Alfa Centauri A, year 2530
Big Particle Collider “Final Line”
Diameter: 37 billion kilometres (orbit of erstwhile Pluto)
Power: 10ł8 TeV
Head of the section “Last Particles”: Dr. Lena Marta Kowalska, 30 biological years, 482 calendar years
Lena stands on the reflection bridge of the "Memory" station.
Behind the Graphene glass absolute vacuum and ringing of light – so bright that even stars fade.
It's not just an accelerator.
It is the largest building that humanity has always created—a ringing so large that its other points divide 70 light days.
Particles have been circulating in it for 3 years, gaining energy from all star they pass.
They crossed Planck's border yesterday.
In her hand amber – the same she had worn since the first day of her life.
Now she's hanging around her neck on the black substance chain she designed herself.
- Lena, are you ready?
Kai is now at the another end of the ring, 37 billion kilometers away.
Ready, he answers.
The voice is calm, as if she was just turning on the kettle, not finishing physics.
On the main screen appears the inscription:
Sample 999 999 999 999
Energy: 10l8.7 TeV
Goal: Breaking down the bottom quark by a quark unusual under Planck density conditions
Lena touches the amber.
You can inactive see a tiny fly from 44 million years ago inside.
She thinks of Martha, who in 2048 could not imagine that her kid would 1 day break reality to pieces.
Three... two... one... collision.
Light.
Not white, not colorful – just a light that the human eye should not see.
The "Memory" station trembles, although it is isolated from the vacuum by 18 layers of magnetic fields.
There's something on the screen that nobody predicted.
Not fresh particles.
Not dark matter.
No extra dimension.
A line of text appears.
A simple grey text as if individual wrote it on a steamed glass:
‘L.
That's enough.
You already know there's nothing else underneath.
Just me.
Marta’
There's absolute silence in the room.
A 1000 scientists on 40 stations at the same time see the same thing.
Kai's crying. And I'm clenching my mouth with my hand.
Lena's just smiling.
Turn everything off, he says silently.
But... this discovery of the century... – protestes individual from the theoretical section.
No, Lena answers. It's all over.
The bumper shuts down for the first time since it started.
The ringing of 37 billion kilometers fades slowly, like a giant Christmas tree.
Lena goes outside the station – in a suit she designed herself, thin as a web.
Just stars and silence.
Takes the amber off his neck.
Inside, the fly doesn't decision anymore – it never moved – but now it seems... Calm.
– I'm back, Mom – he says to the vacuum.
I broke everything I could.
There's only you underneath.
And that's enough.
It activates thrusters.
The Memory Station begins a long way back to the Solar System.
Behind it, the large Particle Collider stays as a dead ringing – a memorial of the moment,
In which humanity reached the very bottom of reality
And she found a note on the Ladybug receipt.
Lena closes her eyes.
There is no sound in the vacuum, but it hears clearly:
“Live better than I do.”
And for the first time in his life, he knows he's truly alive.
Because there's inactive nowhere to go.
Author me and Mr. Grok.
