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The Cosmic Monopole
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Read The Cosmic Monopole
Time Crystal: Book 1

The Cosmic Monopole (2011) (edit title/settings)

by Wyken Seagrave (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

When a Cosmic Monopole is captured in CERN, time stops everywhere except near fragments of mysterious blue crystal.
Irish schoolgirl Catriona O'Brien has one of them and is tasked with finding a "tunnel" and taking her crystal down to scientist Michael Zhang so he can restart time.
But... read more

Summary edit see section history

The cosmic monopole has been wandering the Universe since it was created in the Big Bang. Its existence is fundamental to the way the Universe works. It is finally trapped by the powerful magnetic fields inside the ATLAS detector at CERN, Geneva, and begins to absorb protons from the... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

The cosmic monopole has been wandering the Universe since it was created in the Big Bang. Its existence is fundamental to the way the Universe works. It is finally trapped by the powerful magnetic fields inside the ATLAS detector at CERN, Geneva, and begins to absorb protons from the LHC.
Irish school-girl Catriona O’Brien knows nothing about this, of course. She has persuaded her adoring step-father Sam to bring her to Geneva on the pretext of visiting her mother Brigit who is the Irish Ambassador to the UN. But actually Catriona is trying to solve the mystery of how and why her scientist-father was killed in his Dublin laboratory six years ago, a murder to which she was the only witness.
When they visit CERN, she meets the secretive little Chinese-Irish scientist Michael Zhang who not only worked with her father but has some knowledge about his death. But he is too busy to tell her the details. He is trying to solve a problem with ATLAS.
The giant detector is being overwhelmed by an unusual amount of data. Everyone except Michael suspects a fault, but he knows that the monopole has been captured. However he keeps it secret and deliberately wastes time, waiting for the monopole to be transformed into a black hole, which he believes will be short-lived and harmless but fundamental for research.
But the black hole persists and emerges from the detector. Sam and Michael battle to prevent it absorbing the whole world but are themselves absorbed. Moments later fragments of mysterious blue crystal emerge from the black hole and time stops everywhere in the Universe except near these crystals.
Catriona can talk to Sam through her fragment, and he tells her she must collect all the others and bring them down a tunnel so Michael will be able to restart time and save the Universe. The only man who can help her is a womanising Hungarian entrepreneur Alex, with whom she has fallen in love but who seems completely unreliable.
The Cosmic Monopole is the first volume in the Time Crystal series from Penny Press, a scifi-fantasy-romance on an epic scale whose setting is nothing less than the whole history of the Universe.
This volume ends as Catriona finds and enters the tunnel. In future volumes she will embark upon an adventure that will take her back through time to the Big Bang and beyond. Catriona, Sam and others will struggle with particles and galaxies, with the very smallest and largest things in the Universe, as well as everything in between.

Characters edit see section history

  • Catriona O'Brien: Fourteen years old when the story begins, she has persuaded Sam to bring her to Geneva to try to solve the mystery of her father's death. She is a confused and pensive girl, dominated by her extrovert mother Brigit, who suddenly becomes tasked with saving the Universe.
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Quotes edit see section history

  • “When the Egg subdivided into incompatible regions with different physical laws, as I explained in Book 1, you were trapped at the junction between three of these regions which mankind would eventually call “Universes”. Each region obeyed different fundamental laws of physics. You must have felt as confused as a child finding itself on the disputed border of three nations, all speaking different languages and obeying mutually incompatible laws. You shared aspects of all three domains but belonged to none.”
  • “Catriona’s attention was immediately caught by the words written on the wall near the entrance.“WHERE DO WE COME FROM?”“WHAT ARE WE?”“WHERE ARE WE GOING?”Her spirits soared as she read them again. Where do I come from? From a land of hell called Ireland. What am I? I’m a girl who wants to solve a mystery. Where am I going? I’m going to find out the truth about how my father died. That’s more important than anything else in the world.”

Setting & Locations edit see section history

Set on Crystal Day, April 5 2012
  • CERN, Geneva, Switzerland: Much of the action takes place in and around CERN. The author has taken a lot of trouble to make the details as accurate as possible.
  • Entroilia: This place seems to be outside the Universe. The Universe is a Cosmic Egg, one of many, laid by Queen Karolinda

Organizations edit see section history

  • CERN Fire and Rescue Service: George, Sofie and Ludovico are the Green Team. They attempt to rescue the others when they are trapped underground.
  • CERN: The European Organisation for Nuclear Research, which contains the largest and most complex scientific experiments in the world, including the famous Large Hadron Collider (LHC)

First Sentence edit see section history

And so at last I come to you, blessed Monopole, seed of the becoming, to whom this Hidden Sacred Book is most humbly dedicated.

Table of Contents edit see section history

Acknowledgements
Hidden Sacred Book Chapter 1 Cosmic Monopole
Episode 1 Arrivals
Hidden Sacred Book Chapter 2 Into ATLAS
Episode 2 System Overflow
Episode 3 Observation Room
Episode 4 Underground
Episode 5 Electronics Cavern
Episode 6 The Stairs
Episode 7 ATLAS Cavern
Hidden Sacred Book Chapter 3 Part 1 The Black Hole
Episode 8 Pipes
Episode 9 Call Me Lord!
Episode 10 Marianne Awakes
Episode 11 The Balcony
Episode 12 An Arrival, a Departure
Episode 13 Hatching
Episode 14 Out of the Cavern
Episode 15 Sleep baby sleep
Episode 16 The Universe Historian
Episode 17 Helicopter Search
Episode 18 The Palace, the Temple
Episode 19 Crystal Airlines
Episode 20 The Baby
Episode 21 The Helicopter
Episode 22 Return to ATLAS
Episode 23 Return to the University
Episode 24 Plan to fix the Universe
Episode 25 Temptation of Alex
Episode 26 George Arrives
Hidden Sacred Book Chapter 3 Part 2 Stopping Time

Glossary edit see section history

  • Entroilians: Bee-like creatures which live outside the Universe. Deadly enemies of Argolaths.
  • Argolaths: Ant-like creatures which live outside the Universe. Deadly enemies of Entroilians.
  • Cosmic Monopole: Particle which has been wandering the Universe since the Big Bang and is finally captured by the ATLAS detector in CERN, where it is transformed into a black hole.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 1 of 1 in Time Crystal. (standard series)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Wyken Seagrave (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Penny Press Ltd
Country: UK
Publication Date: November 18, 2011
ISBN: 9781871281231
Page Count: 412 KB

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Young Adults

The book contains some rare explicit language and is not recommended for under 14s

Popular Tags
  1. cern, 
  2. fantasy, 
  3. fiction, 
  4. science fiction, 
  5. time crystal 

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

  • Time Crystal: The home website for the Time Crystal series

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