You raise your hands. There's not much else for you to do. Behind them on the mountain top sit two helicopters, with men unloading gear from inside. In the distance you see three more approaching your location. Wow, this is a big deal! It's like a military invasion.
"Penny? Penny!" Someone pushes through the ring of SWAT members. It's Penny's dad, Doctor Kessler. He runs forward and embraces her. "Oh, Penny. I thought you were gone!"
She frowns and pushes him away. "How did you get up here? You left me down there!"
"Sweetie, I don't know what happened." He looks confused. "The Causality Neutrino went haywire, there were papers and debris flying in all directions... it felt like I was flying through the air, even though my feet stayed planted on the ground. Then suddenly... I appeared here. Up on the surface. We called the emergency response team, but everything was locked down. Even the elevator, until just a few minutes ago."
"The Causality Neutrino displaced you," you say. "You were stuck in time."
Kessler sees you for the first time. "Stuck in time? Who are you?"
"This is the man who saved me," Penny says. "His name is Jeremy Heller."
"He's just an intern," Kessler says dismissively. "He doesn't know what he's talking about."
"Sure I do. Jay told me..."
You trail off as another rumble shakes the mountain. Up high, with the other mountain peaks in the distance and the valley below, it gives you the feeling of being near a volcano when it erupts. The shaking goes on for several seconds, and knocks a few people to their knees.
49
Finally the shaking stops. "I think that was the big one," Penny says.
"Jay was down there!" you say.
"Who is Jay? What's his last name?" Kessler asks.
"Jay, one of the physicists. I don't know his last name. He stayed down there to try to stop the core from melting down. We were collecting parts of the shutdown sequence..."
Kessler scrunches his face up. "And did you succeed? The sequence is printed in manuals all over the facility!"
"I... we tried, but... there was so much damage and debris everywhere it was tough to find..."
Kessler rolls his eyes. "This is why I don't trust interns. You had a chance to save the facility and you failed." Suddenly he sees Penny's arm. "What on earth happened here?"
Penny look at her arm, which is red and blistered. "A Phase Being brushed my arm. It only took the skin off."
Kessler glares at you. "Not only did you fail to save the facility, but you failed to protect my daughter as well!"
"Dad! He protected me just fine. Without him..."
"Come on Penny, let's go." He takes her by the shoulder and leads her away, despite her protests. She sends one final look over her shoulder at you.
You want to run after Penny, but someone wraps a blanket around your shoulders and starts asking you questions. You answer them numbly as you watch Penny get on the gondola and disappear down the mountain.
You got out in one piece, so overall this was a success. But you regret leaving Jay, and wonder what will happen to the other Phase Beings stuck in time. Could you have saved them if you had found the final piece of the sequence? You also wonder if you'll ever see Penny again. Somehow, letting Penny go feels worse. It's a deep sadness in your chest, like you've lost something more important than you will ever know.
The Heidelberg Physics Laboratory is no more. But you're alive, and that's all that counts. One of the medics gives you a cup of warm broth, and it tastes salty and delicious. You put your face close to the rim to let the steam heat your face, and accept that this is...
THE END
50
"I have a feeling it'll be on the side of the facility with all the technical equipment," you decide. "Let's go search the Physics Lab again."
Penny gives you a nod of confidence.
You lead her south into the Physics Lab. It's just the way you left it: stacks of paper on the floor; a few lab desks with smooth black surfaces; the dry erase board at the front of the room covered in scribbles of notes. There's a cabinet along the other wall. Maybe inside--
Wait.
You turn back to the dry erase board. "Maybe it's written down on the board!" You rush there, excitement and certainly overwhelming your mind. You know it has to be here.
Penny appears by your side as you squint at the formulas and notes. A lot of it is math intermixed with letters as variables. Even though you got your degree in physics, a lot of this still goes over your head.
"I don't understand any of it," Penny says.
You keep searching, looking for any scrap of a sentence. In the upper-right corner someone wrote down what looks like a grocery list: bread, cheese, mayo. In the opposite corner someone seems to have written a reminder for the janitor to please not clean the board at the end of the day. Beyond that, there's nothing.
You sigh. "I thought for sure it would be in here."
Penny puts a reassuring hand on your shoulder. "It's okay. We'll keep looking."
Suddenly there's a voice, coming from everywhere at once. "Fifteen minutes, you guys."
It takes you a second to recognize it. "Jay?" you ask the air.
"Neat, huh? I've got the PA system online. I can talk to you from here, and vice versa. But seriously, you have fifteen minutes to find the last sequence. So stop chatting with me!"
Penny rolls her eyes. "Let's search another room."
To search the Test Simulator room, GO TO PAGE 141
Or, head inside the Backup Reactor ON PAGE 24
51
"If only we had gotten the CS Rifle..." Jay says.
