse me, Ms. Donsaii. Step into my conference room and tell me about this new invention.”

Miller sat listening with more and more incredulity as the young woman described a method she’d worked out to connect one location to another through “ports” defined by pairs of entangled molecules. The PGR chips she’d invented sent data instantaneously from one location to another using a single pair of entangled molecules. This invention apparently worked on an extension of the same principles by using entangled molecules to form a connection from one location to another through her “fifth dimension.” Instead of one pair of entangled molecules, this new invention used many entangled molecules arranged in a circle to make a physical connection from one location to another. The entire concept was quite similar to the “wormholes” proposed by a number of others. The big difference was that this wasn’t a hypothesis. The girl claimed that she had actually created some of these ports. It required a highly specialized set of electronics to “energize” the “portal.” Making a very large opening would be extremely difficult and expensive because of the need to construct the opening one entangled molecule pair at a time. Before she hired people to work out techniques for making such ports more efficiently and to investigate possible methods to make the ports without such labor-intensive manipulations, she wanted the concept to be patent protected. Resisting the urge to call Dr. Smythe to confirm that this wasn’t all just a pipe dream, Miller took extensive notes and began planning out a patent application.