Dane remembered what happened in Cambodia as they approached the Angkor Gate. “Would such a beam be attracted to a radio source?”
Kolkov nodded. “Yes. The successful development of a PBW depends on the ability of the beam to propagate directly and accurately to the target. Think about a lightning bolt. It does not travel in a straight line, but rather a jagged, irregular path as it darts unpredictably through the sky. Such indeterminacy would never do for the particle beam of a weapon, which must have an extremely precise path of propagation as it traverses the distance to the target.
“Since muons don’t repel each other, divergence would come strictly from any imparted by the accelerator.
“It has been theoretically calculated that specific threshold values of the beam parameters — beam current, particle energy, beam pulse length-are required for a beam to propagate through air with reliability. ·Although, the values of these parameters have been classified by both our governments, no particle-beam accelerator made by 1l1an is currently capable of creating a beam with the required parameters.
“Currently,” Dane emphasized.
“True, but the theory has been around for a while,” Kolkov said. “The first subatomic particle accelerators were constructed in the 1930s for scientific investigations in the field of elementary-particle physics. The accelerators used for the first-generation PBW system are variations of the present-day, linear accelerators such ‘as the two-mile-long Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, a state-of-the-art-device capable of producing electrons with an energy of 30 GeV Seeing the blank looks, Kolkov added — “Suffice it to say, a lot of power.”
Getting back to the line between being a battery and a weapon. Possibly the most difficult technical problem in developing a particle-beam weapon is the development of its electrical power supply. To operate a PBW requires that a tremendous amount of electrical energy be supplied over very short periods of time. Because power is energy divided by time, large amounts of energy over short spans of time translate into extremely high power levels. Building a power supply to produce high power in short bursts involves a very advanced field of technology know as pulsed-powered technology.
“Basically, a pulsed-power device can be divided into three component areas: the primary power source that pros electrical energy over the full operating time of the weapon, the intermediate storage of the electrical energy as it is generated, and the ‘conditioning’ of the electrical power bursts or pulses of suitable intensity and duration to fire the weapon. Each of these three areas has represented a technological challenge for our best scientists, but I think the skulls accomplish all three.
“Any electricity-producing device, such as a battery or generator, is a primary power source. The requirement of the particle-beam weapon, however, is for a prime power source that can produce millions to billions of watts of electrical power, yet be as lightweight and compact as possible.”
“Sounds like a crystal skull fits those criteria.”
“Yes, but there’s one thing that I don’t understand,” Kolkov said.
“What’s that?”
“Where does the power come from in the first place?”
Dane had been thinking about that. “ think it can come from a variety of sources. First, I believe the mind itself generates much more energy than we realize, particularly special minds. So in effect, a person transforming from a normal human mind into a crystal skull is punching out a lot of energy.
“Also,” Dane said, “I think a crystal skull can draw power from other minds, but only when they are generating at peek-” he searched for the correct word-“capacity. Particularly during a peak emotional event.”
“Such as a massacre,” Earhart said.
“Yes,” Dane confirmed. ‘’Third, I think the pyramid Sin Fen used to destroy the Bermuda Triangle gate drew power up from the core of the planet somehow. So ultimately what we’re saying is that these skulls are both a source of power and a transmitter for other power sources, specifically the core of the planet.”
Kolkov nodded. “It appears so.”
“This is all very nice and well, but what do we do next?” Earhart asked.
“Because we don’t have the technology to tap the planet’s core like the Shadow has,” Dane said, “we have to find something else to charge the skulls.”
“And that is?” Kolkov asked.
“Desperation.”
“I don’t quite understand,” Kolkov said.
“From what l understand from the Ones Before,” Dane said. “there is tremendous power generated by humans when they are facing annihilation. Maybe it’s the time when the brain works at peak efficiency; maybe it’s a reversion to our earlier telepathic minds generating emotion that flows from person to person; I don’t really know.”
Earhart was nodding. “It makes sense. And Little Big Horn certainly was a desperate battle. I’d already given one of the skulls to Bouyer. I’m hoping Tab went through and got the rest to him.”
“He went through a portal without a suit?” Dane asked.
Earhart nodded. “Yes. But remember, he was a samurai. If anyone could have gotten the skulls through unprotected, it was Taki.”
Dane stood. “Then we have to trust he did. And we have to do our part now.”
The scientists had stayed inside, living off of stockpiled supplies, which was nothing really different for them. They only went outside when absolutely necessary and then completely suited to protect from the sun’s radiation that bathed the area.
The dogs had no such protection and had not been brought inside due to cramped living conditions. A normally mild viral infection that one of the dogs had was bathed in radiation, Ill1lt3red within six hours, coughed by the dog out into the air and caught in the intake for one of the heating plants for a building. Within six hours everyone inside that building was dead. Just a side effect.
The others quickly rigged filters as best they could over · their air intakes and huddled even farther inside their buildings. A callout for recovery was ignored. They had sealed their fate with their previous noble decision to stay. Besides, this, and more, would be happening everywhere shortly, and there was no point in using the resources to rescue those who were already doomed.
Air raid sirens echoed down the empty streets of Moscow, letting any who had not already fled know that danger was coming, borne on the winds. Some of the soldiers who had been “volunteered” to stay and man critical defense systems simply went AWOL, smashing shop windows, breaking into bars. and carousing the empty streets drunk around the clock. The last time Moscow had been threatened like this had been in the dark years of World War n when German tanks had come within sight of the outskirts of the city. Then it had been Russian willpower and blood along with the brutal winter that had beaten back the invaders, just as had been done to Napoleon the previous century.
In this new century, though, blood, willpower and winter would matter little to the radiation coming from Chernobyl. So while soldiers drank themselves into a stupor, those who still remained on duty impotently stared at their displays and watching the inevitable approach.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Mitch Bouyer sat cross-legged in the darkness, staring straight ahead, listening to the noise of the camp settling in, horses shifting. Men sleeping. Sentries making their rounds. The column of blue coats had halted here a half-hour ago after trying to cross the divide between the Rosebud and the Little Bighorn River and not being able to make it. The regiment had been riding all the previous day and into the night. They had slowly blundered forward in the dark for six hours before Custer had been forced to call a halt, still short of the crest of the divide.