Myth Gods Tech - Omnibus Edition: Science Fiction Meets Greek Mythology In The God Complex Universe (17 page)

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 on the
floor, rolling towards Yanni. He did no effort to catch it, he
merely stared at it. Her head relaxed and tilted to the right side,
while here 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 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. “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 used to pull your
father’s beard as well when he dressed 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 went close to 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 miss my husband for a couple of months,
I want to have fresh stuff to remember,” she said to him with taunt
in her 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 gesture. 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 at 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 his rallying signs. 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 smart woman asked at him when 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 inside first. So he would
play along. For now. “Did you like the presentation?” he asked with
snide.

The
smart woman upturned her lips in a dangerous smile. “Very much.
Now, regarding our matter, 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 explain first and then please ask me whatever you
like. It is company policy for the following things to be heard 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, 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 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 this be a problem?”
Yanni asked and leaned forward.

“
No, we have lawyers on that already,” the smart lady said and
gripped 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 know already 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 colleague 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 a fallen 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 for
children handymen. 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 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 would 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 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. The other members will vote equally. 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 the brilliant young minds. Just like he
did, when he was 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 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.