The Rand Effect
                     by Tom Filecco <tf@sdf.org>
                   gopher://sdf.org:70/1/users/tf/

                  Copyright (C)2023 by Tom Filecco
                             CC BY-NC 4.0

	I used to work with this crazy engineer named Harry. They said 
he was a physicist at Brookhaven Labs until lost his mind and quit. He 
had a quirk where he was afraid to be left alone. He said he always 
wanted to be observed by someone so he wouldn't disappear. It was 
some quantum physics thing that I barely understood. The rumor mill at 
work said that he had an accident at Brookhaven, and had his brain nuked 
with gamma rays or something like that. He never bothered me, and he was 
a good engineer, so I left him alone and didn't bother him. We 
worked on a couple projects together until he quit. At least I think he 
quit. He just stopped showing up at work one day. After a few days of 
not seeing him, I asked around if anyone knew what happened to Harry. 
Most people had no idea who I was talking about except our janitor who 
barely remembered him. Later on that week I was glancing through a 
week-old copy of the New York Times that someone had left in the break 
room. On the forth page was an article about an explosion at Brookhaven 
Labs that killed one of the workers there. There was a picture of the 
victim, a physicist named Harold Rand. I shit you not, it was either my 
former engineer co-worker Harry or his twin brother.

	It was a humid summer afternoon, and I had just finished lunch. 
As I was watching a line of thunderstorms coming in from about 5 miles 
out, I noticed my break was about to end and that I needed to use the 
restroom before going back to work. One of the Harry's weirder 
quirks was waiting until someone else had entered a restroom before 
going in there himself. He was deathly afraid of being in a room by 
himself, and that included the bathroom. I was thinking about 
Harry's doppelganger and his restroom quirk when I entered the 
mens room and noted that I was in there by myself. They say you 
shouldn't use the bathroom during a thunderstorm because you could 
get electrocuted from a nearby lightning strike. I don't know if 
that's true or not, but I figured I had enough time if it was. Sure 
enough just as I finished washing my hands I heard this loud 
reverberating "Boom!" that shook the building and sounded at the 
very least to be a near lightning strike if not a direct hit. The 
emergency lights kicked in, and the building went silent. I pause for a 
bit, waiting to calm down, glad that I had already went to the bathroom 
because otherwise I would have pissed myself. About 30 seconds later, an 
eternity in my mind, the power kicked back on. I shrugged, called it all 
good, and walked out of the restroom right into the end of the world.

	I work in a company of about 300 people. About 50 of them are in 
my department. When I walked out of the restroom, it was like walking 
into a ghost town. The place was dark and totally empty. A thin layer of 
dust coated everything. Some of the benches were end-of-shift clean. 
Others had work still on them as if the occupant just stepped away for a 
few minutes. I looked at my watch. About two minutes had passed since 
the lightning strike. The place should be full of people who had just 
come off their lunch break. I checked my phone. It was out of service, 
and not connected to the corporate WiFi network. I started walking 
around the building. The whole place was empty. The desks in the offices 
were as dusty as the workbenches on the manufacturing floor. I made my 
way to the lobby. The front door was locked. On the table in the lobby 
was a newspaper from about six months ago. The headline read "Mass 
Disappearances Stump Feds." I grabbed the newspaper, finished 
checking the whole building, and found nothing. I was there by myself.

	After coming to the realization that I somehow made it though 
some massive Apocalypse, I realized that the unknown is one of scariest 
things out there. The first thought that went though my head was that I 
needed a weapon. My .38 and 12 gauge I guessed were still at home since 
it was against company policy to being them to work, and I never had 
reason to keep the .38 in the car while at work. I had a folding knife 
and Leatherman Tool on me, but that level of armament was not reassuring 
enough. I thought, perhaps quite irrationally, about zombies and that I 
didn't want to get that close to them. I remembered that the janitor 
had a machete among his tools for dealing with the invasive knotweed 
plants that starting taking over the grounds. Sure enough it was still 
in his supply closet. A little better armed, I decided to find a safer 
place in the building to read this newspaper and figure out what 
happened.

