Page 22 of Wild Oblivion

That hung there for a second.

“So, what are we dealing with?” I asked.

“That’s a good question, Deputy…?”

“Wild,” I said with a smile. “Tyson Wild.”

Her left eyebrow raised with slight recognition. “Well, it seems we have you to thank for preserving the device. As I mentioned previously, this appears to be a quantum pulse bomb. Simply put, the device emits a burst of coherent quantum phase energy that disrupts the lattice structure of atoms by collapsing their quantum?—”

Thompson put a gentle hand on her shoulder. “In English.”

With a bunch of blank faces staring back at her, Emily adjusted. “Oh, right. Sorry. The device is based on a super-heavy isotope created by a particle accelerator that we call Oblivium-74. When destabilized, Oblivium emits?—“

With another hand on her shoulder, Thompson said slowly, “Like they’re five.”

“Oh. Gotcha.” Emily nodded, took a breath, and thought momentarily about how to dumb it down. “Okay, so the decay of Oblivium triggers a pulse of quantum decoherence…” She realized she was doing it again and course corrected. “It rips apart matter at the atomic and subatomic level. Molecular bonds are broken.”

“It basically unmakes matter,” I said, putting it all together.

“Exactly. Oblivium decays fully, leaving behind no radiation, no combustion artifacts, no chemical residue.”

“A nuke without the fallout,” I said.

“Essentially, yes. You can imagine the military applications for this technology. Yields can be adjusted for extremely precise strikes.”

“And you say Oblivium is an isotope manufactured in the lab?”

“Yes.”

“So, where did they acquire the Oblivium?”

11

“From what I can tell, this device is using a highly unstable, dirty version of Oblivium,” Emily said. “It’s not as clean and lacks efficiency. Yields will be considerably lower. The rapid decay will limit the useful life of the device.”

“You mean it will lose potency over time,” I said.

“Yes. Unless they can clean it up and stabilize it or get their hands on true Oblivium. That’s not going to happen. Trust me, that is highly secure.”

“So somebody cooked this stuff up in a bathtub?” an ATF agent asked.

“Sort of. It’s a little more complicated than that and would take superconductors and cryogenic chambers.”

“We’re dealing with someone who has advanced knowledge and skills, along with resources,” I said. “Potentially access to classified information.”

“Yes.”

Thompson said, “We’re looking at everyone at DRI with knowledge of or access to Oblivium.”

“I did publish a graduate paper detailing the theoretical possibility of quantum pulse technology a few years ago,” Emily admitted. “It’s possible that paper has influenced the perpetrator.”

“This guy is not stupid,” I said. “He had to anticipate the analysis of the device. It’s almost like he handed it to us.”

“Sometimes these assholes are egomaniacs,” Thompson said. “Maybe he wanted us to know what he’s capable of. Why else would he play these games? He could have just blown up the pizza joint. He likes the attention. The feeling of superiority.” He paused, then motioned to me. “Deputy Wild is our point of contact with the scumbag. It shouldn’t be hard to put a profile together on the perp. Let’s track purchases of everything needed to synthesize bathtub Oblivium. Let’s figure out who this guy is and put a stop to it.”

Chatter erupted as the meeting ended.

JD and I pushed away from the table and meandered through the crowd to Emily after she answered a few questions from other agents. She gave me an intrigued look as we approached. Dare I say there might have been a thin smile on her face. “I was briefed on your actions yesterday. Impressive. Brave. Perhaps stupid.”