Max had not given up on his approach to the assignment. Manipulating the physical structure of the lead ball and hopefully getting the electrons to spin was still the goal. He had upgraded the coated wire to the thickest, most heavy-duty he could find for the size needed. In addition, he now had it set up to run an AC current through the nail itself hoping that that would generate some effect. He did this by cutting one strand of an electrical cord from a lamp and connecting it to one side of the nail, then continuing it on the other side of the nail back up to the lamp. When the lamp was turned on, he knew that the current would be flowing directly through the lead.

  It had been three weeks since the fire episode. As Max pulled into the driveway of his family’s home after driving home from school, he noticed a box on the door stoop and hoped this would be the thing he had ordered to progress to the next step of his experiment. His dad’s truck was gone, and he realized that his mom was also not home, meaning they were either shopping or visiting friends, which is why UPS had left the box at the door. He read the sticker on the box and quickly opened it to reveal two small devices about four inches high, two inches wide, and two inches deep. They resembled two little speakers, each with electrical cords protruding from the rear.

  Max had read online that microwaves are actually electromagnetic waves and he thought that also might have an effect on the electrons of a metal. But as he looked at the two emitters, he noticed that they were different. He wasn’t sure why one had a radiation warning on it and the other didn’t. The emitters were not supposed to generate enough power to be dangerous. Taking the one with the warning, he flipped it upside down to read the label on the bottom.

  It read: Beta emitter.

  What did that mean? Max went up to his room, got on the internet, and searched for “beta emitter.” What he read shocked him. Beta waves are high-energy, high-speed electrons emitted in certain types of radiation.

  Radiation? Oh no, Max thought as he wondered if this was even legal. He looked up his invoice where he had ordered these online to make sure he hadn’t made a mistake. But his records confirmed that he had placed the order for two identical microwave emitters. He looked up the website again and searched to try to find a contact number to let the company know they had sent the wrong item. He couldn’t find a number, but there was an email address. He opened an email box and began to compose the letter. Then he stopped as the definition echoed in his head. High-speed electrons.

  Max looked at the little, seemingly harmless unit in his hand. He concluded that the least he could do was give it one test run before sending it back.

  It was early February, and snow was on the ground as he walked out to the barn. The barn offered little protection from the cold, but at least it was dry inside. Max took the two emitters and placed them on each side of the lead ball. Then he connected them to a large, rusted metal box, which was placed on the old wooden table near the lead ball.

  Years ago, Max had found an old electronic amplifier in the basement of his dad’s church. His dad said it was there before he took over and thought it was used at one time to regulate the signal of either the microphone or organ speakers. Max had rigged it to regulate the power of both the DC current going through the coated wire and the AC current going through the nail. After connecting the two emitters, everything now ran through the homemade regulator.

  He decided to give it a quick run before his parents got home. He turned on the power and rotated the knob on the front of the amplifier in a clockwise direction from its starting position to about the one-tenth mark. The light of the lamp began to burn very dimly. Max looked at the lead ball with all the wires and two emitters on each side as it sat in the black circle created by the fire. He carefully touched a metal nail to the lead ball.

  Nothing.

  He turned the dial a little more to the right and the lamp shone brighter. He tried again.

  Nothing.

  He turned the dial to almost the halfway mark. As he did, he heard the sound of an automobile and walked over to the entrance of the barn to notice his dad’s truck. He figured he better stop the experiment here. He had to get ready for work anyway. He walked back to the table, but the ball was gone and there was a hole in the table. He then noticed the ball on the ground. The coated wiring had unraveled on one side as the ball had fallen, and on the other side the wire had broken as the ball went through the table.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Max stared in disbelief. How had this happened? Had the fire damaged the wood on the table and weakened it enough to break through? He looked at the hole, but the wood of the table seemed normal below the surface. In fact, it was an old homemade worktable, and the top consisted of three-quarter-inch plywood. It would take a great force to punch a hole in that.

  Max cut the power completely and just left it all like it was. He walked into the house to greet his parents and get ready for work.

