Friday, September 2, 2011

The Mystery of the Lost Coin

The issue of the toilets in the building where Maikel works is still not over. The toilet in his floor is still not fixed... Not even after CERN recorded his second inverse femtobarn of data!! And Maikel is very disappointed because nobody did any party this time!!

Anyway, in spite of working in the World Cathedral of Science, the most advanced High Energy Physics laboratory of the world and the most technological place ever made by mankind, Maikel still needs to spend a dangerous journey everyday desperately looking for working toilets while running away from the radioactive shit that commented in other posts.

One day Maikel decided to go to a distant place where some Maikel told him he could find a clean toilet (just 2 floors below him). After the risky journey, he arrived to the peaceful resting place but, right before he could start to do his stuff, he noticed something highly unusual.

A coin inside the toilet!!!

He started thinking about how could the coin have arrived there. Maybe there was someone around checking if anyone tried to get it with his hands (puajjj!!!!). Maybe there was even a camera around! For sure the coin was there since some time ago, as it seemed old. Maikel didn't think about making a photo of it, but it looked very similar to this one that someone else did.

Anyway, of course Maikel was not going to get his hands dirty in the disgusting radioactive water for a coin, although it seemed like a 50 cts (almost enough for getting a coffee from the machine, mmm). He had a different plan. He decided to monitor the coin as well!

During some days, he was making a double research work: at the same time he continued improving the monitoring software of the CMS detector while dealing with unexpected power cuts, system problems and LHC configuration changes, he was also researching about who was getting the coin, monitoring the stuff from time to time. During more than a week the coin stayed there. Not even the cleaning staff dared to get the coin out of there. Probably because they know more than anyone else about the unspeakable horrors that may happen to someone touching such water. Most probably the have their cleaning legends about the Dark Ages of CERN and also about the Chosen One that one day could get the coin out, in the same way as Arthur was chosen to get Excalibur.

One day, the Chosen One came. And got the coin out. But it happened exactly during the days Maikel was on vacation in Spain so he could not get to know who was :( In the other hand, that gave an unexpected alibi to Maikel so he can prove that he was not the one who took it!!

Now we all know that here at CERN, among us, there is some hero, the Chosen One, who would be ready to risk his live for all of us. Or at least for the contents of the toilet...