	The janitor's closet had a box with spare keys to all the 
offices. It was locked, but few people, if any, who worked here knew 
that the key for the box was the same as we used on the outdoor 
enclosures we use for ruggedized systems. I had one of the keys on my 
key ring. The box was still there with all the keys still in it. I 
decided to grab them all, and search the entire building. I figured 
I'd start at the top and go right to the CEOs office. It's 
lockable, and has windows so I can at least read by daylight. I looked 
at my watch and noticed it was 1:30 PM. I assumed that if the time and 
season was still the same in this world, as it was in mine, I still had 
about 6 hours before it gets dark. I took the CEO's office key, put 
it in my pocket, grabbed a bone dry mop bucket, tossed the rest of the 
keys in it, grabbed the machete, and went to the CEO's office.

	When I walked into the CEO's office I noticed it was bare. 
All of his certificates, awards, and memorabilia were gone. A stack of 
yellowing newspapers was stacked on the dusty shelf unit behind the 
desk, next to a couple books on management techniques. I closed and 
locked the door behind me, placed the machete on the desk well within 
reach, and went through the desk drawers. They were all empty. At least 
there were some more newspapers for me to read. Knowing I only had a few 
hours before dark to make a plan, scrounge up whatever I could, and find 
a safe place for the night, I decided to quickly scan the newspapers for 
information.

	Judging from what my watch said, the papers were all about two 
years old. Who I guess was my former co-worker Harry was featured 
prominently. He even had a phenomena named after him: The Rand Effect. 
In this world he was a physicist working for Brookhaven National Labs on 
Long Island. He mysteriously disappeared while doing research on quantum 
entanglement. About a month after his disappearance, other people also 
started disappearing under unusual circumstances, without a trace. The 
only thing the FBI could prove in all these missing person cases was 
that they were in some manner, however tenuous, connected somehow with 
Dr. Harold Rand. The media started referring to the phenomena as the 
Rand Effect.

	I decided to go outside and do a little exploring. I was 
surprised to see that my car was still in the parking lot. I was not 
surprised to see it had a flat tire, and I was not surprised to discover 
the battery was stone dead. Otherwise everything was still in it 
including a flashlight, sleeping bag, backpack, and some freeze-dried 
backpacking food I keep in there for emergencies. I grab the backpack so 
I can carry anything I happen to find, and set out. It was a bright, 
sunny day, the temperature was probably in the mid 70s. Not a bad day 
for a walk, I thought, until I left my company's property. As soon 
as I crossed the property line, I felt like a thousand sets of eyes were 
watching me. I had the machete tucked in the backpack for quick access, 
but I felt it would have been as effective as a pool noodle in defending 
myself against what was out there. Every now and then I thought I saw 
some quick movement out of the corner of my eye, but when I looked 
nothing was there. I wished I had a gun on me, but the nagging thought 
in the back of my head was that I wouldn't even be able to shoot my 
way out of this. I knew somehow that wherever this was, no matter how 
familiar it looked, that I didn't belong here, and that whatever 
lived here was also aware of that fact.

