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"There is enough adventure, mystery, and Sci-Fi for anyone."
-- reader, J. Osborne

Alex Manez sat in the cockpit of the Quanta. All on-board electronics were dead, the heads-up displays were blank, and the only sound he could hear was the soft beating of his heart in his chest.

To the side of the pilot’s chair, a pull ring hung from a short length of wire. All he had to do was to reach for that ring and give it a sharp tug. The reaction would switch on the generator and charge the battery, which would in turn power the computers and other electrical systems, including the Kinemetic dampeners.

Alex reached out for the pull ring, and his fingers—the slender fingers of a teenager—touched the cool thin metal. The last time he had done this, his hand passed through the ring, as if he were a ghost caught between the living and spirit worlds.

The last time, the ship had exploded.

Now, there was no urgency in his actions. With minimal effort, he drew the ring back until it clicked, and watched as the holoslate in front of him flickered to life.

A green light indicated that all systems were operational and ready for normal navigation.

Disinterested, he brushed a thin strand of hair out of his eyes and longed for the time when he had a full head of hair. It seemed like a lifetime ago.

He looked up when a short, high-pitched binging sound came out of the holoslate.

Superimposed on the screen over a schematic display, a sour-looking face appeared, and narrowed eyes stared directly at Alex as if looking straight through him.

“And then what happened?” asked Kenny Harriman, the newest physicist to join the Quantum Resources research team on CS3. He was considered something of a whiz at the University of British Columbia, from where he had been recruited.

Biologically only a few years older than Alex, Kenny acted like a tenured professor. It was as if he had something to prove. From the moment he arrived in the lab, he had insisted on reading every report concerning the Quanta missions, reviewing every diagnostic ever run on Alex, and making sure he was supervising every simulation exercise.

He also had an annoying habit of making every question or statement a challenge. Kenny was a very excitable young man who obviously loved the pursuit of knowledge. At the same time, he was on a personal mission to drag Quantum Resources back into the spotlight of the world’s scientific community.

In contrast to the physicist, Alex was the epitome of calm. “I told you. Nothing happened.”

“Nothing!” Kenny tapped something on his haptic console, and the canopy of the life-sized flight simulator snapped open.

The hydraulics lifted the top up and away from Alex. He blinked to adjust his eyes to the brighter light of the simulation room. Through a large pane of glass, two analysts hunched over computer schematics in the adjacent room.

The light continued to sting Alex’s eyes, but he watched as Ellen Yarrow adjusted the rim of her glasses over her pert nose.

Once, when Alex had first arrived on CS3 after his interstellar flight, he had tried to strike up a conversation with Ellen. She had acted nervously, and excused herself. Since then, she had gone out of her way to avoid him.

Alex had no idea why he tortured himself over her, or over the possibility of any relationship. Even if he looked as old as his birth certificate stated, he was still a freak of nature, a science experiment gone awry.

He was doomed to solitude.

“What do you mean, ‘nothing’?” Kenny demanded.

Alex fixed the physicist with a smile of innocence. “I don’t mean anything by it. Nothing happened when I pulled the ring on the flight.”

Kenny seemed completely unaffected. “Tell me why I don’t believe you.”

“It wasn’t enough of a kick to turn the Quanta back on.” Alex explained. “I had to provide the charge to initiate the systems.”

“Right. This ‘electropathic’ ability, which you’ve failed to demonstrate to us time and again.” The physicist pulled a disbelieving face. “All we have is your say-so you have the ability to manipulate electrical systems . . . oh and the questionable reports from the crew of the Orcus 1.” He waved his holoslate in front of Alex.

Alex had had the same argument for the past two years with every scientist, technician and administrator Quantum Resources and Canada Corp. had sent up to Canada Station Three.

Before the real Quanta’s first interstellar voyage, Alex had judged that the Kinemetic influence on the electrical systems of the ship would far surpass initial estimates. The shielded battery would not hold nearly enough power to start all the shipboard computers. And he had been correct. The pull ring had done absolutely nothing.

The longer Alex had been in proximity to the kinetic metal, the more of a charge he had built up. Once the Quanta had reached Alpha Centauri space, there was enough electrical current at Alex’s disposal for him to start the computers and bring the life-support systems back online. That effort—among other things—had completely depleted him for a very long time.

Alex said, “I will be more than happy to show you how it works. I just need an adequate amount of Kinemet to replenish me.”

Kenny gave him a cool gaze filled with disbelief.

Alex repeated himself, and there was a tone of quiet desperation that slipped into his voice. “I need it.”

Without Kinemet, Alex was not only powerless to control electrical currents around him, but the longer he spent away from it, the faster his physical body deteriorated.

As with all living things, there were certain vitamins, minerals and amino acids an organism needed in order to maintain and sustain life; with Alex, it was as if exposure to the kinetic metal had added one more required element to his biological makeup when he had been irradiated on Macklin’s Rock.

The physicist shook his head. “Even if I could authorize a small quantity—which I can’t because we don’t have any—I’m not convinced that mere exposure to the element will suddenly infuse you with some kind of supernatural power.”

