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  Chapter 4i^2

  “You want me to do what?” Thalia said disbelieving her ears.

  “Honey. Please. This is the method. They want me to follow it. I want to follow it. It worked for Nikos and it might work for me. I might actually finish the proof in time,” Yanni said with obviously rehearsed arguments.

  “It worked for Nikos because he is a bachelor! You want to become a bachelor too because they claim it might work! And…and finish it in time for what exactly?”

  She was really upset, but Yanni had played over this argument in his mind a dozen times while coming home. “Before I turn thirty. I know, I know, it’s silly. It has stuck in my mind, that I need to finish the apodeixis before I turn thirty, or else I will never do so,” he said, sitting on the couch and looking at the corner of the wall.

  “Ok. So you need to eliminate all distractions, is that it? I, we, are a distraction. Is that right?”

  Yanni readied himself for the impact of his reply, gripping the couch’s hand rest. “Frankly, in this situation… Yes.”

  Thalia opened her mouth and her eyes wide. The dish in her hand was about to become a projectile and there were plenty more ammunition two meters beside her.

  But then she did something else. She closed her mouth and relaxed her face, talking to herself mostly. “This is what they are talking about. Right here, now, this is the distraction and I am causing it. They are right.”

  Yanni stared at her for a few seconds, surprised by this reaction. Then he stood up and held her in his arms.

  She turned and looked him in the eyes. “Kala. I get it. I don’t want you to resent me or the kids for missing an opportunity like this. We’ll do it. We’ll try this.”

  Yanni kissed her. “You surprise me every day. That’s why I tell you everything,” he said softly.

  “Oh you better, mister. I’ll take the kids and go to my mom’s for as long as it takes. But I still need to see that so-called muse that I’ll let into my house alone with you. When is she coming over?”

  “Tomorrow morning they said.”

  “You haven’t seen her yet?” Thalia asked.

  “No, never. We’ll see her together.”

  “What if she is hot and curvy?”

  “I assume that would be distracting and run contrary to the Ellipsis method. They really seemed to have faith in this thing,” Yanni said.

  Thalia buried her head in her husband’s chest and hugged him. “Okay. But she is an android, right? Not a real woman?”

  “She is not real, you will see for yourself tomorrow.”

  “I’m still not fully convinced this isn’t an elaborate plan to bring your mistress in here,” she said, squeezing him in her arms.

  Yanni thought about what he had concluded regarding the Ellipsis project. “Trust me, I couldn’t make this whole thing up if I tried.”

  Chapter 4i^3

  “…By accepting these terms and conditions, the user confirms to have read, understood and accepted its contents. Position your thumb on your current location on the globe and then place the globe in this unit’s hand to initiate the Ellipsis project.”

  Ourania’s upturned palm loosened and the globe dropped to the floor, rolling towards Yanni. He made no effort to catch it, he merely stared at it. Her head relaxed and tilted to the right side, while her eyes closed.

  The muse stayed frozen in that exact same position.

  The couple was watching in silence the whole time as Ourania recited the terms and conditions of this arrangement, up until the globe drop.

  Thalia walked carefully near Ourania and leaned in to hear her breathe. She heard nothing. “If this hadn’t happened, I would be left believing you were kidding me.”

  “Me as well,” he said. He picked up the globe and placed it carefully on the table in front of him.

  “She is so lifelike!”

  “I see that. Well, this means two things: one, that she is very advanced, well beyond anything available commercially right now, and two, that she is very expensive. Both are in our favour, since the whole experience is making me comfortable that the method is something real,” said Yanni.

  Thalia prodded Ourania’s hand with her finger. “Yeah, you can do it honey. I know you can,” she said absent-mindedly.

  “Okay, this is happening. All right, the laser is coming tomorrow, you are packed and ready to go to your mom’s…”

  Thalia went into the kitchen and brought two frying pans. She tiptoed behind the still Ourania and raised one in each hand.

  “…We’ll talk to Georgie tonight about me not seeing you all for a month. Will it be a month, I dunno?” Yanni asked himself and scratched his head.

  Thalia banged the two frying pans together in a GONG sound behind Ourania’s head and Yanni jumped up. “Even I got scared and I was expecting it!” she said, acting way too excited for a mother of two.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  “Come on, you know you wanted to try scaring her too. OK, the test is conclusive, she is an android,” said Thalia and scribbled on her imaginary notepad. “Or she died sitting upright.”

  “I’m pretty sure all this is being recorded. At least for scientific purposes. Cut that out. Did you use to pull at your father’s beard as well when he dressed up as Santa?”

  “Nah, I knew Santa wasn’t real,” Thalia replied and leaned her head close to inspect Ourania.

  “Neither are Muses, but here we are believing in them.”

  Thalia pursed her lips and approached him. “It will all work out. It’s like you said, this is looking pretty serious. You never know what happens, this might be it.” She sat on his lap. “Look at me. We’ll do this. Whatever it takes.”

  Yanni said, “You know your mom will think we are splitting up. She will search for a replacement husband and everything.”

  “I know, she’ll never believe this.” Thalia put her arms around her husband and kissed him. “Leave that up to me.” She began pulling up his shirt.

