John and Maria spent the next hour chatting about everything except physics. They talked about their families, their hobbies, and their favorite books and movies. John felt a weight lifting from his shoulders as he allowed himself to relax and enjoy the conversation.

But as they were finishing their second round of drinks, John's phone rang. He saw the name on the screen and frowned. It was his boss, Dr. Robert Johnson.

John excused himself and stepped outside to take the call.

"John, we need you back in the lab," Dr. Johnson said without preamble. "There's been a breakthrough. We've detected something new in the data you collected."

John's heart leapt. "What is it?" he asked eagerly.

"We're not sure yet," Dr. Johnson replied. "But it looks like there's some kind of pattern in the particle behavior that we've never seen before. We need you to come back and help us analyze it."

John felt a surge of excitement mixed with dread. He had been hoping for a breakthrough for so long, but now that it was here, he wasn't sure he was ready for it.

"Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can," he said, trying to keep his voice steady.

As he hung up the phone and walked back into the bar, Maria looked up at him expectantly.

"What was that about?" she asked.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

John hesitated for a moment, then decided to share the news. "There's been a breakthrough in the data," he said. "They've detected something new, some kind of pattern in the particle behavior. They need me back in the lab to help analyze it."

Maria's eyes widened. "That's amazing!" she said. "What are you waiting for? Let's go!"

They rushed back to the lab, where John's colleagues were huddled around a computer screen, analyzing data. Dr. Johnson turned to John as he entered the room.

"Good to see you, John," he said. "We've been working on this for hours. There's definitely something there, but we can't make sense of it. We need your expertise."

John took a deep breath and walked over to the computer screen. As he studied the data, he felt his mind racing with possibilities. There was something there, he was sure of it. But what was it?

For hours, John and his colleagues worked feverishly, analyzing the data, running simulations, and trying to make sense of the strange pattern they had detected. They tried every possible explanation, but nothing seemed to fit.

As the night wore on, John felt his exhaustion catching up with him. He was about to suggest taking a break when something caught his eye. There was a small, almost imperceptible glitch in the data, a blip that shouldn't be there.

He zoomed in on it and studied it closely. It was so small, he almost missed it. But then he saw it. The blip wasn't random. It was repeating, over and over again, like a code.

John's heart skipped a beat. He realized that they had been looking at the data all wrong. They had been assuming that the pattern was in the behavior of the particles themselves, but what if it was in the way the data was being transmitted?

He grabbed a pen and a notepad and began scribbling furiously. Maria leaned over his shoulder, studying his notes.

"John, that's brilliant," she said. "You're onto something."

For the next few hours, John worked feverishly, putting together a theory that explained the strange pattern in the data. He was so absorbed in his work that he hardly noticed the sun rising outside.

Finally, he sat back in his chair.