Edelweiss

Chapter One

February 4th, 2013

It filled Jon with excitement. This was what he had spent his entire career working towards, and now he was finally getting the funding he needed and the opportunity to put his theory to the test. After his many realized failures, he could now see all those years of hard work and long hours spent scribbling finally being made into something real. Seeing it as an equation on a piece of paper was only theoretical, but now, soon, he would get to see it become a reality. He had no guarantee that what they would build would be as it was on his equation, but if his calculations were correct, it would be.

While he waited at JFK International Airport for his eight o'clock flight to Heathrow, Jon thought about how tomorrow could change his life forever and possibly the world. He looked down at his hands, noticing they were sweaty yet cold. He always got this way when he was nervous.

The flight was scheduled to arrive at Heathrow at three-thirty p.m., then straight to Cambridge from there. The researchers at Cambridge were anxiously awaiting his arrival, and as soon as he got there, they were to start the work on his project. Jon was sure that he and the entire Cambridge team would work well into the night and possibly into the wee hours of the morning.

"Flight 377 to Heathrow is now ready for boarding," Jon heard on the speaker overhead.

He looked up from the book he was reading to see the people getting up from their seats and forming a line. Must be zone one,he thought. He checked his ticket and saw that he was in zone two. He didn't have to wait long for zone one to board. He had only read three pages of his book when they called zone two. Jon grabbed his backpack, threw it over his shoulder, and rolled his small black suitcase to the newly formed line of people.

Oh my God, this is it, this is actually happening, Jon thought as he showed his ticket and passport to the woman at the gate. Once she handed him his ticket stub and passport back, he started down the ramp leading to the plane door. When he stepped over the threshold into the plane, a tightness began to form in his chest. He quickly found his seat, stowed his suitcase overhead, and sat down. His seat was by the window, so he leaned close to it and peered out over the platform where they were putting the luggage in the belly of the plane. Jon watched them toss the bags underneath as he waited for them to take off. It was all he could do to keep his nerves in check. He was having a hard time distinguishing the excitement from the anxiety, both wreaking havoc on his nerves. He hoped his theory would work like the math showed him it would. As long as there was no unforeseen problem or mistake in his calculations, this would be one of the greatest discoveries in human history.

Once the plane was in the air and the captain turned off the seatbelt sign and told the passengers they could now use their electronic devices, Jon turned on his Blackberry so he could go over some notes he had taken earlier. He knew that there would be no sleep for him. The feeling in his chest would see to that.

So many things were going to or not going to happen in the next twenty-four hours. Cambridge already had all the equipment that the group would need set up. They were just waiting for his arrival. There was so much at stake and so much riding on this one moment. He was afraid of failing; the thought of it not working after all his efforts and all the efforts of the other people involved had him worried. Though deep down in his gut he knew it would work, the real challenge would be finding a human test subject; this would indeed be a strange thing to explain to someone. And an even bigger challenge could arise when the person actually had to go through with what they agreed to do. Someone might think it sounded exciting at first, and in theory, it was, but the real thing could be quite terrifying. The unknown would always be.

Jon looked out the window at the city of London below as the plane descended. He took a deep breath to calm himself. It's almost time, he thought.