Influx Read Free Page B

magnetic material. Surely you don’t claim you’re reflecting gravity?”
    “Superconductors exclude magnetic fields, Doctor.” Grady pointed. “And you must admit our test results look promising.”
    “But . . .” Kulkarni was speechless for a few moments as he watched the cheap malt liquor bubbling around in midair. “If you could bend gravity . . . it would mean . . .” His voice trailed off.
    Grady finished for him. “It would provide compelling support for the existence of gravitational waves. Not to mention gravitons. And a few other things besides.”
    Kulkarni groped for a chair, but all the nearby ones were in pieces. “My God . . .”
    “It is pretty damn cool.”
    Kulkarni started shaking his head again. “No. This must be electromagnetism. Even a nonferrous liquid—”
    “You’re quite right to be skeptical. Our lab is open to you.”
    “Because what you’re suggesting . . . well, the Standard Model of physics . . . this would create an entirely new form of astronomy. It would mean the Nobel Prize. And that’s just for starters.”
    Alcot, Grady, and the technicians exchanged looks.
    Grady laughed. “I hadn’t thought of that, Bert.”
    Alcot raised his eyebrows. “It was the first thing I thought of.”
    Marrano held up his hands. “Whoa! Guys. Hang on a second.”
    They all turned to Marrano.
    “Just an observation: You’re using enough energy to light a hundred thousand homes—to levitate a mouthful of malt liquor six feet off the ground. That’s about as cost-effective as using a Boeing 747 to clean a throw rug.”
    Doctor Kulkarni was starting to ponder what he was looking at as he waved Marrano off. “You’re not realizing the potential significance of this discovery, Mr. Marrano.”
    “Significance is great, but it’s not gonna make the economics work any better.”
    “If what we’re really looking at is antigravity—or a gravity mirror, as you say, Mr. Grady—and we haven’t yet determined that . . .” Kulkarni started examining the computer screen as he spoke to Marrano. “The potential impact would be enormous, it could reveal . . . well, the warp and weft in the fabric of the universe. It would help us understand the structure of space-time itself. So far, gravity is the only force that hasn’t conformed to the Standard Physics Model. No, this is potentially the most significant discovery of the century. Of perhaps any century. It could unlock untold scientific advances. Even a grand unified field theory.”
    The moneymen exchanged looks.
    “Okay, and the commercial potential for that is . . . ?”
    It was the scientists’ turn to look at one another.
    Grady handed the bottle of malt liquor to Kulkarni—who steadied himself by taking a swig. Meanwhile Grady answered Marrano’s question. “Probably not much initially; as you mentioned, it requires huge amounts of energy to induce these exotic particle states—even for just a tiny area. To commercialize it you’d need nearly unlimited energy—”
    Alcot added. “Unlimited cheap energy.”
    “Yes, unlimited cheap, portable energy. Assuming that, you could create reflective gravity devices. But as you mentioned, there are more practical ways to make things fly—”
    Johnson motioned to the bubbling liquid, still floating in the sphere. “So then you’ve created the world’s most expensive lava lamp. Don’t get me wrong—it’s impressive—but at fifty megawatts . . .”
    Kulkarni stepped between them. “You’re not appreciating how important this could be to science.”
    “We brought you here as the voice of reason, Doctor. You’re starting to sound like a nerdy kid at the museum.”
    Grady took the bottle back. “Yeah. I was that kid, too.”
    Kulkarni regained his serious bearing. Nodding, he turned again to Alcot. “Bert, prove to me this isn’t simply some form of electromagnetism. Does it work in a vacuum, for instance? Can we rule out ionic lift?”
    Alcot