The black hole, a ravenous point of destruction, was insatiable. It reached for everything in its vicinity, sparing nothing.

  Emily and Raj just stood there, staring at the video feed of a once thought of impossibility. Complete and utter terror paralyzed them. All they could do was wait for the inevitable.

  Emily and Raj stood frozen, eyes locked on the video feed that captured a phenomenon once thought impossible. The sight gripped them, leaving them mentally paralyzed, as all they could do was wait for the inevitable.

  Then out of nowhere, the black hole began to slow. Its relentless pull eased, and its growth wavered. A faint light began to form around the black hole’s edge, a soft, pale blue glow undulating outward, slowly encircling the event horizon. It rippled at first, subtle, but soon grew in intensity, defying every known law of physics. The glow danced along the black hole’s edges, pushing against its immense gravity, pulsing outward in haunting waves.

  Emily, still frozen, tried to catch her breath as the impossible unfolded before her eyes. Raj, for all his usual confidence, stood motionless beside her, his analytical mind grasping for meaning in a scene that offered none.

  "Raj," Emily whispered, her voice barely audible. "What is happening?"

  Raj didn’t answer, his eyes fixed on the monitor. For the first time in his life, the man who always had an explanation, a theory, was silent.

  The rippling light reached outward, flowing through the collider’s walls without resistance, as though barriers simply didn’t exist. Every surface it touched shimmered briefly, leaving behind a faint, ethereal glow, painting the room in an otherworldly hue.

  For a brief moment, the control room fell silent, the alarms smothered beneath the sweeping waves of blue light. Emily and Raj stood motionless, watching as the ethereal glow spread across the room, swallowing every shadow, every surface with a quiet authority. The air itself seemed to still, heavy yet weightless, as if the light had rewritten the very laws of motion. The wave reached them. Emily tensed, expecting force or heat, something. But there was no impact. No pain. Only stillness.

  A soft halo emerged, skimming the edges of their forms with a faint, pulsing glow. It wasn’t a physical touch, but something deeper, resonating within her core. Emily gasped as a warmth unfurled in her chest. It spread across her body. It was gentle, yet it demanded attention. Emily felt an alien, yet undeniable connection that bypassed her senses and sank straight into her being.

  Beside her, Raj’s eyes were wide with confusion, his expression mirroring her own: awe, fear, and something else neither of them could name.

  Emily blinked, her vision of Raj dissolving into a haze as the light thickened and pulsed, a living barrier between them. She glanced down, as the blue glow traced the contours of her skin. It traced her every curve and angle, moving as though guided by invisible forces. The light shifted, arching elegantly from her head to her feet like magnetic lines drawn to some unseen field, cocooning her in a slow, torus field of radiance.

  “What... is happening?” Emily whispered as if some deep part of her had already surrendered to the unknown. She drew in a sudden, shaky breath, and the glow seemed to respond, moving in tandem with her breath. It began to swirl and condense, gathering in front of her face in a delicate spiral before cascading inward. The light spiraled into her forehead like water vanishing down a drain, leaving her skin untouched but her senses amplified.

  And then, in an instant, the blue light completely vanished.

  Alarms shattered the stillness, their shrill wail slicing through the air and jolting Emily from her trance. She blinked, her vision adjusting to the stark contrast of the harsh red lights and the cacophony of blaring sirens. The strange, otherworldly calm of moments ago was gone, replaced by chaos.

  Through the lingering haze, Raj came into view. He stood rigid, his expression vacant, as though his mind hadn’t yet caught up with his body. His eyes were unfocused, staring at something only he could see.

  “Raj!” Emily shouted, her voice strained as she fought to be heard over the deafening noise. She took a hesitant step toward him, scanning his face for any sign of recognition. “Are you okay?”

  Raj blinked once, then again. Slowly, a spark of awareness returned to his eyes, though it was faint and fleeting. His mind was still wrestling with what had just transpired. He nodded, almost imperceptibly, but the dazed look in his eyes told Emily that whatever they had just experienced, it had shaken him to his core.

  Emily’s gaze snapped to the monitor, her breath hitching as she saw the faintest flicker. A single photon, impossibly bright, tore free from the quasi-contained black hole. It shot through the air in a blur, too fast to follow, disappearing beyond the edge of the screen. Her heart skipped a beat.

  Then, as though responding to an unspoken command, the light reappeared—this time from the floor beneath her. It arced seamlessly upward, changing direction mid-flight, before flying through the computer in front of her and crashing into the adjacent wall.

