Fatal Containment

Fatal Containment - chapter 6

Chapter 6

Cheryl walked into the medical bay and found Sandy Dovell sitting up in bed sipping a cup of soup. She walked over and sat on the edge of her bed.

"Hi, I'm Cheryl Kinson. Mind if I ask how you're feeling?"

Sandy was still somewhat pale after her experience but looking mildly better. She lowered her cup of soup and looked at Cheryl.

"I'm feeling a little better," she said and automatically turned her head to look into the autopsy theater at the far end of the bay.

Cheryl cut straight to the point. "Do you know of anyone that might have wanted to see Dr. van Helm dead?"

"Well, you're very direct, aren't you," Sandy said sheepishly. "I know Maxim and Tyrell don't get along, but I don't think he wanted to kill Maxim."

"What is their disagreement about?" Cheryl asked.

"Maxim is... was a purist and has always wanted our research to harness the organic side of humanity as much as possible. That's why Candice is on the team. If they can find a way to tap into her human ability to interact with forces in other dimensions, then we can deliver our technology with practically no need for invasive mechanical apparatuses."

"But Tyrell is a nanotech scientist," Cheryl put forward.

"That's right. He sees a faster path to success if we can use machines to bridge the gaps. With Candice unlocking the human receptors, all he needs do is provide the nanotechnology to connect the human mind to computer transmission and control systems."

"But computer systems can possibly be monitored and hijacked," Cheryl said, understanding dawning. "That's why van Helm wants—wanted to favor a completely human solution. It's practically unbreakable."

"And it would give imperial forces a command-and-control superiority in the field that couldn't be matched."

Cheryl considered for a moment. If the emperor had the capability to instantly send telepathic instructions to his troops stationed anywhere in the galaxy, he could direct them to military and civilian targets with nearly omnipresent intelligence. At the same time, he could receive information from all known space—at the same time. Omniscience. She suddenly found the prospect quite alarming. Had anyone considered how powerful he would become?

"So where does your research fit in?" Cheryl asked with peaked curiosity.

Sandy seemed to relax a little, being more comfortable in her own realm.

"Well, as a quantum physicist, I can demonstrate that subatomic particles are simply manifestations of quantum strings that span other dimensions. My research allows us to selectively target specific subatomic particle groups regardless of locality."

Cheryl shook her head. "How can you possibly see a particle on the other side of the galaxy?" she asked.

Sandy smiled as she enjoyed talking about her research.

"First, you have to understand that particles are simply little dollops of vibrating stringiness that manifest as different particles in our universe, such as, electrons, neutrinos, even quarks. And each string also carries force as manifested by photons, chronons and gravitons. The way they do this is through vibrations that impinge on our four-dimensional space. Each string is so tiny that it appears to us as nothing more than a microscopic particle, but each string can vibrate with different notes, the same way you can get different notes out of a guitar string."

"So to communicate energy from one particle to another simply means listening and then connecting to their unique string. Here, let me show you."

Sandy sat up in bed and rescued a small vegetable the size of a pea from her soup. She held it out so Cheryl could see it.