Chương 50: Book 3 - Chapter 1 D

When everyone arrived on the second floor at In Flagrante Delicious, they were directed to assigned seats for dinner. Our new chef and his staff did their best, even Ms Double approved. The true highlight, however, arrived at the end: the restaurant's signature dish, a daring charred leek ice cream, its smoky sweetness a surprisingly delightful counterpoint to the richness of the preceding courses. At the end of dinner, my Grandpa stood, tapped his glass with a fork, and the room quieted.

"Thank you all for coming to my hotel. I think we can all show our appreciation for the hard work put into that wonderful meal," he said, leading a round of applause.

"My name is Joseph Carpenter, John is my grandson. Of course, I'm Jewish, and we Joseph Carpenters are well known for having famous descendants," he said, to a roll of laughter from the diners.

"While a previous Carpenter had a famous son, I had only daughters. I'm very happy to have famous grandson. As a special thank you for joining us in this celebration, Mark, standing over there, has a card for a free three-night stay at any of my hotels. Please see him anytime after dinner. You are also invited to use your card immediately and become our first guests here tonight.

"I also want to say a few words about my grandson, Dr John Cook. I've never seen a young man who works so hard. When I asked him how his school work was doing, worried that he was pushing himself, his response was simply, 'It's not difficult, there's just a lot of it.' Then he went on to do it all at record speed.

"I've never seen a young man who seemed so humble about his accomplishments. When I showed him a newspaper article, or a magazine article about his Chess wins, his computer game selling five hundred thousand copies, his book being on The New York Times best seller list, or someone extolling the way his new water filter is going to save hundreds of thousands of lives around the world, he simply smiles and says, 'I'm glad I could do it, it was fun.' or 'I'm glad I could do it, it was really needed.'

"My Grandson, who is quite likely the smartest person in the world, had the best answer when I asked him what he wanted most for his upcoming birthday, 'I'd like everyone to be happy, and have what they need' then he added 'but puberty would be pretty great too.'" Grandpa said getting another laugh.

"To my Grandson, may you have both wishes, that everyone is happy and has what they need, and puberty when you're at least thirteen. We will all support your noble wishes to the best of our ability. Cheers!" he concluded, to loud applause from the guests. With the festivities over, I made my goodbyes and went up to the sixteenth floor. My lab space. This had been the hotels original ballroom. It would be again someday, but for now the thirteen hundred square foot double height space was ideal.

It was here that I created a method to crack carbon dioxide at five watt-hours per liter. I also created the graphene flakes that would soon be in every lightbulb, and that I baked into what I called graphene felt. Graphene felt was now being mass produced by Corning, which is what I had been discussing with my personal lawyer, Jennifer Parz. My newest products for them were bubbling away.

The first was a vast roll of graphene, thirty-six inches wide, its nearly transparent surface turning gray as it spooled onto the roll. The roll it was spooling onto after coming out of manufacturing was nearly a foot across. I maneuvered a small, sturdy dolly beneath its immense weight, nearly 500 pounds. I carefully lifted and positioned it next to two other similar sized rolls already produced.

The second product was a diamond, resting inside a plexiglass container under the baking light and a purple dripping mixture of carbon. Next to it the same catalyst that was raining down black flakes of graphene was instead turning the block of dry ice above it into C2 and C3, where it fell into a pool of PFPE. The copper oxygen scrubber was red hot, and had turned dark enough to get replaced during the next run. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

The diamond was still growing, it presented a formidable half-kilo mass of pure, unblemished raw diamond. Unfaceted, the newly formed diamond still caught the light at around 2, 500 carats. This was my second big diamond. Jennifer had carefully brought the first one to show Corning, then secured it in her apartment safe. The original's substantial six by eight inch size was impressive enough, but the true marvel was my signature, subtly embedded within its crystalline depths to prove to Corning it was man made.

It was a simple trick: a small streak of bright red nail polish carefully placed during the initial forming stage, then the diamond meticulously grown around the signature, creating an unexpected embedded mark. It was a startling effect. A third project was humming quietly in a corner, also being fed onto a roll. Its matte black surface drank the light. It was a different form of graphene felt that was extraordinarily strong and impervious to all gases, including hydrogen.

Best of all, I had achieved this remarkable feat at a mere half-millimeter thickness and four ounces per cubic foot. A firm knock echoed on the door, and Matt's face appeared in the opening. Seeing I was occupied but present, he stepped inside, the heavy door closing softly behind him.

"I came to change out the roll of graphene," he stated, his eyes briefly flicking towards the equipment.

"I've already taken care of it," I replied, gesturing subtly towards the completed setup.

"Quite the party," he said.

"Yes it was. I'm going to bed soon, everything ready for tomorrow?"

"All packed, Jennifer said she's ready too," he assured.

"Okay, goodnight then. See you at breakfast," I said, watching him depart, the quiet of the lab settling around me. Now alone, I moved to an open space in the room. The hiss and hum of the equipment was a soft background as I began my Tai Chi. I sank into a deep meditative state as I flowed through my favorite long-form variations. The world outside fading with each stretch and posture. I let the peace of the Now soak into my soul. The voices stirred.

"Thanks for visiting again."

"You guys lonely?" I mentally asked the phantoms of my future selves.

"Of course not, always plenty of you around to talk to," their chorus joked, not being real.

"I know that I'm on the right path, but I really don't like the choices in front of me. I need to go deeper, remember deeper, push further into the unknown," I urged.

"This is the way, follow us," the voices communed. The universe exploded in my mind, as I touched infinite possibilities. My inner eyes snapped open, flooded with a torrent of vivid images, resonant sounds, and overwhelming experiences. I lived a thousand lifetimes, explored a million variations, each one intensely real.

"Those are the choices. Those are the compromises. It is an unusual business, but you are all there is."

"I'm finding the frenzy in the media about me to be really oppressive. It's only going to get worse," I admitted.

"That never changes. But, you grow used to it."

"I hate what I'm putting people I care about through. There's all these things I'm doing. It's like I keep jumping from flower to flower. People see the busy little bee but don't understand all the seeds I'm making. They only see the honey."

"The most perfect choices will always require sacrifice. You are beginning to face that reality for the first time."

"It's so strange. I used to be so proud of showing off my abilities. I have my Degree and my PhD. Every event till now has been carefully orchestrated, the probabilities prodded. I displayed abilities in front of just the right person, at just the right time. It's felt forced, not who I really am. It's like all my choices are scripted and I'm just the actor."

"You have made good choices," the voices affirmed, "choices that were yours. You wrote the script."

"I guess it's just business as usual," I sighed.

"I just wish it wasn't all so dependent on me. There's so much on my shoulders. It feels very lonely knowing the only person who really understands is a phantom future version of myself."