The Radiant War

Chapter 18a

     “Try it now!” said Andrea McCrea.

     Shanks flipped the switch, then jumped back instinctively, having been stung by an unexpected arc of electricity too many times in the past. This time it was unnecessary, with nothing more than a  small shower of sparks as the contact closed, and a loud hum immediately came from the towering assemblage of electrical equipment occupying the centre of the table. He wiped a hand across his eyes to clear away the tears brought on by the acrid chemical fumes that rose from the batteries powering it all. Is the bloody window open? he thought, looking up at the lab's high walls. They were, he saw, but there was barely any wind to change the air in the large, tall room.

     “Is it working?” he asked.

     There was a pause and he made his way around the long bench to stand beside the other scientist. The disappointment he felt when he saw the arc jumping across the graphite contacts was achingly familiar. It wasn't alternating. Just a steady flow of electricity jumping across the inch wide gap causing the tips of the contacts to glow white hot. He swore profanely, stalked back around the table and shut it off again. “Dammit! I was sure we had it that time.”

     “It's only been a few days,” Andrea reminded him. “Maxine Hester took a year to make the breakthrough.” She walked over to another table, where a circuit diagram of the apparatus was pinned down at the corners by four large, heavy rheostats. “Maybe if we add another coil here, make it harder for the current to flow through the second circuit. Maybe these two coils have to be in exact balance...”

     Shanks looked over her shoulder to see where her finger lay. “Didn’t we try that two days ago?”

     Andrea cursed. “Yes, you're right. Okay, what if we put it here?”

     “You're mad! The whole thing’ll blow up!”

     “It has to be something unexpected, something no-one's tried before, and maybe the reason is because everyone thought it would blow up.”

     “Well, let me get well out of the room before you throw the switch.”

     “We'll both be out of the room. We'll rig up a long length of twine to close the contact.”

     Shanks chuckled. “Or we could get Private Henry to throw the switch for us.”

     Andrea gave him a look. “Why don’t you like him? He's protecting us. He’s prepared to give his life defending us. You should give him some respect.”

     “You're the one who called him Private Pugface yesterday."

     “Yes, and I shouldn't have. It was tired and stressed out and not in the mood for his peculiar brand of humour. Piss him off and, if an assassin really does show up, he might just let him through.”

     Shanks sighed. “It was just a joke. It's called humour. You should try it some time.”

     “Let's get this thing set up. Go get another coil.”

     “You’re really going to do it then?”

     “Have you got a better idea?”

     She went back to the towering and gently smoking apparatus and began unclipping cables, while Shanks went into the next room, nodding respectfully to the guard on duty as he went past in case he'd overheard the exchange. Finn, he thought his name was. Unlike Henry, he took very little interest in what the two scientists were doing and just stood there, staring across the room at the bare brick wall opposite. For hours on end! Shanks would have gone insane with boredom if he'd been in his place, so perhaps Henry's dry, gently teasing humour was understandable after all. It didn't make it any easier to be on the receiving end of it, though.