“You really need to work on your confidence. But whatever, let’s do it your way. I can’t believe those guys managed the robot thing. Are you serious?”
“I heard them congratulating themselves in the hall.”
“Maybe they just wanted to annoy you.”
“No, you’re the only person I know who gets a kick out of pissing people off.”
Josh led Luke away to where he knew the camera couldn’t see them.
“Tomorrow, we’ll put ten of these chips on a bigger plate, and we’ll link them up. We’ll feed them a basic algorithm and see what they come up with. We need to measure their computational power and find out whether that grows in a linear, logarithmic, or exponential way when they’re interconnected.”
“And then what?” Luke asked.
“Then we’ll try to copy over what we taught them to do on basic electronic components. Let’s head home. I’m exhausted; I barely slept at all last night.”
As soon as the car had pulled out of reach of the Center’s frequency jammers, Josh checked his phone. There was no message from Hope.
“Did you sleep with her?” Luke asked as he turned onto the highway.
Josh tucked his phone into his jacket pocket and rolled down the window.
“Okay, so you did sleep with her.”
“Who told you I was with Hope?”
“You just did. And neither of you were home last night.”
“Don’t freak out.” Josh glanced at his friend. “She doesn’t want to work with us.”
“I thought we agreed I would be the one to talk to her. What did you tell her?”
“Nothing in particular. We were just discussing what I do with my time, that’s all.”
“So you literally only talked about sex?”
“You can be such an asshole sometimes, Luke, you know that? Not just sometimes. A lot of the time.”
“If you didn’t tell her anything, what did she say no to?”
“She didn’t exactly say no. I just sensed she wasn’t into it. Because of the ethics of it, I guess.”
“Because you messed up,” said Luke. “If you had just let me handle it . . .”
“Sure, you go ahead and convince her; you’re so much smarter than me. I thought I had to choose between our project and my feelings.”
“Finally! I can’t believe it! We’re finally getting somewhere! I knew once I backed you into a corner, you would have the urge to fight your way out of it. Now things are going to be so much clearer.” Luke smiled.
“For you, maybe. Not for me. I thought she would have left me a message . . . Hey, wait a minute. Are you saying you manipulated me?”
“Hope has feelings for you. How can you be so dumb not to see that? There was more to your night together than just sex, am I right?”
“How do you know?”
“Why, is that all you wanted?”
“No!” Josh cried. “For once in my life, I’m serious. Like, seriously serious.”
“That’s what I’m saying—finally, we’re getting somewhere! I’m so happy that I’m not the only one who’s been making groundbreaking discoveries.”
“Have I ever told you how much you annoy me?”
“All the time. And I like it.”
“Don’t change the subject,” Josh said. “Are you saying the whole ‘Hope or the project’ thing was just . . . ?”
“How long would it have taken you to take the plunge and get yourself into bed with her if I hadn’t given you a little helping hand? And now that you know I’m an evil genius, let me hit her with some light manipulation to make her want to join us. We’re going to need help if we want to save time.”
“You’re too competitive. Get help, Luke.”
“You think Longview plans on continuing to fund Center researchers’ studies? What percentage of us will still be here next year, do you think? I can tell you, because I was smart enough to go and ask the people who have been there longest. At the end of the first year, half the students will be dropped to make way for better talent. At the end of the second year, another half won’t get their contracts renewed. So yes, we need concrete results, and we need them fast, before other researchers get their projects off the ground.”
“Okay, okay,” Josh conceded. “I’ll let you try to win Hope over, but I forbid you to use me as a weapon.”
“And I forbid you to hurt her,” Luke said. “If you cheat on her, I’ll never forgive you! And put your phone away. Give her some space.”
Luke parked in front of the apartment building and went straight to bed, leaving Josh to lock up.
4
It was lunchtime, and Hope was eating a sandwich in the cafeteria while poring over a journal. Outside, Josh watched her for a while, pretending to scroll through his emails, when a text message popped up on the screen.
How much longer are you going to stand there in front of the window?
He looked up, and Hope smiled when their eyes met. He ventured into the cafeteria to join her.
“What’s up?” Josh sat down.
“Is that all you’ve got?”
“Did you sleep well?”
“Stop, my heart can’t take it . . .”
“What am I supposed to say?” Josh frowned.
“Well, ‘Hello’ would be a good start, continue with a kiss, and then . . .”
“Seems like you slept badly too.”
“No. Quite the opposite. I slept eight hours straight. I can’t remember the last time that happened.”
“Oh.” Josh looked at his feet.
“Salem was great. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
“That’s more like it. What’s going on with you?”
“Nothing, just a raging headache. And I spoke to my dad. He’s coming here on Friday.”
“And that’s . . . a bad thing? I thought you loved your dad?”
“I love him when he doesn’t try to introduce me to his new girlfriends.”
“I get it.”
“No, you really don’t.”
“Is this an only-child thing?” Josh asked. “The only-child jealousy complex?”
“That’s got nothing to do with
