What could go wrong?

Eléonore walked straight to Marie, disregarding everyone else. Politeness could wait.

Marie was in the middle of a heated discussion with her team - namely with Bastien, Jérémy, Marc, and Isabelle.

She could be seen presenting the various components of the suitcases they were going to carry.

Eléonore did not care.

She called out: "MARIE! You must know something; I've felt something dangerous out there!"

Marie was surprised to find Eléonore here, but she knew her granddaughter well. Eléonore was an optimistic and cheerful girl, not one to make a scene if there was no reason. Poor girl had it tough recently.

What other girl would find the strength to train so hard, so long, these days?

But Marie had been called out by her first name;

There was urgency.

She paused what she was doing and turned towards Eléonore. "What have you discovered?"

Eléonore had not thought of what she would say; she had only been gripped by the need to urge Marie to be extra careful. Now, however, when asked the question, she considered. "Marie and her team must bring the suitcases close to the anomaly. However, the anomaly limits aren't clear, and they seem very changing. Therefore, ..."

She said: "The limits of the anomaly are rapidly changing. It is sometimes growing and sometimes shrinking. What's more, you can't rely on your eye; some of it, you can only feel it. It looks very unstable!"

Marie took a moment to consider the implications of Eléonore's report.

She did not discard her information. She turned to her team: "Eléonore has a unique talent for feeling the fifth force. We can't doubt her report. If we can't determine the limits of the anomaly correctly, we risk being swallowed by it, and who knows what will happen to us next. So we..."

"You shouldn't go!" Eléonore interrupted Marie.

"But we must," Marie could only reject her granddaughter's plea. She turned once more toward her, looking both soft and hard. "However, we can place the suitcases much farther than we initially planned."

"No!" Eléonore interjected.

"We must. You know how well our future depends on it. We need that data." Marie replied. She then took a softer tone to speak to only Eléonore: "Don't worry, we'll be cautious. Nobody plans on dying today. We'll stay far, far, extra far from the anomaly."

Little by little, Eléonore was convinced that she had done all she could to prevent an accident. It didn't seem as if Marie would change her mind, no matter what.

Perhaps, staying sufficiently far away would be enough. Then, would the laser truck grow the anomaly sufficiently for it to reach the suitcases? It didn't matter as much as Marie's safety to Eléonore.

Nonetheless, Marie seemed confident that it was feasible. Eléonore only cared that Marie would only remain a reasonable distance away.

----

About an hour later.

Silence now reigned over the area.

The various teams were neatly arranged and gathered together around multiple instruments.

The rescue team laid ready with various first-aid kids and other unusual tools: ropes, hammers, insulant suits, fire extinguishers.

The team of Marie was, too, ready. They were at the forefront of everyone else, and everyone was watching them, waiting for them to walk towards the anomaly. They only carried light equipment; apart from the suitcases, they wore light or workout clothes. If they needed to run, nothing would stop them.

From all this, it could be seen that everyone was thoroughly prepared for the experiment. What could go wrong?

Marie took the first steps.

Her team followed.

But immediately... "Grandma! Wait!"

A cute teenage girl with a blond ponytail came running towards them.

"Let me serve as a sensor. I can tell you if we get too close or if the anomaly is about to grow. You need me because you don't see it! What if you enter the danger zone withoyt realizing it ?! "

Marie didn't need much convincing. Of course, she knew! She knew all along how valuable Eléonore would be to her team, but it was one thing to risk her own life and another to risk her granddaughter's life.

Yet, it was evident that no words could dissuade Eléonore.

This time, Marie gave in: "Alright. Come with us, stay close. We'll listen to your feedback."

Eléonore thus joined them.

---

200 meters separated Marie and Eléonore from the turbulent anomaly ahead.

Each step would bring them closer to it.

It was impossible to tell how close they could get to the anomaly without being affected. The drones they had sent before had stopped flying 75 meters away from it, but electronics tended to be affected the most by the 5th force.

