Lab Tour (2)
I woke from a dream of tentacles coiling around me only to find Sonia had wrapped her limbs around my body. It was the first time we had shared a bed, and the situation left me mildly flustered. Did she always have such terrible sleeping habits? More importantly, could an android even have sleeping habits?
“Sonia. Sonia?”
“I am awake.”
She sat up, still half-asleep, and patted me down with clumsy hands. She must have been booting up. Then she pushed herself upright, pressing her full weight into me as though she meant to flatten me into the mattress. For this grave offense she offered only a single, perfunctory apology.
“What’s gotten into you? I never thought I’d see you oversleep.”
“You simply rose earlier than usual, young master.”
A glance at the clock confirmed it was the same time I always woke. With no classes to attend, however, my schedule was suddenly empty. I could have rolled back into bed and lazed about without anyone scolding me. Yet in a world where every second mattered, idleness was tantamount to suicide. I washed my face, tore into the toast Sonia had prepared, and opened my inbox.
[October–December Schedule]
Five months remained until I formally enrolled in the college, but there was still work to be done before then.
[An open-lab information session for graduate students will be held in November. Student Eidel is requested to attend at the designated location if possible and tour the various laboratories.]
In other words, I would be doing a lab tour alongside the other new graduate students. Even though I was not yet in the graduate program, they were treating me as a proper graduate student. After enrollment I would need to accumulate experience through internships or similar positions. What I lacked most right now was connections. Meeting future colleagues—several professors—and exchanging ideas with them was an essential activity. No matter how capable I was, there was a limit to how many research projects I could run simultaneously.
I reread the email that had arrived from Professor Stranoff the day before. Sonia rested her chin on my shoulder.
“She certainly has a roundabout way of saying ‘Come visit our lab.’ Do you intend to go, young master?”
“I’m not sure.”
“At the very least, you should reply.”
“I was planning to.”
The message specified exact dates, which unfortunately overlapped with Stellarium’s own lab-explanation event. I used that as a polite excuse—effectively a refusal. Three minutes after I sent the reply, an answer came back.
[Then I will come to you.]
At university, a colloquium was essentially a promotional event. Researchers presented their work, fielded questions, and expanded one another’s knowledge while simultaneously attracting prospective graduate students. How elegant and sweet an occasion!
The main speaker at this colloquium was Professor Calis Stranoff—the very woman I had exchanged emails with and, quite unintentionally, beaten to publication. Honestly, I felt a little guilty. If someone had published my research first, I would have been clutching my neck in despair. Still, there was nothing to be done. Academia was a competitive world.
“Eidel! Over here, over here.”
When I entered the physics building to attend Professor Stranoff’s lecture, Professor Feynman was waiting to greet me.
“What brings you here, Professor?”
“There is something I need to tell you beforehand.”
He led me to a secluded spot. Glancing around like a wary wolf, Professor Feynman lowered his voice.
“Are you planning to attend Professor Stranoff’s lecture?”
“Yes.”
“……”
“……”
An awkward silence stretched between us.
“……I won’t stop you. Experiencing a variety of things is a student’s right. But when it comes to choosing a laboratory, you must exercise the utmost caution. Understood?”
The words were roundabout, yet their meaning was crystal clear. Professor Feynman was afraid. I smiled faintly and nodded.
“I understand.”
“Good. Then I’ll be off.”
“Won’t you be attending the colloquium, Professor?”
“I have other matters to attend to.”
With that, Professor Feynman hurried away as though making an escape. As I rounded the opposite corner, the sharp click of heels made me stop. A moment later, a sharp, citrusy perfume reached me.
“Oh my, Mr. Rheinland.”
“Do you know me?”
The woman nodded, her expression gentle.
“You’re quite famous. Those distinctive Rheinland eyes, and if one searches your name, your face appears right away—standing beside that damned—ah, I mean, Professor Feynman.”
“……”
“Ah, I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Calis Stranoff. This is our first time meeting in person, isn’t it? A pleasure.”
She offered a soft smile and extended her hand. Keep your expression under control, Eidel. I quickly smoothed my face and took her hand.
“The seminar room is this way.”
Professor Stranoff promptly took my arm and led me forward. Her movement was smooth yet deliberate. The sudden reverse escort left me uneasy. With Sonia left behind, I had no one to call for help. Worse, her outfit was outrageous—a burgundy shirt cut low enough to reveal generous cleavage beneath a lab coat. Anyone could see it was designed to seduce.
“Have you decided on an advisor yet?”
“Nothing is confirmed. I’m entering through the college track.”
“I see? …Haa……”
Why the sigh? It was terrifying. Upon reaching the seminar room I fetched coffee and refreshments from the back table and took a seat. Ah, damn it—raisins. Sonia’s cooking was far superior.
