Cause and Consequence

By Clyde Holtcombe

He created something great that could affect all economies, businesses and governments of every country in the world overnight.
How would they react to it--- Humanity at its best... and worst...  Follow Chris in his journey in discovering how the world feels about his discovery.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Clyde Holtcombe
• Release date: Nov 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393019206

Clyde Holtcombe

Clyde is a bit of a futurist and loves science fiction and fantasy, is an electronics tech, television producer, graphics artist, among some of his various professions. He did a stint in the Navy, bopped around the world a few times and got a good,(and bad) look at it over the years. He writes from a perspective of how society or individuals seem to handle sudden shifts in events, whether they are economic, technical, or political. He lives in Vancouver Canada, and likes to write from his car...

Book preview

Chapter 1 Where It Started

Chris Hendricks left work a little late that Friday evening after trying to finish a design on a new version for a voltage controller for one of the latest generation solar panels that his company manufactured. He was an electrical engineer and had worked for Soltec Electronics for over ten years. As he got on the freeway, he checked his rear view mirror, but it had gotten knocked off of center, so he caught a reflection of himself as he adjusted it. " Damn, you’re getting olde r, he thought, seeing streaks of gray running through his beard and looking down seeing an enlarging paunch, but I still have all of my hair! " Chris was approaching forty seven years of age and was feeling every one of them. It had been a very long week and all he wanted to do was to get home and turn off all thoughts of work until Monday.

On the fifteen minute drive home Chris mused about how life had treated him and where he thought he would be versus what had happened in the last few years. He lived about half way between San Fernando and Santa Clarita in rural California on a ten acre hobby farm, with emphasis on the word ‘hobby’. These days he struggled with just keeping the grass knocked down. Chris once had big dreams for the property, but with the divorce and what little his ex had left him, he just didn’t feel like challenging nature anymore.

As he turned his Ford Hybrid down the gravel road to his house, he could see his roommate and long time friend Rob, over by the barn with his upper torso stuck under the hood of an old 1955 Spyder Porsche that he has been trying to revive for the last year. "I think I’ve seen more of Rob’s bottom than anything else over all the years I’ve known him." Chris chuckled to himself as he pulled up into the yard. Hearing the car pulling up, Rob came out from under the hood grinning at him.

Rob Friedman was a mechanic that worked over at Hinderman’s Car dealership in Santa Clarita, and like Chris, his work was also his hobby. Fifty two years old, skinny with slightly balding gray hair, bad teeth and hands darkened by many years of embedded grease and cigarette stains that would never wash off. He was a strange contrast to Chris’s pale complexion earned by years of sitting in front of a computer and working late on electronics projects. It was probably the dissimilarities that kept them together, as they never really competed with each other (other than the occasional girl, but that was to be expected !). Rob had also been his best man when he had married Donna thirteen years ago, something both of them had come to regret over the years.

As he was exiting his hybrid, Rob looked over at him, made a face at his car and then yelled over, Donna called, said she was going to be a little late dropping off Megan...

Mphh was Chris’s reply, body language saying much more than words ever could. Did she say how late? he asked grumpily, knowing guiltily, that he had unconsciously delayed coming home so there would not have another confrontation with her. Thank God she did not have any problems with Rob being the token babysitter for Megan, as he had done it for them many times since she was born.

Part of the divorce settlement was that he had Megan every second weekend and he had come to enjoy them as she was the one bright thing that had come out of the marriage. But Donna used the drop off as a chance to get her digs in on all of his shortcomings, unfortunately some of which are true, but he did not need constant reminder of it and that’s partially what lead to their breaking up.

To ere is human, but to constantly be reminded of it day after day, either he had to get out of the marriage, or Chris would have hung himself. Turning to the house, which looking at it, was another constant reminder of his lack of doing his duty. It definitely needed another coat of paint and other minor fixes, but hell, it was early spring and that could wait until summer when the weather was better. Luckily, before they had the divorce, Donna was working in LA and had insisted that they buy an apartment near where she worked. With both of them working they had paid down most of it, and part of his settlement was that she got the apartment, but that he covered the mortgage for it, (as well as the farm) so Chris was always a little stretched financially. Thank God for Rob moving in and renting a room from him, as every little bit counts.

