Chapter Ten
By the beginning of August, I have managed to complete a second working prototype. I managed to increase the sensitivity of the metal even further, by developing a coating made from another metal. The power source can comfortably power an apartment without any outside influence. I have taken some extra precautions and built a case around the box out of bulletproof glass. The unstable manner of this metal makes me nervous considering it will be in such close proximity to civilians. It's one thing if it is my lab, it is another thing if it is in someone's house. I don't think it will ever explode but you can never be too careful.
"Hey, Avi," Alexander's voice rings out from the doorway. I spin around and see him chilling on the door frame.
"Hey Xander," I say back.
"What are you working on now?" He asks coming over to my work station. I stand in front of it trying to see casual.
"I'm just tweaking the power source," I say with a smile.
"I can see a boot behind you, Avi," he says amused.
"I'm trying to take the science that powers a generator and turn it into a boot that can propel someone off of the ground. I calculated the amount of power it would take to hold two hundred pounds suspended and I had some scrap materials. I'm still building them, but you never know, I just might make the first self-sustaining jetpack boots," I say with a shrug. Alexander looks slightly shocked.
"I can work on something else if you don't approve," I say worried. Would he consider that a waste of company resources?
"No, keep working on it!" He says
"Okay," I say with a shrug before I go back to working on them.
"I actually came here for a reason, not just to make witty banter with you," Alexander says pulling up a seat across the table.
"Oh, I thought you came here just to hear yourself talk," I reply sarcastically, and he rolls his eyes.
"Do you remember how we submitted your project idea to the Postcard Lottery Green Challenge last month?"
"Yes,"
"Well the final five nominees were announced this morning," he says trying to get me to pay attention.
"Please Alexander, enlighten me on the brilliant souls who were selected," I say dramatically.
"Somebodies in a playful mood," Alexander muses and it is my turn to roll my eyes.
"I'm waiting," I say with a smile.
"You were the first one on the list Aviva," he says, and my head whips up.
"You are kidding," I say shocked.
"I'm dead serious Aviva! You are going to have the chance to win a lot of money for yourself and your project," he says, and I jump out of my seat. Excitement courses through me and I buzz with energy.
"Camila, Cathleen, and I will all accompany you to the competition. You will have to miss some school for it because it is on September 1st," he says, and I bob my head, that wouldn't be a big deal, I don't think my teachers would object.
"Are you excited?" He asks smiling at me with a grin that could have split his face in half.
I can't help the little squeal that I let out as I start jumping up and down. I don't know how else to release the excitement coursing through me. I do a round off across my lab before doing a front layout back. I hear Alexander laughing at my burst of excitement.
"I didn't know you could do gymnastics," he says once I finally sit back down.
"I was a potential candidate for the Olympics team a few years back," I say casually.
"You're kidding me!"
"No, if I hadn't grown three inches in nine months, I probably would have gone..."
"What do you mean?"
"I learned how to do all of my routines with a body that was five foot two. I grew so much so rapidly that I hard time accommodating the extra height. Although my final performance was flawless with the exception of a single balance check on beam, I still didn't make the team..."
"You're kidding," he says surprised.
"There is a certain look a gymnast is supposed to have, which I certainly didn't have with my height and demeanor. The fact that I wasn't one hundred percent. in combination with the other factors, just pushed them further not to accept me," I say honestly.
"That's terrible," he says surprised.
"It's okay, after that I threw myself into my studies and got a full ride to my dream school. All's well that ends well," I say with a shrug.
"So, you just quit?"
"Yes," I say seriously. I have never regretted it.
"You didn't want to try again?"
"By the time the next Olympics were to come around I would have been twenty and that's old for a gymnast..."
"So, you left? That seems so unlike you," he says.
"When I was a kid my dad put me in gymnastics and karate in order for me to learn to expel the excess energy I was always consuming and feeling around me. I not only am very aware of every little thing going on in my body but every little thing going on around me Xander. That's hard for a little five-year-old to deal with. I couldn't focus in class and would always hide in the corner. By learning to control my body it became easier to ignore everything around me."
"My dad made me do soccer and football as a kid," he says in understanding.
"I guess that explains how you could keep me from smashing into the ground when I ran into you," I tease, and he laughs.
"Lots of practice," he teases back. His phone rings, and he takes the call.
"Hey Cathleen," he says.
"No, I'm not in Aviva's lab wasting time. I was checking in on some of our other teams," he says getting up and leaving. I silently crack up. He did wander his way here a lot; he is fun to talk to, so I don't mind the short breaks.