  “Did you… see that?” Emily’s voice was shaky, the words catching in her throat. Her pulse roared in her ears, disbelief and fear twisting inside her. “Wait. No… no, hold on.” She stumbled back, her mind struggling to catch up. “That’s a black hole. Nothing escapes a black hole. Nothing. So how… what’s happening here?”

  Her words trailed off, her mind scrambling for an explanation where none seemed to exist. The room, still drenched in crimson light and blaring alarms, seemed to close in on her, the impossible weight of the moment pressing against her chest.

  Raj’s mouth opened as if to speak, but no sound came. His wide eyes darted from the monitor to Emily, searching for an answer that wouldn’t come. Emily’s voice cut through the haze, breaking Raj’s stunned paralysis. “Track that photon!” she commanded. Her tone carried no room for hesitation, and the urgency in her voice snapped Raj into action. The weight of disbelief gave way to the instincts of the scientist, the need to act overriding the chaos in his mind.

  Raj lunged toward another console, his fingers pounding the keyboard in a blur of movement. Lines of code and diagnostic readings flooded the screen as he tried to lock onto the photon’s erratic path. Every adjustment he made seemed futile, it was as if the light had a mind of its own, slipping between their instrument’s reach, dodging every attempt to lock on.

  "I can’t track the photon. Its trajectory, it's erratic," Raj said, his voice faltering between disbelief and focus. His eyes darted back to the primary monitor.

  Emily’s eyes flicked to the black hole on the monitor. A faint blue aura now surrounded it, pulsing gently. Her breath caught as the impossibility of what she was seeing sank in. It wasn’t expanding, it was descending, moving beyond the containment area and through the lower floors of the facility drifting downward.

  “It’s... descending," Emily murmured, her voice barely audible over the chorus of alarms. Raj was already tracking it. The screen tracked the black hole’s steady descent, a glowing point carving a path straight down…its destination unknown.

  Raj glanced up, his brow furrowed as he processed her words. Emily pointed to a live feed from one of the external cameras, her finger trembling slightly.

  “Look at that…it's going through everything! Even the ground!” she shouted, her voice tinged with disbelief. The image showed undisturbed concrete, not a single mark betraying the passage of the black hole. “There isn’t even a hole. It's like it's phasing through everything.”

  Raj stared at the feed, his face pale. “It’s not interacting with any matter?” His voice wavered, caught between awe and terror. The black hole’s descent continued, its relentless path untouched by the Earth’s molecular structure. It was as if the laws of physics themselves had been rewritten in its wake.

  Emily’s attention locked onto the screen, unable to look away. The black hole’s path glowed faintly, a surreal trace cutting through the Earth's layers.

  "It’s moving straight down. Faster now, accelerating." Raj said.

  They stared in silence at the speed in which it was moving. Its trajectory was straight to the Earth’s core. As it neared the planet’s molten core, it slowed its descent becoming a deliberate, controlled motion. The energy readings on the monitors spiked, fluctuating wildly before leveling out. With a final, almost deliberate pulse, the black hole collapsed inward.

  A single flicker of blue remained, a faint spark suspended against the black void. It lingered just above the core before gently descending and vanishing..

  A single flicker of blue remained, an ethereal spark suspended. It hovered just above the core for a moment, as if caught in hesitation, before slowly descending into the depths, disappearing without a trace.

  The control room fell silent. Alarms ceased their blaring, and the rhythmic flicker of red warning lights dimmed as the system began recalibrating. Emily exhaled shakily, her fingers loosening their grip on the console.

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  Her mind raced to catch up with what they had witnessed. "What just happened?" she whispered, the words barely audible in the newfound quiet. Coming to her senses, she spun around to Raj and asked, “Did we get all the data?"

  Raj nodded mechanically, his eyes locked on the screen as if hoping the numbers would reveal an explanation. "Every bit," he replied, though his tone carried no relief. "We tracked it all the way to the Earth's core. And then…" He paused, his words faltering. "It just… vanished."

  Emily scanned the readings. The monitors, once filled with chaotic data, now lay blank as though the event had never taken place. The black hole, the blue light, it was all gone, leaving only a chilling emptiness on the screens. The impossible had just happened, and the two scientists were left to grapple with the implications.

  “What the hell was that?” Raj’s voice came out as a hoarse whisper. He turned to Emily, his face pale, his usually sharp mind grappling to process the enormity of what they had witnessed.

