2015, Texas

Edward Chan and the rest of the touring party sat in the visitors’ reception room, munching on doughnuts and breakfast bagels and slurping orange juice from cartons as their tour guide, Mr Kelly, gave them an introductory presentation.

‘The Texas Advanced Energy Research Institute… or TERI, as we call it for short, was established three years ago in 2012 when President Obama was re-elected. As you youngsters have been taught in school, the world is entering a new, tough and very challenging time. The world’s population is nearly eight billion, carbon emissions have gone off the chart, the world’s traditional energy sources — oil and gas — are rapidly running out. We need to change the way we live or… well, I’m sure you’ve seen enough doom and gloom forecasts on the news.’

He paused. The reception room was silent except for the shuffling of one or two feet and the slurping of orange juice through straws.

‘So, as you no doubt know, the institute was set up as part of the president’s advanced energy research programme. And over the last three years we’ve used the billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money set aside by this initiative to develop the wonderful facility you’re visiting today.

‘We have some of the finest quantum physicists and mathematicians working here, and most of our research work has been to do with a thing called zero-point energy. I’m sure some of you must have heard that term in the news.’