Years later at a cafe, half a coffee on the table. His left thumb slid across the chin. Felt the stubble already comin in. Keith shaved every morning now. HIs coworkers from

Spacecity

might not recognize him if they saw him face on. The time that had past. The clean face. Someone who could grow a beard as thick as his really ought not to shave. He only did shave because he enjoyed the routine. In the morning he wanted something routine like that.

He could've had plants but he didn't want to have a living thing depending on him. Even though he'd be good at tending to plants. He never took vacations. He'd be there for them. The point wasn't how good he'd be at the job. The point was he didn't want to be depended on.

Right now he was staring out the window. The street traffic had calmed. It was too late to grab lunch or coffee for most. The workers were back to business. Keith didn't need to return though. The day was ruined.

He worked in a lab now. The experiments they ran took a full day if all things went well. The key was that the first group needed to begin by 8:30 in the morning. Group 1 needed to keep Group 2 informed. If Group 1 was falling behind then Group 2 would need to delay their prep work. If Group 1 was running on time or ahead of schedule, then Group 2 needed to begin prep earlier. There was some slack time in between. But so long as they kept communicating with each other, they could accomplish the handoff successfully.

Keith was in Group 3. The final leg of the day. Most of the time Group 3 wouldn't receive the payload from Group 2 until around 1 PM. This meant that Keith could never take a long lunch. A long coffee. Which sucked for him because he was a late eater. Today Group 1 had botched everything. Two of their main players showed up late. Then they didn't communicate to Group 2. Group 2 was poor about tracking down what was happening. So the experiment was considered a wash by the time 11AM rolled around.

Keith sipped his coffee. It wasn't hot anymore. Not even warm. He didn't know what to do the rest of the day. It had been months since the last time an experiment had gone this poorly. It wasn't a big deal in the big scheme of things. What weighed heavy on him was the thought of what he would do with his life.

The last time he felt alive was that time he went looking for Marianna. Had met Max. And the rest of the storm that had followed that journey. Everything after that had been boring and meaningless. After that Keith had entered a phase of 'passing time'. Not in a fun way either. Other people, his coworkers, seemed to enjoy passing time. They always wanted to go get home so that they could continue passing the time.

Keith would rather be at work. He didn't know what to do with himself to pass the time. He looked down at the coffee. Sighed. Wondered whether this was what people really enjoyed doing. He wished he could call Max right now. Or better yet, see him in person. Go on a ride together and talk.

Is this how I'm going to die? Keith wondered. Was his life a meaningless series of perceptions save for the few moments where he felt alive. Was this how other people felt as they marched to their grave?

Keith stood up to throw out the rest of the cold coffee. Grabbed a plastic cup of water. He would get a headache if he didn't drink regular water. Sat back down. And began thinking about the past again. That storm. The blackout.