As the exercise began that day, the whole team knew they were in for a long one. The experiment's procedure had been attempted a few weeks earlier with no success. Despite careful preparation, no desired target hits were observed. In the weeks hence, the project's lead scientist had concluded that nothing had been done wrong and no set-up modifications could improve the chances of a hit. The atomic proportions of the Dilutium under study simply implied a very low yield per exercise. The process would just have to be executed repeatedly until a sufficient number of hits were recorded for the science team to evaluate.


Each accelerated Dilutium particle that passed through the target field without successful collision entered a magnetic field area designed to harmlessly slow and stop the infinitesimal mass. The Los Picos team referred to this field as the "catcher's mitt." On the third run of the thirty scheduled that day, the "Catcher's mitt" field failed to engage on time. The tiny Dilutium particle passed through the ceramic walls of the collection chamber like a gnat flying through a chain-link fence. The atomic structure of the wall was practically vaporous compared to the dimensions of the Dilutium particle.

The accelerated particle held sufficient inertia to continue on its course for a few additional meters. In the space of the moment necessary to distribute that inertia, the particle traveled through many more solid objects. One of these solid objects just happened to be part of another dynamic world full of tiny pieces and occasional collisions. The Dilutium entered and exited a section of shielded network cable as millions of packets carrying measurements of that very same particle were being relayed from system to system. As the particle passed through the cable, its subatomic structure overlaid and molded the electrical field structure of the network traffic itself. As the decomposed network packets were recombined by their destination CPU, a structural change was reconstituted.


ISYS Idea System, Inc. designed and implemented the Spike Webb (tm) site, including all content and artwork.

Copyright © 1995 ISYS Idea Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in
any form or medium without express written permission of ISYS Idea Systems, Inc. is prohibited.
Spike Webb and the Spike Webb logo are trademarks of ISYS Idea Systems, Inc.