TSJ #36, Chapter 1: The Barclay Group

NINETEEN-YEAR-OLD Tom Swift Jr. sighed in frustration. He gazed at the large glass aquarium in front of him, his eyes fixed on a shapeless mass floating in the center of the tank. Behind the tank was a three-foot-tall device that looked vaguely like a Tesla coil. The coil emitted a soft hum and gently crackled with a faint blue energy. The young inventor dejectedly reached over and switched it off. “It’s just not working,” he said aloud. “After all this time it’s still not working.”

“What’s not working, skipper?” a cheery voice said behind him. Tom turned his head and saw his friend Bud Barclay step into the laboratory. Bud quickly closed the door and walked over to his friend. “Now there’s something new! Have you finally decided to set up that saltwater aquarium Phyl has been talking about? I always thought this lab could use a little sprucing up! No offense, pal, but you’ve never really been much of an interior decorator.”

Tom smiled in spite of himself. “I’m afraid this setup doesn’t have anything to do with fish! This is actually a test chamber for my claytronic stones. At least, it was supposed to be. The problem is I just can’t seem to get it to work.”

Bud took another step toward the tank and peered inside it. “Are you talking about that disgusting blob of floating green goo? What happened to it?”

“Disaster! Look. You’re familiar with my claytronic experiments, right?”

Bud shook his head. “Sorry, I’ve been kind of distracted lately. I guess I’ve been so focused on preparing for our upcoming jaunt to Neptune that I’ve let my subscription to Swift Inventions Monthly lapse.”

“I think Sandy may have had more to do with that than our upcoming trip to rescue the Challenger,” Tom replied, teasing. “You’ve been spending a lot of time with her lately.”

“I haven’t been going out with her that often,” Bud said defensively. “Besides, she’s quite a girl! You’ve got to admire the way she traveled to Neptune to rescue us from the Space Legion. That took real guts.”

Tom smiled. “I’m happy for you, Bud, I really am. And you’re right – my sister is a fine girl. But anyway, about these stones.” The young inventor reached over to his workbench and picked up a small green cube. “This is what the stones look like in their inert state.”

“Right. I’ve seen those things lying around your lab. Aren’t you trying to get them to turn themselves into other shapes?”

Tom nodded. “That’s the idea! These stones are actually composed of an incredible number of really, really tiny machines. When activated by a remote power source and given commands, the stones are supposed to organize themselves into other forms. I call them claytronic stones because these objects are designed to be as malleable as clay.”

Bud snapped is fingers. “I remember now! We have talked about this. Anything built out of that claytronic material could instantly transform into anything else. You could have cars that could turn into houses, or books that could become repelatrons. You could even have a whole closet of stones that you could turn into whatever gadget you happened to want at the time.”

“It gets even better than that,” Tom said. “These stones are designed to use the elements around it to create additional claytronic stones. So, in theory, you could take a single stone and tell it to build an entire city – all through the magic of replication! This would allow us to colonize the galaxy on an unprecedented scale. Not only could we built deep-space probes that could construct entire civilizations on distant planets, but the probes themselves could replicate. It boggles the mind!”

“So what’s the problem?” Bud asked. “How did that green stone become that shapeless mass?”

Tom sighed. “There are actually a whole host of problems. First, the transformation process is extremely slow. It actually took three days for a single claytronic stone to become that floating blob you see in the tank. Second, the stones do a terrible job of organizing themselves. I was trying to create a vase, but you can see what I ended up with! I just don’t have a good way to tell the material what pieces should go where.”

Bud nodded. “I can see that. When you’ve got trillions of soldiers it’s hard to give each of them their own marching orders. But why is it floating in a fish tank?”

“The water is actually a carefully-balanced solution of minerals,” Tom explained. “I was trying to get the stones to draw on the water’s nutrients to replicate themselves. That part didn’t work very well either. The whole process is just too slow and disorganized, and all my improvements only serve to make the entire process even slower.”