	I walked down to the gas station on the corner. It too looked 
long abandoned. It also looked like it was quite thoroughly looted as 
well. I stepped though a broken plate glass window and looked around. 
There was nothing. Grabbing my flashlight, I went into the back storage 
room. It was one of those 4-D cell Maglites that security guards and 
cops often use as a nightstick. With that in one and the machete in the 
other I still felt woefully unarmed, but it was better than nothing. In 
the corner on a shelf was a case of peanut-butter crackers. I placed my 
flashlight on the shelf, sheathed my machete, and stuffed the box in my 
backpack. Grabbing my expedient weaponry, I looked around a little more 
and found nothing. Leaving the building, I noticed it was getting late 
in the day. I really, really didn't want to be out here at night, 
but I figured I still had enough time to check out another building so I 
decided to go back to my workplace by a slightly different route. Going 
around the back of the building, I discovered a bicycle laying up 
against the wall. It looked to be in good shape, so I took it figuring 
it would extend my search range. The walk back was uneventful and 
unproductive. The buildings I checked on the way back were all locked, 
and I didn't have enough time to break in. The number of eyes on me 
also seemed to increase tenfold, making me even more nervous. I got back 
to my work building, and proceeded to make sure every door was locked. 
For some reason, the building and immediate grounds around it seemed 
safe. As it was getting dark, I grabbed all the stuff in my car and 
brought it inside. Tomorrow I'll do another check of the building 
and go out exploring again. As I bring the stuff in, I realized I needed 
to use the restroom. Without thinking I went back to the one where it 
all started, and received my final surprise for the day.

	I walked into the restroom, and the lights were on! Not only 
that, the plumbing also worked (both hot and cold water), the toilets 
flushed, and I cannot be totally certain but the paper towels and toilet 
paper also looked like they were restocked. I pause for a moment, 
unbelieving. I then turn around walk out, and back into the apocalypse. 
Go back into the restroom, and civilization is still there. Considering 
the day so far, I figured I best not look a gift horse in the mouth, and 
decided to take advantage of this strange state. I moved all my stuff in 
there, locked the door behind me, and used the hot water to reconstitute 
one of my backpacking meals. I then cleaned myself up, unrolled my 
sleeping bag, and crashed for the night.

	When I woke up. It was dark. I moved a bit and the lights came 
back on. I remembered they were on a motion sensor so nothing had 
changed since last night. I used the facilities, cleaned myself off, and 
decided I'd explore the building to see what I could find. There 
wasn't much in the building. I did find a hammer in the 
janitor's utility closet which I took. I guessed that if I 
couldn't get into any of the surrounding buildings by other means I 
could always just break a window. I walked out the door, and realized 
that the bike I found yesterday was missing! That told me that I 
wasn't alone. I left the property, and again felt like I was being 
watched. The second time around though I could hear them. It was this 
unnerving skittering noise, like a critter moving in heavy brush. As I 
walked down the road, it started sounding closer and closer. I would 
catch movement in the periphery of my vision, turn to look, and see 
nothing. I'm freaking out at this point, and remembered that 
whatever these things or beings are, they stayed off my company's 
property. I high-tailed it back to work with the noises sounding like 
they were on my heels. I crossed the property line, expecting sanctuary, 
only to find out they were still behind me. I run into the building, 
lock the door behind me, and pause to catch my breath.

	I'm sitting in the bench in front of my locker by the door, 
catching my breath, when I catch a shadow moving at the far side of the 
production area. I yell out "Hey!" only for it to disappear. 
Whatever it is, it's now in the building. I start running towards 
the restroom. The skittering noise is catching up to be. I grab the 
door, throw myself in, slam and lock the door behind me. The noise is 
right on the other side of the door. The noise gets louder. It sounds 
like there are more of them. I realized I forgot my machete and 
flashlight by my locker. I also discovered that all the other stuff I 
left in the restroom is gone! The skittering noise is almost unbearable. 
Then the lights went out.

	The noise stopped. It was pitch black in the restroom for what 
seemed to be an eternity. I just sat there, waiting for whatever was 
going to happen next. Then the lights came back on. I could hear the 
mechanical sounds of the HVAC system. I opened the door, and walked 
outside to a busy shop. The clock said it was 3:55 PM on the same day I 
first walked into the restroom. People were getting ready to go home. I 
made like nothing happened. I cleaned up my workspace, clocked out, and 
went home. My car was right where it was supposed to be. Everything was 
in it. Everything was unchanged. I never told anyone what happened, but 
I always made sure that I was always in some way being observed by 
someone else in this world.