When technology becomes religion, man will become God - Anon.
"What the fuck?"
It was the only voice that pierced the silence in the control booth, though it summarized the collective sentiment of mankind's best and brightest. It was Dr Libsky who'd said it, a PHD from MIT, 25 years of experience and just as blind to what he'd witnessed as any high-school dropout.
The particles worked together, dancing and floating in the emptiness of the accelerator to spell out a message. "Go no further, or else".
The room, only minutes ago teeming with anticipation and the chatter of dozens, was now silent but for Libsky, who repeated his statement with a great deal more deliberation.
"What the fuck?"
He looked to Sippowitz, who was manning the orientation computer, though the balding fifty-something could do nothing but shrug and look back, using his own Masters in Applied Electronics to justify the percussive maintenance he was now performing on the aging monitor.
The room remained silent for some time, a mixture of fear and anticipation gripping the cohort. They examined the particles, which remained perfectly motionless on the screen, each one sending a damning warning, an indictment of mankind's hubris. Carlson, a doctor of quantum mechanics, cupped his head in his hand and began to mutter a prayer he'd long forgotten.
"What's it at now?" asked a young, inquisitive voice. It was Williams, a high school student who'd snagged a week of work experience at CERN.
"forty per-cent" Sippowitz responded instinctively, not daring to take his eyes from the CRT monitor for fear that he'd miss something.
Williams shrugged, then gestured. "So can we see what happens at fifty?"