Bud frowned. “Even if you sped it up, skipper, how are you going to keep them supplied with nutrients? The last time I checked, the wild places of deep space don’t have a lot of nutrient-filled aquariums.”

“Well, eventually the stones will need the ability to use whatever’s around them as fuel. I haven’t even attempted that yet, though. In fact, I may never get that far! Right now even a basic transformation is out of reach. This time I may have bitten off more than I can chew.”

Bud slapped his friend on the back. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out, genius boy. Say, that reminds me! The reason I came over was to remind you that you’ve got a meeting in a few minutes with the Barclay Group. Your dad had a vague feeling that you were on the verge of missing it.”

Tom looked puzzled. “The Barclay Group? Are these your relatives or something?”

Bud shook his head. “Very funny, Tom. C’mon, you know who these people are! They’re the outfit from London that’s been using your inventions to help third-world countries in Africa and South Asia. You can’t tell me you haven’t heard of them! They’re one of your biggest customers. Ned Newton would be appalled!”

“Oh, you must mean BG Industries! Yes, I’ve heard of them. Do you mean to tell me that the B in BG stands for Barclay? Are you related to these people?”

Bud shook his head. “Of course not! I don’t have any eccentric billionaires in my pool of ancestors – unless you count your dad, I guess, but since Sandy and I aren’t married yet I technically can’t count the Swifts in my family tree.”

“Do you mean to tell me you’re engaged to Sandy?” Tom asked, surprised. “When did that happen? I know I’ve spent a lot of time lately in my lab, but-”

“Woah, woah, slow down,” Bud interrupted. “We are not engaged, nor are we about to be. I don’t even have an engagement ring. That’s what I was trying to say! Besides, I’ve only known her for a few years. There’s no hurry. She’s not going anywhere.”

Tom paused for a moment. His mind wandered back to Irene. I’ve still got the engagement ring I made for her, he thought sadly. I never thought she would die before I could give it to her. Aloud he said “It’s none of my business, Bud, but if you’re going to make your move you might want to make it sooner rather than later. You never know what might happen. You really don’t want to go through what I did.”

“We can talk about that later,” Bud replied hastily. The very last thing he wanted to do was bring up Irene Goddard. He had seen Tom brooding in the past few weeks and had a feeling that she was weighing heavily on Tom’s mind. “The point is, you have a meeting with these Barclay people in five minutes and we need to get going.”

“Who scheduled this meeting?” Tom asked. “I don’t remember any of this. Are you sure I need to be involved?”

“See, this is why you need your own personal secretary,” Bud commented. “You actually scheduled this three months ago, when you met them at that conference in San Diego.”

A light suddenly went off in Tom’s mind. “Good night! You’re right, Bud. I had completely forgotten! I’ve been so wrapped up in things that I’ve lost track of time. Do you mean to tell me that meeting is today?”

“Sure is!” Bud replied. “And we need to get going now. The conference building is on the other side of Swift Enterprises – a four-mile drive from here.”

Tom nodded, and after grabbing a coat the two of them left Tom’s private laboratory and stepped outside. It was mid-February and the weather in upstate New York was very chilly. A light dusting of freshly-fallen snow covered the grounds, and a bitter wind blew between the buildings. The two teenagers made a beeline to Bud’s silver atomicar, and Tom climbed into the passenger seat as Bud slid behind the wheel. The sleek sportscar was soon headed across the campus toward the compound’s ultramodern convention center.

“How long is this meeting supposed to last?” Tom asked. “I’ve got an urgent appointment at 8pm that I can’t miss.”

“I think this is supposed to be a week-long planning session, but I’m sure they’ll let you bail out early tonight if you need to. After all, you’re Tom Swift Jr.! But I didn’t realize you had plans for tonight. What’s up?”

Tom paused to collect his thoughts. “For a number of months now I’ve been working on a project – ever since that day we talked at the Citadel. Do you know what’s going on?”

“Of course,” Bud said confidently. “We’re about to rescue the Challenger. The Space Legion did a real number on it, and-”

Tom shook his head. “That’s just one piece of the plan. Yes, we’re going to rescue the Challenger, but that’s because I need it. We have a job to do.”

