Aurora

by Karen Page

Part 4

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Part 4

"We're recording," shouted Jenny into a walkie talkie.

She was with Ashleigh at the upstairs window filming the river just outside the old pub. This wasn't something they expected to be doing on a Saturday, but the scientists were eager to run the tests. Jenny and Ashleigh were unexpected assistants.

"We're finished," came the voice of Liam a few minutes later. "Did you get anything."

Ashleigh shook her head.

"No," relayed Jenny.

"Keep recording towards that big post on the other side of the riverbank. We will try again."

Instead, the smoke detector started beeping. All the detectors in the building were linked, so it didn't mean there was smoke there, but somewhere. A few seconds later the fire alarm started.

"Out, now!" shouted Ashleigh to Jenny, and they both made their way quickly out of the building.

Liam, Henry and Rebecca were just outside the door when Jenny and Ashleigh came out.

"Where's Evan?" croaked Ashleigh, panic gripping her throat.

"I'm here," he said coming outside. "The fire is out."

"What happened?" enquired Ashleigh.

"We aren't sure yet. We need to pull the unit. It looked like some type of feedback.

"Feedback?" asked Henry. "There shouldn't have been any feedback. The unit has enough shielding."

"Unless," pondered Rebecca. "No—"

Rebecca went to go back inside, but Evan blocked her. "Let the air clear first."

"I want to see the playback."

"Playback?" Ashleigh asked.

"We have several high-speed videos and sensors recording the experiment."

"And yet you didn't ask for a camera in the back garden to do the video there. You had Jenny and me recording on our phones."

"Yeah, sorry about that," said Evan. "Change of plan. We thought it would be a safer first opening attempt than where we originally planned. Becky, it turns out your idea of storing the recordings away from the equipment wasn't so paranoid after all."

"You moved the server?" enquired Ashleigh.

"It was one of the last things David helped me with," said Rebecca. "It's in the old server room in one of the old industrial units."

"Then instead of going in the lab to look at the data, why don't you go there? I can monitor the situation in the lab."

"The server is there but the software to view the data is here."

"Becky, you acted like you knew the issue," pointed out Henry. "Do you care to tell the rest of us?"

Rebecca hesitated to answer. "I had a silly idea. I don't want to say more without looking at the data. I know Evan and Liam will want to go through this methodically. If I say something, it might sway their thoughts."

Evan nodded at that.

The wait felt unbearable for the scientists, but as soon as it was deemed safe to enter, they all did. Ashleigh and Jenny followed them into the lab. There was a smell of burnt electronics, but nothing seemed damaged apart from the test machine.

Two viewings of the video, even at slower speeds, didn't show any clues which everybody found frustrating.

"So, what now?" asked Henry.

"You take the machine to bits. Carefully. Very carefully." said Becky. "I'm going to start looking through the data with Liam. The trouble is we have no base model to say what data is correct, so we can't find what's wrong at a touch of a button. It's going to take a while to wade through it all."

"Can I help?" asked Jenny.

"Yes," said Becky, without hesitation. "You've seen where the data dumps are. Start opening each sensor log and finding the start of the test on each log file. Do you know what to do?"

"Yes," she replied, going to the PC next to Becky's. She'd spent enough time watching her Ma. She couldn't understand the data but knew how to access it and how to find the start of the test.

The afternoon dragged. The smell gradually disappeared, or the project staff had got used to it. At first, Ashleigh felt a little left out, but then she remembered what her task was. It was to make sure the project ran smoothly. She didn't want to leave the building, so went upstairs and found a delivery company to bring assorted sandwiches. If they went on too late, she'd order in pizza. Nothing symbolised a late-night project better than pizza.

"Look at that," exclaimed Evan, as Henry managed to remove the secondary inner cover. It had taken a lot of time to gently pry it off without disturbing what was underneath. Where there had been a tidy run of cables, there was a large scorch running at an angle across them with a few severed. Henry turned over the cover and saw a 5mm circular burn mark.

