by Unknown
“We have a few of their craft and several alien bodies—not because we were successful in bringing them down, of course. We’ve never been successful at that. We have them only because they crashed. And, we’ve made some good progress reverse-engineering their technology, but we’re decades away from mounting a proper defense. We need a few more decades of taking this threat seriously.”
Wyatt sat down again and put his feet up on the table. “So, what are you planning to do? Fire the sucker up again and chase them away with its massive magnetics?”
Allison rested her elbows on the table and leaned forward. “No, that wouldn’t work.”
She paused to catch her breath. “We’re going to send the Earth back in time. To buy us a few more decades until we have to deal with this again, at which time, we’ll be better prepared.”
Wyatt found himself choking on his own saliva. “What? Are you nuts? Tell me this is all just a dream, please?”
“I wish it were a dream, Wyatt. And, maybe we are nuts. But, we think it’s possible—we won’t know until we try. The alternative is the likely end of civilization.”
Wyatt’s headache was getting worse. He wrung his hands together and cracked his knuckles.
“The way I understand it, this Large Hadron Collider rams particles together at high speeds—protons and neutrons—and tries to create a reaction.”
“Yes, in simple terms, that’s correct. The objective was to have the protons reach almost to the point of the speed of light—which is essential for any concept of time travel. But, on its last run, it managed to go beyond the speed of light, which was an amazing accomplishment. And, through that process, it actually created a wormhole—which is another essential element of time travel. That wormhole has been saved and quarantined—it’s a living, breathing, pulsating tunnel to the past now, waiting to be thrown into action.”
Wyatt growled. “This is crazy! How the fuck do you quarantine a wormhole? I lock prisoners up in a cell when I want to quarantine them. What do you guys do? Lock it up and feed it three times a day?”
Allison smiled. “I understand that you’re getting frustrated here. It’s a lot to handle. All we do is isolate it in a section of the LHC ring and continue to bombard it with protons at a lower speed—this settles it down and saves it for when we want to use it. When we do, we’ll bombard it at higher speeds again and let it grow to the point we need it to. They’ve done exhaustive calculations as to how big it will have to be to get us back to a certain point in time.”
“Why don’t you just send us forward in time, away from Gargantuan?”
“It doesn’t work that way. First of all, our experiments have shown that we can only go back in time, not forward. And, even if we could go forward, that would do us no good at all. We’re only altering space/time—not the position of Earth in the universe. We would only be moving forward to a point when the destruction would have already happened. We would, in effect, be exterminating ourselves. We can’t escape Gargantuan—we can only delay our meeting with it.
“So, we can go back to a point when we can make the technological advances to protect and defend ourselves for when we reach this point in time again. We’ll be better prepared to handle the blow. We have the advantage of going back in time from the future—our knowledge and reverse-engineering will enable Earth to get a head start for when Gargantuan makes its run towards us in the future 2015, rather than the present 2015. We won’t be so naïve or complacent the next time around.”
Wyatt rubbed his chin. The pain had shifted from his head to his jaw, and it was throbbing non-stop. “How will we all survive this time travel? If we all go back, that will at least double the population of Earth in whatever time we go back to.”
Allison stared at him for a few seconds before answering. “We won’t all survive. The way the wormhole works, only structures and people underground will move with Earth to the past. Everything above ground, and everyone above ground, will simply vanish. They will, of course, exist in the past in their younger states. But, those who are lucky enough to be underground at the time the transition takes place will in effect be in an alternate universe. The older versions of them, and their younger versions if they had been born at that time, will exist together on Earth in the new dimension.”
“Christ Almighty! Each question I ask digs this story into an even deeper hole! Okay, one more question and then I think I may have to throw up—what period have these CERN geniuses calculated to take Earth back to?”
Allison reached across the table and rubbed Wyatt’s shoulder.
“Before I answer that, let me just say that you and your parents will be underground with me when it happens. Okay? And to answer your last question—we had to decide on a period when civilization had a leader who was clever enough, and somewhat of a hero at the same time.
“Someone who wanted to change the world for the better, and was able to think outside the box. A person who might listen to us and not discard what we had to say. A leader who had an interest in knowing what was going on, in fact demanded to know what was going on—even though he was thwarted every step of the way.
“We decided we needed that one leader who showed that he was enough of a visionary to put the wheels in motion to land a man on the Moon.”
Allison took a deep breath, and then exhaled slowly. “We’re going back to 1963. To the era of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. To the time before he was assassinated.”
Chapter 44
Aside from being awestruck by the mere expanse of CERN, visitors to this massive complex near Geneva, Switzerland are greeted by a statue.
Not just any old statue. No, this one has a message, and the message can be taken in different ways, depending on who does the interpreting.
Most people might not even give the statue a second glance. Some might point, or stop for a second and gaze at it, but most wouldn’t think to ask what it means, what it represents, or even read the plaque adjacent to the work of art.
