Over the course of the past hour, I had searched for information on dark energy and its possible effects. Surprisingly, Wikipedia had offered little more than speculation on the topic and various theories and their implications; several cosmology-orientated forums, on the other hand, were rather informative. I even had an interesting discussion with the father of Floyd, my Swiss friend, who turned out to be a scientist at CERN; he confessed that dark energy wasn't his area of expertise, but he had taken an interest in the work of several of his colleagues, who he was assisting with upgrading the Large Hadron Collider for its restart in 2015. I had read about that a few weeks ago in an article in "Scientific American". They were retrofitting it to study dark matter, and -Bingo!- dark energy. Now that the existence of the Higgs boson was experimentally proven, they were moving on to a new, still unexplored topic, which until now had the scientific equivalent of a "Here Be Dragons" sign on its border.

"In short", he said in broken English, "Dark energy is what makes the universe's expansion accelerate because of its repulsive properties: according to one theory, it will eventually overcome gravitational force and rip apart all celestial bodies, then finally overpower both nuclear forces, ending In what is called the "Big Rip". Some even think it would tear the fabric of time and space if clumped up, but that is only a hypothesis. It is thinly spread across the universe, so it makes up about 70% of the universe. There are 2 theories of how it is spread; the universal constant, according to which its volume is the same in every point in space. The other one, the Quintessence

theory, says that it is dynamically spread, so its volume can vary through time and space. Both are plausible, since neither has decisive proof against the other." I asked him whether it was possible that, if the latter theory is true, would it be possible for it to condense. He said "Maybe, but it has not been discovered as such." I write back: "So, what exactly will you be doing with the LHC to study dark energy?" "We will be colliding electrons and positrons, protons and antiprotons, which we produce in tiny quantities here, and watching closely, whether among normal energy, the annihilation will produce any dark energy. Technically - and don't tell this to anyone- work was finished a week ago, yesterday we had finished fine-tuning and calibrating it, all that is left are the safety checks, then the board will do whatever it is they do, and we start!" I thanked him for his time and ended the chat. I think I found what I was looking for.

I am about to leave the room, but then I have a great idea. I walk over to the bookshelf and take a wireless earpiece off the top shelf. I check the battery status; green light. I insert it into my ear and make sure it fits snugly and comfortably, and walk to the living room, where Tali is sitting on the armchair and reading something on her omni-tool, the cat sitting in her lap. "Gotten used to her, have you?" I ask, leaning against the wall and activating the translation app. Her response comes through the earpiece, just as planned: "She grows on you. Does she have a name?"

I nod. "Dasha. So, what have you been up to?" She replies: "I was looking through the remaining ship logs and reviewing data on dark energy and the little information I could gather in the Haestrom system before..before..Keelah, 21 person on that ship.." She trails off.

I wait a few minutes until she calms back down and report the results of my own study and how I had an inside source from possibly the only man-made source of dark energy. She already knew the cosmological info I had given her, but the LHC had caught her attention. "Is it far from here?" We might be able to, if it really is operational, use it to transport me back." I stare at her in disbelief: "And how do you see that happening?" I play out the situation, -" 'Oh excuse me, can I use your totally new unchecked experimental dark energy factory to teleport this alien right here back to the future?'," -I turn around and take a step back, speaking for the scientist in a low voice: " 'Sure thing, kid! That will be ten bucks, and you, Ms. Alien, step right up onto this platform..." I return to my usual voice: "Not happening." We both chuckled at the thought, and then a mischievous sparkle lit up in her eyes: "Who said anything about asking?" I saw what she meant, but I still have my doubts: "You're suggesting breaking in to one of the world's largest research centers and launching the LHC ourselves!? Never mind actually getting there.."

I give it some thought; although there is one possibility.. "Tali, you're good at hacking stuff, right? Do you think you can manage to get us passage to Geneva, Switzerland? These days, most progressive countries deal with money and tickets electronically, so... I can give you access to the Internet, and you could work your magic." She tilts her head to one side and asks me coyly: "Give me access? I hacked into your home network last night!"

