The Einstein Papers (40 page)

“Yes, I remember studying it in school. It’s a belt of free electrically charged particles in the earths atmosphere from about twenty-five miles to 250 miles out. Once radio waves bounce around in it they can travel around the globe.”

“It’s often used by our military to send secret communications great distances,” Scaramelli noted.

“So we have a spinning ball-the earth-and on that ball we have intense magnetic fields that form into bands encircling the planet. Outside the bands, suspended miles above, is the ionosphere-a band of free electrically charged particles.”

“I’m following you so far,” Benson said.

“May I?” Choi asked.

Scaramelli nodded.

“Let’s say you had a ball bearing on the floor and you turned on a gigantic electromagnet that was mounted on the ceiling,” Choi said.

“The ball bearing would be pulled to the ceiling,” Benson said.

“Except if the electricity in the ionosphere prevented that,” Choi said. ‘Then it would be drawn up until the opposing force of electricity exerted a force sufficient to offset the magnetism. If that occurred the ball bearing would hover in place.”

“So you balance the forces to suspend the object?” Benson asked.

“We upset the very matter that forms the object. The combination of electricity combined with gravity and magnetism acts upon the strong and weak forces at a subatomic level. The resulting intense vibration separates the matter, so it may be drawn along through space.”

“Then it is sucked along the magnetic belts that encircle the earth,” Benson said logically, “in the area between earth and the outer edge of the ionosphere.”

“Exactly,” Scaramelli said.

“How much time does it take to move an object?” Benson asked. “And does the matter rearrange itself in the same form?”

“The speed the object would obtain is unknown,” Scaramelli admitted. “Einstein’s notes about the curvature of space still have me baffled. However, our preliminary tests indicate that the amount of time that would elapse would be negligible, approaching zero. As to the form of the object, that is what we will test today.”

“You already have a test that can prove this?” Benson asked, incredulous.

“Einstein’s final notes were the piece of the puzzle we were missing,” Scaramelli said. “It explained the theory beautifully.”

“Disrupting the strong and weak forces inside atoms won’t result in an explosion, as we first thought?” Benson asked.

“The strong and weak forces in molecules are all around us,” Scaramelli noted. “What Einstein’s formula finally explained is how to unlock them.”

“And how do you unlock them?” Benson asked.

“Seawater,” Scaramelli said quietly. “We electrically charge seawater.”

“So Einstein discovered an instant, invisible method of time travel,” Benson said.

“Beam us up, Scotty,” Choi said quietly.

Inside the Advanced Physics Laboratory, Jeff Scaramelli stood next to Li Choi at a control panel. Scaramelli looked at the group that had assembled in the laboratory.

“We’re about to begin the test,” he said to no one in particular.

A television camera had been installed inside the laboratory to beam the test east to the NIA office in Maryland. There, only Taft and Martinez, along with the two technicians who would record the incoming signal on tape, had been authorized by Benson to watch the results.

A separate video feed was directed to the White House. There, National Security Advisor Lakeland sat with the president. Lakeland appeared unemotional, but the president puffed a large cigar until the tip was a glowing red. The president sipped from a cup of coffee and focused his complete attention on the screen. It was time for the big show.

In the northwest comer of the laboratory in Boulder, a bronze bust of Albert Einstein was positioned in a stainless-steel tub filled with seawater. A pair of copper wires led off to a cyclotron. The cyclotron would help propel the particles forming the bust of Einstein by alternating electrical fields in a constant magnetic field.

Scaramelli hit the switch on the control panel for the cyclotron, then turned up the current with a rheostat.

The bust began to glow as it was lit by an electromagnetic beam never before produced on earth. As though it was not of this earth, the bust began to shimmer and change into colors previously unknown to man.

Twin wind vortexes shot from the center of the bust. One rose to the ceiling while one descended to the floor, raising a cloud of dust and lint. The two video cameras that were earlier placed in the corners of the lab recorded the effects of the bizarre experiment.

As the group watched in amazement, the bust of Einstein became covered with clouds. Small bolts of electrical energy flew in a circular pattern from the bust and dissipated in the air as an unnatural storm was created.

