"Leonard Speaking"
'Leonard Thinking'
Chaldea based CRADLE, Madagascar
Leonard sat on a black chair in his lab, his back slouched over the table in exhaustion. It had been four months since he decided to solve Chaldea's energy crisis. Four months—with nothing to show for it. His pen scratched across the blueprint, the strokes growing harsher with each line. With a sigh of mounting frustration, he crumpled the paper and tossed it into the wastebasket—where it landed atop a mound of failures.
Leonard leaned back, the chair moving subtly to adjust to the most comfortable and correct posture. His eyes found the waste basket again, noting the overflowing, crumpled sheets. The chair rippled, growing wheels in an instant and moving out of the lab.
Leonard slowly moved through the empty halls, his chair moving smoothly towards his room. Looking around the base, Leonard sighed. Tonight was his last night at the base.While CRADLE was almost empty right now, it will be full later. Besides, it was mainly designed to be a genetics and environmental research base. It did not have all the tools. Tomorrow, many geneticists associated with Chaldea will occupy the base. Leonard will have to take his research somewhere else.
As Leonard passed in front of a window, the reflection caught his eye. With his wheelchair and suit, he looked like Professor X, even though he had short, curly hair. He chuckled in amusement before getting up from the chair. The chair collapsed, melting like a liquid and reconstituted itself into a cube. Leonard picked up the cube and walked into his room.
With an exhausted sigh, he plopped on the bed, his eyes blankly looking at the ceiling. Ever since his last meeting, he had been working continuously to solve Chaldea's energy problems. A lot of experiments, like his Stargate experiment with Paige, Finch's Oracle and many others, were failing at critical junctures due to power cuts.
Leonard whispered, "No matter what I do, I can't seem to stabilize the reaction at room temperature. Be it materials, geometry or even the reactants. A single fusion would instantly melt metal without a coolant. What should I do?"
For a second, he thought to call Paige, but somehow, he stopped himself. Paige was also working hard on the Stargate project. He couldn't pull her out of that state just to brainstorm ideas. Tiredly, Leonard pulled up his phone and started running through his contacts. Suddenly one contact came to his attention. Time seemed to stop as Leonard looked at the contact, his thumb hovering over it with indecision. Finally, with a sigh, he dialed.
Apartment 4A, Pasadena
Sheldon was getting ready for his day. Since today was Friday, he put on his Flash T-shirt, ready to go.
Sheldon called, "Amy, are you ready? If we are delayed any longer, we will be late, by ten minutes, to the university."
Amy came out of her room, wearing a simple office shirt, a skirt and a multi-colored cardigan. Sheldon smiled as she came out. He found himself smiling a lot these days. Soon, the two sat in the car, with Amy driving steadily towards the university. Suddenly, Sheldon's phone rang. He was about to let it ring when Amy asked, "Aren't you going to get it?"
Sheldon smiled condescendingly, "Amy, my time is very valuable. If I were to attend this call, we might miss our daily driving game. Today, I was going to propose a game of counting dogs on the way to the university. This will also allow me to identify the streets we have to avoid on our next date."
Amy shrugged before saying, "It might be something important. Who is calling anyway?"
Sheldon looked at the screen, recognising the number. He froze, his fingers trembling as the screen lit up with the caller's name. With shaky hands, he took the call, "Hello Leonard."
From the other end, a smooth, masculine voice came, "Hey Sheldon, it's been a while."
Suddenly, Sheldon yelled, "Dammit woman, keep your eyes on the road. Yes, Leonard, how have you been?"
Leonard said, "It has been good. I just needed a bit of help."
Sheldon seemed smug, "Oh, so is the great Leonard Hofstadter asking for help?"
Suddenly, Leonard said, "Well, I didn't want to bother Paige with this, but if you continue to be a jerk, it seems we have nothing to talk about. Goodbye…"
Sheldon interrupted, "I was just joking, Buzzinga. What did you need?"
Leonard asked, "How would you stabilize a space when the energy of the space is expanding?"
Sheldon thought for a second, before asking, "Is the question theoretical or practical? There are multiple ways to do this theoretically, but practical solutions are non-existent. For example, you could shunt the energy to higher dimensions, making it available at later times. Or you could use exotic matter as a barrier. Even high gravitational fields can stabilize the space. Unfortunately, none of them is feasible. What were you trying?"
Leonard answered, "Well, I was trying to use space geometry and material to stabilize the space. But the requirements were too high. Thank you Sheldon, you were a big help."
Sheldon interrupted, "Hang on Leonard, I have helped you, so you cannot just stiff me with a simple thank you."
Leonard sounded exasperated, "What do you want Sheldon?"
Sheldon was quiet for a moment, before he spoke, "I will get married in two months. You will have to attend the wedding."
Sheldon didn't hear Leonard for a moment, before Leonard said, "Are you sure you want me there?"
Sheldon looked at Amy, who was smiling with joy, "Yes Leonard. My wedding will be incomplete without you. I don't say it often, but please come."
Leonard chuckled and said, "Very well, I will take out time for this event."
Chaldea Base CRADLE, Madagascar
Leonard placed his phone to his side, a smile on his face. It seemed he wasn't the only one growing. With newfound energy, he stood up from the bed and reached his desk. Opening his laptop, he plugged a SynthBrain CPU to it, and started Cygnus.
Cygnus greeted, "Good evening sir, how may I assist you today?"
