"Steemit Challenge s26wk1 : The Office Project"
 Source |
|---|
The morning began like any other working mornings with emails, coffee, and the faint sound of the photocopier that everyone swore was plotting against them. In the middle of the open-plan chaos, Room 12 was unusually quiet. Inside the office sat Tina, the ever-curious data analyst, frowning at her screen as if the spreadsheet might suddenly apologize for confusing her.
“Raj, come here,” she whispered, waving over her friend. “Look at this.”
Raj came closer, adjusting his glasses. “What, that’s… impossible. These numbers aren’t just wrong, they’re hiding something.”
The project in question was called Project Aegis, officially described as a “productivity enhancement initiative.” In truth, no one in their team fully understood it. They’d been told to run simulations, collect data, and report results. But as Tina clicked through layers of encrypted folders, using a password she guessed from the IT manager’s obsession with 1980s rock bands, something strange emerged: old video files from twenty years ago, dated long before the supposed project kicks off.
Curiosity quickly became obsession. They brought in their own gadgets. Raj’s homemade signal scrambler, Tina’s portable hard drive, and Maya’s AI-assisted decryption software (which she’d built over the years and named Bertha because “every AI needs a grandmother’s wisdom”).
As Bertha cracked codes, hidden documents came up, scans of handwritten journals, diagrams of strange patterns, and most of all, a photograph of their company’s founder standing next to a large, cube-shaped machine with cables running into the floor.
According to the recovered notes, Project Aegis wasn’t about productivity at all. It was an unfinished experiment aimed at controlling “sensitive mental energy”, a fancy way of saying that thoughts could be collected like electricity.
 Source |
|---|
The files claimed the machine could capture brainwave patterns, source them, and project them as collective problem-solving power. But early tests showed unpredictable side effects; subjects reported hearing each other’s thoughts. Tina looked up from the screen. “They were trying to turn group brainstorming into an actual physical force.”
Raj responded from the other end, “So… like a Wi-Fi for thoughts? This is insane.”
Not all the files matched. Some logs claimed breakthroughs; others described problems. One document stated the project had been abandoned due to “unstable temporal feedback gaps.” Another said it had been shut down for ethical reasons, something about “risking the loss of individual identity.”
“This is either brilliant or dangerous,” Maya said, “And knowing this company, it could be both.”
They decided to find the cube machine. A floor plan from the archives showed an unused sub-basement, sealed after a “minor flood incident.” The three agreed to investigate after hours with their laid down plan
Use Raj’s signal dictator to disable security cameras.
Get into the sub-basement through the old freight elevator shaft.
Document everything with Tina’s DSLR camera for evidence.
Leave without accidentally getting their brains uploaded into a box.
The night was thick with the smell of dust and the sound of their own breathing. As they opened the rusted elevator doors, Maya muttered, “If we die down here, I’m coming after both of you.” Tina brushed dust from a control panel. “It’s still connected to the power grid.”
Raj: “Do we turn it on?”
Maya: “Absolutely not. We document it and leave.”
Tina: “But what if it works? Imagine the breakthroughs, medicine, engineering, solved in hours.”
Raj: “Or imagine waking up with thirty people’s thoughts in your head. I barely manage my own.”
Their debate hung in the air until Maya sighed, “Fine. Two minutes. Then we shut it down.”
 Source |
|---|
When Tina pressed the button, the cube made a faint noise. Lights showed up. A warmth filled the room. Suddenly, they knew things. Equations they’d never learned, ideas they’d never considered.
Raj gasped. “I… I just solved a logistics algorithm I’ve been stuck on for months.”
Maya’s eyes opened widely. “I just visualized a clean energy grid design that could power half the city.”
On Tina’s laptop, Bertha displayed a final message: “Prototype stabilized. Cognitive link saved.”
In the weeks that followed, the three quietly integrated their newfound insights into the company’s projects. The launch was a global sensation. Headlines read: “Mind Meets Machine: Company Changes the Game.” They received awards, speaking invitations, and most importantly full control over how the technology was used.
But in the quiet moments, they wondered about the memories they’d encountered. Whose thoughts had they borrowed? And somewhere deep in the sub-basement, was the cube still storing more?
For now, they kept the secret between themselves. After all, some truths were too powerful to be unleashed all at once.
And as Raj liked to joke, “If the cube ever starts sending me shopping lists in French, I’m out.”
I invite @aviral123 @dasudi @mariami