Edward knocked softly on the smooth wood, a dim gold light escaped underneath the door. He heard a small click and some shuffling. “Come in,” a voice croaked. Edward shifted the tray he held, careful not to drop its contents. He twisted the knob, pushing open the door inch by inch. Edward held his head low, he wasn’t used to seeing Percival confined to a bed. Percival closed his book, placing it down along with a pen on his end table. Edward wondered what he wrote in it, the butler’s head was in it ever since the train incident.

Edward placed the tray next to his book, “I brought you the antibiotics and food you asked for and… a coloring book.”

Percival raised an eyebrow, “Thank you, Edward. But, I must ask, why the book?”

The teen grabbed one arm, his eyes glued to the ground. “I thought it would be good practice for your fine adjustment… if you don’t want it, it's fine.” Now that he thought about it, writing would be better than coloring inside the lines for practice.

The butler’s eyes stayed on him, “Thank you. Where did you acquire such a thing in the first place?”

Edward gestured towards the door, “Oh Alexa gave it to me when she found out I drew. I really have no use for it and thought you might need it for your…”

“Cybernetic hand?” Percival finished. Edward nodded. The butler held his new hand up and moved each finger one by one. He did his best to avert his eyes. Seeing flesh connected to machinery was something to get used to. Edward also heard the butler’s right calf wasn’t recoverable either, luckily he couldn’t see it under the blanket. “How thoughtful of you Edward. I didn’t know you liked to draw.”

“Well, when my parents weren’t forcing me to go to work with them and my brother wasn’t around I needed something to do. I was never good at sports so I just started drawing. My parents never objected so I never stopped, even if I’m not very good at it.” The first part of the last sentence was sort of a lie, father told him it was a waste of time and his mother tried to coerce him into studying textbooks. “My brother always said I was the best artist he had ever seen. In the end, I think he was just trying to be nice.”

“Interesting. Have you sketched anything recently?” Percival asked.

Edward shook his head, “Master wants me to be more acquainted with the ‘Patriots’ and let him know anything of note.” They were planning an expedition to South Carolina from what he heard. Although not everyone was keen on working with SCIL, least of all Alexa. “What do you think of SCIL?”

Percival’s demeanor changed. Edward no longer felt he should be there anymore. “Can you hand me some water you brought, there is no short way to explain SCIL, let alone my thoughts on them.” Edward complied. After a few sips, the man began to relate a history that Edward knew, yet- it was different. “They might cause the destruction Eiden desires, but not the destruction that needs to happen.”

What did that mean? Edward asked himself.

“South Carolinas are a proud people. The state almost tore the Empire asunder for their own personal gain. Few states remained loyal to the crown; North Carolina among them.” Percival paused, taking another sip. “When the loyal states won victory for the Emperor they were given the land, in part or in whole, of the traitors. South Carolinians, still to this day, resents their Northern brethren for betraying them and subjugating them.”

Edward nodded, “So that is why SCIL still fights.” How can someone hold on to something for almost two hundred years? He wondered. “If all they want is Independence… Why is it an issue working with them?”

The butler sighed, “SCIL will imitate their forefathers and drag every other discontented party within the Empire into another bloody civil war. The death of the Imperial council, your brother’s captors, is all that is needed for permanent peace. They are the true enemies of the Empire. SCIL will never compromise with us, if anything it is more likely that they will impede our work. The fact we had one part of our group from the beginning only complicates things further. Not to mention our alliance with the Scottish Mafia.” Edward couldn’t argue with that. He had seen no trace of Leo ever since the Gala. It made him wonder where he had been taken. Percival pivoted the conversation, “I heard that Master has assigned you to the University.”

“Yes,” Edward stated.

“What do you think?” The man continued to probe.

Edward wasn’t sure what he felt. Thankfully he wouldn’t have to deal with Eiden or Master. He also thought that it was Master’s way of ridding him. “I don’t really know. I guess it's another way I can be useful.” He didn’t like the fact he had to work on one of his parent’s creations, he didn’t want to be them.

Percival looked disappointed with his answer, but nodded, “Indeed.”