I facepalm. Oh well, not as if I didn't expect it to happen sooner or later. "But can you do it? We will need three things: Money for the tickets, a fake ePass for you and the tickets themselves. I have an EU passport, so no worries there. Oh, and a hotel would be great." I have to come with her; she needs the help with translation and generally getting around in this world. I doubt I will be there for any more than a few days, so no need in notifying my parents - I'll be back before they return from Cuba. "I'll get to work on it, but it might take a couple of hours. You will need a return ticket, rightly?" She asks, already typing away on her omni-tool. I nod. "I should go pack some stuff. By the way, we should probably disguise you somehow: arousing suspicion is the last thing we need. My mother's clothing should fit you over that suit." With this, I exit the living room and head to my room. I take my orange duffle bag and toss pajamas, a few clean underwear and socks, phone charger and other essentials. After some thought, I take my crowbar too. You never know when you're breaking into a high security facility.

After I finish packing, I head over to my parent's room, sticking my head into the living room on the way. Tali is just where she was, happily typing away on her tool. She doesn't notice me, so I just watch her for a short while. Her fingers fly across the holographic keyboard faster than I could imagine a species with only three fingers can type. Impressive.

But now I'm getting sidetracked. I resume my way to the bedroom, where I open the wardrobe and stare at its contents. Tali will need very wide pants, so as to hide her unusually shaped calves, gloves and shoes, and also a hoodie instead of hers - to cover the tubes and cables on the back of her helmet. I take out the most matching and large clothes and lay them out on the bed, looking at them with a critical eye. Not perfect, but it will have to do.

I return to the living room to check up on Tali's progress. "How's it going?" She looks up from the Omni-Tool, momentarily stopping typing, but then quickly resumes as she answers: "It might take another hour or so, but I have it pretty much figured out: We take a flight from...what was it again? Shear'im..something or other airport at 9:00 am local time." I chuckle, "Ah, Sheremetyevo airport." I steal a glance at the clock; 4:00 pm. "I've laid out some human clothes for you to wear in the other room. Once you are done, I can show you." She replies, without looking up: "Good. You should order a cab to the airport, I will join you shortly." I nod: "I'll leave you to it, then." And return to my room. I dial up the taxi service to pick us up at 7:00 tomorrow morning, take the cat to my neighbors to look after her for a few days. Now I have nothing left to do, except for waiting, and so I relax on my bed with a book, "A Brief History of Time". Ah, such an interesting book! I get carried away in the description of nebulas, black holes and pulsars.

After what seems like only a few minutes, I hear a knock on the door, which brings me out of the trance I had entered. "Come in" - I say, sitting upright on the bed and closing the book. Tali enters the room, bearing two printouts on A4 paper. She waves them slightly: "These are our tickets. I've completed the job and covered my tracks. If anyone ever finds out, they won't be able to track it back here. Were you successful in getting us a ride to the shery'm...shirim... to the airport?" I nod and get up from the bed, motioning to the bedroom: "Let's try out those clothes now, shall we?" She nods back, and we go to my parents' bedroom, where the clothes I had chosen still laid on the bed. "These are..odd."

In the end, they had fit her rather well, and apart from the faceplate, she was undistinguishable from a, albeit with a bad sense of fashion, normal human, and she only needed help with the shoes. She takes them back off and lays them carefully back on the bed. By now, I am hungry again, and go to the kitchen to heat up some leftovers from yesterday, and Tali and I socialize for a while afterwards, with nothing left to do but wait for the day to end. "I've always wanted to visit CERN, just not like..this. going there is every physics- and computer nerd's dream." - I begin. She gives me a confused look, and asks: "What's a 'nerd'? My translator doesn't seem to pick it up." I ponder this question, and respond: "A nerd us someone who knows a lot about a certain subject, but often obsesses over it and rarely takes interest in anything else. Socials skills not included, and it can often be used as a derogatory term." She listens, and then comments: "Among my people, the desire for knowledge is held in very high esteem."

We spend a while discussing cultural differences between her and my races, and when we are done, I look up at the clock: 10 o'clock. "If we want to get up early tomorrow to leave, we should get to bed soon. I imagine you must be very tired." - I change the topic. "You're right. Quarians require around 6 hours of sleep on average, but I haven't slept since I was on the ship. Good night!" She retires to the room she rests in, and I go to my own room. I set my phone on the charger, set my alarm for 6:00 am. Tomorrow is a big day, and I should get some rest. With this thought in mind, I climb into bed and my conscience slips away as I fall asleep.