The Time Portal 2: Escape in Time (8 page)

“So now,” Lucky said. “I’d like to give you a little something – just a small thanks for it all.”

As each man took his place in line, Lucky filled his palm with the equivalent of twenty-five hundred in Australian dollars, which was the equivalent of approximately twenty-six hundred U.S. Not knowing how much money it was, the men just smiled and expressed their thanks until one guy, already in his truck and ready to head home, jumped out, ran back toward Lucky and the remaining men, and said, “Mate, that is nice. Real nice there, mate. Don’t think I’ve ever had anybody do something this nice for me before.” The man grabbed Lucky and hugged him in a big, tight, manly way.

Lucky saved the foreman’s bonus for last. He received the equivalent of thirty-five hundred. He smiled, put his head down a bit, and said, “Mate, it was pleasure. You make our work all the better. Times have been tough for the guys in my business. This means a lot.”

“Well,” Lucky answered. “I understand completely. And you never know, I may need you again,” he added with a slight wink.

The foreman handed Lucky his card and scribbled on the back.
“These are my private numbers. If you ever need me, I’ll put you at the top of the list.”

Mickey, Dukie, and Nicky were quite content on the ranch. So was Sam, but it was the animals she loved. Each day, she headed to the stable, where she hung out with the stable workers as they tended the horses. Then, she would take off for a ride around the property. She was getting to know the area here quite well. As for the guys, Mickey and Nicky worked with the professor, helping him build first the engine, then the outer shell of his flying machine. They used the wood, soaked in water and bent to its desired shape, as the frame. Once the shape passed the professor’s approval, they riveted aluminum sheets to aluminum ribs and modified them to fit into the wooden shell. This formed the mold. The only problematic areas were the entrance and the landing pods. Should they even have landing pods was the question? After much debate, it was finally decided that they build swivel wheels into the bottom of the craft, allowing it to move in any direction as needed. The next question was how to enter and exit the machine. Mickey suggested that they build a Plexiglas® viewing window on top that would serve another purpose – provide a means of entering and exiting the oval shaped craft. For purposes of the prototype only, Mickey’s suggestion was accepted. Future models would need to use more sophisticated space-worthy materials. The bottom half was complete. Now it was time for the professor to install the magnetic propulsion system along with computerized circuitry designed to give instructions to the servos (the control system in charge of the hydraulics) and the gyroscope. A solid, double layered, three-quarter-inch plywood floor was placed on top of the bottom half, thus separating the upper and lower sections and giving the craft a foundation. A small circle was carved into the middle of the floor to allow the activating rod to function. Additional slots were cut to control lateral flight. They installed six captain’s chairs, purchased from an RV store. The chairs swiveled in all directions and when reclined, they doubled as beds. It was now time to work on the top half of the spaceship. At a military supply store, the guys found a Plexiglas® turret from an old B-29 bomber. Apparently, it had been lying around gathering dust for years; the owner was only too happy to get rid of it. It was bolted to the top part of the craft.

After weeks of arduous labor, all was complete. Now was the time to see if their hard work paid off. The men rolled the flying machine out of the barn into the clearing and climbed aboard. Charlie and Sam gathered round at a safe distance to observe the maiden flight or . . . failure. Once Mickey, Lucky, the professor, Dukie, and Nicky were all comfortably strapped into their seats, the professor placed the activator into the magnetic tube, situated in front of his seat in the center of the craft, and slowly inserted it, about an inch at a time. The rings that the professor had demonstrated back at the safehouse began to undulate up and down. The men did not have gauges to monitor the rings to see if they were stabilized so they had to wait a few minutes until the gyroscope took over and the ship balanced itself. The professor then raised the activator very slowly until the men could feel the ship rising from the ground. He pulled the activator out a little more.

“Hey, professor,” Mickey said. “Remember what Lucky said. We can’t take a chance of getting too high up and being seen. It might alert the bad guys where we are and put Charlie’s life in danger. We don’t need that.”

The professor nodded slightly and kept the ship just above the tree line as Lucky had suggested, no higher. Deep into the Outback, the ship traveled at amazing speed.

“Damn,” said Dukie. “I think this baby could travel at supersonic levels if need be.”

“Yeah,” Nicky chimed in. “Right into outer space, I bet. ‘Cept for the lack of oxygen and the necessary materials to withstand re-entry, we might not need to try that.”

