Atom By Atom

I let out a breath, a puff of air winding itself around my face before dissipating. My black heels clacked against the floor as I speed walked down the hallway. A pleated scarlet skirt swished against my ankles and I swore I could hear my heart beating in my ears. This was just another one of those college lectures, and I'd given hundreds before. It was nothing new, so why was I sweating like crazy? Maybe it was just a random attack of stage fright. Yet I still couldn't manage to shrug it off.

Despite my inner nervousness, I schooled my features into a neutral expression like I'd taught myself, essentially "putting on the mask." I took a deep breath before I swung the door open to the auditorium. I always felt a bit panicky before giving speeches, no matter how many times I'd practiced beforehand.

A couple hundred students were seated in the rows of velvet chairs. The school principal was on the stage, burgundy velvet curtains tied behind her. I walked down the waxed wood stairs. My footsteps echoed loudly in the hushed auditorium, and curious faces turned to watch me as I passed their seats, plastering on a smile as I reached the stage.

"Dr. Creaux!" Madame Toroshknova called, a thousand-watt smile on her face. "So glad you could join us today for a presentation on quantum entanglement. The students are very eager to hear about the world of subatomic particles. I understand you'll only be with us for about an hour today, is that right?"

She swooped down from the mic and shook my hand with an extremely firm grip. I smiled in return. "Yes, that's correct, but I intend to make this the most fun lecture you've ever heard!" I said, glancing out at the field of college students, many with disinterested expressions. Scattered cheers rose from the audience, but were quickly silenced.

I cleared my throat and stepped up to the podium as Madame Toroshknova moved to the side, her expression unreadable and her hands clasped behind her back. "Have any of you tried the cup-and-string telephone experiment as kids? I know I have, and I was certainly fascinated by it. It may seem like a poor analogy, but in tuth, quantum entanglement is kind of like that. First, you have two subatomic particles that are....."

I continued with my speech for exactly fifty-five minutes and thirty-seven seconds. By the time I was done, I had finished two bottles of water and the audience was clapping. I wiped a sheen of sweat off my brow and grinned to myself. The seventeeth lecture I had given in the past two months. Madame Toroshknova took the mic from me and thanked me from coming; the usual sentiments; and then I was off to my lab at the National Physics Institute. I had some projects to work on.

My grip was loose on the steering wheel as I wound through the narrow, twisting streets, stopping at a Starbucks along my route for a mocha and a brownie. The cityscape gave way to a small stretch of deserted plains with brown shrubs dotting the red sand, hills rising in the distance, then turned back into a bustling metropolis again. I swerved to avoid a honking truck with the Amazon logo crudely painted along its side in blue, then made a couple of sharp turns to dodge the red lights. A taxi honked at me as my silver Jeep cut across its path. Sorry, buddy, but I was in a hurry. I slowed down as I turned on to private roads. In no time at all, I arrived at an immaculately cut green lawn and a steel-and-brownstone facade. I was at the Institute.

Parking my Jeep in the staff lot, I hurried across the path and up the steps, flashing my ID at the scanner above the door handle. It gave a satisfied beep and the lock clicked open, letting out a flood of harsh light and revealing pristine white halls and teams of researchers and scientists rushing to and fro. I spun quickly to avoid an intern with a load of microscopes threatening to fall and pressed the elevator button. It glowed yellow-white against my palm and dinged as the steel doors slid open, but a hand on my shoulder stopped me in my tracks.

"Dr. Creaux! Hold up, Jen!" came a voice from behind me. I turned to see one of my best friends, Cameron Levinsky, her frizzy black 'fro framing her blinding smile and dangling striped earrings. She was panting slightly. She'd been running to catch up with me. I stuck my foot in the elevator door to keep it from closing and put my hand against the wall. "What's up, Cameron?" I said, tucking a stray auburn lock behind my ear and smiling back. Her grin was infectious. Her smile disappeared, replaced by a look of seriousness. "Dr. Harper wants you in the accelerator lab, ASAP."

"Why, did Jinx blow something up again?" I said exasperatedly. "Not this time. He's actually been doing pretty well managing things over there. I think they managed to capture an antihydrogen particle, but it definitely won't stay long. It's bound to annihilate soon so you'd better hurry."

"On it!" I let the elevator doors shut and dashed away in the opposite direction. "Good luck!" Cameron called after me. "This could be a possible breakthrough!" That did nothing to alleviate my shaking hands, as much from excitement as nervousness. I focused on getting to the lab as soon as possible. God, why did they have to make these hallways so long?

I sprinted down the hallway, yelling,"Watch out! Coming through!" to anyone within earshot. Strands of hair flew out of my tightly coiled bun as I reached the glass doors, panting, and stepped into the lab, smoothing down my white coat. I offered greetings to the other scientists present, then asked Dr. Harper, "Dr. Levinsky said you wanted me?"

Dr. Harper barely looked up from a glowing screen, her brow furrowed in concentration as they all watched the whirring particle accelerator with barely concealed tension. She waved a hand in my direction. "Yes, I heard you're good at chemical analysis?"

"Yes, ma'am." She showed me a magnified image of a glowing particle in different lights, first infrared, then X-ray, then radio waves. "I need you to analyze this, and pronto. According to Leila, we've only got twenty seconds until this thing annihilates, and this is the longest we've ever been able to keep one of these particles around." I took the screen from her and concentrated, pulling up scanners as fast as I could and running the program, noting every color that flashed on the screen.

"Nearly got it!" I cried out in excitement, and the doctors crowded around where I stood, peering over my shoulder. "Annnnnd...it's annihilated." There was a collective groan of disappointment. "Well, did you at least manage to get the properties?" "Nope. Standard positron and antiproton, nothing beyond that."

Dr. Harper frowned. "Well, on the bright side, it stayed for FAR longer than the last antihydrogen particle. That one was around for only about 40 billion nanoseconds."

The doctors dispersed and I made my way to my office. I had a research paper I was working on, and it was due tomorrow. A knock on the door distracted me from my computer. " Jen? Can I come in?" A shaggy mop of brown hair peeked around the doorway. "Oh, hey, Jinx. Yeah, sure, come in, just mind the mess." I pointed to a shark tooth paperweight he was about to step on. He quickly hopped away and maneuvered around the stacks of documents and unfinished papers scattered around. I saved my paper and shut down the computer, then turned to face him. "What did you need?"

He looked nervous, brown loafers tapping against the ground. "W-well, I, um.. accidentally leaked radioactive chemicals into the Accelerator Lab."

"WHAT?!!"