David took vacation the next Friday to work on the car. In the week since purchasing, insuring, and licensing the Fiero, he had placed it in his garage and had done a thorough evaluation of all it's systems. He had also purchased a factory service manual over ebay. The paint was a bright metallic blue with large Fiero decals on the hood and body. The body was in pristine condition, except for a few places where some of the pieces had sagged over time and needed to be adjusted. The manual covered that procedure. He also wanted time to give it a thorough cleaning, and find out what all the stuff was in the luggage compartment.

The body panels were tackled first, and in a couple of hours, they were looking great again. After a break, David decided to go through the stuff in the trunk. Opening the decklid, he was again amazed at how clean the engine removal was.

First to be removed from the trunk was a very heavy large flat box. Opening it, he found the flywheel that had been removed, the flywheel bolts, the flywheel to pressure plate bolts, and another, smaller box containing a clutch kit with release bearing, clutch disc, pressure plate, and alignment tool. There was also a receipt with a 90 day warranty (now expired).

The next box contained some miscellaneous catalogs from companies that sold wiring supplies, electronic components, etc. He noticed a few items were marked. What had the old engineer been planning for this car?

The last box was very heavy, and was threatening to split open. Opening it, David found it contained books. There was a copy of Bruhn, Peterson, Peery, and Niu, which David also had. Then a corner of bright yellow caught his eye and he reached for it excitedly.

"A Boeing illustrated fastener manual! These things are rare as hens teeth! Yes!" (Hey, what can I say? Aerospace engineers get excited over unusual things).

There were three books on quantum physics (heavily marked up), and a notebook. "Maybe these notes will tell me what he was planning," David thought.

In the back of his mind, David had been pondering what to do with the car. He had read of numerous engine transplants on the internet, but that was something everyone was doing, and he wanted to be different. He had been interested in a website called Decah.net, which made door kits to make your doors open like a Lamborghini Coutach. "The Fiero would look especially cool with doors like that," he had thought.

Opening the notebook, the first page was a wiring diagram, but it seemed a bit different - it was labeled "300VDC" and had components he didn't recognize - "Contactor," "DC/DC," and "Z2K-HV." But he did recognize the item drawn in the center as an electric motor. It was labeled "WarP 9" - www.go-ev.com" At last, a source of information. He scribbled the web address onto a sheet of note paper.

The next few pages appeared to be a parts list, complete with quantities for the major items, mostly electrical. What was an "Orbital 34DC", though? The rest of the notebook contained product brochures. After reading them, he understood what the old engineer had been planning.

He had been making it into an electric car.

Was it possible, he wondered? Can something like that actually exist? The next page answered his question. There was at least one. The page was a picture off of a website of someone's electric Fiero, and it had a web address! www.evalbum.com!

First, he wondered how well something like that would perform - perhaps the web address would answer his questions. But the irony struck him more than anything. If this was possible, then it would take the technologies from two cars GM branded a failure, and made them both work together. If they could work better than any of the originals, it would really stick it to GM. Two things GM said didn;t work, working better than anything they made now. It just felt right - he loved stickin; it to the man, and GM certainly represented the man.

Before going back into the house to do research, however, he finished unpacking. He couldn't make heads or tails out of the electronic components. They were obviously custom made one-off units, as they had no labeling and the covers were hand bent sheet metal. But what they did he couldn't fathom. Most mysterious was a toroidal component with stainless braided cables attached to it in a spiral pattern. "Looks like something from 'back to the future' or something," he muttered, before setting it aside.

Under the electronics was another notebook, this one very well worn. The first page was filled with quantum physics notes, so he let it close, thinking he could probably sell it to a professor somewhere who collected stuff like that. He took the rest of the books and the notebooks into the house, and sat down at the computer to do some research.

