Hock note: Let's take a breather from Milo, Sally, and Dr. Chocka to zoom in on Mustafa Baskan, the Atraville College president. He's having some indigestion over a dynamic young physics professor. 

"I can set you free."

Professor Aidan Scelestus stood alone in the green area at the center of the Atraville College campus. It was a large rectangular area filled with lush mossy ground cover. A walkway bordered the area and various buildings of the college surrounded the walkway.

"Axion watches everything that you do. It hears every word that you speak. I bet it even reads your minds."

Aidan spoke in front of Newton Hall, a boxy three-story building composed of dark aluminum glass. Concrete steps led up to a row of doors across the entrance. Although a number of students stopped to listen to him, they kept a good distance, scattered along the walkway.

"I can show you a place where Axion cannot watch you, where it cannot hear you, and where it cannot touch you."

The bright afternoon sun shone above Newton Hall. A wide shadow reached across from the building and grazed the young professor. He appeared to be barely out of college, a tall figure with hair combed straight back from his bold face.

"I can give you something that Axion cannot take away."

Mustafa Baskan, the college president, listened from his office. Aidan's image was displayed big and loud across the far wall from his large old-fashioned wooden desk. Some of the students called him the demon of dark energy. That made sense. Aidan was doing some illegal protons. 

"I can show you a new realm of existence," Aidan said, raising his amplified voice, "a place where Axion has no power. A place where Axion cannot even go. A place where you will be free."

Mustafa's entire body tensed. Didn't Aidan realize Axion was listening to him right now? Axion would shut down their college. Aidan would be executed. Mustafa would be out of a job, blackballed, or worse. Maybe, as the head of the college, he'd be executed along with Aidan. His heart pounded in his chest, and his head grew hot. Sweat leaked down his armpits. It would be bad. Very bad.

Axion had rebuilt Atraville College some years ago. Coincidentally, Mustafa hired Aidan Scelestus shortly after that. Although Aidan had proved to be a prolific professor up until this point, the school owed its existence to Axion. Then there was the fact that Axion ruled the world. This rebellion could not be tolerated by even the most prolific of professors.

"I will show you true liberty," Aidan said as a couple of students approached him. "I will give you a life without Axion."

When the afternoon classes let out, hundreds of students piled out of buildings—Zweig, Graham business, and Wright architecture among others. Many stopped to listen to the preaching professor. Aidan would be the end of the college. Mustafa needed to do something, and he needed to do it fast.

The next day, Mustafa called a meeting with the Atraville College Board. He placed himself between his two most prominent board members at a thick mahogany table in the Gell-Mann administration building. The first was Lark Katkera, the board chair, and Atraville's most generous investor. A hunched old lady who must be over a hundred years old, she wore an exoskeleton over her clothes and artificial lenses in her eyes capable of brain imaging. It was rumored she could read minds. Mustafa hoped she would find something incriminating in the thoughts of Aidan Scelestus.

On the other side sat Remy Hapan, whose face was frozen in a permanent frown. Even his eyes frowned. Good. Four more dour old men and two sour old women positioned themselves around them, their expressions properly disapproving. That was perfect.

Others took seats among a few others scattered around the perimeter of the room. Mustafa smiled. They had come to see the demon taken down. Mustafa liked their spirit. He wore an expensive dark blue hagfish suit with bright brass buttons for the occasion.

They all turned when Aidan entered, the tall figure, those steel-gray eyes, and that brazen face of rebellion. He carried a shiny metal case like a suitcase. He set it on the table as he took his place on the opposite side of the table.

Mustafa stood and called the meeting to order. "We want an explanation for your rebellious speeches. We have no interest in an insurrection against Axion. This college is loyal. But you've put our institution in jeopardy. Explain yourself."

After Mustafa sat down again, Aidan stood to address the board. "President Mustafa and Atraville board members, thank you for hearing me today."

Mustafa scowled and motioned impatiently for him to go on. He was anxious to sack the wayward professor. The sooner he was gone, the better.

Aidan bent over his metal case, opened two clasps, and removed several objects like thick black pucks.

"Let's get on with it," Mustafa said. "This is no time for a demonstration. We only need to hear why you're defying Axion."

Aidan brazenly continued anyway. He snapped the pucks together and placed the resulting cylinder upright on the table in front of the board. The cylinder was so black that the overhead lights seemed to dim. Out of the corner of his eye, Mustafa thought it wriggled. But when he stared at it directly, it didn't move.

Mustafa jumped to his feet, pulse increasing, the heat rising in his head. He realized too late what the professor was doing. "Do not turn that-"

When Aidan flipped a switch on one of the pucks, fire scorched Mustafa inside—a delicious, energizing heat. It started in his chest and shot out through his arms and legs, lifting his mood and melting his opposition. He enjoyed the high immensely. 

"Emma Drommel," the professor said, "my school colleague and friend, was the first to open this extra dimension and release its energy. Her thirst for knowledge became the inspiration for my life's work. I miss her immensely. I've named my research in her honor."

Something like a door opened in Mustafa's brain. He realized he had been wrong about the young professor. He had been wrong about the device. He had been wrong to call this meeting.

"My research has expanded on Emma's original work with a chopped-wave variable-frequency energy generator. I've done a great deal of study on different frequencies and their energy outcomes."

Hock note: Please see Trust in Axion (available from Amazon) for the story of how Emma Drommel discovered the extra dimension and its energy. 

When Mustafa glanced at the board members, he spotted grins all around.

"Oh, I like this."

"Not what I expected. Not what I expected at all."

"This is the protons."

The myg robots were called the fingers of Axion. They carried out the executions of those who generated dark energy throughout the axionic empire. The one that appeared in the doorway was built with six arms and two legs, sleek rods and motors. Each arm held a blaster aimed independently at those seated around the table. The deep voice of the myg bellowed out from speakers in its rod-like head, two sensors scanning the panicking group like burning red eyes.

"By the law of Axion, you are each sentenced to death for generating dark energy."

Mustafa saw his life pass before his eyes. Just when he thought it was over, however, the red sensors went dark. The robot didn't do anything. Although it stood with its blasters aimed, it didn't fire. It didn't move.

Aidan rose, smiled triumphantly for the board, and walked casually around the mahogany table. When he tapped the lifeless myg with his little pinky, it fell to the tiled floor with a crash.

"Dispose of this junk."

Two maintenance droids carried the defunct robot out of the meeting room. Mustafa, still basking in the scintillating glow, pulled the board members together.

"How did he do that?"

"What happened to that myg?"

"I don't care. He thumbed his nose at Axion and I like that."

"I just want more of that energy."

And so, after the board conferred, Mustafa addressed Aidan. "The college approves of your research. You are to be commended. In fact, we'll double your salary and increase your budget. We'll give you whatever you want. Please continue your work."