The End

Under three hours to go now. People are beginning to appear, milling around in an anxious, fidgeting kind of anticipation, waiting for an event no one as yet comprehends. The HRIBF ceases operation at midnight Eastern Daylight Time tonight. And when it does, we will be here.

Nobody quite knows what to expect. Will DOE call us and tell us when to pull the plug? Do we get to sneak a few last minutes in because our clock isn't synced with an official time server? Will someone give a speech, or sing a dirge, or lock themselves in the ORIC vault? Will anyone cry?

There's a countdown clock running on the large monitor in the control room, where the operators sit and tweak the beam current slowly upward, knowing that it really doesn't matter anymore if something breaks. Two and a half hours now.

It's so unbearably sad.