It depicts a dancing figure who goes by the name of Lord Shiva, a mythical Hindu deity, donated as a gift from India in 2004. The essence of Shiva is that he is the god of the creation of the universe, dancing it into existence and sustaining it with his rhythm.
But, he is also the god of destruction. Indeed, the plaque, if anyone took the time to read it, talks of how the deity is dancing the universe into extinction—specifically, the vibration of the drum held in his right hand stands for creation, while the fire on his right arm symbolizes destruction.
Shiva does his cosmic welcome dance mounted on a platform between buildings thirty-nine and forty. He no doubt receives plenty of compliments throughout each and every day, as eager science buffs make their way to the Visitor’s Center.
There are well over 500 buildings at CERN, but there is only one area where visitors are permitted. The ‘Globe of Science and Innovation’ is a veritable playground for physics geeks. And it is indeed an amazing journey, one that takes alert guests all the way back to the Big Bang.
CERN is an amazing scientific accomplishment. The acronym stands for ‘European Organization for Nuclear Research.’ It was actually founded in 1954 for various collaborative quantum physics experiments on behalf of its member countries. Tens of thousands of scientists are involved in CERN, and the complex itself has 2,500 permanent employees. The organization has assured the world that it does no military research whatsoever, and so far it hasn’t behaved in any way that would cause doubt of that assurance.
CERN is much more than just the Large Hadron Collider, even though it is most famous for that invention. The LHC put CERN on the map, but it’s unfair that it doesn’t get recognition for the other astounding innovations that came out of the experiments performed there in the last half century. Most people wouldn’t know that superconductors, electrical chips, advanced computers, grids, and networks all came from research at CERN. Not to mention the most world-changing invention of them all—the internet.
Yes, indeed, the in
ternet was invented by CERN.
In 1998, construction started on the Large Hadron Collider. Funded by more than twenty countries, it was completed and put into operation in 2008, heralded as the largest and most powerful particle accelerator in the world. An interactive science lab, allowing physicists to discover what the vast universe is made of and how it works.
And…how it was formed.
The instruments used in the LHC are particle accelerators and detectors. The accelerators boost beams of particles at high energies hovering around the speed of light, causing the particles to collide either with each other or with stationary targets. The detectors then take over and record the results of these collisions.
While the LHC is the world’s largest accelerator, only about 1% of accelerators around the world are used for research facilities at places like CERN. Most people would be surprised to learn that the other 99% of accelerators are used for more common applications, such as radiotherapy, cargo and luggage scanners, steel hardening, asphalt strengthening, food sterilization, and the creation of computer chips. Even for two of the most benign applications imaginable—the sealing of potato chip bags and hardening of paint on pop cans.
Visitors to CERN aren’t able to visit the actual LHC—however, they can witness live collisions of particles on screens in the Globe center. The Large Hadron Collider is, by all accounts, 300 feet below the surface of the ground, but some other estimates put it at least 600 feet down. It’s actually circular in shape and the circumference is a full seventeen miles. The protons circulate the massive ring 11,000 times every single second. The operating temperature of the structure is minus 456 degrees Fahrenheit and the air inside the ring’s beam line is actually thinner than the air in outer space.
For guests who start developing headaches from all of the mind-boggling scientific data, there’s a gift shop, three restaurants, cash machines, and even a travel agency on site.
There’s also a medical clinic…just in case.
The first attempt to build the largest collider in the world was actually undertaken in the United States. Called the ‘Superconducting Super Collider,’ construction began in 1991 in the state of Texas. By 1993, after two billion had already been spent, the project was abandoned when it became clear to Congress that the ultimate costs would exceed twelve billion dollars. When it was cancelled, fourteen miles of tunnels and seventeen shafts had already been dug and all the surface structures had been completed. It sits derelict today, bearing the label of being the most expensive white elephant in the world.
CERN’s scientists believe that the universe began with every speck of its energy rammed into a very small point. This dense point exploded with incredible force, thus creating matter and expelling it outwards to create the billions of galaxies of the vast universe. This is the event that scientists refer to as the Big Bang. Since there was no air—or no anything, really—the Big Bang didn’t have to expand through resistance. It was just nothingness at the beginning of time. So, in effect, the massive explosion created space and stretched it outwards with no resistance whatsoever. The universe expanded at will.
Astronomers are actually able to verify their theories about the origins of the universe and matter, by looking at distant clouds of gas through high-powered telescopes. A surreal fact, which most people have a tough time comprehending, is that these telescope viewings are actually looking way back in time. Because light from these distant clouds takes billions of years to reach telescopes, astronomers are in reality viewing the way those objects looked billions of years ago, and not at all how they look today. It’s not even known if they still exist today.
Without a doubt, CERN’s Large Hadron Collider is one of the most remarkable engineering achievements ever. And, in its short history, CERN has already contributed immensely to the modernization of society. Things society takes for granted, almost to the point of never giving them a second thought, originated at CERN. Innovations and inventions that have changed life for the better…and also, if truth be told, worsened it in equal doses.
