The Reality Engine

Hi!

Thank you for reading my story. A couple of points to know:

I don't like writing wank porn. I want to write full-fleshed stories with plot, character, drama and tension. Events in this chapter pick up the morning after the events at the end of chapter 6.

The comments that I've read on my stories have been really helpful. If you find that there's something that bothers you about the story, or there is something you can suggest to improve my technique, please send me a comment. I read all of them, and consider them carefully.

There is one comment I've received that I wanted to respond to quickly: the dialogue. Yes, I know that I don't write the way people talk. That's intentional. The purpose of dialogue in the real world is to communicate, the purpose of dialogue in a story is to advance the plot of the story, and to provide insight into characters.

Thank you for taking the time, and please be sure to vote and offer any feedback you can. If you like what I do, offering feedback is the best thing you can do to help, there is nothing which aids a writer more than seeing the story through someone else's eyes.

Note on edit: I have fixed tiny issues with spelling, grammar, and usage. Plot remains exactly the same.

-------

Chapter 7

Scott got to work on Wednesday morning at 5 minutes to 6 AM. He sat down, and busied himself with the day's labor. At 7 AM, breakfast was served, and ten minutes after breakfast arrived, Dr. Karlov strolled in for the first time that day.

"Good morning!" Dr. Karlov said, as he sat down and helped himself to some toast and tea.

Scott cast his mind back to the conversation he had with Steve on their way home from the house party on Saturday night. Scott was sure that one tip from Dr. Karlov would be all he would need to get past his current difficulties with the LAVCM data. Dr. Karlov might have only offered the piece of advice that had helped Scott crack the case on the previous Friday because he knew Scott was getting frustrated. Truth be told, Scott preferred to get the answer on his own, and he wanted to keep trying before he asked for help.

"How are you doing today?" Scott asked.

"I am well," Dr. Karlov said. "However, you know how it is, a pile of administrative tasks to take care of will dominate my day. Tomorrow is my teaching day, and I regret to inform you I am unlikely to be available. However, I will make every effort to come by and see how you're progressing before the end of the day today. Scott, to be honest, if it was anyone else but you, I'd make much more of an effort to find the time for this project, but you are doing so well that you have freed up time in my schedule that I sorely need. I feel I don't need to be here all the time to baby-sit you. However, if you are ever struggling with anything, please, just let me know and I will make the time to devote to this project."

"You always kept a more careful eye on previous assistants?" Scott asked.

"Let's take young Trevor, your immediate predecessor, for example," Dr. Karlov said. "I had trouble getting away to take care of my teaching duties when he was here. He required constant supervision, and, after only one week, I knew it wasn't going to work. I began to look around to find another job for him almost immediately, to ensure he had a soft landing. I could never convince him to take this job seriously. That's a problem I run into with most assistants. With you, it's the opposite problem, I want to be sure you're enjoying yourself enough so that you don't burn out."

"Thank you," Scott said. "I appreciate the vote of confidence."

"I mean it, Scott," Dr. Karlov said. "If you need to skip work, or go home early, to do something fun, please, feel free to do that once in a while. It's good for you, and will make you more effective at this job, not less."

Scott thanked Dr. Karlov again, and Dr. Karlov re-iterated that he would make an effort to come by and look in on Scott again in the afternoon, and left.

Scott spent the next six hours engrossed in his work, before lunch was delivered. As he sat down to eat, he felt his cell phone vibrate. He checked his messages, and saw a text from Adol, his host from the party on Saturday night.

'Hey, big brain boy, what's shaking?' the text from Adol said.

'Not much, how are you?' Scott texted back, as he started to munch on his sandwich.

'You up for something fun later today?' a text came back from Adol.

'Sure, what are the details?' Scott texted back.

'A friend of mine and I are going to check out the fabled treasure of Monte Zoom today,' Adol texted.

'Don't you mean the fabled treasure of Montezuma?' Scott texted back.

'No, I mean the treasure of Monte Zoom. It's one of the most fantastic race cars ever built, and it's one of a kind. A nerd like you will find a hundred fascinating things to drool over. You up for it?' Adol texted.

'Sure am, what time?' Scott asked.

'Can you meet me at 4 PM?' Adol texted.

