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Prologue

* *

* Project Innovate *

* *

I walked up to the podium, standing in front of some two or three hundred people, stretching the entire staff of Theorium Industries as thin as possible. My parents were there, my fiance was there, and all my friends, as well.

"People of Theorium Industries! I have brought something from the dark, into the light. Our company has survived entirely on small devices like the pocket watch and Theorium circuits, but it's not enough. What we really need, is something to show the world what we're made of. And, I have constructed that."

I turned around and pulled the sheet off the strange device. It was exactly how I remembered it. A massive glass box with it's circuit on the front. A golden circle, with Theorium circuits on the inside, interweaving and connecting as one.

"Haven't you ever wondered why we don't have certain things? I mean, for fifty five years we've wanted to build something that shows the true potential of Theorium, and now we have.

"We all know the basics of electricity, it's just electrons moving through atoms. Of course, electrons are matter. Back in the old days, we believed Theorium simply created energy, but that's impossible. Recently, we theorized that it converts dark matter into electrons, which is what we call electricity. But here's where things get strange.

"All matter is composed of the same quarks and gluons, and this applies to protons, neutrons, and electrons. So, what if, we could rip apart these electrons to make protons and neutrons? It'd make new atoms, wouldn't it? And technically, we could control how much it made. Today, I bring to you, the world's first, Atomic Constructor!"

I pushed the sixth button on the device and it whirred to life. The Theorium glowed white hot, as did the gold. The glass began to take on a reddish hue, but it faded when the device stopped. For a second, nothing could be seen on the inside but fog and smoke. But as it faded, I reached my hand in and pulled out a solid black sphere, weighing at least twenty pounds.

I held it out for everyone to see, "This, is a ball of solid carbon." I threw it at the concrete floor of the stage, and it crushed a crater in the cement when it landed, sending shards of rock everywhere, but the sphere itself was completely intact.

The room was suddenly in uproar. I'd done it. I'd finally achieved my life long dream of making a change. This was a device that would change the world, and no one could deny it.

A few hours later, my fiance came in and congratulated me for doing so well. She left with a kiss, and then he came in.

"Well well, finally doing something, huh, Don?" Gregory Sebastion. He's a total psychopath and is obsessed with designing weaponry. The only problem is, it never fails to work.

"Certainly more than you've been doing."

"Hey, I've been working on a project of late, one that may very well change the future of our children." Greg's been my best friend since we were old enough to register friendship, and I'd trust him with my life, just not when he's talking about making anthrans into weaponry.

"Oh, shut up! You know that Theorium can't do that to people, we've tried!"

"Hey, I've been doing some studies, and I think I know a way I can make it work. I just need the right time..."

"And if it works?"

"It'll save us."

"From what?"

"Any possible attack."

"From who? Who'd be dumb enough to attack us? Everyone's carrying a device nearly as strong as an atomic bomb in their pocket at all times."

"North Korea'd be very interested in such a device."

"Well it's a good thing they don't know about it then, huh? Actually, last time I checked, no one knows about it."

"Still, you never know. Someone pulls the Theorium circuit out of one of those espresso makers, and we're dead."

"You're the only person who'd check an espresso maker for a metal that defies the laws of nature and physics."

He put on a really crazy look and accent, "Hey, you never know! There could be radios in them things!" We both started laughing, and continued with the conversation for a while.

After a couple hours, we went to a resteraunt with our partners, and enjoyed the sweet taste of imported foods. Seriously, this place lacks normality. Then all of us went up to the surface to watch the sun set. Greg proposed to his boyfriend, who said yes. Life in Theorium Industries was good.

* * *

Beginning the next day, the four of us set up a project, dubbing it Project Innovate. We gave ourselves the task of creating a new device every week. It went on for months, and no one complained. We watched as more and more families and people joined Theorium Industries, and the company only grew. This story, is about the machines we made, and the times we had in the workshop.

Chapter 1

* *

* Magnetic Sequencing *

* *

I entered the shop, hand in hand with Penny. Greg and Casper were already there, playing with magnets and fire.

"So, what're we gonna build for the first week of Project Innovate?" I went over to the counter and tossed a little copper dust on the fire, and watched the fire change to a vibrant green.

"I was thinking we could try to improve the Atomic Constructor to be more specific, like generate elements other than carbon." [Greg]

"It already does."

"Well there's that, and Casper's car was broken into last night. Some ass stole his laptop." I glanced at Casper, who looked kinda down.

"So, what're we gonna do about it?" [Penny]

"Make a new lock system, one that's nearly impossible to be broken."

"Easier said than done." [Me]

"I was thinking we could use magnets in an eight-bit trinary language to create a code, then have the tumblers be the lock... thing.... itself. Pass an electric current through it and it pushes or pulls the magnetic plates to open the lock." [Casper]

"Lock thing?" [Penny]

"Umm... the... you know the part of the door that like, actually holds it shut?"

"You mean the latch?"

"Yeah- ... shut up."

"Well, I guess it could work, but that's eight bit binary. There's only two hundred and fifty six different combinations." [Me]

"I said trinary."

"That's... Wait, how do you make it Trinary?"

"Positive, neutral, or negative." [Greg]

"Sounds impractical. Couldn't we just use a binary positive or negative, or varying strengths of magnetism?" [Penny]

"Not really, the latter's too complicated, and the first has too little possibilities."

"So, how many possible outputs are there for eight bit trinary?" [Me]

"Exactly nineteen thousand, six hundred, and eighty three." Casper slid a calculator my way to show me.

"And you got this, how?" [Penny]

"For bit-rate languages, you have a number for how many individual symbols there are, to the power of how many bits there are. Binary is two-bit, so a four-bit binary cell only has sixteen possibilities, because two times two is four, times two is eight, times two is sixteen. Trinary has three bits, so a four bit trinary cell would be three times three is nine, times three is twenty seven, times three is eighty one." [Greg]

"Ah."

"But why eight-bit?" [Me]

"It's easiest. The key's going to be fairly small, and we don't have the technology to to do anything very much higher. Sure, a sixty four bit would be nice, but that'd be nearly impossible to make, and incredibly long."

"Try. We should at least do nine, though. I mean, binary can have doubles, trinary can have triples." [Penny]

"Sure." [Greg]

"Wait, lemme see." Casper took the calculator and punch in some numbers, "Okay, yeah, that's... nineteen thousand six hundred and eighty three. I think I messed up somewhere." He sat for a minute, messing with the calculator, then finished with, "Yeah, it's the nineteen, sixty eight, three. My hand must've slipped the first time."

"Okay. So, let's get to work." I pulled the magnets out of their hands and set them down. We all went off and started working on different parts, and after an hour or so, put the whole thing together. It worked. Sort of. The latch was slow, the circuit had a crappy button, and quite frankly nothing could be done about the bad magnetism. We set it aside and spent another four or five hours trying to make a better one, and by the end of the day, we had.

Over the course of a week, we finished the final design of the Magnelock, and started building the machine that would automatically make them. We held a commitee, finding that only thirteen people showed up, and half of them were only there because they had to be.

We showed off the lock, and most of them were surprised by how it worked and the design. A few people even bought them on their way out, and my dad just freaked out about how worthless the device was. He questioned how I could go from making a device that literally generates matter, to making over complicated door handles. I didn't care. I just enjoyed inventing things.

After that, we decided to stay away from trivial devices like locks. Instead, we emplored one of Greg's ideas, and that changed everything.