Anyone

Anyone

By

Peter Stevens

Anyone

Peter Stevens

Copyright 2009 Peter Stevens

Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved.

All characters in this book are fiction and any resemblance to any person, either living, or deceased is purely coincidence.

Owned and distributed as an eBook by http://www.nicholashalls.co.uk written by Peter Stevens.

No part of this book shall be used in whole or in part without the writers express written consent.

First published in 2009 by NicholasHalls.co.uk

Acknowledgements

Thanks to my son Nicholas whose name inspired me for the main character. My daughter Sian for all of your hard work on the cover artwork, and my youngest daughter Maddison who encouraged me to tell the tale.

Many thanks also go to the many conspiracy theorists on the internet for the hard work you put into your sites.

Prologue

November 23rd 2009 07:45 Cern Switzerland

Eight men sat at their desks studying readings from the computers in front of each of them as the door opened and the lead scientist walked in, good morning everyone, he said as he placed his coat on a hook and looked around at his team I hope we are all well rested and ready to go live in forty five minutes. Steve Sergeant was five nine, fifty five years old and a hundred and eighty pounds. He had been the lead scientist on this project for the last nine months and had overseen the repairs to the super cooled magnets which rendered the complex inoperable for the last year. His close cropped hair and blue eyes made him look ten years younger than he was but the strain of leadership, and the pressure of this project, was beginning to show in the deepening lines on his face. Opening the laptop on his desk he turned it on then reached down and opened the drawer on his desk to get his notes.

Morning Steve they all replied as the door opened again and their second in command entered with a coffee and a clipboard. William Maynard was forty nine and had been the lead scientist until the disaster last year when the huge collider was first supposed to go live.

Morning Bill how was your evening asked Steve as he checked a reading on his computer.

I couldn’t sleep so I kept going over the figures in my head, he replied the magnets look good this time, so we shouldn’t have the same dramas that we had last year.

Glad to hear it Bill, we’re going online in thirty eight minutes so make sure all systems are go and the area is secure, Steve said as he got up time to get some caffeine before we start then, anyone else want a drink or need to use the bathroom then get to it now before we go live?

Amir and Bill left the offices with Steve and headed to the kitchen area behind their office, You think everything will work this time? asked Amir as he poured hot water into his cup. He was five eight and a hundred and fifty pounds and at twenty two he was the second youngest scientist on the project. Born in India and family in Britain he studied at Oxford before applying for his job at the LHC complex nearly eight months ago.

Well the magnets are at the correct temperature and they are stable so as long as they keep temperature and the elements are stable, it should work as planned, said Bill don’t worry I think this time we will get the results we are expecting then the funding for this project will continue for the next few years.

The last minute checks this morning say that all is ok for the first acceleration in half an hour, said Steve as he sipped at his coffee then nodded to Amir when we get back call the north side team and make sure the elements are placed into the collider, we’ll start with a lead ion collision for the first few hours to get all our readings but then we have been asked to try something else.

Bill was about to pour hot water into his cup but stopped and frowned, something else that sounds interesting, tell.

Both men were now looking to Steve to explain and he instantly regretted saying that much, he wasn’t going to say anything to anyone until the meeting.

Come on Steve you said we’ll try something else, what does that mean? asked Amir impatiently.

Steve looked at both men then nodded slowly saying We’ve been given the opportunity to receive our next five year’s funding by testing a new element.

Amir and Bill raised their eyebrows at the same time and as Bill turned to fill his cup Amir asked What new element, nobody said anything about this, are we not testing for hadrons, mesons, and baryons, from lead ions?

Steve nodded and answered Well, we are, at first, but our colleagues over at NASA have asked us to test a new element. They say that it was discovered on an asteroid out near Jupiter, Steve looked at his colleagues for a reaction before continuing it is not found anywhere on Earth but NASA will fund our experiment for the next five years if it works as expected.

Why didn’t this get mentioned in the briefing last night asked Bill a bit miffed he was kept out of the loop.

"I only found out about it myself in a conference call an hour ago and I was told to do this experiment by the powers that be, said Steve pointing up I have been asked to keep it quiet for now so not a word to anyone. We’ve been given four ounces of this stuff but they didn’t say how much their probes had brought back. So this morning the first couple of hundred loops of the lead test is really to test that the acceleration equipment works and to see if ALICE can detect the remnants of a black hole."

So how would that work with an unknown new element? asked Bill.

