Cédric

William Grovère

Description

Cédric J. Rothschild was introduced in two previous novels, The Timecharger and La Charlière through second-hand accounts after Cédric's death. This book, Cédric, goes back in time to tell the life story of this remarkable scientist, discoverer, and inventor from the beginning. His hypothesis that the speed of light slows down in the vicinity of massive objects led to the discovery of microfusion, unlocking the energy source of neutron stars and ending once and for all the tyranny of fossil fuels. The discovery of microfusion and the subsequent discovery of antigravity took place in the small town of Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne in the French Alps. Cédric is a prequel, completing the trilogy of the William Grovére collection of novels. At a time when more wars and rumors of war over fossil fuels and petroleum blackmail stir once again in the world, Cédric offers a more optimistic view of what the future may hold for my grandchildren, who are Cédric’s contemporaries today.

Sujets

• Science Fiction
• Moldeo a la cera perdida
• Anti-gravity
• Discovery
• Invention
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: iUniverse
• Date de parution: 24 juillet 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781663242099
• Langue: English

Extrait

Cédric
 
 
 
 
 
 
A Novel
William Grovère
 
 
 

 
CÉDRIC
A NOVEL
 
Copyright © 2022 William Grovère.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
 
 
 
 
 
iUniverse
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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6632-4208-2 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6632-4209-9 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022912497
 
 
 
iUniverse rev. date: 07/21/2022
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
To my five grandchildren:
Faith, Logan, Jack, Travis and Avery––Cédric’s contemporaries.
Acknowledgements
With grateful appreciation to my neighbor Kim, who provided the idea to go back in time to tell Cédric’s story. Special thanks to Tom, Sandrine, and Bridget for reading chapter by chapter and providing essential feedback. And most of all, I thank my wife, Sylvia, who listened to me read the text out loud, line by line, with crucial editing help. Most of all, I want to thank her for caring for me during a health crisis that might otherwise have derailed the publication of the book.
 
Special thanks to Gigipaws for the cover art painting of Cédric’s steam engine.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Preface
 
