THE SMELLY GOO
They made it into the light-warmed hall, where everyone reclined in solemnity, listening to the melody flowing from Alban's piano. He played the Johann Pachelbel's Canon this time, which rendered everyone in motionless. When they made it into the hall, they saw all backs facing them. They browsed through the blockade of people, in search of where Olivia and the rest stood. They needed Olivia because they were sure that Mr. Basil must have placed his palm on her skin already, leaving a palm print there, which would be picked and registered by their Photon Coding device, in order to unlock the secret chamber where the tube containing the God particles was kept.
After searching for over a minute, they saw a hint of Olivia's yellow dress. She stood on one side of the hall with Mr. Basil close to her, and it seemed like they were all sunk in the melody of the music Alban played. They gently made their way through the people that stood on the way, walking quietly, in order not to make their movements suspicious. They got to where Olivia stood and held her arm. She felt a sting of cold and she quivered and turned quickly. "Kaku," she whispered, then she turned to Mr. Basil and found him focused on the platform where Alban sat.
"You need to come with us," Camillas whispered to her. Olivia turned to Mr. Basil. "Uhm, sorry Mr. Basil, I need to go get something at the hostel."
"Do you know the way from here?" He asked softly.
"Of course yes...I have company too." She smiled, gesturing to Camillas and Ali, who were smiling at him.
"Alright dear, get back soon," Mr. Basil said, granting their permission to leave the hall.
When they made it out of the hall, they all stood in the cold, staring within the hall and outside the hall intermittently, in order to check if anyone watched them.
"To the control building," Camillas said, gesticulating towards the way that led to the nucleus. They arrived at the nucleus and hid beside one of the buildings that formed the quadrangle, in order not to be caught by the lights that shone above. Circumspectively, they grazed their backs against the walls while they entered into the building.
The gloom in the building seemed to them like a thick wall which hung in the air, occupying every space they attempted to walk through, but they miraculously made it into the elevator amidst the looming darkness. After a ping from the elevator they found themselves going down, towards the underground tunnel. The cold air rising from the shafts while they descended filled their hearts with an eerie kind of fulfillment.
When they finally felt land below them, they all collectively sighed in relief. Immediately they stepped out of the elevator, Camillas sounded quietly. "The EMP jammer, now." They all clicked on it and everywhere got dark immediately, even the cameras which recorded the ongoings within the tunnel got destabilized. They began to grope through the darkness in the tunnel, guided by the detector which Camillas held. They were tempted to put on the lights, because the tunnel seemed and sounded very spooky, but they restrained from doing such. They were determined to reach where the secret chamber was.
The detector led them to the diverted corridor along which the drones trailed. They knew they were about to face another episode of a blind walk. They groped while they walked, imaginatively seeing a roseate glow at the end of the tunnel, while there wasn't. The roseate glow they imaginatively saw would turn out to be the door of the chamber where the tube of the particles was kept.
After they had walked for over five minutes, they arrived at a junction, branching both ways, and when the detector indicated left, they saw the long-sought-after roseate glow, which was just defined by red and green lights, blinking periodically. They happily increased their paces while heading for the lights, and the buzzes of the drones lingering around the steel door got more audible and less annoying to them while they approached, smiling uncontrollably, but trying to control their flexing lips. After they were confronted by the looming steel door before them, they deactivated the drones and Camillas inserted them into his suit. Done with that, he immediately realized he hadn't inquired from Olivia if she was touched by Mr. Basil. They both turned to her, and she got the message immediately. She took out the Photo Coding device from her purse. It was in form of a gun with a broad fire arm, and a cable which had an ultrasensitive, thin polymer at it's terminus was coiled around it. Olivia uncoiled the cable and gave the device to Camillas, then she pointed to her tattooed, left arm, indicating where Mr. Basil touched her. Camillas clicked on a button below the handle of the device and an ink-blue light emanated from it, irradiating the part of Olivia's arm that was touched by Mr. Basil. It blinked red for few seconds, but at the moment they saw a green light, it indicated the photons have been fully coded with his palm prints. Camillas took off the device and held the polymer before the electronic device beside the door, and a dim, blue light from the polymer was focused on the detector. After few seconds of exposure, they heard a bleep. The LED light beside the device stepped from red to green, and the doors separated from each other, revealing the foggy interior of the chamber. When they got in, they were first engulfed by the freon cooling system in the room. They barely saw anything, just fog, pierced by whispery LED lights. While others brainstormed over the possibility of getting to the tube amidst the distinct lights in the room, Ali clicked on the EMP jammer, and all the lights went off, except for a mild, verdant glow which hinted at the extreme. They glanced at each other and smiled.
"I could see the glow over there." Camillas pointed.
"So...what are we waiting for? Let's go get stuff." Olivia smiled, and they began to walk through the fog, towards where the glow hinted. When they got there, they saw a pyrex tube which floated inside a box containing a viscous liquid which shimmered with faint, yellow glints. Ali bent towards the box to perceive it, and the smell was so pungent that it made his brain quiver. He recoiled and drew back immediately, scrubbing his nose and sniffing out. "Wha th...this thing?" He pointed at it.
"Preservative I guess," Camillas said. "I once heard of a chemical which slows down the decay of particles."
"Let's just get this out," Olivia flung her hands in the air, then she dipped her hand into it and it felt like she dipped her hand into a pool of nasal slime. She grimaced in disgust while she pulled out the tube, with the slime, drooping down her hand, back into the box and unto the floor. She held her nose. "This is awful."
"Let me have it," Camillas said. She gave it to him and he took it and put it into a little leather bag he came with. He looked up at them. "Let's get the hell out of here."
When they made it out of the control building, they headed straight to the hostel, not minding if the ceremony was still on or not, they had to keep the tube out of sight, in order not to stir up suspicion.
After they all converged inside Olivia's room, Camillas took out the tube from the leather bag and held it before his gaze. The tube was made of pyrex, with geometric patterns on it. He smiled while staring at it. It seemed to him like a piece of diamond which he rescued from a volcanic eruption. He refused to believe he spent less than two hours in getting it. Ali wanted to say something, but he felt a sore in his throat, like there was friction between the walls of his vocal cord, it was as a result of what he inhaled. All he did was stretch out his hand, running his lips. Camillas handed it over to him and he gently took it, chortling silently.
"Cool, right?" Camillas smiled at him. "I wonder how Meinrad would react when he sees this."
"I think we need to call Meinrad now and tell him of this," Olivia entered, taking out her phone.
"Yes, please do, we need to leave CERN very early tomorrow," Camillas said to her. Olivia dialed Meinrad's number and he picked immediately, like he had been expecting the call for long.
"Hello Olivia, any good news?"
"We got the tube Meinrad." She smiled.
"What?" He laughed so heartily that everyone in the room heard his voice. "I am coming there right away."
"We expect your arrival Meinrad," she said, hanging up. She heaved a deep sigh afterwards, with her eyes closed. "We need to wait for Meinrad," she said to them.
"While I go have a bath." Camillas got up. "It's been a night." He smiled at them and walked out of the room, followed by Ali.