Long lob, arced well. Good shot, didn't even touch the rim, from across the room where I was seated on my broad chair for meditation.
There was no rattle of paper on metal, however. Expectantly, I quickly stood back, ready with a piece of tape. Right on cue, a different crumpled bit of paper was jettisoned from within the bin with enough force to send it in a gentle arc out onto the floor. Eyeballing the point of touchdown, I quickly marked the spot with a bit of tape amidst the sea of other marks, and grabbed the ball of paper.
She had written another note, too. This one had a graph of a heart on it. She could be so sappy.
Hurrying to my whiteboard, I began quickly transcribing what she had sent along this time. Measurements and experimentation into physical constants, atomic weights, and local relativity were all documented, and I quickly began running the numbers. Her experiment results had all come up fairly close, but here and there were... small differences. Hopefully small enough. Most if not all of her physical constants more or less lined up with mine, which was a useful thing.
Just as with the other samples, and just as she was doing with mine, I quickly shredded the note into smaller pieces for testing. Bacterial swabs were up first, though after culturing, I would have to rely on other methods for testing for any viruses. Everything from wood pulp analysis to carbon dating would use up most of the remaining sample, though I already knew what results to expect.
A ripple of nothing moving through the air made me shiver, a feeling that was becoming all too familiar. Sure enough, just beside me, several of my notebooks were missing, an ornamental box with a pair of cloth gloves lying atop it in their place. Fingers meant for hands smaller and more slender than mine, though still well-used from rough work. Staring at the objects, I hesitated, caught up as I reached out to touch the heavy weaving. There was a hint of jasmine in the air, an olfactory glimpse at another world that brought a sigh to my lips.
When the objects were replaced by my notebooks again, I had to focus just to remember they had been there at all. Touching them could have been dangerous. At least the hole in the basket we knew to be stable. But it seemed the holes were opening more frequently now. Not necessarily a good thing.
The slight sound of a ball of paper hitting my rug caught my attention, and I quickly snagged more tape. Laying down the mark, my eyes quickly scanned the words, frowning as I read. The events had become more frequent on her side as well, and she was becoming concerned about instability. We both were. A longing crept up in me as I held the paper, re-reading the words in loose, elegant script, and I quickly set the note aside.
The universe was fracturing. We were trying to repair it, but the work was proving to be slow, especially since we had yet to pin down a reason. I suspected foul play, while she suspected more natural causes. Both of us were confident we could solve this problem regardless, there didn't seem to be any further deliberate breakage, but knowing the original cause would have helped immensely.
Still. We had learned absolutely amazing things regardless of the danger. The existence of other worlds, of other universes... of each other.
Once the cultures were laid in the incubator and the rest of the samples were stored, I decided it was time to return to my meditations. Determination fueled me now, and I knew the universe would yield its secrets to me. Through my power, through our power, we could claw the answers from its frozen existence.
Resuming the cushioned seat of my chair, I leaned back, removing my blacked glasses. When I was alone, I kept my blind eyes closed. I didn't need them to see, and what I needed to see now, could never be seen by such mundane optics.
We both knew we had to transcend space and time if we wanted to succeed. This was a rare opportunity, even for beings like us. And while the universe was at stake, we both knew what the true reward would be.
Soon, neither of us would have to be alone, any longer. Soon, we would each have someone that could truly understand us.