THE EXETA

CHAPTER NINE

Work was still underway at the secret underground research facility that Matthias Morrison was building. The undergraduate engineers where on the work there were doing. The thermonuclear fusion reactor was akin to a normal fusion reactor. It was made up of a toroidal or oval shaped magnetic device called the Tokamak. The tokamak was an experimental machine designed to harness the energy of fusion. Inside a tokamak, the energy produced through the fusion of atoms is absorbed as heat in the walls of the vessel. Just like a conventional power plant, a fusion power plant will use this heat to produce steam and then electricity by way of turbines and generators.

            The heart of a tokamak is a doughnut-shaped vacuum chamber. Inside, under the influence of extreme heat and pressure, gaseous hydrogen fuel becomes a plasma—the very environment in which hydrogen atoms can be brought to fuse and yield energy. The charged particles of the plasma can be shaped and controlled by the massive magnetic coils placed around the vessel; physicists use this important property to confine the hot plasma away from the vessel walls. The term "tokamak" came to us from a Russian acronym that stands for "toroidal chamber with magnetic coils."

            It was first developed by Soviet research in the late 1960s, the tokamak has been adopted around the world as the most promising configuration of magnetic fusion device. ITER will be the world's largest tokamak—twice the size of the largest machine currently in operation, with ten times the plasma chamber volume. The tokamak, was oval shaped metallic that had a poloidal field magnet that went around it. The poloidal field magnet was to generate a potent force field, like a Faraday Cage to shield any electro-electromagnetic radiation from interfering with the fusion process. It also had an ohmic heating magnet that sat in the oval reactor.

The ohmic heating magnet, created the favourable magnetic field to direct and keep the trajectory of the reaction nuclie. Also present was a toroidal field magnet that went around the reactor to maintain the balance and the upsurge of electrical field that were created by the reaction nuclie. Then inside the oval magnet it was the plasma and the plasma current. The plasma current was obtained during the fusion process. Thus, when the two nuclei were made to collid and the process of disintegrating was going on, at this stage what is obtained is the plasma. The plasma has its own current it come with due to the hazy nature of the fusion process. The inner of the oval metal also has a higher temperature thus so to enable the fusion of the two nuclei. In all after the fusion had achieved it maximum potential, at this stage what was available was unfeigned energy that can be tapped. A reactor will be needed to convert the nuclei plasma into electrical energy. And that is where the reactor facet of the thermonuclear reactor came into play.

Matthias and her daughter Marlon stepped into the underground building that was so familiar to Matthias but not Marlon. Matthias walked on majestically as he had always done. Whilst Marlon kept her gaze on every little item that peaked her interest about the place her father was taking her. When her father told her about the place she did not imagine it was going to be an underground tunnel. All she thought was that it was going to be a big place with a lot of machines. But getting to the place and from what she had seen so far, she was spell bound. Her father had surprised her. And was she was now eager to know more about what the place was about and what they actually did there. Marlon moved a little having seen the biometric gate – she was getting more fascinated. She then stopped and watched. Matthias looked back and saw she was far apart.

“Marlon…come one we have not gotten anywhere yet.” Matthias bellowed to her daughter. Marlon then moved on to catch up with her father. As she got to her father, she inquired with pristine curiosity,

“What is this place Dad…?” Her Dad gave her a funny look and replied, “You will find out soon.

Mechanical Engineer Mr. Anobaah was on the field today supervising the recruits work. He had received the files his boss had sent earlier, and they were currently working on the exteriors of the Tokamak. The recruits were six in all, four men and two female all working together in harmony and tranquility. He had been given a prior notice that his boss will be visiting with her daughter. So he was poised to enlighten the young girl on whatever they are doing there. Raymond halted and looked at the device that was being built. It was right in synergy to what was on the plan. They were on track, he smiled.

            A little tired, as he had been working all day, he turned to leave the recruits to work. As he moved on he then saw His boss and his daughter coming. He moved quickly to them, beaming with a contagious smile.

            “Mr. Morrison…just as you said, you will be here. You are right on time.” Mr. Anobaah said and motioned to meet Matthais. Matthias moved on and shook his hand.

            “Good to see you again…and as I said this is Marlon…my daughter.” Matthias introduced her daughter to Mr. Anobaah. Mr. Anobaah looked on a little taken aback by the beauty and the swiftness of the young girl.

            “Nice to meet you…Marlon…am Raymond Anobaah I am in charge of this whole place.” Mr. Anobaah motioned his hand to shake her. Marlon took it and shook it back. Exuding a smiley face.

            “What is this place…what do you do here…?” Marlon quickly inquired from the man in charge. Raymond was surprised to hear that. The girl was so headstrong on knowing what was going on there.

