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The Icera Stone-16 The Journey

by bluesky3d 

Posted: 10 February 2004
Word Count: 1320
Summary: A shorter chapter - more than half way through now. :o) Intrigued to see the site the crystal was discovered, Chris accompanies Sam to Dorset for the weekend, leaving the Icera Stone with Adrian, his assistant, to continue with the experiments. On the Dorchester train they meet journalist Beth, who is returning home from Cambridge. She was also at the lecture... could this just be a coincidence, surely not?


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Chapter 16 The Journey

Chris and Sam hurried from the taxi to catch the train to London. It would take them a further three hours to travel from London to Dorchester and they were looking forward to having time to themselves. They had much to talk about.

The lab would be quiet over the weekend, enabling Adrian to conduct more tests on the Stone using the photon laser.

The main reason for the journey was to view the exact place where the Stone had been found. It would also be a chance to talk science with Sam. Chris was looking forward to the break before returning to the US and it provided the welcome prospect to re-acquaint himself with Dorset.

Sam sat down in the opposite seat. It was Friday afternoon and the train was crowded. Chris and Sam were engrossed in their own world, and were unaware of the murmured undertones of two oriental voices just along the aisle.

Sam leant forward with an inquisitive sparkle in his eyes. ‘I’m still puzzled. I realise Germanium Quartz is uncommon, especially in a natural form… but was is it that puts the Icera Stone in a totally different league?’

‘Normally, there’s a molecular mismatch between Germanium and silicon. It results in a disruptive strain in the interfaces, but the Stone is amazing. The polymorph looks like a pure alloy and the lattices align perfectly. Tell me more about the place it was found.’

‘Erica was rather coy about the exact locality. There are old silver-mine workings but they have been closed off for years. At the bottom of Devil’s Drop there’s a bowl called the Cauldron, it forms a geological anomaly. I suppose there’s an outside chance there could be more deposits.’

Chris considered the matter. ‘Germanium is rare. However, any natural source is often associated with silver.’

Sam looked thoughtful. ‘But it doesn’t prove the crystal was formed locally. It could be brought from elsewhere.’

Chris leant forward closer to Sam’s ear. ‘Not even NASA could have created the conditions required to manufacture it. It would have needed such intense heat and zero gravity.’

‘So ok, maybe it just fell out of the sky,’ Sam joked.

They both laughed.

‘Who knows… anyway, do you think she’ll mind we haven’t brought the Stone back with us?’

‘It could be a problem, apparently her daughter is very attached to it.’

‘Hmm… I think I’m going to have to take Mrs Janus and her daughter out to dinner…’

Chris fell silent as he stared out of the carriage window at the landscape. He gloried in the greenness of the lush vegetation so profuse and varied, how closely it reflected the character of its people, stretching back thousands of years. He had dedicated his life to his work, but over the last few months, he had started to wonder whether he could ever hope to achieve true peace of mind through work alone.

When they reached Liverpool Street they took a taxi to Waterloo. They boarded the Dorchester train, and carried on with their conversation. The compartment became too crowded to continue. Just before the whistle blew, a young woman with copper hair and carrying a large camera bag clambered into the carriage.

The train crawled through the suburbs. When the short-haul commuters had all alighted, Chris and Sam were able to continue. Sam was bemoaning modern physics. ‘It’s such a weird science. Newton goes out of the window. You can say goodbye to Boolean logic. Common sense just doesn’t hold any more. At nano scales, everything is Alice in Wonderland.’

‘Not quite everything’, Chris retorted. ‘But it’s no more weird than all that dark matter floating about cosmic space.’ Their debate moved on to the differences between the left and right sides of the brain and the way male and females think. Some distance into their journey, Chris could see that Sam was beginning to flag. Eventually, his eyes closed, and he drifted off to sleep.

The young woman with copper hair returned along the aisle from the buffet with a cup of coffee. She appeared surprised at seeing Dr Credus. ‘Oh hi!’

‘Have we met?’ he enquired. ‘Hold on, don’t tell me, you were at my lecture… you’re the one who asked about Entanglement.’

‘It was Non-locality actually… certainly an impressive performance, Dr Credus.’

‘Thank you.’ Chris gestured toward the empty seat next to Sam. ‘Please, do sit down…’ He nodded at her camera. ‘That’s neat… ’

‘It’s digital, but not quite smart enough to pass the Turing Test. I plug it into my mobile and can send pictures anywhere in the world.’

He smiled.

She looked at him, inquiringly.

‘Sorry, I just had to smile, it was your mention of the word digital – my colleague and I were talking about the different modes of thought.’ He nodded at the sleeping Sam. ‘I suddenly wondered if women are analogue and men digital.’

She returned his smile. ‘Venus and Mars and all that stuff you mean…’

‘Quite… women are certainly more capable of subtle variety...’ he joked. ‘And females do have a certain fuzzy logic.’

‘And men are so damn logical? I suppose…’ she countered, archly.

‘Point taken… so, how did you find out about my lecture?’

‘My agent asked me if I could write an article about grey goo - you know… nano-technology and all that. Someone happened to mention your name and I discovered off the Internet you were lecturing at Cambridge.’

‘Ahh… so you’re not a plant from a foreign agency, it’s not that I’m paranoid but I was beginning to wonder.’

