Plush Love Volume 1, Episode 9: Beam
#9 of Plush Love Vol 1
Luke's POV: Luke's work appreciated
Luke wondered if he should be biting his nails. Isn't that what people did when they were anxiously waiting for something to happen? He could feel the cold sweat forming under his arms. Had he used enough deoderant this morning? He'd been in a hurry and wasn't sure.
Turn the laser on, already! See if it really can change focus fast enough! The simulations he'd been using to develop the code could only do so much. The actual fluctuations in electron cloud density were bound to be different.
If only Nathan would show up. Maybe he could explain what was going on: why the professor was talking so much to the people on the conference screen, and who they were, for that matter.
The control room was crouded with people, both visitors and staff, but the network optimization station was still vacant. Supposedly it wouldn't be needed unless they actually managed to get beams to the recording stations, but Luke noticed that the operations supervisor was looking more worried every time he glanced toward it. He probably was wishing Nathan worked for him instead of the computer support group.
Eventually the professor said something to the supervisor, who picked up his PA microphone.
"We will be turning on in 5 minutes. Please return all white keys to the control room now. I repeat, we are getting ready to turn on. Please return your keys to the control room."
Almost immediately a siren sounded.
The supervisor looked quite annoyed as he picked up a telephone. "Will the person who just went through the mezzanine interlock please get on line one. I repeat, whoever broke the mezzanine interlock get on line one."
Luke couldn't quite hear what he was saying to the culprit, who had been working in a restricted area. It probably wasn't nice. He must have forgotten to use his access key when coming out through the interlocked doorway.
A few minutes later that same person came quietly into the control room and put the last key into the personnel safety panel. The professor pulled him aside. After a few quiet murmers, the professor said loudly, "Well, we'll just have to try it, anyhow."
"Laser coming on. I repeat, laser coming on. There should be no one in any radiation areas. Laser coming on."
Finally!
Just then, Nathan came into the control room. He went straight to the network console and sat down without looking around. Luke was disapointed: he'd wanted to catch his eye.
But now all eyes were on the laser power meter as it slowly approached operating levels. Temperatures were rising in the electron gun as the emitter was bathed in the laser's light. Finally it was bright enough and the chief operator adjusted the manual focus. The light beam shrank to a small spot on the emitter. Electrons boiled off and were accelerated down the beamline, but not enough to do what they wanted. The operator couldn't get the spot to stay small enough as it wobbled in and out of focus.
"Luke, do you want to do the honors?" the professor asked.
He hadn't expected that. "Sure." At least his voice didn't crack.
He walked through the crowd to the laser console and put his finger on the image of the button labelled "Autofocus On."
The laser beam immediately shrank to a tiny, unwavering, brilliant dot. Emitted power rapidly increased.
"Wigglers on," the magnet operator announced. Radiation detectors previously reading background levels suddenly started reacting. X-rays!
Nathan reached toward the virtual buttons of his own display.
Thud.
Breakers tripped. Shutters closed. Beam dumped. Alarms sounded. The professor cursed.
"That's all for today," he said sadly. "That's the power supply Jim was working on. We'll be down for at least a couple of shifts while it's replaced.
"Luke, thanks a lot for getting the autofocus to work. At least the laser isn't the limiting factor, now!"
Luke waited as the room emptied rapidly. Only a few members of the operations staff would stay behind to shut down the accelerator's subsystems. Fortunately, Nathan didn't seem to be in a hurry, either.
"Nathan, could I talk to you?"
Nathan glanced up at the teleconferencing unit. Its screen was dark and the camera stowed. He paused a second and then said "Sure. You want some coffee? There should be a fresh pot in the electronics shop."
"That'd be great. I'll get my cup and meet you there."
"OK."