Author's Note: Okay Agent Sands. You can have Josh, as long as I get Serge. ~_^ Not a bad decision if I may congratulate you, but I could never part with my favorite Frenchman. [Hugs Serge very tight]
Serge: What did I tell you already? Don't make me go get Joshua!
Eep. Please, don't send me from your presence.
Serge: What the hell, you're acting like I'm God.
[Hugs Serge]
Serge: JOSHUA!!
[Weeps as she is once again dragged away from Serge]
~God, I'm like a fan-girl. Terrible. Well I can't help it. I'm a big fan of Tckeky Karyo. [hugs Tcheky]
Tcheky: We are not starting this again.
^_^
~
Chapter Five
Unobtainium
~
Salt Flats, Utah
Purcell, Josh, Serge, and Zimsky were overlooking a vast desert. Mountains, shrubbery, sand dunes, all of it was bypassed in just a few moments until they came to a clear spacing in what seemed to be the dead center of the dessert. A shanty town, practically, lie beneath their feet. Josh frowned in disappointment. So this was where there famed ship builder lived? Didn't seem too promising.
"Probably had to disassemble the town just to build the damn thing." Serge whispered in his hear. Or what could have passed as a whisper over the roar of the chopper's propeller. When they landed, Purcell, Zimsky, Josh, and Serge left the security of the chopper to come upon the largest of all the makeshift metal buildings. An elderly black man walked firmly out to greet them, but his expression soured upon seeing Zimsky's face.
"Hello, Braz." Zimsky greeted cheerfully while lighting a cigarette. The man shook his head, laughing to cover up some mysterious disappointment.
"Why the hell aren't you dead yet?" he asked. Purcell frowned at the greeting. Zimsky merely cocked his head. Braz shrugged his shoulders and started to walk away. "Okay, this way."
Josh looked questioningly at Zimsky.
"Well," he stated, removing his cigarette. "...that went better than I expected." Josh nodded.
"Doctor Brazzleton, I see you know Doctor Zimsky." Purcell stated as they walked along toward the hanger.
"Yeah." Braz stated sharply. "Twenty years ago he stole my research. After that we-we kind of lost touch." he laughed bitterly.
"Research that was equally mine." Zimsky argued.
"That's funny, I don't remember a check from any of the patents."
"All right, Braz. Twenty years in the desert makes you a prophet and a martyr." Zimsky took a drag from his cigarette. "Look, we're here about your legendary ship."
~
"Okay," Braz started to explain as he uncovered what appeared to be a high powered Gatling gun. "...I'm combining high frequency pulse lasers with resonance tube ultrasonics. Um, if you've ever seen ultrasonic waves break up a kidney stone on the Discovery Channel, it's the same deal here." Braz stepped behind an alter like operating unit and looked to the four observers a few yards away. "You can...put your helmets on now." Braz warned. Everyone did so immediately. "Firing."
The ultrasonic tubes on the sides started to rotate, gaining speed to the point where Josh's eyes, now shielded by the goggles, could no longer follow the movement. A neon green light began to illuminate the "back burners" of the gun. Soon a high pierced humming resonated through their ears, and a great beam of light tore through the air before them and into the rock structure to their left. Purcell, Zimsky, and Serge held desperately to their goggles and helmets. They were all immediately knocked backward. After that, Josh remembered nothing but Braz's shouts and hoots of joy and laughter. Dust filled the air around them. "Woo-hoo! Woo-hoo!" Braz did a small dance, then rushed to turn off the lasers as he noticed his audience was now sprawled out on the ground.
"Yeah. Oh." Braz stated.
Josh struggled to get to his feet. Purcell was kneeling beside him, gazing in the direction of the beam's fire with awe. Josh could barely make anything out. Zimsky and Serge were still on their bums.
As one they eventually made their way over to the seventy foot hole that reached all the way through the rock to the other side.
"Okay. I'm officially impressed." Josh whispered as Serge spat out an unnatural amount of dust and saliva. They turned to Braz.
"So, all right." Zimsky stated. "So you've made some progress with the engine, we'll grant you. Have you begun to think about a shell?"
Serge put his sun glasses back on as Josh stared questioningly at the "engine".
~
"Okay this, is Alex." said Braz, introducing them to a small white lab mouse. "Good. Alex, good." the mouse was placed in an odd black box with some rough covering. Josh laughed as Zimsky merely eyed the procedure with critical skepticism. "Okay, here we have a concrete block, and in back of that we have a two-inch steel plate." Everyone nodded.
All moved to put their safety goggles on.
"Okay. We're ready." Zimsky stated.
"And we are...firing."
Braz started up a similar looking "engine". A beam of light shot into the block but didn't touch it. The cement block dissolved as well as the two inch steel plate, instantly, along with whatever metal the hanger was made out of. A board fell covering past attempts with the weapon.
When all was finished, Braz moved forward and pulled Alex forth from the black box, alive and completely untouched.
"Voila!"
Josh ripped his protective eyewear from his head, his face contorted into complete surprise and wonder.
"That's...."
"That's impossible!" Serge complete the statement.
~
"I combined the crystals in a tungsten-titanium matrix at super cool temperatures, and that's what did the trick." Braz stated breathily, showing to them what looked like a scientist might hang on his rear view mirror in his Ferrari to substitute for the traditional fuzzy dice.
Purcell shook his head. "The applications for this are just..." he couldn't finish.
Serge picked up the black box and inspected it. "What do you call this material?"
"Well its real name has thirty seven syllables. I call it unobtainium."
"Unobtainium?" Josh laughed.
"Mm-hmm."
~
"The unobtainium will take the heat and the pressure and transform it to energy, which in turn, reinforces the shell of the ship, you see." Braz went around adjusting large construction projects. This part of the hanger was obscenely darker than the others. "So the hotter and the deeper she gets, the strong she gets, theoretically." he pulled a canvas down which in turn sent a large bird flying to the ground.
"Theoretically?" Zimsky came in.
"Theoretically, yes. This...is Johnson don't mind him." Braz stated, pointing to the obviously perturbed bird. The canvas that Braz had been pulling down revealed the designs of a cage like work area. He stood in the center of it, explaining excitedly what it was they were seeing. "This is the prototype for the cockpit here."
"Excuse me, Doctor Brazzleton," Serge stepped forward. "...when do you think this ship will be operational?"
Braz started to move his hands around, mentally doing the math and statistics.
"When I get my fabrication methods perfected....twelve...ten years, ten years."
"What would it take to get it done in three months?" Purcell asked.
Braz started to laugh in embarrassment. "Fifteen billion dollars. I..."
Purcell cocked his head. "Will you take a check?"
Braz stared at the General in questioning amazement. Josh leaned over.
"Why don't you use a credit card? You get miles."
For the first time, Purcell actually laughed at something the young scientist said.
"Mm." he nodded.