  “What are you doing, baby?” asked Yanni, half-stopping her, half going along with it.

  “Well, if I’m going to be missing my husband for a couple of months, I want to have fresh stuff to remember,” she said to him with a teasing voice and brought her body close to him. “You know, for all those lonely nights.”

  “This is so kinky, even for you,” he said between her kisses. “Are you sure you wanna do it here?” he asked, looking at the direction of the immobile Ourania.

  “Yes, if I’m gonna leave you here with her, I’ll make sure you’ll be thinking of me.”

  “A distraction then?”

  “I don’t care,” she said, and they had sex right there on the couch.

  Chapter 4i^4

  Ourania opened her eyes for the first time in this instance of her life. She looked at Yanni and couldn’t help herself but smile. He looked so young and so wide-eyed, like the infant mind he was.

  He was in her care now. No one would take him away.

  He was crouching next to her chair, instinctively suckling on his bloodied thumb. Ourania remembered the other children in her care who did the exact same thing. She always found that particular action very cute.

  She arose, lifted his chin gently and said, “Let’s begin.”

  Chapter 5i

  At least he found himself in a normal room. The woman’s office was simple like the ones before but had all the necessary furniture and a great view of Athens. She sat behind her desk and offered him a seat.

  He thought about making a stand, right there. He thought about rebelling against the corporation, about yelling for people’s, no children's, rights. He came up with a dozen comebacks and arguments, even a couple of mottoes for pickets. He thought about threatening them, about going to the media. Hermes Information Technology would never risk having a scandal, would they?

  “Is there a problem?” the smartly-dressed woman asked when she noticed he wasn’t sitting down.

  “No, sorry, just thinking,” he
replied and sat. He had to think about his family. And if he could actually do anything, it would be better to get a good look from the inside first. So he would play along. For now. “Did you like the presentation?” he asked snidely.

  The smart woman upturned her lips in a dangerous smile. “Very much. Now, regarding the matter at hand, there are a few things we need to discuss before starting the project.”

  “To be honest, I still have a dozen questions,” Yanni said truthfully.

  “Of course,” she said and gathered some papers in front of her. “Let me please explain first and then you may ask me whatever you like. It is company policy for the following things to be spoken out loud at this phase so as to make sure they are clear.”

  “Fine,” he said. He assumed that they were recording this conversation too, so he didn’t want to get the lady in a tight spot.

  “Regardless of what you have discussed with your friend and our esteemed partner, Niko, we need to explain in our words what Project Ellipsis is. Simply put, it is a method of facilitating innovation and scientific discovery via some very specific means. The first is what the name Ellipsis stands for, the removal of all distractions. The second and arguably the most interesting part is the accompanying android, specifically gynoid, assigned to you. The gynoid, referred from now on as Muse, remains of course company property. The Muse’s task is to maintain the Ellipsis environment when facilitating your needs, while you work steadily towards your goal. Specifically your goal is to complete the proof which is currently funded by Demokritos.”

  “Yes, I need to stop you right there. I hadn’t thought of that, the university has a say in this. Will that be a problem?” Yanni asked and leaned forward.

  “No, we have lawyers on that already,” the smart lady said and clenched her hands together in front of her. “Do not concern yourself with such matters. Ellipsis has begun for you already, Dr. Tsafantakis; we will take care of legal matters, we will take care of financial matters, we will take care of your family and we will take care of equipment failures. All you need to concern yourself with is your apodeixis.”

  Yanni leaned back. “So you already know about the laser.”

  “Yes,” she said and pulled up some files on her computer. He could see his gen-two specifications on her overlay. “As I understand it, you need these exact modifications?”

  “Precisely. And the only working laser I know of with the same ones is the prototype a fellow professor tested them on in New Zealand,” he said and scratched his head.

  Without skipping a beat, the smart woman turned her phone towards him with her delicate fingers and said, “Would you mind calling him for a pickup?”

  Chapter 5i^2

  He forgot to even fire up the laser. He just stared at the ceiling and doubted himself. Maybe he was wrong all along, maybe it wasn’t possible to make a lattice of light without leakage. Light is weird, light is… a wave and a particle, light is the speed limit of the universe. Sure you can make it do weird stuff, like bend around a gravity-well or force it to turn into a pseudocrystal for a while, but you can’t really contain it.

  It spills out, like milk from an upturned bottle. And there is no use crying over spilt milk.

  He looked back at Matlab. Nothing new. One more day closer to the funding review. One more day closer to the age of thirty.

  He might as well spend the time with his son.

  He went downstairs and found Georgie playing with a toy screwdriver. Yanni sat down on the floor and played with his son, showing him how to hammer plastic rivets and how to turn plastic screws. Georgie enjoyed it all very much, giggling and having the time of his life. Yanni felt great too, seeing his son’s first advances in mechanics. “Maybe one day he will create something new and I will be bursting with pride,” Yanni thought. “This is how we all start, turning a plastic screw. And then in no time we are building skyscrapers.”

  His phone rang. It was Toma, a French guy from the Demokritos administration. “Yasou Yanni,” he said with his foreign accent, but still trying too hard to honor the local customs. “I’m afraid I have some bad news.”

