Jake is young, brilliant, dedicated—a particle physicist and systems engineer, already near the top of his field. He’s working with antimatter in ways never attempted before. He leads a team of three other engineers, demonstrating skill in motivating people. Believing in the society in which he lives, he works to do what he can. But his dream is to use his knowledge to stop wars.
Unfortunately, Jake lives in Verdant Prime, subject to the over-control of Solity. Instead of international recognition for his work, he’s Assigned to General Defense, building an antimatter bomb to be used in the looming war. He hates what he does.
He was proud to be part of Solity; it gave him purpose. Jake at twenty-nine Verdant years old had advanced rapidly in the six years since he received a doctorate in particle physics. Of course, he imagined much more useful things to do with his physics and engineering knowledge, but this was what Solity needed. Or so he was told. It didn’t matter. Like everyone else, he had no choice.
“Indy, can you give me those results on the containment? And come here. Let’s talk about them.”
“Okay, Jake. They’re coming to your desk holo now.”
Jake extended one finger to point in the air into the graphs. “This looks good. The laser cage is holding the latest antihelium nuclei with a safety factor of…” He paused to read the numbers. “…about five times, right?”
“That’s what I read, also. So, we don’t need to worry about our little spark getting out.” Indy glanced at the containment chamber. A glowing pinpoint visible through the glass hurt their eyes whenever they looked inside.
Jake continued, “Well, at least we’re not going to accidentally blow up the city. It always worries me that antimatter can’t be made fail-safe. It takes all our equipment operating to keep it safe; if something fails, it touches normal matter and we’re done for. But all this apparatus doesn’t get us a bomb we can use. The chamber and its support are far too large.”
Not Like Us, Doc Honour 2022
Despite his own desires, though, Jake keeps working on what he’s been told to do.
Until he meets Zofia. A spark happens, somewhat more personal than that mote of antimatter. She’s fascinating to him, and she introduces him to new ways of thinking—ways that could quickly lead to sedition.
Doc Honour
December 2022
Doc Honour Books 