哈利腔和他的手指悬在th站在一起e button, waiting for the order.
他想起了所有这些开始的时候，当他所做的一切是Potestas Energy的R＆D部门的主管。实验性电源，寻找下一个可再生能源的来源。这是一种安静的生活，一件安静的工作，正在寻找一种避免他们的解决方案。
那是直到Armand Fresnel。菲涅尔（Fresnel）是一位来自Ecole PolytechniquefédéraledeLausanne的粒子物理学家。他和他的团队一直在尝试光子压缩。他的假设是，当压缩到两种纳米内时，光将改变其与物质的基本相互作用。使用表面等离子间引入铝的纳米颗粒，光线与电子结合，菲涅尔会产生他所谓的硬光，这是一种能够构建任何刚性结构的微观材料。
菲涅尔的问题是不稳定：光波只会在耗散之前短距离行驶。那是哈利和他的团队进来的地方。Potestas购买了硬灯的想法，Fiphernel和他的团队前往波士顿并将他们设置在该部门，将Harry的单位与瑞士团队融合在一起，被指控有一个目的：
Make it work.
他们花了两年时间才开发遏制场。他们串联工作时，他们发现，如果在包含的电磁场中持续存在，光波可以保持持续的传播。初始测试是阳性的；可以用镜子操纵光线到任何几何结构，然后使用遏制场将其固定在那里。唯一的问题是力量：使场保持不变的功率不可思议。
Potestas didn't care; they were sold on the idea, the ability to create matter from light, the commercial applications, the patents and the dollars. The bigwigs gave the green light for the first containment station, a plant that could create the combined output of eight nuclear power stations. They were going big, they wanted to show off the miracle, and they began planning the project, long before the testing phase was over. Spades broke ground in Quincy, Mass., 16 kilometers outside of Boston, on August 3, 2009. The plant was completed in a decade; they never thought twice about it, about the risk.
Phase-two testing was already completed by the time the station opened a year later. Harry had been in Wyoming, web-conferencing with Fresnel in Bern, as his team constructed Hard Light conduits in the mountains. Armand wanted to see his baby run, never mind walk. Everything was large scale; everything was rushed—too fast, too soon. Harry put his concerns forward but only collided with an ever-growing ego.
So they tested it. Distance 2 kilometers, diameter 5 meters. On a sunny July day, in the Grand Teton National Park, at 2:15 p.m. MST, Harry's team sheared a mountain in half. The first Hard Light bridge killed 400 people in a nearby town. Potestas called it "a tragic landslide," while behind closed doors it was hailed as a triumph.
做出了决定。跨大西洋桥诞生了。
Four years on, Harry's finger lingers over the button. How has it come to this? This was supposed to be the beginning of a bright new age, the inaugural day, the big opening. Still he waits for a decision.
Only this morning, he felt so different, so excited. Years of work, researching, testing, hoping—this was the moment when he could finally feel pride, feel that those lives in Wyoming weren't lost for nothing.
He and the rest of the team had gathered around the television, sitting in the control room in Quincy; final checks on the containment field complete, they all watched intently as the razzmatazz began. Tens of thousands had gathered, lining the streets, filling the parks as they scrambled to see the giant screens, desperate to catch the first images of "the big switch-on."
They had all bought the hype, gobbled up the press releases, read the details in every newspaper. The Trans-Atlantic Bridge connecting the U.S. to mainland Europe was 5,075 kilometers, end to end. Capable of carrying 1.5 million vehicles per day. Two conduits, one in Gloucester, Mass., the originator, the other in Porto, Portugal, the receptor. The beam containment field powered by the plant in Quincy. The people believed the Potestas mantra, that the miracle of Hard Light would change the way we viewed the world forever.
Potestas had spared no expense, building a podium in the center of Boston from which Fresnel delivered the opening speech, finally having his moment. Flash bulbs sparked as Armand fielded questions about technical details of the bridge:
“硬灯的质量抵消了死负荷的力，因为桥的重量可以忽略不计，以分子水平来测量。由于硬灯在围栏场的影响下具有无限的负载施用负载无关紧要。
"The containment field holds the compressed photon stream in place, and the light wave follows a geodesic, the shortest path between two points in space. As the Earth's gravity would bend the light, the containment field works twofold: by straightening the flow of photons to form a rigid pathway and by compressing the photons into a solid plane."
科学界似乎足够合规。没有抗议活动或生态战士谴责人口稠密的市区外约16公里的大型反应者的缺点。他们似乎都在这次陷入困境。所有的眼睛都在按钮上，当菲涅尔最终启动发起人管道，光束伸向距离时，所有人都以未稀释的敬畏替换了所有预订。
Three hours later, there were 20,000 vehicles making their way over the Atlantic. Families, husbands, loved ones, all part of the bright new future, pioneers one and all. It was magnificent, the project had worked, the champagne was flowing in Boston, and Harry was starting to relax.
第一个警报在下午1:22发出。EST，第二分钟后的第二分钟。昆西控制室外面没有人听到它。
Harry knew what it was. They all knew. Months of calibration, working out scenarios, safety countermeasures; there wasn't one of them that did not recognize the alarm. The reactor core was overheating. However, the second alarm was a lot more serious.
Harry ran a diagnostic, confirmed it with his colleague, and then ran it again. Same result. There was no contingency for this; it had not even crossed their minds that the reactor vessel might rupture. Radioactive material was venting into the containment building, and it was only a matter of time before a full breach occurred. Harry made the call.
Potestas官员在电话结束时沉默地听着。
"Is there anything you can do to stop it?"
"Yes. We cut the power," Harry said.
“削减力量？你的意思是……关闭它？你告诉我我们必须关闭它吗？不，不，必须有其他方法。”
"The bridge is tapping too much juice. We never tested it with that much traffic. The energy usage has spiked and stayed at an unsustainable level. If we don't turn it off, the reactor will go into meltdown."
The official paused for a moment. Harry could hear that his breathing had quickened.
"There are over 100,000 people on that bridge. You cut the power, they all die."
"I understand that. There are 4.9 million men, women and children in the Greater Boston area. If we let the core go, you're looking at multiple airborne radioactive plumes. It would be a Level 7 event," Harry answered as calmly as he could.
There was another pause.
“我必须给你回电话。”
在哈利有机会回复之前，这条线已经死了。他不是冷漠的；他确切地知道他在说什么：谴责成千上万的人在黑暗的北大西洋水域中死亡。但是，替代方案是不可想象的。这将是历史上最严重的核灾难，使美国东部沿海地区无法居住。
So he sat there, waiting for an answer, his finger hovering over the button that would call an end to everything they had worked toward. Waiting.
电话来了，他松了一口气。不是因为他必须做的事情，而是因为他知道这是他最后一次沾满鲜血的事情。这是一个发布。梦想会随着桥上的那些人而死，他很高兴。电话上的声音摇摇欲坠，但决定是最终的。
“拔插头。”
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