Outside it seemed that the tunnel wouldn’t be too long to walk, however, it seemed to be infinite underground. I suppose it was one of Professor’s tricks to protect the lab from any uninvited guests. He told me that the idea to build such a tunnel came to him during one of his latest visits to Shanghai. In Shanghai, there is a tunnel connecting the Shanghai Bund and Pudong. It is called the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel. When you cross the Huangpu River via this tunnel, it seems like you travel through time and space. And Professor Silicon was inspired by this popular tourist attraction.
Before we finally reached the lab, Professor told me that there was a chance we might go to China soon. It was somehow connected with me, Drayton Dense, SilSic Corp, and some other business he would share the details about when we go there.
And then we were standing in front of a wall, just a regular cave wall, and there was nothing suspicious about it. However, if you looked closer, you could recognize a very tiny dot that looked like a snowflake or something. It seemed very familiar to me, but I couldn’t recall where I have already seen it before. And then it struck me. Yes, I’ve seen it before when I studied various materials about power semiconductors.
This snowflake was one of those you can see on a thyristor semiconductor element. It appears during one of the production processes of power semiconductors – photolithography. To create the emitter regions of the thyristor, it is required to provide a given topology of the control p-n junction and the shunt regions of the cathode. This is done during a photolithography operation. First, a layer of positive photoresist is applied and evenly distributed with centrifugation. Then it is placed in an oven to perform the drying process and remove the solvent that is part of the photoresist.
After drying, there is positive exposure and development. The combination of drawings is done optically. Next, the chemical etching of the layer is carried out on the areas of the element that are not protected by a photoresist. The remnants of the photoresist are removed. The elements with a formed protective mask from a layer configured by etching are fed to the next production operation.
Professor put his finger on it, and the wall started to move until there was an opening enough to drive a truck. He told me that this photolithography snowflake was a high-resolution scanner sensor set to open the door to the lab. And there were only two people who could do it – him and me. But why me?
When we entered the lab, I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was nothing compared to the old one. This new lab was full of various equipment, testers, PCs, laptops, displays, etc. It looked like a command center to launch space ships or like a space ship itself. Professor Silicon told me that he started to build this facility long before the accident with the particle accelerator. He knew that the day would come when his knowledge can be of great help.
And answering my question, he said that long ago his school teacher who taught physics science told him about a prophecy that was popular among the scientific society, especially among those who worked in the field of semiconductor physics. They believed that one day in the future the semiconductors industry will become too dangerous for society. The advances in semiconductor technology will put the world in great danger, and there will be those who would like to rule the world and those who would be there to save it. The great savior will possess powers to control electricity, and use it well. That is why I had the access to the lab.
But it seemed to me like an old man legend, and it definitely had nothing to do with me. I was not a savior, and there seemed to be no evil in the world to protect it from. And still, I could not believe Lextor Anderson was talking about me. Why me?
Professor Silicon told me that the prophecy said the savior will rise from the semiconductor ashes one summer day possessing the powers no other human could. And the day of the accident I survived the lab explosion, though I was buried under its equipment and semiconductors. I rose from the ashes a new man possessing the powers that before that day were sleeping deep within. And Professor was 100% sure that the prophecy was true, and that I was the one they were all waiting for.
And that’s how we got back to the question of my powers. Professor told me that he knew how to unleash and control them, and promised to shed some light on it.
He told me that right after the accident while I was lying unconscious in the clinic, he saw strange things happen there. When my brain activity was off the scale, most of the equipment was switching off and on, and off, and on again. The electric field around was very intense. Professor told me that at that time I was probably recalling forgotten memories of my past, which were somehow connected to the future. They were so strong emotionally, that they caused my body to generate electricity and electric field around. That’s why I needed to control my emotions to be able to control my powers.
Professor Silicon told me that I had to do a lot of practice before I could understand how to use my powers. And the first thing to do I had to concentrate and focus. He wanted me to sit in a comfortable chair, and look at the hourglass. Concentrate on every grain of sand, imagine that this sand was a flow of current, every grit was a charged particle. Relax and watch.
So, I did for an hour or so, and Professor told me to start shifting my focus from the hourglass to the other items in the lab and try to do the same – see the current flow in everything around, see the separate particles in this flow, relax and feel united with the flow. That was the key to unleashing my power within.
While I was practicing Professor left the room. He had to clarify the situation with our possible trip to China. Lextor said that we need to make it look like a regular business trip, and the true purpose he would reveal later.
I was still watching the hourglass and items around when something began to change. It seemed like my vision was changing, and I started to see things like they were put under the microscope. I could define every little particle of the hourglass, its metal frame consisting of millions of molecules, I could see every single pixel of the displays in the lab. Moreover, I could feel all those particles like it was part of me. For a moment I wished I could switch off the display, and it was off. And in the same way, I switched it on again.
That second, I heard someone laughing and clapping hands. Professor was back in the room and seemed very happy. He told me that he was watching me playing with that display and that it was a good start to my learning. Step by step I will learn how to unleash all my powers, how to control them, and more importantly, use them well in the future. The road was long enough, but at least now I knew about it and was willing to take it.
Another thing Professor was happy about was our trip. He said that things began to become clearer, and we will find out a lot of interesting things in China. We had to go in two weeks. Professor Silicon asked me to arrange our trip. Our business trip had to start in Beijing and end in Hong Kong. To make it look like a real business trip we agreed that I will contact TSemics Industries’ potential customers I was working with and arrange a meeting to discuss possible cooperation.
Studying the applications of power semiconductors, I learned that China was home to almost all industries power semiconductors were used in. By that time, I have already managed to find many potential customers who used power semiconductors. Some of them agreed to test TSemics Industries power semiconductor devices, some of them were still to be convinced. And this trip was a good reason to meet with them, and also work on the task Professor had yet to share with me.
It was late night when I left the lab feeling very enthusiastic about the future ahead. I had to do many things before we could go to China – prepare all the documents, visas, book the hotels, plane tickets, schedule the meetings with end users of power semiconductors, and plan our route from Beijing to Hong Kong. This was the challenge I liked. And Alex Challenger was ready to accept it.