Demons of Science

Demons of Science

by Damon Nomad

          I scribbled notes and numbers on a calculation pad in the small workroom. It was nearly two in the morning, and both of us were hopped up on coffee. I rolled my head from side to side to crack a kink in my neck and slouched back in my seat. "These results check out."
          Saul tapped on the sheets of paper in front of him a few moments later. "These as well."
          Saul picked up his coffee cup and put it back down before taking a drink. "I think we need to hit the sack. I'm having problems focusing."
          That was music to my ears. "The professor will be okay that we didn't finish this section?" Saul knew our boss better than me, even though we had both been post-doctoral researchers in his group at the university.
          Saul lit a cigarette and took a drag. "Yeah, we are on schedule. He will be fine with the progress we have made."
          My eyes ran over the pile of papers in the room we had been working in for the past few months. "This physics they have come up with and these mathematical models." I paused, "I never imagined I would be working on something so sophisticated and on the frontiers of science."
          I picked up a sheet of paper I had just reviewed. "The precision and the details to get it right." I muttered aloud as I laid the piece of paper down, "The devil is in the details." My father's favorite proverb.
          Saul flinched, "What do you mean by that? Why the reference to Satan?"
          I could see I had hit a nerve for some reason. "It's just a saying. Getting the details right on this project is important."
          Saul put out his cigarette and stared at me for a moment. He spoke in a hushed tone, "Don't you think some people might say this scientific work is evil?"
          I paused before I answered; I could see he was sincere. I knew Saul well; we were close friends, I dare say best friends. We first met as undergraduates nearly eight years earlier. I always thought I was the smartest person in the room until I met Saul. He was beyond brilliant.
          We did graduate school in physics together in California, and Saul got the professor to bring me into his doctoral program. He was a serious and sensitive person, and he had a bit of a dark and melancholy side.
          "You are probably right; some people would say that." I paused, "New science is often cast into that light. Galileo tried for heresy because he said the earth revolved around the sun."
          I pointed at the overhead light, "Some people feared electricity and electric lights as works of the devil. People spread rumors that Nikola Tesla was some sort of Satanic demon." I smiled, "Eccentric, sure, maybe crazy. But not demonic."
          I waved at the papers spread on the table. "This is physics and mathematics at the cutting edge. There are no demons hiding here."
          Saul's eyes narrowed as he stood up. "Demons take many forms, my friend. "Let's call it a night."
          ***
          A few weeks later, I worked on our final report in the cramped workroom. Saul had not shown up all day, and I was concerned; he had become increasingly worried with the idea that evil forces were somehow lurking in the shadows of this work.
          The professor came into the room just before dinner. It was the first time he had come by our spot since the day we had arrived. He looked like he had aged a decade in the few years since he had taken over the project at this remote laboratory. As much as my intellect paled in comparison to Saul's, the professor was a true genius, far beyond us both.
          He sat down in a chair in the corner. "Solomon is not here?"
          "No sir, he is busy somewhere else." I lied.
          He continued, "I wanted to take a chance to thank you both for coming here for the last few months. I needed some competent people to independently review our calculations before this final test."
          I muttered, "Thank you, sir." Our contribution seemed trivial.
          He stood up to leave, "I will be intensely busy the next couple of weeks. Submit your final formal report as soon as possible."
          He stared at me for a moment. "I have clearance for you both to witness the final test in the control center with me." He paused, "If you want to be there."
          "Yes sir, I'll let Saul know. We will be there."
          "Very well." He left with a feeble mock salute.
          I wondered. Why wouldn't we want to be there? His mood seemed dark and gloomy. I figured he was stressed and tired.
          ***
          Two weeks later, Saul and I got up in the middle of the night to be driven to the control center, where the key project leaders were gathered. Saul had originally said he didn't want to go, but I kept badgering him to come along.
          I pointed at the control center as it came into view. "There it is. You think it will work?" I knew there was a bit of childish excitement in my voice. I was anxious to see if the physics would be proven by this full-scale experiment. Saul and I were just spectators without any duties.
          Saul sighed as the vehicle stopped, "Yes. I think it will."
          "Stop being so somber. Forget about shadowy forces." I couldn't believe he was downcast at such an exciting moment.
          We were escorted to a corner of the small control room and given some instructions. The professor spotted us and nodded without a smile. He was busy talking to others, and I could sense the stress of the people in the room.
          Someone handed the professor a handset, and he seemed to be arguing or angry at someone. After he was done, I could hear him say, "We are a go."
