The Strange Physics of the Heidelberg Laboratory (Ultimate Ending Book 6)
Page 6
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"Use the CS Rifle," Jay says. "Shoot it!"
"Are you sure? What's it going to do? What is a Phase Being, anyways?"
"A Phase Being, young Mr. Heller, is a person who has been transplanted in time," Jay says. "The rogue Causality Neutrino we created is causing instability among the atoms in their bodies. So their atoms don't know when they are."
"Hold on a second. Are you saying that thing is a person?"
Jay nods. "Someone working at the Heidelberg Physics Laboratory."
You look down at the rifle in your hands. "What is this going to do to it?"
"The Causality Smoother Rifle will reset the neutrinos in the Phase Being's body," Jay explains. "It will pop them back into the time where they belong."
"So it will make that person reappear right here?"
Jay scratches the back of his head. "Well. Err. Not necessarily. Just go ahead and use the rifle, then I'll explain."
You raise the rifle and aim it at the shimmering thing. It certainly feels like you're aiming a dangerous weapon at a person. You pull the trigger.
A solid white beam, thick and bright, fires from the barrel. It hits the Phase Being instantly. The shimmering shape begins to morph into more solid shapes and colors, like a kaleidoscope. Arms come into view, then legs, covered in a white lab coat. It's a man, you realize. His face materializes and for a brief moment in time you see all of him clearly.
Then there's a pop, and he's gone. A single piece of paper floats to the ground.
"Ahh," Jay says. "You see, the Causality Neutrino didn't just affect everyone here during the test. It affected some people who were working at the Heidelberg Physics Laboratory in the past or future. That man must have been from another time. Thankfully," he adds cheerfully, "you just returned him to where he belongs!"
You pick up the piece of paper that appeared. It's torn, and all you can read is:
...THIRD PART OF THE SEQUENCE IS TO EXTEND FLOOD TUBES...
Jay reads the paper. "Huh. He must have been carrying part of the emergency manual. This got left behind. Hold onto it, we might need it later."
You now have PART THREE of the shutdown sequence! Be sure to write it down.
Leave the Engineering Bay ON PAGE 80
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You remain frozen in place, CS Rifle held across your belly. The Causality Neutrino pulses with energy, almost like a lighthouse, except you've never seen a lighthouse that makes such a strange humming sound.
A crackle of electricity shoots off the blue orb, striking a table. Its atoms turn bright white, spreading apart and disappearing into the air and ground like mist.
Jay doesn't look scared, but you can feel your body trembling. The rifle is heavy in your hands. You bend your knees to put it down.
Another bolt launches from the Causality Neutrino, striking you in the chest.
For a long moment you don't feel anything. There's no pain or discomfort.
Then the room begins to move, shifting side to side. Slowly it moves faster and faster. You feel like you're standing on a train platform while a train goes shooting by. Distantly you hear Jay yelling.
There's a high-pitched whine, then a pop, and then everything is different.
The room is completely empty of tables and equipment. It's just the floor and ceiling, the walls, and the three doors. The door leading back to the Control Room is open, and you hear the sound of pick-axes.
You walk in that direction and peer inside. The walls are exposed rock, and there's no floor. It's as if the Heisenberg Laboratory hasn't finished being built yet. Construction equipment attached to batteries are littered on the ground. The corridor only goes for twenty feet before ending at a rock wall, which two men are working on with pick-axes and drills. They're wearing hard hats and overalls.
One of them stops to wipe sweat from his face. He turns to the other and says, "La construction prend trop de temps!"
"Oui , trop longtemps."
They're speaking in French. You have no idea what they're saying.
One of them suddenly notices you. He practically jumps out of his shoes. "Qui es-tu? Que faites-vous ici?"
"Appelez la police!" cries the other.
You hold your hands up defensively, but they're already pulling out walkie talkies to call for help. You get the distinct feeling you don't belong there.
Hopefully Jay will be able to set things right back in the other timeline. But there's nothing for you to do until then, so you've reached...
THE END
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This is a big test. You don't wait to freak everyone out over a false alarm. Maybe the sensors are malfunctioning.
You pull up the diagnostics program, which has some other methods of determining whether or not the reactor drain is legitimate. The first one is the main relay switch readings. All power to and from the reactor goes through the main relay switch, and it has its own method of measuring how much power is being pulled.
It verifies the same thing: the power spikes up to 85 percent, then down, then up to 89 percent.
You're still not certain, and want to exhaust every possibility before raising the alarm, so next you open up the reactor coolant levels. When power spikes in the reactor, the three coolant tanks automatically release their contents inside to keep the temperature stable. And they don't rely on the system temperature: they rely on a direct temperature reading inside the reactor.
And sure enough, the dial shows you, they're dumping massive amounts of coolant. Tank one is already almost empty! That proves beyond a reasonable doubt that something is wrong.
The power spikes are now brushing up against 100 percent, the top of the computer screen.
