Dick excitedly drove towards the gates to the national laboratory. This was the first time in over a month that he had the chance to have lunch with Dave, and they were going to tour the new National Experimental Laboratory (NXL), the lab Dave had set up at the president’s request.

After the exposure of GM’s ‘MIB’ force, the plan for the introduction of fusion power to the world had gone off without a hitch. The world was built up to it in stages. First, the unified field theory was revealed and presented to the scientific community. There were the obvious questions as to what experiments had been done to prove the theory. Since the required experiments could not be done with existing technology, Dick and Dave took an engineering approach. Since the theory cannot be proved, something that relies on the theory being correct to properly operate will be constructed. Of course, it was the direct energy collection capability. Dr. Maloney was promptly awarded the Nobel prize in physics, posthumously. Fusion generators followed shortly thereafter.

The effect on GM was quite pronounced. Sales had dropped across the board when their duplicity was made public. Their involvement with oil producing nations had been especially damaging. It turned out that a large number of the organizations they were dealing with were involved in terrorism. They declared bankruptcy late the next year. The congressional hearings that followed revealed several interesting facts, including the effort to reduce efficiency to minimal perceived expectancy levels in order to maximize oil profits, the truth of designing for planned obsolescence, and the admission of what most people already knew – the US car market was completely flooded, with more vehicles than people. Their advertising organization had turned into an intense propaganda machine to bolster sales. This raised the eyebrows not only of the congressional investigative committee, but also the FCC.

Dave had been appointed as special white house liaison in charge of energy policy, and began a career that had already lasted through two presidents, and promised to continue. His position was virtually guaranteed, too, because of his ability to please almost every country when it came to energy.

Dick was appointed director general of the new national lab established in Stillwater to study and develop fusion devices. His primary job was to teach the scientists who would be working there the basics of direct collection technology and fusion technology. He was also in charge of advanced fusion projects being studied or produced at several labs and companies around the world. Dr. Maloney’s research had truly proved it’s worth.

Not waiting for the scientific community to understand, Dave and Dick immediately started a company to produce devices based on the technology. The first technology to be marketed was the direct collection technology, which, when retrofitted into existing fuel fired and fission power plants, greatly increased their efficiency, reducing the load on the world’s energy infrastructure. The primary product to be produced, however, was the line of small fusion reactors. The company was entirely geared towards the production of small reactors with sizes of 10 kW, 25 kW, and 50kW. These generators were paired with Grid-tie inverters manufactured by Sharp, Fronius, Xantrex, Outback Solar, Magnetek, Sunny Boy, and others to power businesses and homes. The Western states, Canada, and the northeast were early adopters. The factories producing the reactors took in all the employees affected by the GM bankruptcy and more, alleviating the unemployment problem that many economists anticipated. The adoption of these reactors in home and business applications soon led to a much more lightly loaded power grid with extensive use of distributed generation. This change made the power grid practically invulnerable to terrorist attack. Satellite manufacturing plants were simultaneously brought on line in Russia, India, and Pakistan as well, in order to prevent tension between the countries.

Dave’s favorite spinoff company, however, was the one that produced electric cars. Unlike previous attempts to establish a business based on converting cars to electric power, this one flourished, because the customers realized the benefits of a fusion-electric hybrid drive. They would never have to buy gasoline again, and could run their homes off of the cars when they were parked.

Almost immediately upon beginning generator production, a full 50% of the generators that were produced were given away to be installed in the most remote sections of the world, beginning in Africa and Asia. The presence of plentiful power rapidly led to a revolution in the affairs of former third-world countries. The "Secret Wars" waged by dictatorial governments years ago are no longer possible, as nearly everyone has some means to communicate. Peace was spreading throughout the region. In even the poorest countries, tyrants no longer had a means to control their people by withholding basic needs. Since implementation was made in the poorest countries first, regardless of the type of government, the spread of the use of fusion technology was evenly implemented throughout the world. As a result, most governments had no basis for any argument that one or the other of their enemies had some special technology that would justify an attack.