‘I’m a freelance journalist. I took Social and Political Sciences there, at Newnham, until graduating last year and still have friends there.’

‘What a pleasant coincidence… you being on the same train, then.’

‘So, what’s brought you to Dorset, Dr Credus?’

Sam was now snoring. Chris nodded towards him. ‘We haven’t met up for nearly twenty years, though we’ve kept in touch on the net. Sam was my professor when I was at Cambridge, but I grew up in this area… so it’s just an opportunity to return to old haunts.’

‘That’s interesting… I wonder…’ she stopped. The announcement for the approach of their destination came over the public address.

‘Go on…’

‘We’re nearly there now, but I was wondering whether you might have a chance to give me an interview about this grey goo stuff ?’

‘Hmm… well ok.’ Chris thought for a few seconds. ‘Prince Charles got a bit worked-up over Nano-robots, but they’re not really my speciality… however, I'm sure I could find time...’ He took out his card and wrote down a number on the back. ‘…you can get me on this till Sunday night.’

‘Ok that’s great. Here’s my number.’

He glanced at it before slipping it into his wallet. ‘The Brewery, huh? Maybe I’ll come over for a special. Do you brew your own?’

‘That’s what everyone asks.’

Sam stirred as the train slowed down before the station.

Chris stood to retrieve his leather bag from the luggage rack. ‘Sam, we’re here, you have good instinct for waking up at the right time… oh, by the way, this is Beth Frank…’

‘Do excuse me…’ He rubbed his eyes and yawned. ‘Delighted, my dear… I do hope I wasn’t snoring.’

‘Dr Credus and I have been immersed, I don’t think we would have noticed.’

Beth accompanied them to the taxi rank.

‘Do you want to share a cab?’ Sam asked Beth.

‘Actually, I’m not far away, I’ll walk.’ She turned to Chris. ‘See you again soon, I hope, Dr Credus. Bye Sam.’

A cab arrived. ‘Witchbury!’ Sam shouted to the driver. When inside, he had a glint in his eye. ‘Nice girl,’ he chuckled.

Chris peered out and she waved. ‘Mmmm… kind of feisty...’

As they drew away, Chris noticed the two men in dark suits standing in the queue.






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Comments by other Members



Nell at 18:49 on 11 February 2004  Report this post
Hi Andrew, a moment of concern here - I hope you're not going to throw Chris and Beth together, as I'd earmarked him for Erica...

Chris is still a bit of an enigma, but maybe that's intentional, although I'd really like to know what he looks like - shouldn't be important I know, as the sexiest part of a man is his mind, and he's streets ahead in that department, but nevertheless I can't quite picture him yet.

A couple of errant commas for you:

...Chris and Sam, were engrossed in their own world...

and

'I suppose, there’s an outside chance there could be more deposits.’

The following sentence feels a bit incomplete:

He gloried in the greenness of the lush vegetation so profuse and varied.

Small things, looking forward to the next chapter.

Best, Nell


Dee at 19:27 on 11 February 2004  Report this post
Andrew, these two oriental persons are giving me the heebie-jeebies now. I’m agog to find out where they fit into the rest of the story… which is presumably your intention.

This is a good chapter which moves the characters back to Dorset, connects Chris/Sam/Beth but I do feel it’s slightly lacking in detail. There are several places where I get the sense that you are whizzing through a bit too fast. I’m sure you have reasons for this but I think you need to be careful that this chapter doesn’t unbalance the others.

I hope you don’t think this is too negative, I know I accused you of being wordy in the early chapters. You’re probably thinking ‘Bloody hell what does she want!’ and I wouldn’t blame you. ;)

I just read Nell’s comments. Funnily enough, I have a very clear mental picture of Chris’s physical appearance… big, bulky, strong, mature, dark-haired, possibly a slightly grizzled beard… totally unaware of his own attraction… am I close?

And I’ll reiterate Nell's worry about him with Beth… a slight detour perhaps… but no more than that… please?

Keep em coming!
Dee
:)


JohnK at 01:38 on 13 February 2004  Report this post
Hi Andrew -
I liked this chapter - flows well, no false notes or hesitation.

My one surprise was that Sam fell asleep on a 3 hour journey, when he was with his friend and presumably exploring the edges of scientific thought. Did you do it to give Beth and Chris a dialogue without interruptions?

I wasn't at all surprised that the Icera Stone stayed in Cambridge, because I knew Erica should never have let it out of her sight. Now it will be whisked off the America, and renamed the Amicera Stone. You British must take more care of your treasures, or they'll all go the same way as London Bridge.

All the very best,

JohnK

bluesky3d at 10:20 on 13 February 2004  Report this post
Thanks JohnK,

Sam fell asleep cos he's getting rather too old for all this gallivanting around... he likes his home comforts. ok and it was a convenient device for simplifying the story- telling I admit. Originally, he stayed awake when Beth arrived on the scene, but the three-way conversation didn't achieve the focus I wanted... so you rumbled me.

I might put an extra note in about his age.

It's great your sticking with the story. All these comments are invaluable.

Andrew :o)

<Added>

JohnK - did you notice in the Forum the photo of the lasers in the entangled photon atomic clock?

<Added>

I will certainly rename the book the Am-Icera Stone for the American market John - brilliant idea! A :o)


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