Free Close Up the Sky by James L. Ferrell Page B

had
been covered, we executed the test.” He paused as though reliving that moment,
pondering his next words.
    Matt found himself
leaning forward, almost as if the experiment was about to be recreated at that
instant.
    After a few
seconds, the scientist continued. “There was an instantaneous flash of green
brilliance that obliterated the camera images coming from the reactor. Simultaneously,
our instruments recorded the release of an enormous surge of energy. But
instead of remaining constant as we expected, the energy level dropped to zero
within a few seconds. When it subsided, the video image returned. It was at
that moment that we realized we were dealing with something that didn't obey
the physical laws of science as we know them." He exhaled deeply, and even
though his pipe contained no ashes, he tapped it a few times on an ashtray.
    “The fission
process hadn’t taken place at all,” he resumed. “That in itself was a
phenomenon, but it was dwarfed to insignificance compared to the images the
cameras were broadcasting. We were scarcely able to believe our senses." He
paused and glanced at Taylor and Kasdan.
    Matt found himself
holding his breath. "What happened?"
    "Here, in the
middle of the desert, the entire floor of the chamber was covered with a foot
of water and what appeared to be seaweed !"

Chapter 5
    D urant's words hit like a
thunderbolt. Leahy intellectually refused to accept what the scientist was
saying, rejecting it as impossible, but instinctively knowing that it was true.
His mind raced ahead of the story, trying to make sense of it, but found
nowhere to go. He looked to Taylor for reassurance and found only silence. Her
attention was riveted on Durant, as entranced by the narrative as he was.
    The scientist
continued. "Our first thought was that the failure had caused a pipe to
burst and flood the reactor floor. That would account for the water, but the
presence of the seaweed was still a mystery. We performed a detailed
examination of the reactor but failed to locate any broken pipes or damaged
equipment. Except for the water and vegetation, everything appeared normal.
    "We also
checked the radiation level before we entered the reactor chamber, but other
than the emissions coming from the test substance, there was nothing. Because
the flooding and power surge occurred simultaneously, it was obvious that the
two events were connected. Certainly, nothing like it had ever happened before.
However, we were dealing with a new element whose properties were almost
entirely unknown. The water on the floor was about six inches deep, so we used
a heavy vacuum to collect it then sealed it in airtight containers for analysis
by our chemists.
    "While
waiting for the results, we continued to work with the element. Since it
couldn't be identified as belonging to any known group, we decided to call it stellarite. We removed it from the
reactor and repeated our earlier experiments. It was then that we learned it
had undergone a change from its previous composition. A new isotope had
appeared, indicating that it was attempting to conform in some way to the
uranium series of degeneration. The only problem was that the new isotope had
apparently been independently formed by the fission test, and was therefore not
a natural transformation."
    Leahy held up his
hand, interrupting the narrative. "You're saying there was no trace of
that particular isotope before the attempt at neutron bombardment?" He was
confused about the testing procedure. Durant had said it was important that he
understood, so he intended to ask as many questions as necessary for
clarification, and if they sounded ignorant, so be it.
    "That's
right. The test destroyed a minute portion of the stellarite, but the new
isotope was insignificant when compared to the remaining mass. Since there was
no way to determine what the rate of transformation might be without further
testing, we proceeded. We were reluctant to use the reactor again until