MOAB

Chapter 18: Galene @ 0.8x nhs

Chapter 18: Galene @ 0.8x nhs

“I got nothing,” she said scrunching her face.

“It’s okay.” He smelled nice and fresh. “Let me teach you how to come up with ideas.”

“How can someone teach that?”

“It’s simple, and hard at the same time. It can’t really be taught, but there’s a technique I use.”

Gal swivelled around in the desk chair. “Okay, teach me how.”

“May I?” He pulled the keyboard close. “First of all, you need to decide what you want to do. What we want here are improvements upon my techniques. The workstation, the processing speed, the dedicated line to the server, all that. Now that we’ve defined our goal, we need to fill up our brains with facts and data. Really, really, fill it up, till it spills over. Then we take a break and clear our minds, take a walk, do some exercise, read a book. Then we carry a notepad with us and write down the ideas that show up.”

“A notepad? Really? Who uses notepads anymore?”

“I do. Trust me.” He gave her a fresh notepad and a pen.

It was nice. She felt just like a journalist!

He pulled up specs and the root access to his workstation. Gal bit her lip. From one techie to another, that gesture was like stripping naked and vulnerable.

“Excuse me while I make some calls.” He walked to the balcony and started talking on the phone.

Melpomene showed up. “Hello. I am pleased to hear that you’ll be helping out in our department,” she said softly.

Gal couldn’t stop staring. Now that she realised it was an android, she kept looking for artificiality and errors, in her voice, in her movements, everywhere. But she was very well made.

But why did they have to make her ugly like that?

At least Gal could be sure he didn’t sleep with her. It wasn’t something openly discussed, but there were rumours that people who got Muses assigned to them did have s*x with them sometimes. They came equipped with all the necessary parts.

Mel waited patiently. She was pulling a cart with a computer on it.

“Right, hi!” Galene giggled. “I think so too, but nothing comes to mind right now.”

“Just keep chipping at it,” the Muse said, nodding slowly.

It felt so nice and reassuring, having someone cheer you on like that! Gal was amazed, this felt good. Was it like that for Greg every day?

“I’m filling up with facts,” Gal said, scrolling the screen.

“It’s a major step,” the Muse reassured her. She started setting up the secondary workstation. Galene chuckled. Computers assembling computers. What was the world coming to? All the relevant sci-fi movies flashed in her mind.

Greg finished his phone calls and sat on the secondary workstation. Gal knew that everything was on the server anyway, so he had access to the lot. He didn’t disturb her at all, it was like she was just a girl from IT coming over to fix his computer.

She didn’t know how to feel about that. Should she feel respected by that, or should she be angry that he was ignoring her?

Gal shook her head and focused on work. The system was really cool. The AI had instructions to trim and condense videos so he could watch them quickly at three times normal speed. A separate program ran with macro keyboard shortcuts, which he had set up to his liking. She noticed that the workstations weren’t interchangeable, one was running the videos, and the other was running the text digests. There was no real reason for that, a computer could do pretty much anything another computer could do, but the distinction was deliberate.

Gal suspected why. She had begun to see how Greg thought. It was about locality, he separated the video to his left monitors. That way he gave a physical location to the digital information, allowing his mind to switch mental gears. Then he turned his head to the right ones, reading the text.

She clicked on one digest, and the text scrolled past the screen in a rush.

How could he possibly read that fast?

She glanced at the man. He had made himself comfortable at the second desk, and he was reading news digests. He was holding a pen, running it swiftly across each line of text, focusing his eyes.

He was mumbling something to himself. Wait. From the one article Galene remembered about speed reading, she distinctly noted one fact. You’re not supposed to sub-vocalise.

She focused her hearing. No, Greg was mumbling something repeatedly.

“Um, can I interrupt? Or are you working?” she hesitated.

Greg raised a finger without turning his head. “Let me finish the page. There.” Then he turned towards her, his face transforming in a smile.

She stood up and walked close to him. “What were you mumbling?”

Greg scratched his head. “Um… Okay, I’ll tell you, but promise you won’t laugh.”

“I won’t laugh. I promise.”

“I’m saying the Mentat mantra.”

“The what?”

He took a slow breath. He recited, “It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the juice of Sapho that thoughts acquire speed, the lips acquire stains, the stains become a warning. It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.”

Gal covered her lips, biting down her smile.

“You promised.”

“From Dune? The freaky eyebrow guys?” she blurted out, laughing.

“The human computers, yes. You know your classics, I’m impressed. It’s the mantra I use to get my mind into gear,” he explained, sitting low in his chair.

She tried to reply, but simply chocked and giggled.

“Laugh all you want, it works for me.”

She froze.

“What?”

“I’m having a brain fart.” She shook her hands around. She needed something to write things down. The notepad!

“A what now?”

“I have an idea! A brain fart,” she said, excited.

“So, a brainstorm, then.”

“No, it felt more like a fart. A brain farting. Prrrt,” she mimicked while writing down furiously.

“Thank you for that lovely imagery,” he shook his head.