LHC European Organization for Nuclear Research Alpha Geneva
‘Have our guests been fed yet?’ Professor Conrad Hughes asked as he peered through the one way glass window into the room. It was a plain, nondescript room which contained two austere beds adorned with a spaghettifest of tubes and machinery. Upon those beds laid two pink creatures that seemed to be sleeping soundly. His assistant, a young man with the wisps of a strawcoloured beard adorning his small chin shook his head. ‘Not really, sir. When we woke them up they went berserk again. We’re feeding them intravenously and keeping them under. By monitoring their sleeping pattern on our borrowed electroencephalograph machine we’ve managed to influence their dreams and keep them stable. But when they awaken...’ ‘Who can blame them, Jeff? They look weird enough to us; can you imagine how it must be for them to be trapped here and what they must make of us?’ Hughes asked as he ran a hand over the top of his balding head. ‘Has there been any success with the team powering up the LHC again? The humane thing would be to try and send them back.’
Jeff Daniels shook his head again. ‘No way. The anomaly didn’t just misalign one of the magnets this time but obliterated it. We’re lucky no one was killed. It’ll be months before they get it up and running again.’ Hughes sighed. ‘I wonder if they’ve got months.’ He nodded towards the two figures recumbent upon the beds. ‘If we can’t communicate properly with them or even keep our visitors awake long enough to give them proper sustenance then I think they’ll expire long before we get back online. And as to the fact that no one was killed – section three has yet to be reached. I’m not saying there are no survivors in there because we’ve heard sounds, but we could have lost a few.’ ‘I’ve been thinking about that – communicating with our guests. I wondered if we could do it through their dreams.’ Hughes turned to the young man. ‘Do we even know what the hell they’re dreaming about?’ Daniels nodded. ‘Well the analysts think so. They’ve deduced that their brane was almost a mirror image of our universe. They’ve even gone as far as to suggest those two in there are probably technicians working in a similar field to ours. That’s why the tunnel was formed in the first place. Our brane leaked across into theirs. They’ve manipulated their dreams so that they think they are back in their own universe and still working on whatever it was before they got pulled through.’ Pulling a chair closer to Daniels, Hughes sat in it and hunched forwards. ‘We’ve discussed the theory of an adjacent brane but I just don’t buy it.’ Daniels shrugged. ‘Why not? How else can you explain what happened? Don’t tell me those things in there are from our universe.’ Hughes shook his head. ‘I just can’t believe they’re from another universe.’ ‘Sir, if you believe what the Mtheorists spout, that we are just one universe on a membrane of infinite membranes. Furthermore, that a collision of branes caused the big bang then you have to accept that the possibility of tunnelling through to an adjacent brane is feasible. If you accept that then it’s not too far a jump to imagine that we’re not the only ones with an LHC,’ Daniels replied. ‘Jeff, I don’t want to ‘jump’ anywhere. I prefer Hawking’s idea that it seems better to employ the Occam's razor principle and cut out all the features of a theory that cannot be observed than go jumping off all over the place.’ Daniels nodded. ‘So what do you think they are then?’ He asked unable to keep the sound of exasperation from his voice. Professor Hughes hesitated and then. ‘They’re our missing staff members.’ Daniels stared at his mentor in surprise. ‘Our staff? I don’t understand.’ ‘I can’t believe we opened a rift to another universe and dragged those beings through as if they were just hanging around in the right space at the right time. It’s too unfeasible and too complicated when
a simpler and less complicated answer lies staring us in the face. They are our missing personnel! But the huge burst of strangelets that was manifested when the magnet failed made them coalesce with ordinary matter and changed it to strange matter. They’ve been transformed.’ The professor explained and raised a hand to his head again. ‘Christ I’ve got a hell of a headache. I wouldn’t mind having a snooze like those two.’ He said and yawned. Daniels stroked his wispy beard and nodded. ‘It’s a good theory, I’ll concede that point, Professor, but wouldn’t proof have shown up in the DNA we extracted from them?’ Then he put and hand up to his mouth and yawned. ‘It’s catching; you’ve got me yawning too.’ Hughes rubbed his eyes and then replied, ‘not if the DNA has been compromised.’ He yawned again and his eyes closed. ‘I suppose you’re right, Professor. But I do like the brane theory. An infinite number of universes all separated from each other on different branes but all very similar to each other. It could be like looking into a billion mirrors each one reflecting their images into eternity... damn it’s gone muggy in here... can hardly stay awake...’ Then his head dropped onto his chest and he started snoring.
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LHC European Organization for Nuclear Research Beta Geneva ‘Have our guests been fed yet?’ The being asked as it peered through the oneway glass window into the room. It was a plain, nondescript room which contained two austere beds adorned with a spaghettifest of tubes and machinery. Upon those beds laid two pink creatures that seemed to be sleeping soundly. His assistant, a younger being with the wisps of strawcoloured tentacles adorning his small chin shook his head... *** LHC European Organization for Nuclear Research Gamma Geneva *Smell of mouldy earth?* The being odoured as it peered through the oneway glass window into the room. It was a plain, nondescript room which contained two austere beds adorned with a spaghettifest of tubes and machinery. Upon those beds laid two pink creatures that seemed to be sleeping soundly. His assistant, a younger being with the wisps of strawcoloured leaves adorning his small chin shook his head... *** LHC European Organization for Nuclear Research Delta Geneva
*Flash of green light?* The being signalled as it peered through the oneway glass window into the room. It was a plain, nondescript room which contained two austere beds adorned with a spaghettifest of tubes and machinery. Upon those beds laid two pink creatures that seemed to be sleeping soundly. His assistant, a younger being with the wisps of strawcoloured scaled tendrils adorning his small chin shook his head... *** LHC European Organization for Nuclear Research Epsilon Geneva... *** LHC European Organization for Nuclear Research Zeta Geneva... *** LHC European Organization for Nuclear Research Eta Geneva... *** Ad infinitum...
Ends (or does it?)