Kolkov nodded. “Yes. Do you want to know my theory on what the skulls are part of?”
“Any information would help,” Dane said.
“I believe the skulls not only can store energy, but they are also part of a directed energy weapon.”
Dane remembered watching Sin Fen on top of the pyramid in the Bermuda Triangle as she transformed, channeling the power of the pyramid below her, pulsing out beams of blue into the blackness of the approaching portal. “How does it work?”
“There are three principal forms of directed-energy weapons: the directed microwave-energy weapon, the high-energy laser and the particle-beam. I believe what we might be dealing with is the last one. Although your government and mine have done a lot of publicized work on lasers and microwave-energy weapons, the particle beam research has always been shrouded in the utmost secrecy.”
“Why?” Dane asked.
“Because it has the most potential for lethality.”
“That figures,” Dane said.
“My government’s interest in the portals hasn’t been for purely scientific reasons,” Kolkov said. “We always believed there was a great threat from the Shadow, given what is suspected to have happened to Atlantis and the losses in various gates. Over the years we lost several submarines, ships and planes trying to investigate the gates.
“The initial event at Chernobyl validated that fear when the gate opened inside of tower three. Beyond the Shadow threat, there was, of course, also the Cold War. While both our countries signed the ABM treaty, neither country stopped doing research for weapons to destroy ICBMs, and particle-beam weapons held the most potential for targeting, speed, and effect.
“The characteristic that distinguishes the particle-beam weapon from other directed-energy weapons is the form of energy it propagates. While we have several operating concepts for particle-beam weapons, all devices generate their destructive power by accelerating sufficient quantities of subatomic particles or atoms to velocities near the speed of light and focusing these particles into a very high-energy beam. The total energy within the beam is the aggregate energy of the rapidly moving particles, each particle having kinetic energy due to its own mass and motion,”
Dane followed· only part of what Kolkov was saying. There was a part of him that felt the scientists were trying hard to understand the bits and pieces of the current situation but in doing so were missing the big picture. He had a feeling that they had many of the pieces that would allow them to understand both the Shadow and the Ones Before before them, but they just weren’t putting them together the right way.
Kolkov continued. “Currently, the particles we are using to form the beam are electrons, protons or hydrogen atoms. However, as Doctor Nagoya had been researching, it appears that muons might be the particle used by the skulls.
“The best way to visualize a particle-beam weapon is to think of a lightning bolt. The analogy is so close that particle-beam pulses are referred to as ‘bolts.’ The particles in a lightning bolt flow from a negatively charged cloud to a positively charged cloud or section of the planet. Although the electric field in lightning that accelerates the electrons is typically around five hundred thousand volts per meter, these electron velocities are still less than that in a particle-beam weapon. But the number of electrons in the lightning bolt is usually much greater. In any case, the phenomenon and its destructive results are very much the same.”
Dane stirred. “What I saw in the Bermuda Triangle gate when Sin Fen destroyed the mist was very much like lightning bolts. But they were blue.”
“The blue coloring might be a result of muons being used,” Kolkov said. “Because it is neutrally charged, the muon is a good particle to be used in a beam weapon. Neutral muons would not be susceptible to bending by the Earth’s magnetic field as would a charged-particle beam. Neither would the beam tend to spread due to the mutually repulsive force between particles of like-charge, such as electrons or protons, in the beam. In the atmosphere, a charged-particle beam will neutralize itself by colliding with air molecules, effectively creating enough ions of the opposite charge to neutralize the beam. And as you say, the beam used through the skulls doesn’t appear to be neutralized in the atmosphere.”
“So it just hits a target with a lot of power?” Dane asked.
“The way a particle beam destroys a target is by depositing energy into the material of the target. As the particles of the beam collide with the atoms, protons and electrons of the material composing the target, the energy of the particles in the beam is passed on to the atoms of the target much like a cue ball breaks apart a racked group of billiard balls. The result is that the target is heated rapidly to very high temperatures-which is exactly the effect that one observes in an explosion; although most people aren’t aware of this. Thus, a particle beam of sufficient energy can destroy a target by exploding it, although that is not the only means of destruction.
“The power of a particle-beam is the rate at which it transports its energy, which is also an indication of the rate at which it can deposit energy into a target. The technological problems associated with particle-beam weapons have been considerable. The greatest challenge is in the area of directing the beam: The weapon must be able to focus its energy to strike a target that might be many kilometers away. There are two aspects to this challenge. First, the weapon must create a high-intensity, neutral beam with negligible divergence as it leaves the accelerator. Second, the weapon must have a system for aiming its beam at the target. I believe the skulls accomplish both of these things in some way.
“Wait a second,” Dane said. “If they’re a weapon, how can they also store energy?”
“What’s the difference between a nuclear bomb and a nuclear power plant?” Kolkov didn’t wait for an answer. “Rate of action. It seems the skulls can vary the rate of action of the energy that they either store or redirect.
“Back to the beam-the subatomic particles that constitute a beam have great penetrating power. Thus, interaction with the target is not restricted to surface effects, as it is with a laser. When impinging upon a target, a laser creates a blow off of target material that tends to enshroud the target and, in effect, shield it from the laser beam. Such beam/target interaction problems would not exist for the particle beam with its penetrating nature. Particle beams would be quite effective in damaging internal components or might even explode a target by transferring a massive amount of energy into it-called the catastrophic kill mechanism. Furthermore, there would be no realistic means of defending a target against the beam; target hardening through shielding or materials selection would be Impractical or ineffective.”
“So this beam can penetrate the gate or a sphere?”
“It should. From what I’ve read of the report Foreman forwarded to me about what happened to Sin Fen and the Bermuda Triangle gate, I think the power from the pyramid was redirected by her mind and penetrated into the portal and to the other side. It is a most effective weapon against the Shadow, as it attacks it at the source, not the propagation end.
“In addition to the direct kill mechanism of the beam, ancillary kill mechanisms would be available. Within the atmosphere, a secondary cone of radiation symmetrical about the beam would be created by the beam particles as they collided with the atoms of the air. This cone would be composed of practically every type of ionizing radiation known, such as X rays, neutrons, alpha and beta particles, and so on. A tertiary effect from the beam would be the generation of an electromagnetic pulse by the electric current pulse of the beam. This EMP would be very disruptive to any electronic components of a target. Thus, even if the main beam missed, the radiation cone and accompanying EMP could kill a target or at least affect electronic components inside the target.”