“Ah, good,” Ursula said, clipping the end of the word in her German accent. “You are all here.”
We were still in the dining hall, finishing the dregs of our fondue meal.
“Lay it on us, Doc. You won’t find us in a better mood,” I said.
“Well, I have excellent news. We have confirmed that you both are producing positrons and the annihilation reactions with ordinary matter are producing high energy photons. This is very exciting.”
The four of us looked at one another, then back to her. “Still waiting for the good part,” Nat said.
“The two of you present a nearly limitless potential for fueling our experiments. We will finally uncover the secrets of antimatter thanks to the two of you. We may even be able to realize new sources of unlimited, clean energy!”
“Great. So, how do you fix us?” Jack asked.
“Fix you? I do not understand.” Ursula appeared genuinely confused
“We don’t want to shoot positronium—”
“Positronic,” I corrected.
Jack flipped me off, but didn’t stop talking to Ursula. “—Lightning. I want to shoot regular lightning, like they can.” Jack pointed to Nat and Anna Maria.
The girls spread their fingers and created spiderwebs of electricity between their fingers.
“I am always amazed at that.” Ursula gushed. “Would that we fully understood those processes. Perhaps we can start some experiments with you, too.”
“How. Do. You. Fucking. Fix. Us?” Jack said.
“I have no idea. We do not want to fix you. You are far more valuable to us shooting the antimatter than lightning.”
I could feel it, kind of like how the charge changed in a room before shooting off lightning, but it was sharper than that, much more tense, so I grabbed Jack. “No, Jack. Definitely no. Let’s just go.”
Slowly, Jack turned away, and we moved toward the exit.
“Good, Joaquim, good,” Anna Maria soothed. I will throw lightning and disrupt their experiments for a time.”
Just before the door, Jack turned and yelled out, “Belgian chocolate is better!”
“And the French make far superior cheese,” Anna Maria added.