by John O'Brien
No one within the sub saw the first green streaks of light appear in the heavens above as the Washington angled toward the depths below.
* * * * * *
Worldwide
The effects were felt by most all of humankind. Cruise ships became drifting refuges without power, their crews helpless. Testing the lifeboats, they found them without power as well. Those closer to shore, coming close to foundering, lowered life rafts into the waters. They weren’t able to take all of the passengers due to an insufficient number of lifeboats. The regulations stipulated that a cruise ship only had to have enough emergency vessels to accommodate sixty percent of the passengers. Where they expected the other forty percent to go was something that was never openly discussed.
Plumes of dark smoke dotted the horizon in every direction as aircraft fell out of the sky and crashed. Small aircraft fared much better than those requiring hydraulics to move the control surfaces. Although the hydraulics themselves weren’t affected, they received electrical impulses to actuate. At the time of the solar storm’s arrival, over the US alone, there were over 17,000 aircraft in the air. Of those 17,000-plus, over 5,000 were commercial airliners. Every one of them came down and impacted the earth in one fashion or another. Across the world, in that moment of the storm’s arrival, there were nearly 700,000 commercial passengers in the air. Only 236 survived, most of them rendered unconscious. In every corner of the earth, the sky was cleared.
Vehicles stopped where they were, creating eternal traffic jams in the busy cities located on the day side of the earth. Subway trains halted in darkened tunnels, their passengers waiting helplessly in the pitch black for help to arrive. Fear was prevalent within the cars as the blackness descended, which was followed by a darkness of another kind.
Docking ferry ships collided into piers with the wrenching sounds of twisting metal and splintering wood. Military operations across the globe ceased for the most part, as did most services. In all, the world of motion and light came to a skidding halt.
* * * * * *
CERN (European Center for Nuclear Research): Switzerland
Werner stood in the moderately sized subterranean control room. In front of him, lining nearly one entire wall, were the computers controlling and monitoring the miles of magnets and other systems comprising the Large Hadron Collider—the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator. Surrounding him on the other three sides were control panels and measurement instruments designed to capture, or attempt to capture, nature’s smallest particles.
Of course, if that does ever happen, then we’ll find that there has to be something smaller and begin chasing that, he thought, looking over his friend’s shoulder.
He watched as Karl’s fingers danced on the keyboard, launching two protons into their respective high-energy particle beams. Driven by magnets cooled to an astonishing -271.3 degrees Celsius—colder than the reaches of space—the two protons, each within their own tube and traveling in opposite directions, were brought up to velocities nearly equaling the speed of light.
“Do you have to do that?” Karl asked without looking up, referring to Werner peering over his shoulder.
Werner glanced once more at the large monitor in front of Karl, then, with a shrug, he placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder momentarily and retired to the back of the room. There wasn’t much he could do at this point except observe. After all, most of the findings would come later as they pored through the reams of data. It wasn’t like they could watch the collision, point immediately to the screen, see the elusive particles, and have the room erupt in joyous shouts. Finding a chair, he sat down and allowed his mind to wander.
They had received notice of the impending solar storm and the possible ramifications. The question of continuing arose; however, the resources they needed were in high demand and already scheduled in the coming weeks. Therefore, it was agreed upon to continue, as they didn’t know when they’d be able to reschedule. The chances that the approaching storm would interfere were slim to none, as their equipment and emergency power supply were buried underground. As with most solar storms that hit the earth, they might not even know it had even occurred except for displays of lights in the northern latitudes.
Watching the technicians and other scientists scattered throughout the room, some carrying on murmured conversations or exchanging a quiet word or two, Werner wasn’t sure whether he wanted the test results to be positive or not…wasn’t sure if he wanted his comrade to find the elusive particle that was only thought to exist in complex mathematical formulas. If it failed, like all of the previous ones, then it further validated Werner’s own theories about the relationship between the quantum world and the nature of being observed. Of course, his theories were impossible to test—there was no way to prove them correct or incorrect. How do you test something that, by its very nature, changes its properties and behavior when being observed? These were ideas he wrestled with each and every day.
There was another part of him that wanted the test to succeed; that would shake up the world of quantum physics and open up entirely new possibilities. With light photons altering particle behavior, maybe there were other methods to change the established dialogue between the observer and the particles. Perhaps even energies associated with thoughts could alter behavior and they would be able to record them in their prime state. That thought excited him as much as it worried him. Even though he was a scientist and enjoyed delving into nature’s secrets, there was a small, nagging sense rattling around in the back of his head that the quantum world wasn’t a place to go messing around. Science was one thing—learning about the nature of reality—but then there were those who would go further and try to utilize that knowledge in unsavory ways. The thought of being able to manipulate the quantum world, to manipulate the realm of possibility, and that capability being in the hands of corporations or governments, scared him to no end.
