The Rand Effect
by Tom Filecco <
[email protected]>
gopher://sdf.org:70/1/users/tf/
Copyright (C)2023 by Tom Filecco
CC BY-NC 4.0
I used to work with this crazy engineer named Harry. They said
he was a physicist at Brookhaven Labs until lost his mind and quit. He
had a quirk where he was afraid to be left alone. He said he always
wanted to be observed by someone so he wouldn't disappear. It was
some quantum physics thing that I barely understood. The rumor mill at
work said that he had an accident at Brookhaven, and had his brain nuked
with gamma rays or something like that. He never bothered me, and he was
a good engineer, so I left him alone and didn't bother him. We
worked on a couple projects together until he quit. At least I think he
quit. He just stopped showing up at work one day. After a few days of
not seeing him, I asked around if anyone knew what happened to Harry.
Most people had no idea who I was talking about except our janitor who
barely remembered him. Later on that week I was glancing through a
week-old copy of the New York Times that someone had left in the break
room. On the forth page was an article about an explosion at Brookhaven
Labs that killed one of the workers there. There was a picture of the
victim, a physicist named Harold Rand. I shit you not, it was either my
former engineer co-worker Harry or his twin brother.
It was a humid summer afternoon, and I had just finished lunch.
As I was watching a line of thunderstorms coming in from about 5 miles
out, I noticed my break was about to end and that I needed to use the
restroom before going back to work. One of the Harry's weirder
quirks was waiting until someone else had entered a restroom before
going in there himself. He was deathly afraid of being in a room by
himself, and that included the bathroom. I was thinking about
Harry's doppelganger and his restroom quirk when I entered the
mens room and noted that I was in there by myself. They say you
shouldn't use the bathroom during a thunderstorm because you could
get electrocuted from a nearby lightning strike. I don't know if
that's true or not, but I figured I had enough time if it was. Sure
enough just as I finished washing my hands I heard this loud
reverberating "Boom!" that shook the building and sounded at the
very least to be a near lightning strike if not a direct hit. The
emergency lights kicked in, and the building went silent. I pause for a
bit, waiting to calm down, glad that I had already went to the bathroom
because otherwise I would have pissed myself. About 30 seconds later, an
eternity in my mind, the power kicked back on. I shrugged, called it all
good, and walked out of the restroom right into the end of the world.
I work in a company of about 300 people. About 50 of them are in
my department. When I walked out of the restroom, it was like walking
into a ghost town. The place was dark and totally empty. A thin layer of
dust coated everything. Some of the benches were end-of-shift clean.
Others had work still on them as if the occupant just stepped away for a
few minutes. I looked at my watch. About two minutes had passed since
the lightning strike. The place should be full of people who had just
come off their lunch break. I checked my phone. It was out of service,
and not connected to the corporate WiFi network. I started walking
around the building. The whole place was empty. The desks in the offices
were as dusty as the workbenches on the manufacturing floor. I made my
way to the lobby. The front door was locked. On the table in the lobby
was a newspaper from about six months ago. The headline read "Mass
Disappearances Stump Feds." I grabbed the newspaper, finished
checking the whole building, and found nothing. I was there by myself.
After coming to the realization that I somehow made it though
some massive Apocalypse, I realized that the unknown is one of scariest
things out there. The first thought that went though my head was that I
needed a weapon. My .38 and 12 gauge I guessed were still at home since
it was against company policy to being them to work, and I never had
reason to keep the .38 in the car while at work. I had a folding knife
and Leatherman Tool on me, but that level of armament was not reassuring
enough. I thought, perhaps quite irrationally, about zombies and that I
didn't want to get that close to them. I remembered that the janitor
had a machete among his tools for dealing with the invasive knotweed
plants that starting taking over the grounds. Sure enough it was still
in his supply closet. A little better armed, I decided to find a safer
place in the building to read this newspaper and figure out what
happened.
The janitor's closet had a box with spare keys to all the
offices. It was locked, but few people, if any, who worked here knew
that the key for the box was the same as we used on the outdoor
enclosures we use for ruggedized systems. I had one of the keys on my
key ring. The box was still there with all the keys still in it. I
decided to grab them all, and search the entire building. I figured
I'd start at the top and go right to the CEOs office. It's
lockable, and has windows so I can at least read by daylight. I looked
at my watch and noticed it was 1:30 PM. I assumed that if the time and
season was still the same in this world, as it was in mine, I still had
about 6 hours before it gets dark. I took the CEO's office key, put
it in my pocket, grabbed a bone dry mop bucket, tossed the rest of the
keys in it, grabbed the machete, and went to the CEO's office.
When I walked into the CEO's office I noticed it was bare.
All of his certificates, awards, and memorabilia were gone. A stack of
yellowing newspapers was stacked on the dusty shelf unit behind the
desk, next to a couple books on management techniques. I closed and
locked the door behind me, placed the machete on the desk well within
reach, and went through the desk drawers. They were all empty. At least
there were some more newspapers for me to read. Knowing I only had a few
hours before dark to make a plan, scrounge up whatever I could, and find
a safe place for the night, I decided to quickly scan the newspapers for
information.
Judging from what my watch said, the papers were all about two
years old. Who I guess was my former co-worker Harry was featured
prominently. He even had a phenomena named after him: The Rand Effect.
In this world he was a physicist working for Brookhaven National Labs on
Long Island. He mysteriously disappeared while doing research on quantum
entanglement. About a month after his disappearance, other people also
started disappearing under unusual circumstances, without a trace. The
only thing the FBI could prove in all these missing person cases was
that they were in some manner, however tenuous, connected somehow with
Dr. Harold Rand. The media started referring to the phenomena as the
Rand Effect.
