From Now On, This Is My Laboratory (4)
The email had arrived. [You fucking bastard.] That kind of email. Had arrived…….
[You son of a bitch, just try coming home. The second I see your face I’m going to beat you until you can’t even recognize yourself. Are you even a human being? After blowing through that much money you still pull this shit? You fucking red-headed piece of trash with a dick for a brain.]
“What’s going on? Is it the professor?”
“Uh, yeah. It’s nothing.”
I reflexively hit Alt-Tab to hide my sister’s disgraceful message. She must still be half-asleep and not thinking straight. Otherwise there was no way she would send her older brother a novel-length string of curses. Nope. No way at all.
— The ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ is staring at you with narrowed eyes. —
It was good that Seti had woken up, but it was still too early to tell Rustila about it.
“Warden, is it really okay for me to keep these friends here at work?”
“As long as you do your job properly, I don’t mind.”
The whiteboard… no, was it whitewood? Whatever. Thanks to the warden turning a blind eye, the area around Rustila and me remained peacefully quiet today as well. Managing, monitoring, researching. Occasionally Rustila would help with the parts that needed an extra hand. When the day ended like that, the two of us would share a long blanket and head off to dreamland together.
Last night I had a nightmare where Sonia forced me into women’s clothing as some kind of punishment.
“Ugh.”
Just remembering it made my stomach turn.
“This is more interesting than I expected?”
Meanwhile, Rustila seemed to be developing a genuine interest in scholarship. She appeared particularly fascinated by the method of expressing the ether and stellar energy she had only felt intuitively through all five senses.
“When you handle ether, if you move this part whoosh, the opposite side goes boing boing. You use that feeling to extend the length of the ether.”
= The band itself possesses a wave-capable phase structure.
Even if I explained it like absolute garbage, it was the scientist’s job to understand it perfectly. When I translated Rustila’s intuition into mathematical language, astonishing things began to happen one after another. The amount of code needed for simulations decreased, and we could build simpler model systems. With an idea bank like this right beside me, telling her about Seti’s revival? That would be the bankruptcy of the Genius Brothers. Sorry, Rustila, but you’re not leaving my side until I finish writing this paper.
“Hehehe.”
“?”
Gurgle.
Even while working hard, my stomach clock faithfully announced noon. Along with the sound of a bell, the inmates staggered toward the cafeteria like a horde of zombies. I watched their movements carefully while biting into the ham-and-egg sandwich Sonia had made for me.
The crisp texture burst in my mouth. The savory acidity of the salty meat juices and the fresh aroma of green leaves danced softly among the golden-brown bread. The nutty flavor rolling around my mouth like a card shuffle was so good it nearly brought tears to my eyes.
“Sonia.”
“Yes?”
“Stay by my side for the rest of my life.”
“Stop talking nonsense and finish eating.”
While the two humans filmed their own om nom nom situation, the two mining drones sat in the newly installed massage chairs (with electric supply function enabled).
“Hwaaaaaah.”
“Haaaaaaaah.”
“This lab has really good welfare.”
“I concur.”
At this point the two robots were clearly enjoying themselves too. The simulation results produced by Sonia and Verdia were also quite satisfactory. They had made tremendous contributions to ensuring that the FR model Professor Feynman and I had built would run properly on the computer.
In modern science, such simulations were extremely important. They prevented the enormous costs that would arise from actual experiments by using computers instead. Aside from the price of the GPUs, there were virtually no expenses. And the calculation results were almost perfect.
“I should start writing the first draft soon.”
“Already?”
“With enough money, what can’t you do?”
Verdia bit her lip, showing signs of anxiety, but it was already too late. Your owner is pretty amazing, huh? Next time, I’m taking Rustila again.
Whether Rustila knew it or not, she was smiling brightly while munching on her toast.
The PRON value had dropped significantly as well. At this rate, by the time she entered her second year, she wouldn’t need special care anymore. Above all, I would be extremely busy by then too. Once college classes started, I’d probably be running around handling all sorts of things. Or I could just graduate early this semester, skip college entirely, and head straight to graduate school. That didn’t sound bad either.
Graduate school next year? That sounded pretty cool. If things went well, instead of getting a PhD at twenty-two, maybe I could become a professor?
“This guy is seriously insane. How did I end up stuck with someone like him…… Kyaaaaaah!”
— The Outer God ‘Orchestra of Mud and Flesh’ has regularly donated 500 PRON to you. —
By the way, something had been bothering me. I called Verdia in a voice quiet enough that Rustila wouldn’t hear.
“What about Rustila’s parents?”
“I contacted them. I told them we were here.”
“And?”
“They said they’ve been too busy catching up on work to come sooner……”
No way.
“They said they would visit today.”
O Outer Gods.
Knock knock knock.
“I’m coming in.”
It was Warden Whitewood’s voice. He appeared before us with a rather sulky expression and swept his gaze across the room. The state-of-the-art computer running simulations. A bundle of graphics cards comparable to a coin mining farm. Two androids sitting in massage chairs doing rapid charging, one beautiful girl munching on toast, and me enjoying brunch after finishing all the administrative work early.
“Have you ever seen such beasts?”
“Pardon?”
“I gave you some convenience because you were doing a good job, and you turned the monitoring station into a room salon? Huh? Say something in your defense!”
He seemed genuinely furious. Well, I suppose a rolling stone had pulled out the embedded stone a bit too forcefully.
“Warden, this is a misunderstanding.”
“A misunderstanding?”
“No, this place is……”
I renovated it into a laboratory.
When I hesitantly told him the truth, the warden’s face went blank. I gave Sonia and Verdia a meaningful look. They clicked their tongues and returned to their external graphics mode. Rustila also sipped her juice and showed him the ideas she had researched in her own way.
