Resistance is futile (V)

By this point in time, Anna had hurried home, showered and changed into a really tightform hugging blouse and a tight pair of jeans. She had looked herself over in the mirror after showering and could see that her body which had been quite petite was now muscluar as well as slim. She felt confident, sexy and loved. Better yet, she looked dressed to kill, as she hadn't worn these clothes in ages. Scott had never liked her dressed to impress unless he was showing her off to his family and friends. The man had had a jealous streak a mile wide, but she hadn't seen it as that at the time.

She pulled her lips back as she applied her make up to her face and thought. Nope I'm not going to think of him anymore. When she was finished she stepped back and admired herself in the mirror. Wait till Matt sees me like this she thought, and pulled on a set of comfortable shoes that went with the jeans.

She left her house and crossed the space back over to Matt's house and down the path to the stone marker. After about 20 minutes since leaving the house, she reached the airlock that lead into the ship. The door opened silently for her, lighting flickering into being as Sam said. "Welcome back Anna, shall I inform the Captain of your return?"

"Can you tell him that I've got a bead on a new recruit and that I'd like us to go see him now if Matt is available?" Anna said sweetly. Anna waited patiently just inside the airlock and after about a minute Sam replied.

"Colonel, Matt is on his way. He was very intrigued by who you have in mind."

Anna grinned as she thought. Ohh I bet he is. It took Matt about ten minutes to make his way from DCC1 to the airlock and when he reached it and saw Anna he stopped with a smile and said, "Hey pretty lady, who you waiting for all dressed up like you've got a hot date."

"Well, my boyfriend is around here somewhere, you don't think you could find him for me do you." Anna replied with a smile on her face.

"Ouch," Matt said as he fained a pained expression for a minute as he gained enough ground to reach out and take her into his arms. "Ok, so who do you have in mind hun?"

"You'll see, besides we've got to go shopping and pick up some supplies if we're going to be working on the ship for a while, and after that we'll go pick up our engineer. Now go inside and change into something decent. I won't have you looking like an ape when we're out in public together.

Twenty minutes later Matt was freshly showered and dressed in some of the few peices of designer clothes he owned. That combined with a shave and a slick combover just like the David Jones mannaquins had and he was ready to go. When he stepped outside towards the car where Anna was waiting he thought he saw something in her eyes, a hungry look of posession which almost made him quirk an eyebrow. Anna just smiled mischievously and opened the passenger door and climbed into the car. A moment later they were pulling out of the drive and heading up the range into town.

Meanwhile Ian was busily re-arranging desks, terminals and equipment in the lab. He had immediately noticed that it would be considerably safer and more efficient if he seperated storage and theoretical development from a specially reinforced section he had in mind for the practical applications and testing section of his labs. After being told what had happened to the previous crew's science team he had decided to prioritize containment as a practical application of survivability.

To that end he had re-arranged the storage containment system the Imperials had used from a simple alphabetical in containers on open shelves to a series of locked and secured cabinets that reached from the floor to the ceiling. He had been given a maintenance bot and had instructed it to fabricate cupboards out of the remaining materials in the old science labs. Within them he had placed all the most common and inert substances needed for practical scientific experiment on one side and all the storable equipment on the other. His cataloguing system was fairly simple at the moment, and was easy to read as he had applied the O-LID substance that was on the walls and the floors and had Sam maintain labels on all the doors so he knew what was where.

About an hour had passed by the time he had a desk and terminal, his cupboards and a series of workspaces setup in the theoretical section. All the potentially reactive substances had been moved into the containment section that the old repository vault had been equipped with but it appeared rarely been used.

Ian sat back, pleased with the work so far and looked around for a moment or two before logging on to his terminal and requested from Sam that any and all materials dealing with power generation be downloaded to his local terminal. After a moments hesitation Sam announced, "My apologies Ian, but I am unable to complete the requested function. Several of the files you have asked for are encrypted and I am unable to access them without without you verifying your security clearance code."

Ian frowned for a moment as he thought. Interesting, they're encrypted which means hidden or classified, hmm I wonder what's in those files. "Very well Sam, Chief Science Officer Ian Matrovsky Clearance code Zero-Nine-Delta-Delta-Sigma-7. Authorise access by central intelligence to encrypted files regarding power generation."

