Chapter 10 – Helios

Alan pushed back his chair and approached the whiteboard with a distant look in his eyes, marker in hand. Liz knew what was coming. She had seen that look before: Alan in his zone of thought. He began writing numbers, formulas, and equations and didn’t stop until the white board resembled a distant solar system. Every now and then, he would pause and turn his head just a little so his peripheral vision would pick up some signal from Liz or one of his other colleagues in the room – William, Kiara, and Abby – sitting comfortably around the high school conference room table. They, in turn, would nod their heads ever-so-slightly in agreement. No words were exchanged. Mental energy simply flowed amongst them with aqueous ease. Occasionally, a slight shake of the head by a group member would cause him to backtrack until the nods came again.

Finally, after nearly two hours, Alan dropped the marker and turned back to the group. He took a deep breath and shook the kinks out of his exhausted writing hand, then shoved it awkwardly into the front pocket of his chinos. “So, there you have it, my revised calculations and proofs further confirming the theoretical existence of an Epsilon Particle.” He searched the faces of his colleagues. “Everyone convinced?”

William was first to speak. “There’s no question in my mind. Your model is sound.”

Abby and Kiara also nodded their heads in agreement. Liz, having already discussed the mathematical model at length with Alan, quietly observed.

“So,” Alan continued, “the hypothesized Epsilon Particle is the next step up, or down, the electromagnetic spectrum – depending on how you look at it – from the gamma particle, with a wavelength one order of magnitude smaller.

“Ionizing radiation, typically by way of gamma rays, has diffuse effects on the human body, causing DNA breakdown, mutations, and all the symptoms of radiation poisoning. A typical example of this would be the fallout at Hiroshima after the atomic bomb. I’ve hypothesized that Epsilon particles will have much more focal effects. In particular, I think they will mostly affect certain very specific parts of the brain.”

Alan looked at Kiara when he said this last part, and she nodded slowly, her brow furrowed. Kiara was the biologist in the group, and it would be her job to study the effects of the Epsilon Particle at the organism level.

“To summarize, we think there will be a solar flare event of great magnitude, and there is a high probability that this will be a triple event with three sequential solar flares hours, or days, apart. This will result in the release of a new particle, which I’ve named the Epsilon Particle, with potentially devastating effects on the nervous system and, in particular, the brain.”

Liz, trying her best to give full attention to Alan, felt her eyes droop in spite of herself. Mental fatigue was setting in, and she couldn’t keep her mind from wandering. After all the planning and finagling that had gone into making this first Helios meeting happen, she should have been brimming over with triumphant energy. She and Alan had, after all, done it. They’d assembled this stellar team; they’d acquired the necessary monies and resources; they’d paved roads and covered tracks. The problem was that, after all it had taken to get to the base of the mountain, they still had to climb Everest. But all Liz felt like doing was crawling into bed with the covers over her head.

She looked around the room, bowled over by the fact that soon their own children would be spending time just outside the door and down the hall in classrooms, totally oblivious to the work their parents would be doing in this very building. Thinking of the kids, she sighed quietly and smiled to herself. They were growing up so fast. She and Alan had made a promise not to let their Helios work rob them of precious time with their kids. This commitment led Alan to join the PTA and approach the school administration about heading up a science club. Delighted school officials offered him the old conference room for meetings, and Alan quickly realized this space could serve a dual purpose. Already convinced that the offices and homes of the Helios Group were bugged, he persuaded his colleagues to join him in volunteering at the school where they could confer in an uncompromised setting. Or so he thought.

Such an old conference room. All of the furniture was solid oak, the slatted walls framed with beautiful trim now covered with decades of old beige paint, the unfortunate decorating decision of some long-gone bureaucratic oaf, Liz thought. There was one weathered old window allowing the barest of light to enter, protected on the outside by a lattice of steel bars, presumably remnants of a pre-high school age when the building had been used for other things financial in nature. Further evidence of this was the 1920’s Diebold safe. Too heavy to move, it had been concealed within a custom-made cabinet and tucked away in the corner. The conference room had, however, been updated with all the latest electronics – wireless internet, projector and screen, a large screen TV – making it a perfect meeting place for the Helios Group. 

Kiara’s voice broke into Liz’s tired thoughts and brought her back to the moment.

 “… and you’ve presented this exact model to the heads of the NOAA, FEMA, and the federal government, and they don’t buy it?” Kiara asked, shaking her head in frustration.

“We can’t get them past the idea of the triple event,” Alan said.

“It comes back to interpreting the data,” Liz added, sitting up in her chair. “They just don’t see it the way I – and, hopefully, the rest of you – do. Believe me, I have explained it to them six ways from Sunday.” 

“What if we went as a group?” Abby asked. “Surely, they can’t ignore five PhD scientists at the top of their fields, particularly since they obviously trust us enough to invest millions of research dollars into studying radiation poisoning.”

“You haven’t dealt with NASA’s astrophysicists. They are some of the most obstinate, narcissistic –”

 “Okay.” Alan made a subtle hand motion, signaling Liz to avoid the tirade about to burst from her lips. He’d heard it many times and believed it fully justified, but now was not the time. “In the end, I think we were lucky we weren’t placed on the fringe list and marginalized for any future grants, such as the one that finally brought us all here. In fact, sometimes I wonder if this defense contract wasn’t partially an attempt to make our solar flare ideas go away while still keeping an eye on us.”

Liz sighed, and her shoulders drooped. “Alan’s right. We still have no idea if there is a possible cure for the effects of the Epsilon Particle, and there is certainly no way to stop a massive series of solar flares. Basically, at this point in the game, we have nothing more to offer than a very dark future with an iota of hope, a dash of conjecture, and a lot of hypothetical mumbo jumbo. But we’ll change that.”

 “Yes, we will,” Kiara said. She said it in a way that left no room for doubt, and, for this, Liz was grateful. Kiara stared at the whiteboard for a moment, drumming two fingers in rapid succession on the table, appearing lost in some internal reverie. Finally, she gave the table a final slap with her palm and faced her colleagues. “Okay, let’s run through our roles. The first step is for William to isolate the Epsilon Particle. Correct?

“Right,” Alan replied.

“Next, he has to figure out how to reproduce the particle so I can study the effects on living organisms.”

“Yes, that’s correct,” William answered.

“And then, once we have animal models, I can work on developing a cure or vaccine,” Abby continued.

“Yes, each of you will be in charge of these respective stages in accordance with your fields of expertise,” Alan confirmed.

“What will you and Liz be doing during all this?” Kiara asked. “Your work in developing the models has already been done.”

“For that matter,” Abby added, “what will any of us other than William be doing? It sounds like we can’t do anything until he’s delivered the Epsilon Particle.”

Liz nodded to Alan. “Liz and I will continue to refine our mathematical models based on updated celestial measurements to pin down the timing and the theoretical effects of the flares more accurately. In addition, we will take care of all the administrative work and meetings in order to maximize your time to work on both the Helios Project and the radiation poisoning defense contract. Remember, the money and equipment for the Helios Project are tied to our success with this contract. It’s likely that for the first few years, only William will be contributing anything substantial to the Helios Project while the rest of us make progress on the defense contract.”

A series of grunts and nods around the table indicated general acceptance. Liz tried to assess the mood in the room. It was clear that this group was all in. They had uprooted families, given up satisfying academic careers in some of the top universities around North America, and followed her and Alan out to the desert. It filled her with awe. And dread. Whatever happened from this point forward, they were in it together.