Time passed as the super-cooled protons were slowly brought up to speed. The thought of the two minuscule objects hurtling through the miles-long tubes at such impressive speeds never ceased to amaze him.
“We’re up to speed,” one of the console technicians called out.
“Are the monitors recording?” Karl asked, finally looking up from his own monitor.
“I just started them up and double-checked…they’re recording,” a voice on the other side of the room replied.
In his mind, Werner imagined the particles zipping through the tubes responding to the act of being observed…switching between potentials and establishing a dialogue of sorts with the observers to become a part of the material world.
“Okay, let’s do this. Start sequencing the magnets to bring the particles into a collision path. Everyone get ready,” Karl stated, his voice filled with both tension and eagerness. “Cross your fingers. Here we go.”
Werner sat up in his chair, his former reverie forgotten and his heart responding to his own excitement.
“Tubes opened,” a voice rang out.
They waited for the two particles to collide as they raced toward each other. Then, everything went dark.
* * * * * *
The room, with its dimmed lights and bright monitors, complete with both flashing and steady lights, was coated in an inky blackness. Startled and a little confused, Werner felt like he had been thrown into a deep pit devoid of any sensation. Sure, he felt his body and could hear the breaths of those sharing the room, but everything took on the nature of being far off. Although a power outage had never occurred before, other than while testing the systems, he was surprised by the prolonged period of darkness. The lights shouldn’t have flickered, let alone gone out.
Some of the shock wore off and he thought of the equipment. A power malfunction had occurred some time ago with the magnetic coils, causing the facility to be shut down for just over a year while the systems were repaired. He couldn’t imagine what might have occurred and how long they’d be shut down now. This could set their research ba
ck by two years.
“Goddammit all to hell! You have to be kidding me?! Seriously?!” he heard Karl’s voice ring out in the darkness. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!”
That wasn’t the end of his friend’s rant. His expletives echoed throughout the room, transitioning back and forth in multiple languages. Werner doubted his friend even knew he was transitioning between three languages. He felt for Karl. This was to be the culmination of a year of research, study, and coordination. Now, something as simple as a power outage had set it back for who knew how long.
“And someone find a flashlight, dammit!” Karl stated, coming to the end of his rant.
“I’ve already tried mine,” someone answered. “It isn’t working.”
“Same here,” another voice responded.
“Well fuck it all to hell. This is just fucking shit,” Karl said, starting on another round of expletives.
With the lights failing to come back on, Werner grew more than a touch anxious. He looked to where he thought the entrance was, only to find that the exit lights weren’t functioning. Slivers of light from the emergency lighting should be outlining where the door was, but the blackness was complete. Rather than stumble blindly, he thought it was best to just wait for help to arrive.
Meanwhile, within the tubes themselves, the two protons, traveling at near the speed of light, had been in the process of colliding when the power failed. At that speed, they were on the fine line that separates matter from energy. The edges came into contact with each other, the protons each beginning to splinter into the smaller particles that comprised them. The particles, reacting to being observed, began separating themselves from the mass to become a split-second shower of particles shooting outward. At that moment of collision, at the very instant of behaving as particles under the dialogue of observation, the power failed, and with it, the nature of observation. The dialogue between the particles and being observed ceased.
The quantum-scale objects already split behaved as though they were being observed and conducted themselves as particles; others, formed after the observation ceased, behaved as wave particles. Some transitioned back and forth, chaos reigning. Wave particles, used to bouncing off others of their own kind in a symmetrical fashion, found themselves interacting with observed particles. This caused confusion and both kinds began transitioning back and forth between realms, behaving first as one, and then the other.
Time, a function of the material world, warped as the particles faded in and out of reality. The quantum world interacted directly with the material one and the small mass of particles, interacting with each other in both realms, created a soup of both reality and possibility. In essence, within the once magnetized tubes, confused particles collided, their symmetry interrupted. They folded in and around each other, slowly creating a morass of confused probability.
In the near vacuum within the tube, the particles only interacted with each other. With the mass growing, they came into contact with the inside edges of the tubes, interacting with and bringing other particles into the fray. The normal times following proton collision were measured in milliseconds. With particles transitioning in and out of reality, time itself warped. The mass grew beyond itself and, unable to be contained any longer, erupted outward, sending a devastating wave of potential around the world.
Twenty-seven minutes, sixteen point three seconds after the solar storm first came into contact with the earth, plunging those on its surface into darkness, a third wave, far more destructive to humankind than either of the first two, encircled the globe at the speed of light.