“We do?”

Tom nodded. “I’m going to mount a rescue expedition. We’re going after Irene.”

Bud’s eyes widened. “You can’t be serious! She died years ago. In fact, her grave is-”

“I’m very serious,” Tom said quietly. “Thanks to the Negative Zone I now have access to time travel technology. When we rescue the Challenger I’m going to install the time trigger on it and then go back in time and rescue her from that hyperplane. The ship’s Transmittation should be able to pull her out quite easily.”

“But she died of radiation poisoning!” Bud protested. “How do you plan on curing that?”

“I’ve already borrowed a Translator from our Space Friends,” Tom explained. “Now that they’ve been freed from it they don’t need it anymore. Do you remember what it did for us on Thanatos? I have no doubt it can help her just as it helped us.”

Bud frowned. “But skipper, Tom Swift IV doesn’t have a time trigger for you to borrow. He destroyed it because it was too dangerous. In fact, it almost destroyed his entire universe!”

“I know,” Tom admitted. “But at eight o’clock tonight I’m going to go and talk to him about it. I think if we worked together we could recover the technology.”

Bud deftly navigated his silver atomicar into a parking place and turned it off. “I don’t think he wants to recover that technology, chum. I’m pretty sure his whole intention was to make sure it was never recovered.”

“I just want to use it one time,” Tom said. “Just one time. It’ll be a simple trip – we’ll go back in time, rescue her, and return to the future. What could possibly go wrong?”

Bud winced. “I don’t even want to think about it.”

Three hours later Tom Swift Jr. found his mind wandering. It wasn’t because of the conference itself; as it turned out the meeting was quite interesting. A number of important representatives from the Barclay Group were present, including its charismatic leader Edgar “Ed” Gamino. Tom was surprised at how passionate he was about using Swift technologies to change the world. Still, he kept thinking about his upcoming appointment. I know it will work, he thought to herself. I know I can save her! All I need is that time trigger.

Tom’s father spoke up, interrupting his thoughts. “Let me see if I understand you correctly, Ed. You want to license our technology so you can colonize another planet?”

“Precisely!” Ed boomed. “Now that your amazing son has perfected his kronolator, the possibilities are extraordinary. Extraordinary! It is finally practical to travel to other worlds, to other stars! And I propose we do it. Swift Enterprises is a fine group, sir – a fine group indeed – but it lacks the drive, the ambition, to use the marvels you have created. You do a fine job of development but a poor job of implementation. We at BG Industries want to show you what sort of world your marvels can create. We want to bring civilization into an entirely new era.”

Mr. Swift nodded. “It’s an intriguing idea. Your credentials are impeccable – I’ve followed your progress for years and have been pleased at the way you’ve adapted our line of products. Millions of lives have been improved thanks to the work you’ve done.”

“But we are only getting started!” Ed thundered enthusiastically. “We want to create a model city on a planet orbiting Epsilon Eridani. This fantastic metropolis of the future will implement your technologies to the fullest extent possible. Why, the repelatron alone is an astounding device! Imagine if a whole city was designed around it. It would be a breathtaking advance for mankind. Civilization would never be the same.”

“Which is what you’ve been telling us about this evening,” Mr. Swift continued. “I must admit that your plans for the city are very well thought-out, although I think naming it ‘Swiftopolis’ is a bit over-the-top.”

“We can name it something else, if you’d prefer,” Ed replied. “Your modesty is most humbling and sets a true example for us all. Even so, that is a trivial detail that we can discuss later. What we really need to know is whether or not we have your full cooperation on this. In order to make this a reality we will need your vast technical expertise.”

“And a starship with a kronolator,” Tom Swift Jr. added.

“Right,” Ed agreed. “A large ship – something much larger than even your famous Cosmotron Express. It will need a cargo capacity great enough to carry everything necessary for the construction of a mighty city, along with the thousands of lucky people that will inhabit it.”