Leonard replied in turn, "Good evening Cygnus, find me experts on Exotic Matter."
Cygnus went to work and soon, a list of fifty experts came to the screen. Leonard went through the list, his face scrunched, eyes narrowed in concentration. He said, "Remove the experts who are older than forty."
Soon, the list shrunk down to fifteen names. Leonard nodded with satisfaction, before instructing, "Now, remove the experts who are purely theoretical. I want people with experimental expertise."
The list shrunk again, with five names remaining in the list. Leonard went through the achievements of each expert, understanding their experience and gauging their suitability. Finally, his eyes zeroed on one name. Taking a print of those details, Leonard started to pack his bag. He was going back to the States.
Redford, Massachusetts
A quaint little home stood on a small hill in the town of Redford. Redford was unassuming at first glance, no different from any other small town in the US. But inside this town lived one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists in the States.
As the sun started to wane, a nervous looking middle aged man came out of the house, lighting his porch lights. At first glance, the man seemed normal, but a closer inspection showed his erratic eyes, twitchy fingers and general absent-mindedness. The man went back into the room, boiling water for a cup of instant noodles. Soon, he carried a steaming cup to his room.
The room was where the man showed his true self. Every inch of the room was covered in diagrams, calculations and research. The man quickly gulped down the noodles and went back to calculations. He muttered, "Ok, the snapback effect is much more pronounced in time dilation scenarios. If only we could test it. The university will not grant the funding for this."
As the man busied himself, there was a knock at the door. Absent-mindedly, the man walked towards the door, taking a Beretta from a small box at the door. Putting the gun off safety, the man asked, "Who is it?"
A smooth baritone answered his question, "Good evening Doctor Joyce, my name is Dr. Leonard Hofstadter. I wanted to discuss something with you. Now, if you can put the gun away, we can talk."
Joyce asked suspiciously, "How do you know I was carrying a gun?"
Leonard answered, "I heard you load the gun, must be a Beretta. As a show of good faith, I am not armed. But I am carrying a cane with me."
Joyce opened the door. Leonard stood there in a casual black suit with a white shirt and a red tie. In his hand was a black cane with a silver swan shaped handle. Seeing the man was truly unarmed, Joyce let him in. Leonard asked, "I would be correct to assume that you are Dr. William Joyce?"
William took out a glass from the kitchen and filled it with soda. Handing the glass to Leonard, he spoke, "You would be correct. So, you are a scientist as well. I don't see you being a medical doctor. What did you want to talk about?"
Taking the offered glass, Leonard explained, "Dr. Joyce, you are one of the premiere experts on the topic of exotic matter. I am currently working on a project where I might need exotic matter."
Joyce waved at him to continue. Leonard said, "I need to stabilize a space undergoing a violent expansion due to sudden release of energy. Now, I understand there are theoretical approaches to this, but I wondered, what if we enclose that space with exotic matter."
Joyce rubbed his chin in thought, sipping from a glass of his own, "Theoretically, it is possible. Exotic matter with its negative energy density should prevent the expansion, but…"
Leonard leaned in, "But?"
Joyce sighed, "You would need a lot of exotic matter to offset the expansion. That means constant harvesting of exotic energy, just to stabilize a space. So, the barrier would work, but it is not feasible. Any other ideas?"
Leonard nodded, "The next idea was to shunt that energy to higher dimensions…"
Joyce interrupted, "How high?"
Leonard asked, "What do you mean?"
Joyce explained, "Jumping dimensions is not a cakewalk. It involves calculations and understanding of geometry. Are you proficient in string theory?"
Leonard shrugged, "I am familiar with it, even though I don't believe in it."
Joyce looked offended at that, "What do you mean you don't believe in it?"
Leonard answered, "String theory basically means that existence is made up of vibrating strings. I believe that strings, while fundamentally correct, are used a bit differently. Instead of a universe being individual knotted strings, I see it as a tapestry. With lower dimensions forming the structure of higher dimensions."
Joyce was lost in thought for a moment. His eyes and fingers moved with silent calculations, before his eyes lit up and he yelled, "That's it! Tapestries explain a lot."
With swift steps, Joyce walked into his office, followed by Leonard. He pulled out a fresh board from under the bed and started writing on it. As his hands moved, Joyce said, "I have been working on this for years. Our Universe has a lot of exotic matter, which gets disturbed by things like high gravity, supernovas etc. In most cases, these events lead to creation of singularities and black holes. It strains the fabric of time and space. When a singularity ends, the fabric of space and time snaps back in place. Sometimes quickly, other times slowly. These snaps can lead to temporal anomalies called fissures. I always thought that these fissures didn't work by the principles of String Theory, but your idea makes these snaps probable."
Leonard asked, "So, Dr. Joyce. Will you be able to help me with my project?"
Joyce asked, completely focused on his board, "Which is?"
Leonard answered, "A room temperature Fusion reactor."
Joyce stopped writing. After a few moments, he remarked, "Are you trying to capture a star in a bottle?"
Leonard smiled, "Something like that. So, interested in joining me?"
Joyce looked at the outstretched hand in front of him. Many people have offered him a hand, but for the first time, Joyce felt sure of taking the hand. He said, "Then, Dr. Hofstadter, I accept. I believe it will be a long and fruitful relationship."
AN: And there you have it, another complete chapter. I apologize for the delay, had a lot on my plate this week.
AN: I wish to thank all my patrons for their support. You help me keep going.