Rebecca turned around and saw the unit with the damage on full display. "No!" she exclaimed and turned around to pour over the data. "Jenny, please find the data for sensor R4."

Jenny found what had been requested and her Ma looked it over. "There it is. We opened up our path, but our destination was wrong. We opened it inside the unit, just behind the focal beam."

Jenny jumped off her chair and went to Ashleigh who had been hovering near the door.

"It's getting late. Can we cook soon?"

"I've ordered pizza. Is that okay?"

"That's great."

"How did we open it in the wrong place?" asked Henry, looking over the damage, trying to work out what he would need to replace.

"Is our–" started Becky.

"Don't say it," interrupted Evan.

"Is our SFR wrong?" piped up Liam.

"NOO!!!" groaned Evan.

"What's that?" Ashleigh asked Jenny, so not to disturb the scientists.

"Standard Frame of Reference. It means how they pick a spot to describe what is happening and positions. If I was the reference point, Ma is two meters away and moving at a sixty-degree angle."

"Okay, so why did it fail?"

Jenny shrugged. "That is what they're going to argue about for the next few days."

"Pizza is on the way," said Ashleigh so the whole room would hear. "My translator here" Ashleigh pointed at Jenny. "Thinks that this technical discussion is going to take some time. So go to the toilet now and gather your thoughts and data. You can then start this probable all-nighter without further distractions."

Ashleigh then turned to Jenny. "Since your Ma will probably be here all night, where would you prefer to sleep? Upstairs here or at my house?"

"Here," said Jenny giving no thought at all.

"No problem," said Ashleigh, a slight pang of disappointment which surprised her.

Since the first night, Ashleigh had become aware that Jenny sometimes used one of the bedrooms if Becky was working late or all night. She made sure it was always ready. It wasn't part of her work duties, but something she just did because a seven year old needed a place near her one surviving parent.

"Evan, as the chief scientist why don't you start with where we are?" suggested Rebecca, before taking a mouthful of pizza.

"I still think that title is a poison chalice," said Evan. "The tunnel appears to have opened successfully. What wasn't successful was where it opened. The question is why. Liam is questioning the SFR. Perhaps he can explain why?"

"It's something I've been thinking about a bit. We've been setting the destination based on Mikowski. Things changed when physics moved from three to four dimensions. Our path is based on another dimension. Our answer might be wrong because we're not taking that into account."

There was silence for a few seconds and then the room erupted in chatter. Abuse and praise were being batted around. Ashleigh and Jenny left them trying to determine if Liam was mad, or a genius or both.

"Are you sure you'll be able to sleep with that discussion?" asked Ashleigh as they made their way up the stairs.

"Oh yes. I've gone to sleep with much bigger discussions."

"Okay. Do you need anything from your house?"

"No. I have a spare set of PJs here and you know I have a toothbrush and toothpaste."

"Okay, get yourself ready, and into bed. I'll pop in to say goodnight in ten minutes or so."

"Thanks Miss Thompson."

Ashleigh went to her office, to give Jenny space to get ready. Her office PC had gone into standby. She hadn't been in there for hours. She put it back on and consulted her email while waiting. There was one from Tina informing her she was going to be out of touch for a bit, but Luke would be still around for another few days. She sent a quick response saying 'I love you' without knowing if her sister would see it before going wherever she was going.

"If you need one of us, your Ma is downstairs and I'm but a phone call away, " said Ashleigh when she checked on Jenny.

"I know, Miss Thompson. I'm good. Good night."

"Sleep tight."

Ashleigh closed the door and went downstairs. The debate was still flowing. The boards were starting to be populated with strange diagrams, and formula using symbols she'd never seen before. Becky looked across at Ashleigh, who beckoned her childhood acquaintance across.

"Jenny has just gone to bed upstairs," explained Ashleigh.

"Thank you. I'll steal away to say goodnight."

The rest of the team looked surprised when Becky disappeared.