He went inside, made a sandwich and headed out the garage to do a bit of tinkering on his own. He had turned the garage into a tech shop so he could work on his own projects without having anybody bothering him, and it had almost worked. The shop looked like a variant of a mad scientist’s lab, combined with miscellaneous car parts and junk accumulated over the years. He had about ten or so projects in various stages of completion, some of them had been sitting for a very long time... The latest one he had some passion for, was a test bed model of a maglev train or magnetic levitation train, of which many of them were in use around the globe. He was trying to build a model version of one just to see if he could do it. Chris had already built the model train portion with an oval track for it ride on, and was working on the linear accelerator coils and power supplies for it. While munching on his sandwich, he turned on his test equipment and started to adjust a control for one of the coils, while checking the oscilloscope to see if he was getting what he hoped was the correct response. Chris had been stalled at this point a couple of days ago, and still did not see a way to fix it. Maglev trains work by having powerful magnets on the train and having a series of coils on the track that are fired with electric pulses that sequentially push or pull the train. He had built all of the necessary hardware, but was having a bit of a time figuring out how to send a correct sequence of pulses to propel the train forward.

Where it started

Chapter 2 The Discovery

Chris had built a couple of pretty exotic high current pulsing power supplies that he thought would do the trick. But this is where Chris thought he was having problems, as the timing circuits were very complex and finicky. He had some thoughts at work about how he might solve the problem. Chris started to rewire one of the switching power supplies, adding a few extra components that should stabilize it, as well as give him much more adjustment range.

Taking the rewired power supply and hooking it back in to his breadboarded circuits, he started to adjust its frequency as well as its power output. Still watching the train, there was still no movement. He then further added more power to the circuits, when in the corner of his eye he saw a movement over by the power supplies. He turned, expecting to see a mouse or such, as there were always a few of them around the garage. At first Chris could not see anything amiss. But looking closer to his great surprise, the power supply breadboard that he had just been working on, was sitting up over one inch from the workbench. It was only being held in place by the numerous wires that hooked it to the rest of the test bed.

In shock and in a bit of a quandary, thinking that something had rolled underneath it, he examined it very closely. Looking below it, Chris could not see anything that was keeping it in the air so he turned off the power to it. It then sagged back down to the bench. He then switched it back on, and sure enough it moved upward, to the limits the cabling would allow. Excited, he quickly started to measure all parameters that he could see, including tracing and drawing out the hybrid circuitry that he had used. Chris had thought that there may be some magnetic or metal influence happening, but could not see anything at all.

He opened the door and yelled, Rob come here, quick, you gotta check this out! Rob reluctantly pulled his head out of his car and gave him the look of what now? as he shambled over to the garage, as this was not the first time Chris had pulled him from his projects to show him something that he had absolutely no interest in.

What, you discover how to fly to the moon or something? he asked jokingly. Chris gave him a hard stare back on that comment as he entered the shop. Ok, whats up?, that you have to drag me away from my toys to look at yours. Rob said jokingly.

Check this out. Chris said, drawing him over to the power supply.

So? he looked at Chris quizzically.

Watch this... he turned off the power and the supply again dropped to the ground, turned it back on and it surged back up.

And? Rob asked, looking confused.

There are no magnets or metal near that power supply, it should not be able to do that! Chris replied.

The light bulb went off in Rob’s head, Do you mean to tell me...? he queried.

I don’t know, but I’m certainly going to be doing a bunch more tests. Chris replied. Rob was now catching some of the fever from him, and started to ask all sorts of questions. Fending him off, Chris started to look over what he had created, wondered what would happen if he added just a bit more power to it. Hang on, I’m just going to do a bit more experimentation here, as he slowly turned up the power to the jig.

Bang! was the next thing they heard, as they both looked foolishly at the place where the power supply had sat. Chris thought for a moment that it had just blown up, but there were particles of dust slowly coming down from the ceiling. Both of them looked up, and to their shock, there was a gaping hole in the roof.

Holy crap!, what just happened? exclaimed Rob.

I guess I applied a wee bit more power than I should have. Chris replied, grinning weakly, still in shock.

They both headed outside to see if they could find the remains of the supply and just as they were hunting over the grounds, Chris heard a car coming up the driveway. Rob, he cautioned, recognizing who it was, Please don’t say anything to Donna or Megan about this until I figure it out.

Ya gotta tell me that? he retorted, offended that Chris would have to ask.

Donna pulled her car up the driveway, stopped and got out as Megan started to pull her weekend backpack out of the car. Sorry we’re late, but I had to get a tire fixed... Donna said, stopping and taking in that they both were outside, and unnoticed by them, that they were both covered in dust and dirt from the roof breaking. So rolling around in the dirt are we?, aren’t we a little young to be making mud pies? she added sarcastically.

They both looked at each other realizing what she was talking about, Um, we were, just cleaning out the barn, so we could move Rob’s car in. Chris replied, hoping she wouldn’t take it any further.

Dad, did you pickup the steaks and stuff for the barbecue that you promised for this weekend? Megan broke in, seeing that Donna was going to try to give Chris a hard time, so she was running interference for him.

Sorry Megan, I didn’t get a chance, but we’ll head into town and get them. Chris replied.