As for the professor, he showed no emotion as he guided his creation all throughout the woods. It had met his expectations but surpassed those of his helpers. He knew it could be done. He had spent years crafting her, this spaceship, if only on paper and through prototype. This was indeed an invention of magnanimous proportions. Huge.

Chapter Eight

Lucky called the Compound’s CIA director, Jack Kinsey, on his secure phone to find out from him what he had learned about the Russians, the Arabs, or anyone else who might be interested in Dr. Lindstrom and his invention. Jack told him that they had captured the Russian men who were sent after Lucky and the Professor.

“The Russians have denied any knowledge of this and have insisted that these men were rogue agents, with their own agenda, and that the higher-ups had nothing to do with trying to kidnap you.”

“Jack, it’s just as well that I disappeared,” Lucky answered. “Because Lindstrom’s invention is something else. The damn thing doesn’t need gasoline or any type of fuel to work. It costs nothing to run and can be used in outer space and I’m just hoping that not too many know about the technology behind it. I don’t want anyone – the US, the Chinese, the Koreans, the Russians, no one, and I mean not a single person or country to get hold of the details of the project, especially the fact that we’ve built a machine already. Besides my crew here, you’re the only one who knows.”

Lucky wanted to trust Kinsey, but Jack had been sketchy in the past. There was no such thing as being too careful. The deal was this: Jack could take credit for protecting the professor and the invention, get a feather in his cap with the media and government if he played nice, and gave Lucky what he needed. If he didn’t, Lucky reminded him of his time travel ability and warned him as to how easy it is to eliminate an individual, not murder them, but leave them in another time, another country, in more barbaric times. Jack understood. Lucky frightened him. Kinsey had read and seen the reports. Lucky was dangerous. His CIA training plus his supernatural powers made him a force unlike any the director had seen. No, Jack Kinsey was a believer. No need to cross that line.

“Don’t worry, Lucky. I told you when I signed on for this that I’m indebted to you because of the past. I won’t betray you or your trust. Now let’s get back to the Russians. President Vladimir Putin wants you in the worst way, according to the information we got from his goons. They envision America jumping way ahead in the information technology and space wars fields, with you being able to travel in time and the professor being able to travel in space, well, the U.S. is in a formidable position having the two of you aligned with each other. Individually, you’re strong enough, but together, you’re the dynamic duo and that scares some people. They want it – the magnetic propulsion system – and they want you. By the way, I think I know how they got the tape with your disappearing act on it. When the president was in Europe, a courier was ordered to take a copy of the tape to him. We believe the courier was drugged, rendered unconscious for just long enough for the tape to be copied and replaced. The following day when the courier’s blood sample was routinely taken, something showed up. He swore up and down that he had never taken any drugs and demanded a re-test, but it was never authorized, so he never got it. Because he had twenty-two years under his belt, he was given a month off without pay instead of being fired. I think he was drugged. I believe a copy was made and sent to the KGB and in turn made its way to the Russian president. That’s the only scenario that makes any sense to me and it’s the only one that explains a tape that couldn’t exist because they were all destroyed.”

“Well,” Lucky responded, “that would explain how the Russians found out about my peculiar ability. Good work. Keep me posted on anything else you find out.”

“Will do, Lucky. Take care and good luck.”

Lucky was sitting on the back porch, rocking in a chair, sipping a beer and smoking a Cuban cigar, when the professor approached him and took a seat in the rocker next to him.

“What are your plans, Lucky?” he asked.

“Well, we’re about finished here. You’ve successfully built your spaceship, so I guess we’ll be leaving soon.”

The professor sighed and said, “Lucky, I would prefer we stay a while longer. There’s something else I’d like to work on.”

“What do you wanna build now? I thought you finished.”

“It was something you said while we were doing the testing. You said you didn’t want me to fly high because you were afraid that someone might see us.”

“Yes. Yes, I did.”

“Well, it got me to thinking. I didn’t build this ship to hide it from anyone. I built it to fly anywhere without fear of intervention. So I decided that if we have to be concerned about it being seen, then it might need a disguise, a cloaking device – something that would make it invisible . . .
anywhere
,
anytime
.”

