"Earth to Adam!"
Hearing his name snapped Adam Wells out of his daydream. God, I've been staring at this screen too long. He looked up to see his buddy Jeff Jensen peering over the wall of his cubicle.
"Sorry man!" Adam said. "Guess I zoned out there."
"I know the feeling buddy. What are you crunching numbers on this time?"
"Your guess is as good as mine, like always." The company they both worked for, Tenenbaum Industries, researched and developed new and interesting consumer products designed to make people's lives easier. Fuel efficient engines, robotic vacuums, the works - they were always coming up with new and interesting things.
And with all the buzz around their products, the company had grown more and more secretive in an effort to keep competitors at bay. Adam and Jeff were merely accountants, and all the numbers they saw were tied to gibberish codenames. All they had to do was keep the books balanced and not ask too many questions. It really was a good gig - decent pay, great hours. But for Adam, something seemed to be bothering him. Something he wanted to look into - if he could only remember what.
"Well it's almost time to knock off for the day," Jeff said.
"Thank god, I'm going stir crazy!"
"Office life dude. Speaking of, the guys in R&D; want me to test out something at home."
"Really?" That sounded odd to Adam. "What is it?"
"No idea. They said it would be waiting at my door when I get home. I just have to see if it works, and they say there's a bonus in it for me."
Adam chuckled, "So you get to be their guinea pig?"
"I guess, man. I figure it's worth a shot. What's the worst that could happen? Say, you wanna come over and check it out with me?"
Adam thought for a moment. Something seemed really off here. The R&D; people would never let a prototype out of their department, much less the building! But then again, he'd be the first to try out what could be the next big invention.