I put away my tinkering and continue working on the blueprints for a bigger more powerful version of my power source. I think I am going to call it the Arlington Five Thousand. I don't think anyone would take any issue with the name of it.
Days tick by slowly as I wait for the competition to come around. I buy myself a new outfit; write emails to my teachers explaining why I was going to be absent. I finish my blueprints for the larger model, and I think it could effectively power a house. I started working on an even bigger one to power an apartment complex, but the price would be insane, and I can't get the amount of power I need.
On the day before the competition, Alexander helps me pack everything up and we take a train to Washington D.C., all of the supplies went separately from us. Before I know it, I am in my best pants and my new, favorite blazer, an emerald green one, walking on the floor where they are setting up all of the displays. I guide the setup and hang my blueprints for the larger version. I wander around for a bit before returning to my station. Today the judging would occur but that didn't happen till the afternoon. The morning is mostly for us to explore other people's projects and scope out the other competition.
A lot of the other projects are massive and take up a lot of space. I look at my little Arlington five thousand and wonder if I even stood a chance against everyone else in the room. Even if I lost, it is still a once in a lifetime experience to be able to be here.
"Aviva!" A familiar voice yells. I spin around just as Camila collides into me giving me a massive hug.
"This place is so cool! I can't believe you placed in the top five!" She squeals excitedly. We still get dinner occasionally and I love picking her brain, she's a good friend and an even better engineer.
"It really is an honor," I say
"What did your teachers say when you told them why you would be missing class?"
"They want a full report of what the event was like and the different projects that were there," I say with a chuckle.
"So, when is the judging?" Camila asks
"It starts this afternoon," a smooth voice says from a few feet away.
I look up and see Cathleen and Alexander walking over here. Cathleen looks absolutely breathtaking in her snug black pantsuit. Her dark hair is pulled back into a smooth bun and her eyes are framed with the little bit of makeup she likes to do. People move out of her way as she walks and everyone in the room can sense the aura of authority that she carries. I try to keep my heart from racing at the sight of her, but it's a losing battle.
"The fridge, lights, and electric stove are coming over right now to finish up your display," Alexander says giving me a side-hug.
"Wonderful I will finish hooking everything up then," I say getting ready to hook my power source up.
Everyone starts drifting away to scope out the other projects as I hook the Arlington five thousand to everything. Once everything is in place, I hold my breath and flick the switch and the light turns on letting me know that it is on. I walk over the lights and turn them on. I open the fridge and I can feel the cold air starting to brew.
"That's a little machine," someone says from behind me.
"It may be little, but it can easily power an entire apartment," I say.
"What about a full house?"
"Houses on average pull twice as much power; this model can't stand up to that demand yet. I have the blueprints for a bigger one on the wall," I say as I finish triple-checking out all the connections.
"There's also a blueprint for a model that could power an entire apartment complex. The blueprint isn't final, but I have a lot of the math worked out. I just need to figure out how to make the metal slightly more conductive again in order for it to generate enough energy to handle the demand of that magnitude. I think I'm leaning towards a power reserve being built in so that if not all of the energy is being used it can draw from that later," I say finally looking up. I see a man I didn't know before me.
"I'm Charles," he says sticking his hand out to shake.
"Aviva," I say shaking his hand.
"So, what exactly supplies power to the machine, to power everything else?" He asks, and a few other people come over.
"It powers itself; it is a completely self-sustaining unit. Have you ever heard of the man-made metal Xespeocium? The metal itself is incredibly unstable because it reacts to the molecular charges around it. I found a way to channel that reaction into electricity," I say.
"A completely self-sustaining unit?" Charles asks me, and I can see the curiosity of the other men around us.
"Didn't I just say that?" I ask amused and Charles chuckles.
"How much does a unit like this retail for?"
"It costs an astronomical amount to produce right now, but if it was sent to be mass-manufactured that could cut the cost almost in half," I reply.
"This Xespeocium, I've never heard of it. Where does it come from?" Another man to my left asks.
"It is a synthetic material. We ordered it from a special lab outside of the US. The metal itself does create by-products in the manufacturing process but they recycle it into other things that they are making," I say.
"That's very impressive."
"Thank you," I say.
"I have one more question," Charles says, and I nod indicating for him to ask.
"Is that bulletproof glass?"
"Yes, it is, it's one-inch thick bulletproof glass. I made it as a precaution due to the highly sensitive nature of the material that I am working with. I don't ever foresee it exploding because of the safeguards I have in place, including an auto-shutdown if the system becomes overloaded, but you can never be too sure when it comes to the safety of the public. I couldn't completely seal it off though because it needs some form of airflow, " I say.
