CHAPTER 235: JET SKIS

He turned to look at Nora. "Nora?"

"Rina and I have finalized the design of the reactor core for producing the nanites that we need to manufacture the VR glove material. I’ve had some preliminary success using nanites to fabricate simple integrated circuits, and I’m working on tailoring a treatment for Lars."

"Do we know yet how we plan to build the fabricators? We need to avoid having them just magically appear."

"I found a company that is selling a building with a functional clean-room we can use for assembly. And Rina and I have identified the companies we will work with to fabricate the various components we could not buy off the shelf."

"That’s great. Do you think we’ll have completed fabricators in the next six months?"

"Assuming we don’t run into any problems, yes."

"Great.’

He looked at Rina. "Rina?"

"I expanded my transistor search program to also search for other integrated circuit components and have found enough viable candidates to possibly fabricate sub-nanometer scale chips. But I’m still searching for everything needed to make fully functional photonic chips."

"Is there any reason we would want to even bother with sub-nanometer scale silicon chips?"

"Yes. It will allow us to show a more believable technological progression. If we jumped straight to sub-nanometer photonics, we’d, as you say, paint a target on our backs."

"Got it. Anything else?"

"Yes, after talking with Astrid, we were able to come up with what we believe is a viable fabrication design for the nano-cell aluminum batteries. She was also able to provide me with a comprehensive list of the tests we need to run to ensure our batteries pass all safety certification tests."

"Do you think we can be ready to use the new batteries in our first-gen VR headset?"

"No, even if we have samples ready for testing today, it would take six months to get all the safety certifications complete."

"Is this something other companies do?" asked Madison. "I read about lithium batteries exploding at least once a week."

"Because our batteries will be using a new technology, we’ll need to prove a higher bar of safety. If our competitors can prove even one safety issue, we’ll be drowned in lawsuits."

"Okay, so our first-gen headset will use existing battery tech. Do you think well be able to use the new batteries in the second-gen headset?"

"Yes, assuming we can scale out production."

"Talk with Lars and Astrid and see if they can handle that or if we need to buy another company."

"Okay."

He looked at Naoko. "Naoko?"

"I’m still trying to catch up to Nora."

"You and me both," he said.

"She gave be a list of reading assignments and lab projects to work through. Also, that molecular playground Rina created is amazing."

He nodded. It was amazing.

He nudged Katie. "Katie?"

"Um, I’ve just been using the extra time I now have to catch up on my reading. I’d really like to be involved in the cancer treatment Nora is working on, but I don’t want to interfere with her work."

"I can give you some articles to read if you want," said Nora. "And you can help me with some of the lab work when I get to that point."

"Are you sure?" asked Katie, thrilled at the possibility.

"Yes, I’m sure."

"Thank you!"

Katie had been feeling a little left out of the whole contribute-to-Jack’s-grand-vision plans, so being included in Nora’s work on Lars’ treatment made her happy.

He reached up and gently squeezed Samantha’s shoulders. "Sam?"

"I’ve mostly been trying to understand subatomic particles, but I get a headache if I look at them too long. My math knowledge is still lacking. So, I’ve also been researching various low-energy nuclear reaction claims."

"Oh? Find anything interesting?"

"Maybe? Rina helped me use her software to run Genesis Heart simulations to see if I could reproduce the nickel-hydrogen and palladium-hydrogen fusion reactions described in various papers. And we found a few configurations that produce repeatable results. But..."

She huffed.

"Most of them required way more energy than should be available in the described experiments. So, as far as I can tell, the cold-fusion claims are still bogus. However...I did find one configuration that produced unexpected results. I have no idea how it works, but it does."

"Is it something we can use?"

"No. It requires a highly specific arrangement of atoms, only produces results once in every one million tests, and the configuration isn’t something we could reliably produce in a real-world device. But it does hint at something interesting, so I’ve been studying it."

"Sounds interesting. Keep me updated. Even if what you discover doesn’t have immediate practical use, it may prove useful in the future."

"Does anyone have anything else they want to bring up?"

"You talked about going somewhere warm for winter break, like rent a tropical island or something. But you made a tiny tropical island for those interviews, so can we do that this weekend? Only with waves and stuff."

"So you want me to create a beach room? With waves and sand and a light breeze?"

"Yes!"

"I’ll have to drop the time ratio down to one-to-one. That kind of room costs a lot of EP per second."

She nodded. "That’s why I suggested doing it this weekend. We can just lay in bed all day in the physical world, while we spend the day on the beach in your soul space."

"Can we ride jet skis?" asked Naoko.

"Sure, why not. We can do that this weekend if everyone agrees."

They all nodded.

"What about Analise?" asked Miranda. "She seemed to enjoy our evening together. Why not include her sapient template? Then if she seems to be comfortable with all of us, you can offer her a soul bond at the end of the day. You could try including Robin as well."

"You know, that’s not a bad idea. If they react poorly, I can just dismiss the copy. If they do well, I can talk to them about soul bonding."

He looked around the room. "Does anyone object?"