CERN is a testament to not only the power of the human brain, but also to man’s quest for knowledge, his restless spirit, and his pursuit of betterment.
Some people may ponder the real message of Shiva. Dancing in stoic silence in front of the world’s largest particle collider, is Shiva telling the world something? Shiva—the deity of creation and destruction. Is he encouraging man to play God? Or, instead, warning what is to come?
Several scientists, including Stephen Hawking, have expressed alarm at how far the pendulum has swung with the LHC, and have questioned, as well, how far it should swing.
The Higgs-Boson particle was discovered by CERN in 2012, but that wasn’t the end. It wasn’t enough that the God Particle—the origin of the Big Bang—was re-created. The LHC was compelled to push the pendulum further. It was merely the beginning.
Before even the remarkable discovery of the God Particle, a famous scientist was quoted as saying: “The men who would play God in search of the ‘God Particle’ are truly going to find more than they bargained for as they open up the gates of hell.”
Chapter 45
Wyatt cranked the starter of the two-year-old Sea Ray and the powerful dual inboard engines roared to life. Their combined output was 250 horsepower, enough to allow the sleek police boat to outrun any other craft on the lake.
The hull was white with red stripes, and along the sides were the words, ‘Nelson Police,’ painted in large black lettering. It had a removable canopy, a proper police siren, and the usual array of warning lights, similar to what a typical police cruiser on land would have.
The marina’s moor master untied the ropes. Wyatt slipped the craft into gear and guided it slowly out onto Kootenay Lake.
Today, the top was down as it was a warm and sunny afternoon. The boat had Captains’ seats up front, and a wrap-around leather lounger for four in the rear. Seating for two more was up in the bow, just past the windshield of the cockpit.
Allison was stretched out in the rear, her shapely legs curled up in the curve of the lounger. She was wearing a bright yellow halter top, green shorts, a white sun hat, and gold-framed Oakley sunglasses.
Wyatt could barely make out her reflection in the windshield, but it wasn’t the perfect image he wanted so he turned his head around and stole a quick ‘live’ glance.
She was indeed the picture of perfection.
She always dressed so casually, which impressed him. It was a mistake to stereotype—being a police officer he knew how erroneous that always was—but he’d never pictured a billionaire being so unassuming.
She looked like a million bucks, but not because the clothes were expensive. They weren’t. She just looked good in anything, and he was pretty sure she knew it, too.
Allison never wore jewellery, which also surprised him. It was almost as if she deliberately went out of her way to not look rich. But, Wyatt also knew that she wasn’t the typical ‘born with a silver spoon’ girl. She’d shunned the family business and educated herself instead in astrophysics. She only came into the business by default when her parents and husband had died in that car accident—the one that turned out not to be an accident.
Over the last couple of days, Wyatt had absorbed more information than he’d probably digested in the last decade.
This beautiful woman was a member of a mysterious group called Majestic 12, a group that she admitted had ordered the deaths of dozens of prominent scientists, astronomers, journalists, and politicians in the last half-century. He’d tried to pin her down on the actual number, but she refused to speculate. Which made Wyatt think that the number was off the charts—saying it was “dozens” was probably an understatement.
And, here he was, a policeman, hearing someone confess to ordering the deaths of countless innocent people. He thought that was weird—not because it was coming out of Allison’s mouth, but weird because he didn’t feel any duty to do anything about it. He wasn’t about to arrest her, a
nd had no inclination at all to blow the whistle. It was as if the deaths themselves were minor in the scheme of things.
And, after all that he’d heard, they were indeed minor and he wasn’t experiencing any pangs of conscience for not doing his duty and slapping the cuffs on her.
The people had been murdered to keep the lid on ominous events—truths that people would have a tough time swallowing.
Wyatt knew that the average person enjoyed fantasizing about UFOs and aliens, especially since no one really and truly believed they were real to begin with. But, if they found out they were real and that a massive planet called Gargantuan was on its way, possibly inhabited by hostile aliens, mayhem would result. No doubt. Too much to handle for the average person.
He also understood Allison’s cynicism. She was too close to it, and now knew that her own parents and husband had been murdered by Majestic 12. All because her father wanted to blow the whistle. Now, she herself was torn between thinking that her father was right and that she should blow it wide open—or, instead, following through on the plan to try to send Earth back in time.
She’d told him this morning that if the CERN solution didn’t work, she might just blow the whistle. Give people a chance to prepare, a last chance to live and love. But, Wyatt knew that was the romantic idealist in her talking, and he wasn’t convinced at all that she thought that was the best thing to do. If push came to shove, he believed she’d keep her mouth shut for the greater good.
The policeman inside of him, the man who’d seen lawless chaos at times during his years with the RCMP, knew that was probably the right thing to do.
He spun the wheel towards the south, and continued cruising along at a snail’s pace.