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someone else in this
building, or elsewhere, doesn’t publish the same findings before we’re able
to.  Being scooped after years of hard work is devastating.” 
    “Peter,” Oliver would say, “you’re
so far ahead of the rest of the world of physics that the only praying I see
you do is in church.”
     Now, as Oliver drove up Road
A to the Wilson Hall edifice, he had another vision.  The inward-sloping towers
on either side reminded him of the flying buttresses and the two towers of
Notre Dame Cathedral.  Perhaps this National Laboratory for Particle Physics is
indeed a place of worship where man is reaching not for God, but for what the
media call the “God Particle.”  Somehow this thought did not comfort him, but
instead gave him a chill, as he walked from the parking lot and approached the
front of the building.  Entering, he noticed that the entire lobby was hushed
and somber, the news of Peter’s death being on everyone’s mind.
    The unusually quiet security
guard immediately recognized him and handing him his security badge, said,
“Professor Saxon, Peter’s team is expecting you. I’ll key you in.” 
    Oliver rode the elevator to
the fifth floor and walked down to the office complex where David Benjamin was
holding the door open for him.  Each office of the complex had its own door
with a keypad for entry, and even the outer meeting room into which each of the
four offices opened was locked to the outer hallway.  Usually these inner
office doors were propped open, but today they were all closed and locked. 
Obviously the team was taking all precautions to maintain the security of these
offices after this tragic death.
    Oliver consoled and was
consoled by Elizabeth Ward, Khalil Ahmed, and David Benjamin.  Elizabeth, at
age forty, was the oldest of the three.  She had grown up in Houston, and for
as long as she could remember, loved to sing.  She had always been in a church
or school choir and loved the challenge of sight-reading a new piece of music. 
She would always try to discover the beauty of the harmony of the composition
as well as the hidden patterns of the underlying themes.  She later realized
that these same feelings of discovery had drawn her to the study of mathematics. 
By the time she was in college she had discovered the oratorio works of J. S.
Bach.  She immediately recognized his genus for creating works that pulled at
her heart-strings as well as his genus for incorporating mathematical patterns
and symbols into the score.  She identified with Bach because music and
mathematics had become her life.
     After finishing her
doctorate in group theory and the study of mathematical symmetries at Stanford
University, she had come to Chicago as a postdoctoral fellow to work with
Peter.  The two wrote the grants that eventually led to their work on the
fundamental theories of matter in the universe.  She was unmarried, and her
life was dedicated to her work in mathematics and to singing with a newly
formed Bach Choir. 
    When Peter took on two
graduate students, David, and then Khalil, she became their mentor and to some
extent their mother.  She had carefully reviewed each of their doctoral theses
and provided needed guidance as the two graduate students prepared for their
final oral exams.  They were both indebted to her for helping them finally
obtain their doctorates in astrophysics and particle physics respectively. 
They now worked together as an effective research team, combining the findings
of their three scientific fields.  They worked well with one another even
though they each came from a different background.
    David grew up in Chicago in a
Jewish family. He regularly attended the synagogue, and had recently invited
both Elizabeth, a Christian, and Khalil, a Muslim, to attend the family Seder
at Passover.  The three shared their religious faiths and practices as often as
they did their scientific ideas. 
    One evening Elizabeth invited
David and Khalil to a