The Eternity Club

By Julius F Marlow

What if you could power the world with a single invention? That's the question that drives a ragtag team of scientists who stumble upon a limitless source of electricity. But as they race to bring their breakthrough to the masses, they face unexpected challenges and dangers that threaten to destroy everything they've worked for. This is the story of how their discovery changes the fate of humanity - for better or worse.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Publishdrive
• Release date: Jan 27, 2024

Book preview

The Eternity Club

Julius F Marlow

The Eternity Club

Written by Julius F Marlow

Edited by F.T.Bison

PART I: Soliloquy

Chapter 1: Discovery

I was born in an era when the pursuit of knowledge was a noble endeavour, and curiosity was nurtured. In the 1950s, amidst the clatter of the post-war world, my father, Robert Reynolds, a physics teacher at the local high school, raised me. He had a quiet strength about him, a wisdom that made him both an exceptional educator and a guiding force in my life. His passion for understanding the universe's laws was infectious, and as a boy, I found myself enthralled in the stories he told me.

My father's tales were not about mythical creatures or fairy tale princes; they centred on the abstract world of atoms and molecules, of quantum concepts that boggled my mind and tickled my imagination. To many, these stories would have seemed like dry, sterile scientific lectures devoid of any hint of excitement. But to me, a young boy looking at the world with wide-eyed wonder, they were thrilling adventures into a hidden universe that existed beyond our senses.

The concept of electricity fascinated me the most, particularly electric discharges. I still vividly remember the first time my father showed me his Van de Graaff generator. The sight of those sparks flying between metallic spheres, lighting up our darkened basement, is etched into my memory. It wasn't just a spectacle for my young eyes — it was my first encounter with the raw, untamed power of electricity.

Noise and lights didn't scare me. To me electric discharges looked harmless, like miniature lightning bolts dancing between two spheres. I was fascinated that the old metal spheres showed signs of divots and bumps where countless electric discharges had left their marks on the metal surfaces. My father, ever the teacher, painted an intriguing picture. He explained that these discharges - or rather, the electrons they contained - weren't just confined to our little generator; they occurred naturally and could travel through air, through atomic structures and just as easily across vast cosmic distances. Electricity and electromagnetic fields were fundamental to the world. He told me about electrical discharges in nature, such as the electric eel that stunned its prey with a high voltage electric discharge. I was mesmerised by these breathtaking demonstrations of the power that electricity could wield.

Though the experience was fascinating, it also gave me vivid and disturbing dreams. I saw those electric discharges in my dreams. They were propagating across planets, across galaxies, across the vast, unfathomable expanse of the universe. These dreams were unsettling. They were filled with a deep sense of unease, a gnawing feeling that there was something yet to discover about inter-planetary and intergalactic discharges. It felt dangerous, ominous and irresistibly interesting. In my dreams I was simply a passive observer taking in the spectacle with an unstoppable curiosity that came from deep within me.

As I got older I became obsessed with experimental electric discharges, particularly those at extremely high voltages. My father saw the inherent dangers in this fascination. He warned me that high-voltage work was not a game, that it could have potentially fatal consequences, not just for me but also for those around me. I took in his cautionary words, but it did little to subdue my interest as my imagination soared with new ideas that occupied my curious mind.

When I turned sixteen, my father surprised me with a telescope. It was a sleek and powerful instrument, carefully chosen to ignite a passion for astronomy. Eager to explore the mysteries of the cosmos, I spent many nights