"Wait, you said your name is Aviva?" Charles asks me, and I nod.
"As in Aviva Arlington?" He asks, and everyone's eyes widen slightly.
"Yes, that would be me," I say, but my sentence comes off as a question due to my confusion.
"Well boys we might as well pack up our things now," Charles says with a laugh.
"Why?" I ask confused and all eyes turn to me.
"You were just on the cover of Scientific American last week Aviva for this project and they were raving about it," Charles says with a confused look.
"What are you talking about? I think I would know if I was on the cover of any magazine," I retort even more confused and quickly becoming annoyed.
"Wait, I have a copy in my bag," one of the men says before running off.
He returns quickly and hands me over the magazine and my jaw hits the floor. There was a photo of me working in the lab on the project smack dab on the cover. I know exactly where that photo was from; Alexander took it saying he wanted to use it for the company's website. I flip to the article about me and skim it. It talks about how I come from a single income home and how I am going to graduate this year and a lot of the things I have accomplished. It delves into my scientific work for the Arlington five thousand.
"Here, thanks," I say shortly before handing the magazine back to the guy.
"I need to go talk to someone," I say and the guys scatter.
I scan the room for Alexander and find him on the far side of the room. Camila strolls back over, and I ask her to watch my set up while I go to talk to Alexander. She agrees confused, and I storm off. Walking up behind him I watch as his shoulders stiffen.
"Aviva this is Mr. John Franks, he is one of the company owners supporting a candidate," Alexander says.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," I say shaking his hand and masking my anger. The conversation continues for a little while before Alexander can practically feel the anger radiating from.
"Let's go out into the lobby," he says, and I follow him without a saying a word. We push past the huge doors and Alexander goes and takes a seat in one of the huge oddly shaped chairs.
"Why do you look like you want to rip my head off?" He asks tilting his head to the side. I can tell he is trying to play innocent and I am not having it.
"You know exactly why I am mad," I seethe.
"I'm afraid I don't, so please spell it out for this idiot," he says innocently, and I grit my teeth.
"You had me plastered on the front of a magazine without my permission!"
"You would have said no, and I didn't see any harm in it. It continued to show the world your talents and give our company a little more exposure," he says with the shrug of his shoulders.
"You don't know that I would have said no," I snap.
"Well, would you have?" He asks, and he is baiting me.
"Of course, I would have said no! I don't need my face plastered in magazines! I would rather have my name in the history books," I snarl at him. He didn't have a right to do that.
"Well, how do you think you are going to get there without getting your name out there? Also, it's not like it's a gossip magazine, it is a reputable scientific journal," he says before standing up and brushing the nonexistent dust off of his pants. Damn it, he does have a point on that one.
"Judging starts in twenty minutes Avi, I would recommend that you go prepare," Alexander says acting like my manager for a moment, and I turn on my heel and walk away frustrated.
By the time I walk back into the convention room I have a happy smile plastered on my face. I take my place next to my machine and I am the first one to be judged. It goes over smoothly, and I can answer all of their questions without having to think about it too long. I explained my future ambitions with the machine, and they seem to be curious as to how it will turn out.
They move on to project after project until we are all crowded around the last person's, Charles. He starts his presentation, and everything seems to be going very smoothly. He turns on his project to demonstrate and I immediately feel a huge pull from it. It is collecting a lot of energy, very rapidly, to the point that it starts to concern me. It continues to collect energy until it starts to vibrate.
My eyes widen in horror as it dawns on me that his machine is most likely going to explode. There is an awful retching noise as the machine starts to smoke. Charles panics trying to turn the machine off. Everyone starts moving backward before they turn and run, even Charles runs as he can't seem to get it to turn off.
I don't know what comes over me, but I slide my glasses onto the top of my head and the world dissolves. I yank the floor tiles up and make a barrier around the machine and something dark wraps around my barrier and that's when it happens. The whole machine explodes, I feel my body absorb a lot of the energy from the impact, and I am knocked to the ground, but the tiles seem to hold for the most part. The blast is contained.
The whole building shakes and the sound is deafening, I feel my body becoming overwhelmed due to all of the movement and stimulus around me. I panic further when I start to vibrate, trying to push myself to my feet, my body is shaking so violently that I can't even get up. I feel a hand trying to help me back to my feet, but my body seems to go numb and everything goes black.
I feel as if my body is being stretched into oblivion until I don't feel like anything anymore. I am simply just floating in a black abyss and there are no thoughts, no pain, no energy, just the sensation that I am absolutely nothing.