Ready Room
Richard found Rand lost in thought. His hands folded over his legs. His head down. His eyes closed.
Contemplative and soft-spoken, that was just who Rand was. That’s how he was when he found Richard. After everything that went down at the college, it was Rand who rescued him.
Because of the incident, Richard’s name was all over the papers for that short news-cycle. Rand just happened to be reading. He wasn’t interested in what caused the disgraced physicist to be expelled from the college, but he was interested in his work. Quickly, Rand read every paper Richard had published. He made himself aware of Richard’s theories and how they evolved throughout his life.
Richard was on edge when the black car pulled up to his house. He put up his guard when the billionaire knocked on his front door. He was impressed when he found out that Jerome Rand knew everything about him.
As Richard stood in the doorway of the Ready Room, he thought of everything that must have led to this point for Rand. He had indeed built himself up from nothing.
Jerome Rand was a genius in both tech and design. The combination allowed him to become a genius in a third field, marketing. He was able to sell his tech to the common man in a sleek, easy on the eyes package. Design became an obsession for him. Even down to the suit and helmet he’d be wearing for the experiment. He didn’t care that nobody outside of today’s event would see it.
Now, at the age of 50, he was worth billions.
Rand didn’t lift his head as he broke the silence.
“You know Aleister Crowley?”
“The Satanist?”
Rand looked up at Richard, disappointed that he would jump to such an easy label.
“The man was an avid mountain climber. Few heights evaded him. He even climbed volcanos in Mexico. In 1902 he and a friend were the first to attempt to climb the K2 mountain, the second-highest and most dangerous mountain in the world. It’s been called a savage mountain that tries to kill you. It did not kill Crowley. He climbed 20,000 feet of the 28,000-foot mountain only to succumb to madness from malaria. Fighting to conquer the summit, he turned his revolver on the other members on his team until they subdued him and brought him back down the mountain. Crowley went to Paris to recover. He climbed other mountains but never any of such great heights.”
Rand paused and looked past Richard, down the hallway, and to the Jump Room.
“The Beast. I wonder what he could have accomplished had it not been for those who stood in his way.”
Richard didn’t know what to say.
Rand did.
“Are you ready?”
“Are you ready, boss?” Richard asked right back.
“For a long time.” There was no sense of doubt in Rand’s voice.
Richard tiptoed in his mind and then asked, “Are you nervous?”
Rand took the helmet that was next to him. He peered into the reflective visor that looked back at him.
“Yes. But if I thought about my nerves, I would never have made it to this point.”
Richard gave Rand a reassuring nod, “You’re ready.”
“I guess so.”
Rand stood up, and as he walked past Richard, he patted him on the shoulder.
“I’m not your boss, Richard. We’re a team.”
He put his helmet on and walked to the Jump Room.
“Best case, this succeeds, and our work is just beginning. Worst case, we start the machine up, and I explode into a hundred pieces.”
Rand let out a laugh. It was the first time Richard had heard it. It was unsettling.
“Good luck explaining all this,” Richard said as his final echo before he slammed the large steel door; the lever fell into place, sealing him in the Jump Room.
Richard stared at the door for a long moment.