Prologue

Professor Robert Bright, Head of Aexis Labs, not the most well-known name, but spoken with revelry in academic circles. The man who would power the world for 'free'. Given operation costs for the aptly named 'Portal', any amount of power could be harnessed from the revolutionary technology. If only he could get it to work.

It took him millions of dollars of funding from all over the free world, a crack team of scientists, and years of effort, and..... nothing came out from it. The readings from the assortment of advanced 'Ether' detectors showed a vast quantity in the area, a location was chosen after a year of searching (with more groups sent off still looking for better areas). The concept devices are working, little flashlights and other similar simple devices that are drawing ambient Ether into them for power. But any attempt at pulling a larger amount of Ether, say enough to power a microwave or greater, just ends in nothing.

Phoenix Tine, Robert's friend and main assistant for almost the entire project, walked back into the mundane office. Robert's office had a desk, three chairs, and a whiteboard. The whiteboard was covered in seemingly meaningless numbers unless you were acutely aware of the complicated mathematics behind the acquisition and usage of Ether. Papers with similar scrawlings covered the desk and filled many of its dark oak drawers.

After the first Ether powered prototype was created, it was discovered that most electronic devices would act strangely when in proximity to the running device. This made computers, cell phones, and similar devices useless in the lab. They didn't disable them, so there were a few around, but anything storing data had the potential to be corrupted or erased. Hence, the massive pile of papers that managed to fill back up after every attempt at cleaning them. Phoenix tsked at Rob, bringing him out of his thoughts. It had been a long journey to this point.

"Checked everything over. All the readings are the same as ever. A slight drop in the ambient Ether, from the machine startup, and then it returns to normal. Diagnostics show that the Portal thinks it is drawing in enough Ether to start, then it just stops."

Phoenix added a stack of papers from his clipboard onto Robert's desk.

"Who's running the latest trial? Maybe they didn't follow the start-up procedures properly." Robert's voice sounded hopeful. This was the sixth attempt with almost the same results.

"It's [Ian T.]."

Robert frowned at that. [Ian T.] was the most meticulous researcher they had. If he had made a mistake, then there were more troubling things to think about than another failed trial.

"There's always tomorrow. We'll get the whole staff in and give this version a final try. Ensure everyone is aware of what they'll need to do."

"Oh? And what will you be doing while I'm rallying the troops, Rob?"

Phoenix gave Robert a cheeky smile. Robert groaned in response.

"I'll be redoing the calculations. There must be something I've missed." At that, Phoenix gave Robert a pat of sympathy.

"That is definitely a fair trade. This wrangling will probably take me all night, so I wish you luck with those numbers. Don't forget to sleep, everyone will need to be at their best for this last trial. See you!"

"See ya!"

Then Robert prepared himself for the long night ahead of him. If only the formulas required didn't take so long. Even with a calculator, Ether powered, they took hours. But if he could find why the trials were returning nothing, it would be worth it.