Well instead of sending say lead ions around the loop we’ve been asked to send this new element’s protons instead, they are not irradiated and their properties are similar to lead but have a slightly magnetic but energy holding property, they have charged particles and they seemed to remain stable, they’ve accelerated them but they haven’t collided them as we could. NASA also thinks that if we can accelerate the protons to light speed we might generate enough friction to make them glow, if that’s the case they’ll act like small nuclear reactors that can be spun at light speed on the spot and we will have the next generation power supply, clean, reusable and totally safe to use in the home, so they say Steve looked at both of his colleagues and indicated they return to the lab.

Wow, said Amir who else knows what we are testing today?

Only us three at the moment so keep it that way until I say otherwise, we will begin with the lead ion tests as normal for the first hour. Once I have the results on my computer from the muon spectrometer I should receive a phone call, act surprised when I announce it in the meeting afterwards okay.

Both men nodded as they walked back but all fell silent when they entered the main lab and went to their computers, Steve went to his laptop and checked the status of the machines in this huge complex, We have green lights across the board people so make any final checks now, we go live in fifteen said Steve into the tannoy system around the complex "I want reports in on the status of the superconducting bending magnets every two minutes until we fire her up, I do not want a repeat of last year."

Roger that boss, said Bill get busy people we have a black hole to create he picked up a telephone Reeve, what’s the status on ALICE? He listened for a minute then placed the receiver back in its cradle and checked some readings from four of the computers around his station Steve, Reeve says ALICE is lit up green, she is ready and getting impatient for input.

Steve smiled at the thought ok people warm up the beam, Jess call the lead teams and tell them to inject the samples, we will start the acceleration in, he checked his watch, eleven minutes.

The control room seemed to fill with people who were busy checking readings and entering commands. After another five minutes a low hum sounded from the accelerator deep underneath the lab. Calls came in from around the complex stating everything was looking good to go, the teams out at ALICE reported again that she was ready to read the collision and detect the particles that indicated there was a black hole there a fraction of a second before.

The telephone on Steve’s desk rang as the hum increased in pitch slightly and the walls seemed to vibrate softly, Steve picked it up and listened for a minute then hung up after saying yes sir. He walked over to some computers and checked the readings then picked up the tannoy again whilst checking his watch, All teams to report your status and prepare for injection, Muon team set start on the beam, he paused and looked around at his team ALICE team start recorders, another brief pause as he again looked at his watch linac three prepare to go on my mark, three, two, one, mark.

The high pitched hum turned to a low bass drone that vibrated softly through everything in the room, then the lights flickered slightly as the lead ion particles were accelerated to near light speed through the massive seventeen mile complex. After five minutes checking readings and data on the computers Steve called the ALICE teams and asked if they had a display of the results yet and to send the results to his console. For another hour they observed the graphic representation of the particles smashing into each other as the huge collider worked properly for the first time.

Soon the results came to Steve’s console and as he finished scanning them his telephone rang, he talked for a minute then called a meeting in his office of the eight department heads. As they entered the room he nodded to each in turn Sit down please, said Steve as the last of the men entered the room and took their places Our test so far has been a success and because of this we have been given a unique opportunity here, this morning’s test results are only a beginning to prove our theories about the big bang. As you know our experiments are to try to produce a Higgs boson every hour if we can but as you are also aware the experiment will need to run for about a year to prove conclusive everyone in the room nodded and began speaking but Steve shushed them We are stopping the lead ion experiment just for now. This test today was just to make sure that everything is in working order and as it should be but now we have been given a unique opportunity. We have been given a newly discovered element and we are to send its protons around the loop for the rest of the day, all results will be copied and shared, any questions?

Yes I have a question Said Elizabeth Kramer as she stood up, she was twenty four with short dark hair, blue eyes and straight out of university to pursue a career at Cern, Steve nodded and she continued You say we have a new element, what is it and where was it discovered?

Steve smiled That’s two questions Liz, first we haven’t been told much about it other than its name, they are calling it Thralaxium. NASA said that a probe brought it back from the asteroid belt after it landed on a rock the size of Texas, their probe dug some up and brought it back to earth. NASA says that the whole rock is made of this and another new element mixed in with granite, sandstone and other normal rock we have on this planet but they haven’t sent us the second new element yet.

So what’s special about it, I mean is it likely to be dangerous to us or the LHC? asked Liz.

Well that we don’t know Liz, the properties are similar to lead but are highly magnetic and electro-conductive. NASA has passed some into its particle accelerators with no problems, they seem to think that it could become a new energy source which could solve our current fossil fuel problem, said Steve as Liz sat down again nodding and taking notes.

Aaron Murdock had been on the LHC team since they started building it in ninety nine he was now a middle aged man with greying hair and a short stubbly beard, he stood and looked around at his colleagues A new power source or a weapon? If it’s a new element then how would we know that by smashing its particles we would be safe?

