The God Particle- Part 1

The security in the CERN compound was how Michael had expected it would be. But he had the trump card. He was accompanying the father of antimatter, Dr. Maximilian Weber. The sprawling campus had hundreds of buildings, over a 400,000 sqm of floor space, Michael's tablet had informed him earlier. The one they were headed to was in the center of the campus.

"Dr. Weber!" A man dressed in military uniform hollered when he saw Dr. Weber approaching the security checkpoint. "I was not expecting you in the dead of the night." The corporal walked up to them, followed by his subordinates.

"Good evening to you as well, Sgt. Hover. My friend here is from Caltech. I worked with him briefly." The old man pointed at Michael while explaining in his accented English. The corporal studied Michael from head to toe with sharp eyes. "He is here in Geneva for the same conference that I am. I thought I should show him how I won the Nobel Prize."

It took Michael and Dr. Weber minutes to teleport from the convention in Munich to the CERN compound in Geneva. The old man did not even bat an eyelash when a portal opened up before him. He only remarked that he hoped that was how he moved to the afterlife.

"Ah, an American in Geneva." Sgt. Hover extended his rough, big hand to Michael for a firm handshake. "You catch us on a bad day. It does not usually rain like this in March. But, welcome." The weather was muggy indeed with a bit of drizzle, but Michael had seen worse.

"So, may we?" The physicist asked.

"Oh yes," the sergeant gestured to them to walk through the security gates, "once you are both cleared, I can escort you to the building in my jeep."

It was easy to get clearance at the first checkpoint. There was nothing suspicious about Michael's Universal Digi ID, a special gadget that Master Ishu had immediately authorized to Michael once he transmitted his mission update to him. Michael hoped that the ID digitally connected to USV was as good as Master Ishu had promised.

"The entry to the building at this hour may rely on your level of clearance." Sgt. Hover informed Michael as the group made their way to his jeep.

"I have been granted clearance already." Michael waved his Universal Digi ID, which looked like a CERN ID card now.

Michael wanted to spare a quick glance at his mission objective once more before they went inside the building, but the dark, ill-lit road leading from the gates to inside the campus made it impossible. He never felt the need to check his phone as often as he felt the need to check his tablet now. The three of them rode the jeep through a meandering road, lined by tall silhouettes of trees on either side. Being the middle of the night, they passed very few staff inside the compound. Every multi-storied building had a few of its windows lit up; it must be the scientists working late into the night. On their way, they passed what looked like several restaurants, a large dome-shaped auditorium, and even skywalks. At last, after fifteen minutes of drive, they reached the center of the campus where Building 53 was located that stationed the Antiproton Decelerator.

"Here we are." The sergeant announced.

Once his passengers got off his vehicle, Sgt. Hover parked the jeep and accompanied the two inside the building. The security guard stared uncertainly at the group as they passed through the turnstile automatic gate one by one using their ID. Michael exchanged a furtive glance with Dr. Weber before he inserted his Universal Digi Passport. He released his breath he did not know he was holding once the screen light turned green and the barrier arm spun to let Michael in.

"Dr. Best, we apologize if the building is not fancy enough. We are all simple people." Dr. Weber made a humble declaration, as he shuffled towards the elevator, with the other two men following him.

"Oh, I think it is fancy enough. It just looks a little empty to me."

Dr. Weber gave a hearty laugh at Michael's attempt at amusement.

The elevators opened into a hallway that then led to a door. When Michael stepped through that door, he arrived at what looked like the engine room of a ship. The glass paneled balcony on all four sides overlooked a large piece of equipment stationed at a lower level, and that equipment was definitely not a ship engine. Michael knew that from his four-week-long internship at a California cruise.

"Welcome to what dreams are made of." Dr. Weber declared with a hint of pride in his voice. "However, Sgt. Hover, I must respectfully ask you that you leave us peasants to our field work."

"Ah, don't trust a military man with this atom bomb machine here, do we?" The sergeant had a crooked smile on his face.

Dr. Weber scoffed. "I assure you this machine is a little puppy compared to what you just described. But, yes. They are all very sophisticated equipment. And unless you have the qualifications to handle them, I must kick you out as in-charge of this laboratory."

Michael raised his brow at how strong willed Dr. Weber's tone was.

The corporal raised his hands in defence. "Okay, okay. I know to heed the orders of the one in charge. I will be right outside, doctor. Call me if you need anything."

Once the military man left, Dr. Weber turned to Michael. "Shall we?"

"In a second. Does this place have a CCTV camera?"

"It does."

Michael whipped out his tablet and pulled up the mission objectives once more.

[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: 40%

Additional Language skills: German

Teleportation: 1/4

Strength: 40%

Luck: 70%

Wealth: 50 USD, Earth

Equipment: LSI Table U89MDB; USV Portation Band; Universal Digi Passport]

Michael noticed the significant jump in his speech from 24% to 40% before he clicked on Physics System, which took him back to the screen with all the system icons. He opened the Web System and then the webcam feature. It was only a few lines of a code, and the CCTV in the CERN Building 53 Room 206 was now disabled.

"Now we are good to connect the Antiproton Decelerator to the United Systems Verse."