"That is one big bubble," said Carrie.
"It's an event horizon," said Todd. "Although it does kind of look like a giant soap bubble."
They stood in the middle of a quiet suburban street and gazed up at a mile-wide dome in front of them. It looked something like giant a soap bubble full of hazy white smoke. They could only see maybe 70 feet deep into it before the haziness clouded their vision. Here and there in the haze they saw momentary flashes of light, like miniature bolts of lightning. Even outside of the dome, the air felt electric, like lightning could strike at any moment.
And, on top of all of that, the dome was growing several feet every minute.
They could see it slowly enveloping the cars parked on the street and the houses beside them.
They could hear police sirens and helicopters nearby as the local authorities tried to evacuate people ahead of the dome, although most people had already left without needing to be told. The street was otherwise deserted except for Carrie and Todd. It had been a long walk to get there, but now Carrie hesitated to move further.
"Are these things on my wrists really going to keep us safe in there?" Carrie said holding up her hands.
"In theory," Todd said. "Yes."
"'In theory?'"
"Well, I've never actually done any of this before, and I didn't exactly have a chance to work out the figures on a white board before we left, did I?"
"But, it should keep us safe?"
"Yes, if it works like it's supposed to, then the field coils on your wrists will create another bubble around us to keep the transformation energy from affecting us. It’s the same technology that I put in the remote to contain the energy. I just reversed it to keep the energy out."
Carrie sighed and watched as the bubble approached. "Fire it up, then."
Todd pressed a few buttons on his screen, and the devices on Carrie's wrists hummed to life.
The bubble was a several feet away, but Carrie stood her ground. Just then, a dent started to form in the bubble right in front of Carrie. The bubble continued expanding around them, but instead of touching them, it was forming a new bubble around them that was about 10 feet wide.
"Cool," said Carrie as she looked behind her to see their personal bubble close around them. "Our own personal force field."
Todd pumped a little hamster fist in the air and exclaimed, "Don't ever say that I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to science. I'm the man!"
"You're the hamster."
"Whatever."
"Which way now?"
Todd looked at his screen and tapped a few buttons. "Follow the road for another hundred yards or so."
Carrie started walking down the middle of the street, and the force field bubble followed along with them, keeping them in the center. A minute later, Carrie asked, "What would happen to us if we didn't have the force field?"
"Well," Todd said not looking up from his screen. "The energy from the white hole might use our thoughts to produce some kind of physical manifestation. Basically all the energy needs is a pattern to follow to create something. The remote just created patterns for the energy. You see, anything that can create a complex pattern could activate the energy.”
“…and the human brain is a perfect pattern machine,” Carrie added.
“Exactly.”
"So," she said. "You mean we could transform things just by thinking about doing it."
"Exactly, but not only conscious thoughts. Even our subconscious desires could be made real."
"'Monsters from the id,'" Carrie said and smirked.
Todd looked up at her. If hamsters could grin, he would be grinning. "Forbidden Planet? You know that movie too?"
"It's a classic," said Carrie. "I mean, Leslie Nielsen was actually kind of hot back then. Good story too, very Shakespearean."
"I think I love you."
"Aw, that's sweet, but I'm not in to bestiality."
Todd was about to reply when they were both cut off by a sudden sound from above them.