We aren’t going to smash any particles until we’ve sent them around the loop for a couple of hours. We want to see how they react, we want to make sure they are safe, if it looks good we have been told to send the protons at half speed first and collide, then, if it still looks safe we can collide at full near light speed. Steve answered and also told them what he’d said to Bill and Amir before they went live this morning about their funding.

The man finally sat down as the room fell silent, then Steve spoke again OK so we now have to prepare for these new tests I want them to be ready to collide at say four o’clock this afternoon so we need to start prepping for this new element to circuit the ring in one hour, lets get to it.

The eight department heads got up and left the room talking about their next experiment as Steve turned to a laptop on his desk and opened a window, alone now he said We will schedule the new test for sixteen hundred local time this afternoon gentlemen, all data will be live and the cameras will be rolling in ALICE and around the complex.

Thank you Steve we will be monitoring all data from here, said Dr Andrews on the computers web cast as the image turned off. Steve shut down the computer and left the room to continue preparations for the experiments they would soon begin.

The day passed quickly and by three o’clock the readings indicated that they might indeed have a new form of sustainable energy as the Thralaxium protons glowed when sent around the seventeen mile ring at near light speed we have our orders gentlemen, said Steve to his team start the preparations for a collision in one hour, Jess call the injection teams and tell them to prepare the Thralaxium for collision program alpha, I’ll call Reeve and tell him to recalibrate ALICE for the new test at four pm.

Steve made the call to Reeve then looked at the clock and thought how quickly today had gone now that they were actually testing. A year of frustrating waiting looked like it could really pay off big time if the experiment worked as the NASA scientists had theorised and Steve began making final adjustments to his detection and control computers as his colleagues busied themselves around him with their own tasks.

Steve was busy cross referencing the day’s findings when Bill tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to the clock thanks Bill I would have missed it, Steve said then picked up the tannoy system Ok people we have T-minus ten minutes until the first collision, all teams report your status.

As the teams reported their readiness Steve felt suddenly nervous, he looked around at his colleagues and friends and hoped the experiment wouldn’t cause a black hole that didn’t go away or explode like an enormous atom bomb blowing the planet apart like a hammer hitting an egg. The same low pitched hum began to fill the complex and Steve checked the time again two minutes and counting, he said to himself but was heard by Amir.

You ok Steve, asked Amir you look worried.

Steve looked over at the younger man and almost laughed Just got to think positive my friend, he shrugged a new element, what could go wrong eh?

Amir laughed and said you could trip up the stairs when going to collect your Nobel I suppose.

As before the high pitched hum turned to a low bass drone that again vibrated the room and the lights flickered and flashed as the Thralaxium protons were accelerated to near light speed through the seventeen mile complex. Every computer and sensor was relaying how the particles acted inside the huge loop as they flew at almost light speed, and every pair of eyes studied the result on their screens.

Everyone knew the exact moment the particles collided as the hum deepened even more and a flash of bright blue light emanated from the far end of the tunnel where the collision occurred. The cameras caught the flash and screens turned white from the over exposure of the initial flash. When the image stabilised everyone stood up to watch their screen as an image of a swirling vortex opened up, bright electric blue with lightning flashing around its edges and a dark centre getting larger and lighter as if a torch was shining up to it from the other side.

My god it’s staying open, said Steve realising his fears from a few minutes ago and picked up the telephone Reeve have you got any readings, is it expanding? he said into the handset sounding like he was near to panic.

ALICE is recording everything and she says its fine, in fact it is shrinking a bit and loosing energy all the time, Reeve answered almost immediately I think it will be gone within two minutes as its throwing its energy every which way, you want me to initiate shutdown and fire control?

That’s a negative on that Reeve just make sure we record everything, Steve replied over the bass hum that seemed to be felt more than heard now, he looked around at his colleagues who were all staring at the screens and studying the swirling vortex that seemed to fill the tunnel that housed the beam.

What the hell is that? Amir asked suddenly pointing to the monitors did something just move on the other side of that, whatever that is?

They all saw a shadow moving in the centre of the spinning maelstrom the monitors were displaying, the shadow getting larger as if something was approaching from the other side. Electricity flashed and arced out of the sides as the spinning vortex began to shrink, its energies intensifying briefly then all of a sudden it disappeared into itself with a pop and whoosh of air before the high pitched hum returned the complex to normal. Steve breathed a sigh of relief at last and realised everyone else must have been holding their breath as well, picking up the telephone he called ALICE first Reeve, you ok, report?