Scott remembered Dr. Karlov's words to him that morning, if you need to skip work, to do something fun, feel free to do that once in a while.

'Okay, that's fine, where do I meet you?' Scott texted.

'I'll come by in a car and pick you up at 4 PM. I'll text you when I arrive, and we'll meet in the parking lot of Water Buffalo Hall, where you are,' the text came back from Adol.

'Great, see you then!' Scott texted back.

Scott finished his sandwich and soda, and went back to work for the next few hours. 4 o'clock came, and Scott received a text message from Adol to meet in the parking lot of Water Buffalo Hall. When Scott walked out to the parking lot, he saw Adol behind the wheel of a very nice looking red sports car. Adol opened the passenger's side door, and Scott climbed in.

"My friend, Richard Little, will meet us at our destination," Adol informed Scott.

"So, where is the fabled treasure of Monte Zoom?" Scott asked, as Adol started to drive off.

"It's being kept in the ballroom at the Buckley Estate, which is just outside of town," Adol said. "It's a large mansion which was built by the late Colonel Lancaster Buckley, and has been passed down in his family for like a 100 years or something. The Buckleys are old money, posh, country family and landed aristocrats, that type of thing, you understand. They got the car on loan from an automobile museum in Europe somewhere as part of the car's American tour. They host it for today only, and they are throwing a lavish party to celebrate, and to show it off to everyone they know. Puts the family name back on everyone's tongue, and makes the old money relevant again, for a day at least."

"Makes sense to me," Scott said. "I'm a little surprised that a man like you only had one friend who wanted to come along with him on a trip like this."

"You know I live with 12 housemates, right?" Adol asked.

"Sure, I was told that on Saturday night," Scott replied.

"Well, it takes all types to make the world, my friend, and unfortunately, cars and the history of racing are topics that interest only me and Richard," Adol said. "The reason I asked you to come along is that I know guys like you, you're intellectually curious and you're always looking to learn. You're coming along with me because you don't know anything about cars, or racing, but you desperately want to know as much as there is to know. That's a rare trait, no one else I know is wired like that."

"Thank you," Scott said, and for the next half an hour, Adol and Scott chatted away as they drove to the Buckley Estate. Once there, Adol parked in the large garage on the property, and he and Scott entered the manor house. Richard Little was waiting for them both in the lobby of a large, central ballroom.

Scott took a moment to look around the ballroom, and it was obvious the people who lived here were very wealthy. There were works of art hanging on all the walls. A large crystal chandelier was hung in the center of a high arch roof that covered the room. Marble floors and people dressed in very expensive looking clothes appeared in every direction.

"Hi Adol," Richard said, as he hugged his friend. "This must be Scott, of whom you've told me so much."

"Hello," Scott said, as he and Richard shook hands. "I think I saw you at the party on Saturday night, but we were never introduced."

"I definitely remember you," Richard said. "Come now, let's take a look at what we're all here to see, the treasure of Monte Zoom."

Scott passed by many people in the crowded ballroom who were all dressed significantly better than he and his two friends were. Neither Adol nor Richard seemed bothered by this, but Scott definitely noticed. After wading through the crowd, they finally arrived at their destination: a large automobile, that looked ancient in design, on the floor of the ballroom with a theater rope encircling it to remind people to keep their distance.

"Wow, how old is it?" Scott asked.

"That is a 1903 Apperson Jack Rabbit," Richard said. "The company didn't make the Jack Rabbit, officially, until 1906, and this is an early prototype that they developed for the race track. It was one of the great early race cars at the dawn of the 20th century, and came on the scene shortly after people realized that in addition to getting folks around, cars could also be a source of recreation and amusement."

"Yeah, just look at it, ain't she a beauty?" Adol asked. "It's so unbelievably crude, by today's standards, but even at this early a date, the principles of the modern internal combustion engine were already well understood. Obviously, with a name like Jack Rabbit, this model was built for speed. It's a lightweight car with less horsepower than the other models as a commercial vehicle, but could be modified with a more powerful engine that made it a formidable race car."

It was obvious, to Scott, that his two friends knew a hell of a lot more about cars than he did. As Scott was marveling at the car, an old lady, who was impeccably dressed, walked up to them and said hello.