  Their eyes met, and for a moment, neither of them spoke. It was a shared silence heavy with disbelief and an unspoken question.

  Emily broke first, her fingers flying over the keyboard, desperate to retrieve something, anything. "How can a black hole vanish?" she muttered, her voice tight with frustration. "Black holes don’t just… close themselves." Her breath caught as she leaned closer to the screen. "And that light, it wasn’t…" She stopped herself, unable to finish the thought. What could she even call it? Nothing in her lifetime of study came close to explaining what they had seen.

  Before Emily could piece her thoughts together, the lights overhead flickered. The monitors blinked off for a moment, throwing the room into darkness before humming back to life. One by one, the screens rebooted, their glow harsh against the dim control room. Emily’s eyes locked on the reconnected feed, now showing her and Raj’s bewildered faces reflected in its cold clarity.

  “No… no, no, no.” Raj muttering was frantic, each word layered with disbelief.

  Emily turned, her stomach tightening as she watched his face pale further. “What is it now?” she pressed, her voice sharper than she intended.

  Raj shook his head, his hands trembling over the keyboard. "It was all here. I saw the readings. The files…" he muttered to himself, his tone edged with desperation. His eyes darted over the blank screens as though sheer focus could will the data back into existence. "It’s wiped clean. There’s nothing. Even the backups are gone!"

  Emily rushed to Raj's side, her eyes scanning the monitor, her fingers gripping the edge of the console. Her heart pounded as she navigated through the data logs, each empty file deepening the knot in her stomach. "This doesn’t make sense," she said, her voice tight with urgency. "We recorded everything… How can everything just be gone?"

  Emily’s hands flew across the keyboard, switching between servers, digging through layers of storage. Every search returned the same chilling result: nothing. Her breath caught, panic creeping into her chest. "No," she whispered, shaking her head. "There has to be something. Systems don’t just lose everything."

  Raj didn’t look up, his attention fixed on the blank lines of data before him. “The data,” he stammered. “It’s… it’s all gone. Every reading, every recording, wiped. Gone.” Raj’s voice cracked as he whispered, "This isn’t possible. This can’t happen!"

  But it had.

  Every record of the impossible event, the black hole, the blue light—erased, as though it had never existed. Emily felt the weight of it settle over her, a suffocating realization that left her staring at the empty screens. Her mind reeled, searching for answers in the void.

  The control room door slammed open, the sound reverberating through the tense silence. Emily flinched as two armed guards stepped in, their boots striking the floor in perfect unison. Rifles at the ready, their stern faces bore the unmistakable air of authority. Behind them, a man in a pristine military uniform entered, his polished boots clicking against the tile. Clearly he was someone high-ranking.

  His eyes, sharp and unyielding, swept over the room before locking onto Emily and Raj.

  "Dr. Carter. Dr. Patel," he said, his tone clipped and devoid of warmth. "I am Commander Jean-Pierre Dupont, Swiss National Security Council. By order of the Council, this facility is now under our jurisdiction. You are to come with us for immediate debriefing."

  The guards didn’t move, their rifles held steady, their watchful eyes making it clear there was no room for negotiation. Dupont’s expression gave nothing away, but his posture carried the certainty of someone accustomed to compliance. Emily’s breath caught, her pulse quickening as the reality of the situation settled over her. Whatever had happened here was no longer theirs to control.

  Emily's heart sank. Of course. The mystery had barely begun to unfold, yet the iron fist of authority was already here, ready to lock it away. She stole a glance at Raj, his wide eyes mirroring her own disbelief. The situation had slipped from their hands faster than she could have imagined.

  "You will come with us," Dupont said, his voice firm, devoid of any trace of negotiation.

  Emily’s stomach churned with frustration. A flicker of indignation sparked to life, cutting through her initial shock. She straightened, her voice steady despite the storm inside. "This is our research. We need to be here to—"

  Dupont’s sharp gaze pinned her words midair, his interruption as cold as it was final. "This is no longer merely a scientific inquiry, Dr. Carter." His tone carried the weight of bureaucratic inevitability. "This incident has become a national security concern. Cooperation is not a request—it is a requirement.."

  The room felt smaller, suffocating under the unyielding authority Dupont exuded. Emily clenched her fists, her protest silenced by the hard, authoritarian truth of his words.

  Raj’s fists tightened, his knuckles white with restrained fury. "This is my project . I should—"

  "You should cooperate, both of you. NOW!" Dupont cut him off, his voice an icy command to his guards. The snap of the rifles into firing position was enough to halt Raj mid-sentence, the unspoken threat clear.