Edward glanced at the clock, “I have to go now.”

Before he could leave Percival asked, “Can you give something to Alexa? Tell her I’d like to listen in on the SCIL meeting.” The butler reached over to his end table and opened the top draw. He pulled out what looked like a small coin.

“Sure.” He obliged.

Percival tossed it to him. Edward juggled it until it inevitably fell to the ground. The old man chuckled, “You weren’t kidding when you said you weren’t good at sports.”

Edward replied with a nervous chuckle, “Yeah.” The boy closed the door as he left. His feet dragged against the floor, he really wasn’t looking forward to University. Edward took a closer look at the listening device. It was no bigger than a quarter. It was almost all grey mesh with a small black outer ring. He wondered why Percival didn’t want to give it to Eiden, he was one of the originals. People made little sense to him.

Edward stopped by his room first before descending to the ground floor. He organized the loose papers on his desk. Most were filled with notes of energy requirements for the collider designed by his parents. Which in his opinion were woefully unrealistic to achieve. He wondered if they were throwing more mass around to compensate. Others were reproductions of important concepts he needed to commit to memory.

Edward closed the book and placed it inside of a leather satchel Master had given him. Master had also given him an allowance of banknotes as well as a cellphone. He had little to call his own, which was fine with him. He entered the elevator, he evaded nagging thoughts by distracting himself by picking at a loose strand on his bag. He shouldn’t complain too much; at least he didn’t have to face down the Dame. A shiver went down his spine.

The doors opened. He would have to see if Alexa was at the bar. Hopefully, she was the only one, he thought. Some of the patriots were less than inviting than the Dame. The commotion he heard up ahead dashed those hopes. The boys hesitated to round the corner, taking a careful look where everyone was situated. Most everyone surrounded a table. On one side was a guy who was probably named Felix and the other side was the SCIL guy, Baethen. Eiden was nowhere to be found, ever since their visit to the University he only saw him in passing.

Thankfully Alexa was isolated at the bar counter. She was accompanied by Kevin and a guy whose name escaped him. Henry, probably, he thought. He ducked his head low, out of the corner of his eye he saw why everyone was so interested in the table. There was a chessboard. Baethen played white and Felix on black. The latter was losing... badly.

Edward ignored the slaughter and made a beeline for the counter. Alexa took notice of him and waved him over. He returned the gesture, albeit a smaller one. Edward held out the coin to Alexa, “Percival wanted to listen in on the SCIL meeting.”

She nodded and pocketed the item. She opened her mouth. But before the words could escape her mouth a loud grown came from the crowd. Baethen chuckled and sat back in his chair.

Kevin raised his mug at Felix, “You shouldn’t be surprised you lost, Baethen has been winning all night.” He took a sip.

Alexa shook her head, “At least he lasted more than eight moves.”

Kevin spat out his coffee, “You didn’t have to bring it up again.” Alexa made a crude response and it only degraded from there. Edward tuned them out. His eyes were fixed on the chessboard. It made him feel uneasy. His staring got him unwanted attention. Baethen leveled his eyes on him. The boy’s head snapped back to Alexa.

“So you are the one who saved us,” Baethen stated. His words reverberated throughout the room, stopping any conversation dead.

Edward gave him a slight nod and made a small noise of confirmation. Although he would object that it was not really him. But, that would only open the door to other questions. The less he knew the better, he told himself.

“Would you like to play a game of chess?”

His gut reaction was to decline the offer, but the words got caught in his throat. It didn’t help that there was an underlying danger in his words.

Alexa stepped in… the wrong way. “You really think you can beat the kid who outsmarted the Dame?”

Edward gritted his teeth, he didn’t need Alexa speaking for him. He looked at the clock, hoping it would free him from this situation. Unfortunately, it did not, he still had a bit of time before he’d be picked up for University. “I could play a round,” he finally said. Edward slid into the chair. He couldn’t help but to think about Master. He mustn't give up, he mustn't lose, the words echoed in his mind as he put back the pieces. He felt Baethen’s gaze on him, it wasn’t nearly as intense as Master’s. Though the sheer amount of people that surrounded him, which he tried to ignore, didn’t help.

