The Physicist
Dr. Weber was short and craggy, made even smaller by his stooping back. The few wisps of platinum hair on his otherwise shiny head fluttered in the blast of the air condition.
"Thank you, thank you," the old man said as he turned up his piercing blue eyes at Michael from his seat on the sofa. The two were surrounded by a small crowd who seemed ready to bow and scrape to the old physicist.
"Not a problem." Michael could hardly believe his luck.
"Dr. Weber, if you need to rest, we have some guest suites." A man whispered in the old man's ear.
The physicist declined the offer and then slowly took another sip of the water that Michael had offered. After setting down the glass on the table, he retrieved his napkin from his vest pocket with a shaky hand and cleaned his wrinkled mouth.
"As you were, gentlemen, I am not dead yet." He waved a dismissive hand to the crowd that was still gathered around him.
Michael waited until the crowd dispersed. He, then, introduced himself to Dr. Weber in fluent German.
"Michael Best? Does not sound German." The old man said as he shook Michael's hand with his own tremorous hand. "But then I do not go out much, nowadays. Being in your eighties is not convenient." The old physicist adjusted his bifocals on his nose as if he was studying Michael.
"I am here to meet you, in particular." Michael had only one plan, to get straight to the point. "May I speak to you somewhere private?"
"You may. But that does not mean I will have to listen if you are here to tell me that my theory on CP violations is horse sh*t."
Michael looked at the old man, and suddenly, he seemed very much like his great grandfather, always complaining and bitter about every little thing. He even chased Michael once with his stick when Michael was a little child. His father told him that grandpa was going cuckoo.
"I am here to consult you on an entirely different matter. May we proceed to the banquet hall? It is empty."
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Once the two settled at a table in the empty banquet hall, Michael retrieved his tablet and placed it in front of Dr. Maximilian Weber, on the white table cloth amid all the silver cutlery and plates already laid out for the guests.
"I must remind you, Dr. Best, I am not very good at these gadgets." The physicist pointed at the tablet with his walking stick.
"Please call me Mr. Best, or just Michael. I am not a physicist and I want you to read what is on the screen of this tablet." Michael kept his voice calm and friendly, but he was ready for any disapproval from the old man. Fortunately, the old man only stared at Michael with a slight frown and then, scrutinized the content on the tablet's screen.
[Physics System
System Issue: Energy Asymmetry from Supermassive Black Hole
System Engineer – in charge: Mikael De Besches/Michael Best, Level II Systems Engineer
Target World: Earth, Year 2021
Overall Goal: Restore Universal Gravitational Field
Objective 2: Search for Antimatter Universe
Skills attributed: Speech, Teleportation, Strength, Luck
Speech: 24%
Additional Language skills: German
Teleportation: 3/4
Strength: 40%
Luck: 70%
Wealth: 50 USD, Earth
Equipment: LSI Table U89MDB; USV Portation Band]
Minutes passed before the old man made a sound. "I gather you want my help with the search for this antimatter universe, Mr. Michael Best?" He said flatly as he tapped the screen several times with his index finger.
"That is correct. You must have heard of the bridges getting destroyed across the world?"
Dr. Weber slowly bobbed his head.
"We suspect that the gravitational imbalance is from a supermassive [IK1] black hole somewhere in the universe, and its coordinates indicate that it is located somewhere in the galaxy, Cirius. I would not have to tell you that its energy is growing exponentially…" Michael paused as one of the waiters passed by him. Once the staff was at a safe distance, he continued. "And we believe it can be counteracted by a similarly powerful but oppositely charged source of energy." Michael paused again, this time to accommodate any question that Dr. Weber may have.
"Who are we?"
"We are United Systems Verse. I work as their systems engineer." Michael candidly offered.
"So, they could not send in the director?"
"The director is eagerly waiting for an update…"
"Or the producer?"
Michael narrowed his eyes and studied the old man for a second. "Beg your pardon?"
"You know, the producer of the movie," Dr. Weber hesitantly said, "or, or, someone from your production company, what did you call it? The Universal Systems…"
Michael decided it would not be right to laugh at the face of the man he desperately needed help from.
"Sir, you have misunderstood me. United Systems Verse is a futuristic corporation, and we have identified a black hole as the source of energy causing this gravitational shift."
"I have never heard of it." The old man sat up as straight as he could and removed his stick from the table. He adjusted his glasses again, this time with a hint of distance in his eyes.
"I understand that, Dr. Weber. Now, in the next five minutes, I will explain to you all I have been through in the last forty eight hours, and then, you can decide to help us or not."
Michael Best did exactly that, and five minutes later, the two men of entirely different generations sat across each other on the table, each with a different set of questions on their minds.
"You must already know that I don't believe any of the horse sh*t that you just fed me." The piercing look in Dr. Weber's eyes was back.
"Of course, you do not."
"But I became a scientist for a reason."
"….."
"To feed my curiosity."
Michael breathed a sigh of relief.
"And it is for the same reason that I will help you."
"And I look forward to working with you, Sir. What is next?"
"I am glad you asked." Dr. Weber stood up, his walking stick tapping on the ground. "Next, we will visit my favorite holiday destination, the Antiproton Decelerator at CERN."