"She's just saying goodnight to Jenny who's in bed upstairs," Ashleigh explained. "I'm sure she won't be long. How's the analysis going?"

"It's torture," said Evan. "At this rate Henry will have rebuilt the test unit before we've concluded what's wrong."

"Won't the unit need to change based on what you discover?"

"I hope not," grumbled Henry. "The angle of the beam, the frequency of the beam and any modulation and pulsing is all software controlled. Hardware would only need changing if there was a more radical change."

"Does anyone need anything else tonight?" asked Ashleigh.

Nobody did, and when Becky appeared, nor did she. Therefore, Ashleigh left them with a farewell.

Even though the next day was a Sunday, Ashleigh went to the old pub to make sure everything was fine. To her astonishment it was empty, and the alarm was set. She double checked her watch, and found it wasn't late. She pulled out her phone and sent a message to Becky. Her response was quick.

"We stopped at 2am. Henry had finished his work, and the discussion wasn't getting anywhere. We decided to rest and continue Monday. Enjoy your Sunday."

A follow-up message arrived a few seconds later. "On Monday I will be going to the factory after dropping Jenny off at her friend's house. Henry is going to prepare some cameras in the large warehouse in the industrial unit. It will be just Evan and Liam in the office as they hash out the science."

That was unexpected, thought Ashleigh to herself. She went back to her house, jumped in her car and set off to do a little retail therapy. She'd spent so much time with the project, it was nice to do something just for herself.

On Monday, she knew it was going to be a quiet day. Only half the people in the building, and they would be busy working on the science. A quiet day to catch up on the paperwork and file the report to Laura she'd missed the previous week.

She almost skipped along to the office. The previous day she'd spent time relaxing, and after a bit of a trip to browse through Ikea, she'd surprised her parents with a visit. She knew the project would get busier the more successful they were, so she decided the days like that were to be enjoyed as much as possible.

When she opened the front door, the alarm was off. That was unusual, but sometimes one of them got an early start. She popped into the discussion room to say good morning. Her heart picked up as she took in the situation in front of her. Both Evan and Liam were sat on the floor. Neither of them looked up when she went in. Evan said something, and Liam responded, but they both didn't seem there.

Not again, she thought to herself. Memories of what happened at Trinton flashed through her mind. She rushed to them. They were both wearing the same clothes as Saturday. She knelt before them and pulled out her water bottle from the bag she carried.

"Here, drink some of this," said Ashleigh gently offering it to Liam as he looked worse. "Take a few sips."

He did and she passed it to Evan. "We have an angel flying in to help us," Liam said, sounding delirious. "We've nearly worked it out."

He pointed to the boards, covered with equations. Some were neat and legible, but there were others that looked no more than scribble.

"I'm sure you have," reassured Ashleigh, "but now you need to rest."

"Later, we need to run some tests."

"Henry and Becky aren't here, so why don't you have a sleep until they arrive."

She took out her phone and rang Henry first. "Henry," she said as soon as he answered. "I have an emergency at the office."

"Coming," was his brief answer, before he hung up.

Next, she rang Rebecca. "Hi Ashleigh."

"Once you've dropped Jenny off, come to the office."

"I can come now," Becky offered. "We aren't setting off for ten minutes."

"NO," said Ashleigh. "Jenny mustn't come in. Evan and Liam don't look like they've slept since Saturday. They're exhausted. I'm going to get Henry to help get them upstairs, and into bed."

Becky swore, and Ashleigh heard Jenny in the background say "Language!".

"I'll be there," said Becky and hung up.

"More sips," said Ashleigh, passing the bottle between the two exhausted scientists. "Henry's coming to help us."

Liam tried to get up, but he staggered back to the floor.

"No," said Ashleigh.

A minute later Henry burst through the door. He was puffing, out of breath having ran all the way from his house.

"What the–" was the only words he could get out when he saw them all on the floor.

