A Strange Feeling of Deja Vu

By S. R. Reed

The military has developed a revolutionary new design for an electromagnetic pulse weapon. A test engineer begins testing the weapon and makes a mistake, exposing his brain to a powerful magnetic pulse. He begins to have blackouts that last for days and has no idea what happens during his blackouts.
He goes to a doctor and gets a brain scan. The doctor finds something shocking about his brain that explains the blackouts. He tells him that his condition can't be corrected and that he will have to live with it. Then something happens during a blackout that will haunt him for the rest of his life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: S. R. Reed
• Release date: Sep 10, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310917738

S. R. Reed

I grew up in a working class family in the Philadelphia suburbs in 50s & 60s. I loved science and naturally was an “A” student in those courses. I also loved to watch Science Fiction movies in the movie theaters, and on television. I graduated from high school in January of 1964. The Vietnam War was getting hotter and I was draft age. My father suggested that it would be better for me to enlist in the Navy, or the Air Force, than be drafted in the Army. I decided in November of 1964 to enlist in the United States Air Force. In August of 1965, I was moved to Guam and Okinawa on a TDY assignment as combat support for the Vietnam War. After returning to the United States, I spent my remaining service time in Texas and Puerto Rico working as a Jet Engine Mechanic maintaining the B-52 Bomber. After being discharged from the Air Force, I decided to go to a technical school to learn Electronics Technology. I graduated in December of 1969 with a certificate in Electronics Technology. I spent 28 years working as an Electronics Technician, and 4 years as a Software Test Engineer at the Xerox Corporation. After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack in New York city Xerox closed their Los Angeles division and moved to Seattle Washington. After not being able to find another job I took early retirement in 2006. Then something strange happened. I have always been a technical person and never had any interest in writing. I have always enjoyed watching Science Fiction movies but never read Science Fiction books. Then for some unknown reason I suddenly wanted to try writing a Science Fiction book. My first step was to enroll in a college course taught by professional writers. In 2011, after I graduated from the course I wrote my first Science Fiction short story. I currently have two Science Fiction novellas and three short stories available at Amazon.com.

Book preview

A Strange Feeling of Déjà Vu

by S. R. Reed

Copyright 2014 S. R. Reed

Smashwords Edition

Cover Image From Create Space Independent Publishing.

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CHAPTER ONE

It was a hot July night at the government test laboratory when the weapon arrived at laboratory eighteen. Two armed military police officers stood guard as the engineers connected the test equipment to the weapon. After the engineers had finished connecting the test equipment, they closed the heavy copper shielded door and walked away.

John Robertson, a test engineer, assigned to test experimental high tech projects for the military, pulled his car into his assigned parking space, and took the elevator up to the main floor security entrance. When the elevator doors opened, he walked over and placed his ID badge on the door control scanner. John looked up at the large digital clock mounted on the wall above the scanner. It displayed the current military time as 16:57:39 in large gold colored digits. John looked at his watch and confirmed that it was 4:57 p.m.

The scanner flashed a green light and then the large steel security doors slowly slid open. John entered the main floor entrance and walked down the hall toward his office. When he passed the accounting department some of the women stared at him with admiring eyes.

He wondered why they always stared at him when it was obvious that he was not interested. John was an attractive man, tall, dark, and still fit for a man in his late forties but something happened to him while he was on assignment in Italy that has made him a loner who has avoided any relationship with woman.

When he arrived at his office, he took his ID badge and inserted it into the electronic door lock. He entered his office, walked over to his desk, and sat down. He turned on his desk lamp and laptop computer. He began to write a report when his telephone rang. He reached over and picked up the telephone.

Hello? Yes, sir. I’ll be right there. He grabbed his lab coat off the hanger next to the door and rushed out the door. He quickly walked down the hall toward Mr. Peterson’s office. When he arrived at the office, he knocked on the door.

Come in, Mr. Peterson shouted from his desk. John walked in, closed the door behind him, and stood by the door. Mr. Peterson was seated at his desk with his head down as he read a file marked top-secret. Then, he looked up at John and shook his head.

Come over here and sit down. You’re making me nervous standing over there. I’ll be done in a minute. He grabbed a cigar from a cigar box on his desk and chewed on it as he read the file. John walked over with his head down and sat down in a chair across from Mr. Peterson's desk. After Mr. Peterson finished reading the file, he slowly looked up and stared at John for a few seconds. John looked at him with a deer in the headlights expression on his face wondering what Mr. Peterson was about to tell him.

"The military has a new electromagnetic pulse weapon that they need tested ASAP. What makes this device special is its small size and durability. Its predecessor was the size of a small building that had a huge coil submerged in liquid nitrogen to keep it cool. The forces generated from the powerful magnetic pulse damaged the coil after a few firings requiring a coil replacement.

This weapon doesn’t have any of those problems and can be fired many times without damaging the coil. The military considers this device a weapon because it can be loaded into an airplane or missile and flown over a target. The powerful magnetic pulse from this device could devastate a country’s entire electrical and electronic infrastructure without a nuclear detonation.

The military compares the testing of this new weapon to the first atomic bomb test. The nuclear physicists then expected an explosion but were not sure what else could have happened during the fission reaction. Some of the physicists feared a fusion reaction of the earth’s atmosphere that would have turned the earth into one big fireball but they tested the bomb anyway and didn’t tell the public about the potential danger," he shouted and shook his head with a disgusted look on his face.

The weapon is located at laboratory eighteen that has a special type of control room that is designed to test this type of weapon. The walls have copper shielding embedded in them. The shielding should protect you from the powerful magnetic pulse. This new weapon is extremely dangerous and unpredictable. If you have to leave the control room to work on the weapon, be careful. Do you have any questions?

Why is it so dangerous? John asked softly.

The weapon has a revolutionary new design for the electromagnetic coil and field compression unit. The coil is made with a new metal alloy that is superconductive. The magnetic field compression unit has a new design that will increase the magnetic field strength exponentially. Like the first atomic bomb test, the engineers are not sure what will happen when the weapon is fired. Do you have any other questions?

No, sir. John replied with a concerned look on his face.

OK. Go to work. John walked out of Mr. Peterson’s office and walked over to laboratory eighteen. He took his ID badge and inserted it into the electronic door lock. The door lock flashed a green light and clicked open. As he walked into the laboratory, he saw the weapon mounted on a test stand a few feet in front of the control room. He walked over to the weapon and picked up a large technical manual that was on the table next to it. The technical manual contained all of the test procedures and the control circuit board schematics.

He opened the technical manual and looked at the large cylinder shaped object. It was four feet long and three feet in diameter. The control circuit board access cover was located at the center of the weapon and secured with four large screws. The weapon had a thick black power supply cable and a thinner blue control cable plugged into a large receptacle