Nexus - 0220 - New Times Magazine-pages

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American system could handle with consummate ease. Under for a dump gate to be opened at the side of the rig through which normal circumstances it was one of the best systems in the world, __ the old fluid would be bled to waste. The four mighty V12 diesels and easily the most expensive. started bellowing as power was fed to the fluid pumps and The luminous hands on Otto's black-faced chronometer showed —_ changeover to the high performance fluid began. Thirty minutes 11 pm as his limousine swept onto the rig site, throwing a cloud of _ later, the new fluid completed its trip down through the drill pipe dust up in the air as the driver screeched to an abrupt halt along- and back up to surface—then everything started to go wrong. side the limousine of Otto's Russian opposite number, Mr Osimin. _ Instead of stabilising at the right thickness designed to hold the As Otto got out and walked across to his small caravan to get heavy mineral particles in perfect suspension, the high perfor- changed, he could feel the ground vibrating slightly to the beat of mance fluid inexplicably started thinning. the V12 rig diesels, growling softly as they ticked over slowly at Osimin was as worried as Otto. The routine changeover had the base of the drilling derrick. The big rig was capable of gener- tuned into an instant major emergency. Without support from the ating enough power to light a small town. fluid for the heavy weighting mineral particles, only the pressure Entering the caravan, Otto was surprised to find his American _ of the pumps continually moving the fluid round the system was relief Gerald Smith immaculately dressed and holding a bag in his _ effectively suspending them. If for any reason the pumps failed, hand. Smith was not due to leave Calcutta until the next noming, the mineral particles would slowly sink to the bottom of the hole, a fact Otto reminded him of with considerable force. Gerald well below a known high-pressure gas zone at 11,000 feet, which seemed quite unconcerned at the pointed rebuke and said he had a _—_ would rapidly unload up the well bore with awesome speed. plane to catch. Assuring Otto the high-performance fluid system A live high-pressure gas blowout was being prevented only by had been mixed to perfection and was ready for immediate __ the two huge fluid pumps, each the size of a small truck, and they changeover, Gerald SCC EEE Could not keep working forever. waiting limousine and departed Rapidly clearing all personnel immediately for Calcutta's Dum from the rig danger zone, Otto Dum airport. and Osimin retained only a small Unfortunately Gerald Smith had core of experienced drillers to ‘forgotten’ to hand the office key to Both ELF generators were handle the emergency. Shouting Ouo, who was now faced with the at the top of his voice, Otto rapid- complex task of changing systems carefully concealed, and had ly outlined the only possible way at the dead of night without being 1 of saving the rig and local village able to check the fluid himself, as been calibrated so that each from destruction until they broke the test equipment was locked in yould deliver an equal-strength into the office to find out what the office. It was annoying of had been mixed into the fluid course, but no more than that. Otto electromagnetic field to each system by ‘mistake’. The others had not anticipated his American hemisphere of Otto's brain as he looked suitably grim. But what relief might deliberately sabotage other course of action could they the American drilling fluid system. 1 i take? Otto Jewell did indeed ay in bed or sat watching TV. Changing from one sort of fluid ‘have much to do’ and would be system to another is basically sim- unlikely to return to the Oberoi ple. When a rig is drilling, the Grand Hotel for at least a week, fluid is pumped down the inside of if ever... the hollow drill pipe to the bottom Julia Long sat on the couch in of the well, where it squirts out through three jet nozzles in the room 352 at the hotel and relaxed with a glass of iced lime juice drill bit before coming back to surface in the space between the while looking carefully for tell-tale signs of her Special outside of the drill pipe and the walls of the hole. Once back at Operations ‘modifications’. There were none at all. Both ELF surface it flows through conditioning tanks then back down the generators were carefully concealed, and had been calibrated so inside of the drill pipe again. Just like a car's cooling system, the _ that each would deliver an equal-strength electromagnetic field to drilling fluid system works in closed circuit. And just as acar each hemisphere of Otto's brain as he lay in bed or sat watching owner periodically flushes out his cooling system to replace it TV. The resulting effect was similar to conventional stereo, with fresh fluid, Otto was about to do the same thing to the 60,000 _—‘ though these powerful ELF generators emitted no audible sound. gallons of drilling fluid, with one important difference: the pres- |The ELF generators sent out fields only in the range of human sure at the bottom of the Indian well was more than seven thou- _ brain activity, at frequencies between 0.1 and 25 cycles per sec- sand pounds to the square inch. It was a delicate and very danger- ond. By varying the output of the generators, Julia would be able ous operation requiring a high level of expertise. to introduce a ‘binaural split’ where the electromagnetic fields Both old and new fluid systems were already weighted with sus- from each ELF stereo channel sent fractionally different signals to pended heavy mineral particles to overbalance the underground _ each hemisphere, entraining Otto's brain with an electromagnetic pressure. One tiny mistake with fluid weights and the pressure _ beat frequency and rendering him powerless to resist conditioning. would force its way up through the weighted fluid, instantly hurl- Julia would only use extra low frequency 2.5 to 1.2 cycle Delta ing more than a quarter-million pounds of steel drill pipes out of _ fields on Ouo initially, as the programme called for a shallow hyp- the well with the velocity of a Saturn rocket leaving its pad. Ithad _notic trance to be supplemented by drugs. Once he was under happened all too often before, causing the deaths of many crew _ basic control the team would be able to enter the room at any time, members unable to avoid the flying steel or escape the explosive without Otto's knowledge, to physically condition him, after gas cloud. which the Delta field pattem would continue to be used every Otto swiftly ordered the two huge fluid pumps lined-up on the __ night to stabilise his sleeping pattem. A little later Alpha fields spare tanks holding the new American fluid system, then arranged —_ would be introduced, forcing Otto into a relaxed, alert state while NEXUS 43 JUNE - JULY 1994