MOAB

Chapter 2i^4

Chapter 2i^4

The laser’s cooling fan whirred a bit and then died as well. Nothing happened. Yanni turned it off, wore the old blanket around him like the world’s most pathetic superman cape and sat down to accept the anticlimactic reality.

To be perfectly honest, the broken laser was not the problem here. The problem was his broken proof. Theoretical physics doesn’t really need anything physical to work with. His proof, Dr. Yanni Tsafantakis’ proof in what would be named the Tsafantakis Apodeixis could work in an imaginary machine with gears made of advanced mathematics and powered by academic peer pressure.

He had an available solution for the broken laser, he could reach out to that researcher in New Zealand who helped him sketch out the specifications for the gen-two laser. That man would certainly be able to gain access to a similar configuration and run the test for him. He would even act as an independent empirical validator that way.

All he needed was to send the man the right variables.

But the right variables were the gear that was missing.

Lost in thoughts, he fiddled with his phone. He saw the last text message he received, from Nikos: "A person who has not made his great contribution to science before the age of 30, will never do so. Albert Einstein."

He called him. It was late, but his friend always performed better at night so he would surely be up.

A gentle woman’s voice answered the phone. “Hello Yanni. Please wait while I pass the phone on to Nikos.”

Yanni didn’t really expect to hear a woman, so he fumbled for some words but basically replied nothing. He heard some soft steps and then she said, away from the phone, “It’s your best friend Yanni. It must be important.”

“Ela,” said Nikos.

Yanni remembered of course what he had told him about his no-more-dates-policy, but he couldn’t really believe that. “Was that her? The muse?”

“Yes, that’s her. Did something happen? Don’t worry, you didn’t interrupt me or anything, but you mister, are a family man, you don’t get to stay up late. I’ll tell Thalia!” Nikos joked.

“Come on, that’s not her! She didn’t sound… you know,” said Yanni, thinking that if it was really her, she would be able to hear them. Androids have super-hearing, right? They must have.

“Sound like an android? You can say it, you know; she doesn’t pretend to be human. Yeah, you can barely tell the difference actually,” replied Nikos with a strain in his voice that meant he was turned around and shamelessly checking her out.

“And there is another? I mean, your offer. If I were to accept that Ellipsis project, isn’t she booked with you?”

“Don’t worry man, you won’t have to share. You’ll get your own muse. It’s not like Hermes has a legion of them or something, but I told you, your apodeixis is good enough for them to spare one,” said Niko, with innuendo dripping all over that sentence.

“Fine, whatever. I changed my mind. I want to present my proof to these guys, I can do it as soon as possible.”

“Huh. Ok, tomorrow morning then.”

“That early? I’ll have to stay up all night and prepare! How can you be sure they will reschedule so soon?” asked Yanni.

“Then stay up all night. Oh man, you don’t get it, do you? These are not Demokritos turtle-paced guys! They do stuff and they do it big and they do it fast. Plus, I explained a bit of your proof to the chief R&D of quantum computing and she was drooling for it.”

“You did? But I told you I would think about it.”

“Literally. Drooling. Seriously. I have never seen a woman do that. Except when… you know.” The pause in the line told him to stay on the subject. “I knew you would change your mind,” he said.

“Ok. Thank you. If this is so, I really need to get ready and maybe I’ll manage to catch an hour of sleep or something.”

“Just like back at the university,” said Nikos and hung up.

Yanni tucked his superman cape around his frozen legs and thought about what this meant.

It’s your best friend Yanni. Those were her exact words. She couldn’t have known this from anywhere else but the man himself. Nikos thought of Yanni as his best friend, even though their lives were forcing them away from one another as years passed. And if this opportunity was the lifeline it promised to be, he would be a real friend, one which Yanni could never hope to repay in kind. He would need to sit down and talk with his wife about this, about how much they would owe to him if this went through.

But he needed to get ready first. Minutes fly away so fast when you have a finite supply of them.