West of Nothing

10. Scan Results

"Still, wouldn't we see those on the scans?" Skunkworks asked.

Maybe we are seeing them. What if they are the white spots?

"Those are a lot smaller than even freckles."

"Miniaturize the dots!" Shouter suggested.

Skunkworks scoffed. "And how would you do that?"

The question was meant to be rhetorical, but Shouter scored genius points by answering it anyway. "Arrange the core WLPs in vertical stacks using a TSV interposer. Easy!"

"If those really are miniature processors in there, that would explain why nothing is showing up on the scans." Skunkworks warmed to the idea. "In any case, we'll have to take one out and put it under the microscope to know for sure."

"What's that other folder there?" Corny asked.

"Infrared." Skunkworks clicked into it. The thumbnails at the top were a uniform cobalt-blue that gave way to more vivid colors lower down.

"How come the images are all blue like that?" Mason asked.

"Far infrared won't penetrate glass. Looks like we've got something in the near infrared though." He launched an image into full view. In contrast to the stark gray-scaling of the X-rays, infrared gave the X-Bot the full psychedelic treatment. The hard hat was purplish with a starburst of aquamarine rays. The legs were mostly cobalt and navy aside from the joints, which were edged with mauve. The body was a smear of greens and yellows split by the tangerine eye band. Brightest of all was a pink ribbon just below the rim of the hard hat.

"What's that bright band doing there?" Corny said.

"Good question," replied Skunkworks. "The hard hat doesn't move independently so there's no friction being generated. Still, it's shedding heat like a son of a bitch. Maybe it's channeling thermal radiation out to the rim where it can be dissipated."

"Wrong!" interjected Shouter. "The heat's coming from under the rim!"

"What makes you say that?" Skunkworks said.

"Thermal gradient curves," he replied, as if that explained everything.

"Ah, of course." Skunkworks accepted the argument with good grace.

"What's that mean?" Mason asked.

"See how the lower edge looks jagged compared to the sharp delineation along the top where it meets the rim? That's due to—"

"Turbulence knots!" declared Shouter.

"That's where a cold front of air meets a warmer front," continued Skunkworks, "causing localized eddies not unlike what you see with weather systems, only on a much smaller scale."

"Do we have a close up of the rim's underside?" Corny asked.

"I've got something," Mason said, glad to finally be of some practical use. He quickly located a frame with the X-Bot's head tilted back at a steep angle. The rim's underside had a rough texture that resolved into a network of miniature rills under magnification.

"Well, how about that?" Skunkworks said. "It's got itself a radiator. No doubt about it. It's definitely generating internal heat."

"How would it generate heat on its own?" Mason asked.

"That's the million dollar question, isn't it? The acid produces an exothermic reaction so maybe it's using that to recharge a chemical battery."

"Could it be drawing free oxygen from the air?" Doogie asked. "And using it in chemical reactions?"

"It's about time we took some atmospheric readings," Skunkworks said. "If it's drawing down oxygen, we can measure that. If we're lucky, we'll pick up some other chemical traces as well."

For a seemingly straightforward diagnostic, the gas detector took a long time to set up and even longer to run, almost three hours in all. Off the shelf detectors didn't have the sensitivity or chemical range to satisfy Skunkworks. When the laboratory-grade version arrived on the Table of Requirement, it still had to be mounted to the bottom of an air-tight cap—but not with the likes of sticky adhesives because, as anyone who has sniffed glue can attest, they give off smelly compounds. The height of the bell was such that the air required circulation, so a CPU fan was adapted for this purpose. While they were at it, they might as well take some air samples for the full-blown lab treatment, hence more attachments. After all this, they still needed to recycle the air and take baseline readings.

The final result: inconclusive. There were too many confounding factors, not the least of which was a mold-covered piece of bread crust that had been placed in the pickle jar as insect-food.

"So what happens now?" Mason asked.

Skunkworks sighed. "We send the air samples off to the lab and wait for the results to come back."