            “Okay…Marlon, we have a lot of time to do an excursion so do not worry.” Matthias replied to her daughter.  “How is work going?” Matthias inquired from Mr. Anobaah.

            “Great we are right on schedule, the file you sent me was great, and we are working precisely according to that plan. I think you can have a look at what is going on. The engineers are working on the Tokamak at the moment.” Mr. Anobaah replied. With that, all three moved to the site where the engineers where working.

As usual the device was large and oval. And the engineers were around it holding copies of the plan. Mr. Anobaah had gone for two samples and had come to give them to Matthias and her daughter.

            “That is huge…are you building an airplane?” Marlon asked. Mr. Anobaah looked at the girl and started to talk.

            “We are building a Tokamak or in simple words, a device called a nuclear fusion reactor. We believe that this device can save a lot of people in the near future. When it succeeds it will generate so much energy than that of the hydroelectric dam.” Raymond explained.

            “Really, are you doing something similar to ITER?” Marlon asked. Raymond had no idea what she was talking about. Mr. Anobaah looked at the face of her father. He nodded that she knew what she was talking about.

            “And can you tell me about what this ITER is?” Mr. Anobaah inquired. Marlon the freed her hands and begun to speak,

“ITER - International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, commonly termed as "The Way" in Latin, is one of the most ambitious energy projects in the world today. In southern France, 35 nations are collaborating to build the world's largest tokamak as you made mention earlier, a magnetic fusion device that has been designed to prove the feasibility of fusion as a large-scale and carbon-free source of energy based on the same principle that powers our Sun and stars.  ITER will be the first fusion device to produce net energy.” Marlon explained.

            Mr. Anobaah was spell bound, as she kept on looking at the young girl. And her Dad nodding that she was good.

            “I see Marlon, then per your definition, we are also building an African version of ITER as you have explained. We hope we can finish early on time so the whole Africa will get to see that nuclear fusion has always been the solution to our energy problems.” Mr. Anobaah added.

            “So that is what we have been doing Marlon, you will one day be in charge of this whole project.” Matthias shot back.

            Marlon shrugged on not moved by that statement, “I have been counting on that Father. From what I know Mr. Anobaah, the amount of fusion energy a tokamak is capable of producing is a direct result of the number of fusion reactions taking place in it’s core. Scientists know that the larger the vessel, the larger the volume of the plasma. and therefore, the greater the potential for fusion energy. With ten times the plasma volume of the largest machine operating today, the ITER Tokamak will be a unique experimental tool, capable of longer plasmas and better confinement. So I wanted to ask, how much energy like the quantity can the Tokamak generate for Ghana?”

            Mr. Anobaah looked on. That was something he had no idea of. Matthias then stepped in to answer that.

            “Okay honey, with what we are building we are hoping to generate about 10 megawatts (MW) of fusion power. The world record for fusion power is held by the European tokamak JET. In 1997, JET produced 16 MW of fusion power from a total input power of 24 MW.” Matthias replied.

            “And can that supply the whole of Ghana?” Marlon asked again.

            “Yes, yes it will. It can feed the whole of Ghana and even Africa if possible.” Matthias said. Marlon was glad to her that.

            “Then one other thing is that.’ Raymond spoke, “fusion is the energy source of the Sun and stars. In the tremendous heat and gravity at the core of these stellar bodies, hydrogen nuclei collide, fuse into heavier helium atoms and release tremendous amounts of energy in the process. There are three conditions must be fulfilled to achieve fusion in a laboratory – thus, very high temperature (on the order of 150,000,000° Celsius); sufficient plasma particle density - to increase the likelihood that collisions would occur; and sufficient confinement time to hold the plasma, which has a propensity to expand, within a defined volume. At extreme temperatures, electrons are separated from nuclei and a gas becomes a plasma—often referred to as the fourth state of matter. Fusion plasmas provide the environment in which light elements can fuse and yield energy. In a tokamak device, powerful magnetic fields are used to confine and control the plasma.” Mr. Anobaah explained.

            “Wow…Dad, this is great work you are doing here. I wished I was done with school to be part of the team. A love everything about the atom. Atomic science and nuclear physics.” Marlon praised.

            “Yes honey, I hope the whole of Africa will it the see it the same way you see it.” Matthias replied to her daughter. Mr. Anobaah also nodded his head to what his boos had said.

            “And if I may ask, Miss Marlon, what do you like to be in future?” Mr. Anobaah inquired. There was a little silence.

            “I want to be a Nuclear Engineer.” Marlon fired like a missile into the large facility. Mr. Anobaah understood it now. It all makes sense now. Raymond smiled.