“Look at this.”
“We were writing a paper.”
“Why the hell are you writing a paper in a prison, you lot.”
Oh no, the warden was about to break. Still, he was a big-hearted man who had overlooked the installation of research equipment worth a billion. If we talked to him a little more, maybe we could persuade him? That was what I had definitely thought.
“Have you ever seen such beasts?”
“Uh, Mom? Dad?”
Just as I feared, Rustila’s parents burst in.
“……Idel.”
And my father as well. Why was Father here?
“So this is what you do when you come to a prison?”
The greatest crisis since the Celestine Incident was about to descend upon me.
And so began the multi-party meeting. In the heavy atmosphere, the first person to speak was, of course, my father.
“Sonia.”
“Yes, Patriarch.”
“Explain what has been going on here.”
Even Verdia was tense, but only Sonia maintained a calm expression as she moved her lips. She explained everything that had happened so far in a clear and orderly manner, and even submitted my paper as supporting evidence. In conclusion, it was a flawless, brilliant speech.
Arnold clicked his tongue as he looked at me.
“So you were dead set on turning the prison into a laboratory, is that it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And you used the family assets for that research or whatever it is.”
“Yes, sir.”
“……I understand for now.”
My father was not a man with much time to spare. Instead of digging into every detail, he would probably accept it to a reasonable degree. That was enough for now.
“Idel, once you come out of here, let’s have a long talk.”
In truth, it wasn’t enough. The atmosphere was subtly shifting in a strange direction.
The Kersil couple, who had been sipping cinnamon tea, looked back and forth between me, Rustila, and Verdia before speaking.
“Verdia, why don’t you give us a report as well?”
“Yes. The thing is……”
What followed was equally logical and coherent. The only problem was that Verdia had disobeyed the Kersil couple’s order not to let Rustila go too far away. The two of them seemed quite displeased by that.
“Verdia, if you keep doing this, we will have no choice but to recall you.”
“Yes, I’m sorry.”
If Verdia ever ends up on the used market, I should buy her. As I was thinking that, Sonia poked me in the side. Was she telling me to control my expression? Strange. I didn’t feel like the corners of my mouth were raised at all.
“Rustila, let’s go home.”
“But I already told you about the paper Idel wrote. This is currently the safest place……”
“Alcatraz cannot be called completely safe. There are Outer Deities here, and plenty of crazy people.”
“That’s right. There might even be criminals among them, you know?”
“But Mom!”
“Besides, living together with a boy who isn’t even your fiancé—I absolutely cannot allow that. Consider it a miracle that I’m letting it slide this far. Understood?”
“……”
At that moment, Father, who had been silently preparing to leave first, stopped in his tracks. He turned around and said,
“Idel.”
“Yes, Father.”
“What do you want to become when you grow up?”
“My goal is to create a scientific theory that will drive the Outer Deities out of this universe.”
“Clear enough. And your profession?”
“If I must say…… a professor of physics.”
“A professor, huh.”
Father let out a short laugh. He chewed on a digestive tablet and raised the corners of his eyes.
“You like scholarship so much that you even set up a laboratory here? Then do it well, as long as you don’t cause trouble for others.”
But— Father continued.
“Our family tradition is to have doctors or businessmen. If you get married and have a child, that child will be treated as a collateral branch. You understand what your father is saying, yes?”
“Yes.”
“And yet you still want to pursue natural science?”
“I can just become the family head through natural science.”
“……This kid.”
Arnold’s expression grew subtle. As he said, the direct line of the Rheinland family consisted of those who wore white coats. The title of Medical Noble House had become a brand in itself. But what if someone achieved a feat great enough to shatter that title?
“Father, it will be soon.”
I answered while slipping the first draft of my paper into a folder.
“Please tell Brother Brian. I will come to see his face soon.”
The knowledge from ‘Outer God Slayer,’ the abilities given by Cartesia, the capital of the Rheinland family, and the determination to see it through no matter what. I would mobilize everything to complete the paper, restore the Ether Belt, and then enjoy a happy graduate school life. The plan was perfect.
“The position of family head, huh. Idel, let me ask you just one thing.”
“Please speak.”
“Your eldest brother is renowned as a master physician, and your half-brother has exceptional business talent. When either of them becomes the family head, they will bring wealth and honor to the Rheinlands.”
“That is true.”
“Then what benefit could you, as a physicist, possibly bring to the family?”
“Hmm.”
“If you cannot answer, I will simply leave.”
Father’s expression was complex and inscrutable. Just as he was about to greet the Kersil couple and depart, I opened my mouth.
“Wouldn’t it be academic achievement?”
“……”
Father stopped walking again. I continued.
“First, once I become a professor, I will take on a great many graduate students. I will guide them with all my heart and sincerity. Then they will become outstanding scholars and leave a heavy mark on the history of humanity rather than just the Federation.”
“And you?”
“The same goes for me.”
“You’re speaking at length.”
“If Rutherford had not made his graduate students perform the alpha particle scattering experiment, there would be no medical synchrotron radiation accelerators in use today.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“To put it simply, I want to become the person who creates the polio vaccine. Not the one who distributes it.”
Father scratched his head. It seemed the hair-loss treatment was not ready yet. The advancement of scientific technology was more desperately needed than ever.
“……If you keep living with that mindset, no woman will ever like you.”
— The ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ is giggling. —
With those words, Father left. Strangely, his steps seemed lighter than when he had first arrived.
The Kersil couple stood there in a daze for a moment before regaining their senses and calling out to Rustila.
“Now let’s go, dear.”
“I don’t want to!”
Rustila screamed and clung to me.
“I have to write the paper with Idel!”
Oh dear.