Remote Sealed in Glass- 適合中高級的英語短篇故事

A bright rectangle sat on the meeting-room wall, yet the narrow shelf beneath it held only a circle of dust. Ruby stepped forward, her knee brushing the metal frame, and patted the empty groove where the projector remote usually waited. The quarterly review would begin in minutes, but no controller was present to advance her slides. She crouched, palm flat on the carpet, and traced the cable trail toward the table. The tangy scent of citrus tea from the break room drifted in as her shoulders tightened. Kane, balancing a stack of printed charts, paused beside her and tilted his head toward the vacant shelf.

Ruby rose and stretched her spine. The HDMI wire dangled from the ceiling mount with an unexpected twist near its plug, forcing her to stand on tiptoe and straighten the loop. When she tried the keyboard arrows instead, the projected image refused to move; the handouts had been printed earlier but were now trapped inside a jammed copier down the corridor. Kane set the paper stack on the table and rolled his wrists to settle down the ache. Together they hurried into the corridor, footsteps sliding on polished tiles, only to meet a maintenance cart blocking the path to the printer area.

Ruby shifted sideways, squeezed past the cart, and tugged at the copier drawer until the crumpled sheet slipped free. Back in the meeting room, she tapped the laptop’s spacebar; the slide advanced at last, though one page late. Her breathing slowed, yet the missing remote stayed unsolved for everyone in the room. At the same hour, on the floor above, a cleaner slid a glass panel shut on the hallway trophy case after dusting its shelves. Inside, the small black controller lay among outdated medals, its red power light still blinking behind the polished awards.

會議室牆上亮著長方形光影，但下方窄架只留下灰塵圈。Ruby 向前一步，膝蓋擦過金屬框，拍了拍投影遙控器平常所在的空槽。季度簡報再過幾分鐘就要開始，卻沒有遙控器可翻頁。她蹲下，手掌貼著地毯，沿著電纜摸向桌子。休息室飄來帶點酸香的柑橘茶味，她的肩膀微微繃緊。Kane 抱著一疊印表圖表停在旁邊，歪頭看著那空架子。

Ruby 站起來，伸展脊背。吊在天花板支架上的 HDMI 線在插頭附近打了一個意外的彎，她踮腳把圈扳直。她改用鍵盤方向鍵，投影畫面卻不動；稍早列印的講義此刻卡在走廊盡頭的影印機裡。Kane 把紙堆放回桌面，轉動手腕讓痠感慢慢沉下。兩人急步踏進走廊，鞋底在拋光磁磚上滑動，卻遇到一台維修推車擋住通往印表區的通道。

Ruby 側身擠過推車，拉開影印機抽屜，直到皺成一團的紙張脫落。回到會議室，她敲下筆電空白鍵，投影片終於換頁，只是慢了一張。她的呼吸放緩，但全室仍找不到遙控器的下落。樓上同一時間，清潔員推上走廊的玻璃門，關好獎盃櫃後離開。櫃內，小黑遙控器躺在舊獎牌之間，紅色電源燈在拋光獎座後仍閃爍。