Prologue

Oliver Heathcote was a contradiction. At twenty-four, he was already revered in the physics world, yet he wore his genius with unassuming ease. Few knew that behind his tousled auburn hair and quiet, contemplative eyes lay a young man with a mind that had cracked open the secrets of the universe. He preferred faded jumpers over lab coats and rather clunky shoes over polished ones. Yet, there was one place where his unpolished exterior gave way to utter precision—the basement laboratory at St.