Baethen made his opening move. “William is it?”

Edward responded both in the game and his question. “Yes.”

“You look pretty young William. How old are you?” The man took his turn.

“Sixteen.” A bit of surprise crossed his and most of the Patriot’s faces. Edward focused on the game. Baethen had opened with an ‘English Gambit’. The boy decided that the ‘Hedgehog Defense’ would counter it the best.

Baethen hesitated on his next move. It seemed he’d caught on to his strategy. “Who taught you how to play?” He asked after making a less than advantageous play.

Edward wondered how much he knew of Master. “Master taught me.” The boy tried to seize the advantage, but as he took his hand off the piece he realized he made a miscalculation.

His opponent raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Is it the same Master Eiden always goes on about?” He made another move, countering his defensive stance. “Tell me about this ‘Master’.

The boy shifted in his chair. The air in the room went stagnant. If Eiden didn’t tell Baethen, should he have any right too? Edward lingered on that question. Unfortunately, his next move was of little benefit, but it wouldn’t garner a negative outcome. “I don’t think there is much I can say.”

“Come on now. You have probably spent the most time with him barring Percival and Eiden.” The man leaned closer to him. “Surely there is no reason not to. Unless he has something to hide from us.”

Edward swallowed hard. He looked around for help- yet everyone’s eyes were on him. Each had a certain level of interest, even Alexa. “Um…”

“Hey, brat! Your ride is here.” Eiden trudged into the room. Baethen’s expression turned hostile. The teen glared back, “What?”

“Nothing. You just interrupted our game.” The man said. “We shall continue this later, William.” Edward gave a curt nod and grabbed his stuff. He wondered if Eiden stepped in purposefully. Edward was grateful, his lips curled slightly upward. The teen didn’t return the gesture.

Eiden rolled his eyes. “Yea. Yea. You can continue it when Washington burns.” Eiden perplexed Edward. Personally, Edward didn’t necessarily hate the Emperor. The only people he truly hated were his parents. Yet, Eiden’s hatred for their ruler was a mystery. The more he thought about it the more he didn’t understand. What of Percival- or even Master? “Are you deaf too, brat? Your ride is here.” The teen’s eyes bore into him. He shuffled past Eiden with his head low. As he opened the door to the garage, his ears just picked up a conversation.

“Where have you been anyway?” Vitus asked.

“Gathering intelligence,” Eiden replied.

“What kind of intelligence?” A female voice questioned.

There was a long pause. He wondered if they knew he was listening in and were talking quieter. The limo looked like it was about to leave him. In the end, he probably should have continued to walk. Because the next words made his blood run cold.

“There is an Inquisitor in Carolina.”

***

“I still don’t understand,” Edward admitted. Edward and Dr. Heisen walked through the corridor parallel to the atrium. Director Gloucester had split off from them after he unlocked the door for them. It was the early morning hours, the campus was mostly dead. He could still see stars through the glass dome.

“Speak accurately, Edward. It is imperative to do so, especially in your research.” Dr. Heisen reproved.

Edward swallowed hard, she talked just like his mom. “The collider… it doesn’t make much sense to me. The particles don’t have time to get fast enough to release enough energy to create a black hole. That was my parent’s intention.”

The Doctor didn’t respond right away. She looked off into the distance. ”Perhaps ‘black hole’ isn’t quite the correct terminology.” She conceded. “ Have you ever heard of the theory of individuation, Edward?”

The teen shook his head ‘no’.

“It describes how different things are different. For instance, what makes a rock, a rock. What makes a squirrel, a squirrel. We seek to create something to break down the differences between objects. We hypothesize an incredible amount of energy is released every time this occurs.” She looked down at him with a curious look.

Edward thought about the concept. His parents thought similarly, only that a black hole would release the energy, not the act of breaking down matter. “What does it have to do with black holes?”

“Black holes’ ability to trap all matter, even light, and store it as a 2-D hologram within the event horizon shares attributes with our theory.” Dr. Heisen adjusted her monocle.” The act of breaking down objects to their foundation is the through-line.”