Did you all see that? asked Reeve immediately I think we opened a wormhole to another planet, ALICE has all data recorded and there appeared to be people, or something, moving on the other side.

Yeah we saw everything, what does ALICE say now? Steve said looking around the room at his relieved team.

I’m not sure, I’ll relay the data to your console but it looks like another wormhole opened up right above this one.

As the data appeared on Steve’s monitor he realised that another black hole had opened up above this one this can’t be right, he muttered Reeve, are these readings correct?

It’s everything that ALICE recorded but I see what you mean, Reeve went silent for a second then added and yes I think we opened a wormhole either to another world or another dimension.

Backup everything you recorded and send the data to my console,

Steve, called one of the scientists behind him I think you’d better look at this.

Steve turned and walked over to the man what’s up Chloe?

Look at these readings, Bill said pointing to his console whatever that anomaly in the chamber was it wasn’t alone, there was another one of those vortexes right above us in the admin building.

Steve looked at the readings and cross checked them with the computer next to Bill’s station just as his telephone started to ring.

Chapter 1

November 23rd Southend on Sea, England 3pm GMT.

They say we all have a story to tell, that we all experience different things and see with different eyes, my story was as normal as the next person, but then it changed. My name is Nicholas Halls, I’m twenty eight years old and work on the night shift loading Lorries for a local metal merchant. Boring and mundane I know but I always hoped that something would change, like maybe winning the lottery, or finding a rich bride, but I didn’t expect the change to be quite as drastic, or fantastic, as it was. It all began, ironically, while I was asleep; after a normal shift at work I’d gone home to sleep the day away. I was always awake by three thirty but today I was woken up just before three in the afternoon by a low hum and vibration coming through the walls and ceiling.

Opening my eyes and looking around the room I thought I was still dreaming until I rolled over and saw the ceiling above me split apart as a storm of lightning and wind formed a spinning vortex over my bed. It was like an electric blue whirlpool crackling with electricity and reminded me of one of those science fiction films where they go into a black hole, only this one wasn’t black. The vortex above pushed me deeper into my mattress pinning me down as if gravity had pulled a bit too hard on my body. I could hardly move my arms or legs and there was a smell like charged electricity or ozone after a storm. I could see a light like daylight on the other side appearing slowly but it was blurry and hard to make out. Then the hum and vibrations deepened until the low bass seemed to have weight of its own as it vibrated through me, I was scared and all of a sudden I could feel my body loose all mass and lift from the mattress, rising under the weight of the deep bass sound as the tear in the ceiling widened, stretched, and spun with electricity. Then more lightning arced across the ever widening tear in the air above my bed, I couldn’t tell if I was dreaming it or it was really happening?

The sensation of being pushed away from the lightning storm changed and I felt my body feeling lighter as the vortex stopped expanding. Rising up higher I could see the other side of this miniature electrical hurricane through a dark centre that was now beginning to lighten as I approached it. The electricity flashed everywhere around me, into me, and I could see it flashing around me and on the other side of the disturbance. I could see the shapes and figures moving around beyond the surface of the disturbance and heard a high pitched warbling sound as if someone on the other side was calling me. I approached the threshold of the phenomenon then pain exploded every nerve in my body as electricity fired through me. I tried to scream but no sound came out and as I began entering the vortex I felt my body being pulled in every way possible and impossible at the same instant. An explosion of light filled my mind and body and I felt as though my atoms and molecules seemed to fly apart from each other as one of the shapes on the other side reached forward and touched me, the touch sending waves of pain through me again.

I felt my body come crashing together again as more electricity arced into my body, the feeling of weight came back to me as darkness and silence filled the air. The energies faded and the vibrations softened as I crashed back onto the bed whole again and the centre of the vortex disappeared with a pop. Looking up I could see the air still seemed blurred out but the disturbance faded to nothing and the air returned to normal as the vibrations and bass sound slowly died leaving the room silent again. The smell of ozone was the last thing I remembered before I passed out, I never heard as the normal sounds of the afternoon returned outside and I never heard my neighbour banging on my door.

I dreamed of a black hole above me and I could hear strange alien sounds like words but it was like listening through water. Electricity sparked and flashed around my body and the black hole sucked me in again, I felt like had been I broken into a million pieces, made whole and then smashed apart again in some bizarre science fiction experiment. I felt like my body was now pure energy with no mass as I flew through a strange dark alien landscape. I couldn’t hear properly and I couldn’t make out details as it was like I had been partially blinded and deafened at the same time, everything just seemed muted and grey.

Opening my eyes I couldn’t see anything until my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the night.