"Initiate large loop feed," Kessler says.
One of the techs repeats, "Large loop feed: initiated." On the screen the large loop blinks green once, confirming that the supercharged proton has entered the bigger track. Through the glass, there's a short flash of light and a low hum as the electromagnets pulse.
Next to your keyboard is a metal box built into the desk. You flip the box open to reveal a small red "abort" button. Pressing that would cause the electromagnets to immediately shut down and cause the supercharged proton to crash into the sides of the large loop. It would only be a minor burst, not enough to be dangerous, but it would damage some of the sensors and require weeks of recalibration.
But if you don't do it, and the reactor goes critical...
You glance over your shoulder. Your boss, Doctor Almer, is only a few feet away.
To avoid taking chances, immediately abort the test ON PAGE 63
If you'd rather call your boss over and let him decide, FLIP TO PAGE 77
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You run to the door marked "BACKUP REACTOR" and follow Jay inside. A quick glance over your shoulder shows the Phase Being doesn't follow.
You're in another corridor, completely dark except for the red emergency lights in the floor.
"What's the Backup Reactor?" Penny asks.
"We have a smaller particle accelerator on site," Jay explains while leading you down the hall. "We use it to perform test experiments prior to using the large loop accelerator. The test accelerator has its own reactor dedicated to it and it alone."
"Isn't that dangerous?" Penny asks.
"Why would it be dangerous?"
"I don't know. I thought nuclear reactors weren't safe."
"Oh, they're perfectly safe," Jay says. "Just like a car is perfectly safe. Until you get into an accident on the freeway. This reactor, young Penny, is perfectly safe. Even now. But the bigger reactor..."
Your throat makes a gulp sound. "Actually, during the Causality test..."
Jay glances over his shoulder. "We'll talk about that in the Control Room."
You reach a metal door and Jay opens it with a pressurized hiss. You step into a tall room with a glass cylinder in the center, huge, like a thirty-foot-tall soda can. It glows faintly blue, and you realize it'
s the only illumination in the room besides the single computer terminal next to the door.
"This is the coolant tower," Jay explains. "If the reactor ever gets too hot, this is used to flood the reactor with chemicals to halt the chain reaction of enriched uranium. There's a second cooling tower on the other end."
"The primary reactor for the large loop has three coolant towers," you chime in, trying to impress Penny.
You continue around the coolant and to the door on the far end of the room. Then another corridor, exactly like the previous one. The lab is awfully monotonous.
The reactor room, however, isn't. It's another round room, with a circular hole in the floor in the center, about two yards across. Jay leads you up to the edge and you peer inside. There's a metal floor on the bottom of the hole, with a series of long rods sticking out of it. A robotic arm holds one, slowly moving it deeper into the core.
"Come on," Jay says. "The Physics Lab is just ahead."
Enter the Physics Lab ON PAGE 150
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You sprint through the hall toward the Decontamination Chamber. The barrier looms above you, a massive blast door made of thick steel, designed to withstand a meltdown. The control panel on its surface glows with electricity. You punch in a few keys and, with a loud groan, it opens.
Once inside, you close it behind you. As you do, there's a rumble in the floor, vibrating up your legs. Penny looks at you. "What was that?"
"I don't know, but I hope Jay knows what he's doing."
Inside the Decontamination Chamber you're blasted with powerful jets of hot air from all sides. The normally inconvenient process is pure joy, now. The system confirms you're clean and the door to the lobby opens.
You rush to the elevator door to press the button. There's another rumble in the ground, stronger this time. The elevator car takes forever to descend, but finally it reaches your level, opening with a polite ding.
The ride up is just as long. Although the blast doors below are made to withstand a meltdown, the shockwave might still damage the area. You try not to think about what would happen to your elevator car in that situation.
But nothing happens, and the doors open on the surface. The frigid air of the Alps buffets you in the face as you jump out of the car.
And into an enormous crowd of people.
The men are uniformed, with rifles held across their chests and SWAT style helmets covering their heads. For a moment they're surprised by your appearance.
Then they all point their guns at you.
Uh oh. Hopefully you'll be okay ON PAGE 90
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The numbers don't lie. The particle accelerator is drawing too much power from the reactor, and if you don't abort the test there might be a complete meltdown. Calling over your boss will only delay things.
Your thumb trembles as it hovers over the abort button. You take a deep breath, then a second one, and press down until you hear the button click.
You stare at your screen dumbly. There should have been a loud alarm, and the sound of the superconductors powering down, but nothing has changed. And the power is still at 100 percent on your computer, flashing red.
"Doctor Almer!" you call.
He comes striding over. "Yes, Jeremy?"
You point at your screen.
His jaw drops as he leans forward, squinting. "There must be some kind of mistake. Maybe the--"
"I checked the relay switch," you quickly say. "It confirms it."
"And the coolant tanks?"
You nod.
Almer wipes his cheek nervously. "Okay. Okay. We're fine here. We'll just abort." Before you can tell him, he reaches down and presses the small red button.