"Get your breath. I need help taking them upstairs and each into the two bedrooms. We'll take Evan first and then Liam."

"What happened?" he asked, never having seen anything like it before.

"Later. Let's get Liam upstairs to the room with the double bed."

"Why not put them both in Jenny's room. There's two single beds in there."

"No. They need to be separate, or they'll excite each other."

"It sounds like you've done this before," said Henry as they gathered Liam up, and between them they made their way to the stairs.

Ashleigh didn't say anything but helped to the stairs. From there, Henry did most of the heavy lifting of getting Liam up them. While that happened, she went back to Evan.

He sat there, rocking slightly, his eyes open, but not focused. "I'm sorry," he mumbled over and over. "I'm sorry."

Ashleigh wanted to berate him, but she couldn't. That would come later. She knew he would berate himself when he was better.

Five minutes later, Henry came down and they repeated the task of getting a scientist upstairs. While Henry got Evan into bed, she popped her head around to check on Liam. Henry had undressed him and had him under the duvet. Liam was fast asleep.

They heard the front door, and in a moment, Becky came rushing up the stairs. "What happened?"

"Jenny's not here, is she?" asked Ashleigh.

"No. I dropped her off at Willow Cottage. What happened?"

"They over did it," said Ashleigh. "I don't know the whole story, but I'm assuming when they left on Saturday night, Liam and Evan went to one of the houses and continued the discussion. At some stage, it ended up back here which is where I found them. Exhausted and dehydrated. They are now in bed and mustn't do anything until Friday. Two nights of missed sleep requires four days of recovery."

"How do you know so much about this?" asked Henry.

"This happened at my previous company. I failed. It's part of my job to make sure this didn't happen."

"You can't be responsible for everything we do," protested Rebecca. "We live in a free country where we are allowed to mess up. This is a project which is breaking new ground. It will happen that we get excited or frustrated or something like that and end up overworking."

"Yes, and now they need to recover, and time will be lost."

"Do they need to go to hospital?" asked Henry.

"They drank some water, and they weren't sick. If they couldn't take liquid, I'd have rung for an ambulance. I suspect they must have drunk something, or they would be much worse. I have a job for one of you. Go to the shop and get two drink bottles. Ones with a sip cap if possible. Then go to a pharmacy. They will have rehydration solutions which we can make up for them. When they wake, they need to have a drink before going back to sleep."

Over the next few days they took it in turns, monitoring the two scientists. Becky was only around periodically. Most of the time she was home with Jenny, who was most indignant that she couldn't come to the office.

After a day in bed, the two patients were wanting to get back downstairs, but Ashleigh was firm. As they recovered, they ate and pottered around upstairs, but no work. On the Thursday, they were both allowed home but told no working. They were also instructed not to contact each other until they came into work on Friday, which should be no earlier than 8am.

"This is ridiculous," Liam had said on the Tuesday.

"What you did was ridiculous," retorted Ashleigh. "You were both exhausted and a little dehydrated. I'm glad you actually got some liquid in you while you nearly worked yourself to death."

"Listen to her," said Henry. "When I got there, you couldn't even stand on your own."

"We over did it," Evan said to the younger scientist. "It's Ashleigh's job to look after the project and therefore us. We made her job a lot harder."

On the Friday, Liam was the first scientist who turned up. It was a few minutes after the earliest he was allowed back at work. He carried a box of chocolates for Ashleigh.

"Thanks for looking after me," he said, handing the chocolates to Ashleigh. "Sorry I was a bit grumpy."

"I've had worse patients," she laughed.

Liam smiled in relief. Then Evan arrived. He carried a bouquet of flowers and a box with a vase to hold them.

"I've not been looked after like that in years," said Evan reflectively. "I might have to do it again."

"Don't you dare," laughed Ashleigh, hoping that Evan was joking. And then said very seriously. "Next time I'll have to get the boss down from London."