In an interesting side development, Toyota had purchased some of the assets from GM’s secret research facilities. Included in this bounty, were prototypes for the next generation Fieros, produced in late 1988. As a tribute to the first vehicle to successfully use a fusion hybrid system, and as a tribute to the inherent efficiency of the Fiero, many of which had already been converted to battery-electric by hobbyists, they undertook to reintroduce the little car. The 2010 "Fiero Fusion" would be much the same as the prototypes of the GM car, except with a wider stance, legendary Toyota quality, and at long last, a much improved interior featuring a signature stereo designed by John Wayland. The new car featured more room, a lighter, more rigid bonded aluminum spaceframe, and was produced with two drivetrain choices: a fusion-battery hybrid, and a pure battery electric. Waiting lists for both were completely filled by the month before they were introduced to the market. It promised to be Toyota’s hottest seller for many years to come.

The oil companies had decided that maybe this fusion thing was good after all. Their profits were largely unaffected due to their continuing diversification, and the reduced demand for transportation fuel left more than enough oil supply for all the specialty lubricants and road care products the world will ever need, and those lines were always more profitable anyway.

As to the rest of the technology, it was not revealed publicly yet. The scientific and academic community naturally never even initially considered that things like anti-gravity generators or inertial compensation were made possible as a result of the field theory developments. They would probably stumble onto it someday after many years of researching the field theory, but the plan for slow introductions of bits of the theory and devices using it was already in place, and would likely outstrip the pace of scientific understanding.

For secret government labs like the NXL, however, applications for all the technology was available right away, and that was what Dave was waiting to show dick. Located in a secluded portion of the Utah desert, the NXL appeared to most observers simply as a desert proving ground. Much of it was located underground. Even though dick had been vital in developing the technology and some of the applications that were being studied, he didn’t yet know the full extent of it.

After he was admitted at the gate, dick entered the small parking garage, then walked towards the small hangar, which was the only visible evidence of any activity. As he passed the director’s reserved parking space, Dick smiled at the Chrome yellow 1988 Fiero that was parked there. Dave had quietly purchased Maloney’s ranch shortly after their adventures.

As he approached the hangar, Dave met him at the door.

"Great to see you, Dick," Dave said. "Still doing well?"

"Well, I’m OK," Dick replied, "But I’m still not used to all this travel. Yesterday I was in Tokyo. Sure rejuvenates me to see these new projects rolling off the line, though."

"Wait’ll you see what we’ve got in here!" Dave said with a gleam in his eye. "You’ll never even guess some of what we’ve done."

"So let’s go! I’m too excited to eat, anyway!" Dick replied.

They entered the hangar complex. Fully half of the hangar was dedicated to offices, and in contrast to the outside, which seemed like a dilapidated WW2 era hangar complex, the inside was of modern construction, and was clean and new. It was larger than the outer appearance, as it was constructed sunk into the ground. They were passing the cafeteria , which occupied the entire lower floor of one half of the hangar, when dick spoke up.

"Do you really have that many people working here in this little hangar to justify that big a cafeteria?" He remarked.

"Most of the people that work here are in the underground labs," Dave replied. "The total number of people that work here are more than enough to fill that cafeteria. In fact, we take lunch in shifts. The parking is divided up into several underground parking garages nearby, as well as the one you parked in."

Dick was going to remark on that, but at that moment they walked out into the hangar. There sat what appeared to be a 787 dreamliner, but with engines the likes of which he had never seen before. They appeared to be a ducted fan with no turbine or central armature. The blades had a complex twist which continued through the center.

Picking up on Dick’s interest, Dave pointed them out. "Remember the submersibles with the centerless thrusters powered by BLDC motors? This is the logical extension. A doubly redundant reactor system supplies the power. Even all the hydraulics have been replaced by electric actuators, reducing system complexity, not to mention we don’t have to deal with Skydrol anymore."

Dick shuddered at the thought of the hideous purple aircraft hydraulic fluid. It was among the most toxic and corrosive substances in the world.

"But that’s nothing!" Dave continued. "It was inevitable that Boeing and airbus would seize on the technology to develop an electric airplane. This will get an experimental certificate for flight testing until the FAA comes around. If they move at their traditional speed, they should find it safe in about 20 years. Unfortunately, the money will basically be wasted because by that time we will have released the anti-gravity technology."