The molecules of the bust unlocked from one another. Infinitesimally small, they became a level of matter up until now unknown. Traveling through the formed particles that made up the solid of the building, they raced through the roof of the laboratory, then up through the atmosphere and into the ionosphere.

There they remained in a suspended state, held in place by the actions of the charged electrical particles of the ionosphere combining with the gravitation of the earth and the naturally occurring magnetic belts encircling the earth. The entire process occurred quickly as the rapt audience watched.

Scaramelli stared at the ceiling, hoping to see the window that would open in the molecules, but it happened so quickly it was past the point of human awareness.

To those in the laboratory, the bust simply disappeared from view.

It grew darker in the laboratory as the storm outside the laboratory intensified. At the same time the overhead lights dimmed. A bank of computers off to one side of the laboratory shut themselves down.

Scaramelli reached over to the control panel and switched on a powerful electromagnet positioned in the far corner of the laboratory. Almost instantly an intense storm began to ravage the corner. Wind, rain, and lightning spun from the center of the clouds like a bizarre cyclonic weather system run amok. The computers restarted, and then, as if the entire series were a single machine, the monitors grew bright as a flare, then burned out. The air pressure in the room changed.

Benson opened his mouth and yawned, forcing his ears to pop.

After a tense wait of several seconds, Scaramelli clicked the electromagnet off, then carefully walked to the comer of the laboratory. He paused for a few seconds then bent over and lifted a metal blob from the floor. The bust had reappeared, all right, but in several large pieces.

Later, when the scientists weighed the balls of metal taken from the floor, it would be found that not a single atom remained in the ionosphere. Nevertheless, the atoms had not rearranged into their prior form. Scaramelli tossed the ball of bronze into the air, then turned to Benson.

The test had proved to be a failure.

The laboratory grew deadly quiet.

John Taft rose from his chair in the media control room in Bethesda and walked over to one of the technicians. “Kurt,” he said casually, “can I talk to Benson at the laboratory over this feed?”

“Sure,” the technician said, pointing to a stalk on the control panel. “Just flick that button on the microphone.”

As Taft walked over to the microphone he watched the real-time image from the laboratory on the screen in front of the control room. He switched on the microphone and spoke.

“General Benson,” he said, “this is Special Agent Taft in Maryland. May I ask Mr. Scaramelli a question?”

Benson looked at Scaramelli, who was bent over picking up pieces of bronze from the floor and hefting them in his hands.

“Might as well, John,” Benson said quietly.

“Jeff, this is John Taft in Maryland. I have a question for you.”

Scaramelli rose slowly and faced the camera. His face was drawn and ashen colored. He appeared stunned that the test had been a failure. A tic had formed in a corner of his left eye and his eyelid fluttered. Taft noticed Scaramelli’s knees were shaking as if they might give way at any moment.

“Yeah, John,” Scaramelli said haltingly.

“What’s with the storm that was created?”

“We think it’s a natural reaction of the atmosphere being upset,” Scaramelli blurted.

“Would it be safe to say that the bigger the object moved, the bigger would be the storm?”

“I guess so,” Scaramelli said.

“This is National Security Advisor Lakeland with the president at the White House,” a voice boomed over the television. “Just what are you getting at, Agent Taft?”

Taft paused before answering. “If we move enough large objects into the path of the Chinese navy, the resulting storm should slow or stop the assault.”

“Interesting idea,” Benson said.

“Not only that,” Taft said, “it would give Scaramelli and Choi another chance to perfect the use of the theory.”

Choi piped into the conversation. “I believe that we are using the theory correctly-we just need to adjust the amount of electricity and gravity we use.”

Scaramelli suddenly came to life. He glanced toward the camera, nodding. “That must be it—we just have the settings wrong.”

“What objects do you propose we use, Mr. Taft?” the president asked.

“Since you are an old air force man, Mr. President,” Taft said, “I think you’ll appreciate this, we literally bomb the Chinese with aircraft. We fill the skies with a phantom force.”