You couldn’t even remember something as simple as that. interjected Donna, not wanting to be shut down.

Looking at his ex and daughter standing side by side, Chris was suddenly struck by how similar they looked. Donna, blond, small and slim, forty five years old and still looking good for her age. Her face seemed to reflect the bitterness that she always put out when she was anywhere near him. He could see age lines starting to etch themselves into the corners of her mouth and eyes. Beside her, Megan at twelve years old, was a diminutive younger and fresher version of her mother, without all of the weight of the years on her. But somehow she seemed to have a maturity that had escaped both Donna and him. She was the balancing factor between the two of them and she didn’t try to take sides. Chris also wasn’t being fair to Donna, as a lot of the problems they had were from his side. She had wanted a strong male presence in her life, and Chris had let his work become his passion to the detriment of his family.

Shaking his head, Chris asked, So Donna, can I offer you a cup of tea? heading to the front door, knowing that she would refuse, as coming into the house for her, was some how going into enemy territory...

No thanks, I’ll be heading off, oh, by the way, the bank mentioned to me that you have been late the last two times getting in the mortgage payments, is there some problem? she asked with a saccharine smile. She could have called to discuss this problem, but preferred to air Chris’s financial issues in the open to embarrass him in front of family and friends. She knew his propensity to procrastinate with most things, and spending money without any return, certainly didn’t help him rushing to get it to the bank on time.

Um, no problem, I’ll deal with it, my bank forgot to transfer it on time. Chris mumbled.

See that you do. she returned as she got back into her car and drove away. Megan, by this time had gone into the house, and would be setting up her bedroom for the weekend.

By now it was starting to grow dark outside, as it was about eight pm and was still early spring, so only had another hour of light to search for the remains of the power supply. They both took a corner of the yard, hoping that the remains would be inside the house grounds, as it couldn’t have gone very far after expending most of its energy blowing though the roof. Sure enough, after searching for half an hour, they found it about thirty yards away hanging in one of the trees. Chris went and got a rake and gingerly pulled it down. It was partially mangled by its violent flight, but in better shape than he thought it would be. They took it back to the workshop and put it down on the bench.

Rob looked at him and said, So what do we do now?, I can certainly see some potential in this if you can get it in some controllable level, just how much power were you using when it took off?

That’s the interesting thing, we are talking about an half an amp there about, approximately the same amount of power that it would take to light a sixty watt light bulb... Chris replied quietly, thinking about what that meant, then continued, Rob, could you help me rebuild this unit, I think we need to attach it to one single frame, with power on it as well.

No problem, but what if you apply too much power like last time, if you do, won’t it just take off and keep on going? Rob asked.

You’re right, we need to wire in a dead man off switch so if it takes off the power is cut, as well I’ll make sure that I put a more sensitive voltage control adjustment on it. Chris replied.

Just at that moment, Megan came though the door, So are we going to go get the steaks that you.... she partially asked as she stopped dead, her eyes tracking up to the roof with a big hole in it, as light from the outside lamp on the yard telephone pole was streaming down. So you guys were cleaning the garage were you? tell me another one, whats really going on? she queried.

They both looked her like a couple of school boys that had got caught smoking in the bathroom. Megan, its not what you think, I had a project that went bad on me, and blew though the roof, I didn’t think your mother would have approved of me doing ‘dangerous’ experiments with you around, so I told a white lie about what happened, so could you please not tell her? Chris pleaded.

You could see the conflicts running across her face, as she hated to be in the middle of both of them, but in this instance, she also knew that if she told her mother, it could be used as an excuse to stop her for seeing her dad, which she really enjoyed, never mind the freedoms that she had when she stayed here. Her father definitely left her to her own devices and never tried to micromanage her life like her mother did.

All that flashed though her mind in a moment, and she replied, Ok dad, but what the heck did you guys actually do?

It would take to long to explain, but if you wait until we rebuild it, we’ll show it to you. Chris replied.

But isn’t it dangerous? you already blew a hole in the roof, what’s to stop you from doing it again or worse? she challenged.

We now know what happened, and it won’t happen again, for sure. Rob replied, looking at Chris sideways.

Ok, ok, I assume that means no steaks, and that I’m on my own again, poor me.... she trailed out the door with a look of false sadness.

Thanks, Megan, you’re wonderful. He threw at her as she left. Grabbing a half sheet of three quarter plywood, Chris had Rob rip it lengthwise. He pulled the pre-filter circuit boards that had been part of the voltage conditioning for the power supply and mounted them on the plywood. He then started the onerous job of rebuilding the power supply, salvaging some of the more expensive and hard to get parts from the broken circuit boards. In the meantime Chris had Rob get a couple of car batteries, clean them up, top off the distilled water and start charging them up. He then had Rob build brackets for them on each end of the plywood so they would be equally balanced, and not fall off if there were another accident.