They proceeded to a large bank of elevators and pushed the down button.

"How much more is there?" Dick asked.

"I hope you wore comfortable walking shoes," Dave replied with a smile.

In the elevator, Dave pushed a button labeled only "C."

"How deep are we going?" Dick asked.

"Level C is only a few hundred feet deep. It’s a bunch of smaller labs, workshops, and offices for smaller projects," Dave replied.

They exited after what seemed like only a few seconds into the level C lobby. Corridors led off in several directions. They checked in at the desk and proceeded down one of the corridors.

"The level is laid out like a wagon wheel," Dave said. "That way it’s easy to get accustomed to the layout and quick to evacuate in case of an emergency. We’re going into one of the live-fire testing labs in the outer ring of the level."

They entered a large lab with a thick glass wall on one side. Behind the transparent wall, several dummies were equipped with lightweight black overgarments with small backpacks. A variety of weapons was laid on a table in the sealed-off section with the dummies.

"The dummies are equipped with garments that have field emitters integrated into the fabric," Dave explained. "The backpacks carry a small reactor for power, and computers to adjust the emitters for what the wearer wants to do." "You can start the testing now, Shawn," he said to one of the lab technicians.

The technician responded with a smile. What engineer didn’t like to try to destroy things? He expertly manipulated a set of robotic arms to fire a variety of weapons at the dummies. First, a Colt .45 was fired. Then a .50 caliber machine gun was used. An anti-aircraft gun was next, and the last tests involved mortar rounds, grenades, a flamethrower, and a LAW (Light Anti-tank Weapon). The suit protected the dummies in each test. The dummies were equipped to move their arms and legs during the test to simulate people moving around during battle, and the shields changed in shape to react to the movements.

"Our only limitation," Dave explained, "is in the software. It’s hard to get it to respond quickly enough to match the movements of real soldiers in combat conditions. We’re almost to the point that it keeps the arms and legs, hands and feet covered all the time, but we still need to work on it." He said, indicating where some of the dummies had scorch marks and melted plastic at the fingertips and toes.

"Won’t an invincible soldier be something potentially volatile, something that could tip the balance of power in the world?" Dick asked. "Releasing that, even to a secret government organization, could be disastrous.

"Possibly," Dave replied. "That’s why it is being developed in close concert with the agency. They’ll make the ultimate decision as to whether it should be released, if ever."

"Have you developed them with an eye towards the other potential uses for the emitters?" Dick asked in a hushed tone. "We’d be talking real life jedi knights, here."

"Not yet," Dave replied. "That would only involve a software change and some form of input device for the computer to accept commands, though. Most likely a microphone and voice recognition software could be used without much trouble. But something like that is even more potentially dangerous in the world theater than the forcefield suits. The agency decided something like that shouldn’t be developed for a very long time, if ever."

"Probably a wise decision," Dick remarked.

They left that lab and continued around the curving hall.

"Here’s one of our "flights of fancy" labs," Dave said. "These guys just make what they think would be cool. Their inventions have been the origin of some of the most profitable consumer items ever made."

They turned into the lab, and were met by the sight of anti-gravity skateboards that seemed to be straight out of the movie ‘back to the future.’ There were a lot of versions and sizes, and parts were everywhere.

"They’ve really got a good start on these things," Dave said. "In fact, we use them to get around the base a lot. Sure beats walking!"

"That’s going to cause a lot of traffic accidents," Dick said, chuckling. "But I guess that means we can start up our new company soon thereafter."

Dave and Dick had already started a company to provide launch services at ten times less than the going rate. The workhorse vehicles were to be platforms that proceeded straight up using the antigravity devices. For premium fees, the platforms would catch old or obsolete satellites, or even space trash, and return them to earth. All that was necessary was the OK from the government to use the gravitational field manipulation portion of the technology.

