Chapter 258: New Discovery
Sarah thought about it for a moment before a mischievous smile spread across her face.
"I think I have a plan!"
"If this plan involves even the slightest risk of getting shot, I’ll at least visit your grave once a year," Murphy immediately retorted.
"Don’t jinx me with your sh*tty mouth! Besides, this plan is safe. It doesn’t involve anything dangerous... want to hear it?" Sarah baited.
Murphy could not help but let out a tired sigh and listen to her plan once again.
— Riverine Containment & Research Facility —
Within the meeting room of the research facility, the Scientific Director of the RCR Facility (Riverine Containment & Research Facility), Dr. Eric Steiner, sat in his designated seat as military officers and scientists gathered for the conference.
On the large screen was the face of President Jonah Crump. He was in Washington, D.C., trying to stall various countries for as long as possible, as they all wanted a piece of the pie and were eager to participate in research on the Leviathan’s corpse.
Of course, the President knew he could not delay them indefinitely. Sooner or later, they would try various means to get their hands on a share of the pie.
The point was simple.
He needed to delay the inevitable for as long as possible while his country gained as much advantage as it could during that time.
That was what brought everyone to today’s conference.
"What is the progress of the Leviathan corpse research? Have we obtained anything substantial yet?" the President asked directly.
Dr. Eric adjusted his glasses and began his presentation.
"We have already dissected most of the Leviathan’s corpse, with the exception of several parts. For example, there is a strange spherical organ and its heart, which appears to remain alive despite having no blood supply or oxygen to sustain its function."
"At first, we thought the Leviathan possessed two hearts or some form of redundant organ system, but..."
"Get to the point, Doctor. Do we have something substantial that could improve our technology, create a new type of medicine, cure cancer, or anything else that would give our country an advantage or generate profit?" the President asked impatiently.
Dr. Eric paused for a moment to gather his thoughts before replying.
"Only in theory, Mr. President, but we seem to have discovered a new form of energy. An energy source that could potentially solve Earth’s energy dilemma once and for all. And also... "
"In theory? Seems to?" the President repeated. "Doctor... do we have anything substantial enough to justify using taxpayer money to keep those nosy countries in the UN from getting their hands on this ’pie’ of ours?"
Dr. Eric smiled confidently.
"Of course we do, Mr. President. As I mentioned earlier, we discovered a large spherical organ inside the Leviathan. This organ is similar to its heart. It has not ceased functioning, nor has it shown any signs of decay despite the death of its host."
"From our investigation, we discovered that this spherical organ emits 40% more thermal energy than its basal metabolic rate could chemically produce, yet it consumes zero external oxygen or glucose from the surrounding preservation fluid."
"Further testing revealed that the organ absorbs ambient background radiation and down-converts it into usable chemical potential."
"Also..." As Dr. Eric spoke, the slide presentation changed.
The contrast around the conference table was striking.
On the left side, where the scientific personnel sat, nearly everyone nodded along. Some smiled, while others quietly muttered to themselves, clearly excited by the implications.
On the right side, where the military personnel sat, most of them looked completely lost. It was like a room full of monkeys attending a calculus lecture.
"This organ is a biological Casimir-Polder cavity. It uses chiral nanostructures to suppress certain quantum vacuum frequencies while amplifying others, creating a pressure gradient within the zero-point energy field. It is literally extracting energy from the vacuum of empty space."
"After 1,000 hours, the calorimeter continues to show a constant, unmitigated energy output. More shockingly, when we weighed this organ using a Kibble balance..."
"Ahem!"
Dr. Eric was about to continue when a pointed cough interrupted him. Looking up, he saw it had come from the President on the screen.
"Please speak English, Dr. Eric. What exactly do we have on our hands, and why should we care?" the President asked impatiently.
Dr. Eric paused, trying to find an explanation simple enough for a layman to understand.
"In simple terms... this organ could be studied and potentially used to create a perpetual generator, or at least something very close to one."