They probably had to get much closer to get relevant data on the weakening of the forces, excluding the electromagnetic force.

So, every few meters, the team would pause and take on some simple measurements, namely: gravity and magnetism. If no one in the group saw any significant change, they would proceed farther. This decision was in addition submitted to the review of Eléonore.

Just like that, they came as close as 75 meters from the anomaly.

From there on, it became apparent that electronics could no longer work. There were a weird magnetic field and micro-electric currents around. However, it seemed as if nothing posed a danger to the human bodies.

As close as that, the anomaly looked much more impressive. This close, Eléonore could discern patches of grass flying in all directions inside the white-blue-orange-grey-green-red vortexes that sometimes appeared inside the anomaly.

Physics was seriously messed up inside, no doubt. It was unknown if one would survive once inside.

Tension ran through every nerve of everyone present.

It was instinctive to fear the unknown and hell; there was definitively a lot of unknown here. Even Marie failed to keep a relaxed countenance. Like others, she was furiously checking on every instrument every second.

She was glad that Eléonore came but also worried.

Eléonore really was helpful: somehow, she could feel how the danger increased or decreased every second.

Presently, they were still safe.

They debated whether to walk farther;

Marie had the idea of throwing a rock far ahead.

It flew and rested on the grass with no indication of being harmed.

They decided to proceed.

Meanwhile, Eléonore was giving her all to maintain full awareness.

As soon as they reached the 50 meters mark... they felt lighter. It was almost as if they had suddenly lost the extra kilograms [pounds] that age had given them.

It felt like a dream, being all young again.

Yet, it was the confirmation that they had walked sufficiently close to be influenced by the gravitational effects.

Everyone realized that they now treaded a dangerous path.

"Are we close enough? What do you think?" Bastien voiced his concern.

The teenage girl on the side did not say anything, but sweat was running on her forehead. Eléonore was starting to notice something...

Marie replied: "The forces all have different ranges; for instance, gravity and electromagnetism have all rather long ranges. The two other forces have a very short range. It's hard to say if we are close e..."

"RUN! GET BACK NOW!!!"

Eléonore shouted in a high-pitched voice while pulling Marie's sleeve.

The panic voice rang loudly in everyone's ears.

The tension and the fear of each of the volunteers were suddenly ablaze.

The team didn't think; they all ran back towards the cars in one united motion. They also all dropped their suitcases as it would slow them down.

Marie had only slightly hesitated: to gather the data; the suitcases had to be opened flat on the ground. Leaving it on the floor closed would be useless. But they could always come back if Eléonore had been mistaken.

As they ran, they felt almost levitating for a moment, but soon after they distanced themselves away by another 20 meters, the feeling disappeared.

They came back to the 150 meters mark, far away from the anomaly. It seemed very safe.

They stopped. "Eléonore, waht did you feel?"

Catching her breath, Eléonore explained: "It was expanding. We had to leave."

Bastien commented: "I think I felt it as well. I felt almost flying all of a sudden."

Jérémy, Marc, and Isabelle similarly voiced their agreements.

"What do we do now, Marie?" Bastien asked.

Marie considered and replied: "In any case, we either cancel the experiment or we somehow manage to recover the suitcases. To proceed, we need to open them and retrieve them later. Eléonore, you said that you felt the anomaly was sometimes expanding, sometimes shrinking, right?"

Eléonore nodded.

"Then," Marie said," let's try to wait for a window of opportunity. Jérémy, please update the other teams. They must be worried."

On that, the six men and women waited.

Five minutes later, Eléonore felt a change in the anomaly; it felt "calmer" and "smaller."

She reluctantly informed Marie.

They waited for Jérémy to come back, and they walked once again towards the anomaly, more fearful than ever.

They found the suitcases on the grass not far from where they left them but moved nonetheless.

Because no sign of danger came to them, they decided to go near them.

They opened each their suitcase.