"Come on, though," Dick continued. "You brought me to a super-secret lab to see this? None of this is that dangerous or amazing. Scientists already realize that field manipulation could include gravity, and are ‘speculating’ that ‘in a few years’ they could begin to think about starting to request research grants to explore the possibilities of conducting further research on other applications of the field theory." They both laughed at Dick’s parody of how the scientific and academic establishment worked. It had always been a hot button for both of them how slowly things got done in that environment, and how little the scientists involved seemed to care or think about practical uses. "Something like this," Dick continued "Wouldn’t be too big a surprise to anybody once they realize what is possible. So out with it…what’d you really call me out here to see?"

Dave just got a huge grin on his face. "Already chomping at the bit, eh? All right, walk this way." He said, and turned towards the elevators.

They descended to the bottom level, almost a mile underground. Dave quietly led the way out and to the lobby. Throughout the brief trip he had kept mum on what they were going to see.

"This level seems larger than the others," Dick remarked. "Bigger, more people, more offices, and that one shaft is a lot bigger than the others."

"You have an intuitive field for the obvious," Dave said with a grin. They walked towards the oversized shaft.

The shaft extended past the outer ring of the offices a good hundred yards, and terminated at a huge blast door with a guard and a biometric security panel. They presented their credentials and submitted to a retina scan, and were admitted to a chamber beyond the first door with a second set of blast doors in front of them.

"We’ll be scanned in here for contraband," Dave said. "That way, if someone tries to blow the place up, he’s trapped between the two sets of blast doors."

Dick nodded. After a brief hum (presumably the scan Dave had mentioned), the second set of doors opened onto a balcony and they stepped out.

Dick gaped in awe. The chamber was huge. It was easily over a mile long and half that wide. A reactor station was just visible at the far corner for powering the level. Overhead lights were set along the walls, leaving a clear shaft straight up to a set of blast doors just barely visible at the top. People scurried everywhere doing their work. But what stole the spotlights was the ship.

There, suspended in the center of the shaft by large field emitters embedded in the walls and floor, was a spaceship straight out of science fiction movies. It had a flattened saucer in the front, and four long, graceful cylindrical projections were attached to it by pylons. The two at the sides were obviously engines, while the other two evidently housed auxiliary systems and large emitters, presumably for use as navigational deflectors. Dick could almost pick out the phaser emitters, shuttle bays and warp engines. Portions were still only metal framework, while others were nearly complete.

"Is that…" Dick stammered.

"The world’s first starship." Dave pronounced in a hushed voice. "Gravitic drive within a solar system. Inertial compensation. Structural integrity forcefields. Artificial gravity. Shields. Everything you see in Star Trek and then some. With the full understanding of the field theory we’ve been able to develop what you could call ‘subspace’ communications. Though we are still limited by the speed of light, we can transmit and receive clearly over vast distances without interference. Directed energy weapons with enormous power are incorporated. Several types of reconfigurable shuttle craft are being built to carry on board. We’ve even developed a drive system for when there are no substantial masses nearby to use the gravitic drive, such as between star systems. It’s a variation on the Bussard Ramjet. About the only things we don’t have are the warp drive and transporters. But we’re working on it!"

"It turned out that lines similar to the classic sci-fi ship were excellent for field emitter efficiency," Dave explained. "Except we attached the engines and secondary hulls using beefy connections blended directly into the main hull, instead of using those awful spindly things from the first TV show. The blended area gives us a good place to mount auxiliary engines, too."

They stood and admired the ship for a long time. Dick eagerly anticipated the tour to come, and true to Dave’s promise, all thoughts of lunch vanished as they boarded the elevator to start at the bottom of the ship.

"Have they named her yet?" Dick asked.

"Actually, yes," Dave answered. "They’re calling her the Prometheus."

"Very appropriate," Dick replied. "Any idea when she’ll launch, and who’ll be on the crew?"

"Within ten years, certainly," Dave replied. "Quite likely, a lot of the people who are working on her here will be on that crew. They’ll need some experienced officers, too."

"That brings me to the main reason I asked you here," Dave continued. "They’ve asked me to be the captain. I’ll need a top-notch first officer. Someone who knows the systems inside out, who can command the ship easily at any time, and who is dying for adventure. You interested?"

"Aye, Captain!" Dick replied, assuming his best Scottish brogue, "Just give me the word!"

"Dick, the adventure is only beginning!" Dave replied.

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