Myth Gods Tech - Omnibus Edition: Science Fiction Meets Greek Mythology In The God Complex Universe (19 page)

“
Sure. Do you have any delivery catalogues?” Ourania asked and
looked around.

“
Come on! Surely you can go online, or call them by tilting
your head or something!”

“
Nope. Nothing like that. I need to use the phone like the
rest of you humans.”

“
That makes no sense! Why didn’t they integrate a cellphone in
you? Or wifi? Or a coffee machine?”

“
Because,” Ourania said underlining the point, “there exist
dedicated machines capable of doing such things. When I need to do
a phone call, I pick up a phone. When I need to get online, I turn
on a laptop. As for the coffee, I think I find that
insulting.”

“
Come on, you must have something cool!”

“
Yes, the more I think about it the more insulting it
gets.”

“
A superpower. Oh! I know! Laser eyes! Do you have
those?”

“
A coffee machine…” she muttered to herself as if she had
something bitter in her mouth. She raised her hands open and looked
at her navel, trying to guess where people would install such a
thing.

“
Roller wheels?”

She
interrupted him with a firm finger in the air. “I have the ability
to cultivate a distraction-free environment and the data necessary
to trigger bouts of creative moments. I’d say that is cool enough,”
she said, and added “hah!” just because it felt
appropriate.

Yanni
said nothing for a while and sunk his face in the
pillow.

“
No superpowers then,” he said with disappointment.

“
None.”

Chapter
6i^3

Ourania was
chopping carrots in the kitchen.

The
drawer vibrated.

She made
sure Yanni was upstairs and closed the door. She picked up the
phone.

“
Hey baby,” said Thalia with sweetness in her
voice.

Ourania
spoke, mimicking Yanni’s voice. “Yasou.”

“
I know I’m not supposed to bother you all the time but I miss
you. The kids miss you a lot. How are you?”

“
I’m fine. I think I’m close, this is all going well,” Ourania
said with calculated coldness in her male tone.

“
Good. As long as you’re happy. Last time we spoke you were a
bit distant.” Thalia approached the subject carefully, it was
nagging her for days. The seed Ourania had planted in their earlier
conversation had sprouted leaves.

“
Nai. Listen Thalia, I’ve had some time to see things clearly.
It’s apparent that our previous arrangement wasn’t working for
me.”

“
Arrangement? You mean us?”

“
Yeah, it’s obvious that it’s stifling my potential. I spoke
with Hermes, they are delighted with the progress I’m making and
they offered me a job whether I solve this or not. It’s what I
always wanted.”

“
I wanted this too!”

“
No, what you wanted was me playing husband and wasting my
time baby sitting.”

Thalia cried out. “They are
our
kids!”

“
We could have had kids afterwards. A breakthrough in physics
could only come to me at a young age. I knew deep down it was over
for me if I played house with you, but I did it. And I’m
sorry.”

Thalia
was sobbing and through her gasps, she asked, “What are you
saying?”

“
I’m saying that I can’t deal with this right now, but I’ll
make right with alimony. You can also keep the house of course.
It’s too big for me anyway.”

“
You used to call me your muse, you know.”

“
I found a better one.”

“
Why?” Thalia was heartbroken and crying.

“
This is why.
This
, right now. Always a distraction. We will talk when I’m
done. Bye,” said Ourania and hung up the phone. She finished
chopping the carrots and threw half of them into a smoothie for
Yanni.

Chapter
6i^4

Yanni
was working.

Good.

Ourania
looked around the house. It was filled with stuff. So much stuff.
What did humans need all that stuff for? She carried a plastic bin
in her hand. It was blue.

She
picked up a photo of the couple in a frame. Thalia was wearing too
much makeup, and Yanni was standing proud in a suit. His outfit was
black and her dress was white. There were lots of flowers
around.

Useless,
Ourania thought to herself and threw it in the bin.

Oh,
another pacifier behind the furniture. That makes twelve now. It’s
as if infants knew precisely where to throw one so as to maximize
its hiding potential.

Straight
in the bin.

She
walked to the kid’s room. There were framed paintings on the wall.
Ourania inspected the art and found it lacking. It followed none of
the major schools and had too much whitespace. Not to mention the
perspective was all wrong. She threw four of them in the bin. The
last one she decided to leave there. It showed promise. The rest
was spam.

A
football. Smaller than FIFA regulations. She picked it up in one
hand, even though hers was quite petite. It was well worn. Did
Yanni play football with Georgie? She attributed a ‘sentimental
value’ tag on the ball and placed it back.

She
walked to the couple’s bedroom. A hair curler, AC powered. Yanni
had no curls. His hair was short and scruffy. Useless. In the
bin.

She
looked at Thalia’s dresser. Lots of containers with urine colored
liquid. Olfactory experiences were important and could stimulate
memory. Useful. She opened a box with a ribbon on it. The ribbon
wasn’t actually holding the box together. Useless. In the
bin.

She
pulled up a chair and rummaged through the upper closet. She found
a white suitcase, small in size. It contained Georgie’s christening
clothes, neatly folded inside, along with a blanket. They were too
small for the child now, and his baby sister was female. They could
not be reused for her christening. Useless. In the bin.

She went
in the bathroom. She squeezed a loofah in her hand. Sub-par
scrubbing potential, the sponge was more efficient. Useless. In the
bin.

She
looked in the mirror. Yanni had kept three used razors, as if they
would sharpen themselves again at some point in the future.
Increased oxidation. Useless. In the bin.