Again, nothing happens. "I already tried," you explain.
Almer looks back and forth between the computer and the abort button. Behind him on the main screen the large loop blinks green again, and again, each time repeating a flash from the supermagnet coils behind the glass.
"Doctor Kessler?" Almer says, licking his lips. "Doctor Kessler, I think you need to see this."
See what Kessler says ON PAGE 64
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Doctor Kessler glances in your direction, rolls his eyes, then turns back to the main screen.
"Doctor Kessler..." Almer says, but his voice is trailing off. He's turning white, like he's about to faint.
You need to act fast. "Doctor Kessler!" you yell. "The reactor drain is too high! We're nearing a meltdown!"
That got his attention. He whips his head back in your direction, then comes running over. You point to the screen.
"We tried aborting, but it's not working."
"Of course it's not working," Kessler says. "I've disabled all abort switches for this test. The only way an abort can be initiated is from my desk, with my credentials."
"Doctor, we need to abort now," you say. The reactor has been stuck at 100 percent for a while now. There's no telling how long it can maintain that drain.
Across the room, one of the techs formally announces, "Particle is approaching the speed of light."
Inexplicably, Kessler doesn't appear worried. "This is obviously a malfunctioning terminal, or a malfunctioning intern." He turns his gaze to you. "There is no way I am aborting the test because of this."
"But doctor..."
He turns to walk away, and suddenly there's a loud groaning noise, like a ship's hull being stretched. You feel a vibration in your feet. Everyone looks around, confused.
Everyone except you. "Doctor Kessler," you say, tugging on his arm, "The instruments are telling the truth. We need to abort."
Without warning there's a flickering light across the room, like a multi-camera flash, except blue.
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Kessler turns toward the flickering. "What was that?"
"It was inside the particle accelerator," someone says.
"It was a long streak of light, like a lightning bolt!"
"No, it was more like blue plasma..."
Kessler walks toward the glass, presses his hands against it. Terrified for your life, you get up and run to him. You grab his arm again, and open your mouth to yell...
The most peculiar glow appears on the left side of the glass, farther down the large loop, out of view. There's a flicker, and you swear you saw something zooming by inside the large loop.
Flicker.
There it goes again, rushing by from the left to the right. Again, it swings by, faster this time, a blur of blue across your eyes. And again. And again. Soon it's moving so quickly that it just appears as a single thread of blue string, suspended in the middle of the loop just on the other side of the glass. It's... beautiful, you think to yourself.
Everyone is standing up now, and several scientists are joining you and Kessler at the glass. You, along with them, are completely mesmerized.
The blue string seems to collapse, as if two people are pushing in on it from both sides, causing it to fatten and thicken and bunch up. Within seconds it's shaped like a glowing blue sphere, floating in front of you. The lights within the room flicker, but nobody notices, because they're completely enraptured by the object.
"Particle is at 99.999% of the speed of light," someone announces behind you.
The glowing sphere shimmers like weightless water. It pulsates, and there's still the quick flicker of light, and you get the impression that although the sphere appears to be floating still in front of you, it's actually moving incredibly fast around the five kilometer track. The way a car's wheels sometimes appear to be standing still even though they're spinning very fast.
"This," Kessler announces ceremoniously, "is the Causality Neutrino. We've done it."
The room breaks out in cheers.
Maybe the computer was wrong about the power. Find out ON PAGE 66
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The physicists jump up and down, throw their hands in the air, high-five one another. You've never seen the stuffy group of scientists so ecstatic!
Almer clears his throat and glances at Kes
sler. "You see, Jeremy? I told you the power levels were fine. You shouldn't overreact to a malfunctioning instrument." Kessler doesn't seem to hear him.
You ignore him and point to the glass. "What's happening?"
The glowing blue sphere is no longer stationary, you realize. It seems to be spinning like a top, the edges of its surfaces shimmering strangely. Behind the sphere, in the large loop where the large coils of electromagnets form massive archways inside the tube, something is distinctly wrong. You squint inside and realize what it is: the bundles of multicolored wires, connecting power and computer sensors to all of the equipment, seem to be vibrating.
Almer sees it too. "It looks like the wires are shaking, like they're being pushed around by the wind."
Kessler snorts. "That's impossible. It's a complete vacuum inside the loop."
"I know, but that's what it looks--"
Crack.
A huge lightning bolt crack strikes the glass, cracking it from floor to ceiling. Smaller cracks begin to spiderweb off from it, extending to the left and right.
"What the..." Kessler says.
"The power," you say, remembering yourself. "We have to turn the power off!"
Kessler blinks. "But the Causality Neutrino. We have so much to measure..."
You ignore his argument and sit down at Kessler's terminal a few feet away. He's already logged in, so you pull up the main control program. A computer display of a switchboard appears, with dozens of multicolored buttons. On the left is a red one with the word "ABORT" printed in big letters.