They all looked a bit stunned at that. With that she flounced out of the room, taking the flowers and chocolates up to her office. It was a few hours later that she came down with fresh drinks for them. There was a different atmosphere in the room. The stress of Saturday night was gone. They were more productive.

"How's it going?" she asked as she placed the drinks on the sideboard.

"A few days rest has cleared my mind," said Evan. "We have some new theories."

"There were a series of books written by Robert Ludlum. In it, one of the characters said, 'Rest is a weapon'."

"An interesting thought," said Evan. "Anyway, be aware we will be running some small tests this afternoon. It shouldn't impact you, but you should know."

"Do I need to record the river again?"

"No. This is a more basic test. See if Liam's mad idea on Saturday is valid. That is what we were hashing out all Sunday

After the day trip Jenny had with her friend she turned up at the office. It had been the first time she'd been allowed in since the incident. She rushed into the lab, and on seeing Evan and Liam at the whiteboard, rushed across to see them

"Are you okay?" Jenny asked breathlessly.

"We are now," said Liam.

Jenny through her arms around Liam's waist and gave him a hug. She then did the same to a bemused Evan.

"What was wrong? Ma just said that here was off-limits until you were better."

"We were unwell," said Evan, looking ashamed. "You know the problem we had on Saturday; well Liam and I didn't stop working until Monday. Miss Thompson found us very ill as we hadn't slept for days. She got Henry to help us upstairs where she made sure we rested and did no work until we were better. This is the first day back."

"How unwell were you? Could you have died?"

"If Miss Thompson had found us hours later, then we might have ended up in hospital. If we'd continued like that for even longer then yes, we could have died."

Jenny stood there for a few seconds; her bottom lip trembled. Then she did something nobody expected. She pounded on Evan's chest with all her seven-year-old might. "Don't ever do that again," she yelled. "I've lost Ryan and Mummy. Nobody else I love should die especially when it's because they're STUPID!"

The young girl then ran outside the back of the building, standing by the river wall as she stared out at the river. Becky gave her a minute and followed.

"I now feel like the biggest shit on Earth," said Liam, shocked at what Jenny just said to him and Evan.

"Amen," agreed Evan.

After ten long minutes Jenny came in, followed by Becky. She went straight to Evan.

"I'm sorry I hit you," she said, her eyes bright with honesty. "Hitting someone is never okay."

This wasn't what Evan had expected Jenny to say, but half the time she confounded him. He looked across at Liam who shrugged.

"I accept your apology, " responded Evan formally. "I'm also very sorry I brought up bad memories for you. You are bright and I think it's important you know why we worked ourselves too hard. That way there is hope that you never get in the trap that Liam and I fell into."

"Do you think I might?" asked Jenny, her curiosity peaked.

"I don't know, but if you are warned, it won't do any harm, will it?"

Liam and Evan put on a coat and followed Jenny and Becky to sit on the wall and discuss things, while watching the river flow by.

"Has Jenny always been so grown-up?" Ashleigh asked Henry, now the room just had the two of them in it.

"She has always been super bright. That's why it's never been an issue having her sit in here. She doesn't interrupt but listens and learns. When she does ask something, it's never in the middle of something, but when we're quiet. And what she asks is very pertinent. Since Hilda and Ryan died, it's like she has grown-up too early. She does some things herself which you'd not expect a child to do."

"Is that just how she was raised?"

"I suppose so. Neither Becky nor Hilda treated her like a child. Sure, they set boundaries and guided her, but she was never excluded from what happened here. Probably more so over the last six months."

"She's a bit of a mystery to me," said Ashleigh. "Sometimes she's so unemotional. She seems to have some type of barrier. Yet today she was so filled with rage.

"I don't think it was rage," replied Henry. "I thought it was more panic."

"How did the tests go this afternoon?"

"Slowly. They are going back to fundamentals. They have a long checklist of things to verify. They made some assumptions, and they are trying to find out which were wrong. Hopefully they will then get back on track. I'm spending time setting up equipment on the fly. It's great."