The Game Before the Fall

Chapter 6: Thinking Space. (Part 1)

10 minutes passed as I observed the nostalgic lab, comparing it to what I knew and remembering the changes to come. Professor Grayton appeared from around the corner. He was about the same age as my father, but where Dad looked young for his age, Professor Grayton was the opposite. His hair had already become mostly grey and while it hadn't begun to thin, it had become frizzy, poking here and there. He wore a lab coat that trailed closely to the floor, mostly due to his particular hunch. Days on end in an underground lab had left him with a pale complexion, adding in the large bags beneath his eyes, he looked the part of a crazed doctor ready to release a maniacal laugh.

"Sorry for the wait. We lost track of time. I'm Professor Grayton but please call me Carlos," he offered his hand in a friendly manner. His voice was vibrant, a vast difference compared to his appearance. Carlos Grayton. Two days after the Fall we met in the university stadium being used as an evacuation point. The man was nowhere near as energetic as now. He had witnessed Sarah's demise and become a shadow of himself. When the Rift Walkers attacked, he didn't even bother to run. He charged straight at them. It may have just been because of him that Aria and I managed to escape.

I shook the thoughts away as I shook his hand, "Ardent Friend. It's an honour to meet you Carlos."

The Professor laughed, embarrassed, "An honour you say. I'm simply a barely scrapping by academic. To be honest when we saw your application, we were pretty suspicious why someone with your grades would look for our lab." His eyes became sharp, driven by his curiosity, "Is there are a particular reason why?"

To be honest the initial reason I had was because he was the closest lab to home in my major. The reason now however, I smiled, "I've read every single one of your papers dating back the past twenty years. Your ideas about virtual tech are frankly amazing."

"Every single one?" Carlos couldn't help but widen his eyes. Sarah who lingered behind him looked at me as if she couldn't believe it. In truth I had also read all his future papers too, some of which I was a secondary Author on.

"Yes. Your latest paper on pairing a magnetic resonance with ultrasound to read data directly from the spinal cord was particularly a good read. In fact, I heard about your goals to merge your research with current day virtual technology."

"W-wow," he was impressed. "Let's have a chat in the office." Along with Sarah, the Professor guided me to a decent sized room at the back of the lab. A desk that had been hastily cleaned was propped in the middle. All around the room was a mess of paper and electronics. Most conspicuously however was the bed, still crinkled from being used. "Sorry about the mess."

"No it's fine," I replied quite used to it all. This was the mess being somewhat clean.

He sat down on one end of the desk, waiting for me to sit, "Okay well if we cut to the chase, I'd be glad to have you complete your honours project with us. Just from your grades and assignments I can see you know your stuff. The question is, what exactly do you want to get from this lab?"

I took a deep breath and pulled my run down laptop from my bag, placing it on the desk, "To be honest, me coming here isn't so much about my honours project. I would like to work together with you Professor Grayton and complete your prototype Virtual Gear. Not as a student but as a partner."

From the corner of my eyes I could see Sarah twitch. What I was asking for was incredibly rude. Having only a Bachelor's degree, it was akin to wanting to play national level football after only playing in a children's league. The Professor didn't react much and instead smirked.

"I think you're rather smart Ardent. You wouldn't come here and say that without a plan. I'm curious, my current research isn't open to the public. It would be hard to learn much about it even with the help of the other professors. What makes you think you can be my partner?"

"This," I pointed the laptop his way.

He immediately recognised the data on the screen and where it came from. "T-this is my algorithm. You worked it out just from my research paper?"

"You could say that." Of course, it was from much more than that. We had spent years together before the Merge fixing it, testing it and doing so much more. I didn't have the time however to take things slow. "I've made additions." I ran the simulation again. It was only a fraction of a test cast due to my laptops underpowered specs but the algorithm was real. The cumulated efforts we had put in together.

The Professor snatched my laptop closer, "T-this is impossible." Without asking he began to inspect the code. "You've- how did. You would need data. Unless-?"

"It's not complete," I cut into his curious and confused excitement. "I could only do a small simulation. I was hoping to work together with you to finish it. After all, it's all based on your work."

He began to laugh, a rather maniacal laugh, "How could I say no! With this I'd be willing to do anything to keep you here! You just fast tracked so many problems I thought would take months!" He was right, but the problems ended up taking years not months. "By June we could have a fully working prototype."

"Actually about that," I firmed myself again. "I have my own goals too. The same as yours, as your labs, to make virtual technology more available to others. I know that with your work, your finished prototype could cut the cost of a fully functioning virtual machine by a fifth!"

"Exactly!" he moved away from the laptop and took my hands in his. "Imagine a world where everyone could be connected on the virtual level. We could spread world class education anywhere in the world. Teach and experience so much as if you were actually there!"

"That's why... one month. I want to use your prototype by the end of January."

His excitement was cut to preplexion, "Ah... why?"

"We need sponsors. People who are willing to invest for the right reasons. Have you heard Areithia Online is having their regional tournament soon?"

"Y-yes, but-." He realised. "You want us to showcase it?"

I nodded, "I'm going to win the tournament with your prototype."

The Professor again began to laugh crazily, "Ardent Friend you are amazing. With your help, we'll get it done. Win the tournament and I'll partner with you officially. I'll block out whatever anyone else has to say."

"Done deal," I shook his hand.

A grin plastered onto his face, "Sarah, we've got some work to do!"

Sarah let out a tired sigh, "I'm going for a coffee first."