Inside, the various key components were securely strapped to stay together.

Some needed additional calibrations.

It took one minute; they had repeatedly trained in the last hour to do this work as quickly as possible.

Leaving the suitcases opened, installed, and configured, they ran back towards the cars.

It felt liberating. Although there seemed to have no immediate danger, they still ran as if to get away from a monster.

Marie, Eléonore, Bastien, Jérémy, Isabelle, and Marc finally linked up with the laser truck team.

The first stage of the experiment had been successful; now, they had to power up the anomaly to increase its size and intensity. Then, they would need to retrieve the suitcases. That, too, was dangerous.

However, at last, Eléonore could sigh in relief. She was already planning to convince Marie to let somebody else retrieve her suitcase once the anomaly was powered up.

The second stage began.

Marie connected a cable from the laser truck to the nearest transmission tower; thanks to that, the laser truck could draw significant power from the regional electric network. Undoubtedly, the nearest city would suffer a power outage, but they would be already used to it by now.

Due to the risk of electrocution, everyone stayed away from the truck. Only one person, inside a specific insulant suit, manned the truck.

Meanwhile, the other teams performed observations and calculations on what color seemed to work best. The color was indicative of the energy fed to the anomaly due to the relationship between the wavelength and the energy of the light (nb: photons, actually).

The laser truck started to emit a continuous red laser falling dead center inside the anomaly.

Nothing happened.

It then changed color: blue, green, brown... finally, it became invisible. Marie explained to Eléonore, next to her, that it had switched to ultraviolet light.

Ultraviolet light was the most energetic power available to the laser; it was also a dangerous light capable of cooking someone alive if exposed directly.

Why else were UV creams needed during summer?

Eléonore was the first to feel a change.

She felt a definite increase of power in the anomaly, and also... something else? She couldn't pinpoint the source of her other feeling.

Nevertheless, the anomaly was growing with the naked eye: the vortexes could be seen progressively growing bigger.

A minute after, the anomaly finally grew to reach the suitcases.

The laser truck stopped firing.

Everyone cheered: it appeared as if the second stage had been completed. The laser had successfully powered up the anomaly up to the suitcases, and now everyone hoped that it would naturally shrink back to its before-powered-up size.

Yet.

Apart from the driver of the laser truck, the rest of the laser team was worried.

They had agreed to stop the truck firing on the instruction of the sensor team, in command of the other truck equipped with antennas and mirrors.

The command had been given, but the laser team had yet to pass it to the driver of the laser truck.

Then why did the laser stop prematurely?

The unthinkable happened next.

Vortexes started to appear around the truck, denser around the laser linked by cable to the transmission tower.

Pieces of the truck started to detach from the truck.

Eléonore watched in horror as the driver exited truck; yet, he seemed to be suddenly unable to move. Like other pieces of the truck, he was levitating, with no way to move forward or backward.

Eléonore realized the anomaly had backtracked to its power source: the laser. This unexpected side-effect had caused a local anomaly which was being continuously powered up by the nearby transmission tower.

Power had to be cut off.

In the two seconds she took to complete her thoughts, Marie was already rushing to the laser and its power source.

Marie had been quicker to realize what was wrong.

Meanwhile, everyone was either running away or too shocked to move.

Eléonore sprang to action.

She ran hard to catch up to Marie.

But her vision became troubled; as she stepped inside the anomaly, it seemed harder to make sense of her surroundings.

Light, sound, even gravity were being disturbed.

She couldn't feel the ground anymore. She completely lost her sense of direction.

Even now, the anomaly was growing to a ridiculous size and power.

Eléonore wondered if they would survive this.

She imagined being a tornado wouldn't feel worse. Was it like being in space, out of control?

"At least it's beautiful," She thought.

Colors flashed non-stop around her.

She failed to find Marie or anyone else.

It seemed as if the whole world was flying and flowing around her.

Eléonore lost consciousness.