help.” He regretted his remark instantly.
“My word, Trevor, do you want to give me a heart attack?” Katherine flew at him. “And why would I need any help?”
“Actually,” he said slowly. “I just wanted to see, if I could help. Okay, never mind, you have everything under control.” Trevor knew that she didn’t easily lose her cool, so this had to be serious. He waited.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you like that.” Katherine drew her fingers through her loose hair, only to tuck it back behind her ears again. “But this thing is driving me c r a z y!”
She pointed at the jumbled mess in front of her and Trevor understood.
“Don’t tell me it’s Professor Helbert’s vacuum battery. The ‘endless energy source’. Not bad for a project, but nobody has managed to get it right yet.”
“Well, count me in as nobody.” Katherine glanced hotly at her obstinate creation. “I really want to smash the thing on the floor and trample it into a pancake.”
“Ouch, Chryséis is already rubbing off on you?”
“Hmm,” Katherine grumbled.
Professor Gaylord Helbert’s theory for the vacuum battery centered - roughly speaking - around two poles touching in a vacuum, thereby generating endless power. According to the formula, different harmonic levels within a range of electromagnetic waves could be activated for all sorts of useful applications. Theoretically.
“Hang it. Chryséis is busy with another project. Some new theory about the time continuum. Black holes in space and so on. But I can’t do it on my own.” So there - she had said it. By now, black holes sounded more appealing to Katherine as well.
“Okay then, let’s see. Did you check the vacuum? Let’s have a look at these figures again…”
It hadn’t occurred to her to ask Trevor. He usually worked on projects with the other boys.
“Are you sure?” She hesitated.
“Yeah, of course.” He liked to solve problems.
“Very well, I downloaded the notes from the ‘Q-Mechanics’ website and it makes all perfect sense. The harmonics should be easy to tune now…”
They worked all afternoon on the solution and were proud of their respectable results. By the time the bell rang for dinner, the vacuum battery had already survived a series of tests. Katherine was in a much better mood.
“We should look at the outlet again. Maybe we can integrate an adapter,” Trevor said.
“I guess it’s our project now. If you don’t have other plans, I mean,” she ventured. Trevor nodded eagerly.
“Actually, I was supposed to work with Dan Atkins, but we couldn’t agree on anything. He linked up with Ben Harper, I think. So yes, I guess we are project partners.” They high-fived spontaneously.
“Good. Now we just need an application to demonstrate the battery.”
“Let’s not jump the gun. First the battery has to work properly.”
“Yes, I know. There wasn’t much on the ‘Q-Mechanics’ website other than the instructions. But we can start thinking about it.”
“Hmm, okay. But I’m hungry now.”
Christopher Higgins was busy tidying up his workbench. In the chemistry lab, Sophie Baxter, a grade 10 karate champ, poured some red liquid into a test tube and waited. She would also pack up soon. It was time to go.
“We could go to the library tomorrow and check out ‘The Uses of Electromagnetism in Modern Science’. There was this one chapter... do you want to meet after class tomorrow?”
“Yes, we could do that.” Katherine put her tools back into the drawer, locked it and crammed the notes into her schoolbag.
“That’s almost too easy. How about starting a history project, when we are finished here? Early Chinese dynasties...,” Trevor said.
“It wasn’t that easy, Trevor! There’s plenty of work left. Chinese history can wait.”
The following day they met in front of the library. There was some kind of commotion underway in the lobby and the students tried to slink past the massive desk with downcast eyes.
“Mr. Booth!” The librarian’s irate voice cut painfully through the usual quietude. “This is about taking responsibility!” She pronounced every syllable. “Two books in two weeks!”
Miss Eppelstein, affectionately nicknamed ‘Apple’ by all, paused for effect, “And you say they just - disappeared? I will have to report this. I’ll simply have to. If you think you cannot expend sufficient care of school property…!”
Miss Eppelstein had earned her nickname from the students, thanks to her round figure and rosy cheeks. But sometimes, she could turn from a calm and helpful librarian into a furious book goddess, if her beloved books were ‘lost’. And you didn’t want to be in her way when that happened.
Samuel Booth, a scrawny sixth-grader with flaming red hair to match his ears, stood dutifully crushed in front of her. He was embarrassed and could feel everybody’s eyes skewering him for being such a dork. But he had to admit that Miss Eppelstein was right. He had this stupid habit of leaving books lying around.
Apple wasn’t quite finished with him yet. “Do you have any idea, Mr. Booth, how much the school pays every year for library books?“
Katherine and Trevor sneaked past the great desk in a throng of other students. Trevor didn’t want her to recognize him. The same thing had happened to him not too long ago!
They searched for a rather large volume in the ‘Physics’ section. According to the record card, it was supposed to sit on the shelf under the letter ‘B’.
“Look at this,” Katherine pointed at a thin hardcover book. ”Have you ever heard of ’Extraterrestrial Intelligence’ by Meredith Baker-Maitland? I wonder what that’s all about —”
“A Nicola Tesla book is also in the wrong place!” She had read most books on Nicola Tesla, a famous 19th century physicist, who had been way ahead of his time. One of this maverick’s achievements had been a light bulb that glowed without an electrical connection.
Unfortunately, nobody had shown much interest in his incredible inventions at the time. So the knowledge was lost. No scientist had since been able to figure out just how Nicola Tesla had made that globe glow. All they knew was that it used energy ‘from around’.
“Ah, here it is,” Trevor said. “‘The Uses of Electro-magnetism in Modern Science’ by Professor Thomas Barber, 1989 Pillory Press. Someone put it under ‘D’ instead of ‘B’.”
The heavy book thumped onto the low table next to the shelf. They sat down and began to page through the index. It was quieter now in the library. Miss Eppelstein’s anger seemed to wear off.
“Enough already!” Katherine sighed. “I’m sure you can scrape the poor chap off the floor by now. I hope I’ll never lose expensive library books like Sam. “
Trevor barely listened. He turned page after page.
“Okay, let’s see. Where was it…? ‘Gravitational Waves’, ‘Electromagnetic Waves’,” Trevor mumbled. “…regular variations at a given point propagate to other points in space at the velocity c. It is the modulation, which enables information to be imposed on the carrier wave. We know that already...”
“I think this could be something: ‘Harmonics in Electromagnetism’. Sounds about right. Chapter Thirteen,” Chryséis said. They scanned the text carefully.
“Have a look at this, Katie.” Trevor’s finger stabbed at a complex-looking paragraph. He read aloud:
“…At