2:40 hours
Agnew could not believe how the young
man had worked out the solution to one of the unsolved questions of physics.
Agnew had now done the corrections and if the young man had the proof-the
source of energy, then the greatest discovery of the millennium had been made.
Still, he found it hard to deem that it was the young man’s pure ingenuity that
produced the results.
Nevertheless, van Guerin was no expert in
atomic physics and that was the reason why he had sought help in first place.
It still needed a lot of explaining. The kid did not tell him the nature of the
experiment undertaken.
Pure cobalt… If the technique to produce more
of it was available, he would become the most powerful human, for it was an
amazing source of energy. More than the money and power, if he was able to get
van Guerin out of the way, the credit for isolating Higgs boson particles would
be his. From the lab’s map, it became evident that the lab was open to every
place within 5km radius and exhaust collected was used as a possible energy
source.
He had spent quite time thinking on a
single issue, which was unusual for him. He acknowledged the fact that he
generally dedicated little time for issues with fierce pride. He was sure that having Van Guerin back was a
necessity.
“That is how Cobalt found its way. But
for that, it should’ve already been used as a fuel, where did the technology
come from...? If I could lay my hands on it…”
But before he could scheme further, the
noise of the door opening meant that his young visitor was back. A swift look
at the clock told Agnew that it was three in the morning.
***
Elsewhere
“Sir,
we have arrested the oracle. He had hoarded the fuel and supplied it to the
escaped convict.”
“What
else?”
“One
of the men ‘out there’ happens to be OMEGA’s supporter”
“Good
God! He would have the list”
“There
is worse news, Sir. The oracle has OMEGA’s code”
The
Colonel was not impressed. That meant more trouble.
“It is not over Sir. They are after a device
which…”
When
Jonathan finished telling the Colonel of the escaped man’s plans, the latter
was virtually shell shocked.
“Jonathan,
we have just blown it”
The
two men knew that OMEGA’s return was now almost inevitable. They could only
hope that their trusted agent matched their foe. If the lieutenant failed, the
darkest days of the world were not far away.
***
3:10 hours
“Ah….Derek…I wanted to show you this
little beauty I worked out”
Van Guerin was amazed. Not only did
Agnew address him by his first name, but the old man had worked out the
equation which he had seen for barely 20 minutes. It had taken van Guerin a lot
more than an hour to arrive at his result. Now this man had an alternate
solution. It now hit him why his mentor hated Agnew. His mentor envied this man
for his abilities. His guru never had such an eidetic memory or a knack of
solving equations in such a short time. He had a look at the papers. Agnew had
found out a mistake in the equation. A small error in the protracted
calculations and it would have taken a genius at least a week to spot. The
error was a result of using a different method in differentiating the equation.
“Sir, you amaze me.”
“You flatter me.”
Van Guerin waited for the old man to
continue.
“Forgive my curiosity, but can you tell
me the nature of the work you are currently involved in?”
That was exactly what van Guerin had
been dreading for a while now. He had started where his master had left. He did
not know what reactions the mentioning of his tutor’s name would evoke in the
man seated in front of him.
“Sir…it is about a contrivance which
could simulate neuronal transmissions by varying the internal levels of Calcium
and responding depending on the levels of Sodium, electrically. But it worked
only in papers until today…”
“Oh…you must be a student of Glazer?”
Van Guerin was dumbstruck. There was no
hint of hatred or vice in Agnew’s voice. It was as casual as if he was asking
if Yankees would win today. His silence meant he had not yet recovered.
“A brilliant man... But eccentric”
Agnew continued-oblivious to Van Guerin
silence, which showed he was no longer at ease.
“We were friends. I am sure he must have mentioned me.”
“He did, sir. He always held you in high
regard”
The mundane atmosphere was broken by a
high pitched laugh which did not suit the old man.
“Derek, you share Glazer’s genius and
of course his hazel eyes. There is no need to share his mendacious ways.”
Van Guerin remained silent. He had hoped
that the white lie would avoid embarrassments, but instead Agnew had taken it
as an opportunity to have a go at Glazer’s values. Van Guerin remained silent
hoping Agnew would continue and he did.
“Science has fathered many sons. And
the only quality common to every one of them is envy and odium towards his
brothers”
“Sorry, sir”
“It’s okay. Now I am intrigued by your
project. Would it be correct if I simply said you are working on biosynthetic
brain?”
Van Guerin was completely caught off guard.
But he replied, in a faint voice which conceded defeat in the attempt to
conceal the nature of his project on the whole.
“Yes, sir”
***
Same
time, elsewhere.
Crashing
into unknown territories was nothing new for him. However, never had he been entrusted with an act of such
enormity as this one. He had an ally
and a target. It seemed justified, his
decision to start his mission from where they got the signal. He was not even sure if the rulers of
his place knew of his presence in a land far away and so different from theirs.
But he believed in the man he served. He had never been wrong in
any of his predictions. That meant a lot more to him and the believers.
The fall did not hurt him as much as he
expected it to. But in order to avoid detection, he had to resort to crude measures. That meant additional
problems. He had to find another
device for his transportation here.
His
vehicle had now sealed itself and would open only with a reactivation code
which only his ally here knew-
precaution to ensure that he kept his oath no matter what. But first, he had to hide his vehicle for it would attract unwanted attention which could
jeopardize his return to motherland.
Before worrying about returning, he knew he had to chalk out a plan. A plan
that, should it be successful, would change the life of the generations to
come.
And now, he
had a task in hand
“Dies Irae…Here
I come”
***
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