Infinitium

December 31st, 2032

The trip to Colorado Springs took just over two hours. He arrived at the headquarters of Portal Inc and stepped out of the CV-22 just west of Stovetop Mountains. The outside wasn’t much to look at. There was a small landing pad for aircraft this size or smaller with a small office above the surface. Using the nanites he’d created an elevator shaft that went straight down half a mile to a base that looked a lot like the Umbrella Corporations layout in the original Resident Evil.

Johnathan walked into the building, used his ID pass to enter, and went through a solid titanium door that led to the elevator. When he was halfway down the passage he turned to the left wall. Immediately a 3-meter-wide portal opened, and he stepped through to his office in his command center down below. “So much easier than taking the elevator for a 10-minute ride,” he thought. He stepped to his desk and tapped the intercom: “Amanda, I’m in. Any issues to speak of?”

Amanda Sifford was one of the engineers he’d paid to retrain. One of the companies he’d acquired had been full of deadbeats, but after reviewing her file he’d noticed something about her and decided to bring her on board. That had been eight years ago and there was no other person on Earth he trusted more than Amanda Sifford. Six months ago, he’d brought her up to speed on what he was doing and what he was attempting to create. She’d thought it was just “science fiction bullshit,” her words. That was until he’d made his offer, which included a seven-digit salary, had her sign an NDA, and then took her to a door she knew led to a closet. Thor had opened a portal to Trappist-1e.

She’d looked through the portal and thought it was a trick until Jonathan had led her through to the surface of Trappist-1e under the dome of habitat 000001e where Clarence and friends and more were being welcomed to their new home at that moment. Amanda had experienced a mild panic attack from being so far from Earth and had been truly scared. Nanites had not been incorporated into her at that time, though she’d accepted them soon after when the benefits became known to her, and she’d been given clearance to issue orders and requests to Thor.

Johnathan had picked Amanda up and immediately stepped back through the portal to Earth. Holding her close, he’d had Thor open a different portal to one of the many offices he had scattered throughout the world. This one had been in Paris. Johnathan had carried Amanda to the balcony and placed her in a chair where she could hear the people and traffic 10 stories below with the Eiffel Tower off in the distance.

“So far away from everything,” she’d said.

“Can’t talk here, ears, but yes,” he’d responded. “Are you okay?” He’d asked.

“Yes, I’m better now,” She’d responded. They’d sat on the balcony making small talk for about a half-hour before portaling back to the office.

Since then, Amanda had been his 2nd in command and was completely loyal to him and what he was trying to do, though she hadn’t made it back to Trappist-1e yet. He was sure once he had the infrastructure set up and all the technologies were tried and true she’d be able to handle leaving Earth as long as she knew she could return. He expected that such mental hang-ups would be common in the early days. He actually kind of hoped such hang-ups would help him convert those individuals he would have to punish.

Amanda’s voice came across the intercom: “None that I can think of our semi-sentient prototype,” their nickname for Thor when others were around, “ has cataloged. We are still on schedule for the demonstration. Four primary news networks are here to witness the test. They seemed unimpressed by the Elevator ride down,” she said with a slight laugh.

“I’m sure we will be able to meet their expectations and their trip back to their networks should go a lot quicker,” he’d said as he walked toward the door to his office.

“Little do they know. You should have heard them complain about having to take a bus and carry all their equipment. Thor let me watch them while he was monitoring,” Amanda said.

Johnathan walked out of the office while Amanda was talking to address her directly. “I’m going to head down to the scrub room. Is the Pentagon official here?” Johnathan asked.

“Yes, Admiral Ainsworth is in the observation room,” she said.

“Good, I’ll stop and talk to him before I head in.” With that, he walked down to the observation room which had a large 6-inch sheet of transparent aluminum that looked into the testing room. There were four Aluminum boxes spaced out to the sides of the center of the room. When Johnathan was facing the crowd, they’d be at the 10, 11, 1, and 2 o’clock positions- two to his left, two to his right. They were part of the surprise. On the wall opposite the observation window were four giant TVs. Each news network present was represented. The monitors were on, though the sound was muted. He walked into the observation room. All eyes turned to him as he said, “Good evening everyone, do we have a show for you tonight? First, though, I need to speak with Admiral Ainsworth privately.” Holding the door, Johnathan waited for the Admiral to put his drink down, stand from the chair he’d been sitting in, and make his way over. The Admiral didn’t rush, nor did he tarry. He seemed to take the exact amount of time that would be socially appropriate to make his way over and out of the room. Letting the door close, Johnathan led the Admiral to a door and stepped through into a room with 1/6th the gravity of the hallway they’d just left. The Admiral froze and turned to look behind him at an empty wall.

