Discovery

Emily swiped her card. The little red light turned to green and she walked into the warm embrace of the hallway. She shook her umbrella and let it drip as she made her way into the break room. 

The building was quiet and the rare light coming in from the break room was inviting. As usual, Emily made her way in, hung her coat, placed down her umbrella, and powered up the expresso machine. The noise from the water pump broke the silence and then the whirling blades overwhelmed the pump. The smell of fresh ground coffee filled the room and Emily smiled. This was one of her favourite moments in the entire day.

Emily walked down the hall with a cup of Americano in each hand. She reached the office door, stood on her tippy toes and leaned her hip into the card reader, moving it side to side until the reader picked up the card hanging from her hip.  She then used her elbow to press down on the door handle, bending in the process to ensure the coffee doesn’t spill, and pushed her way in with her shoulder.

“Hi, George. ” she said once inside, carrying the coffee to her desk.

George turned around and his appearance made Emily pause halfway towards her desk. He was more rattled than usual, and usually he was pretty rattled. He looked absolutely manic and this made Emily want to retreat.

But before she could do anything, George jumped up and ran towards her. He grabbed her by her shoulders and his grin made Emily’s heart sink. George opened his mouth, but before he said anything, he raised his finger in the air, turned around and ran towards his desk. After a few moments, the large screen on the side wall changed and Emily dropped the coffee in her hands.

The cups shuttered, but neither one cared. Emily walked closer to the screen, turned to George, and while pointing at the screen, kept moving her mouth, but not a single coherent word came out.

“Yes!” Exclaimed George, “Exactly!”

“Did you…? Speech was slow to come back to Emily

“It seems to pass the validations, but some of them are still running.”

“Ok.” Emily clapped her hands snapping herself out of her stupor “Let’s do this.” 

She walked around the puddle of coffee on the floor, sat at her desk, and went on to perform a second round of validations to confirm that they have managed to break the speed of light.