On September 30th, 2024, researchers at the Large Hadron Collider outside Geneva, Switzerland observed an unprecedented event. As protons were accelerated around the 17-mile racetrack, crashing into each other at incredible speeds, something happened that left even the hardboiled scientists scratching their heads. Where normally the collisions would create all manner of subatomic particles in fleeting fractions of a second, this particular impact gave rise to something that could be seen with the naked eye.
As alarms started blaring throughout the control room, the team rushed over to their monitors. Instead of the typical spray of data on expected findings, a single massive dot had appeared on the screens with readings off the charts. They stared, rubbing their eyes in disbelief. Within moments, a rumble shook the entire facility. Alarmed, personnel evacuated the tunnel housing the particle accelerator post-haste. When the ground stopped quaking, they hesitantly crept back with cameras in hand. To their shock and bewilderment, nestled in the intersection point where the beams collided was a small cottage, untouched despite being embedded in solid concrete.
Hours of scans and analyses could provide no rational explanation for the strange structure's appearance. Its materials were of this world, yet its arrival defied all known laws of physics. Was it some practical joke? An elaborate hoax? Or had the LHC accidentally ripped a hole in the space-time continuum? The team could only gaze upon the unexpected intruder with bemused curiosity, no closer to solving the mystery of the cottage that should not be. The headlines wrote themselves, as this unexpected discovery promised to keep physicists and the public alike guessing for days to come.