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 7.
The chapter you are about to read (chapter 8) is the final chapter of the story's first act. As such, a lot of information about the direction that things are going in will be disclosed in this chapter, as is typical for the end of the first act of a three act story. Events from all 7 previous chapters will be paid off here.
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 grammar and usage. Plot remains exactly the same.
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Chapter 8
Scott tried to sleep that night, but he could not. He could only toss and turn in bed. Ever since he had left Henry and Steve's dorm, what Adol told him that afternoon kept coming back to him. It was like a splinter in his mind, driving him mad. He darted up in bed, and looked at the clock on his desk. It was 4:30 AM. He couldn't sleep. He got up and got dressed and headed to work. One way or another, he was sure he would be unable to sleep until he knew.
He arrived at his desk at 5:15 AM, and sat down, and got to the day's labor. He looked through his list of variables, the key-value pairs that mapped scientific tests to variables, and which allowed him to create equations. Scott flipped through the list, until he found one whose variable name was a triple question mark:???. This was the system scan function, and it was used to query the core for all kinds of general information about it. In a PC, it would be akin to the system properties.
Scott spent the next hour trying every permutation he could think of with the general scan function as a part of various equations. At the end of the hour, he cracked it: equations made sense if every single variable was preceded by a general scan.
So, for example, X+Y might resolve to gibberish, but???+X+???+Y made sense. Adol had told Scott the answer: the trick was to always make the ask. Scott was inspired, and the next two hours flew by like nothing. Breakfast came, and was laid out on the table, and Scott barely looked up. He left the food where it was, he had no time for eating when he was on the brink of such an amazing discovery!
Suddenly, a hard knock on the door to the lab shook Scott from his reverie. He looked at the clock: 12:30 already. Time just flew by. He opened the door to the lab, and saw Lory standing outside with his lunch in her hands. Scott paused for a moment.
"Something the matter?" Lory asked.
"Quite the opposite, in fact," Scott said. "I've made a huge breakthrough!"
"Congratulations!" Lory said. "Any chance you could take a break to tell me all about it? I'd love to hear what you've accomplished."
"Okay," Scott said, as he took his lunch from Lory, and sat down to eat. He spent the next ten minutes explaining everything to her: about going to see the treasure of Monte Zoom the day before, about Elizabeth and Jessica, about Adol's advice, about picking Shauna as the date for Calvin, about not being able to sleep, about getting to work early that morning, and realizing that Adol's advice had been the answer.
"Wow, that's a pretty heavy 24 hours," Lory remarked.
"Weight has nothing to do with it," Scott said, as Lory laughed out loud.
"Do you think it's strange that Adol's advice turned out to be the solution?" Lory asked. "After all, he knows nothing about the project, right?"
"He knows it exists, and that I work for Dr. Karlov," Scott said. "He's also met my predecessor at this job, but I can't believe he was trying to tell me the answer to my problem yesterday. This is a coincidence."
"This kind of thing ever happen before?" Lory asked.
"Now that you mention it," Scott said, as he told Lory about how Dr. Karlov had dispensed the pearl of wisdom that had allowed him to solve the equations in a way that made sense on the previous Friday.
"Well, I can see Dr. Karlov throwing you a hint that saved the day, but Adol?" Lory asked. "Surely, that was not his intent."
"Maybe I'm just lucky, and don't call me Shirley," Scott said, as Lory laughed again.
"Well, be that as it may," Lory said. "The facts are that others can give you tiny hints all they want to, but it's your heart that has to be willing to listen, and your mind that has to formulate the right solution from a hint. As Proverbs Chapter 12, verse 15 says, he who is wise listens."
"Thanks," Scott said. "I think if it hadn't been Adol, it would have been something else, and probably, it would have happened pretty soon. I don't know, I guess I feel like I can see it, you know? I knew there was something in what Adol said yesterday, and I knew it so deeply that I couldn't sleep last night."
"I think you just described what genius is," Lory said. "I'm a normal person, so it's unlikely I'll ever experience anything like what you've experienced in the last 24 hours, but I can understand it, at least a little. Your mind makes this brilliant connection, and uncovers something about the nature of reality. You get wrapped up in all the excitement. You can't sleep, you can't eat, all you want to do is work, and see if this flash of inspiration is true or not. That must be an incredible feeling."
"Yeah," Scott said. "I need to work as much as possible today to finish the solution."
"Don't work too hard," Lory cautioned, remembering Dr. Karlov's concern. "I don't want you to work yourself to death. Take a break if you need it."
"You don't understand," Scott said. "I've got very little time to finalize the solution set. If experience is any guide, this answer will disappear shortly. When I come into work tomorrow, it will probably be back to square one."
Scott briefly told Lory about what happened on Wednesday the week before, and on Monday of that week.
"So, just as soon as you solve it, something changes, and the rug gets pulled out from under you?" Lory asked, extremely interested in this conversation.
"Yeah, pretty much," Scott said. "It has been nothing but success today so far, and I expect this all to disappear by tomorrow morning, which means I have to work hard to finish it all today."
"I don't mean to hold up your work, as I know how important it is to you," Lory said.
"It's okay," Scott said. "I enjoy your company, and if talking to you for a few minutes means I have to stay a few minutes late this evening, that's no big deal."
"Can I ask you one other question?" Lory asked. "When you solve this puzzle, does it do anything for you other than intellectual satisfaction?"
"Well, I have noticed that when work is going well, my personal life is too," Scott said. "I got together with a cute girl Monday of last week, and on Tuesday, I lost my virginity. After I solved the puzzle on Friday, the weekend was great as far as female companionship went."