He nodded. The two were similar at face value, but not the same mechanically. “Is it possible to do the reverse, to use the foundational information and recreate the object?”

Dr. Heisen firmed her lips, “Theoretically, no. According to the 2nd law of thermodynamics, the sum of entropy must always increase. The material that is presumed to be left is infinitely entropic, it would seem unlikely to reverse such a thing. However, life itself pushes back this idea. Converting chaos, or food, into order, or cells. This is referred to as negative entropy, negentropy for short.”

“Unlikely, but not impossible, then,” Edward concluded.

The woman nodded, “Some believe so.” The pair entered the empty observation deck. “Testing won’t begin until 0600, in the meantime, I’ll show you our archives.” Edward followed her to a door on the far side of the room. It was similar to corridor one, only it took one card to open. There was a large ‘thunk’ before the door swung open. Rows upon rows of beige filing cabinets filled the room. “Most of it is uninteresting maintenance records as well as a few old test results. Best use of them would be to familiarize yourself with the general schematics of accelerators.”

Edward nodded. The boy tiptoed into the room. He took account of every cabinet. Most had the letter ‘M’ followed by the year and month. ‘M’ meant maintenance, he guessed. Others had ‘T’ for ‘test’. There was a large gap in years from the latter half of 1981 to the beginning of 2022. He had a hard time recalling anything at the end year or even the surrounding years. It gave him a headache trying to remember. Nevertheless, the gap was strange. “What kind of roadblock did you hit?” He asked.

Dr.Heisen remained in the doorway. “Fetch the test results of the last two months of 2029. Passcode: Lima, Charlie, India, Alpha. It was the final time we conducted experiments with our old collider and the first time we tested the new collider. We will compare them with last week’s findings.”

Edward hesitated for a moment. Through his hazy memory, he remembered his parents… was it his parents? Using a similar code language. It was most likely military, probably. He punched, L.C.I.A. into the small keypad. The drawer slid open revealing twelve cream packets. Edward pulled out November and December files, each was about an inch thick. The boy had to use both arms to carry them. Dr. Heisen leaned over one of the control panels typing into the console. A mirror-like panel stretched along each wall, only broken by the glass pane as well as an elevator door near the corner of the pane. The portion above the Doctor turned black like a TV screen. Like someone drawing in a picture, the diagram came in bit by bit. It started with semi-opaque squares of teal forming an oval ring close to the center. Next were solid lines of yellow protruding from the epicenter, they fanned out as they approached the teal ring. Some arched while some remained straight. Solid red circles started in the middle and faded out, never reaching the squares.

She grabbed the folders from him and flipped through them. Taking out a small poster board from each. They looked to be made out of pitch-black film material. On the left were the results of the older collider and the right new results. “When protons are smashed together they decay into two main components: hardon jets and electrons.”

He nodded, “I understand. The decay can reveal new particles.”

“Correct.” She pointed towards the left film, “However we aren’t looking for new particles. I’ll explain more in-depth later.”

Edward considered it. What were they looking for then? The boy thought. Surely

“This is what a classical collider looks like, with some variation, of course, the particle jets generally go in four directions. As seen here.” The hadron jets shot out horizontally and vertically, few deviated from this pattern. She continued, “Electrons mirror the jet pattern, the highest concentration appears near the end of the jets.”

Edward’s fingers hovered over the diagram, committing it to memory.

“The second example follows a similar pattern with some key differences. Although this collision produced less energy. It looks like it decayed faster. In actuality, it had a slower rate of decay. If we were to increase the energy, the difference would be visibly noticeable. We are unsure why this is as of now.” She then gestured toward the newest results. “As you can see jets are cone-like and fade almost immediately. The electrons don’t clump up and form a ring around the epicenter.”

Edward stepped closer towards the screen. How strange, he thought. His parents’ notebook didn’t have any diagrams like this one.

Dr. Heiden went on, “If the theory of individuation is correct, then we should see a physical manifestation of, for lack of a better term, a field. The violent destruction of protons should give us a glimpse. Results so far have been inconclusive.”

