thinking, sir.” She stood behind them, just barely outside the reach of the blue light.
Larry laughed. “Always the entrepreneur. I guess that’s why you’re in charge.”
“So how big is this one?”
Larry looked over at a monitor. “OK. It’s online.”
He hit a few keys. Words appeared on the screen.
72,000,000 yottabytes available
“That’s seventy-two thousand trillion gigabytes,” Stephen added helpfully.
“So what is this based on?” Thomas asked.
“It’s a real diamond, nine carats, cube-cut.”
Thomas whistled. “Nine carats? What did that cost?”
Larry looked nervous. “Um, three hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”
“Was it worth it?”
“Yes. It’s actually cheaper on a dollars-per-byte basis than any other storage available anywhere.”
“Explain how it works.”
“OK. This diamond is nine carats and can store seventy-two yottabytes of data—that’s eight yottabytes per carat. Yeah, yeah, I had to say it. So each yottabyte is one million exabytes or one billion petabytes or a trillion terabytes or a thousand trillion gigabytes.”
Stephen added, “That’s a little over one and a half million years.”
“That should work for us,” Thomas said. “For now.”
“They’ll look cool in a data center, too. They glow.” Larry stifled a laugh. “And, well, there are lasers too.”
“OK, so what about the synthetic ones?”
“I’m getting to that. I think we can grow them to the size of a refrigerator or maybe even a little bigger.”
Thomas coughed. “Really?”
“Yeah. They’ll technically be diamonds, but you won’t be able to cut them up or make rings or anything like that. If you try to cut them, they’ll shatter. But they’ll work for us.”
“How do you do it?”
“Basically, we create a confined plasma field with a single jet, which has to be just the right thickness. We drop very hot carbon bars into the plasma. They are liquefied as they pass through the plasma, but they aren’t there long enough to vaporize. Hence, it needs to be a specifically shaped, very well controlled plasma jet. The liquid carbon is dropped into a contained space with a seed diamond that is supercooled in the bottom. The carbon hits the seed diamond and crystallizes. We have to fill the mold by continuously pouring the liquid carbon into it with a flow rate that is synchronized to the crystallization.”
“How hard is that to do?”
“If we could find an easier way to liquefy carbon, it would make our lives easier, but that’s what we have.”
“The plasma fields aren’t a problem?”
“I doubt it. I think the problem is going to be getting the timing synchronized. We plan on building a robotic system so that we can perfectly time things. In our first attempts, I expect a low hit rate. If we’re lucky, it’ll work about thirty percent of the time.”
“Oh,” Thomas frowned. “You haven’t actually tried it yet?”
Larry nodded, throwing his hands up. “Well, the theory’s solid.” He chewed the inside of one cheek. “Well, the plasma stuff is really expensive, and I didn’t want to try it until we knew the basic diamond-storage-systems concept would work. Oh, one other thing…You’re going to love this.” Larry smiled. He looked off to one side as if listening for a drum roll and then looked back at Thomas. “We use nanogrids to strain the liquid carbon.”
“A two-for. Wow.” Thomas grinned widely.
Behind him, Claire nodded vigorously, almost salivating, it seemed.
Thomas told them all, “Keep all of this quiet. I don’t want it getting out just yet.”
“You got it.”
Chapter 8
Year 3
Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science.
—Edwin Powell Hubble
Thomas sat back in the chair in the rendering lab. Jenn stood like a sentry behind her simple monitor and keyboard. Ajay and Lisa stood next to her, staring over her shoulder at the LCD’s large blank
Larry laughed. “Always the entrepreneur. I guess that’s why you’re in charge.”
“So how big is this one?”
Larry looked over at a monitor. “OK. It’s online.”
He hit a few keys. Words appeared on the screen.
72,000,000 yottabytes available
“That’s seventy-two thousand trillion gigabytes,” Stephen added helpfully.
“So what is this based on?” Thomas asked.
“It’s a real diamond, nine carats, cube-cut.”
Thomas whistled. “Nine carats? What did that cost?”
Larry looked nervous. “Um, three hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”
“Was it worth it?”
“Yes. It’s actually cheaper on a dollars-per-byte basis than any other storage available anywhere.”
“Explain how it works.”
“OK. This diamond is nine carats and can store seventy-two yottabytes of data—that’s eight yottabytes per carat. Yeah, yeah, I had to say it. So each yottabyte is one million exabytes or one billion petabytes or a trillion terabytes or a thousand trillion gigabytes.”
Stephen added, “That’s a little over one and a half million years.”
“That should work for us,” Thomas said. “For now.”
“They’ll look cool in a data center, too. They glow.” Larry stifled a laugh. “And, well, there are lasers too.”
“OK, so what about the synthetic ones?”
“I’m getting to that. I think we can grow them to the size of a refrigerator or maybe even a little bigger.”
Thomas coughed. “Really?”
“Yeah. They’ll technically be diamonds, but you won’t be able to cut them up or make rings or anything like that. If you try to cut them, they’ll shatter. But they’ll work for us.”
“How do you do it?”
“Basically, we create a confined plasma field with a single jet, which has to be just the right thickness. We drop very hot carbon bars into the plasma. They are liquefied as they pass through the plasma, but they aren’t there long enough to vaporize. Hence, it needs to be a specifically shaped, very well controlled plasma jet. The liquid carbon is dropped into a contained space with a seed diamond that is supercooled in the bottom. The carbon hits the seed diamond and crystallizes. We have to fill the mold by continuously pouring the liquid carbon into it with a flow rate that is synchronized to the crystallization.”
“How hard is that to do?”
“If we could find an easier way to liquefy carbon, it would make our lives easier, but that’s what we have.”
“The plasma fields aren’t a problem?”
“I doubt it. I think the problem is going to be getting the timing synchronized. We plan on building a robotic system so that we can perfectly time things. In our first attempts, I expect a low hit rate. If we’re lucky, it’ll work about thirty percent of the time.”
“Oh,” Thomas frowned. “You haven’t actually tried it yet?”
Larry nodded, throwing his hands up. “Well, the theory’s solid.” He chewed the inside of one cheek. “Well, the plasma stuff is really expensive, and I didn’t want to try it until we knew the basic diamond-storage-systems concept would work. Oh, one other thing…You’re going to love this.” Larry smiled. He looked off to one side as if listening for a drum roll and then looked back at Thomas. “We use nanogrids to strain the liquid carbon.”
“A two-for. Wow.” Thomas grinned widely.
Behind him, Claire nodded vigorously, almost salivating, it seemed.
Thomas told them all, “Keep all of this quiet. I don’t want it getting out just yet.”
“You got it.”
Chapter 8
Year 3
Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science.
—Edwin Powell Hubble
Thomas sat back in the chair in the rendering lab. Jenn stood like a sentry behind her simple monitor and keyboard. Ajay and Lisa stood next to her, staring over her shoulder at the LCD’s large blank
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