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  As she walked inside, Jean studied her beautiful new lab. It was beyond anything she could have imagined. Every workbench had been custom designed, as had every desk, all engineered to be for specific tasks. The equipment even matched their satin silver finish and complimented the bright walls that contained concealed lighting. Every piece of new technology that was available was present, and perfectly positioned at the head was her station, which looked more like a flight simulator with its rows of curved monitors, oversized desk, and keyboards. She looked around. The teams had been divided into four work clusters, headed up by Daniel, Melanie, Susan, and Julia, respectively. Beatrice had jumped at the chance to head up a more general role which, amongst other things, took in the wellbeing of the other scientists in their new cryo lab.

  Jean’s full-on testing schedule meant that the new scientists were quickly fully occupied with the various analysis assignments, which had also served to help with the integration of the team as a whole.

  It wasn’t long before the new team was keeping pace, and they were finding out which scientist was best suited to champion each part of the testing, analysis, and collation of the data that was now being churned out at a phenomenal rate.

  Jean was keen to hear of the latest updates. After stowing her belongings in her office, she quickly—though not as quickly as she might have managed seven months ago—went to the meeting room and settled in.

  Every Monday morning, Jean held an early managerial meeting with her new heads of departments. It was a chance to get together with her old team, which they all looked forward to. It was the perfect opportunity to brainstorm, and, despite the routine task of designating the assignments for the week, they used the meetings to catch up and gossip.

  “Things seem to be going well,” said Jean as she helped herself to a second pastry, which Beatrice had supplied. They each took it in turn to try to surprise the weekly meetings with tasty morning morsels.

  “Better than we anticipated, actually,” replied Daniel. “We’re already ahead of schedule with the testing program, and I would think that by next week, we’ll be able to increase the number of tests by 50 percent. We could probably handle it now, but I think it would be pertinent to continue as we are for this week so that everyone is able to comfortably handle the additional work.”

  “Have there been many errors?” asked Jean.

  “Not with any of the analysis procedures or results,” replied Beatrice. “Just a few minor screw ups where there’s been unfamiliarity with some of the new equipment. To be honest, I would put that down to teething problems, nothing to speak of, really.”

  “That’s very encouraging,” added Jean. “But even so, I think we should make sure that everyone is fully conversant with every piece of equipment at our disposal. See to it that each scientist is given a full run-through and receives individual training where it’s needed on everything, and have a graded notation of aptitude and competence included on their records. We know they will all score fairly high, but it will help to find out who’s gifted in the different disciplines that we employ.”

  “I’ll get right on it,” said Beatrice smiling. “We can start pretty much straight away. I know my cluster is hanging around waiting for the next test to complete, so they can be the first, and, if Julia chips in, we can split into two groups and cover more equipment simultaneously.”

  Julia nodded in agreement.

  “All right, let’s wrap it up for today. I’ll be in the clinic for the next couple of hours, usual check-up stuff, so I’ll see you all at lunch after I’ve put David’s mind at ease. Honestly, he’s convinced the baby’s going to pop out if I so much as sneeze.”

  As Jean headed to the clinic, she smiled in contentment. The plan to get her team operating efficiently was in place, and progress was overall going better than she had hoped, and importantly for her, life at home wasn’t playing on her mind as David’s schedule had also eased into a rhythm now, even if it was a busy one.

  ***

  Life at the farm had finally started to return to some semblance of normality.

  David’s new lab had been in full swing for six months, and he was especially pleased that his two new staff members were close friends and had seamlessly blended into the team.

  Dr. Rodney Steele was the first to join them. Having been poached from one of the other labs meant that he wouldn’t have to go through the lengthy selection and vetting process. He had always been affectionately called by his nickname “Bar,” or even Dr. Bar, which was awarded to him during his early school years after the daily morning roll call sounded the students’ names out loudly in reverse, hence “Steele, Rod,” and, needless to say, the name stuck with him throughout his career.

  He quite liked the nickname and would more often than not refer to himself as Bar. David knew he had been angling to join his close friend Freddie for some time as Bar would use every available opportunity, which even included working on Jean—usually at one of the regular bowling competitions between the two facilities, where they mostly all hung out at the bar. He often urged her to tell her husband of his willingness to do anything that would get him on to the team, and if any openings ever arose in nano, as he liked to call it.

  Bar’s role at the farm had been in the Applied Engineering Sciences division, which was, at times, less than challenging for him. His area of responsibility in AES had been the development and production of the nano growth beds. He was both ambitious and curious, and as such had always been suggesting ways to improve or upgrade the various elements and methods they were using. But Bar was part of a large team with a broad remit covering a great many projects, so on most occasions his improvements and upgrades were ignored.

  So it was no surprise to David that when Freddie approached Bar with the news that they would like him on the team he jumped at the opportunity, and literally within a week his transfer was completed.

