"Leonard Speaking"
'Leonard Thinking'
Warehouse, Washington DC, Two months later
The room was silent as seven scientists looked through an insulated observation room. The experiment was going on and the results were about to be displayed. Karen bit her fingers in nervousness, Natasha silently sipped her coffee, shivering at the cold and bitter taste. Looking at the cup in distaste, she placed it aside. The Gus Pair were quiet, keenly observing every fluctuation to understand what can be improved.
The three senior scientists, Leonard, William and Paige were looking at the machine evenly, their eyes unconsciously moving as they calculated the success and failure rate of the experiment. William's eyes were red and bleary from being awake for the past thirty six hours, Paige's hair were slightly dull and there was a hollowness in her eyes. This was their thirtieth experiment. Due to power constraints, the experiment could only be conducted once every two days, after which, the batteries spent about two days to charge, in time for the next experiment.
Suddenly, the machine powered down as the results were displayed on the screen. Seven pairs of tired eyes looked at the result.
Burton, the most rested of the group, read the results, "Collision percentage is at ninety eight percent, so that is good. The new plasma density has pushed us far past the initial seventy percent. At the impact site, we get a short pulse of gamma, but no stable black hole. Another bust."
Suddenly, Natasha cursed, "Goddammit. This is already the thirtieth time. Why can't we move past that gamma puff?"
Karen tried to reassure her, "Don't lose hope Nat. Didn't Edison also try a thousand materials before he found the right material for the light bulb."
Natasha, still in a bad mood, yelled, "Edison was not experimenting with the same intensity or desperation. Every single two hour failure pushes us two days back. Two days of drawing, calculating, recalibrating. And at the end, all for a puff of gamma."
William, who was still looking at the experimental data with tired eyes, folded the data sheets and looked at Leonard helplessly. He suggested, "Maybe we are missing some angle in the results. We can recalculate. I am sure we can get the results soon."
Leonard looked defeated as he turned around and looked at his team. Tired red eyes, disheveled appearances, some had even lost weight. When he had started the experiment, the team was very enthusiastic. But now, their spirit seemed to give up. He heaved a sigh and walked away, moving towards the loft under Paige's worried glance. As he reached the loft, his eyes were drawn to the messy bunk beds. Over the past months, he had received progress reports from Stan. The company was raking in billions from their patent licenses, scientific developments and their targeted medicine. He was a billionaire, yet his team lived like prisoners in a warehouse.
Defeated, he sat on his own bunk bed, rubbing his chin, realising that his beard had grown out over the past two months. Suddenly, he heard steps as Paige walked to the loft. She walked over and sat beside him. For a minute there was silence between the two before Paige said, "You aren't going to abandon the experiment, are you?"
Leonard's head snapped to her, unsure how to answer, or perhaps unsure how to express his helplessness. This was the most helpless he found himself ever since he got the Pill. As he lowered his head, Paige continued, "We will continue the experiment. Over the next few days, let's go over the calculations again."
Leonard whispered, "Why do you still believe the experiment has hope? Over the past months, I have been questioning my direction more and more."
Paige snapped, "When you called me for this experiment, did you think that the experiment may fail?"
Leonard shook his head, as Paige gritted, "Then don't think about failure. If you break, the team will fall apart, and this experiment will become a dark shadow on you. What you need is a break, to refresh your vision and mind. Moping around will not make the experiment a success."
Leonard chuckled as he looked at Paige, his eyes narrowing with amusement and gratitude. He took a deep breath and walked towards the edge of the loft. Watching his team move back to the drawing board, a sense of joy, and determination rose in him. He cleared his throat, gaining everyone's attention, before announcing, "Team, after this setback, I have decided that the next experiment will not be conducted till next week. Let's get a drink. For the next week, let's forget this warehouse even exists. We will stay in the city, enjoy the sights and pamper ourselves a little. Before this experiment, let's repair our spirits a little."
The young members cheered as they quickly packed the unimportant aspects. William slowly walked towards the stairs as Leonard came down, "Do you think it is wise to take a break now? We are so close to success that I can even taste it."
Leonard smirked, "Well, what does it taste like?"
William looked annoyed, "This is not a time for jokes."
Leonard smiled, "I know that we are at a critical juncture. But if we die right at the finish line, we will never be able to cross it. Now, let's discuss it later."
With that, Leonard moved out of the room, walking towards a minivan, a rental he got on his last trip to the city for convenience. Soon, the entire team loaded itself into the car, traveling towards the city.
Freddy's BBQ Joint, Washington DC
The seven scientists settled into a quaint little barbeque joint, nestling beers, waiting for their food. There was a slight gloom in the air, as the group thought about their experiment.
Gustin chimed, "Dr. Hofstadter, why are we even doing this experiment? What are you hoping to achieve?"
Leonard looked up from his glass, before saying, "As we move to advanced tech, our energy requirement will also increase. I would say, in about fifteen years from now, we will have wars for energy. If we can achieve the result we are looking for, we might be able to solve this problem."
William continued, "That is an understatement. If we achieve the desired result, the world will change forever. It will be as significant as the nuclear bomb, or brain transplant surgery."
Leonard took a sip from his beer, before saying, "You know, about four years ago, I would never have thought of doing this experiment. I was content with lasers. Now, here I am, doing things people could only dream of."
Karen, curious by nature, asked, "What happened?"
