WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!

Can We Fit a Triangle in a Loop?

The three of them walked around the perimeter of the circular centre, took a sharp turn around an extending branch and entered the corridor. This corridor was unlike all other corridors in that it was much wider, better lit, and it only had one room at the far end. They reached that room, opened the red oak door and entered. Aurelia talked to someone sitting at the desk in hushed tones, presumably the secretary, and then entered another through another red oak door at the side.

The three of them walked around the perimeter of the circular centre, took a sharp turn around an extending branch and entered the corridor. This corridor was unlike all other corridors in that it was much wider, better lit, and it only had one room at the far end. They reached that room, opened the red oak door and entered. Aurelia talked to someone sitting at the desk in hushed tones, presumably the secretary, and then entered another through another red oak door at the side.
Inside, Barack Obama lay seated at a big desk. He immediately rose up and greeted the three of them with a heart-warming smile.
"Aurelia ... uh ... I was ... uh ... expecting you." Turning to Charlotte and Toby, he said, "Finally, we meet," and shook hands with the both of them.
"How much do they know?"
"Very little."
"Better. I ... uh ... wanted to ... uh ... tell you that ... uh ... how lucky we all are to acquire your contribution in fixing the Earth. It takes a lot of courage and compassion to accept this as your fate. Although at this moment, the world might seem to be crashing down on you, logic might be telling you that what you have set out on is impossible, I want to tell you that this is the moment ... to restore prosperity and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can."
A bunch of people busted inside the office. Aurelia introduced them to Charlotte and Toby as the team they would be working with.
"Daniel, have you narrowed it down?"
"Yes, Aurelia, we've managed to pin it down to two locations. One is in Bradbury, 20 miles up the Thames from your place, and the other is in Welfordshire about 30 miles down the Thames. Here is the approximate location ..." he said, showing her a file and explaining something in what seemed like Greek and Latin.
"Daniel ... How long do we have?" asked Aurelia, suddenly very grave.
"Two days tops. The rate of expansion is increasing exponentially."
Clearly, that disturbed Aurelia, but she took a deep breath and restored her composure. "Then, we don't have a second to waste! Let's hurry. We will all meet on Earth-Tuesday at 12 PM BST at my place. You all have had enough training to know what to bring and what to do. Meet our heroes, Charlotte and Toby." They both smiled meekly. They were introduced to the team one by one; Daniel was the Technical Head; the Logistic Head was a tall, thin, geeky looking guy wearing huge cylindrical glasses called Ricardo, and the Security Head was a burly surly Zoran who was garbed in a suspicious amount of black.
"We should instruct them on the plan now," Aurelia said, nodding to Obama.
"Ms Winterblossoms, I would like to speak to you privately," said he.
As they left the office, Charlotte caught a fraction of the exchange.
"Aurelia, do we have hope?"
"You want the truth or sugar ..."
Daniel took them to the neighbouring conference room. The security head, Zoran, had excused himself and left. Now, it was just the four of them. Amidst the overwhelming stream of information that Charlotte's brain was too prejudiced with 8th-grade science classes to accept, Charlotte hadn't really taken note of Daniel until now, a young guy with a long face, serene blue eyes, well-coiffed brown hair. His broad shoulders and a moderately-built body made him look dapper in the grey suit he was wearing. His manner exuded certainty and confidence, which caught Charlotte's eye.
"Charlotte!" Daniel said, snapping in front of her eyes to bring her back to attention. "I am asking you. What happened? You are somewhat absent." Toby noticed the way she was feasting her eyes on Daniel.
"I'm sorry, Daniel, all of this is just too much. I am just ... overwhelmed. I don't even know if I am fit to do it."
"Hey, hey, hey! Relax. I know it's a lot. But I also trust you. Pretty women like you rarely go wrong."
Charlotte was flattered. Toby was drowning in envy.
"What was it you were asking?"
"Has Aurelia warned you to not bring a device to the portal?"
"I mean ... yeah, she told us not to, she didn't say why."
"Oh! She should have. Knowing the reason will make all the more sure you don't accidentally bring it to a portal. You see, these devices have been created from an unusual substance. We still don't know how it responds to different stimuli, but we do know that if you bring it to a portal, it goes out of hand. It starts to eat the fabric of the universe at an uncontrollably rapid rate. They create what humans know as black holes. They are regions of absolute nothingness. And like any vacuum sucks up the air around it to fill itself, these black holes also continuously eat on the surrounding space and keep expanding. It has happened a couple of times before, but we had been able to stop its effects and confine it to a limited area, all thanks to our space-time manipulators ... people like you. But at this moment, we don't have anyone competent enough to curb its effects. If it happens now, it can be devastating. It can wipe out the universe."
Charlotte was shaken. She decided to be extra careful about it. Toby, on the other hand, felt that Daniel was showing off by throwing around complicated words.
The next twenty minutes, Daniel spent instructing them about the technicalities and standard protocol. This, Charlotte listened to with rapt attention, and Toby, with dismissive coldness. Then, Ricardo took his turn to take them through the logistics of their mission. They were later joined by Aurelia. After the briefing, they went back to Aurelia's place and noticed that not a minute had elapsed since they left for the Ministry.
"Let's get to work, shall we?" said Aurelia as she put a cup in front of the two of them. "Charlotte, I want you to fill the cup with water, and then Toby will empty it. Begin."
"What? How are we going to do that? Aren't you going to explain it to us?"
"Honey, these kinds of things can't be explained. Can you tell someone how to move their arm? Can you tell someone how to think? You just do it!"
Charlotte wasn't exactly convinced by the answer. Nevertheless, she turned her attention to the cup and kept staring at it, but nothing happened. She felt stupid.
"Okay, Toby, you try. You fill it, and Charlotte will empty it."
Toby diverted his gaze to the cup, and almost instantly it turned to water.
"Not what I was looking for, but I guess that's something," said Aurelia, now hopeful. "Anyway, I see you're both tired and distracted. It was, after all, your first visit to the headquarters and your first time in the tube; that must have been disorienting. So, I suggest you go home, get some rest, and come back tomorrow for the training. But, you've got homework. I want you both to perform as many acts of controlled manipulation of your environment as possible, get as much practice as you can. I also want you to use the portals available to you for any and all travels you make outside of your house from now until you come in here tomorrow so that you can get used to the lumolag associated with time travel. Alright, see you tomorrow at 9 a.m. sharp."