Hermes and I had been working on a new transmat device for nearly an entire year. We had finally completed the design and spent the last week optimizing it. With a boost from some interstellar travel, she managed to get it to work perfectly as I tested it in the library.
She and I were waiting in a rented warehouse, where she had set up nine transmat stations around the building. One for each of the nine gates, surrounding a central tower and the main entrance.
"So what do you think?" I asked her.
"Honestly, I'm not sure of the exact nature of the threat, but I'm not sure what we would do anyways if this backfired," she said.
"I know, but we might get lucky," I said.
She nodded and sighed.
"It's worth a try. We've been working on this for forever, even if we learn nothing new," she said.
"True," I said.
I looked around and saw nothing new of use.
"What do you suggest we do in the mean time?" I asked.
"No clue, boredom is not something I enjoy," she said.
"Okay, good to know," I said.
We continued to talk in the waiting room, waiting for the time for our experiment to begin. An hour away from the beginning of our experiment, the door at the other side of the room opened.
"Okay, our first participant. A young woman, not older than 15," Hermes said.
I looked to the door and saw a young girl entering the room. She looked to be about five foot seven, with auburn hair, blue eyes and was about 130 pounds. She was wearing a skirt that went down to around her knees, and had a short white sleeveless top. She was a fan of wearing blue, from the color of her scarf to her blue sneakers to her blue hairclips.
"Excuse me! Is this your experiment," she asked.
"Yeah, that's us," I said.
"Okay, oh… here you go then," she said, handing back the robe she received, which had been stolen from a local jewelry store. "I'll see you guys at the start of the test," she said and walked out of the room.
She looked at Hermes and then back at me.
"I'm sorry to bother you, but could I just have my purse back, I had that dropped in front of the Starbucks near the library, and lost it," she said handing us her wallet.
"Sure, we'll just lock it in my office," I said.
"O-okay, thanks," she said.
I looked back at Hermes, who also looked confused.
"I-I have to go back to my job at the convenience store, but I'll see you at the colosseum," she said and ran out.
The next one to arrive had no trouble in the experiment at all, with Hermes getting him transferred over to the right gate and everything. I was testing another destination point for the transmat, making sure I got a good destination for the transmat to work at.
I went to a place I was familiar with and whose layout I was familiar with. I had used this space many times, and I knew it would be an easy and short space.
"Okay, I think I have the area clear," I said.
I set up the transmat, activated it and got ready to walk through it. Luckily I'd spent all the time I would need researching, and had watches on me at all times, since I couldn't study during transmat use, nor could I interface with a device like this.
I walked through the transmat, just one step at a time, until I was standing next to my destination. Then I stepped off the transmat and hit the button on the side of it, to signal that it was done.