The Asymmetric Symmetry

"Our table is known to be new-face friendly." The blonde girl declared as Michael sat on the empty spot opposite to her and placed his plate on the wooden table. An Asian man and an Asian woman made up the rest of the group. Dressed in casuals, just like the other engineers in the corporation, all three of them were level-I systems engineers.

"Level-II, interesting! I thought level-II staff went to the second-floor cafeteria." The Asian man spoke up around a bite of a burger. His eyes looked particularly small behind his thick, myopic glasses. That was the only accessory that splashed a bit of age to his otherwise youthful face. "It comes with the perks, you know. I am Gary." Gary's thin, wide lips broke into a smile.

"Gary, nice to meet you. Michael." Michael's eyes met everybody else's as he stated his name. "I did not see burger in the buffet menu."

"Oh, I am on a food system assignment. This is just one of the perks." Gary waved the burger at Michael. Michael glanced at it with an appetite of a thousand hungry men. Unfortunately, it did last long as Gary finished it within minutes.

"Food system assignments must be in high demand." Michael observed dryly and the blonde girl snorted.

"It is one of the better ones, so long as you manage to get those rewards and perks, and avoid the punishments and deductions." Gary's smug smile made it evident that he was good at collecting those brownie points.

Once all the introductions and pleasantries were exchanged, Gary meticulously collected all his trash and stood up. "We must be on our way. Lunch break will be over in two minutes. Come on, Angela. Welcome to the organization, Michael." Gary flashed one last smile at Michael and walked away. The tall Asian woman followed him.

"So, what's a level-II engineer doing among all the level ones here?" The blonde girl, who had introduced herself as Sasha, asked Michael. She stroked her single braid as her blue eyes watched Michael with curiosity.

"I was previously employed at USV but took a break. I guess I have to prove my worth again." Michael gave Sasha a thin smile as he played with his food.

"Not usual to see the director of the USV to escort an entry-level staff." Sasha finished her plate and was ready to leave. "We do not live too far from each other in the dorm."

"Do the higher level engineers get better dorms too?" Michael was curious.

"Oh yes. In fact, they get their separate apartments and condos. And if you are high enough, you might even get to live in the political district of Cricolithis, right beside our President's mansion." Sasha gave Michael a secretive look before she burst into a laughter. "By the way, what workstation were you assigned to? You can use your tablet to navigate, or you can come with me, and I can show you around a little on the way to your workstation." Sasha was very friendly. And Michael did not mind.

On their way to the Main Hall, where most workstations were, Sasha showed Michael the other higher-level cafeterias, the pharmacy, the gift shop, the recreation room, as well as the entrances to some of the more classified and higher-level offices. Michael realized how ridiculous they must look side by side, with him being six feet two inches and Sasha being short and petite.

Eventually, they parted ways on the fifth floor, and Michael continued on to his workstation on the second floor. It was on a circular balcony in the main hall, where around thirty engineers were currently standing in front of their respective workstations. Michael found the one that belonged to him and exchanged an awkward smile and a hello with the engineer stationed on his right. The station on his left was empty.

Michael decided to do some research on his current assignment since he was still waiting for the daily teleportation bonus to recharge. Michael scanned his ID card which booted up his workstation 206. The large computer screen flickered on. The home screen was populated with fifty icons, each representing a unique system, starting with the physics system. Michael continued to swipe through the next screen, and then the next, and five minutes later, he still could not find the last icon of the home screen. Tired, he returned to his original home screen and opened the icon that said Physics System. The message that popped up on his screen now was the same that was on his tablet.

[Physics System

System Issue: Energy Asymmetry from Supermassive Black Hole

System Engineer – in charge: Mikael De Besches/Michael Best, Level II Systems Engineer

Target World: Earth, Year 2021

Overall Goal: Restore Universal Gravitational Field

Objective 2: Search for Antimatter Universe

Skills attributed: Speech, Teleportation, Strength, Luck

Speech: 20%

Teleportation: 2/4

Strength: 40%

Luck: 20%

Wealth: 50 USD, Earth

Equipment: LSI Table U89MDB; USV Portation Band]

Michael noted that his teleportation had already recharged by one. The last time he had read about antimatter was in his freshman year of college, and he had forgotten most of what he had learned. However, it was easy to guess that antimatter must be opposite to matter in its properties. He only needed to find the missing link between the energy asymmetry of the universe and the antimatter.

Just then, a tall woman arrived at the empty workstation on Michael's left. It was the same Asian woman from earlier, Angela.

"Hello." Angela smiled softly at Michael, while setting down the pile of documents she was carrying on her desk. She had a blue checkered t-shirt on over her white top, which Michael found pleasant to the eyes. Her ponytail swung gently as she turned her head to her computer screen and then back to her pile of documents.

"Hi! So, I guess that workstation is not empty after all?" Michael could kick himself for how awkward that sounded. Yet, Angela's soft giggle made it okay.

"It is rare for me to leave the station, to be honest, since I do most of engineers' research here when they are busy in the field." Angela turned her soft brown eyes to the screen, her face still smiling.

"Ah, I see. Seems like I must do my own research here."

"You will be paired with an analyst, once you upgrade to level-IV. They are the ones I work with, mostly."

Michael was glad he found a colleague he could chat with. He did not have that privilege when he was working for Briar industries back in Chicago.

"In fact, one half of this circle are analysts," Angela pointed to her back, "and the other half are engineers. Maintains the symmetry of this place."

Michael was not surprised that USV supported its systems engineers with analysts; every descent corporation knew the value of research and analysis. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he swiveled his chair around. Two types of employees who complement each other maintained the symmetry of the circular balcony, like a mirror. Then, that must be the missing link! The energy asymmetry could be brought back to symmetry if the supermassive black hole is counter-balanced by an opposite but equally powerful source of energy. And somehow, the antimatter must be responsible for that!