"Hey, how you doing, you old bitch?" Adol asked, as he hugged the old woman. "Scott, Richard, this is my friend Lady Ambrosia Buckley, she's the great granddaughter of the original Colonel Lancaster Buckley, and she's the matriarch of this house. Amber, these are my friends, Richard and Scott."

Everyone exchanged greetings.

"So, what do you think about the car?" Lady Buckley asked.

"A marvel of history and innovation," Richard said. "Thank you so much for inviting us to see it today."

"I'm not really a car enthusiast like my two friends are, but to see something this formative in technological design is fascinating," Scott said.

"Thank you, both of you, for your kind words," Lady Buckley said. "I am glad you could be here to see this car today."

"Richard here is a car enthusiast, and loves to take 'em apart and see how they work," Adol said. "Scott is the smart one, out of all of us. He works for Dr. Karlov, you know."

"Oh, really?" Lady Buckley asked. "That is an interesting fact. How do you like the job?"

"It's terrific," Scott said. "I only hope I'm doing well enough at it that Dr. Karlov will keep me around."

Lady Buckley seemed surprised by Scott's answer, and she thought for a moment.

"How long have you been employed at this position?" Lady Buckley finally asked Scott.

"Today was my eighth day on the job," Scott answered.

Lady Buckley paused again to gather her thoughts, none of the three boys was in any hurry to interrupt her.

"Have you been arriving at work every morning at 6 AM?" Lady Buckley asked Scott.

"Yes ma'am," Scott answered. "8 out of 8 days so far, and I even made it to work at 5:20 on Monday because I had so much energy after a great weekend."

"How long are your hours at work?" Lady Buckley asked Scott.

"They vary," Scott said. "I left work today at 4 PM to come here, and see this car, because Adol invited me. Typically, I leave work between 5 and 6 PM, but I've been there as late as 8 PM. Also, Dr. Karlov likes to send technical documents to me via email to read over, and I often read those at night right before bed. I spent all of Sunday afternoon doing that. It was a bit of work in an otherwise extremely fun weekend, punctuated by the house party at Adol's on Saturday night."

"Tell me, have you encountered any technical difficulties in your job?" Lady Buckley asked Scott.

Richard and Adol exchanged a look, they were perplexed as to why Lady Buckley was asking so many questions about Scott's job.

"Yeah, on Wednesday of last week, the equations stopped making sense" Scott said. "Then, on Friday, Dr, Karlov gave me a tip that helped me solve things. When I came in two days ago on Monday morning, the equations didn't make sense again, and so I'm back to digging for a new solution."

"Most interesting," Lady Buckley said. "If what you're saying is true, and I have no reason to doubt you, . . . Tell me, what was the tip that Dr. Karlov gave you on Friday?"

"He told me that, in life, you find you often help yourself most when you stop to help others," Scott said. "When I applied that to the equations, by verifying the adjacent values of a calculation first, it stabilized the values of the central equation."

"Right now, the equations which worked on Friday are not working?" Lady Buckley asked.

"Yeah, pretty much," Scott replied.

"This has been the case for 3 days now, and you've found no solution?" Lady Buckley asked.

"Not yet, but I will," Scott said. "I just need to find an organizing principle, a pattern that makes the equations make sense. Once I've got that, a solution will come together quickly."

"I'm sure you will find what you are looking for," Lady Buckley said. "The reason I'm asking you so many questions is because Dr. Karlov is a dear friend of mine, whom I've had the pleasure of hosting here at my home many times over the years. He has, in recent years, often regaled us with tales of the LAVCM and what he calls the core. One final question, if I may, you refer to equations. From my limited understanding, the LAVCM is a machine which conducts a vast array of scientific experiments and measurements on the core. What is it that you refer to by equations?"

"Oh, the equations are just an abstraction of the experiments," Scott said. "For example, let's say that operation X is to check the core temperature, and let's say operation Y is to probe the core with an infrared laser. Then 2X + 4Y, which is check the temperature twice, and probe with an infrared laser 4 times, has a specific value for any fixed core. Now, the operation might not be associative, meaning it might make a difference in the temperature reading if you probe with the infrared laser first, but the values of those equations ought to be consistent and should make sense."