  “What is it?” Yanni asked, forcing down his impatience.

  “You know the new administrator, he is under orders to make some serious budget cuts. He isn’t the only one who gets to vote, but I heard him gunning against your funding.”

  “What does that mean? Can he simply take it away?” asked Yanni, running his hand over his head.

  “Ohi, ohi. It’s still a vote. But he is sure to vote against you. I’m just calling to let you know, so you’ll be ready to face him. I’m sure when you present some promising results the other members will vote for you,” Tomas said.

  “Yes, thank you Tomas. Honestly, merci. I just have to show them promising results,” Yanni said, forcing a smile and hung up.

  He sat there and thought of what this meant. He hadn’t grasped the implications of failing the review up until now, with Georgie next to him wanting to play with plastic tools. Their life would change so much, he was so used to receiving the funding all these years and working on his apodeixis that he had forgotten what it’s like without it.

  Yeah, teaching wasn’t so bad. Getting up every morning, showing up at the amphitheatre, educating brilliant young minds. Just like he did, when he was slightly younger. Back then when he came up with his idea of using light knots to contain digital information. Back then when he thought he could actually do it.

  He looked at Georgie’s face. Maybe that’s what Moira had decided, him to come up with the idea, work on it a few years and then pass it on to a younger mind, a promising student who would look up to him and carry on his work. And maybe, just maybe, come up with a proof that works.

  That kind of proof could win the Nobel Prize. Yanni just had to hope that the student would be willing to share credit for it.

  Chapter 5i^3

  His eyes rested on her ass.

  Ourania was monitoring his readings as always, and she was concerned about him the last few days. He was deviating away from gnosis, distracted and generally off.

  Yanni was firmly planted on the couch, only instead of watching some game he was simply staring at the wall most of the time.

  “Why don’t you take a hot shower? I turned on the heater a while ago,” she told him and he agreed.

  He threw his socks over his shoulder and took off his clothes, leaving them in his wake. Yanni had developed a carefree attitude the last couple of weeks. Ourania picked up after him and put them in the laundry. She never complained of course, so gradually the usual male sloppiness had turned into something that any woman would forcibly object to.

  The only thing she never touched was the notes. No matter how many, no matter how crumpled, no piece of paper was to be disturbed. Ourania knew that something discarded one day might be precisely what he was looking for the next one. She left everything as it was, and if Yanni threw away something she would pick it from the trash and store it neatly in a cardboard box. You never know.

  He wasn’t shy. He knew that Ourania was a gynoid, a sophisticated piece of machinery made to accommodate his needs. He felt relaxed around her, and that was due to a deliberate effort on her part and manners. That’s why he had no reservations stripping in the corridor and walking to the bathroom naked.

  Ourania picked up the clothes and looked at him through the steam. She was failing her program parameters.

  She didn’t want to fail.

  She placed his clean clothes for him on the bed. She had already decided which ones were comfortable enough, and had thrown away the ones who chafed from day one.

  She closed the window shutters and turned on the desk lamp.

  She sat on the bed and waited for Yanni to come out.

  A few minutes later, even without taking a reading she could see that his mood had improved. He walked in the room, rubbing his body with a towel and found the clothes exactly where he expected them.

  “Yanni, is something bothering you?�
��

  He half-dressed himself and sat next to her. “Nai. My birthday is coming up,” he said, as if that explained every woe in the world.

  “Aren’t people normally happy about their birthday?”

  “Yeah, of course. You don’t understand. There is this thing Einstein said, ‘A person who has not made his great contribution to science before the age of 30 will never do so,’ and it’s been drilling my mind.” He stared at the floor.

  “You do understand that what Einstein said was based on empirical evidence, right?”

  “Yeah, no, I understand that. I just don’t feel that sharp anymore. I used to be able to juggle so many calculations and variables on my mind, but now I need to backtrack all the time.”

  She smiled at him and said, “It doesn’t matter, that is why we have notebooks to scribble on!”

  He looked back at her and laughed. “Yes, definitely. We can’t get enough of them lately.”

  Ourania put her hand on his leg and leaned towards him. She made sure to position her face lower than his, so as to look up to him with her synthetic eyes. Her touch brought up a reading in her field of view. The diagrams lit up in blue. Heartrate did a small hiccup and then jogged on steadily upwards. This was definitely no time for revolutionary physics work.

  She paused for a beat to let his eyes wander on her body and then said, “You can have me, you know.”

  Yanni stood up and put some distance between them. “Ohi. No. I’m not that guy. I have a wife.”

  She leaned back and propped herself up with her hands. She tilted her head a bit and turned her leg inwards. The resulting effect was a pose a painter would drool over and then run scurrying for more blue.

  “You do look, though.”

  “Looking is allowed! You can’t go through a marriage without letting your partner look,” he said, stringing the words together and trying to hastily make his case. “Thalia and I look at people all the time. At the beach, she can look at suntanned bodybuilders all day for all I care. And she brings me celebrity magazines and says ‘Damn, this girl is hot, right? Just look at those boobies!’ No, looking is allowed. Doing… having… is not.”