While waiting for the evalbum page to load, David wondered if it was really possible. "How many electric cars could there be actually on the road, anyway?" The completed web page held an answer - over 700 had sent in their pictures and specifications. Not only on-road cars, but everything from scooters to sofas! "Why have I never heard of this," he wondered. He looked over the most recent entries in detail, then noticed that at the bottom of the "latest entries" section there was search function, and you could search by make. He quickly selected the link to the "Pontiac" section. When it loaded he could not believe his eyes. Over a dozen Fieros topped the section. He visited each page, wondering what kind of performance he could expect. Apparently, very good. Most claimed a 45 mile range and a top speed that was "not legally determinable." "Fine," he thought, "but what about acceleration with all that lead on board?" Back at the index page, he followed the link to a build diary - www.evconvert.com. It was pretty descriptive, but what he valued most was the links pages. He read over some other build diaries and was finally getting a feel for what was involved. Then, when looking at supplier webpages, he found the FAQ at www.evparts.com. It was vast. It didn't cover everything, but answered some of the most basic questions and then some. By the time he was done, it was 3:00 and he was becoming more acquainted with electrical concepts than he ever had in the electrical science classes he took at school. "They should include a class doing this at college," he thought.

He was beginning to understand and appreciate what electric cars could do. His should be capable of drag race performance. He had marveled at the electric drag racing records he found at www.nedra.com. "Under 12 seconds at over 100 MPH in a street legal electric Datsun 1200? No Way!" After learning about the components, he realized his Fiero should have similar performance.

Then he began the cleaning. It was amazing all the crevices the little car had. He found $1.72 in change, three French fries, two food wrappers, a paper clip, and a dog biscuit all under the seats and dash and in the console pockets. He was in the process of removing the seats to steam clean the carpet when he realized that the console ashtrays had a gap between the top of the tray and the top of the console. It didn't seem like the car had ever been smoked in, but he knew from the debris he had found so far that it would be bad under the console, too, so he began to disassemble it.

When he removed the console, some more change fell out, along with a business card, a few slips of paper, and the inevitable French fry. "Glad I won't have to listen to this stuff rattle around inside," he said to himself. After removing and vacuuming the debris, he turned the console over to wipe it out, and was surprised to find a tyvek envelope taped to the inside. It definitely looked like it had been placed there on purpose. Inside were more physics notes on engineering paper, and a CD-ROM. The envelope was dated last year. "Hmm...Curioser and curioser," he muttered, as he examined the items. "What would require hiding in an electric car project, and from whom?"

After cleaning and reinstalling the console, he ventured back to the computer to examine the disk. It had a self-extracting EXE file on it. Although reluctant to extract something unknown, he did have an excellent antivirus system running, and reasoned it could at least be quarantined. "How bad could a virus that's at least a year old be, anyway," he reasoned to himself.

After creating a separate disk partition to aid in quarantine procedures, he extracted the file. It contained some sort of executable ("I'm NOT touching THAT," he said to himself), some spreadsheets, a large PDF file, and a readme.doc file. He scanned all the files, then opened the readme document.

The document read like this:

The files contained herein are as follows: this file, readme.doc, calculation spreadsheets 1 through 4, each one for different flux densities, a PDF file summarizing the high points of the theory, and the design of the prototype unit, and a simulation program to calculate the field effects of motion and varying environments.

Once again, this was titillating, but held no hard data.

It was already 6:00. Figuring he'd give it one last shot before supper, David opened the PDF file.

"No! It can't be," he exclaimed. He spent hours staring at the screen, examining page after page of descriptive text and technical drawings. At the end, he dialed the phone number of an old friend who was a professor of physics at Oklahoma State University, located in the nearby town of Stillwater.

"C'mon, answer," David muttered as the phone rang a third time. He knew that one more ring and he would get the machine.

Dick Lowery was planning to let the phone ring. Despite his outgoing demeanor at work, he rarely took phone calls at home. On the third ring, though, curiosity got the better of him and he picked up the receiver. "Hello," he answered.

"Dick, that you? It's me, David."

He and David had been friends while David was working on his Bachelor's degree in engineering. At that time, Dick Lowery was beginning his third postdoctorate degree in yet another field of physics. It came naturally to him, so he had stayed in the academic field and concentrated on research, culminating on several breakthrough papers. David, however, had found practical application more to his liking, and went to work for an aerospace company in nearby Tulsa. The two still got together about once a month to go over the latest events in their lives, do a little hiking, and sometime work on projects together.

