"Chain Reaction" Power Failure Book I Read online

Jenny entered the lab, her meeting with Jack still churning over and over in her mind. She refused to believe that he was trying to get her to give up on the Ever-cell project. The project meant too much to her, and he knew it.

  He must have some kind of reason for wanting me to release it, but what could it be?

  She decided to put it out of her mind for a while and get back to work. The revelation she’d had earlier that morning begged to be tested.

  She pushed open the polished stainless steel doors and moved in among her instruments, her “friends” really.

  The lab was her home‑away‑from‑home. Surrounded by the pristine white walls and comforting familiarity, she felt safe and in control when she was working. Time to forget about Jack for a few hours and make some progress on the project, A dour smile made its way across her features. Unlike the rest of my dysfunctional life.

  Her problem, with the battery at least, was simple. She paused to take stock of her successes over the past few months, and there is dammed little to be proud of, She thought. I still can’t get it to quit overheating.

  The heat is what causes the failures…and the faster the reaction, the more heat it generates and more heat it generates, the faster the reaction, until it spirals out of control and cooks.

  This was the elusive little gremlin that plagued her for the past three months.

  Somehow there must be a way to stop the energy curve from building so quickly. If I can slow the reaction down, the battery won’t generate so much heat.

  After pulling her hair out devising unsuccessful ways to dissipate the excess heat, the idea for a possible solution finally hit her. The children she saw playing expended tremendous amounts of energy but could not maintain that level indefinitely.

  They’d have to switch to a different game, something less energy intensive.

  She ran the idea through her mind a second time.

  Like the difference between running at full sprint and jogging, both will get you through a race. But only jogging will get you through without total exhaustion.

  She thought about her new “Tortoise and Hare” principal as she headed across the lab to the coffee station, cups hanging in neat rows on the wall. She picked up the pot and started to fill it. As she turned on the cold tap, the faucet head fell off into the sink, spraying water in all directions and soaking her from the waist up.

  She let out a small, startled yelp as she snapped the water off and uttered an unintended curse. Picking up a towel near the sink, she removed her glasses and dried her face. She attempted to screw the nozzle back on, but after several fruitless attempts she decided to just use it the way it was and leave the repairs for the maintenance staff.

  She again opened the cold water valve and finished her chore. As she did, she noticed that the water coming from the tap was very agitated and pulsating wildly as it flowed.

  She picked up the fallen piece and held it in position. She noticed this had the effect of reducing, but smoothing out, the stream of the water. “That's it!” she said, her voice echoing in the empty lab.

  Dropping the damaged part back in the sink, she went to her computer, her mind suddenly ablaze. With the prototype battery already secured in the test chamber, she tapped several new commands into the keyboard.

  That’s it! Adjust the collection grid. Larger grid-spacing, smaller charge...and a smaller charge results in less heat…I hope.

  She prepared the new configuration and looked at her watch to time the test; it read 11:56 a.m. On the last trial of the battery, it lasted only eighteen seconds before suffering a complete meltdown.

  I hope it works this time. If my guess is right, this will smooth out the energy stream and make it much more controllable.

  She mentally crossed her fingers and started the test. The computer screens bathed her in an eerie green light as she monitored the reaction, now holding stable. She held her breath as the first ten seconds passed, then fifteen seconds. She prepared herself for the disappointment of yet another failure while she reviewed the past. She couldn't count the number of times that she had been in this situation with the prototype, only to have it collapse under the strain.

  The key to success: don’t let the battery generate the heat in the first place! How could I have missed it! It’s so elementary. I can’t believe it took me this long to see it.

  Her adrenalin flowed through her veins like hot lava as her watch showed twenty seconds. She looked at the read‑outs, the indicators all within acceptable levels. She noticed a slightly elevated power out‑put, but nothing critical.

  Her nerves crackled in anticipation. Do I dare hope for success after all these years?

  Two hours later she had her answer. The temperature and power output levels never varied by more than five percent, a resounding success. Just as she congratulated herself on her achievement, her blood suddenly ran ice cold as Jacks words flashed through her mind.

  He said he’d personally assume control of the project!

  She knew, now that a fully functional design existed, she had suddenly become expendable.

  Anyone can duplicate the battery design with the data here in the lab!

  Apprehension gnawing at her in growing bites, she also realized that any half-way competent engineer could marry this new technology to existing laser or other weapons systems, making the potential for disaster multiply exponentially.

  Her terrified imagination began to run wild. In her mind's eye, she could see a web of armed military satellites orbiting the globe. With the unending power capacity of her batteries, she knew there would be no limit to their destructive capabilities.

  The visions causing her stomach to flip in rolling waves of nausea, she also saw fleets of space shuttles, powered by her technology, armed to the teeth and placed in some admiral's hands in the name of “national security”.

  The questions buzzed through her mind like angry bees.

  How can I keep this awesome power from being misused? I couldn't possibly stand up to the military once they got their hands on it. What do I do? I’m just a scientist.

  She thought of Tesla, Oppenheimer and Fermi and how the great contributions they made to science became perverted into the most appalling weapons ever created. She thought grimly of Westinghouse. She was well aware that the ‘electric chair’ device he built, only to demonstrate the dangers of Edison’s AC power system, quickly became the industry standard for a century of government-sanctioned murder.

  I just can’t let that happen to the Ever-cell. I’ve got to figure out a way to keep it away from the military. God only knows what they’d do with it.

  As she contemplated one terrifying scenario after another, she noticed that her hands were now shaking violently.

  Jack’s words again rang thunder in her ears. She understood the success of the test must be kept secret at all costs. She knew, no matter how pure the intent, that no one could be trusted with this kind of power. She made up her mind to tell no one about the test or the working prototype until she could come up with a way to protect its integrity.

  The problem with that plan…is I have no clue how to pull it off.