When scientists recreated the Big Bang, they had no idea how successful it would be. In their little universe, new worlds had begun to form. So when sixteen year old Catriona stumbles into her father's experiment, she's thrown into a whole new reality: here, she's not just a High School student with B grades and a computer based social life. Now she's a goddess with magic like powers and the ability to make or break their primitive society. What she does surprises them all: adopted the people as her own and went to war with the scientists she once called family.
CHAPTER ONE
The big bang theory is something that scientists believe created the universe. Prior to the big bang they stated quite firmly that nothing existed. The universe was a big blank slate ready to stretch out across light years. No one's quite pin-pointed what made up the Big Bang, but leading theories suggested that there was a major expansion around thirteen point seven billion years ago. Now across the world there are different theories as to how the world was created. The Greeks had their ancient gods, from Zeus and Poseidon to Athena and Hades. But what classical literature doesn't tell us is if these people were aware that in the future scientists would attempt something that would rock the very foundations of several core belief systems. They would attempt to re-create the Big Bang.
I knew this because I visited my father's laboratory every few weeks. The man was involved in ground-breaking research into how the world began. All the scientists were scrambling to prove their theories true. One of the theories with just as much relevance today was the String Theory. There are two types of string theory: the closed string loops that break into open loops, or the closed string loops that can't break open. I didn't understand it very well, but it had something to do with musical notes and the stretching of guitar strings; the most common example Dad tried to explain to me. As for my opinion? String theory had to be proved at the molecular level, which meant that they were smaller than the eye could see. The Big Bang felt more like an answer to a sixteen year old girl with little knowledge in the scientific area, except for what she'd been told by adults.
It was a Friday afternoon when Dad took me to the workplace. The scientists were already aware that my visit would come around, so parts of the facility had been sealed off as staff only 'access points' to which I'd been cut off. As long as I hung out in the library waiting for Dad, I would be fine and dandy and nothing would happen.
Today was a little different. I had my little brother with me. As little brother's go, he's a right pain in the arse and controlling him is like trying to control an active little kitten – almost impossible. We were on the third floor of the faculty and outside one of the staff only rooms.
"Why can't we go in there?" Iain reached up for the handle and didn't notice the shiny metallic locking system on the door.
The metallic lock meant that a code had to be dialled into the door in order for us to get through. No matter how much we tried, even if I did wonder what was behind that door, I couldn't get through anyway. "If you know the code to get in, be my guest. But in the mean-time, we should probably head back to the library. Dad's waiting for us there."
Iain took that as permission to go through the unwieldy door. Now it should have been obvious to anyone that it wouldn't work. No way could a door with an access pin code allow a ten year old boy and a sixteen year old girl to go through it without the access code. So when Ian reached up and gently pushed open the door, my mouth dropped open.
"You said I could go in if I could get the door open," Iain said. "So let's go in and have a look around!"
He sounded way too enthusiastic to break the rules. We were only allowed at the facility if we didn't break the rules. If we did, Dad would be forced to leave us at home with a baby-sitter, which would mean endless amounts of embarrassment from what little school friends I had. I swallowed. This could not result in anything good, but because I was a good big sister I followed him inside.
Once inside it became very plain as to why they did not want children in the staff only areas of the facility. The sensation could only be described as similar to stepping inside a holographic three dimensional show that they have on display in some museums, to give the feeling that you're really in space. Some simulators did it, too. But not on this scale. The whole room was literally filled with planets and stars, hanging from the skies in the way most people imagined the universe would look across the great expanse of space.
"What is this place?" Iain ran through the room with his arms out, trying to touch the stars. As it stood they just went through it, like they would have gone straight through any holographic device.
As I'm sixteen years older than him, I was supposed to have all the answers when Mum and Dad weren't around. Right now, now I was flummoxed. I had no idea why a place like this would be in Dad's facility. But I guess they had to map the stars they found somehow. "I think its a device Dad and his team use to map the stars they find on the telescope."
I knew Dad was supposed to be a very well known Astronomer. So much so that he'd even been allowed to name a couple of stars that he'd found in the galaxy Andromeda, the closest galaxy to earth from the Milky Way. "But why would they need a computer to do that?"
Iain had crossed the room without me even noticing. I'd been too caught up in the stars to work out what had happened right under my nose. We were going to be in so much trouble when we got out of this. I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up grounded, or worse. As I stepped through the holographic light-show, Iain must have pressed a button on the computer without realising it. Because the stars, planets and moons were suddenly getting bigger and bigger, until finally they were towering masses above me.
That's when I realised something wasn't quite right. No matter how hard I tried, I could not find my little brother. At that point I should have realised the truth. But I was just too damned stubborn to admit that something impossible had happened. I stepped forward with my arms out, trying to feel the space around me. Nothing but air, which didn't surprise me. A noise like thunder rolled through the simulation room. I couldn't make out the sounds for the life of me, though I was certain it came from someone's lips.
"Bloody hell," I murmured.
Something had gone wrong, all right. Though I couldn't put my finger on exactly what, the space we were in had changed dramatically from what'd been to something eerily different. And when I stepped forward my body stretched as though the very particles that made up my body were being stretched and pulled in all directions. The ping pong sensation that spiralled out of control through my body sent a whirlwind of pain through me, until finally I collapsed onto my knees.
When I finally looked up a clay shell lay on the ground beside me. The shape mirrored my body so completely, that I thought someone must have made a mask of me when I'd had one of my operations as a young child. I did vaguely remember being taken into the hospital with a broken arm. When I could finally tear my eyes away from the clay statue, I looked up at the young man standing across from me. Was he the sculptor? If so, he needed to be commended for his good work.
The young man's hand reached out towards me. I stared at it stupidly for a few seconds before realising that I should probably take it. A gesture of good will, if nothing else. "I had rather hoped it would work the way the Sorcerers said it would."
Sorcerers? "Don't be stupid. There's no such thing."
An amused smile crossed the young man's face. "Take a look around you. You stepped out of that clay sculpture as a fully formed adult, my dear. If you weren't made from magic, tell me how you came forth?"
"I am not a being of pure magic," I corrected him straightaway. Why did people always make assumptions when they sure as hell shouldn't? Just because I wasn't at the facility anymore didn't mean that Dad hadn't invented a teleporter. Maybe I was in the middle of another operation, or unconscious. Two possibilities I couldn't well rule out. "I am a teenager from Upper Valley and all I want to do is go home."
"Nonsense," The young man shook his head and put a finger to my lips. "You didn't answer the question."
I snorted. "I'm supposed to tell a stranger where I come from?"
He stepped forward. "Fair enough. I'm Cornelius, god of wisdom and the arts."
I spluttered a laugh. This man really thought he was a god, did he? He thought I had stepped out of the broken clay statue that mirrored my physique perfectly. He might well believe Santa Claus really did circle the globe through everyone's midnight and that aliens visited the earth on a regular basis. Although that did beg the question. How did I get here? The last thing I remembered was being in the planet room with my little brother. He'd gone up to the computer and pressed a button he clearly shouldn't have and somehow, I'd wound up in crazy town.
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