“Ahem. Thank you all for coming today.”
Before the presentation began, she scanned the audience for quite some time. She seemed to be looking for someone. When no one appeared, Professor Stranoff’s expression turned disappointed. With a sigh that bordered on a groan, she picked up the microphone.
“I have recently begun a new line of research. Today I will introduce that field to all of you.”
A new research field! I focused on her words. Regardless of everything else, Professor Stranoff’s research overlapped with mine. It was worth keeping an eye on her—that was precisely why I had come.
“This is the research I have started.”
Development of Mode-Locking Technology for Maxwell- and Descartes-type Outer Deities and Their Avatars Using a Quantum Gravity Resonator
“Whoa.”
The exclamation slipped out before I could stop it. How had she come up with that idea?
“Some unfamiliar terms appear here—‘quantum gravity’ and ‘resonator.’”
A resonator was a device that produced resonance; in simple terms, it was the apparatus used to create lasers.
“Gravity, too, can be described as a field if one employs field theory. And Outer Deities are entities that manifest in our world by mediating through gravity.”
— The God of Wisdom and Curiosity frowns.
“Maxwell- and Descartes-type Outer Deities, whose wave nature dominates over their particle nature, can be neutralized without being killed if we can trap them inside a gravity resonator—just as Darwin-type monsters are neutralized by severing their limbs.”
— The God of Wisdom and Curiosity lightly bites her lip.
“As the first step, my laboratory will construct a quantum gravity resonator sturdy enough to contain an Outer Deity.”
Impressive. Regardless of her personality, she was a tenured professor at one of the universe’s top academies. Her skill and ideas were genuinely outstanding.
“Since submitting the proposal, we have already received funding worth tens of billions of credits from the government.”
“Ooh.”
“That concludes my presentation.”
The moment Professor Stranoff finished, hands shot up. The real Q&A session had begun.
“How do you plan to obtain the materials for the resonator?”
“We’ll use the ‘fight fire with fire’ approach. We’ll experiment with the crystals obtained from defeated Darwin-type Avatars.”
“Will implementing the device in four-dimensional compact space be sufficient? I expect considerable trial and error.”
“That is precisely why simulations will be crucial in the early stages. Additional technology capable of influencing Kähler manifolds will also be necessary. Fortunately, the FR model should provide a breakthrough in that area.”
“If you begin full-scale research, how long do you estimate it will take?”
“I cannot say for certain, but with steady support it should be possible within ten years. Moreover, with excellent colleagues and groundbreaking ideas, we could shorten that timeline to less than two years.”
When the questions subsided, Professor Stranoff’s gaze turned toward me—seductive and, for that very reason, troubling.
“Do any of the students have questions?”
She spoke as though testing me. The difficult questions had already been asked by professors and graduate students; the undergraduates merely fidgeted. Her expression was far from ordinary, so I reluctantly raised my hand.
“If an Outer Deity is sealed inside a completely shielded resonator, energy from a specific mode could accumulate and cause an explosion. Yet if we use a material that allows some waves to pass through, it would no longer be containing the deity. How do you intend to resolve this contradiction?”
“That,” Professor Stranoff said, winking, “may require the help of a theorist.”
A chill ran down my spine.
“Young master, do not assist that woman with her research. It is enough for you to focus solely on developing the Graviton Bomb.”
Still… it looked genuinely interesting.
“Interesting or not is beside the point. I dislike that woman, and I dislike the research she is conducting.”
“……”
“This is an order. Do not go against my wishes.”
The voice trembled. Cartesia was a Descartes-type Outer Deity. The idea of permanently imprisoning beings of her own kind in solitary confinement rather than killing or banishing them was grotesque. I weighed the pros and cons immediately. This had to be done.
“I refuse.”
— The God of Wisdom and Curiosity sponsors you with 1,000 Fron.
“I said no.”
— The God of Wisdom and Curiosity sponsors you with 5,000 Fron.
“I refuse.”
— The God of Wisdom and Curiosity sponsors you with 10,000 Fron.
Cartesia was desperately pouring Fron into me. I had neither completed a quest nor performed any special interaction.
— The Descartes-type Outer Deity, the God of Wisdom and Curiosity, is growing anxious.
Yet I had no choice but to proceed.
— The Maxwell-type Outer Deity, “Steel Flowing Like the Earth,” is formulating a plan to kill you.
— The Descartes-type Outer Deity, “Sky of Comfort,” is watching for an opportunity to parasitize your family’s brains.
— The Descartes-type Outer Deity, “???” is crafting a custom genital organ for the purpose of violating you.
There were simply too many despicable Outer Deities in the world.