"Hi, Dave. What are you up to calling me this late on a Friday?"

David glanced at his watch - 10:00 p.m. He'd been at this longer than he thought. "This is going to sound weird, but I've found some technical data that you need to look at. It's got 'modern physics' written all over it and I don't quite grasp a lot of the concepts, but if what I do understand is true, the possibilities are incredible. Can you come up first thing tomorrow?"

Not being one to clutter up his weekends with plans (the work week was busy enough), Dick didn't really have an excuse not to, so he replied in the affirmative.

"I guess so. What's up?"

"Well, I got this new project car rumored to have been owned by a reclusive old physicist, and I found a CD-ROM hidden in it. You've got to see this stuff to believe it. The car's pretty cool, too. No motor yet, though."

"OK," Dick said, still somewhat puzzled, but anxious to see the new project. "How does 10:00 tomorrow morning sound?"

"Sounds great. You won't regret it. Bye."

"That was weird," Dick thought as he laid the phone down. "I haven't heard him that excited since the time he got an A on Professor Conlon's dynamics exam. Oh, well, we'll just have to see what this is all about."

The next morning brought an bright, clear sky and eager anticipation for David. If he understood the text (and some of it was pretty plain), then the electronic components included in the fiero were the key parts to a system that would allow the electric vehicle to be used in a hybrid mode, a silent generator to enable long trips. But the possibilities were infinitely greater than that.

When Dick arrived, David quickly showed him the car and the gadgets that came with it. Then they moved on to the notebooks.

"Wow. An electric car. It's almost too amazing to be true," Dick said as he examined the first notebook and pages printed from the evalbum website in detail. "I don't see anything that earth shattering here, though, even with the amazing story that goes with it. Certainly not enough to warrant your mysteriousness, and all that fidgeting you're doing."

David had been restless, waiting for his friend to open the next notebook. "Sorry. I just want you to get on with the discovery process, like I did."

"Sorry, but this really is fascinating," Dick said. "I've never realized anything like this was going on. And you say there is an internet group that is the primary motivating factor behind their development and use?"

Relieved a bit to do more than just stand by, David spoke up. "Yes, they call themselves the 'EVDL,' and they have been at this for years." "I looked at their archives, and they range from the everyday 'Steve' cutting grass for a living to forklift mechanics and electrical engineers."

"Amazing," Dick repeated. "Let me see that second notebook."

"About time," David jested as he handed Dick the notebook.

Dick immediately sat up after reading the first page.

"Dave, do you have a notebook and pencil," He asked, without taking his eyes off of the page. "I'll need a calculator, too."

David fetched Dick his trusty HP48SX from his bag of work stuff. David could tell that Dick was starting to get not only interested, abut excited, the way he had been. He knew that dick would need a while to digest what he found. "I'll get you a Dr Pepper," he said. I can tell you're going to be a while."

"Uh-huh, sounds good," dick muttered. His eyes never left the page.

Hours later, he sat back, rubbing his temples. David just smiled and handed him a notebook computer. "It's on the wireless house network. You can read the files that were on the CD-ROM. And here are the notes that went with it." He handed Dick the papers.

Another hour later, Dick looked up, his mouth agape. "Wow!" was all he could say.

"Well, what is it all about," David said. "Don't keep me in suspense. I knew it had something to do with his fusion research. I thought he might have developed a small reactor."

"That's only part of it. If I read these notes right, the author achieved a number of breakthroughs in fusion power and propulsion. He first starts off by noting that the current fusion systems used around the world all depend on some external source of current to start the reaction and heating process, and that a momentary burst could be taken from a sufficiently high power PWM DC motor controller."

"Like the one specified for use in the car?"

"Exactly. Obviously batteries couldn't supply power like that for long, though. The reaction would have to become self-sustaining quickly. Most reactors we have today only operate in short pulses, and aren't self sustaining. The obstacle that most reactors run into is that tremendous power is required to mash the atoms together, because of their inherent tendency to repel each other, and because of the subatomic forces. To overcome this, they are superheated into a plasma and crushed together by intense magnetic fields, which takes lots of power. And the power collection methods are primitive, too. Frequently, the power they generate is less than the power they put in to maintaining the reaction, and it takes a long time to begin to extract the power."