"You mean... we’ll have access to infinite energy if the research bears fruit?" the President asked.
"More than that, Mr. President. We have detected a new form of energy with unique characteristics according to our measurements." Eric continued as the next slide appeared.
The slide displayed a glowing blue sphere of energy that could transform into fire, ice, lightning, and even take the form of soil and water.
"We call this energy Neural Adaptive Resonance Energy. We named it after an accidental discovery that the energy changes form according to the will of the user. The transformation efficiency ranges between 90% and 98%."
"The downside is that once it has transformed into another state, it cannot revert back into its original NARE, or Neural Adaptive Resonance Energy, form. This type of energy is generated in large quantities by the mysterious spherical organ. No... let’s call it the Energy Core from now on." Eric concluded.
"You’re saying that as long as we can control this unique energy, we can convert it into various phenomena and potentially gain access to virtually unlimited energy?" the President asked for confirmation, his eyes wide with hope.
At the mention of unlimited energy, all of the military personnel erupted into discussion.
Of course, the prospect of infinite energy spoke for itself, but as military men and women, they all understood that unlimited energy would open the door to countless weaponized applications.
The room quickly filled with excited voices as officers exchanged ideas and possibilities.
Dr. Eric waited patiently for the excitement to die down before continuing.
"In theory, yes. We are still in the very early stages of researching the Leviathan’s corpse, but our biology department has also made a significant discovery regarding potential military applications derived from the Leviathan’s carcass."
Dr. Eric said before passing the baton to the Chief of the Biology Department.
"Ahem... er, yes! Thank you very much, Dr. Steiner."
A nervous young female researcher with red hair abruptly stood up. She was in her early to mid-twenties and wore a white lab coat.
She hurriedly searched for the USB drive containing her presentation slides before plugging it into the console in front of her.
"Ahem! Er... I’m... I’m Natalia Sokolova, Chief of the Biology Department. Today... I’m..." The young woman began introducing herself nervously, then clumsily opened the first slide.
"Er... this... this first slide, we have..."
"Breathe, Dr. Sokolova. Then start," Dr. Eric Steiner calmly suggested.
"Ye... yes, Dr. Steiner!"
Dr. Sokolova stopped and slowly took a deep breath.
After calming herself down, she continued.
"Phew... in Leviathan meat, we have detected a large amount of deuterium ions, so we..." Dr. Sokolova wanted to continue, but she noticed that the President on the screen had raised a hand to stop her.
"Please, Dr. Sokolova, spare me the scientist talk. Just give me the important part and tell me how we benefit from it," said the President.
Dr. Sokolova’s nervousness returned immediately. She glanced at her superior, Dr. Steiner, and the latter nodded for her to follow the President’s instructions.
"We... we have a conjecture that... Leviathan meat might be able to increase human muscle strength, er..." She changed to the next slide and read from it.
"For at least twice that of an average person... The tests show that human muscle cells become larger, stronger, and more efficient."
"What!? Is this true? This meat can turn an average Joe into a supersoldier?" the President asked with a smile.
Dr. Sokolova nodded.
"Ye... yes... but the downside is that this meat is so highly efficient that the transformation process would be extremely sudden... and we theorize that it would have a mortality rate of more than 60% to 70% if an average human were to consume 100 grams of this meat."
"This is amazing!" the President muttered before letting out a sigh. "Too bad we only have one Leviathan, and we can’t harvest more."
Dr. Eric Steiner smiled.
"I wouldn’t be so sure, Mr. President."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Eric Steiner continued. "From what we have gathered, there are more than ten species of alien aquatic creatures that have appeared since the pillar of light anomaly and the emergence of Leviathan. We theorize that they came from the portal within the underwater cave below."
"We have sent more than one hundred drones to the other side, but none of them returned, so we still don’t know what lies beyond the portal. So, if possible..." He looked directly at the screen.
"I would like you to approve a volunteer expedition to cross to the other side and bring back data for us."