“It’s not a sudden effect.”

“Besides,” Kenny said, narrowing his eyes, “according to these reports, when they were still building Quanta ships, they allocated half a milligram of Kinemet here for testing purposes. You were in contact with it.”

“It wasn’t enough,” Alex said. “A drop of water for a man dying of thirst.” Without the influence of Kinemet, his health had deteriorated drastically. The doctors couldn’t prove that lack of exposure to Kinemet was causing his issues, and without a substantial quantity of the metal, he couldn’t prove that it would help.

Kenny waved his hand in the air frantically. “We can go around in circles forever on this. It wasn’t the question I was asking, anyway.”

“I know,” Alex said.

“I know you know!” Kenny was not as capable of hiding his frustration as his predecessor. He took a long, deep breath. “You say you were able to start the generator.”

Nodding, Alex said, “I was.”

Kenny sighed. “Then why did it explode, and why didn’t you die in the explosion?”

“It’s in my report,” Alex said, his voice weary. “I got the systems up, but it was too late to engage the dampeners. The secondary Kinemetic reaction had started; there was no way to stop it from exploding. I barely had enough time to eject the escape pod.”

Kenny blinked. “It’s too bad the flight recorder can’t corroborate your story.”

“I told you, when I used the electropathy to start the generator, I pushed too hard and it wiped the storage drive.”

“Convenient,” Kenny said.

Alex frowned. “You should have shielded it better.”

Kenny flicked his hand dismissively. “Never mind about that. You had rations for one week—two if you pushed it. So how did you survive after that? What happened in the almost two-and-a-half months between when you arrived in the Centauri system and when you made the return trip. You just—what—floated in space all that time in the pod?”

“It’s a little foggy,” Alex said. “I think I was suffering some aftereffects from being quantized. Time didn’t really flow in an ordinary way.” He wasn’t a very good liar. From the look Kenny gave him, the physicist didn’t believe him on that point.

In his debriefing to Quantum Resources—when it was still a joint venture between USA, Inc. and Canada Corp.—Alex had reported that his escape pod had detected an identical cousin to Sol System’s Dis Pater on the outer rim of the Centauri System. A huge monument that resembled an electron cloud, the alien structure rested on the surface of a minor planet a fraction of the size of Charon.

Alex repeated himself for the hundredth time in the past two years. “I used the pod’s jets to head for the alien beacon. When I got there, it just . . . sent me home.”

Fixing Alex with a look of frustration, Kenny said, “And if all of the Kinemet blew up with the Quanta, how did ‘it’ send you back to Sol System?”

That was one of the many questions the Quantum Resources scientists kept asking, but they continued to disbelieve any answer Alex gave them; and they were right. It was unfortunate that he was unable to tell them the truth.

He hated that there were things about his story he couldn’t share. But if he shared his secret before the world was ready, it would lead to . . .

He didn’t even dare think of it.

The frustration he felt had only sharpened over the past few years. The world needed to develop the Kinemet technology as fast as it could, but they had encountered a brick wall. Coupled with the worsening economy, it seemed no one was that interested in investing in Kinemet.

At times, Alex wanted to scream to get the world motivated, but he knew he had to bite his tongue.

Time was running out; at the rate of things, it might take decades for the science of Kinemet to get where it needed to be.

Because of his health, Alex didn’t have decades; he most likely didn’t even have years.

But whenever Calbert Loche or Raymond McGrath sent up a new physicist to Quantum Resources, Alex did his best to help them, hoping they were the ones who could unlock the secret of Kinemet.

Inevitably, due to his reluctance to tell the complete truth, and also because those details he did share were difficult to believe, those newcomers eventually discounted the rest of Alex’s story.

Kenny was a little more stubborn than his predecessors, but he was on the wrong track. Alex knew where today’s conversation was heading, and the day’s events had taken a toll on him. He didn’t have the strength to endure an argument, and at this point, he didn’t care if Kenny Harriman pitched a fit over it.

Alex said, “I’m tired. I need to rest.”

Vibrating with barely suppressed anger, Kenny stormed off and tapped his report into the haptic console. One of the lab assistants approached and assisted Alex out of the simulator’s cockpit.

*

It had been over two years since Alex’s return from the first interstellar voyage. The world financial crisis had intensified in Alex’s absence, and USA, Inc. and Canada Corp. had banked heavily on a successful mission for the Quanta. Contact with an alien race would have made the country corporations’ stocks soar. New technologies, medicines, and even the possibility of interstellar trade would have boosted shareholder and consumer confidence.

With Alex’s report that he had seen nothing out there except the distant flare of the Centauri system’s red dwarf star, Proxima, the media had descended on the two country corporations, hungry for blood. They accused the United Earth Corporate Council of wasting trillions of dollars on an empty space fantasy when they should have concentrated their efforts on the realities of increasing population, famine and energy depletion. The UECC had backed out of the Quanta trials, and after NASA and Quantum Resources’ repeated failures, USA, Inc. decided to follow suit.

Quantum Resources barely survived USA, Inc.’s downsizing efforts by selling all shares to Canada Corp. and relocating its quantum research facility to Canada Station Three.

