A Leap of Faith (Part 2)

Chapter 295 - Starting the Scan

It is now just over an hour since Lena arrived at the observatory, and presently she and Mathew have just finished loading her programme, to run the scan, from her laptop and installing it on the mainframe of the observatory itself. They are now just waiting for the go ahead to let them know that all the safety checks have been performed, and the infra-red telescope is ready to go. They are just waiting for confirmation from the other two scientists. As Lena waits though, she can't help but be a little anxious, as she really isn't too sure what this scan is going to do, or even if it will actually be able to find the material that the sword that could hurt and kill Reign is made from. Obviously, knowing that part of this scan, or at least the coordinates to start the scan at came from her future son, does help a little bit, as Lena doubts he left these coordinates with the scan without a reason. With all that said though, Lena is just really looking forward to actually being able to press the button to start the scan itself, and begin running her programme, as she has no idea how long it's going to take to complete, so the sooner than they start the better, and the sooner the scan can finish and she can be back home with her family. Obviously though, Lena is not going to try and rush Dr Devall, and Dr Emil Mitrovitz, because the last thing she wants to do is rush them to complete all the checks and calibrations, only for the two scientists to miss something in their hurry, and then make the entire scan invalid, which they don't find out for a few days. So, Lena would prefer they do everything correct right now, and take their time doing so, rather than rush things. This doesn't really help Lena's anxiousness though.

"May I ask what is this scan attempting to do?" Mathew now asks, clearly in an attempt to fill the silence after he and Lena have completed loading Lena's programme onto the mainframe of the facility, "If you really can't tell me, that's okay. But you can say in vague terms, if that would be acceptable?"

Lena now sighs a little bit, but not because she is frustrated, or annoyed by the question, just in an attempt to release some of her anxiousness before she answers the question.

"What I can say, in vague terms, is this programme is attempting to use the infra-red signature of a material, and locate it at a specific set of coordinates out in space." Lena explains, "Unfortunately, due to the classified nature of this, I can't go into more detail about the specifics of it."

"Hmmmm.... Okay.... I understand." Dr Mathew Schummer says, "Do you have any idea how long this scan will take to complete?"

"Absolutely no idea." Lena says, "To be honest, I don't even know if it will work or not. I'm a little anxious to find out."

"Oh.... well.... hopefully it won't be too long now, and we can start the scan." Mathew says.

"Yes, hopefully." Lena nods.

Lena and Mathew then just both sit there silently, neither really sure what to say now, just waiting for the all clear so that they can start the scan. After about 5 more minutes of this, with Lena and Mathew both checking the programme, and making sure everything looks like it's running on the mainframe correctly several times, they are soon interrupted by Dr Devall now walking into the mainframe room.

"Okay. Everything is ready." Dr Devall says, "You can start up your programme."

"Thank you." Lena says, letting out a brief of relief.

Lena then walks over to the computer main frame, ready to start the programme.

"May I?" Lena asks Mathew.

"Of course." Mathew nods.

Lena then leans down, and initiates the programme, with everything starting up just as expected.

"Now, we wait." Lena says, as she watches the programme tick away on the screen.