When Chris finished rebuilding the power supply, he wired it into the rest of the circuitry, bolted it down and then made a wood plate that covered all of the electronics and bolted it down as well. Then they took the other side of the plywood and mounted it on top of everything to make the rig look like a two by four foot wood sandwich. this took them until four in the morning to complete, they were both exhausted, so decided to wait until morning to test it.

The discovery

Chapter 3 Starting To Test It

The next morning, they both headed out to the garage to look over what they had built, So do you think it will fly, Dr?... Rob said with a bit of joviality.

Fly, hell, I don’t even know if it will move, I still don’t understand what made it do what it did, and hopefully I have recreated the process with the rebuild. Chris replied, still not quite believing what happened last night, but as he looked up at the hole in the roof, Chris knew they were on to something extraordinary...

They picked up the test rig and took it outside, away from any overhanging trees. Chris decided before they turned it on, to tie a rope onto it with about ten feet of slack, then fastened it to a heavy pipe frame that was used for drying clothes and had been cemented into the ground. The rig was quite heavy and he didn’t want to have it crashing down on them or the house, just in case they lost control. Chris gave Rob the cable for the dead man’s cutoff switch that he had devised and also unrolled a secondary cable with the power control on the end of it.

Ok Rob, here goes, remember if it starts to go wild, just let go of the switch and run. Chris called out. He turned on the power to it, and very slowly started to advance the power control. Nothing happened until Chris had the control past twenty percent, but then it slowly started to rise. A little crooked at first, then with a bit more power applied, steadied. It then rose smoothly over their heads, stopped only by the limit of the rope.

Damn, it actually works!, holy shit, do you realize what you have here, Chris? exploded Rob, the most animated Chris had ever seen from him in quite awhile. Do you get that this could fundamentally change the way transportation is done forever? Rob exclaimed.

I have, and that’s what’s been worrying me, I didn’t sleep much last night, thinking about the possible repercussions of an invention of this magnitude. Chris responded, both elated and concerned at the same time.

Stay where you are, I want to to try another test. he added, Chris then walked underneath the rig, pulled down on the rope to see how much force was keeping it up. Even pulling with all his might, all Chris could do was get it to bobble a little, and with a big grin, he boosted himself up the rope to touch the bottom of it. Just as he was hanging from the top of the rope, Megan came out the back door of the house with a look of puzzlement on her face.

What the heck are you two up to? she asked, as she walked up to them. Chris let go of the rope and dropped to the ground, realizing that they looked a little silly.

Nothing much, just confirming that we have just changed the world as we know it. Chris said nonchalantly, still grinning from ear to ear.

What do you mean, changed the world, Dad? Megan asked, perplexed.

Well Megan, what do you see in front of you? Rob asked, also grinning.

Nothing much, just a bunch of wood and batteries held up by a rope and some wires. she replied, trying to figure out what they meant.

Watch this, Chris said, as he slowly lowered and then raised the rig a few times. Do you get it now?

No, I don’t understand. she replied.

He finally set the rig down, turned off the power completely, then untied the rope. Hand me the dead man switch, Rob, Chris asked. Rob silently handed it over and he disconnected it from the rig. Now watch, Megan, as he turned up the power and the rig silently rose to about four feet off the ground,. Chris then put the control wire assembly on the rig to show that there were now no physical connections to it and it floated all on its own.

Dad, thats impossible, what’s holding it up, is this some sort of trick? she looked at him with wonder in her eyes.

It’s no trick, your father has done the impossible, he has invented an anti-gravity machine. Chris, I’m now officially out of a job, who the heck is going to want an internal combustion car that runs on gas or even an electric car, and you know my feelings about them... When they could have something like this? Rob said semi seriously. But the truth of what he said started to come home to all of them, and they all looked at the rough looking contraption that had the power to change all their lives forever.

Well, even though it raises and lowers, how the heck do we get it to move? At the moment all it does is make a great elevator, so it’s certainly not a finished device yet, also I would really like to know how it’s doing what it does. I built it, but it was still an accident. Megan, until we actually get this into a usable product, you can’t say anything to anybody, and I mean anybody, about any if this, can you do that?, please? Chris begged her.

Of course Dad, but why not? it’s still an amazing discovery even as it is, I would figure it would probably make you rich and famous, don’t you think? Megan replied.

Chris thought carefully about how to respond, and he didn’t want to scare her, but she had to understand the gravity of the situation. "Megan, Rob said he was out of a job, and he was probably right. How many mechanics are there in the United States? How many cars, buses, trucks, trains and planes are built by factories, and how many people work for them, sell them and use them every day... How about the roads and the airports, the people that build and maintain them, and the