Chapter 134 (1/2)
Athos
Within the city of Emege, nonstop changes had occurred in the previous six weeks. What had once been a containment chamber of Ancient design, had undergone extreme modification. Janus's ascended ability to create functioning material objects and matter at will had greatly accelerated the project. Ultra durable nanotube based power conduits now ran throughout the chamber building, branching off towards the stargate far beyond the abandoned city. Within the chamber resided a four spiked vacuum exciter, mounted atop perturbation synchronizer. On the walls of the chamber could be seen the quantum harmonic oscillators that would provide assist in containing any experienced particle displacement, and channeling these particle/antiparticle pairs into the protective shielding itself.
The chamber control room was illuminated with a faint glow from the myriad of control panels, and display screens. Janus and Eli, over the preceding three days, had run countless simulations of reactor startup. Each and every time, these simulations showed the system was prepared for its initial ignition. In anticipation of startup, the ignition systems were powered up and awaiting activation. As a safety precaution, Lieutenant Scott's team was evacuated back to Borealis for the duration of the systems test.
Putting away his Ipod, Eli took a deep breath to calm his nerves. Despite the assurances of pending success from his partner Janus, Eli's mind kept returning to the mission report he had read regarding McKay's attempt with Project Arcturus on Doranda. Everything was much simpler when life and limb were not on the line, as in a video game the young man thought. The knowledge that he could very possibly be about to change the world was all that managed to calm him down. While Eli had his brief internal crisis, Janus stood across the room studying the young man. With a wistful smile, the ascended being thought back to his early years as a scientist and the feelings of uncertainty.
Ten thousand years, Janus had sat on the Lantean Council and voted for testing of Arcturus under field conditions. At the time it had seemed like the logical decision to protect the Dorandan people. Just how wrong they had all been came as a traumatic shock. The failure of Arcturus served to spur Janus towards development of the Aterro device, which had also been a failure in its own right. So much had changed since then. From the emotionally devastating evacuation of Atlantis flashing forward to current events, Janus felt like a phoenix rising from the ashes to reclaim a galaxy once called home.
”Eli, its time” prompted Janus.
”If you say so, but I've got a queasy stomach about this. Blowing up a solar system won't earn me many cool points with the SGC” m.o.a.ned Eli.
”Have no fear, this will work. I've spent thousands of years perfecting this design, and with your assistance it's now a workable prototype. Sometimes, one must believe to accomplish great things” Janus said in affirmation.
”I'm ready when you are boss man” replied Eli.
”Then let us begin. Powering up harmonic oscillators and directional couplers” announced Janus.
”Collectors coming on line now” replied Eli.
Within the containment chamber an intense flash of golden hued light appeared. As the flash morphed into an orb encompassing the vacuum exciter, vibrations translated throughout the city. As vacuum energy built, vacuum fluctuations and perturbation began to make their presence known. Power output surged spontaneous symmetry breaking was noted. As energy wave flux built, the dynamic wave couplers engaged, providing order to the chaotic particle/antiparticle pairs that were appearing and destroying themselves within the chamber.
”Shield strength is building” said Eli.
”Feynman predictions are constant. I'm increasing power” replied Janus.
The protective shield around the vacuum exciter flashed much like a strobe light. The writhing spherical forms shape morphed incessantly. With each strobe of light, the protective shield grew stronger. As more and more vacuum energy was withdrawn from the area within the chamber, ever increasing numbers of particle/antiparticle pairs were created and annihilated. The toxic environment surrounded by this field crackled with harnessed power.
”I'm detecting nonlinear effects and birefringence Eli. Power draw is approaching fifty percent of predicted” stated Janus jubilantly.
”Vacuum properties are analogous to the properties of the harmonic oscillator ground state. Generated power flow is beginning to level out” replied Eli.
”The automatic gate dialing protocol is engaging” announced Janus.
At that moment a subroutine initiated. This specific subroutine was directly tied to the newly integrated DHD. With the original Project Arcturus, a Dorandan energy weapon acted as the release valve to staunch the flow of unchecked power buildup. Aware of the sheer scope of power that would be generated; a program had been written to dial a distant stargate along Destiny's path. The line of thinking being that a wormhole created to cover such a vast distance would easily consume a large percentage of available power.
As the Pegasus model gate dialed, incredible amounts of power channeled through the recently added power conduit towards the ancient device. The naquadah composition of the gate began to absorb the energy channeled into it. Repeating an act that had before led to the destruction of naqaudria cored planets, the wormhole formed leading to the far corner of the universe.
”We have a stable wormhole” exclaimed Eli.
”You've done it, we've done it really, but as far as your people need be concerned you did it Eli. Once we present this to your government, we can get down to some very exciting work” said Janus with a smile.
”I'm looking at the energy output and this is incredible! Thirteen hundred and seventy three zettajoules! Annual global energy consumption on Earth is only half a zettajoules” proclaimed an astonished Eli.
After that statement, Eli's mind began to drift. What were the true ramifications of this project? Unlimited clean energy on a planetary scale, stronger shields and weapons, faster hyper drives; the possibilities were endless. Many discoveries throughout the life of the program had yielded advancements for mankind, but this one was possibly the largest game changer of them all.