“What of the erratic test results?” He asked. “Do they have something to do with it?”

The doctor adjusted her monocle. “Perhaps. But, there has been no evidence to support or deny such a thing. And if it is that, why haven’t we detected any foundational matter, lest we forget this predicament is a new development with no clear cause.”

Edward frowned and said nothing. What she said made sense, but he couldn’t help but drift towards the mysterious field. His parents had mentioned an Eternal Individuation field, it had to be related. And why did they expect him to figure it out?

Dr. Heisen put the results in their respective folder. “You can review more in-depth later, for now, testing is about to begin.”

The boy looked up and to the right towards the wall of glass. His feet carried him closer to the spectator. What once was a void-like space was lit up by hundreds of lights. The structure was twenty-five stories tall, the observation deck lay opposite of it, somewhere between the 17th and 19th levels. Scientists and engineers scrambled about everywhere, like an ant farm. From his point of view, the levels were like a bookshelf that curled around the apparatus. Most of the personnel were crowded around two-story-high white cubes. Engineers carted bronze canisters to each cube, inserting them into circular hatches. “What are they putting into the white boxes?” He asked.

The doctor strode up beside him with a pen and clipboard. “They are replacing the coils of the magnetic field generators. The seven ‘boxes’ are micro-accelerators, quite powerful for their size. They need constant maintenance due to the sheer amount of force needed to maintain a tight ring. Once all of them reach the target speed they are directed into the greater accelerator. The beams collide at the crossing point, otherwise known as the ‘Heart’.”

He didn’t think that was possible, his parents were truly talented. No wonder they expected so much from him, he thought. They never talked to him about anything except work. He didn’t even remember the majority of it anyway. There was a certain thing missing however… his parents had referred to it as a sort of catalyst to jumpstart the reaction. Was it the micro accelerators?

An electronic hum filled the air. “Cooling electromagnets.” A man’s voice rang over the intercom.

Dr. Heisen pressed a button causing a mic to emerge from the console. “Initialize radiofrequency cavities.” She made a few more clicks, removing the old diagram and filled it with several charts. A few were: temperature of electromagnets, the voltage of all the micro-accelerators, the status of radio cavities, and collision results.

“Cooling process complete. Isolation of protons… complete.” The intercom responded.

“Begin Test.” Dr. Heisen ordered.

Edward held his breath. Signs flashed: PARTICLE BEAM ACTIVE. There was no grand noise like many would think nor even a crackle of electricity. Just a low hum of cooling fans and idle chatter. Despite this he swore he could feel the power coursing through the machine. Maybe it was the knowledge of exponentially growing voltage displayed by the chart. All accelerators had already passed one teravolt (A million times million volts).

After a few minutes, some movement caught his eye. A few scientists on the upper level halted their conversion and were fixed on their monitor. A few seconds later the two stations center-right had a similar happenstance. Soon it was all seven. Edward turned to their own screen, at a glance he didn’t notice anything amiss from his limited knowledge.

Dr. Heisen pressed the intercom, “Status report, Dr. Hadley.”

“The particle beams are unusually unstable.” The doctor informed. “Gathering specific data now.”

Heisen didn’t waver, “I have no reading. The voltages are not showing any evidence of instability. The estimated target of 9,947,968 laps per seconds is being hit.”

There was a long pause before Hadley responded, “It does not have to do the power, it is the structure. The beams hit ten points past the instability tolerance of fifteen. We run the risk of hitting the tube wall. ”

She crossed her arms, “Reduce temperature to 1.5 Kelvin (-456.97F). Divert emergency power if required.”

Edward looked on as the staff scrambled around, trying their best to get control of the situation. It made his stomach turn over. The intercom crackled, “Lowering temperature has no effect… beams are four femtometers away from the tube wall.”

Dr. Heisen pressed a hand against the desk, “Engage emergency shutdown.”

Edward raised his hand toward the glass. It looked like it was vibrating.

“Emergency shutdown engaged,” Hadley responded.

