Trafika Europe 14 - Italian Piazza

Piero Schiavo Campo

a brick wall. The garden was also visible through the arched doorway in the far wall of the room, leading out of doors. Through this, a romantic glimpse of a wrought-iron gate partly covered in ivy contrasted sharply with the bulky technological equipment cluttering the space indoors. I peered attentively at the small crowd thronging the room. All I could gather was that the air conditioning must have been running at full capacity, judging from the profusion of jackets. Along one wall was a wooden platform, in the center of which a tall, stout man smiled as he addressed the audience. That was Goldbach with the heavy blond plait falling softly on his right shoulder. Once again I tried to study his expression. Nothing indicated that he knew what was about to happen. Next to him, a man and two women were busy carrying out some final tests. Over their clothes they wore short light-blue coats. I’d been told these were commonly used by CEPS (Centre Européen de Physique Supérieure) technicians. They, too, gave no sign of unease or worry. I turned my attention to the equipment at the end of the room. The device near the arched door looked like a cupboard of polished metal, whose truncated- conoid hatch bore two noticeable diagonal black bands. Under these bands, inside an evenly-lit niche, a small gray sphere could be perceived. The equipment

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