Cold Fusion

"Harry, where are you? The completion ceremony is about to begin. And Doctor Otto—do you know where he is? The two of you have been out of contact for four days. Call me back as soon as you get this."

The laboratory's electromagnetic shielding was shut down, and Harry's phone finally received a signal.

However, neither of the two men in the lab paid any attention to it.

Dark circles hung beneath Doctor Otto's eyes, and his eyelids kept drooping, yet he continued to stare excitedly at the reactor before him. His four mechanical arms surrounded it as though cradling a precious treasure.

Harry was much the same, but with the physique of a Spartan warrior, his body was incredibly resilient. Even if he stayed awake for another month or two, he would not become listless.

"Unbelievable!" Doctor Otto said weakly. "For so long, that experiment was considered a fraud..."

"But now, it seems that may not have been the case."

Harry was somewhat moved as well.

They were talking about an experiment conducted at the University of Utah in 1989. Pons and Fleischmann claimed that they had achieved a nuclear fusion reaction at room temperature and normal pressure by electrolyzing heavy water with palladium as the cathode in a Small Device in their laboratory—in other words, they had discovered Cold Fusion technology.

That experiment became known as the Fleischmann-Pons experiment.

Naturally, scientists were fascinated by it. However, aside from those two, no one was able to successfully replicate their experiment. In the end, the U.S. Department of Energy issued a report formally rejecting the scientific discovery.

Cold Fusion became a heavily questioned technology, and many believed it did not exist at all.

In Harry's original world, there had been no reversal in this matter. Even here, no one had cleared their names to this day.

But Harry clearly remembered that the first version of Tony Stark's Arc Reactor had used palladium!

If Tony Stark could cobble that thing together in a cave, Harry refused to believe that he and Doctor Otto could not make it.

The facts proved that, in this world, those two predecessors might really have completed a Cold Fusion experiment. However, their preparations had been inadequate, they had failed to consult their colleagues, and various funding and equipment issues had ultimately turned the experiment into an irreproducible and unprovable "academic fraud."

Through the tireless efforts of Otto and Harry, they gathered hundreds of experimental reports from that time and compared them against Pons and Fleischmann's public report, finding a genuinely feasible method of operation!

"To be honest, this feels like a dream. So many people failed, yet we succeeded." Otto still felt as though he were floating.

"Yeah. Honestly, I'm starting to believe in metaphysics a little." Harry shrugged.

Maybe it was because Tony had assembled a Cold Fusion reactor by hand and somehow broken the world's restraints? It sounded pretty fantastical.

Still, without Doctor Otto's help, Harry probably would have had little chance of obtaining this technology.

Now that they had found the method for Cold Fusion, miniaturizing the reactor was no longer an unattainable goal.

"Technological innovation truly is fascinating." Doctor Otto let out a soft sigh after speaking.

"What is it, Doctor? You look a little disappointed."

"A little. I haven't even had the chance to enjoy the benefits brought by Controllable Nuclear Fusion, and now this technology is about to undergo another revolution. It feels like... my own child is being rendered obsolete."

Harry understood Doctor Otto's feelings and patted him on the shoulder.

"This new technology is your child too. You should be happier. Besides, I still haven't decided how to handle this technology, and it's far too polluting."

Harry was telling the truth. In his view, this technology held greater military value than civilian value.

The radiation produced by palladium decay was extremely intense, and the rhodium produced after the decay was highly toxic.

Whether to put it up for sale was also something Harry needed to consider carefully.

Selling it would certainly be good, but it was difficult to predict what would happen if this technology were made public now.

Perhaps he should wait until Norman truly became US President. At the very least, he should wait until Norman became a senator.

On the other hand, he could also consider taking a look at the legacy Howard Stark had left for his son.

He remembered that Howard's model was kept in the CEO's office at Stark Group. Now that he had become a shareholder and director of Stark Industries, he would have plenty of opportunities to study that model.

And Harry remembered perfectly well how Stark had deciphered that model—remove the roads, remove the landscaped gardens, remove a pile of miscellaneous things, and use the roadside pavilion as the framework. That was the atomic structure of the New Element.

The only issue was that the Particle Accelerator needed to create the New Element would require repeated experiments to find the correct parameters.

"The Technological Singularity is coming soon. We need to adjust our mindsets. I really like what you said—we still need to keep working hard. The future is coming, Doctor."

The two exchanged smiles. Having invented a new technology, they were both in high spirits.

"Harry, the completion ceremony is about to begin! Can you even hear my message? Your father and I are both very worried about you!"

Heli's voice finally caught the two men's attention, and they suddenly realized that today seemed to be the completion ceremony for the Fusion Power Station!

"Damn... Doctor, we need to hurry!" Harry checked the time and discovered that it truly was late. Less than an hour remained before the ceremony began!

"Wait, I need to take off my mechanical arms..."

"Forget them, Doctor!"

"How is it, Heli? Have you reached him?" Norman had just finished greeting the Secretary of Energy when he asked about Harry.

"No, he still isn't answering... Wait, he's calling!" Heli answered the phone. "Harry, where are you? The ceremony is about to begin!"

"Uh... We're driving over. It'll probably take another forty minutes... no, twenty minutes..."

"Harry, can you drive slower?! We've been awake for four whole nights! Are you sure you can drive that fast?"

The line was noisy, but Heli could still hear Doctor Otto's heart-wrenching scream.

What was going on? Street racing first thing in the morning?

"Harry, what exactly are you doing? I can hear Doctor Otto screaming..."

"Ah, don't mind him. We've been pretty tired these past few days and needed to blow off some steam." What Harry said was hardly convincing, especially with the noise on the other end of the line nearly piercing Miss Heli's eardrums. "If you're interested, I can let you experience it in a few days."

"Fine. Be careful. I can handle things here."

The venue had long since been packed with reporters from every outlet, while influential figures from all sides had already taken their seats. Norman was engaging them in cordial conversation.

Quite a few of these people would become valuable political assets for Norman.

"The facility safety inspection is complete, Miss Heli." The speaker was Max Dillon. Now, he was shining in his own position instead of making New York shine like in the original story.

"Have the engineers take their positions."

Once the engineers had been arranged, Heli stepped onto the stage, and the venue fell silent.

"Thank you all for attending today's completion ceremony."

"Today, you will witness the birth of an entirely new form of energy—safe, sustainable energy that will provide cheap electricity for everyone..."

Just as Heli planned to continue her speech and buy Harry some time, murmurs began to rise from the crowd.

"Why aren't Harry Osborn and Doctor Otto here?" "What happened?"

Heli could only force herself to continue introducing the benefits that New Energy would bring.

Bang! Bang!

A dull noise suddenly came from outside the park. It sounded like some kind of disturbance had broken out.

Four enormous arms clawed at the walls, as though some gigantic Monster were about to appear before everyone...

Everyone held their breath.

Bang!

"My apologies, everyone. Doctor Otto and I were occupied with a new experiment, but fortunately, we made it here."

Yet the one controlling the Mechanical Arms was not some Monster, but the stars of this completion ceremony—Harry and Doctor Otto!

"Sorry, but there was a sea of people outside, so we had no choice but to make our entrance this way."