Without a steady supply of Kinemet for practical trials, Quantum Resources had turned into more of a theoretical analysis laboratory. At the moment, their only solid asset was Alex Manez. Despite his agreement to be their guinea pig—and as his body continued to fail him—he found himself becoming more and more obstinate.

As had happened during his self-imposed exile on the pirate base on Luna, without the direct influence of Kinemet, Alex had begun to physically deteriorate once more. It was as if the radiation emitted from that element, while basically harmless to those who had not been exposed during a transfer reaction, had become a requisite substance for Alex. He fed off it; it replenished him and kept him alive.

He had no idea how long he would live without it.

The harshest side effect of his condition was that he could not tolerate Earth’s high gravity anymore. While the main labs, administration areas, and the common and recreation centers on Canada Station Three were all fitted with the latest in artificial gravity technology, the levels in the living quarters were completely adjustable by the occupants. Alex, when home, kept gravity to a bare minimum.

Unable to stand on his own for more than a few short minutes at a time, Alex had purchased a set of hydraulic leg braces which would support his weight. He purchased them with the proceeds from the severance package given to him by NASA.

When not in his quarters, Alex wore his hydraulic braces. Using fluid dynamics, biomechatronics and environmental pressure sensors, the braces were able to compensate for any external factors, such as walking on an incline or stairs, or—if he were back on Earth—snow or rain. They provided him with a more natural gait. From a distance, most people would not be able to tell he wore orthotics. Not that it made any difference: Alex looked pale and sickly; his hair was thin and stringy, and his bones continued to atrophy no matter how many vitamin shots the medical staff administered.

All the researchers and corporate administrators treated Alex like a child. Even Ellen Yarrow looked at him as if he were something she discovered in a Petri dish. Although his body appeared to be that of a sixteen-year-old boy, according to his birth record, he was twenty-five; legally an adult. During the eight or so years when his body had been in a quantized state, he had not aged physically.

Once the assistants secured him in the leg supports, Alex pulled on his loose-fitting trousers and fastened them at his waist.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kenny returning, and steeled himself for a confrontation.

Kenny watched as Alex finished dressing.

The physicist finally said, “Look, I don’t want us to be enemies. I want you to trust me. I just want what’s best for everyone.”

Alex scoffed.

Kenny threw up a hand. “Fine. I want what’s best for me, but that can only lead to helping you. So please, can’t we start the dialogue over again?”

“If you truly want to help yourself,” Alex said, “then you’ll listen when I tell you that what you are doing right now is irrelevant—and quite possibly counterproductive.”

Shaking his head, Kenny asked, “How can the study of the most advanced technology in the universe be irrelevant?”

Kenny often spoke as if he were in a lecture hall.

Alex sighed. “That’s not what I’m saying. It is the most important thing in the world. We need to master it before—”

“Before what?”

Alex shook his head. “First, you need to understand the basics of Kinemet. And we don’t even know how to stabilize it. We need to focus on how Kinemet affects people, not how to build a better Quantum Drive. Everyone keeps looking at the power of Kinemet as if it’s just the key to light-speed travel.”

“But it is!”

Alex shook his head. “Yes, it can be a trigger for quantizing matter into light and powering a properly equipped vehicle at near light speeds. But that’s only the most rudimentary of its properties.”

“What are you talking about?” Kenny scanned his notes, but Alex knew none of his predecessors had written anything about this.

Normally, he wouldn’t try to explain himself. However, of all the researchers sent up to CS3, Alex had a feeling that Kenny’s mind might be open to new possibilities.

Alex said, “It can do so much more than just be a fuel for light-speed travel.”

Voice low, ears alert, Kenny asked, “Such as . . . ?”

Alex pointed to himself. “Human chrysalis, for one. Though we’ve failed miserably in that regard. And then there’s the Grace.”

Kenny stared at Alex as if he were speaking another language.

He blinked. “The grace of what?”

Alex cursed himself and said, “Nothing. Sorry, I’m just too tired to think straight. I have to go to my quarters.”

*

Interim Report :
Health Status :
Alex Manez :

From: Dr. Naryan Amma, Ph.D.
CS3 Medical Chief of Staff

To: Canada Corp. Health Services,
Dept. of Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases.

Diagnosis: The subject, Alex Manez, displays symptoms indicative of massive vitamin deficiency, particularly D and C, though all levels of those vitamins are with normal ranges.

Despite bombardment of multivitamins and a diet of citrus and dairy products, Alex Manez suffers from continued hair loss, chronic insomnia, pale skin and osteoporosis.

There is indication of onset muscle degeneration, and I expect other symptoms to become prevalent as his condition worsens.

While his mental acuity remains in the top percentile, his emotional state has become volatile, and he is prone to depression and anxiety.

Treatment: All attempts to correct the subject’s condition have failed to reverse or even stall his deterioration. Physical exercise exacerbates his pain, multivitamin injections and supplements show no effect, and growth hormones only serve to cause gastrointestinal distress and may lead to kidney and liver failure.

Prognosis: Alex Manez has no more than six months to live.