Jarrod became fascinated with energy flow in his high school physics class, and decided to resolve the fourth and most elusive of the fundamental forces. He had finally found something worthy of his intellect, something he believed that he alone could solve. His obsession to resolve the fourth law launched him on a journey that would dominate his life’s work.
As a young boy, Jarrod had often dabbled with physical phenomena, enthralled by how the universe operated. He learned that a magnet could be fashioned by wrapping iron pipe with copper wire and introducing electric current-the steel rod became a polarized magnet. Fascinated by the opposing magnetic poles, he split the magnet and discovered that each resulting half retained the characteristic North and South poles. He pondered the logical conclusion of this theoretical exercise; halved enough times, the magnet would be reduced to atoms. Did the atoms themselves then become polarized? Did the subatomic particles of neutrinos and pisons also exhibit polarity? Or were there separate magnetrons that governed this fundamental behavior? He won his first science fair in fifth grade, posing these profound but unresolved questions.
Building on this logic, Jarrod reasoned that there must be a fundamental unit of magnetism. He figured it was immaterial that the magnetron- the definition he coined for whatever force was emitting the magnetic field-was undetectable; its influence was nonetheless unmistakable. Instead, he relied on the incontrovertible fact that magnets worked without fail, and creating them could be repeatedly duplicated. It seemed to him, then, that the same must hold true of gravity. Harnessing gravity became an all-consuming passion and occupied a majority of his thinking.
Jarrod attended UCLA, where he earned a Ph. D. in astrophysics and met his mentor, Dr. Ron Bruckner. It was Bruckner who influenced Jarrod’s life more than any other before him. His recognized Jarrod’s tremendous potential, but also tamed his unruly, undisciplined manner. He challenged his gifted graduate student like never before, and taught him how to conduct research that would deliver measurable results. Jarrod’s unbecoming superiority never abated, but his mind grew capable of solving problems of incredible difficulty. No longer did he waste his time on foolish, irrelevant pastimes.
Under Dr. Bruckner’s close supervision, Jarrod developed the first theoretical construct for defining the gravitron and wrote his doctoral dissertation on the subject. As the four fundamental forces were somehow inextricably linked prior to the Big Bang, Jarrod spent his time searching for how the other three forces could influence gravity, rather than vice-versa. He became convinced that the universe consisted of a vast, but finite, number of gravitrons- undiscovered bundles of energy similar to electrons, neutrons, and magnetrons. But he continued to believe that isolating the gravitron was immaterial, thinking it more important to control gravity, akin to controlling magnetism.
It was this pursuit that led him to the Stanford Research Institute after graduation from UCLA. He believed that with financing from SRI and the research principles he learned from Dr. Bruckner, the secret to harnessing gravity would soon be uncovered.
Jarrod began work at Quantum Dimensions in Stanford and embarked on an ambitious plan to build a machine that could control gravity. By harnessing the undetectable gravitron, Jarrod believed he could levitate an object by lessening gravity’s influence or magnify gravity, making an object heavier than normal.
To achieve these results, he placed a small amount of medical-grade uranium into a magnetic field and applied an electromotive force. Just as copper wire generated electrons when spun inside a magnetic field, Jarrod surmised that spinning a nuclear mass inside a magnetic field would produce gravitrons.
The results were nothing short of astonishing. His experiments successfully levitated the first of many small objects, but the results also confirmed the basic antigravity principle that would hold true for any object, regardless of size. The tricky part was figuring the exact amount of energy needed to stimulate the nuclear core. Given an object to levitate, Jarrod’s equations would calculate the amount of nuclear material required under varying degrees of electromotive force-more nuclear material meant less EMF to agitate the gravitrons; likewise, a small measure of nuclear material required a greater EMF to produce the same effect. Ultimately he developed the precise mathematical equation to be used on any object.
As a last step, Jarrod refined the model so that an object’s gravity could also be increased. By reversing the field, he could magnify gravity to a crushing force many times otherwise normal. Of particular importance, the results could be repeated and applied to all types of material, both solid and liquid. Through persistence and incredible determination, Jarrod had finally produced the desired result: Gravity had been conquered.
The remaining hurdle was to test the antigravity machine in real-world conditions. With the new equations, he looked forward to levitating objects with larger amounts of nuclear material and more electrical force. By extrapolation, the equations predicted that an entire building could be either levitated or crushed, depending on how the gravitrons were manipulated. It was this last possibility that was particularly intriguing to Jarrod.
As the test results of his gravitron generator became certain, Jarrod could hardly contain his excitement. He believed this breakthrough technology would be heralded as one of the greatest achievements of the modern world. He imagined receiving the Nobel Prize for his revolutionary discovery and figured to receive universal acclaim for his pioneering work. He was on the brink of making history.
But more important than any amount of wealth and notoriety, the greatest enjoyment would come from knowing that his cousin, Ryan Marshall, would be green with envy. He had bested him once again. It was the most satisfying feeling imaginable.
Dr. Niles Penburton, co-founder and principal shareholder of Quantum Dimensions, Inc., closely monitored the server time Dr. Conrad was racking up perfecting the gravitron generator. As the leading scientist for SRI, he alone had complete access to all of Conrad’s research files, equations, and engineering specs, an authority that infuriated his pompous and arrogant colleague. In exchange for Penburton’s unfettered access to his work, Conrad demanded he be made a general partner in Quantum, to which Penburton reluctantly agreed.
But mutual trust between the two scientists never developed. Conrad was certain Penburton would demand co-authorship when the time came to publish his research. Penburton believed that Conrad would jump ship at the first opportunity, leaving behind a wake of bills for Quantum to resolve. Their uncomfortable alliance grew more hostile over time, and Conrad’s surreptitious mood began taxing Penburton’s patience to the breaking point.
Equally interested in Jarrod Conrad’s research was the U.S. Defense Department, but for a distinctly different reason. Nuclear material wasn’t allowed for private research without formal authorization by the Nuclear Regulatory Agency. Special Agent Jason Henry had been assigned by General Blake Freeman to oversee the nuclear research conducted at Quantum Dimensions. He regularly submitted updates to the Joint Chiefs’ chairman, who had no intention of letting any theoretical application proceed to development without direct government oversight.
Agent Henry had been working closely with Niles Penburton these past months and was anxious to receive the final test results he’d been promised were pending. This type of technology was of tremendous interest to the government, which would seize its application if there were even a remote weapons capability. Penburton cautioned that the surly Professor Conrad wouldn’t tolerate anyone interfering with his research, Defense Department or otherwise. You don’t know the man…he’s capable of anything.