  Dr. Jayne Strickland was not considered typical. She was trim, immaculately dressed, always in a long-skirted suit, and took great care in maintaining her business-like appearance. Her shiny brown hair was always in a neat bun with never so much as a single hair out of place, which often intimidated many, despite her attractive looks. She had joined the team two months later. Jayne was a proficient expert on nano tube applications and was the representative liaison officer for Orbital Industries Inc., the company that had been awarded the contract to build the eventual space elevator that would ride the tether into geosynchronous orbit. The two projects, being so closely linked, made her the perfect addition.

  Jayne had previously visited the farm on several occasions and knew many of the scientists, as their paths often crossed on various projects. She had also often stayed with David and Jean, rather than in Gainesville’s only hotel, as they all got on so well. Jayne was elated when she was appointed to David’s team, partly because of their shared passion of pure nano research, and also because rumor control had whispered quietly in her ear that, in the not-too-distant future, Orbital Industries would be acquired by Omni, and she very much wanted to be a bona fide “farmer” and join her friends when that happened.

  Jayne had mentioned all of this to David and that she had often toyed with the thought of jumping ship to join the scientists at the farm. This project gave her the perfect opportunity. David and Jean were happy that she was finally where she wanted to be.

  It was only after she had joined the farm that she had been made aware of the many breakthroughs that David and his team had made over the years.

  She was more than a little surprised that they were so far ahead of the Israelis, who she’d thought may have had the edge. She was off by a country mile.

  Rose and Jayne had also become close friends in the short time since Jayne had joined, and, with Freddie and Bar’s brotherly relationship, David’s team was as compatible and efficient as he could ever have hoped for.

  With his new team and equipment, David had managed to expedite the testing of the rare earth metals progr
am as the baseline for the nano growth matrixes and was able to cover five times as many experiments as they had done in the past.

  Jayne’s contribution had been immediate and refreshing. Her enthusiasm was contagious, and it wasn’t long before David and Jayne were brainstorming and swapping ideas on ways to blend composites into various rare earth metal alloys to increase the flexibility and tensile strength of the nano tubes that would be stranded to form the final tether.

  Bar was brimming with ideas on how the production could be customized to accommodate the incredible volumes required once the ideal composition had been identified and successfully tested, and, as such, he had kept enthusiastically close with the direction that the research was taking.

  It was still, however, expected to be several months before they would be able to cover all of the variations and tests required to achieve and exceed the necessary specifications that the tether demanded.

  Jean returned to her lab later than expected to find everyone hard at work. After talking with David over the phone about the results of her checkup, he couldn’t stop talking about all he had to do and all his plans for their team. It was wonderful to see his passion fully ignited again. If she were being honest, she’d been the same lately over her work. Everything felt like it was finally coming together for them.

  Beatrice and Julia were deep into explaining the various functions of the lab’s equipment to their very attentive colleagues, and Daniel was in the testing area pulling the latest batch results from the apparatus with three of the new scientists in tow.

  There was a satisfying level of noise and busyness that brought a proud smile to Jean’s face as she gingerly sat down, trying to keep her legs slightly apart and holding one hand on her lower back to ease the strain of her pregnancy.

  Jean’s new desk setup was overly large and sported three large, curved monitors that gave her a comprehensive overview on all that was taking place in the lab at any one time. For anyone entering the now very secure area, there would be no confusion as to who was firmly in charge.

  “How’d it go?” asked Susan cheerily.

  “Oh, you know, the usual prodding and poking. Honestly, if I . . .”Jean stopped abruptly mid-sentence and immediately placed her hands on her bulging stomach.

  “Oh my God,” was all Jean could say, as the cascading flow told Susan that her water had just broken.

  Susan screeched, “It’s time!” and, with that, the entire lab erupted in a cacophony of action from the seventeen female scientists and absolute panic from Daniel and the three other men.

  ***

  David, having dropped everything at the farm, had made it to the hospital just in time to see Jean go into labor.

  Jean, in between bouts of grimacing labor pains, had remained fairly calm, unlike David, who continued to babble a panic-stricken ream of gibberish and nonsense while having the bones crushed in his hand by his wife.

  Jean’s labor lasted a grueling six hours, until finally, at 7:17 p.m., she and David were presented with a beautiful, healthy baby boy.

  Carlton was born.

  ***

  When Jean finally awoke the next day, she was faced with a myriad of colors. The private room she was in was awash with bunches and bunches of flowers that were on display, wrapped in cellophane, boxed, in vases, arranged in just about every imaginable way and on every available surface, including the floor.

  In the corner where the big comfy chair was, she saw David’s head in between two very large, impressive floral displays. He was asleep and half buried in cuddly toys.

  Carlton was in a crib by her side. She looked at her sleeping baby and smiled. “Aren’t we the popular ones,” she said quietly, as the tears of joy began to roll down her cheeks.

  David opened his bleary eyes and smiled. “You’re awake,” he said quietly as he unwrapped himself from his puffy, floral cocoon. Kneeling at the base of the crib, he took hold of Jean’s hand and said, “I love you, darling.”

  Jean just smiled, laughed, and cried even more.

