Setting: It turns out that every atom is itself a universe, one of them is ours, and every civilization this side of the Hubble limit is after it to study it, protect it from decay, gain ultimate power
A local physicist accidentally makes the universe's walls ripple and goes very, very quiet about her research, hoping that the ripples didn't give away Earth's location
Protesters outside a fission plant with CRITICALITY IS GENOCIDE tshirts, Obi-Wan banner quoting "a million voices suddenly cried out in terror, and were silenced"