  ***

  Max placed several boxes of different items on his dolly to wheel out to the floor. But his mind was elsewhere. What had happened to the lead ball to make it break through the table? As he neared the two swinging metal doors that led to the retail floor of the store, he stopped. The bottom of the doors had three-quarter-inch plywood attached to them to protect the metal from the impact of dollies from employees and vendors. He had always noticed that but never paid any attention to it before. As he stood there motionless, Mr. Mitner walked up behind him.

  “The automatic doors are only at the front of the store,” he joked.

  Max smiled and then asked, “You see that plywood on the doors there?”

  Mr. Mitner looked confused but nodded.

  “How much force would you think it would take to punch a hole in plywood that thick?” Max asked.

  “Is this one of your college problems?” Mr. Mitner asked as he shrugged.

  Max nodded.

  “Well,” Mr. Mitner began, genuinely trying to be of assistance, “it would take more than I could muster. I mean, I don’t know what kind of pressure in pounds per square inch or anything like that, but I’m certain I couldn’t knock a hole in it with a hammer.”

  “Wow. You’re right.” Max began to realize the gravity of what had happened in the barn.

  Mr. Mitner seemed glad that he could offer some insight. Then he added, “And I’m sure your dolly won’t hurt it if you decide to put those items on the shelves where they belong.”

  They both laughed as Max agreed, pushed the doors open, and continued to work.

  The rest of the evening was the same. Max went through the motions but couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened. He considered several possibilities. In trying to manipulate the electrons of the lead, had he instead compromised the molecular structure of the wood underneath? One thing was certain―he had to find out.

  ***

  It was barely daylight as Max walked out to the barn. He had set his alarm clock for an hour earlier than normal so he could run the experiment again, but, hopefully this time, without distraction. It was freezing and he was bundled up pretty good but could still feel the cold penetrating his clothes.

  He took off his gloves to work, which made it colder. He reattached the broken wire and rewound the other side. He set everything up about a foot away from the hole in the burnt area and tried it again.

  As he turned the dial clockwise, the lamp began to brighten. As he neared the midpoint, the point where he had gotten to before, he could see that the ball was starting to sink into the first layer of the plywood. He couldn’t believe it. He turned it just a little more and heard a crack as the plywood started to break underneath the ball. Max turned the dial back to the starting position. He wasn’t sure what was happening, but felt it was significant. Then he had an idea.

  Max looked at his watch to see the time. He still had about thirty minutes before he had to leave for school, so he ran to the house and went inside to the bathroom. He returned to the barn with his mom’s bathroom scales.

  He placed them on the table and set up everything on top of the scales. The manual scales barely registered the weight. As he slightly turned the dial on the amplifier, however, it jumped up to the twenty-two-pound mark.

  Oh my gosh, Max thought. One of his theories was correct. The experiment had made the ball heavier. As he slowly turned the dial, the weight increased exponentially. By the quarter-way mark on the dial, the scales were pegged out at two-hundred-fifty. Max decided to take it a little further, but as he did, he noticed the ball was beginning to dent the top of the scales and backed off.

  But now he knew. He didn’t understand why, but at least he knew what was happening. Instead of making the electrons spin and hence making the lead ball magnetic, it was somehow causing the molecules of the lead to get heavier. Or maybe it did have to do with a magnetic solution. Maybe the experiment was causing the lead ball to react to the earth’s gravitational pull in a magnified manner, hence the effect being similar to gaining weight.

  As he stood there in the freezing air pondering the possibilities, he knew now that making the ball magnetic was no longer important. That meant, of course, that his dream of succeeding in one of Professor Stoner’s Near Impossible Assignments, a dream that began on his first visit to Cedarbluff’s campus, now took a backseat to the accidental results of the experiment. He wasn’t sure of the ramifications of what was happening, or even clear on what good could come from such a discovery, but he knew he needed to pursue it to see where it would go. And he couldn’t help but wonder how increasing the power using the amplifier would affect the weight of the ball, but he was dying to find out. He also knew he would have to figure out another way to set up the experiment since the plywood tabletop clearly was no match for his super-weighted ball.

  But that would have to wait.