UNUM
The first of three
From: Ingrid@wunderkid.com
To: Jake@wunderkid.com
Sure thing. New phone, new number…you’ll have it by 3
No problem,
I.
A wave of gratitude blossomed from Jake’s chest. Ultimately, R.U.N had failed, otherwise Jake would be there right now, instead of sitting on a decaying Earth still trying to figure out how to get to Unum. R.U.N. did great work and made a lot of good advancements, chief among them was determining the atmospheric gas of the planet. It turns out that was a critical discovery that was going to unlock more than anyone could imagine. Initially, he and Xavier worked well together, but their paths diverged. Jake wanted to invent things to get humans to Unum and Xavier just wanted to rule the world. The latter’s ambition began to asphyxiate the former’s creativity. So Jake called it quits. He went private, thought up some new ideas, sold some new inventions, and did some pro bono work for the government because Unum was still his passion. Every once in a while though, Xavier would rear his power hungry head and dim Jake’s visionary mind.
A quick nod of the head helped Jake rid himself of unpleasant thoughts, when he woke this morning he was excited to get to work. He needed to recapture that feeling…there was no way to tell for sure but he could feel the precipice of a breakthrough. Jake opened his text editor and clicked on the folder titled wild ideas he found the document named if this works… When the document opened the words on the screen resembled a treatise of a mad man.
54,710
What causes Unum to phase and disappear? Gas alone couldn’t do that, I sort of bluffed my way through that initial conversation with Xavier so what is it? Perhaps the atmospheric gases are made of subatomic particles we aren’t familiar with here on earth. I would need to develop a way to test this theory…
54,690
Well, my theory wasn’t exactly accurate, apparently, my ideas were under-developed. Charles discovered something really important today! Which is perfect, because I was baffled…Apparently, Unum is purple because of atmospheric gases, but as Unum moves along its orbital plane it passes through a mist of particulates causing a reaction that manipulates the electromagnetic spectrum making Unum appear invisible…brilliant.
54,600
Ingrid upgraded POSR’s observation station, this made Unum as visible as it’s ever been; we could track Unum’s orbit easily, after some strenuous computations we now have the data we need to know when Unum will pass which points, and at which times. The orbital path is full of unique characteristics, we’ve numbered and named the most prominent ones, like the ‘cloak of invisibility’. That’s the portion of the path where Unum vanishes. The names are a lot like mile markers on the highway.
54,450
Xavier asked for the schematics for my new nanotech. He’s been acting strange lately, late to meetings, less time in the office, urgent without notice phone calls and constant questions about lots of projects.
…
Jake grimaced at that entry then double tapped the cursor, skipping the rest of his bread crumbs to the past.
52,895
The nanotech works…I can program it to make the trip to the ‘cloak of invisibility’. What I know… Unum is about 16.07 billion miles away. So, I guess I better figure out time travel or at least someone should. The package is designed; a viscous sludge ‘cocktail’ containing hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, sulfur, and all of the essential minerals humans need to live.
***