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.