The window warped at his touch. Edward groaned and pulled away. He felt pressure on his head. Not again, he thought. Another headache. The mechanical humming wined down and the window returned to normal. Edward teen gagged and covered his mouth. “Where is the nearest bathroom?” He whimpered.

“On the opposite end of the records room there is a door, go through it and it should be on your right.” She informed him. The doctor was so engrossed in the test playback she didn’t even look at him. Two scientists walked out of the elevator door, taking no note of the boy. Edward dashed through the archives and stumbled into the dark corridor. He ripped the door open and tried to heave the contents of his stomach out, but nothing came save for a few dribbles of spit. His head was held over the porcelain bowl for an unknown amount of time. His eyes were squeezed shut.

Edward leaned back against the concrete wall. Rain sprinkled down on him. Leopold stood on the opposite side. His eyes were blank and his chest did not rise and fall. Edward looked at the water pooling around his feet. “William,” Leo said. Edward didn’t respond. “William. William!” He said louder. Lightning flashed across the sky. The boy covered his ears before the thunder ensued.

“William!” Dr. Heisen called out.

Edward shot onto his feet. “Yes, Doctor?”

“It is time to review the results.”

Edward wiped his nose and took a deep breath. The nausea subsided. He opened the door to Dr. Heisen’s stern expression. He averted his eyes from her. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something unexpected. Her face softened. He wasn’t sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him. The Doctor made no comment on his condition and walked to the lab. Edward hesitated for a moment before following. Several cabinets were thrown open and folders spilled out across the floor. The Doctor huffed. She pushed open the door, “Haven’t I told you two a thousand times to be orderly when taking out files.”

Two men stood over piles of files. All of the screens were lit up with varying graphs and pictures. One glanced back, “Neither science nor research is clean Heisen.” So that was Dr. Hadley. Edward concluded. He has the same voice as the one on the intercom. The man looked young compared to Heisen. He had a few gray streaks amidst brown and a face that looked like he just graduated from medical school. The other man was just as young, maybe just a bit younger. Dr. Hadley took notice of Edward, “Oh? Who is this?”

Before he could introduce himself Dr. Heisen interrupted. “We can talk about that later. Have you been able to figure anything out from post-test results?”

“Yes, the quantum computer picked up slight power variations. It is possible that these variations lead to the collapse of the beams.” The younger man briefed the room.

Dr. Hadley scratched the back of his head, “This makes everything more complicated, we’ve never had such problems. I knew the new PACRL was a bad move. It has brought nothing but failure.”

Dr. Heisen nodded, “I am inclined to agree, but we have to move forward. The work of Evander and Aquila mustn’t go to waste.”

Hadley looked exasperated, “Don’t tell me you have defaulted into sunk cost fallacy.”

She didn’t respond. The man sighed and turned back. Heisen walked over to the window.

Edward shadowed the two male scientists, taking in all the information. As the minutes ticked by a strange pattern started to form. “Are you sure?” The words tumbled out of his mouth in a form of a whisper. Yet it was loud enough for the three of them to hear.

“Speak up, kid,” Hadley said.

He swallowed, “No it’s nothing.” They were much smarter than he was. Who was he to contradict them?

Hadley didn’t take that for an answer. “If you have something to contribute then say it. If we don’t produce promising results the Governor will lose interest.” He urged.

Edward let out a heavy sigh. “Are all of the Accelerators tied to the same generator?”

The other scientist pushed his glasses up, “No. They each are on a different line. I am Doctor Maxwell. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Then I don’t believe it was the power then. How does each particle beam decay at the same time and in the same pattern?” Dr. Hesien turned to face him but said nothing.

“If you are suggesting our analysis is wrong. What other explanation would you have?” Maxwell further questioned.

“Is it possible that an external ‘field’ was pushing or pulling it apart? Maybe there is a transitional period between the states of matter and foundational matter.” The three were silent for a few minutes. Edward wanted to disappear. What he said was so stupid. He had no evidence to back his claim. He should have said nothing.

Dr. Hadley was the first to break the silence. “Where did you find this kid, Heisen?”