“Whoa there a minute, professor,” Lucky said as he brought his rocking chair to a halt. “Are you telling me that you can make this ship invisible?”

“Yes. And not only the ship. I can also make
you
invisible.”

Lucky looked at the professor in a manner that signaled incredulous, stunned, and interesting – all this from an agent who was practically
un
shockable.

“Once I read the Harry Potter books,” Lindstrom said, “I became determined to see if it was possible to invent a cloak that would make someone invisible. So I spent some time studying the possibility and became convinced I could do it. I performed a test using basic electronics and the tests were rather encouraging, but I put it aside when I started work on the propulsion system. Now I realize that an invisibility cloak is a necessity and not just an interesting experiment. If I am to fly this spacecraft, I must make it invisible. I can see that very clearly now. You were absolutely right Lucky. No one must see this ship except when or if we want them to see it. So you must realize we cannot leave until I successfully build an invisibility component.”

Lucky was intrigued. “How long do you think it’ll take?”

“Well, at present there are two schools of thought. The first one is the use of a meta-material that researchers at the University of California in Berkeley have developed. It’s a material that can bend light around 3D objects thus making them ‘disappear’. They’ve been successful making a small object invisible, but haven’t had success yet with larger objects. Research shows that light rays can theoretically be bent around an object, making it seem as if an observer is looking straight through the object.

“David Smith of Duke University said, ‘The cloak will act like you've opened up a hole in space. All light or other electromagnetic waves are swept around the area, guided by the meta-material to emerge on the other side as if they had passed through an empty volume of space.’”

Lucky leaned back in his chair and resumed his rocking as he listened. This was interesting stuff, more so than some of the things he had learned as an agent.

“The second method,” the professor continued, “is the use of optical camouflage which delivers a similar experience to Harry Potter's invisibility cloak, but using it is slightly more complicated. First, the person who wants to be invisible dons a garment that resembles a hooded raincoat. The garment’s made of a special material. Next, an observer, Person
A,
stands before Person
B,
who is donned in the raincoat standing
at a specific location. Instead of Person
A
seeing Person
B
wearing a hooded raincoat, Person
A
sees right through the cloak, giving Person
B
the illusion of being invisible. This effect is rather simple to accomplish as long as the subject moves slowly, but difficult to maintain when sudden movement is made because it requires a hefty, computer generated power source to re-compute each movement of the cloaked party, which at present is all but impossible. But more impossible is to fit a powerful computer into the cloak or more specifically into the fabric that comprises the cloak. The new ‘meta-materials,’ have a component that bends visible light in a way that ordinary materials can’t. This material might be what I need to help design an invisibility cloak that can guide light around an object so that neither a reflection nor a shadow will be created. My idea is to incorporate the meta-material
with
the optical camouflage. The optical camouflage experiment, recently performed by the Chinese, works similar to a television set inasmuch as the material is impregnated with hundreds of tiny video cameras, on the back of the cloak, and as many small screens placed into the front of the cloak, so that a person looking at someone wearing the cloak will see an image of what is
behind
the cloaked person, thereby making him invisible to the onlooker. My idea is to use a combination of both technologies, yet incorporate a third technology as well. I would like to combine the video camera and television technology, together as one unit, with a third part of the equation. Recently, a major television manufacturer discovered a seven layer screen, as thin as a credit card, which they named OLED or organic light emitting diode. OLED is display technology using manmade carbon based molecules that emit light when charged with electricity. As far as the spacecraft is concerned, I can use the metamaterial but incorporate the optical camouflage into the material. So, in addition to the light passing around the craft, I would have the metamaterial impregnated with thousands of micro miniature video cameras and screens. If anyone were to look at the craft from the ground, he would see what was above it. As a secondary effect, we might also use the principal of bending light around the craft. The craft itself is easier to cloak than a human being because its surface does not bend. Yes, it moves, but unlike a person, it doesn’t bend or turn, so the computer has less work to do to keep the ship cloaked. In fact, to the computer, the spaceship is motionless and at rest. For every move a human makes, the computer has to make billions, even trillions of computations to keep the continuity of cloaking at a constant level, but yes, I believe I can successfully make our craft invisible. The invisibility cloaks for you and your crew will take me a little longer to perfect. You see, I’m not just building a cloaking device for our little ship, I’m also going to make people, living, breathing, moving humans . . . invisible.”