“What is the meaning of this, Mr. Bennard?” the Admiral asked angrily.

“Calm down, Admiral. You and I are both in an observation room on the moon. We’re perfectly safe. Come on over here and I’ll show you,” Johnathan said pointing to a window that light was coming through.

The Admiral, trying to minimize his momentum, went into the air in a little hop as he slowly walked over to a window that looked out onto the surface of the moon. Directly below him was a crater filled with mirrors. At eye level was a tarp that went off into the distance and had an image of the unblemished lunar surface on it. Any telescopes looking towards the moon would only see the top of that tarp. A look of wonder crossed the Admiral's face and he simply stated, “So you were successful?”

Escorting the Admiral over to a table with two chairs, Johnathan answered, “Admiral Ainsworth. Earlier today an assassin tried to kill me in my home in Alamogordo and then an American-made satellite shot a supposedly theoretical hypervelocity missile from orbit at that residence as I left it to make my way to Colorado Springs on my CV-22. While I’m sure the US government had nothing to do with the Assassin, I’m also quite sure that the US government is wondering where the satellite that missile came from is. Also, why no more shots were taken as I made my way to Colorado Springs,” he said.

“You are of course correct, we detected the object entering Earth’s orbit and we were concerned that foul play was afoot, but we had no way of…” The Admiral stated as Johnathan cut him off.

“Admiral, I have just escorted you to the Moon. I’m sure you are now realizing that some changes are about to happen on the world stage,” Jonathan said in a measured tone.

“And that is exactly why the US Government is so concerned. Other governments might look at this technology as a weapon that could be used against them by the US,” the admiral replied.

“Angel Fire was a weapon, now it’s a paperweight. My technology could be a weapon, especially when directed to be by me. Trust me when I say there is absolutely nothing, and I do mean nothing, that the United States of America, needs to fear from any other superpower or nation on Earth,” Johnathan stated simply.

“You can’t say that. There is absolutely no way that you can know that” the admiral declared.

“Admiral, I’ve read your profile. As I understand it, you were a mathematician and a physicist with top marks at MIT before you entered service, yes?” Johnathan asked.

“Yes,” the Admiral replied.

“You’re also an Admiral which means to me, and many others, that you are highly intelligent and capable, as well as focused. While you were in the military, I’m sure you fell behind in your knowledge of theoretical physics, but I’m also sure that you kept up with the big theories like Quantum Entanglement, Nanotechnology, compression space drives, specifically what the estimated energy cost would be to actually turn on a compression drive or open a wormhole through space” Johnathan said questioningly.” Johnathan paused for a second then continued. “So, my question to you now, one scientist to another, how am I powering my portals? The US Government has kept a very good eye on all nuclear output on Earth. How am I powering the device, which most assuredly exists as we are both sitting on the moon looking over a crater filled with a bunch of mirrors that are to be utilized as a publicity stunt?

Johnathan watched as The Admiral’s face went through many configurations as thoughts raced through his mind trying to puzzle out the answer. Eventually, he looked at Jonathan and said, “Unless you’re an alien from another world, I have absolutely no idea.”

“Not an Alien, as I’m sure you know. I was born in Clovis, New Mexico. I have two parents living up the good life on my lottery winnings from a decade back. No, in order to meet the energy requirements, I needed to be able to build and create at will. I successfully designed and created nanotech that can operate at the subatomic level,” Johnathan stated in a calm voice.

“That’s not possible,” the admiral stated as if he was stating an immutable fact.

“I’ll admit there were some hurdles, but eventually I was successful. Would you like a demonstration?” Johnathan asked.

“Yes,” the Admiral stated simply.

