Chapter 1

The door from the hallway popped open. Doctor Kelton swept into lab MCB 432. His eyes took in the room. ”Stand back! We are making history today!” he exulted.

The stark, bright lighting in the lab brought the devices on the table into sharp focus. It looked sterile, with just a hint of menace. On the table at the center of the room sat a coffin-shaped framework. Chromium joints at the intersections of black rods described the framework that surrounded a prototype stainless-steel thorium reactor space heater; the blinking lights, the multitude of wires running between the reactor and the gauges and dials, the Volt meters, and the Geiger counters were impressive looking. The mad scientist setting was completed by a wall-mounted display of lab glassware, flasks, test tubes, and vacuum condensers, with colored glycerin bubbling in the confusion of tubing between the glassware. It had no function, it was just a display piece, but Doctor Kelton thought the ‘lab-warming’ gift from his wife looked awesome mounted on the shelves high on the wall.

“Are we all set?“ Kelton asked.

“Beta, were you able to establish a field this morning?”

“Yeah, I got here first this morning and started running tests. It is behaving just like it did in the other tests,” said Beta.

Behind Beta’s back, Chaz rolled his eyes and mouthed the words, “I got here first this morning” to Alex. Alex snickered quietly and chucked Beta on the shoulder.

“Everything is tested and ready,” said Chaz.

Kelton looked at Beta “Are you recording, Beta?”

Alex couldn't resist. ”I’ll bet we are the only lab in the building with a Beta recorder. “

All the eyes in the room rolled.

“I’m recording.” Beta reported, then hissed under their breath to Alex: “Nobody knows what that is. “

Ignoring the comment, Alex grinned snarkily at Beta “Don’t you mean, we’re recording?”

“Let's focus people” intoned Kelton.” Are the connections secured, Chaz?”

“Yes, the connectors are secure, let's get on with it.” There was an edge of impatience in Chaz's voice.

“OK, It’s 9:35 AM on October 4. I am powering the capacitors. I've opened the liquid nitrogen valve. And I'm engaging the circuit in three, 2, one, now!

SNAP

They flinched at the sound of an electrical arc being struck, but instead of a flash of light, there was a collapse into black. What had been an open framework an instant before, was now a black monolith sitting on the table. All was silent except for the quiet whine of a charging capacitor, and someone drawing a deep breath in preparation for…

Chaz shrieked,” Turn it off, turn it off, turn it off, turn it off, turn it off!”

Kelton punched the power kill switch. Alex rushed to the liquid nitrogen tank and twisted the valve shut. The box stayed black. Chaz’s hand was embedded in the box up to his forearm. In a panic, Chaz jerked and pulled at his arm. The table slid across the floor, but Chaz's hand remained firmly embedded in the box. “My hand, my hand my, my hand! Get it out, get it out, get it out! Turn it off!” Already high-pitched, Chaz's panic continued to rise.

Kelton grabbed Chaz by the shoulders and shook him.

”Stop!” he commanded.

Chaz gave Kelton a glazed look. “My hand, my hand, my hand,” he whispered.

Alex reported, “The field won’t shut off for another 11 minutes.”

Chaz's eyes got wide, his face went red. “Why did you engage? I wasn't ready yet! Were you even looking? You are gonna be so ripping sorry when I can move away from this table.” His already tall frame grew larger and more imposing the angrier he became. He threatened the team, he pulled and strained at his arm, he threatened the university, he jerked and pushed the box across the floor, he threatened physical harm and legal action against Kelton and his family.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Kelton caught Beta’s eye. Beta, nodding at Kelton assured. “We’re still recording…”

Chaz continued to lash out cursing and swearing. He yelled, whispered, muttered. The team tried to calm him,

Alex approached Chaz, trying to offer comfort but retreated quickly as Chaz turned his glare on him. The team waited while his fury slowly dissipated.

“Shall I call 911?” Alex asked Kelton quietly.

“Not just yet. We don’t know what’s happening yet.”

Kelton approached Chaz gently and, in a quiet, assuring voice, told Chaz, “OK. The worst is over. You are going to get the care you need.”

Chaz was quiet for the first time in minutes.

Trying to get Chaz’s mind off his panic, Kelton whispered “OK, what happened?”

Looking confused Alex said, “Well, you know, the box trapped Chaz's hand.”

