Time Sniffers (A Sample)

" As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality." -Albert Einstein

"Harnessing the energy of the sun and stars to meet the Earth's energy needs has long been a scientific challenge . . ."

It's the following day and I'm playing an interview of my mom, taken back in March, when the government dumped a few billion dollars of research money in the DOE's lap. I glance up from the mounting table as I adjust and tweak the focusing lenses according to the diagram in her binder. I know I don't have any of the sophisticated equipment she used at GNL, but I do have three samples of the crystal she used during that pencil incident. I'm taking an educated guess that a different doped crystal was responsible for the accident, that I'm safe working with the ones marked KDP-01-FR-35-UUB, which I can only guess indicates the saturation formula.

"While a self-sustaining fusion burn has been achieved for brief periods under controlled experimental conditions, there was no energy gain, which is essential if fusion energy is to supply a continuous stream of electricity . . ."

My mom's droning comforts me; I imagine she's there, guiding my hands and thoughts. Show me, Mom. Show me what happened to you. I review her notes and match the diagram with the three-dimensional replication I've just constructed. I also have a holo-clip on the plastex screen from the disk, but the angle is skewed and doesn't help me much. Then I take a big breath and dim the lights. I stand there and listen to the silence, thick silence. This starts me thinking about space and energy and vacuum pressure. And dark matter.

". . . is called 'the equation of state.' That is, the ratio of pressure that dark matter puts on the universe to the energy per unit volume . . ."

The interviewer, I notice, has a really bad haircut. He leans across the table with keen interest in my mother's words, nodding his head and urging her with his eyes to continue. No doubt utterly flummoxed by what she's saying but pretending this is old stuff. Whoever did his makeup for the segment put too much base on his cheeks. But, my mom looks good-young for her thirty-seven years. A few laugh lines around her mouth; but, then, she likes to laugh. People remark often on how funny it sounds, like a cross between a guffaw and a snort, when she really gets rolling. Dylan has her laugh, and he's just as ticklish, putting Dad and me at an advantage in a tickle fight. There are just a few spots where I don't like to be touched-right above my knee and the bottom of my feet. My family learned early that they get a reflexive punch if they stray too close to my keep-out zones. I can't help myself. One time Dad pinned me down and went for both feet. I bent my knees and belted him in the gut, sending him flying off the couch, where he smacked his head against the floor. Good thing our living room is carpeted.