  ***

  The next three days saw a never-ending stream of visitors and well-wishers. At times, it was as if there were queues forming just to get into Jean’s already jam-packed room. Of course, the first in was Jean’s original team, who had joined David and waited with him throughout Jean’s labor. They were closely followed by the new female scientists, and then everyone else from both ACR and the farm.

  David was sure he was hearing “coo-coos” and “aahs” in his sleep by this time and was looking forward to them getting back home for some “peace and quiet.”

  Jean smiled when he told her and thought how wrong he could be.

  Things did, however, quieten down when they eventually returned home with their new baby, although it wasn’t too long before the strain of midnight feeds, diaper changing, and crying started to take its toll. Even so, a routine was established and life became more tolerable.

  David was becoming a doting father but still looked forward to escaping to his lab for some peace and quiet. Jean had established a satisfactory, secure, daily live video link from home to the lab, which gave her freedom and allowed her to continue to oversee her project as well as take care of baby Carlton at the same time.

  She had also found herself looking forward to her daily interactions with her team, welcoming the work distraction. The new crèche at ACR was proving to be a great success, and with three well-paid, very capable, caring nannies and one nurse, it catered for babies as well as preschool toddlers, and, even though it was still months away, they all eagerly awaited the arrival of Carlton into the group.

  As the weeks ticked by, both Jean and David’s labs had made significant progress.

  Jean’s team had successfully coped with the increased workload, so much so that Daniel had been able to double the number of test batches, and, after analysis, they were in a position to dismiss a large percentage of the scheduled tests as they were now showing a definite pattern of decreased efficiency. This meant that they were getting much closer to their targeted criteria.

  David had successfully isolated and identified the four best rare earth metal alloy compositions that contained all of the required elements to successfully produce a viable nano matrix ingot for testing. There was still a strong debate between him and Jayne regarding the actual ratios as, on paper, the data suggested one thing, his previous experiments suggested something else, and Jayne’s practical experience threw a third possibility on the table.

  Either way, they all agreed that they definitely had the right base alloys. So it was just a matter of controlled experimentation to determine which of the right answer combinations was best. At the very least, they now knew that they would have the definitive solution within five months or less. Five months being the maximum amount of time it would take to run every conceivable permutation.

  Carlton was four months old by the time Jean returned full time to the lab.

  She had been excited to get back into the mix. The secure video link had been a godsend, but it still wasn’t the same as actually being there, even though she was completely up to speed, having been religiously kept in the loop with every decision, no matter how small.

  To her, working from home didn’t have quite the same atmosphere as the lab, and she had found herself craving to be back. Carlton would be only a few minutes away, so she would be able to visit frequently—as, no doubt, would everyone else.

  Hopefully the novelty of seeing baby Carlton would be confined to the first week, as the need for routine, with the daily ritual of dropping Carlton off and getting him settled, was imperative, and too many visits or visitors could be disruptive. Fortunately, the nannies had a firm grip on the running of the crèche, so she felt very much at ease.

  The first order of the day was the later than usual weekly meeting. She’d guessed correctly that this was going to be a long one as the catch-up and gossip element was clearly the girls’ priority, not having seen her properly in such a while.r />
  The conversations did, however, finally turn toward work, much to Daniel’s delight, as he had been bobbing up and down in his seat for the last half hour.

  He either needs the bathroom really badly or he has news, Jean thought. Surmising the latter, she said, “All right, Daniel, out with it.”

  Daniel immediately perked up. “We’ve identified and isolated the primary compound of HSP34d1. We now have everything we need to move to phase two.”

  Jean looked dumbfounded. “That’s incredible—fantastic and incredible.”

  “And before you ask, yes, we have double checked and triple checked the findings and retested with the same results. Melanie and I have both started the definitive analysis of the areas that can be improved on, and we’ll be able to present you with our results by the end of tomorrow. We knew you’d want in, so Melanie has the accumulated data already prepared for you.”

  Jean was overjoyed. “That’s amazing, you guys. Well done, and yes, of course I want in on it. I’ve been dying to get my analytical teeth into something. I thought we would have been weeks away.”

  Susan smiled and exaggerated an angelic look. “We were, but we underestimated just how good our team really is, now. They have all excelled, and, to be honest, we’re the ones that have had a bit of a tough time keeping up with them. So much so that we actually finished the complete field of testing almost a full month ahead of schedule.”

  Jean was beaming from ear to ear. “I’m so proud of you all. Now where’s the data?”

  Chapter Eight

  Bar and Freddie were looking very disheveled. They were on their sixth day of being up to their elbows in the installation of the production machinery.

  Now that Bar knew roughly what the final criteria and specifications were to be, he had set about incorporating his prized upgrades and improvements into the customized production procedures. He’d had to wait until David had confirmed which parameters the nano matrix ingots were going to follow so that the production process could be tailored to cater for any specific idiosyncrasies, and now that they knew broadly what the composite matrix was to be, it would only be a simple matter of calibration, which could be done electronically.