Where is the Damn On Button

This dumb piece of shit,' he thought to himself staring at the device that laid on his desk collecting dust. He had been searching for half his life for this machine but right at the height of this escapade he couldn't find the damn on button. This on button was the only thing between him and human peace.

The device was small and looked easy enough. Well maybe if you had a look at it you would be able to figure it out right away, right? Wrong. The device looked simple, but even this well respected and well known scientist couldn't rack his brain around it. This device held all the answers and solutions to the scientist's problems. This device was slim and rectangular much like a battery pack or cell phone but this device's edges were smooth and sealed. The scientist felt like he tried everything and he would do anything to activate this device and save his face. However it seemed as though the universe was against him now because days had turned to weeks then to months but even with the increase of layers in his eye bags and the development of his studiers back, he continued the search. And just has more days turned into weeks and months, still he couldn't find that damn on button.

He shook it and turned it over and around and flipped it back to front. He looked at it from every angle and distance. If he wasn't afraid of the risk of damaging it, he would have taken it apart and turned it inside out. Nothing. He stared at it for days and nights, but the activation button was no where to be found.

"Damn," he said, "All these years of work just to give it all up because the idiot who designed the thing didn't send the manual along with it." Unfortunately the creator of such a device died long before the scientist even began the charge against this war.

The scientist was tired by now. Depressed and all color had left his eyes and skin. His hair was beginning to thin, which was thought to be impossible considering he was already bald. The scientist after many days of debate and toil finally decided that maybe this war was just meant to continue. Maybe this struggle was meant to happen and wasn't meant to be stopped. But the scientist was persistent and didn't want to let people down.

At this point the scientist hadn't slept for 6 weeks, but he had four energy drinks an hour which was a trick he learned when he was in school. As he downed his third drink once again began his staring. It had been some time now and the scientist was deep in thought when his apprentice came in with his 6:30 coffee. The scientist had his doubts about this apprentice. He believed he had the passion but not the smarts to become a successful scientist such as himself. His apprentice was one of many and this apprentice in particular was in no means his "star pupil." He had only been working along side the scientist for around three months and was still finding his barings. The apprentice was cocky, young, and had all his hair. Anytime anyone asked about the apprentice, the scientist would say that he looked just like that when he was young. No one asked but he always felt the need to share it. Not to mention his apprentice was also overly confident and full of energy for no reason. This sickened the scientist for a reasons unknown to him.

"What does he have to be so giddy about this early on a Monday morning," he thought. Then he scoffed and continued his moping and staring. The apprentice set the coffee on the desk and as he walked away he accidently bumped into the desk. The caused the hot coffee to spill all over the desk. It got all over the papers, the research, the math, the notes, and even on the device. The scientist could not believe what he just witnessed. He was in so much disbelief that his tears were unsure if he should cry.

The room went silent, nothing moved not even the fruit fly on the wall. The apprentice then broke through the silence saying a tiny, "oh no," under his breath. He and the scientist stood stunned by the events that had just occured before him. The scientist then turned to his apprentice. The apprentice found the courage and met the scientist's gaze. He could see the gates of hell opening and he could even see his future before him, but the apprentice tried to play it off cool. This only angered the scientist and in a moment of blind rage rushed over to the apprentice and began to strangle him. The apprentice and scientist were now in tussle and absolutely destroying the place. The apprentice's cries for mercy were undoubtedly heard by everyone in the building, but everyone chose to mind their business and the tussle continued. And had it not been for the obnoxious alarm sound that went off the apprentice might have seen God that day.

Beep, Beep beep, Beep they heard.

They stopped mid tussle and synchronously turned their heads towards the desk were the device had been left drenched in Starbucks ice vanilla latte.

Beep beep beep.

There it went again. Suddenly it BURST open with a loud bang and projected all the data and information that the scientist had been searching for. Then a video began to play and there sat a man which they could only assume was the creator of such a wrenched device.

"If you are seeing this video," said the man, "that means you are probably the smartest man alive, or maybe you're just the luckiest bastard to live. Well regardless, congratulations all knowing genius you have cracked the code. Now use this knowledge wisely and don't at me if any goes wrong." The video stopped. They looked at each other in pure wonder. After years of searching and trial and error and testing, the apprentice found the damn on button.