Bud spoke up. “Or you could just carry a closet full of Tom’s claytronic stones.”

Ed looked puzzled. “What stones? I haven’t heard about this! Is this some sort of new invention?”

Tom shot Bud a disapproving look. “It’s really nothing,” he began. “It’s just something I’ve been working on. Right now it doesn’t work at all.”

Mr. Swift spoke up. “That’s actually a good idea, Bud. I realize that the technical problems are significant, but claytronics may be precisely what BG Industries needs.”

“What are they?” Ed asked. “Pardon my unspeakable ignorance, but I can’t say that I’m familiar with that field.”

“Claytronics is a form of programmable, self-replicating matter,” Tom explained. “If I can get them to work, my stones will have the ability to turn themselves into anything you could want. In theory you could drop a single stone on a planet and it could replicate itself into a fully-functional city.”

Ed’s eyes grew wide. “Why, that’s remarkable, boy! Truly remarkable! I never dreamed that such a thing was even possible. You astound me!”

“Right now it’s not possible,” Tom said wryly. “In fact, at the moment it’s a dismal failure.”

“But that’s only temporary, I’m sure!” Ed interrupted. “Please keep me informed on the progress of this magical device. Claytronics could change everything! You have done many amazing things, my boy, but this one would top them all. It would truly be the ultimate invention – the greatest triumph of the modern era, built by its greatest inventor!”

Privately Tom felt that nothing workable would ever result from his stones, but he decided to keep his reservations to himself. Aloud he said, “I’ll keep you posted. Incidentally, I hate to break this up but it is getting late. Can we adjourn this meeting and continue in the morning?”

“Tom is right,” Mr. Swift said. “There will be plenty of time to discuss this tomorrow. I know we still have a lot to talk about but I can say without hesitation that BG Industries has my full support. If there is anything Swift Enterprises can do to help you, Ed, we will do it.”

Ed beamed. “Most gratifying, sir. Most gratifying indeed! We won’t let you down.”

As soon as the meeting broke up Tom Swift Jr. headed back to his laboratory. His friend Bud followed him. Tom attempted to talk him out of coming with him but Bud wouldn’t hear it. “Nothing doing, skipper! If you’re going to hop over to a parallel universe to discuss time travel I’m going to be right there with you. After all, somebody has to be there to rescue you when things go wrong!”

Tom smiled as he unlocked his laboratory and stepped inside. “Thanks, flyboy.”

The young inventor walked over to his workbench and moved a painting of Aurum City over to the left, revealing a small green panel. He firmly placed his right index finger on it and held it there for a second as it read his fingerprint. The panel emitted a soft white light and then clicked. As Tom returned the painting to its original position a metal plate descended over the lab’s only window. The lights in the lab dimmed and all the security cameras in the room went dead.

An unseen robot spoke in a quiet monotone. “The room has been secured.”

Bud shivered. “That gives me the creeps, boss. Makes me feel like we’re in some sort of top-security vault.”

“That’s exactly where we are,” Tom said. “Can you imagine what would happen if word of the Negative Zone ever got out? We do a lot of sensitive stuff here at the plant, but this is by far the most top-secret of all of our top-secrets. This is so classified that even its classification is classified!”

Bud nodded. “You’ll get no argument out of me!”

Tom walked over to the far wall of his lab and examined it for a moment, and then placed his palm firmly on a small section. At first nothing happened, but after a moment the outline of a doorway began to emerge on the featureless concrete wall. After ten seconds a door-sized portion of the wall had simply vanished. Through the hole they could see only blackness.

Tom removed a small device from his workbench and entered a sequence of numbers. A series of notes then sounded from the dark hole in the wall. A few moments ticked by, and then the utter blackness of the void was replaced by a deep, deep blue. A faint light appeared to emanate from small vortexes that swirled in its midst. Out of the void a deep note sounded.

“That’s our call,” Tom said. “The connection has been made. Are you ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Bud said. The two of them stepped into the void – and vanished.