Percy didn't dare to so much as breathe while scanning every corner of this room. Every time a beep went off, he flinched but the old man didn't stir. It seemed like he had been given a pretty strong sleeping pill.
Thank goodness. This has been the part he was worried about most.
When he was done, he crept out and checked the hallways to make sure he was clear. All that was left was getting scans from the ER.
Nobody was in the waiting room but there were doctors and nurses standing around chatting to each other to stay awake. If he got spotted by one of them, they would know he wasn't supposed to be here.
Percy crept around as quietly as he could while collecting his data. The second he was done, he practically sprinted to the elevator. He grabbed his backpack out of Roman's office and hurried out to his car, breathing heavily.
Safe. He had actually done it!
Unfortunately, it had taken him nearly three hours to do and he had been awake for almost twenty-four at this point. He desperately needed to sleep.
Percy was able to drive himself home running on pure adrenaline and collapsed onto the couch while still wearing his scrubs. He didn't wake up until 3 PM and felt horrible because he had slept in a weird position with his phone jabbing into his chest.
His parents were looking at him funny. When had they gotten back?! They never said anything about coming home!
"Percy what are you wearing?" his mother asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Scrubs make very comfortable pajamas," he deadpanned.
His father accepted this at face value. "Okay but why are you still asleep? We've been home all day and you didn't even twitch that entire time."
All day? They must have gotten home yesterday at some point after he left. That had been before 4 PM…they had to have noticed he was gone until late. He wasn't the type to party so they had probably been very, very confused.
"I was on campus late," Percy lied. "Conducting research. Didn't get home until after midnight."
Iris smiled and ruffled his hair. "That's my boy. Was it for your senior project?"
He latched onto her excuse gratefully. "Yes. I was taking data for it with the department's spectrograph until late. If you'll excuse me, I should go analyze it now."
Trevor frowned. "At least eat something. It's the middle of the afternoon."
Ah. Right. Food. He had been so preoccupied with making up something on the spot that he had forgotten that he needed some. And that he should probably shower and change after spending so much time in dirty supply closets yesterday.
"I'll eat something after I shower," Percy said as he headed to the bathroom.
Fifteen minutes later, he sat down at the kitchen table in real clothes with a bowl of cereal trying to think of how to best analyze the data he had collected. He supposed he could use the administrative floor as a control since it was the furthest point from the operating and recovery rooms.
But that was only comparable to other normal parts of the hospital. If there was evidence of a spatial disturbance, what would it look like? Would the spectrum read like ones taken of outer space?
His department had plenty of data like that he could use as a comparison on the other end. He would have to give it a go. Maybe even get one of his professors to give him a second opinion if he managed to find something.
That could work for the spectrometer data but what about the EMF meter? What could he compare that to?
Percy sighed. This was going to take longer than he thought.
===
After spending the rest of the weekend holed up in his room, Percy was fairly certain he had it. The readings in that recovery room were significantly different than those in the rest of the hospital, accounting for the type of machinery that was present.
He looked through data from some previous astronomy projects and discovered that they were closer to ones he had gotten from outer space. There still wasn't an accurate point of comparison though so he wasn't sure what happened.
What difference did it make if the readings there were more similar to a star millions of miles away than other parts of the hospital? It didn't explain why the Penelope switch occurred.
Percy wasn't able to bring his data to his professor until Tuesday because Dr. Reese didn't hold office hours on Mondays. He was the most likely among his professors to have answers based on the type of research he conducted.
Dr. Reese was flabbergasted. "Where did you get these readings? What were you aiming your spectroscope at?"
He didn't want to tell the truth but wasn't sure lying would help him out either. If he said he saw it in outer space, Dr. Reese would want to be shown the exact coordinates. Being honest would probably be better.
"…I got this data inside a recovery room at White Cross Hospital," Percy admitted reluctantly.
The disbelief on his professor's face only grew more pronounced. "A hospital? How could a hospital possibly have nearly identical spectroscopy to a black hole?"
His blood ran cold. A black hole? Impossible. Gravity inside black holes was so intense that nothing could survive. Even so…the nearest one was lightyears away. There was no way one could have been involved in this.
However, if the spatial disturbance had similar properties to black holes there had to be something he could work with. Black holes had become a popular research subject in the past few years. There had to be something he could use.
Dr. Reese cleared his throat, bringing Percy back down to earth. "Is there something about this you aren't telling me? It's physically impossible for this data to have been taken anywhere on this planet. Earth's spectra don't look like this."
He sighed. He already looked like a liar, he may as well go all in. "Professor, do you believe in multiverse theory?"
Shock displayed on Dr. Reese's face for only a moment before he let out a small, slightly hysterical laugh. "…Archimedes?"