Valkeryn 2: The Dark Lands (41 page)

Chapter 39

Twelve Months Later

Becky and Edward sat on the grass in the emerald green parklands that had once been the grounds of the Fermilab Facility. A year had passed since Harper and his team had shut down the accelerator and stopped the gravitational anomaly that had caused the rift in time and space.

There had been the usual news embargo, confidentiality contracts, compensation, threats of what would happen if they breached national security. It didn’t matter; who would ever believe them? Even now, Becky wondered what was true and what was all just a bad dream.

She closed her eyes and lifted her head to the sun, allowing the rays to bathe her face.

‘Do you still wonder what happened to him?’

Edward yawned and turned to her. ‘Sure, I do. But I bet he’s all right.’

She frowned. ‘Harper said that the entire timeline would have been erased. Without our world being destroyed, theirs could never rise, could never exist. He also said he had no idea what would happen to someone from our world if they were there when it simply, ceased being.’

Edward exhaled. ‘Hurts my head to think about it.’

Becky opened her eyes and stared out cross the green grass. ‘He looked different.’

Edward shrugged. ‘Didn’t notice.’ He turned to look over his shoulder at the woodland surrounding the miles of lawn. ‘You know, they never found the dogs… the Guardians they called them. They’re still out there roaming around somewhere.’

Becky yawned and smiled up at the statue that Harper had erected. ‘Well, I’m going to remember him just like that.’

The bronze life-size statue was of Arn; all neat and short-cropped hair. There were two lines of words printed on its base, first “HE STILL LIVES”, and then a second line – “IN OUR HEARTS.”

Becky sighed. ‘He sure does.’ She looked at Edward. ‘I just hope he’s okay, and that he does find his way back some day.’

Edward lay back on the grass, his hands behind his head. ‘Maybe, but don’t know how. The Tevetron collider is buried under a thousand tons of concrete, and laser acceleration has been banned.’

He turned to her opening one eye, and saw the look on her face. ‘I mean, sure, me too.’

Epilogue

Uri Gorbanov stood with the Russian President and grinned with pride. He had just shown him and the energy minster around the facilities, and they seemed very impressed – and just as well. President Petrov was known to shut billion rouble projects down overnight… as well as making scientists who were judged incompetent, disappear.

He drew in a deep breath. The first test firing was always nerve wracking, and he had to perform it in front of the President himself. He had promised Petrov the secrets of the universe. If things went wrong, he was finished.

He stood before the controls, taking over the initiation from his technicians. The computer simulations had been run over a hundred times, all of them showing perfect particle collisions. He started the collider, and protons fired to begin their race around the magnetized, twenty-mile diameter ring-track, each moving faster and faster with each circuit.

His finger hovered nervously over the button. ‘The diamond will boost the rotation of the particles to the speed of light. The resulting collision will open doors onto a new world of science for Russia.’

Gorbanov grinned and motioned to the button. ‘And now, Mr. President, the final acceleration.’ He paused. ‘It is only fitting that you are given the honor.’

Petrov shrugged and pressed the button.