You look around, searching for some other option. The path behind you is almost completely blocked. For a brief moment you consider trying to climb up the debris, but there's no way that would work.
Not sure what else to do, you grab a piece of metal from the pile. It's about the size of a baseball. You turn back to the Phase Being, which is still standing square in your path. It hasn't moved at all.
You toss the metal underhand.
The metal arcs through the air toward the Phase Being. It's heading straight for its head, but before it gets there the Phase Being reaches out its arm-like appendage to catch it.
There's a flash of light the moment it touches the metal. For a split second tiny beams of light shoot in all directions like a disco ball. There's a strange ripping sound, like a plastic bottle being crumpled. Then the metal is completely gone.
The Phase Being lowers its arm.
You grab another piece of debris, and this time you toss it to the right of the Phase Being. The metal clatters across the floor. The Phase Being turns toward it.
"Now!"
While it's turned sideways, you dart around the other side. You slide past and are in the open area on the other side. Jay comes to a stop behind you. The Phase Being turns to face the two of you, looking strangely sad.
"Phase Beings," Jay says, "are humans that have been transplanted in time. The rogue Causality Neutrino we created is causing instability among the atoms in their bodies. So their atoms don't know when they are supposed to be."
"That's terrible! Is there anything we can do?"
"Well, my team predicted such a thing may occur, and we created a device to fix such errors in the space-time continuum."
"The CS Rifle," you realize.
Jay nods. "That's exactly right. We'll go get it after we rescue Penny."
Leave the Engineering Bay ON PAGE 80
52
"Beginning Causality Neutrino test," the head technician announces formally. "Initialize Injection Loop."
"Injection Loop initialized," someone declares.
Doctor Kessler grabs the clipboard from the head technician. "I'll take over from here," he says.
The head tech begins to protest, but Kessler ignores him and raises voice: "Fire test beam."
The largest screen in the room shows an overhead map of the particle accelerator. It's a big oval like a high
school track, with a miniature track on the left side feeding into it. The proton is first fired from a beam in the smaller track, where it is accelerated around the loop to about half the speed of light. Then it is transfered to the larger loop, where it accelerates even faster.
The map shows the smaller loop flash green. "Test beam fired."
The head technician crosses his arms and looks annoyed at having his job usurped by Kessler, but he remains silent.
You look at your screen. There's a quick spike in the reactor drain before leveling off again. Perfectly normal.
Someone else says, "Confirmed test beam acceleration. All systems functioning nominally."
"Kill test beam," Kessler says.
The smaller loop flashes red and stops. "Test beam canceled."
Kessler nods his head. "Very good. Begin primary beam feed."
You open your mouth, and then close it again. Kessler was supposed to check with you for the reactor drain level, but he skipped the check. Thankfully, everything is normal.
The map shows the small loop flash green again, and then again. It flashes every time the particle completes the loop 10,000 times, which ends up being about once every three seconds.
Slowly, the flashing increases speed as the particle accelerates. It's flashing once every two seconds. Then every second. You know the next stage of the test is about to begin, so you return your eyes to your own screen to watch the power levels.
"Particle stability?" Kessler asks.
"It's perfectly stable, sir," someone says.
"Prepare to initiate large loop feed."
"Yes, sir. Initializing large loop superconductors."
53
There's a shuddering noise in the ground, like the Control Room was gently nudged by a giant's foot. The superconductors switching on. Those things are huge. The lights on the other side of the glass turn off, leaving just the glow of the coils of magnets. It looks like a stretched slinky as big as a commercial jet, glowing orange from all the power.
The sound repeats itself over and over, quieter and more distant, as they turn on around the large accelerator ring. The main computer screen confirms it: each section of the ring lights up until the entire loop is active.
"Large loop superconductors: active."
Something strange is happening on your screen. The reactor usage shows a series of spikes, up and down like a lightning bolt, indicating each superconductor turning on. That part's normal. But now that all of the superconductors are on, the power should be stable. It should be hovering right around 80% usage, barely fluctuating at all.
But that's not what's happening.
The power is continuing to spike up and down, like a seismometer during an earthquake.
Up to 75 percent.
Down to 45 percent.
Up to 77 percent.
Down to 48 percent.
Up to 82 percent.
Down to 55 percent.
It's spiking higher and higher, already brushing up against the upper safety limits. You look over your shoulder but Kessler has turned his back to you--he's now facing the computer screen and the windows. He was supposed to check the reactor status after the superconductor initialization, but he skipped that check.
The readings keep spiking. And the test is continuing without you.
"Feed loop is nearing transfer speed," someone announces.
"Superconductor tesla strength: ready."
"Proton analysis systems: ready."
In a few seconds, they're going to begin the proton transfer from the smaller loop to the larger loop. You need to do something, but what?
