A cup of coffee sat on the table, a small bit of steam still emanating from within.
The cup's owner, a man no younger than 50 sporting a mighty fine goatee, sits on a chair while reading a thick book full of obscure equations and near-unreadable text. He was alone, surrounded only by empty chairs and tables, a microwave together with a coffee machine sitting on top of a console table, and a fridge, on top of which the ever-so-important radio.
The radio was tuned into the facility's in-house station. It was nothing spectacular: showing off some of the newest tunes in 80s jazz, sometimes broken up by the announcer's chatter: "You're listening to the Aperture Science on-site radio! Your 24/7 source of science-inspired music!". This gave some character to the plaster-white room, its blank walls decorated only by a single, small painting of a bouquet of yellow flowers.
The seemingly ever-lasting boringness of the room was then suddenly broken by the door's opening creak, followed by the same sound as it closed. The woman who started this chain of events, an asian lady in her 30s, hurried inside of the break room, not paying attention to the man reading his book as she set her papers and files down on a nearby table. The man, looking up from his book and behind his right shoulder, spoke to the visitor.
"Hey Bella, already back from Cleveland?"
"Morning Hughes..." said the woman named Bella as she turned to prepare coffee at the machine, "All of this is starting to get on my nerves. They had me travel nearly 300 miles just to sign the authorization papers in person! Couldn't the center just mail us the thing and I mail it back?". By the end of her monologue, she poured herself a cup of coffee and turned to Hughes, who was the man sitting down.
"They're still jumpy about corporate espionage. Who knows, maybe the mailman is going to be paid off by Breen and his crooks." Hughes said as he took a long sip from his own cup of coffee.
"What are you reading anyway?", inquired Bella as she stepped closer, "It's not some UFO-stuff or something about a trans-dimensional conspiracy again, is it?" she said with a small chuckle. "Don't worry about it, I'm just catch-" said Hughes as he was cut off by Bella quickly stepping in and snatching the book off the table.
Upon a closer inspection, the book's black cover was clearly adorned with the words 'FROM HERE TO THERE IN UNDER A SECOND' in bold neon letters, under which the author's name was proudly displayed: Dr. Isaac Kleiner.
"Dear me!" Bella mockingly said as she examined the intricate cover design "I would never have guessed that you would take your precious time to read the work of your utmost competitor!". "It was on discount." said Hughes in a poor attempt to save some face.
Then, drinking from his cup of coffee, he pondered about the book. Of course, the methods and theories Kleiner proposes in its many pages are inefficient, far-fetched and probably impossible, but this is what made him into a celebrity. Kleiner, because of his work, became a widely recognized theoretical physicist, a best-selling author, and was featured in Popular Scientist. Even if Hughes' work in portal technology forwarded science by centuries and proved far better than Kleiner's unproven theories, he wasn't recognized for it. He's never written a best-selling book about it and was definitely not featured in Popular Scientist. Things like this could drive him mad, the thought of spending his life on something which would then never be seen past the walls of the facility.
Then, his female colleague let his book drop back down onto the table; the large thud it made snapped him out of his train of thought. "Anyway, care to fill me in on what happened while I was gone?", asked Bella as she moved to sit down in a chair next to Hughes. He set his cup down and thought for a moment, before responding: "Nothing much. The crew's been constantly 'finishing up' the last couple of days. They said they've not had the opportunity to test all the systems properly so they're trying to buy more time to do it; you know, Cave's been rushing things too much."
"When the old guy can't work faster, he's going to make everyone else work faster. It's how his inner self operates." Hughes looked at Bella as she finished her sentence. "Inner self? You're a guru as well now?". Bella chuckled at this, not wanting to answer the question. Hughes then faced the book on the table, laying his right hand on it. "What did the guys at Cleveland say?".
"The bare minimum..." Bella replied, "They said the government authorized the entire operation, though of course it will all be done in private, away from the eyes of the public." Hughes drank the last drop of his coffee, "At least we'll be there to see the fireworks."
Just as he set the now empty cup down, the room's announcement system came to life, revealing the voice of an old, disgruntled, yet still somewhat energetic man: "Hey, eggheads, play time's over. We just got the go-ahead from folks over at the Assisted Jaunt Center and they're ready for the delivery. No time for chit-chat, get back to work!".
As the message came to an end, Hughes stood up from his familiar seat at the same time as Bella, who was a head shorter than him. "You sent Cave the email I asked you to, right?".
"Of course I did," replied Bella, "I marked it as 'by J.H. to C.J.' just like you asked." Hughes started moving for the door, motioning Bella to follow. "Excellent, this is our big shot here. This goes right and you can start lecturing about inner selves from an ivory tower."
The two continued talking well after they exited the room, the door creaking behind them. By the end of all this, the room was once again filled only with jazz from the radio, everything returning to a standstill - the book remaining where the pair left it. Though their work was far from done, what they'll do in the next couple of hours will no doubt serve as a landmark in the history of the company, or maybe even the entire world.
To Be Continued...