  Raj opened his mouth again, the protest lingering on the tip of his tongue, but the steel in Dupont’s eyes silenced him. His hands curled tighter into fists as he stood there, the weight of years—decades—of work slipping through his grasp. Every breakthrough, every sleepless night, crumbled under the authority of this man and the machine he represented. The helplessness burned.

  But as Dupont's focus shifted to Emily’s argument, Raj’s rage began to transform. Beneath the surface, cold, calculating thoughts took shape. This was a setback, yes, but was also an opportunity. Authorities could shut him out of the facility, but they couldn’t erase his mind, his ingenuity.

  The wheels turned in his head, the flicker of an idea taking root. Sacrifices would have to be made, he could see that now, but the goal hadn’t changed. If anything, this turn of events made it clearer: if the experiment was to continue, it would be on his terms. Dupont didn’t realize it yet, but he’d just ignited something far more dangerous than curiosity.

  Emily quickly removed the memory card from her recorder and slid it under her watchband as the guards advanced, their expressions unyielding as they gestured for Emily and Raj to follow. The clink of boots echoed in the sterile corridors of CERN, the sound punctuating the weight of the moment. Their personal items had been hastily shoved into bags, an afterthought as the guards herded them forward.

  Emily moved on autopilot, her steps falling in line, but her mind was anything but still. Fragments of the last hour swirled in her head: the photon’s erratic escape, the black hole sinking into the Earth, and that haunting blue light that defied every law of physics. Each detail clawed at her thoughts, demanding to be pieced together, to make sense.

  Beside her, Raj was silent, his jaw set tight, his movements mechanical. But Emily barely noticed. She was consumed by the gnawing certainty in her gut: this wasn’t the end. The black hole hadn’t simply vanished, and neither had its implications. Somewhere, in the chaos of missing data and suppressed instincts, lay the truth. She didn’t know where to start, but the resolve had already settled in her bones.

  Answers existed, and she would find them. No matter the cost, no matter the obstacles, Emily would be ready for what came next.

  Hours crawled by under the harsh scrutiny of interrogation. Every question chipped away at their patience, each demand for an answer striking like a hammer on fragile glass. When the sessions finally ended, Emily and Raj were separated, escorted to featureless rooms.

  Raj sat motionless in the isolation of his chamber, the sterile air pressing against his thoughts, amplifying every doubt, every fragment of unease. His mind replayed the sequence of events over and over, like a broken loop that refused to stop. He thought about the voice, the vivid clarity of that midnight revelation that had driven him to act. He had dismissed it as a dream, a momentary lapse of reason, a figment of his mind’s relentless drive. But now? The patterns, the precision, the improbable outcomes—they all fit too well. What if it wasn’t just a dream? What if I’m losing my mind? What if I’ve been wrong this entire time? What if I’m seeing things that aren’t there? He tried to push the thought away, but it clung to him. What if I’m just imagining all of this? What if someone had orchestrated this, had planned it, and I’m just a pawn in some twisted game? His hands tightened into fists. But then, another thought crept in, one that sent a chill through him: What if it’s all real? What if this was always meant to happen? Beneath the uncertainty, something else stirred—something stubborn and resolute. Whatever had started, he was determined to see it through.

  Meanwhile, Emily was thrust into a cold and windowless room, a far cry from the controlled chaos of the control room she had known just hours before.

  The guards threw her bag into the room with a harsh thud and slammed the door.

  The door locked behind them with a hollow finality. Emily sat in the sterile silence, leaving her isolated, alone with nothing but her thoughts.

  Her fingers drummed absently on the cold steel table, her eyes staring blankly at the wall in front of her, the frustration building in her chest. She took a deep breath, trying to quiet the whirlwind in her mind, before pulling her bag closer to her.

  With a soft rustle, she dug through it, not even knowing what she was looking for. She found her tablet with a fresh new crack in the screen. She pulled it out and powered it on. She stared blankly at it, not knowing how it could help.

  Frustration gnawed at her, the unanswered questions festering like wounds. The photon. The black hole. The blue light. She couldn’t shake the feeling that they were pieces of a puzzle she didn’t yet have the edge of.

  Her mind churned, replaying the moment the data disappeared. It was too deliberate, too clean, too precise. A surge of anger hit her as she had a realization: Someone had intentionally erased their data... but why? What wasn’t she supposed to know?