“I'm talking to Chaz” Kelton said through clenched teeth. ”Chaz, what happened?”

“I noticed the locking ring on the connector was not engaged properly. I told you not to start. I reached in and twisted the ring, but you engaged the box before I was ready! I told you not to start!”

Alex, Beta and Kelton looked at each other with doubting eyes.

“Dude…” Alex started.

“Not now” said Kelton to Alex. Looking at Chaz again he asked quietly. ”Can you feel your hand?”

“I don't know. It feels weird. I'm trying to wiggle my fingers, but I can't tell for sure what's happening. It’s almost like my hand is asleep but without the tingling. My hand, my hand, my hand…” His voice trailed off. There was starting to be a little less panic in his voice, but he was still not completely coherent.

The analysis seemed to calm him. “Let’s report on this experiment, Chaz, is there any pain at your wrist?”

“No Pain”

Beta moved to get close-up shots of the wrist.

-SNAP-

The black sides vanished. Chaz staggered backwards and fell to the floor as the box he was straining against suddenly disappeared and released his hand.

The team flowed in around him. They looked closely at his hand and wrist. There was a stark line of contrast in the skin tone where his hand was in the box, but the contrast faded quickly. Chaz checked the motion of his fingers, wrist, and hands. Everything seems OK” he said as he flexed the fingers of both hands .

Beta trained the camera on Chaz’s hand. “Hey! Check out your watch.”

His watch was eleven minutes slow. The four looked at each other. What had just happened?

The frame still sitting on the table was a result of Kelton's experiment with exotic materials. In his experiments, he applied cryogenics and electrical current. He had observed some exciting and unexplainable reactions. On a hunch, he had built a framework of the rare earth materials. An experiment that had started in cryogenics and superconductivity had turned into something entirely different. In its inactive state, it was a frame of black tubing about the size of a refrigerator tipped on its side. The team referred to it as “the Box’ whether the field was active or not. All they knew at this point was when the box was on there was no telling what was going on inside. Walls of impenetrable abyssmal black filled the open spaces of the framework - and it took exactly 678 seconds for the field to dissipate after it was turned off. So far the team had been unable to come up with a theory about about how it worked or why it worked. All that they knew was that by accident Dr Kelton had stumbled onto something that hadn’t been seen before  and was described nowhere in the literature. Kelton's team and his wife, Gillian were the only ones who knew about the device. They had agreed amongst themselves the discovery was staying in the lab, at least until they had a theory of what the mechanisms involved. The stakes might be very high on this project. They didn’t want another ‘cold-fusion’ media circus to distract them, and they really didn’t want Tilly involving himself in the project. Tilly was the department head and the epitome of academic ladder-climbing, back-stabbing, and envy.

Alex offered Chaz a hand to get up from the floor.

Two quick and entirely unnecessary knocks came at the door, and before anyone could respond Robison Tilly stormed into the room.

“What is going on in here?” He sniped. He paused for effect and glared at each member of the team in turn. “Everyone in this wing can hear the shouting. The University has a strict ‘no profanity’ policy and everyone in this lab knows it. I don’t want to be managing hostile environment complaints for the rest of the week.”

Still a little dazed, “I fell down” Chaz volunteered.

Kelton glanced around the lab. Everything looked to be in order. The frame looked innocuous on the table. The LED temperature indicator on the reactor was still showing the warming-up phase; It was just reaching the two-minute mark.

The team looked back and forth at each other. The message was clear: ‘Don’t say anything!’

“You fell?” demanded Tilly. Liability meetings and post-accident reports ran through his head. “What caused the fall?” Tilly’s eyes ran the room, looking for potential slip and fall hazards.

“Yeah, I think I’m ok. Thanks for asking.” Chaz said sarcastically.

The team didn’t like Tilly. Everyone thought him a self-centered, officious little weasel. At 5’4” with a slight frame, he was the smallest person in the room. The fluorescent tubes in the overhead lights reflected clearly on his bald head.

Tilly waived his hand dismissively. “You have got to tighten up your procedures, Dr. Kelton. This incident is going into your lab utilization records and personal file.” 

Alex mugged, “I’m feeling a little repressed.” Addressing Tilly he said, “Aren’t you late for your microaggression workshop?”

Tilly huffed and tried to slam the door on the way out. The hydraulic arm on the door cushioned the last three inches gently.