Hope, Levy, Marc [good summer reads TXT] 📗

Flinch tapped at his glass, the signal to the bartender to serve him a refill. Flinch was above niceties.

“If it works, you can rest assured that you’ll be staying on with us for your second year.”

“If it works, you should be guaranteeing we can stay on for our entire college program. Both of us.”

“I knew you were presumptuous, but this . . .” Flinch shook his head.

“Within a month, we’ll be rolling out a first attempt at copying data over to basic coprocessors.”

“Seriously?”

“When have I ever disappointed you?” Luke looked at his professor.

“Okay, let’s say you succeed. You have no idea what kind of data the original neurons contain. What does your friend make of all this?”

“The same as me,” Luke replied. He was struggling to contain his barely concealed irritation with Flinch’s question. “If the experiment confirms the theory, our biological components should be able to memorize the instructions we give them. Once the data have been transferred, their electronic copies should allow the computer to replicate the exact same instructions. Just like the experiment you showed us, minus the tortured monkey. We’re good with just the rat-brain cells, for the moment.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourselves,” warned Flinch. “Focus on the rat, first. We’ll deal with the next steps when the time comes. And by the way, I forbid you to go any further without my approval first. From now on, I want daily reports, and I want them written up in your notebook, not uploaded to the Center’s intranet.”

“And how am I going to explain to Josh that we aren’t publishing our findings anymore? When that’s exactly what the rules tell us to do?”

Flinch fell quiet, lost in his own thoughts, his eyes locked on his glass as he swilled his martini around. Slowly, he put the glass on the counter and turned to Luke with a smile.

“Just pretend you want to make an impact. Tell him you want to wait until the end of your experiment so that you have bargaining power to use with me, so you can exchange the findings for two years of secured funding.”

“Oh, I was planning on asking for much more than that.”

“Sure you were,” Flinch laughed. “You go for it. Experiment away! In the meantime, just make sure his girlfriend doesn’t mess things up. I have no issue with him having a little downtime, and that goes for you too. In fact, it’d probably do you a world of good. But I don’t want any distractions from your work. You and I both know that his talent is . . . Well, look, you know better than I do.”

Luke drained his glass and stood up to leave.

“If he really is obsessed with this girl, at some point he’s going to tell her about the Center. That makes me uneasy,” Flinch said.

“We could ask her to work with us?”

“That’s not a bad idea.” Flinch assessed Luke coolly.

“I thought you’d hate the idea.”

“No. It’s good. Three’s a crowd. Three always leads to rivalry. One against two, two against one. Each person out for themselves. It’s rare to get three hearts beating in time, let alone three minds thinking in unison. Rivalry is a powerful thing. It sparks ideas; it creates energy. Of course, if this charming young lady accepts, we would be offering her the same deal as you. And combine that with the feelings she has for your friend . . . I think she could be interested.”

Flinch put a hand over Luke’s.

“One word of advice, from a wise old man. You need to take the initiative. Preempt. That’ll win her over, and you’ll be seen to be leading the team, rather than following consensus. Now, go. I have a dinner date. Oh.” Flinch looked up. “And well done. I’m impressed by what I’ve heard. And I’m not easy to impress. Consider that a huge compliment.”

“How do I get home?”

Flinch rummaged in his pockets, pulling out a handful of crumpled bills.

“Get a cab.”

Luke made his way back across town, his mood as dark as the sky above. He asked the cab driver to drop him off a few minutes away from the apartment, and he walked home in the pouring rain. Pushing open the door, he was relieved to find the apartment silent. At least there was that. In the bedroom, he peeled off his drenched clothes and warmed up under a hot shower. He had just flicked the light off when he heard footsteps and laughter. Josh and Hope were stumbling toward the bed, half-lit in the living room’s dimmed lights.

By the time they crawled out of bed the next morning, Luke had already left the building.

After class, Josh saw he had a message from Hope.

Going to dinner with Luke.

Don’t wait up.

He replied immediately.

Leaving people out?

That’s not nice . . .

To which she responded:

Isn’t that exactly what we’ve been doing lately?

And you’re right.

It’s not nice.

Josh slipped his phone into his pocket and sighed. Hope was right. He had neglected Luke ever since the Salem weekend, and their friendship was suffering. He felt a pang of guilt that Hope was the one to have made the first move. Or maybe he felt guilty that she was clearly more generous than he was.

5

She was waiting for him, sitting on the apartment building’s front steps.

“Josh still hasn’t given you a key?”

Hope stuck out her hand, and Luke helped her up.

“I’m not your enemy, Luke. I’m not going to steal him.”

“It’s kind of you to reassure me, but we’re not kids. You guys are free to do what you want. All I ask is that you don’t take up all his free time. Josh hasn’t lifted a finger these past two weeks, other than going to class. I never saw him do any work in class anyway. We depend on each other for our future, and I can’t keep picking up the load for him.”

“You can count on me,” Hope replied. “Why don’t you let me take you to dinner?”

Luke thought for a moment,