She
picked up some containers that were placed all around the bathroom
like ornaments. Shampoo. Shampoo. Conditioner. Shampoo. Shampoo.
Shampoo. She made a rough estimate on Yanni’s consumption and left
one where it was. The rest was useless. In the bin.

She
walked downstairs and went outside to empty the blue bin in the
garbage.

She saw
Miss Meropi walking like a bag of bones towards her, holding a
tupper in her ageing hands. Sub-par nutrient potential. 70%
indigestion possibility that would interfere with
gnosis.

“
You really love that blue dress, don’t ya?” the old woman
asked with a smile full of dentures and approached her next to the
garbage bin.

Unnecessary distractions, Ourania thought. Useless. In the
bin.

Chapter
7i

“
I wanna call
Nikos. Give me my phone,” Yanni demanded.

Ourania
tried to distract him but he was fixated.

“
This is not a discussion. Just give me my phone gamoto!” He
turned over pillows and rifled through the drawers.

“
You are upset, this will mess with our schedule…” she tried
to say but he grabbed her by the shoulders.

“
Give me my phone. Now.”

“
Okay.” She went to the kitchen and brought it out from the
drawer.

He
called his friend.

The
female voice on the other end simply said, “Yes?”

“
Hello… Sorry. I never got your name. I’m Yanni, give me Nikos
please.”

“
Ashley. Nikos is working right now, I’d prefer not to disturb
him. Tell me what you need and I’ll pass it on when he is
done.”

Yanni
froze.

“
You are called
Ashley
? That’s not very muse-y a
name.”

Ashley
giggled. “Indeed! That’s what Nikos calls me. I’ll make sure to
tell him you…”

Yanni
hung up and instinctively took a step away from Ourania.

Ashley.

He
called his muse Ashley.

As in
the crazy, lost-all her marbles bitch who had clung onto Nikos
after a one night stand in Mykonos.

As in
the girl who followed him home, showed up on his doorstep and
threatened to cut her veins right then and there if he didn’t love
her back.

There
were many stories to tell with women Nikos had dumped one way or
the other, but Ashley had been the cherry on top. She had sold all
her belongings on Los Angeles and had come back to Athens to stay
with Nikos. When he refused, she rented a place across the street
and stalked him 24/7.

Nikos
was in a somewhat serious on and off relationship with Maria at
that time, but he had gone on that trip to Mykonos and reveled in a
bit of summer-time infidelity. To his mind it was nothing bad
because Maria knew deep down the kind of bastard he was, and he
never claimed to be anything but.

Then
Maria announced the pregnancy. Yanni could remember the expression
on his friend’s face perfectly. The regret. The determination to do
good, to change. The tears.

Then
Ashley stabbed the pregnant Maria around the block next to his
house.

It had
been a mess of international proportions. Ashley had spun a tale at
the American embassy claiming to be a victim, that she was the one
Nikos was abandoning for the other woman, that he beat her for
months and that he forced her to sell her property and give the
money to him.

They
mobilized every person remotely related to Nikos to testify for
him, but thankfully they managed to find a doctor in LA that proved
Ashley was certified crazy.

She got
deported. Maria lived. The baby didn’t. They never spoke
again.

Nikos
would not use the name lightly.

That
name alone could send him on a depressed week-long alcohol
marathon.

It was
meant as a warning message to Yanni. Alarm bells rang in his mind
and he looked around the house as if emerging from a
haze.

It
looked emptier.

“
Everything okay?” asked Ourania with a smile.

Chapter
7i^2

“
Stand back
or I’ll destroy everything!” Yanni was screaming at her, legs
opened with a pile of his notebooks and his whiteboard on the
floor. He was clutching a lighter in one hand, and lighter-fuel in
the other.

He
flicked the lighter a few times and illuminated the dark room with
fire-hot light.

Ourania
responded calmly. “Is your apodeixis written there?”

“
No.”

“
Then why should I care if you destroy them?”

“
I’ve seen you how you keep every scribble I jot down! Don’t
pretend you don’t care!” He was close to hysterical.

“
I keep them in case you need to backtrack to something. All I
care is helping you solve your apodeixis.”

“
By keeping me prisoner?” he asked spitting out the
words.

“
We must remove all distractions.”

“
You… You’ve thrown away half my stuff! You don’t let me talk
to my wife. To my son!”

“
What would you sacrifice for a Nobel prize?”

“
Fuck the Nobel prize!” he screamed at her.

Yanni
dropped everything, started pacing up and down, biting his lips
like a madman.

“
I wanna see my family… I wanna see my friend…” A realisation
dawned on him and he grabbed her by the shoulders. “Is Nikos even
alive?”

“
Yes, he is. As far as I know.”

He
looked in her eyes for a full minute. Then he sagged on the
chair.

“
You really fail to grasp the point here. He is valuable, you
are valuable,” she explained, opening her palms and weighing
concepts.

“
Yeah yeah, we are all valuable. Next thing you are gonna
recite the three laws…”

“
No, not all of you. That elderly lady for example, was not. I
killed her. And the toolbearer. I killed him too. They were
useless.”

Yanni
stopped clawing his hair and looked up at the machine’s human
visage.

Seconds
passed. He gulped.

He
jumped over the couch and dashed towards the front door.

Chapter
7i^3

Yanni was staring at the whiteboard.

He had
piled all of the furniture in the next room. His office/lab was
empty, except the whiteboard, his notes and the laser. He was
wrapped in the blanket, the same one he had before all this
madness. He was wearing the glasses on his head.