The frames of the metallic structured shook and buzzed menacingly at center of the other wise windowless empty room. The professor waved at the machine in excitement, her chin up so high, her head was ready to eject off her neck. "Isn't it marvelous?", she exclaimed to the dean with an unrestrained pride, pointing to the contraption, as if she had built the whole thing. "We have only recently perfected the design of this machine. The subject's head goes over that green lit sensor there, and the rest over it."
The dean stood next to her, submerged in thought and shock, not quite paying attention to her exact words, annoyed by how white the light in the room was. "I see the look of concern on your face. Do not worry. We make sure they are all adults. By this age, they even start to like it." Except for the machine, and an out of place mahogany table, the room was completely devoid of objects. A skinny boy with oversized clothes was straining against getting closer to the machine, holding a chain, in full tension, his hand. The other end of the chain found its way to a black collar nestled around a girl's neck. She bent over on the floor by his feet. From the collar, silver rings stood out, for seemingly no purpose but appearance of serious ceremony. Her wine red top was a bit tattered to reveal her collar bones and waist. The uncomfortably cold room exposed her nipples though them. Her skirt rested against her, mostly exposed, toned thighs, which indicated she could have been a gymnast. But she clearly lacked the discipline for it, as she had a look of madness in her eyes, and kept tugging at the chain restlessly. She was eager to explore the toy that lay in front of them. The boy struggled to restrain her, trying his best to keep her from getting too close to the machine. As a TA, he was not prepared for such tests of strength.
"You see, sir. Once, those straps successfully restrains the subject, suspended in mid air, the device you see over there is to descend down slowly..." "Oh, No. Not into the mouth. That is the cause we are against. The subject is going to be upside down. Yes. We use a camera to achieve precise entry. The camera feeds the images to a chip inside, that uses the latest processing methods to locate the hole. My best students designed the algorithms... under my supervision of course." "I can sense what you are thinking. The parents of students have complained, and you have to respond. But I should let you know this the best method for educating them. Education without punishment is just a sermon, no?" "I know that you yourself are a man of science, and hence, I assumed your approval would be automatic, and you are just here out of courtesy and curiosity." "You don't have to frown at me, sir. The camera is not recording this, and none of those parental headaches need to weigh on you. Your reputation is safe within these walls. Why, one day you will be known as the revolutionary behind this method", clearly meaning the last sentence about herself more than anyone else.
"I just need you to approve of this." She extended a writing board towards the dean, but the dean maintained his arms folded. "Too cruel, Sir? That!...Ha!", as if she had finally found the source of his discomfort. "That's not a real knife!! It's just a stabilizer, merely for artistic effect." "What did she do? Well, for starters, let me demonstrate..". The professor reached into her brown bag, rummaging with a look of utmost focus, creating a curious mix of sounds of things clashing inside. She brought out a sheet of paper and handed it to the dean. The dean stared down the creased sheet squinting his eyes and adjusting his glasses. Meanwhile, something occurred to the Professor and she looked at the TA and asserted, "Remember, everything must be recorded", evoking a shy nod from the boy. The dean meanwhile studied the strange symbols he might have recognized once. Just below the printed lines, an unnecessarily judgmental question in an exam, was scribbled
"Matrices bob on this string of zeros and ones.