          He put his hand on the shoulder of a man sitting at a control panel, "Continue, Joe." I didn't know the man.
          Saul whispered, "That's Joe McKibben. He's responsible for monitoring the key hardware and throwing the final switch."
          I glanced at my wristwatch when it was announced that the final countdown was underway. It was ten minutes after five in the morning. My excitement grew as the final ten seconds were counted down over a loudspeaker, and McKibben threw the last switch.
          For some reason, Saul wandered out of the corner where we were supposed to stay, and he was right next to the professor. Moments later, a bright flash of light poured in the open door at the back of the bunker facing away from the test site. I knew immediately it had worked; the physics had worked.
          I felt a rush of energy, glanced at my watch again, and mumbled, "Five-thirty a.m. July 16th."
          I saw the Professor staring at the ground; he seemed to be saying something to himself. I was surprised by his demeanor. He didn't seem to be excited; he looked sad.
          I followed as several people stumbled out the backdoor, it was safe to look at the blast now that the initial flash was over.
          The light was still bright, and my eyes blinked from light as bright as the rising sun. The surrounding countryside was lit up by the immense fireball. An enormous cloud shaped like a mushroom was more than a mile above the ground and still rising. It was hauntingly beautiful as it luminesced in purple, violet, and reddish orange.
          Then, the shock wave hit and knocked us off of our feet, even at 10,000 yards away from the blast. As I stood back up, it struck me for the first time. It's not a physics experiment; it's a weapon. An immensely powerful weapon that will shock the world. A single bomb that can destroy a city. You played a part in this. A small role, but a role.
          My excitement turned to dark sadness.
          As a young physicist schooled in the new world of quantum and atomic physics, I intellectually knew that the gadget had converted a mass of plutonium into energy. A neutron chain reaction raced through a core about the size of a basketball in microseconds. Converting the metal into pure energy per Einstein's elegantly simplistic equation, E=mc2. But I had no real concept of just how massively destructive it would be.
          Saul came up beside me. "Still think there are no demons at work here?"
          "I mumbled, "Maybe they won't use it. Germany surrendered two months ago."
          "They will use it. Mankind has never created a weapon and not used it."
          I didn't argue because I knew he was right. "Did you hear what Professor Oppenheimer said after it went off? You were right next to him."
          "He said I am become death, the destroyer of worlds." Saul paused, "I think it's from a Hindu text."
          ***
          Saul and I left Los Alamos a few days later. Our short-term assignment was over, and it did not warrant us staying on after the gadget was tested. Truth be told, neither of us wanted to stay, and neither of us talked to Professor Oppenheimer before we left.
          We had apartments not far from each other in Berkley, and we had been assigned a new post-doctoral supervisor. Professor Oppenheimer had put in a good word for us to make sure we still had spots to go back to. Things were slow around campus, and nobody knew about the top-secret test in the desert.
          We got together a few times for lunch and dinner, but we were both quiet and brooding.
          Early in the morning on August 6, I heard the radio announcement from President Truman that the bomb had been used on Hiroshima, Japan. I nearly collapsed to the floor in my kitchen, shocked by how quickly a usable weapon had been deployed.
          More horrible news came later that same day. I received a phone call early that afternoon that Saul had committed suicide in his apartment. I spent the rest of the day alone at home, just staring at the walls.
          A police detective came to see me in the early evening; he wanted to ask me a few questions. Some general background about Saul and also about our recent work together. I told him that we had worked on a classified government project for the past four months, but I couldn't give him any specifics. I couldn't even tell him where we had been.
          He told me there was a note. He said it was very brief. The devil is in the details. He asked me if I understood what it meant.
          I said I did not know. I could tell that he knew I was lying, but he didn't press the matter.
          Late that evening, I sipped a glass of whiskey in my den. I considered my role and the other scientists involved in this project. The splitting of the atom and the neutron chain reaction is part of nature. It was inevitable that the means of harnessing it would be discovered by scientists.
          It would have been better if it had not been revealed for warfare in the first instance, but that is not how it happened. Atomic energy would still eventually have been weaponized because of the nature of society. The direction governments and leaders give their scientists and engineers determines the priorities as we uncover the secrets of nature.
          There were no demons lurking in the shadows at Los Alamos. The devil was not hiding in the details of the complex mathematics and physics that unleashed the power of the atom in the New Mexico desert.


Word Count: 1980
Prompt: Write a story based on the proverb, The devil is in the details
Acknowledgment: A fictional first-hand account of a historical event. John McKibben did throw the switch for the Trinity Test on July 16, 1945.