"If we had devices that could manipulate the strong and weak subatomic forces, and truly manipulate electromagnetic forces, then we could almost instantaneously initiate and sustain fusion with little in the way of magnetic fields. Keep in mind I'm talking about actually manipulating the fields, not just generating them in a predefined shape, like common electromagnets do."

"Scientists have long theorized that the four basic forces of electromagnetism, gravity, and the strong and weak subatomic forces, are related, and have searched for years for a 'unified field theory' that encompasses them all, but it has eluded them."

"The first thing this 'mystery engineer' thought he had found was an amazingly simple key to the unified field theory. I believe the electric car project was going to be his vehicle to demonstrate it in an amazing way."

"According to the notes, after he developed the theory, a way to manipulate the four basic forces came easily. He applied it first towards fusion power generation, and that enabled him to build the reactor. The field manipulation enabled him to greatly simplify the method of extracting power from the reactor, too. It's a lot more direct. Instead of taking the heat generated through a steam cycle like in a stationary power plant, the energy is captured by the nuances of the containment field itself, and fed back through the DC power connections. This decreases hardware complexity and mass a hundredfold, although I can't imagine the control software required. It makes sense, though. There would be no way to fit something into a portable application without some sort of simplified conversion system. The reduced size increases the overall system efficiency as well."

"So you think he was using the car as a demonstrator by developing a small fusion reactor to make it a series hybrid with essentially unlimited range?" Dave asked.

"Yes, but more than that, much more," Dick excitedly continued. "Remember one of the four forces was gravity?"

Gravity and electromagnetism easily manipulated. The implications immediately flooded David's mind. They were truly earth-shattering in their import.

"Woah! He wasn't going to put something like that in the car was he?"

"I believe he was," Dick continued. "With a fusion reactor, he would have plenty of power. He could make it outfly an F-16 by manipulating local gravity to compensate for the inertia forces, and of course he would have antigravity propulsion. He could even use the manipulation of electromagnetic and gravity fields as a defense shield or a weapon, to say nothing of the ability to redirect radar waves and communication signals. Those are electromagnetic signals, and so are easily manipulated. Depending on the range of wavelengths that can be manipulated, it may even be possible to generate a cloaking field that makes it invisible to the human eye. Perhaps he planned some shattering demonstration so that it would be taken seriously. Let's look at that hardware again."

David had brought it into the house. He retrieved it and arranged it on the table.

"This item," Dick began, taking up the toroidal component, "looks like what would be required to contain the plasma. It's the reactor itself. The large box looks like a controller, as it apparently has high power connections and a lot of data cables. The small box is some sort of computer system to interface with a standard PC. See, here is a USB port and a RJ45 connector. It might even be self-configuring."

"But where are the devices to manipulate the fields," David replied. "If this is real, he'd need several. One to interface with, and possibly contain, the toroid reactor, and several to allow control of the car. Where are they?"

"Did you look under the car when you cleaned it out?"

David's eyes widened, and they both got up and raced out to the garage. David fetched a trouble light from the workbench and lit it, as Dick grabbed the floor jack and placed it under the engine cradle to lift the rear of the car for easier inspection. Looking underneath, they could see several hard points had been added to the frame of the car. Dish-shaped depressions had been added to the sheet metal in places, and the metal locally reinforced. Each of these locations contained a hockey-puck sized saucer-shaped object with three cables coming from it. One cable was obviously a daisy chained distributed data network of some sort to allow each module to communicate with the controller. The other leads connected in parallel, and were obviously power leads. There were 26 modules in all. Four were larger than normal, and were located in the trunk walls. The area they surrounded formed a box, and they could see there were bolt holes already drilled that matched the pattern in the reactor perfectly.

"Ye cats and little kittens," David said. "He did it!"

Dick was almost jumping up and down with excitement. "Anti-gravity! Fusion Power! Do you realize how many of the world's problems this solves?"

"Slow down for a minute," David replied. "How do we know this stuff even works?"

After the inevitable pregnant pause, Dick looked straight at David and said "we'll have to build it to find out."

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