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It was still a Friday afternoon, and the house of the Frimpong Manso was like a cemetery. Everyone was away excerpt Margaret. Margaret had carefully moved quality into the bed room of Mr. and Mrs. Frimpong Manso. The only way to find what she had to find was to invade their privacy and to betray their trust. As she moved quality into the room, she quickly move to the wardrobes as she searched for the presence of an ancient African relic. The image was still in her mind and she could locate if only if she saw it. She dragged all the clothing that to her were destruction to her search and made sure she left to stones unturned.

            After she was done with the wardrobe, finding nothing, she then moved to the travelling bags apparently. The unpacked all the clothing’s and kept on searching for the Exeta. She continued to search still finding nothing. The materials she was seeing were not familiar to any ancient relic. They were all contemporary ornaments mostly made of gold, copper and silver. Most of the item she came accross where necklaces, bracelets, golden chains, rings – definitely, none of them was of interest to her. She then packed the item back and place them at the initial position as if nothing had happed to them. After she had exhausted all possible places an ancient relic could be, she was exhausted with her options. Which place again will Mr. Manso keep a very valuable relic? She asked herself. The only place she had not searched was the study or the library. That was a place that Mr. Manso held in high esteem. The place was always locked Clarence kept the key. So it will all make sense to deduce that, the relic could be found somewhere in the study. And if yes, how does she get to enter there and search for it. She would have to come up with a plan, she thought. And what plan it be? She would figger something out soon. She said to herself and moved out of the bedroom of Mr. and Mrs. Frimpong Manso.

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Marlon was back home with her father. Cassie was in her room when she heard they were back. Mr. Morrison had left again for other business of his. Marlon was sitting in the sofa and replying messages in her cell phone. She was very excited and was giggling intermittently. Marlon seemed very elated today after she had come from the secret research facility. Cassie had seen that about her countenance after she had returned from the trip or excursion with her Dad. Cassie then came in from her room. Marlon was still texting on her cellphone.

            “What makes Minenhle so excited today?” Cassie inquired. Marlon quickly lifted her head on hearing that and return to her normal face. Trying to hide.

            “Nothing, just talking to my friend.” Marlon replied more gingerly.

            “I see but you seem so different today. I notice it after you came back with your Dad. Why did you go to some place special today?

            Marlon’s mind quickly went back to the promise she had made to her father. After they left the nuclear lair, her father had made her promise not to tell anyone about the place. Matthias explained that, the place was a critical place in Accra, and that when people get to find out, the whole project will be confiscated and obliterated. He continued to say that, the government of Ghana did not like the idea as it will be a great competition to the current hydroelectric Dam. And that explained why they were situated in a tunnel but not in an alcove. Marlon remembered that and knew the answer to give Cassie.

            “We went to see some old friends of My Dad and we passed by the West Hill Mall. Oh! that place is so cool and had a lot of stuffs. Finally, a lovely place in Ghana for me so far.” Marlon lied.

            “Okay…that makes a lot of seen, you have finally seen Ghana for how nice some places can be.” Cassie replied.

            “Yes…I think you have some very cool places trust me.”

            “I see, I have something for you.” Cassie said and took her left hand from her back and gave a white envelope to Marlon. Marlon was surprised.

            “What is this?”

            “I don’t know.”

            “Really!...who brought it?” Marlon was not convinced Cassie was ignoramus about the envelope.

            “Open it and let’s find out…” Cassie said teasingly. Marlon was not still convinced that she should open it.

            “I am not opening, is this how Ghanaians behave, delivering envelope unanimously?” Marlon said. Cassie was not liking her response so she spilled the beans.

            “It was Simon…”

            “What! he came here again.”

            “Yes…when you were gone. He came to apologies for what happened the last time and after he gave me this to give to you.”

            Marlon was surprised to hear that. What a nerve he has. She thought

            “I see…let’s see what he has as to say.” Marlon quickly unlocked the envelope. In it was a white, an A4 sheet of paper. She took the paper, opened it and in it was handwritings.

            “What is it…an apology letter?” Cassie asked. Marlon read through and got what it was.

            “No…it’s not an apology letter. It’s a riddle, a challenge,”

            “Riddles! How weird. I thought it was an apology letter.”

            “Nope not an apology, I like riddles, so I like it.” Marlon said excited.

            “Really?” Cassie replied surprised. “So I guess he is forgiven…?” Cassiee inquired calmly. Marlon then turned to her and said.

            “We will see, after I solve this riddle.” Marlon replied and picked up her cell phone and moved to her room excited. Cassie looked on stunned by what was happening.

            “And what does the riddle say?” Cassie bellowed but Marlon had already entered her room, still excited and giggling intermittently.