A moment later the terminal lit up and a progress bar appeared showing time to completion. After it was done, Ian tentatively opened up the files. Most where fairly benign, a couple were even midly interesting. Until his eyes came across a file entitled : Experimental Power Generation Method Number 2669145 – Unknown Sample – Obtained from asteroid number Hex-44 52 69 stroke A.

Ian hastily scanned the file and then his mind spun as his head refused to accept what the file was telling him. However he was still new to reading, writing and even thinking in Imperial which seemed to him a very flat way to think.

"Sam, are you able to setup a data transfer device between here and Matt's house? Specifically so we can access the internet. My head is swimming at some of the terms and I'd like to convert this into english and human concepts just so I can get my head around some of it."

"Very well Ian, I will have the next maintenance bot to retrieve more water attach a data piggyback device to Matthew's data connection box. Please provide an adequate description of what the bot must find so I can correctly attach the transfer device.

This took Ian little time to describe where and what the bot would have to find and after a time which Ian spent examining the rest of the data Sam announced, "Ian, the device you requested has been placed and a stable connection has been achieved."

"Thankyou Sam," Ian replied, he then setup a program to search out the internet and compile all scientific data and ideals and compare them to Imperial science. The output to be stored in a different section to both imperial science and incoming human science.

While the computer was doing that, Ian retieved from containment the mysterious unknown sample that the file claimed could violate the conservation of energy principle, he carefully extracted just a few millilitres worth and returned the rest to containment. He put the sample into a secure tube and walked back with it to the work space. So this is what got the entire science team of the previous crew killed huh. It doesn't look that sinister. But then again neither did raw uranium or plutonium until your hair started to fall out and you were dying of radiation poisoning. He put the tube into a stand and sat at the chair and stared at it for a while.

If only there was a way to direct how the sample emitted energy. He snorted, what we really need is Star-Trek's legendary Dilithium crystals, that'd do it... Hmm maybe that wasn't as stupid as it sounded. He retrieved a small quartz crystal from the cupboard and sat holding it for a bit.

Ian thought, What it needs is some sort of lattice or matrix to organise the substances molecules. If we could do that then there might be a chance of controlling amplification. Ian put down the crystal and went to pick the tube up out of the stand but the it got away from him in a mighty bang that threw him back from the desk as the tube shattered and substance converted the kinetic energy into a chemical reaction.

When Ian regained his senses, he coughed several times to clear his lungs of the smoke that the he had swallowed and brushing a little bit of debris from his jacket and smearing smoke into the lab coat he stood up and walked back over to the bench. He swore to himself he was going to put that sample away until he could think of a way it could be handled safetly. One mistep on his first day and he had almost bought it. But when he got back to the table, there was a black smudge, some shattered glass fragments and the quartz crystal. However it had changed colour to a soap-stone green and there was no sign of the sample material anywhere.

It took Ian a few seconds to realise that the unknown material in the sample tube had bonded with the quartz crystal that he had been looking at. He didn't yet know how or why, whether it required additional energy or what the exact conditions were. But if it could be bonded to quartz, then perhaps there might be a way to channel it's incredible properties.

Ian retrieved a current generator and the imperial version of a multi-metre. He sat there for a while hooking the crystal up to see if not only could it be bonded, but whether or not it still retained it's phenomenal properties after bonding. He set the crystal and the generator and monitoring equipment on a work bench as far from his terminal as possible. He then went back to his desk and brought up the readings on the display. He gently started a small test current into the crystal and waited. About twenty seconds later energy started pouring out from the other end of the crystal, significantly larger then the input current. He almost cheered at the result, until the quartz's crystalline lattice fractured, sending pieces of crystal flying all over the place.

Hmm, Ian thought, It looked like a crystalline lattice can contain this amazing substance and organise it. But maybe the problem is the lattice structure? Hmm something that requires more testing and thought.

Ian continued to review the test results and asked Sam if when it was possible a high amount of silica dioxide (sand) could be procured so he could grow crystals.