Leonard leaned back in his chair, his eyes finding the ceiling. He whispered, "For years, I kept myself shackled, going along with life like a marionette. My entire existence was bound in five rooms, the same characters, the same situations. One morning, I found myself making a choice, whether I wanted to keep the strings or cut them off…"
Paige smiled, "He decided to cut the strings. Now, he is free in ways normal people can never be."
The four young scientists listened to the story with rapt attention. William, who was gulping down beer since he came, asked, "What about those who were left behind?"
Leonard looked at William with a questioning gaze, "What exactly do you mean?"
William answered, "When I became obsessed with exotic matter, I cut off all contact with people. All my time was consumed by research. I didn't attend my mother's funeral because of it. Even my younger brother was cut off. Now, I often think if I made the right choice or not."
Leonard thought for a second, before saying, "I just have to trust the people to manage without me. Their lives will not end by your departure. They will just readjust in patterns without you."
Paige raised her beer mug, saying, "Now, we are dedicated to something far more important. Something that will change the future of mankind. To the future."
Every member lifted their mugs, and yelled, "To the future."
As the evening went on, the crowd thinned. The group began to enjoy the atmosphere, listening to old music, eating and drinking. For the first time in two months, the group felt relaxed.
Suddenly, the door opened and an older man in a crisp suit, with a pale face and sharp eyes entered the diner. The man shouted, "The usual Frank."
The owner, Frank, smiled and shouted back, "As you wish Frank."
Soon, the man passed by their booth, Leonard being the first to notice. Looking at the man, his eyes hardened slightly. Paige, as if sensing his change, looked at him with questioning eyes. Leonard said, "Let's go now. It is already quite late."
The group nodded and stood up. The group's sudden movement interrupted the man's path as he collided with Leonard. The man, shaking off the collision, gave them a practiced smile, before saying, "My apologies, I was walking too fast."
Leonard gave a similar smile, "Please don't apologize. It was my mistake. I didn't look where I was going."
The man extended his hand, "I am Frank Underwood. I am a regular here. Did you find the place pleasant."
Leonard nodded, "The food here is excellent. My compliments to the chef. I am Dr. Leonard Hofstadter. It's been a pleasure to meet you sir."
Soon, the group exited the place. Looking at the man, Burton said, "He seems friendly."
Leonard laughed, "He sure does. Friendly as a viper. That man will soon become the President."
A Week Later
For the past week, Leonard did not engage in any experiments, did not rush back to the board, did not calculate anything. The past week was spent in R&R for the entire team. They went to watch games, played in arcades, and attended musical concerts. As Leonard reached the lab, he found the entire team there, their eyes clear and sharp, their clothes cleaned and their hair neatly groomed. The entire team held the same energy they did at the start of the experiment.
As the team was about to start, Leonard stopped them, "Before we begin another experiment, I believe we have to rethink the problem a bit. Where did our collisions take place?"
Burton quickly showed the diagram to Leonard, "These are the places where the collisions happened. Most of these collisions are random, happening in various parts of the collider."
Leonard nodded, "In that case, let's make a special collision chamber. Gustin, this is a list of things we need, could you get them?"
Gustin looked at the list with concentration, "Sure."
Leonard nodded, before turning to William, "Will, once the collision chamber is ready, I want to add a pair of Casimir plates inside it."
William looked oddly, "You want to use exotic energy?"
Leonard nodded, "That puff of gamma we received in the past fifteen experiments is Hawking Radiation. We were able to form the black hole, but it was for a momentary nanosecond, before it destabilized. If we can have the collision in an exotic energy environment, the negative energy density will keep the black hole from losing energy."
William looked excited, "Yes! That can actually work."
The team waited as Gustin slowly brought the required equipment. They had a direction now, so every member of the team was more enthusiastic, assembling the collision chamber in record time. Leonard quickly used Null to connect the chamber to the collider. Soon, the team was in the observation room, as the experiment was conducted once again.
The collider hummed as it accelerated the particles to the desired velocity. The particles soon traveled through a plasma wakefront, before arriving in the vacuum collision chamber. The particles finally collided in between the two Casimir plates.
The team nervously looked at the data. Burton informed, "The rate of collision is a hundred percent. For a second, the gravity in the collision chamber increased, before we got a puff of gamma once again."
The four assistants cried in despair, the experiment had failed once again. Their enthusiasm, which was through the roof, plummeted to the ground. As Natasha was about to yell in anger, they heard a full bellied laugh. Turning to their superiors, they saw Leonard laughing like a madman, with Paige smiling as she hugged him. William had tears in his eyes as he left the observation room, before approaching the Chronon trap. With excited eyes, he yelled, "Leonard, we did it. We have successfully harvested a bit of Chronon."
Seeing the confusion in the eyes of the young scientists, Leonard explained, "The second where the gravity increased in the chamber, we achieved our breakthrough. We were able to stabilize that micro black hole for a second."
As the team realized, that while the experiment did not yield an ideal result, it yielded a positive one. The Gus Pair whooped as Karen and Natasha gave each other a high five. Looking at the excited team, Leonard felt his own eyes tear up slightly. The sense of accomplishment he got, felt out of the world. Wiping his eyes, under the happy gaze of Paige, Leonard yelled, "We will refine the experiment later on. Tonight, we celebrate."
His declaration got resounding cheers, as the entire team filed into the minivan, ready to drink their leader under the table.
AN: Another chapter complete. The story will pick up quickly, once this mini arc is over. The next chapter will complete this arc, while raising the stakes. Stay tunes
AN2: I wish to thank all my patrons for their continued support. Thank you everyone.
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