Maybe the sensor is wrong. Run some diagnostics ON PAGE 60
This is particle physics, and you're just an intern. Ask for help ON PAGE 77
54
You head back the way you came, one slow shuffle at a time. It takes ten minutes just to get halfway across the laboratory, and by then your back is killing you.
Instead of turning into the vent by the Control Room, you continue on toward the west side of the laboratory.
You pass a vent that shows the inside of the Engineering Bay. There's a four-way intersection ahead. You picture the map of the laboratory in your head, imagining where the Maintenance Room is. "It's this way," you say.
Penny says nothing as she follows you. It feels good to be trusted. Who's just an intern now?
You travel down a long ventilation shaft without seeing any room grates. Is there not a grate for the Maintenance Room? That would suck, having to turn around and go all the way back. Jay said this would be faster!
You see a diagonal shaft of light up ahead. There's a grate! "We're almost there," you call back to Penny, voice echoing in the tight quarters.
"Are you sure?"
"Pretty sure," you say, crawling forward. "And if I'm wrong then we can turn around and--"
The floor beneath your hands and feet gives way. You collapse straight down into a bright room, crashing onto the ground. A jolt of pain goes through your arms.
55
"Jeremy!"
You groan blink your eyes. You're laying on your back. Penny is still up in the air, looking down from the exposed shaft. Five feet of it collapsed under your weight. "I'm okay," you say, though your voice is shaky.
"What room is that?"
You look around and realize it's not really a room at all. It's more like a curving tunnel, with rounded walls and thousands of bundles of wire and cable around the outside.
You're in the large loop particle accelerator.
A noise echoes down the tunnel, like a power generator kicking on. The sound occurs again, and again, each time slightly louder. It's the electromagnets, you realize. Somehow they've turned on!
"Jeremy," Penny calls, "run!"
You get to your feet but collapse again from a sharp pain in your ankle. You can't put any weight on it! The electromagnets are turning on faster and faster, and you can see the sparks ahead of you. You're not sure what a super magnet would do to a person, but it can't be good. You look back up at Penny and wish this wasn't...
THE END
56
You don't like the way the ceiling looks on the left path. Better take the right.
As you approach the right path you see the floor is made up of thin square tiles, each separated from one another. Each tile is recessed into the ground about an inch. The path is four tiles wide.
Unfortunately, it looks like the sprinkler system went off here, too. Each tile has become a pool of water. Not only that, but there's the thick electrical cable hanging out of the wall and stretching across the floor. The cable splits off into four smaller wires which each disappear into a different puddle.
The outlet in the wall sparks with an abrupt flash of light. The electricity is live. "Be careful," Jay warns.
There are four wires: a white wire, a black wire, a red wire, and a wire made completely out of copper.
"We're going to have to step in one of the puddles," you say. "It's too far to jump."
"It's just like the wires in a house," Jay says. "Some carry a current, and others are safe.
"Yeah, but which is which?"
Jay gently touches his temple. "I... I'm not sure. My head is still woozy. You decide."
How's your knowledge of electronics? Do you know which puddles of water are safe?
Jump into the puddle with the WHITE wire ON PAGE 16
Jump into the puddle with the BLACK wire ON PAGE 32
Jump into the puddle with the RED wire ON PAGE 95
Jump into the puddle with the COPPER wire ON PAGE 122
If you aren't sure, turn around and go back to the left path ON PAGE 42
57
The Kitchen is a long, narrow room with stainless steel surfaces all along both walls, with space to walk down the middle. An industrial style ventilation system hangs above eight stove burners on the left. The ovens are on the right, four of them in a row, large enough to cook a meal for an entire facility full of scie
ntists, engineers, and workers. Everything is clean and pristine, except for a single mixing bowl on the near shelf. You look inside: someone was mixing cookie dough. They must have gotten stuck in time right in the middle of it. It's a grim reminder of the disaster with the Causality Neutrino test.
Penny senses your mood. Wordlessly, the two of you begin opening cabinets and searching drawers. You find lots of utensils, pots and pans and cutting boards. One shelf has a row of cookbooks. They're mostly in German, French, and Italian.
At the end of the room, taped to a refrigerator, is a handwritten note:
Jessica, I swear, if you leave your leftovers in the fridge over the weekend again I'm going to put a padlock on the door! This kitchen is for everyone. It's not your personal food hiding spot.
After that, you've reached the end of the room. You've found nothing.
The PA in the ceiling cuts on. "TIME IS UP, I repeat, time is up. Have you guys found the missing sequence?"
You and Penny share a disappointed look. "No, we haven't," you tell the ceiling.
"Then there's nothing for you to do but head back here. Better run, you don't have much time to get to the surface!"
SPRINT UP TO PAGE 84
58
"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."
The Strange Physics of the Heidelberg Laboratory Page 5
