“Oops!”
Greetings gentle readers. Another sunny day in Harappa City. I just may have to go fisnin’ with Dorian later. Now that he is retired I can talk him into most anything. Back when the weight of Kusha was upon him he was less fun, he was fun but didn’t have the time he does now. Tomorrow I’ll let you know what we catch.
Today I’ll pass along a story not from Max’s mother but from her professor, Francis Gupta.
By sixteen Max had established herself as an outstanding student and was for the most part a good kid too. Yesterday I mentioned that humility was something she had to learn. Patience was another.
She was already studying the Gavaskar Field and how illumaphane interacted with it. The SID was building a new particle accelerator at the University in Sandon. Max was near the top of the list to use the thing when it was finished. Anyone who has ever dealt with the SID knows there will be delays in anything they do. They always insisted on running government like it’s a business . . . doesn’t work.
The first two of three spirals were completed but there was a budget problem with the third ring. Max designed a program to allow the machine to operate with only two thirds of it complete.
She talked a classmate into helping her break into the lab. The two of them loaded the accelerator and started the thing up. Max was going to try to duplicate the illumaphane drive the starships used on a small scale to see what was happening to the Gavaskar Field.
The atom smasher whirred up to speed, humming louder and louder. Max later said the power of the machine exhilarated her and aroused her, something she found quite unsettling.
When everything was humming at the right levels she pressed the key that started the experiment. The particle flew into the first spiral where it picked up speed then on to the second spiral where it would gather more velocity before returning to the lab and passing through the illumaphane lens Max had set in the target chamber.
Unfortunately when the SID engineer told Max that the first two rings were operable she neglected to tell Max that they were not connected back to the lab yet.
At the end of spiral number two the super accelerated particle left the magnetic confines of the machine and flew into the open atmosphere of the adjacent room setting off a small chain reaction and destroying the main frame computer core there. It was very lucky that no one was in the room at the time. No one was hurt but the lab was shut down for weeks while repairs were made and the place decontaminated.
If it hadn’t been for the fact that Max’s software greatly improved the operation of the accelerator she would have been in deep trouble. If a technician had been in that room and hurt or killed who knows what history would have been. If Max had gone to jail for this would we still be under the Fordian FTL curfew? Would the galaxy still be as connected and peaceful as it is?
Tomorrow; “Gone Fishin”
Philip Normer
Kushan Year 87
Earth Year 2479
Fordian Year 739,576
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