Lakeland interrupted. “Agent Taft, we don’t have a single airplane we can spare. If we did we’d bomb the Chinese as they crossed the Taiwan Strait. The U.S. Air Force must stand ready to defend Taiwan from Chinas air force. In addition, we currently have a sizable number of aircraft stationed in the Middle East that cannot be moved.”

“Robert,” the president said, “I know Taft. He doesn’t offer suggestions lightly. Please let him finish what he was going to say.”

“Thanks, Mr. President,” Taft said. “I think you’ll like this, Mr. Lakeland. The United States has several squadrons of aircraft that we could put into service.”

“And where would these phantom aircraft be located?” Lakeland asked.

“Arizona,” Taft said easily.

A burst of laughter erupted over the television, then died away. “Are you talking about the planes at Davis-Monthan?” the president said.

“Exactly,” Taft said slyly.

Benson looked into the camera, smiled, and nodded. “It just might work, Mr. President.”

All were silent as the president thought. “Let’s do it,” he said seconds later. “Absolutely, let’s do it.”

The army helicopter had just passed over Broomfield, Colorado, when Benson placed his hand over his briefcase phone and shouted over the din of the rotor blades across the cabin to Scaramelli.

“Is there anything else you can think of that you might need?”

“No, General, that should do it.”

“That’s all,” Benson shouted into the phone.

Scaramelli scanned the neat rows of houses below. The people who lived below would be going about their daily activities without any notion of the discovery that had just been made. It was an eerie feeling for Scaramelli to have knowledge only a handful of people in the world knew existed. Rather than reassure him or fill him with pride, it made him feel uneasy, as if he were now a target, an unworthy recipient of information beyond his scope.

“What about the storm?” Benson asked.

Scaramelli misunderstood Benson’s question. “I’m sure in time, when we have more experience with the formula and the power needed to scramble molecules, the storm can be reduced or even eliminated,” Scaramelli said wearily.

“Don’t tell me that now,” Benson said. “We need a major typhoon out there. You can experiment with working the bugs out after this is all over.”

“Don’t worry, General Benson. So far that’s all we know how to do. You can rest assured that the storm that hits the Taiwan Strait will be bad,” Scaramelli said. “Very bad.”

It was late when Sun Tao burst into the office of the Chinese prime minister.

The Carondelet is on fire. Our agents in Cuba just flew over the ship. They report smoke billowing from the stem, and the ship is stopped dead in the water.”

“How long ago did this happen?” the prime minister asked.

“I just received word,” Tao said.

“Did the crew escape?”

“The agents reported several rafts in the water,” said Tao.

“Good, then we still have the papers.” The prime minister paused to think. “Have the crew picked up immediately. We can still tell the Americans we have the papers.”

“I have already taken care of that, sir. We have a submarine on exercises off Cuba. I have ordered her to surface next to the rafts.”

“Excellent,” the prime minister said, glancing at his watch. “It is time you caught a flight south to help orchestrate the beginning of the assault. It will take you time to find your ship and assume command. You cannot be late. Our first wave is scheduled to begin the liberation of Taiwan at exactly midnight, October 1st.”

“To victory, sir,” Tao said, rising to leave.

Carl Vickerson wrapped his arm tighter around his wife, Clara. At seventy-seven years of age, Carl no longer felt much need to rush. Still, the men in blue uniforms who were directing the tourists back to their buses seemed in a hurry, so he helped Clara along.

“Did they say why we had to leave, dear?” Clara said in a voice a few shades too loud.

Carl had broad shoulders that spoke of a lifetime of work. Dresden-blue eyes looked out from a tanned face, and the hand that clutched Clara’s arm and steered her around the F-105 fighter-bomber was large and meaty.

“No, honey. But it must be something serious,” Carl said as he pointed to two tanks that had roared across the desert and stopped near the fence surrounding the base.

Clara’s face was taking on a red glow from the desert sun. Through her sunglasses she glanced across the hard-packed dirt and watched as several trucks stopped midway along the fence and troops climbed from the rear. The soldiers formed lines and set out down the fence line.