Chapters 2009

"May I come in" , said Ron and started walking in after a moment's delay.The delay was perfected by his regular visits to Cherole. He liked to discuss out of course material with her, after his daily classes got over.

"Ma'am, today, Jack, you know the-hairy-guy, looked you up on google. Though he had other reasons to do so, I happened to take a peek at the results, when I found this." He pushed a stack of unclipped printouts, fresh from the printer, forwards. The top page had the image of a Black Swan with a red-orange beak which connected right to its eyes. The swan looked oddly out of the ordinary.

"Oh, right , and you bring this up because...", said Cherole , with a smile , which suggested that she already knew the answer.

"Well obviously, because I am interested in knowing more about it."

"Okay", the smile changing its form into a normal smile, as if the answer was not exactly what she was hoping for, but she was still eager to discuss more about it.

"I was confused when I saw your name with this picture 'coz I know that you are not a biologist. Then I read a little and understood that it was related to statistics and I grew no less surprised. I was interested in reading more about it, but then when I can hear it from you yourself, why bother with the print", said Ron as a last non technical remark, half knowing that instantly from the next statement , they would jump directly into a discussion on Black Swan.

"It was all Mr. Nassin Taleb's idea, a brilliant brilliant man. He was one of those who are scientists, poets, story tellers and philosophers at the same time.I just applied his idea to physics..."

An hour spent on the discussion made Ron have a new perspective on the world. That is what new concepts do. And with Ron's ever questioning brain the discussion entered newer depths.
For Cherole, it reminded her of the only other person with whom she once had a similar discussion. She owed the paper to him as much as she did to Mr. Taleb.

"I need to spend some time thinking on it myself. It was an honour to hear it from you Ma'am"
and Ron started to leave. He had barely reached the door when Cherole proposed,

"Ron, what are your plans tomorrow night?"

"Ma'am?" uttered Ron , surprised at what just happened.

With a teasing smile, Cherole replied, "I meant, would you be able to join me to the ceremony . I forgot to tell you that this is the paper for which , I am being considered for the prize".

"Of course I will and I knew"

:Baby what's that mole on your chin??? It distracts me...I can't concentrate on your beautiful face...:
Anything for you my hairy state..??
"State?"
:Oh why is everyone looking at me? Did i say that aloud or am I being asked a question? am i naked? no...ok this silence is killing me..i can't see it anymore.:
Suddenly a sound came - "In the formalism of quantum mechanics, the state of a system at a given time is described by a complex wave function....sometimes referred to as orbitals in the case of atomic electrons, and more generally, elements of a complex vector space."
"Good answer Ron"
Ron happily looked at his hairy friend who still had his eyes shut. He looked around the class and tried to give an expression that this was the most obvious answer. In his own vague sense of pride he again started following prof. Cherole.. this time with more rigurous head movements.

"Ron..ron..ohh..ron..great answer...aah do you know a good plastic surgeon?"
"Hey hairy guy.. who do you think is teaching"
"Ahhh.. Experience ma'am, it's telling me that physics is not my cup of tea."
"Then you might go to the canteen and find out what' s your cup of tea."
"No thanks ma'am."
"Leave."
"Thanks ma'am."
"My pleasure. So class back to the submicroscopic scale.."

Cherole... was an Associate Professor in the Atomic, Condensed Matter, and Plasma Physics division of the Department of Physics at MIT. Her beauty made her stand out in the whole faculty. Her students had "hot matter" as her pet name. She was tall so much so,that her boyfriend in college had to wear heels to reach her height. Not only in looks but also in academics she had no equal.. back in college she topped always and that to with a great margin. She was used as a spokesperson by her division to attract people and funds towards their research not only because she was the most beautiful but also as she was the brightest .She was being considered for the Boltzmann Medal for her research in statistical physics.

"Hi Cherole!"
"Hello professor Darwin."
"So when are you leaving?"
"Tomorrow night sir."
"Prepared...any speech??"
"Yes a short one.. but i still doubt my chances"
"Oh don't you worry you'll do just fine."
"I am keeping my fingers crossed."
"If i were the judge i would have chosen you the moment i saw your application."
"Thats flattering sir..."
"I haven't seen any of your work in statistical physics?"
"It's some paper i published back in college."
"Ohh.. under whom?"
"Dr. Zane.. Dr. Elbis Zane"

The Project 37 lab had the most perfect sphere in the world, unequalled in precision by any other sphere ever constructed, except the one that stood beside it. They were immaculate and incredibly similar, leaving the fact that they did exactly the opposite job.
They were marked init and fin.

"Sockets activated", declared Ruvan resisting his temptation to say "Vexatious Vixens" and raised his thumb to Sharon still one eye on Kensington. With efficient movements, Sharon took out the glass beaker marked Nanoarchium Equitans from the refrigerator.It was the smallest living thing which could withstand the temperatures of the teleportation.

After adding some routine chemicals to a drop of the liquid from the beaker, Sharon handed over the slide having the droplet to Edlie, who in the absense of Mine, performed his task of placing the droplet inside init. The magnetic levitation inside, never let the entered droplet ever touch the inside walls of the sphere.

Suddenly, when Kid asserted "FIRE!", trying hard to appear curious, everything happened together.A twenty eight thousand computers, suddenly stopped working, without the users realizing what they did wrong. The big screen flashing numbers , which were the calculated variables of the bacterium, suddenly went bright and then absolute black. Then as fast as it died, it woke up to yell FIRE! back at Kid.

Dr. Kensington knew that the experiment had caused the fire. He had killed the hen which laid golden eggs.

"A hundred" Interrupted an impassionate voice, as its owner, a lanky individual with an ever-present sleepy expression in his eyes, made his way into the room. Ruvan, one of the younger members at CTS, was the local computer nerd. Although still considered as a newbie by the senior members, unlike them, he was from the Y-generation, the folks who had not known the world without internet and mobile smartphones, and hence had a much better feel of the technological pulse in the world.

"Is that no. of victims, or no. of mutations?" Asked nonplussed Kid, clearly annoyed with the audacity of Ruvan of interrupting veterans in mid-conversation.

"No. of mutations, the affected machines are over two eighty. That's a lower estimate, we obviously can't get the exact figures." replied Ruvan, almost to himself, his mind wandering off to some other problem whose solution was alluding him.

Kid couldn't help being awed. He had seen lots of kids like Ruvan, genius', nerds, confident, but unlike others, this one seemed totally passive, unmindful of recognition. Yet, when it came to delivery, noone quite came close. His pet project, Vixens, started as a minor project in university, was quickly noticed and taken over by CTS. Now the virus had successfully affected over two eighty thousand computers world wide in under a week, and was still unnoticed.

"Just came to keep you posted Doc. Forgive me, but I can't be away from my server right now." excused Ruvan.

"The audacity of the lad" thought Kid as he turned his attention again to the matter at hand. Evolutionary viruses may be sci-fi delight, but he can't lose focus now.