Think of it. A universe where the SSC was never canceled. A universe where science never lost its way, where the government and the lay people understood the importance of this project, appreciated the need for basic research.
Perhaps in that universe, the other projects, like SETI and the human genome project, were also going strong. Perhaps in that universe, the space program hadn’t stopped at the Moon, but was even now moving humanity towards the stars. Perhaps…
“Harold,” Roy said softly, “can we use your theory to travel to that other universe?”
Harold looked wistful, and shook his head. “I’m afraid that’s unlikely. The energies are just too much. You’d have to be in the path of the beam, and that would probably kill you. Of course, we could get a resonance effect going, but I’m not sure how.”
Roy bit his lower lip and nodded. “It was worth asking. Too bad we can’t use your theory to our advantage.”
The two men sat in silence for a moment, and then Harold’s eyes glinted. “Actually, we can!”
“How?”
“Look,” Harold said, “What’s the most expensive part of the SSC?”
“The ring, of course,” Roy replied.
Harold nodded, excitement in his eyes. “Yes, the ring. The detectors and even the computers are cheap compared to that. But don’t you see? We don’t have to worry about funding the ring anymore!”
“You mean to say—” Roy began.
“I mean to say that someone else in another universe is paying to run the beams. We can just set up detectors and piggyback on their experiments, like when we do experiments on synchrotron radiation. We just have to wait for a crossover, and I believe I can calculate when those will occur. And when a beam comes through—zing!—and collides with the protons in the surrounding dirt, we take data.”
Roy pressed his fingers together and leaned back in his chair. “We could restart the SSC at a fraction of the original cost,” he said, “because the scientists in the other universe have already built it.”
“My point exactly.”
Roy picked up the phone to call the Department of Energy.
5. Spin Up
The Reichen run, as Kristin called it, was six weeks in the past. It was also the only run of the collider that had actually gone perfectly, ever since Reichen threatened to shut them down. Perhaps, Kristin had told Ray jokingly, there had been something to the idea of ordering the collider to behave itself. Since then, they had run the accelerator many more times, and as always, the beams kept disappearing.
Kristin and Ray stood on the hot grassy plain, studying the detector that should have picked up the beam they had run earlier today. After half an hour of examining the huge boxes filled with plastic scintillator, she turned to Ray and said, “Now do you believe my theory?”
Slowly, Ray said, “It does seem to be the only possible answer.”
“Only answer, you mean. Ray, you’ve checked my calculations. You know that I’ve predicted every single beam disappearance since the Reichen run. Either I’m the victim of the most improbable set of coincidences, or—” She shrugged. “Or I’m right. And I must be. The data proves it.”
Ray nodded. “I guess you’re right. Too bad.”
“Too bad?” Kristin felt stunned. “What do you mean, too bad? We’ve just demonstrated something that will shake the theoretical foundations of physics as much as relativity did!”
Ray smiled, bitterly. “Come on, let’s walk back to the car.”
In the car driving back to Waxahachie, he continued. “Kristin, I didn’t mean to belittle your accomplishment. Your theory will make a major impact, and you should be proud of that. But your theory also means that we’re going to have stop running the collider immediately.”
“What? Why?”
“Because if the beams are being diverted into another universe, who knows what damage they’re doing there? We’re sending antimatter beams into the unknown. If they’re interacting with the matter of an alternate Earth…” He trailed off.
Kristin swallowed hard. “I see what you’re saying, but I don’t think we have to worry too much about that.”
“Why not? You don’t care if we’re causing matter-antimatter explosions in another universe?”
“No! It’s not that at all. We don’t have to worry about the explosions hurting anyone, because for this phenomenon to be happening, our SSC would probably have to resonate with another SSC in the other universe. It’s inherent in my calculations.”
Ray nodded. “I see. If that’s the case, then our beams would be traversing the barrier between universes simply to go from our tunnel into theirs.”
“Exactly. The beams may be going into another universe, but only if there’s an SSC ring there.” She paused. “An abandoned one, actually.”
“Abandoned? How do you know that?”
“Because otherwise the energies of their beam would cause positive feedback with ours, and—and I don’t want to think about what that would do to our universes. It might bring them together, or blow them apart.”
Ray sighed. “An abandoned ring. How ironic.”
“Ironic?”
He was silent as they took a curve. “Louis Reichen called today, from Washington.”
“Oh. It’s not good news, is it.” It was a statement, not a question.
“No, it’s not.”
“That’s why you brought up the idea of shutting down the SSC back there. To soften the blow.”
“Yes. After all, if we’re going to have to shut it down anyway, I would rather there be a good reason behind it. And if it was harming people in another universe, that would be a good reason. But this—this is just stalled budget talks and political infighting. And we’re the ones getting the ax for it.”
Kristin didn’t want to ask the next question, but needed to know. “How soon?”
“They’re giving us half a year to wrap up any experiments that we might still be running. I got them to grant us that much.”
“And then?”
“Unless we can think of some way to get those beams back, that will be the end of the SSC.”
They rode the rest of the way back in silence.
6. Spin Down
Roy couldn’t believe his luck. In only four weeks, they had convinced the DOE to reopen the SSC facility. He and Harold stood on the ground above the underground ring, watching the last of the scintillator detectors from Fermilab being installed.
“Are you sure about this, Harold?”
His eyes twinkled. “Very sure, as always. According to my calculations, this is the third most probable spot for the crossovers to occur. And anyway, the evidence is already all around us.” He swept his arm around to indicate the various holes in the ground, formed by fresh explosions during the last month. The current detector was being set up on a piece of the ground that was, as yet, unscarred.
“True,” Roy said, “although—”
A far away boom interrupted Roy. Everyone jumped, including the people setting up the new detector. They continued working when the echoes died down.
“Harold?”
“Sounds like it came from Detector One. A little early, but let’s go check it out.”
The two men drove along the circumference of the ring until they found the fresh hole, smoke lazily drifting out of it. They parked a safe distance away and approached on foot.
“Look,” Harold said, and whistled.
The hole was right in the center of the surrounding detector, which was unharmed. A blue light indicated that the detector had successfully taken data, which at this very moment the computers back in Waxahachie would be analyzing.
“I can’t believe our luck,” Roy said.