Trigram: Black Iris - A Superhero Story - HIATUS

Chapter Five

Noticing the waving hand across several rows of rectangular tables of the canteen, Hechen approached the man in the pinstripe suit, taking his seat opposite him, wrinkling his nose as the smell of coffee became increasingly apparent.

"Good day my good sir!" Gabriel cheered.

Hechen grinned as he began to unwrap his sandwich, "And good day to you, too my brilliant sir!"

Gabriel laughed, "So, how is your time at SEMTOR so far?"

"A little more... dull than I imagined," Hechen paused, raising an eyebrow, "hang on, is this an interview? Am I being surprise interviewed like one of those TV shows? I thought I'm done with interviews."

"Hmm... Let's say this is an interview."

"What?" Hechen frowned, looking between Gabriel's vegan wrap and the dark grey table, having a surface so polished the white tube lights on the veiling were reflected like a mirror, making Hechen squint slightly.

"Well, not an official one. Just one I am personally conducting," Gabriel sipped his coffee.

"Oh?"

"Don't worry about it too much. Please, eat."

Hechen bit down on his sandwich. Sunflower seeds. Wheat. Rough. The tomatoes and lettuce were cold and watery. Soft crunch.

"So you're still working through the introductory material?" Gabriel asked.

"Ashual-" Hechen swallowed, "actually, I just finished it. Honestly it was a little boring. But it's very informative."

"I remember when I had to go through those pages."

"Don't you think reading all those instruction booklets and news articles to be a bit dull?"

"At first. But later you realise how useful these training courses are. There had been times where I was glad to have read in detail the secondary calibration of the neutron tunnel."

"I suppose the refresher is also incredibly helpful..." Hechen nodded, "I mean I have forgotten quite some stuff..."

More people began to drift into the large canteen. Empty seats were gradually filled up by a whole variety of people from biologists to technicians, the air was gradually filled up by streams of conversation.

"This sounds a bit like a swimming pool," Hechen noted how the sound waves echo off the smooth walls. He took another bite of his sandwich. Plain. Boiled egg. Soft crunch.

"Hmm?" Gabriel tilted his head, "oh you mean the sound! Yes... Quite lively don't you think."

"I suppose..."

Gabriel resumed eating his wrap. The two sat in temporary silence as they ate.

"I wonder what's next for me. I can't wait to get some actual research done! Well, I mean, I can wait but you know what I mean," said Hechen.

"What research do you want to do?"

Hechen's eyes lit up as a grin spread across his face, "I'm thinking either something about the topological order or tidal energy generation. But anything that involves a healthy dose of mathematics and practical applications is fine by me!"

"Oh?" Gabriel smiled.

"Or maybe something on mechatronics or building on computational fluid dynamics models. Or liquid Helium. Or molecule robotics! Or," Hechen raised his hands up in the air, clenching them into fists, "High temperature superconductors!"