Third Wave
CERN (European Center for Nuclear Research): Switzerland
Werner sat in the darkness. He hadn’t moved since the lights went out and wasn’t able to accurately gauge the passage of time in the black void where he found himself. Without any visual reference, it could have been minutes or days since the monitors in the room went from presenting a myriad of data to becoming only darkened screens. No one came to check on them and those few who left to gather any information about what had happened hadn’t returned. His friend Karl had long ago ceased his ranting, at least it seemed like long ago. However, Werner could feel his friend seething in his chair, exuding anger like a physical force.
Concern about the failed test left Werner’s mind some time ago. At first, even though he felt bad for his friend and all of the work wasted, it was almost humorous that the power went out at that particular moment. Now, a greater worry took its place. After finding that all of the flashlights weren’t functioning, the others tried using the lights from their cell phones only to find that they also weren’t working. It wasn’t just that they weren’t able to get a signal—that was expected underground—it was that they weren’t able to power them up. There wasn’t a single operational phone.
Thoughts began tumbling wildly through his mind. The first concerned the solar storm they were notified of, but that shouldn’t have affected things down to the level it was. An EMP blast triggered directly overhead could account for some of the damage, but again, not down to flashlights not working. His mind trailed off to other ongoing experiments being conducted within the facility that could account for such a release of energy, but Werner couldn’t think of any that could have these results.
Sitting the darkness, him mind began to go wild with hypotheses. He imagined roiling balls of fire, smoke, debris, and radiation blasting up and outward. That was the real reason he hadn’t left his seat: he was scared to death of what he might find should he venture topside. As he continued to sit in the darkness, his gaze kept traveling upward as his mind tried to wrap itself around what might be up there.
He was sure that was what kept everyone else inside as well. They were all highly intelligent and knew such a blast couldn’t create what they were observing, but that didn’t mean their fears hadn’t proceeded along the same lines as his. The emotions in the room transitioned from anger, to confusion, to concern, and then to fear. No one moved, each fearful that any act would bring their thoughts into reality. They were safe at the moment and felt that the very act of observing the truth could change it—no one wanted to rock the boat.
Werner, although he couldn’t see anything, had a sense of something moving—something even darker than the room. A deeper blackness swept in, so dark that it made the inky void he was sitting in seem bright in comparison.
He felt himself being pulled even though he was completely motionless—like his body was still but something deep inside was being torn free. He fought against it, in a brute force match of wills that Werner was losing within himself.
In his mind, he envisioned dark swirls all around him, moving both slowly and with great speed. His mind fought against the intrusions, all the while feeling stretched and pulled. The moment lasted an eternity. Inside the enveloping blackness, he felt an intense arctic cold battling against an inferno of heat. In the end, exhausted, Werner ran out of fight and the icy darkness prevailed. His soul, his connection between the realm of possibility and the material world, was ripped from its place. Although torn, it remained attached to his body, seeking to either return to it or flee to the next realm, but unable to do either. Left behind was a deep-seated hunger, a desire for release, and agony.
* * * * * *
Worldwide
The black wave, completely void of any light, swept through the facility in milliseconds and continued outward. Unimpeded, it didn’t dive as deeply as did the EMP blast, but did penetrate the ocean depths. When the edges touched, after having traveled around the globe, the wave dissipated as if it had never existed.
Across the world, billions were affected. Each person who came into contact with the wave of darkness felt the same stretching sensation and fought the same battle as Werner. Those awake and still staring at the light show were suddenly immersed in a battle for their souls. Others, with alarm clocks set and lying asleep in their beds, were jolted awake and found themselves in the same fight. Many succumbed immediately,
their life suddenly and dramatically pulled from them. They collapsed on the spot, their bodies left to decay along with millions of others. Others were left nearly mindless as their souls were pulled free, for some reason still alive with only their autonomous systems left intact. The remaining millions, the most unfortunate ones, were left in similar conditions as Werner, their souls attached, but ravaged—longing for release.
Those left alive with their souls torn completely from them wandered aimlessly through the streets, through fields, through the darkened hallways of buildings. Drawn mostly by muscle memory, they opened doors, touched utensils, or otherwise went through familiar motions. When hunger and thirst came, their bodies screamed for survival, but the calls went unheeded as there weren’t any active receptors to receive the signals.
The damned ones, whose souls ventured in and out of their bodies, wandered with a deeper purpose of seeking release, only pausing to seek nourishment when the need arose. Inside was a deep, abiding hunger that overrode all else. The souls constantly fought for either the wholeness of a return or release, but were unable to achieve either. Inside, there was interminable pain and agony. Somewhere in the immensity of that pain came the knowledge that only by ripping another pure soul, one still completely attached, from its body would they be released from the consuming rage and hunger. If they could pull out an intact soul, only then would they be set free from pain.
