Diesel-Powered Starship, Chapter 2
Chapter 2 - The Lopez Watch
Chapter 2 – The Lopez Watch
The station ran the story on the evening news. Before the program was over the phones were ringing off the hook. Within twenty-four hours Dr. Lopez was an international celebrity. A battalion of journalists camped out in the street outside his house. Lopez refused to answer the door or the phone. This was just fine with the media, who didn’t know or even care if the Dr.’s machine was a fake or not. As they saw it, the important facts were: This mad scientist blew up his wife in an experiment and the public, for some ghoulish reason, wanted to watch anything about him on TV. The more they watched, the more commercial time was sold. The “Lopez Watch” was on.
GNN Broadcast – Outside of Casa Lopez
“Good morning, this is the Global News Network.” One of the twin anchors delivered into the camera lens below the red light with a precisely modulated tone of voice and expression. Her name was Jane.
“Thank you, Jane.” The other anchor, Howard, responded. “This morning, we are coming to you from Mexico City, in front of the home of Professor Ernesto Lopez, and his late, or at least missing, wife Maria.”
“Yes, Howard. Questions persist as to the fate of Maria Lopez. How culpable is her physicist husband Ernesto in what happened to her?”
“What indeed happened to Maria? To try and answer that question, Jane, this morning we’ve asked prominent astrophysicist and best-selling author Dr. Quentin LeRoy to join us here at the GNN breaking news desk.”
“Thank you for coming on the program, Quentin. We know that you’ve reviewed the video of Maria’s tragic disappearance. What can you say about it, from a scientific perspective?”
“Well, Jane.” LeRoy flashed a dazzling smile at the camera. His teeth sparkled like the grill of a luxury automobile. The look in the media-scientist’s eyes assured the public not to fret about technical matters they didn’t understand. Dr. LeRoy had a handle on that confusing sciencey stuff, and was going to dumb it down for you ignorant peasants.
“My staff and I have gone over that video with a fine-toothed comb, frame by frame. While this is just a preliminary conclusion, I think we can say that this was most likely an unfortunate accident. There’s no reason to suspect Dr. Lopez intentionally caused the death of his wife.”
“Do we know she’s dead?” Howard parroted the question his producer fed him through an earpiece.
“That would be my considered opinion, as a physicist.” LeRoy set his jaw in a manner which signaled questioning him would be challenging a modern-day Newton. “The image of Maria and the apparatus appears to grow smaller and smaller. That suggests she was travelling directly away from the camera at a high velocity.” Velocity was a so much more sciencey term than speed. “I’m sure that, once the Mexican authorities have had time to search, her body and the debris will be found some distance away. Taking into consideration the estimated altitude, and the probable force of the explosion, I’ve calculated that she was propelled between four hundred and six hundred yards to the south-southwest.” LeRoy chuckled. “That would be four hundred to six hundred meters for our Mexican neighbors, who use the metric system.”
Having forgotten that Mexico didn’t use good old American units of measure, Jane skipped a beat in relaying the comment from her earpiece. “An explosion has been speculated Dr. LeRoy. What might have caused that?”
“It’s difficult to say without be able to examine the wreckage, Jane. My money would be on the power source for Dr. Lopez’s contraption. The plans are readily available on the internet, and go into great detail on all components but the engine which supposedly drove it.”
Frowning slightly, Howard asked, “What are your thoughts, Quentin, on the fact that the device got up into the air in the first place. Dr. Lopez claimed it was an antigravity machine.”
LeRoy looked at Howard with condescension. Fortunately, Howard didn’t notice. Jane did, and expertly concealed it by looking down at her notes.
“Oh, I expect that once the wreckage is located Howard, we’ll find that answer. Probably there are a number of drones concealed within the housing. Drones are commonly powered by lithium-ion batteries, and such batteries can, under the right circumstances, catch fire and explode. That’s a much more plausible explanation than some fantastic antigravity machine.”
“Why do you rule out antigravity, Quentin?” Jane ignored the distracting conversation in her earpiece. The producer had forgotten to mute his microphone while he dispatched a staffer to dig up what she could on exploding lithium-ion batteries. That might make a good companion piece, should such an explosion have caused Maria’s demise.
“Antigravity is pure science fiction, Jane.” LeRoy scoffed. “Oh, I didn’t find anything specifically wrong with Dr. Lopez’s theories as presented in the material he provided before the accident. Although they can’t be valid.” The photogenic physicist flashed a dazzling grin to the camera. “Antigravity, if it does exist, could only be achieved by a huge expenditure of energy via a device of much greater complexity than is described here,” he thumped the pile of drawings before him derisively. “I mean, really. He claims to have put it together in his garage in his spare time. This machine could be constructed by anyone with access to a reasonably precise machine shop. Hardly high tech. Almost anyone could build this in, oh, a week or so.”
LeRoy pontificated about exotic matter and negative mass. Howard demonstrated a remarkable ability to look interested and comprehending, while contemplating what he’d eat for lunch.
After a minute or two, the producer decided it was time to wrap the segment up. There was only so much raw science the average viewer would put up with before reaching for the remote control. Besides, LeRoy was scheduled to spout basically the same “science-angle” in ten minutes on another network’s program, which was set up about five yards (meters) away.
“Time to plug the book.” The producer said in Jane’s earpiece.
Jane picked up a book from the desk. “Is this subject covered in your book, Quentin?”
No newcomer to network TV and its rigid scheduling, LeRoy effortlessly transitioned from technical rant to shameless self-promotion. “Yes, it is, Jane. In my book, Science and You...” He held up the mass market edition at an angle calculated to reduce camera glare.
The Diesel-Powered Starship is coming soon from Novus Mundi Publishing