"I see," Lady Ambrosia Buckley said. "Well then, if I can offer you any advice, it would be this: keep your eyes peeled, and your heart open, and you will find the organizing principle you seek. It might even be right on the tip of your tongue, a single utterance away from being real. With your combination of brains and determination, I know you will succeed, and you are quite welcome in my home any time it suits you. Now, please excuse me, as I have other guests to see to."

Lady Ambrosia Buckley walked off, leaving the three young men alone together.

"Well, that was weird," Richard said, as soon as she was out of earshot.

"Seems like she and Dr. Karlov are real tight," Adol said. "I knew they were friends, but I didn't know that he told her about the experiments, or that he was a frequent visitor here. Makes sense that she's concerned about it, given what she's been told about it."

"I suppose it does," Richard said. "Now, then, how do I get an up close look at this car?"

"There's a guy, Burgese, who should be around here somewhere," Adol said. "He's the representative of the museum, and he's here to make sure nothing happens to the car while it's on display. If you want a closer look at the thing, you have to get his permission."

The next ten minutes were spent in finding Burgese, and when the three young friends located him, he indicated he would be happy to allow Richard a closer look at the car. Adol and Scott decided to retire to a small room on the second floor of the house, while they waited for Richard to finish his in-depth examination. On the way upstairs, Adol grabbed a beer from a refreshment table, and he handed Scott a coke, and the two friends sat down on a sofa in a small room on the second floor of the house, which had a large french window that opened to a balcony, and provided a beautiful look at the estate grounds.

"You're not as much of a race car enthusiast as Richard is?" Scott asked Adol.

"I love 'em, but I like to race 'em, and not so much examine 'em," Adol said. "Richard though, he's a machine guy, he loves to take things apart and see how they work. He's really good with his hands too, and a great guy to be friends with if you're ever having car trouble."

"Is he a student at Wassamatta U?" Scott asked.

"Uh-huh, he's in his senior year, and he's an electrical engineering major, so, maybe not quite in your class as far as brains go, but he's very smart," Adol said. "He's got a really hot girlfriend too, named Rosie, who's an English major, and who wants to be a writer. So, you see? Sometimes, the big brain guys do get the girls."

"Yeah, sometimes, but girls are still a puzzle even the smartest of men can't crack," Scott said.

"You're thinking too much, and that's your biggest issue," Adol said. "Hey, what if I can prove it to you?"

"I'd like that, very much," Scott said.

"Okay, hang on one second, let me make a call," Adol said, as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed a number. A moment later, and he connected with someone on the other end. "Hey, Elizabeth, are you downstairs at Buckley manor right now?"

Adol turned to Scott, nodded and smiled, to indicate Elizabeth was downstairs at Buckley Manor.

"Hey, my friend Scott and I are in the sofa room on the second floor. You know the one, right?" Adol asked. "Can you and Jessica stop by?"

Adol received his answer, smiled, and hung up the phone.

"What was that all about?" Scott asked.

"So, Elizabeth is Elizabeth Paulsen, and she's a fifth year senior at Wassamatta U," Adol said. "Jessica is Jessica Merced, and she's Elizabeth's best friend, going back to grade school, and is also a fifth year senior at Wassamatta U. Anytime I, or anyone else at Wassamatta U have a party, those two girls are always invited. You'll love their personalities, they're always smiling, always bubbly, and always giggling. They aren't the two deepest thinkers of all-time, but they're always happy, and they're always good to hang out around."

"I assume they are here at this party because you invited them?" Scott asked.

"No," Adol said. "They are here at this party because the on-campus museum at Wassamatta U helped the Buckley family arrange for this showing of the fabled treasure of Monte Zoom, and they got invited because Elizabeth works part-time at the museum. I only learned they were here when I saw Elizabeth off in the distance when we were downstairs."

A moment later, and the door to the sofa room opened, and two short, smiling young ladies entered.

"Hi Adol," the slightly taller of the two girls said. "Thanks for hosting us at your place on Saturday night, sorry we had to leave so suddenly, but I was starting to feel a little sick. 2 AM and a few too many beers, you know?"

"It's okay, Elizabeth," Adol said. "I'm just glad you and everyone in your party got home safe. Have you met my friend Scott Laird Cooper?"

"I think I remember seeing you at the party Saturday night," Elizabeth said, as she smiled and shook Scott's hand. "You left really early on in the evening. Were you feeling alright?"