I decided to go outside and do a little exploring. I was
surprised to see that my car was still in the parking lot. I was not
surprised to see it had a flat tire, and I was not surprised to discover
the battery was stone dead. Otherwise everything was still in it
including a flashlight, sleeping bag, backpack, and some freeze-dried
backpacking food I keep in there for emergencies. I grab the backpack so
I can carry anything I happen to find, and set out. It was a bright,
sunny day, the temperature was probably in the mid 70s. Not a bad day
for a walk, I thought, until I left my company's property. As soon
as I crossed the property line, I felt like a thousand sets of eyes were
watching me. I had the machete tucked in the backpack for quick access,
but I felt it would have been as effective as a pool noodle in defending
myself against what was out there. Every now and then I thought I saw
some quick movement out of the corner of my eye, but when I looked
nothing was there. I wished I had a gun on me, but the nagging thought
in the back of my head was that I wouldn't even be able to shoot my
way out of this. I knew somehow that wherever this was, no matter how
familiar it looked, that I didn't belong here, and that whatever
lived here was also aware of that fact.
I walked down to the gas station on the corner. It too looked
long abandoned. It also looked like it was quite thoroughly looted as
well. I stepped though a broken plate glass window and looked around.
There was nothing. Grabbing my flashlight, I went into the back storage
room. It was one of those 4-D cell Maglites that security guards and
cops often use as a nightstick. With that in one and the machete in the
other I still felt woefully unarmed, but it was better than nothing. In
the corner on a shelf was a case of peanut-butter crackers. I placed my
flashlight on the shelf, sheathed my machete, and stuffed the box in my
backpack. Grabbing my expedient weaponry, I looked around a little more
and found nothing. Leaving the building, I noticed it was getting late
in the day. I really, really didn't want to be out here at night,
but I figured I still had enough time to check out another building so I
decided to go back to my workplace by a slightly different route. Going
around the back of the building, I discovered a bicycle laying up
against the wall. It looked to be in good shape, so I took it figuring
it would extend my search range. The walk back was uneventful and
unproductive. The buildings I checked on the way back were all locked,
and I didn't have enough time to break in. The number of eyes on me
also seemed to increase tenfold, making me even more nervous. I got back
to my work building, and proceeded to make sure every door was locked.
For some reason, the building and immediate grounds around it seemed
safe. As it was getting dark, I grabbed all the stuff in my car and
brought it inside. Tomorrow I'll do another check of the building
and go out exploring again. As I bring the stuff in, I realized I needed
to use the restroom. Without thinking I went back to the one where it
all started, and received my final surprise for the day.
I walked into the restroom, and the lights were on! Not only
that, the plumbing also worked (both hot and cold water), the toilets
flushed, and I cannot be totally certain but the paper towels and toilet
paper also looked like they were restocked. I pause for a moment,
unbelieving. I then turn around walk out, and back into the apocalypse.
Go back into the restroom, and civilization is still there. Considering
the day so far, I figured I best not look a gift horse in the mouth, and
decided to take advantage of this strange state. I moved all my stuff in
there, locked the door behind me, and used the hot water to reconstitute
one of my backpacking meals. I then cleaned myself up, unrolled my
sleeping bag, and crashed for the night.
When I woke up. It was dark. I moved a bit and the lights came
back on. I remembered they were on a motion sensor so nothing had
changed since last night. I used the facilities, cleaned myself off, and
decided I'd explore the building to see what I could find. There
wasn't much in the building. I did find a hammer in the
janitor's utility closet which I took. I guessed that if I
couldn't get into any of the surrounding buildings by other means I
could always just break a window. I walked out the door, and realized
that the bike I found yesterday was missing! That told me that I
wasn't alone. I left the property, and again felt like I was being
watched. The second time around though I could hear them. It was this
unnerving skittering noise, like a critter moving in heavy brush. As I
walked down the road, it started sounding closer and closer. I would
catch movement in the periphery of my vision, turn to look, and see
nothing. I'm freaking out at this point, and remembered that
whatever these things or beings are, they stayed off my company's
property. I high-tailed it back to work with the noises sounding like
they were on my heels. I crossed the property line, expecting sanctuary,
only to find out they were still behind me. I run into the building,
lock the door behind me, and pause to catch my breath.
I'm sitting in the bench in front of my locker by the door,
catching my breath, when I catch a shadow moving at the far side of the
production area. I yell out "Hey!" only for it to disappear.
Whatever it is, it's now in the building. I start running towards
the restroom. The skittering noise is catching up to be. I grab the
door, throw myself in, slam and lock the door behind me. The noise is
right on the other side of the door. The noise gets louder. It sounds
like there are more of them. I realized I forgot my machete and
flashlight by my locker. I also discovered that all the other stuff I
left in the restroom is gone! The skittering noise is almost unbearable.
Then the lights went out.
The noise stopped. It was pitch black in the restroom for what
seemed to be an eternity. I just sat there, waiting for whatever was
going to happen next. Then the lights came back on. I could hear the
mechanical sounds of the HVAC system. I opened the door, and walked
outside to a busy shop. The clock said it was 3:55 PM on the same day I
first walked into the restroom. People were getting ready to go home. I
made like nothing happened. I cleaned up my workspace, clocked out, and
went home. My car was right where it was supposed to be. Everything was
in it. Everything was unchanged. I never told anyone what happened, but
I always made sure that I was always in some way being observed by
someone else in this world.