“Evidence, then,” Johnathan said, paused for a second then continued. “Please pull out your cell phone and a pen. When you’re ready, start a video recording the pen with your phone.”

The Admiral pulled out his pen, aimed his phone at it, and started recording. Johnathan ordered the pen to remake itself out of solid gold. When it was done, the admiral stopped the recording and looked at Johnathan with wonder, then fear. “There are nanites roaming free here?” the Admiral asked.

“There are free Nanites just about everywhere on the Earth, this moon, and almost every planetary body within 100 light-years of us,” Johnathan told the Admiral truthfully.

“Do you know what you’ve done?” The admiral asked fearfully.

“Yes, Admiral, I’m about to free the Human race from the threat of thermonuclear war or any other cataclysmic event. By the way, Yellowstone was set to erupt three months ago. It’s actually blind luck that I was able to redirect that eruption to the Pacific seafloor with nanites,” Johnathan stated matter-of-factly.

The admiral, a scientist by nature, puzzled through what he’d witnessed and asked another question. “How long have your nanites been loose in the world?”

“Just under a year. Your next question would obviously be ‘Why didn’t you do more to help humanity?’ To which I will simply reference the orbital attack earlier today and the attempted assassination while I say, I wasn’t ready yet. The nanites were necessary for Portal Inc to succeed after all and the systems I’ve set up couldn’t have been put in place without the portal network I’ve created. I’m sure you can understand the logistics of putting all this together and keeping it a secret?”

The admiral nodded, “I can understand that, but aren’t you playing God with the rest of Humanity?”

“If by playing God, you mean developing a system by which humans will not be able to participate in global conflict like the Television series Revolution from 2012.” Johnathan lifted his pointer finger. “Ending world hunger by being able to create food and water from nothing” Johnathan raised his second finger, “Removing all plastic and toxic substances from the sea.” He raised his third finger. “Removing the need for prisons as all criminals are now monitored 24/7 and if they commit a felony they are automatically shunted to a facility on another planet where they receive the same benefits of living on Earth, except if they’re not good in this case, they never come back here.” He raised his fourth finger. “Made it possible for anyone everywhere to have exactly what everyone else has.” He opened his right hand completely. “Repaired every road, bridge, and building on planet earth being used as a shelter and converted any ruins, not of significant historical value.” He raised his left pointer finger. “Removed all trash and waste products from the streets and countryside.” He raised his left middle finger. “Made it possible for anyone to eat anything they want as the nanites can replicate anything they have mapped.” He raised his left ring finger. “Not to mention the applications for health benefits. I’m sure I don’t need to cut open my hand and show you that the nanites in my system will prevent blood loss and immediately close and heal the wound, do I? Remember some of the theoretical papers that have been published in the science journals were written by me. I wrote those to prepare some minds for what is coming. I do, however, know human nature and I know that the enemies of the United States, those enemies are not going to take kindly to the revelations that are coming and would most likely react poorly to all the revelations I’ve shown you.”

“Poorly?” the Admiral said sarcastically. “World War III would be a light response,” the admiral said, then asked, “Why are you showing me this?”

“Because, Admiral, the nanites are not on the list of my big reveal. In fact, it would probably be better if that specific bit of technology is only known to you for now. What I need from you is for you to head back to the Pentagon through a portal and let the President know that The United States is safe and will remain so, no matter what any other Nations try to do after my presentation. I’m sure the next 24 hours are going to be busy but please inform the President that I will be available to talk with him whenever he wishes. Simply have him ask for a meeting.”

“But how will you know he wants to speak with you?” The Admiral asked.

Smiling, Jonathan continued, “Quantum Entanglement. All the Nanites are connected to a network monitored and controlled by a semi-sentient program that constantly monitors everything it can see, hear, touch, taste, or smell, if they could taste or smell of course. Taste and smell are monitored through animals. Simply, if the President asks to meet, I will know.”

Admiral Ainsworth stood. “I believe I’ve taken up enough of your time, then. I should be going if you need me to talk with The President before you get started.”

Nodding, Johnathan stood and offered his hand which Admiral Ainsworth shook. “Good luck Admiral, I hope to talk to you soon.” Issuing a command, two portals opened: one back to Colorado Springs for Johnathan, the other to the Admiral's office at the Pentagon.