Chapter 1       Broken
Chapter 2       Denial
Chapter 3       Closure
Chapter 4       Val d’Isère
Chapter 5       The Harley
Chapter 6       The Steam Engine
Chapter 7       The Abbey
Chapter 8       The Big House
Chapter 9       Montmélian
Chapter 10     Villa Chandellepont
Chapter 11     Slow Light and Cream Cheese
Chapter 12     The Crossing
Chapter 13     Palisade
Chapter 14     Peach-Eze
Chapter 15     Going Home
Chapter 16     Houseguests
Chapter 17     Julia
Chapter 18     Sodium
Chapter 19     NaPiles
Chapter 20     Neutrons
Chapter 21     Sweet Sixteen
Chapter 22     Clusters
Chapter 23     The Manuscript
Chapter 24     Microfusion
Chapter 25     Cédric’s Pea
Chapter 26     The Mathematician
Chapter 27     Gravity
Chapter 28     The Trail Ride
Chapter 29     Independence
Chapter 30     Requiem
Chapter 31     Epilogue
Preface
Cédric is a biography. Not an ordinary biography about some historical figure but a biography about a future fictional character who could be living among us as a boy today. Cédric was an unusually gifted innovator with an intellect that could not be contained within the bounds of conventional thinking. Like Galileo Galilei, he spent his life at odds with the guardians of orthodoxy and was perpetually out of phase with the world. Cédric, the scientist, was introduced to the reader in two previous William Grovère novels, The Timecharger and Le Charlière , which took place in the 2070s and 2080s after Cédric’s untimely death in 2062. He had written a scientific treatise as a college undergraduate, Dark Matter and the Time-Dependent Speed of Light , on July 28, 2029, that caused a stir and landed him in a lot of hot water. The complete text appears in chapter 3 of The Timecharger . (The abstract appears in chapter 23 of Cédric .) It contains theories that challenge the commonly held belief that the speed of light is a universal constant. Cédric’s hypothesis that the speed of light has been increasing since the birth of our galaxy leads to a host of remarkable discoveries and inventions. Variable light speed theories are not new, but in our current era, just as with geocentrism in Galileo’s time, the orthodoxy of fixed light speed is difficult to challenge in the domain of peer-reviewed scientific nonfiction. In the realm of science fiction, however, Cédric’s theories impacted the course of history fifty years hence in much the same way that quantum theory impacted it one hundred years ago. The consequence of his theory brought about the discovery of microfusion and the timecharging effect. A subsequent treatise, Gravitron Theory and the Dynamics of Gravitational Fields Induced by Supermassive Objects in Motion , originally written in 2062, and finally released to the public posthumously in 2085, gave rise to the invention of antigravity. These ideas, whether scientifically credible or not, provide the stage on which the action in William Grovère novels take place. This third novel in the trilogy, Cédric, goes back in time to tell the story of this remarkable scientist.
Chapter 1
Broken
Cédric Rothschild stood at the railing of the fourth-floor terrasse to take in the view as he waited for his father. The terrasse had a commanding view of the Seine in both directions at the point where it divided to go around the private island of this exclusive western suburb of Paris. Childhood recollections flooded over him, and he could smell the faint pungent odor of the pony stables nearby where he had learned to ride. The fond memories of being chased around the apartment by Annie, his American nanny, cheered him up. His father’s penthouse apartment radiated conspicuous elegance. The red roses around the perimeter were magnificent, and a gardener was busy trimming every dead and dying leaf to bring each plant to perfection. He had not been home for two years. The apprehension of the encounter seized him suddenly. Being summoned by his father could only mean bad things.
“Cédric!” came the booming voice from behind him. The harsh tone was all too familiar. Cédric turned to acknowledge his father’s arrival without saying a word.
“I got another call from the chancellor,” his father said.
Cédric still said nothing. He knew the nature of his summons. This wasn’t the first time his father had ordered him back to Paris to account for his behavior at the university.
“Your mother and I are really disappointed,” his father said.
“Geraldine is not my mother,” Cédric shot back.
“She will be as soon as the divorce is settled,” his father said, motioning for him to be seated on the lounge chairs, where a pitcher of ice water and glasses awaited them.
“So, you are going to divorce my mother so you can marry your mistress?” responded Cédric.
“Where in the world did you learn to talk to me like that?” his father said in disgust. “You must stop carrying on your unauthorized research. You have upset the department head again.” Cédric’s father leaned forward to pour himself a glass of water as he tried to compose himself, continuing, “They are quite confident that they have identified the dark matter particle using the new collider, and your insistence that dark matter is a fantasy is making Dr. Hendriksen and the entire High-Energy Physics Department very unhappy.”
“He’s just a glory-seeking airhead,” responded Cédric.
“That’s exactly what I mean, Cédric. You disrespect everyone you don’t agree with. You can’t go through life like that.”
“Why does he care?” responded Cédric. “He’s not paying for my research. I am paying for it entirely out of my own pocket.”
Cédric’s father cleared his throat. “Yes, about that. I have decided to cut your allowance to cover just tuition and living expenses.”
“What?” shot back Cédric. “You can’t do that! My experiment is almost finished. It will demonstrate compellingly that the speed of light is not constant.”
Cédric’s father leaned back in the chair and crossed his legs in a vain attempt to lighten the mood. Then, after an awkward silence, he said, “Dr. Hendriksen is looking for a bright young scientist to join his research team. He has asked specifically for you.”
Cédric said sarcastically, “How many millions of euros did you pledge to the university this time to pull that off?”
His father poured him a glass of water and handed it to him. “No thanks,” he said, standing to leave.
“Sit down, Cédric,” his father commanded. “We are not finished.”
Cédric sat back down. “You can’t cut me off now,” he protested. “I am less than six weeks from finishing the experiment and defending my thesis.”
His father said, “The university is not going to grant you a PhD for your rogue work. They say it’s total foolishness.”
Cédric insisted, “They will think differently once I demonstrate that the speed of light slows down in the vicinity of a massive object.”
His father looked down in dismay. “You know, Cédric. They only let you into the university because of my endowment to the library. Your grades were not good enough. I had to pull strings.”
This last jap cut deeply. His father always got in the final word by putting people down. Cédric’s entire life had been spent trying to live up to his father’s expectations, but no matter what he did, it was never enough. Cédric stood up and walked away. The tears only began to flow when he passed the doorman and exited the street entrance.
Cédric passed through every stage of emotion on his return trip to England—from anguish to anger to rage—before finally settling into sadn