He likes Agent Barton, at least as much as he likes any SHIELD agent. He's a good guy. Nice. Standing over his shoulder like all the others but there's something about him that makes Selvig okay with that. Fury sent him to keep an eye on things. Of course he's gonna hover.
At least he makes conversation.
"Okay," Barton's saying. "Now, I guess the only thing that's really throwing me off here is I have no idea what this cube is."
"It's a tesseract," Selvig says, absentmindedly, scanning the outputs.
"A what?"
"It's what you call a cube that occupies a fourth dimension."
"So we're messing with another dimension?"
Selvig sighs. Even that's oversimplified. "When's the last time you took a physics class?"
Barton thinks about it. "Never."
"Have you heard of quantum physics?"
"I've watched 'The Secret.'"
Selvig turns completely around to look at him, searching for even the slightest hint of a smile, some sort of joke.
"Load of BS, right?" Barton says. "I figured."
That's better. Not great. "It's really very complicated."
"Try me."
"Well, then, to oversimplify, everything is connected to everything else."
Barton frowns. "You can get a little more technical than that."
"Trust me, Agent Barton," Selvig says. "Even I don't understand most of it."
"Comforting," Barton says, lips curling into a sardonic smile.
Barton shifts from one foot to the other, snaps the straps of his arm guard as Selvig double checks the output.
"So then, what does the cube… do, exactly?"
Selvig thinks about that question, about how to explain it.
"Sorry," Barton says, "I meant tesseract."
"Well, it doesn't do anything, exactly."
"All right, then what's it for?"
"It — we can use it to harness energy from previously inaccessible regions."
"Like what?"
He gives Barton the easy answer he'd given Fury — "energy from space."
"Uh-huh," Barton says, looking a little suspicious. "So this cube — sorry, tesseract — just takes energy from space? Where's the fourth dimension? Doesn't that play into it?"
"Well, yes, exactly, the energy is coming from the fourth dimension."
"So how did we get to the fourth dimension?"
"It's —" the explanation involves more quantum physics, a couple of guesses. He'll just simplify it. "Because the cube gives us access."
"Oh," Barton says, sudden recognition in his eyes, and Selvig exhales in celebration. "So it's like a door."
No. Not at all. Even if that were the least bit true, it's still ignoring almost everything he knows about the cube. It's a horribly misleading oversimplification. It's irresponsible to even encourage that idea. "Yes," he says. "Exactly. It's like a door."
"Great," Agent Barton says, a proud grin on his face. "Thanks for the explanation."
"Any time."
Barton turns, walks toward the door, and Selvig can't help but worry. He still doesn't fully trust them, doesn't know how much of this babysitting is really for his own good. "Where are you going?"
Barton turns back, points towards the rafters. "Up. I see better from a distance."
"Oh," Selvig says, heart rate returning to normal. That's good. That's wonderful. Give him more room to think. "By all means."
"Don't worry," Barton says, over his shoulder, as he walks away. "I've got you covered."
And then he turns back, flashes Selvig an easy smile. "Call me if you get it open."