Clifford and Aub were stunned when they recognized the connection between Morelli’s work and their own. Clifford had already concluded from purely theoretical considerations that what appeared to be an annihilation of a particle was really a rotation in k-space—a rotation that shifted the particle fully into the unobservable hi-order domain of k-space. This event would generate a k-wave pulse that, projected into normal lo-order space, would be detected as gravitation; lots of annihilations together would add up to an apparently continuous field.
Aub had already produced conclusive evidence of such k-rotations and his example had shown the sustained rotation—in effect, the continual annihilation and re-creation—of just a single, isolated particle, which constituted far too tiny and insignificant an event for there to have been any hope of detecting its supposed gravity pulse. Nevertheless, it had furnished positive support for the theory.
And now Morelli, pursuing a completely independent track, had discovered a way to force annihilations in enormous numbers. Sure enough—just as would be expected from the theory—he had found that an apparently smooth gravitational field was produced in the process. Surely this could be no mere coincidence; Zimmermann must have known exactly what he was doing.
“It’s the theoretical aspects that have been holding us up,” Morelli told them. “When I first stumbled on the way to make the thing work, I was trying to do something else entirely; it was mainly an accident. Since then, here at ISF we’ve refined the process, but we’re still not too sure of what’s behind it. We know how to make it work, but we don’t know why it does.” He threw his hands out and shrugged unashamedly. “I guess you could say it’s been largely trial and error, a few inspired guesses, and more than a fair share of luck. Anyhow, it seems to work okay.” He glanced from Clifford to Aub and stated what was by that time clear. “So when Heinrich told me about what you two have been doing, naturally I was interested . . . to put it mildly. He could see the connection too, which is why he got in touch with me. The rest you know.”
“That’s what surprises me,” Clifford said. “Zimmermann spotted the connection straight away, and yet nobody from the government—the Bureau, for example—has even followed it up, not even recently.” Morelli pulled a face and inclined his head to one side.
“I know what you’re gonna say,” he nodded.
Clifford said it anyway. “They’re getting all worked up about the paper I wrote, especially where I talk about annihilations. Also, they must have details on record of the work you did before you came to ISF—work on inducing annihilations. Yet they never put the two together . . . ? Seems crazy. They’ve got thousands of asses warming chairs all over the country. What do they do all day?”
“It figures,” Aub interjected.
“They don’t have records that talk about the gravitational simulation though, remember,” Morelli pointed out. “That only turned up in the work we’ve been doing here. So they’d have nothing to suggest that the connection between matter annihilation and gravity pulses that your paper predicted might actually have been demonstrated experimentally.”
“Yes, but even so . . .” Clifford waved his hand in the air to indicate despair.
“I agree,” Morelli nodded. “You’d have thought somebody would have been on the ball. But . . . I guess I don’t have to tell you anything about the way those balls of fire zip around the place.” The irony in his voice raised brief smiles. “Anyhow, to change the subject back again, I seem to have been doing most of the talking so far. I’m supposed to be interviewing you about possible positions here, so why don’t I shut up and let you tell me some more about yourselves and the work you’ve been doing together. It already looks to me as if you’re just the guys to fill in where we seem to be falling short, but let’s go through the thing properly. After that I’ll take you along the corridor to meet Peter Hughes, who wants to talk to you both individually. He’s Director of the Sudbury Institute, and nobody gets hired without talking to Peter. After that I’ve fixed lunch for the three of us.”