Portals Across the Universe

Roger Stenely Meets Detective Edgar Hort

A tall thin man was on his hands and knees, there was always a spot behind the cases under his bed that the cleaning droid always missed. The smell of dust tickled his nose as he reached back with the old shirt to clear the filth. A ring from an incoming call made him flinch and he knocked his head against the top of the hovering bed. Rubbing the knot that was forming, he crawled out and grabbed the e-glasses from where they floated above a charging pad.
"Roger Stenley," he said when they were on his face.

"Roge? You still sleeping?" His boss Jaquez had a heavy accent that was difficult to understand over a call. He hated the way his name sounded coming from Jaquez; 'Roh-ja'

"No. Why?" Roger asked, closing his eyes with a yawn. It was still early, he hadn't gotten dressed or had his tea yet, the mess under his bed had distracted him before he'd had time to do either. He reached over and pressed a button on his nightstand that opened the curtains. The red light that filtered in was dull, coming through an overcast sky high above the bustling city of Tortues.

"Good, we have a problem. I need you to meet with a detective over an illegal breach." Jaquez looked wide awake on the display coming over Roger's lenses. His short blonde curls bouncing as he hustled somewhere. Roger couldn't see where he was, though it sounded like a busy street. Jaquez's eyes were jumping between looking at Roger's face and watching where he was walking. Unlike Roger, Jaquez wasn't from Dutorik. He came from a planet clear across the galaxy. Roger ignored Jaquez's distress, only because he got worked up at the smallest inconvenience.

"Jaquez can't it wait? I had plans this morning." He sat up on his bed. His flannel pajamas had crept up his shins while he was trying to clean, so he pulled them back down before standing up.

"I hardly call cleaning a plan and it'll have to wait. I'll approve an emergency portal for twenty minutes from your front door to the location."

"The meeting isn't at the office?"

"No, he insists on a meeting at the site of a breach. Roge, it is terrrible. You must get here quickly. Please." Jaquez said.

"Fine, I will be there in twenty minutes." Jaquez disconnected the call. Roger was irritated. Lately Jaquez had been calling him into work on his days off. Most of the time it was to fix something the tiny foreign man had messed up. Roger stretched his arms to the ceiling and gave another long yawn. He ruffled his messy brown hair in irritation, then walked with heavy footsteps to his tiny kitchen to stand in front of the processer, a machine that cooked with his favorite food and drink.

"Tea: 327 degrees kelvin." One ding from the machine confirmed his order. Not a single crumb could be found on his two small counters and the rest of the house was as immaculate. Before he could grab the hot tea from the machine, his eyes shot to a small black dot behind it. With his eyebrows low, he licked his thumb and rubbed at the spot for several minutes before giving up. He grabbed the ceramic mug, took a gulp, and let the hot liquid slosh around in his mouth. He frowned.

"Tea: 326 degrees kelvin," he said and a half second later the machine let out another ding. He swapped the drinks and tested the new tea with a small sip. "Perfect," he said with a smile. Roger flipped between the temperatures every few days but could never settle on which he preferred.

After he was dressed in his simple black slacks, white button down, and had combed his short hair, he selected one of the pre-made ties off the rack near his bedroom door. Each item in his small apartment had its place, and Roger enjoyed seeing all the single Windsor knots in perfect order. When the selected tie was tightened around his neck, Roger grabbed one of the portal briefcases from under the bed.