For the umpteenth time, an intro from "Stayin 'Alive"* started to play, and Rey grumbled annoyed. Oh, for God's sake, why is the phone so far away? Raking round for it on the plank floor with closed eyes, she tried to find a high-pitched screaming device. Finally, she closed fingers on a cool aluminum case, opened her left eyelid with titanic effort, turned off the alarm and stared at the blinking screen. Desperately trying to tear herself from Morpheus' embrace, Rey tried to understand what hour, day and place in the universe were at that moment. Hollow-hearted electronics showed it was already fifteen minutes past seven in the morning. Only one hundred twenty minutes of sleep had snagged her for today. Swearing like a trooper she kicked herself out of the warm bed and pottered along to the shower, shivering from the morning coolness. The drafts in this house belonged to her personal curse. In the kitchen, that played the role of a living room at the same time, a light shock as the sight of already dressed Finn was waiting for her. The guy has just been finishing his breakfast.
"I am sleeping and can see a dream," Rey muttered.
"Hello, night owl," the friend was as fresh as daisy, and his wrinkled T-shirt caused an itchy desire to smooth it. With an iron, even with a grave stove. "Where is your gratitude?"
"What for?" - Rey squinted suspiciously, rubbing one frozen foot on the other. She usually was an early bird, but it was assumed that birds would sleep sometimes in the least. Birds, but not Rey.
"I've got a breakfast ready for you!"
"That, I bet, you've just eaten."
In the morning, Rey was rarely in the mood, and it wasn't a big surprise with such a schedule. She should make the sign of the cross and be grateful that she could even her open eyes today. And she didn't have the presidential emergency satchel. When the awakening "showed up" on the days after the night shifts, as todays, it was just right thing to duct-tape her mouth not to hurt somebody. Or not to kill somebody. By good fortune Finn knew her too well and did not pay attention to increased sneakiness and going off scale morning sarcasm.
"You have been on the way to the shower," he reminded her, sending a piece of fluffy omelet into his mouth. Rey's mouth watered and her stomach rumbled. Fifteen minutes later, she already was sitting at the table, dispatching delish food and trying to find a schedule on the phone at the same time.
"What d' you have there today?" Finn asked, ordering a taxi and taking her pills from a case, standing on a table. They were shamelessly late.
"Thank God, only lectures," Rey said with her mouth full. "I'm not capable think now at all. Well, well... Advanced topics on power electronics, then computer technology, and ... oh, but this must be interesting. Last year I signed up for this course, but I wasn't sure that it would take place. For some reason, just few students decided to apply for it, but this is the main ones.
"What are you talking about?"
"Artificial Intelligence. Everything, ranging from the nuts and bolts like methods, architecture, construction and neural network training, to philosophical reflection on the difference between us and animals. I have dreamed of attending these lectures from the moment I arrived ..." she finally raised a look at Finn who was suspiciously silent. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"This the course is given by Professor Ren?" Her friend said it with a strange voice.
"I have no idea," Rey blinked in surprise and surfed the faculty website to
view information. А minute later, she nodded. "Yes, you are right. How do you know?"
"Well..." the guy said, "it has been whispered a lot about him. It's even strange that you do not know anything."
"For example?" She stared at her friend with interest, rolling a handful of drug pills in her hands.
"He is rumoured to work with United States Department of Defence."
"And?" Rey blinked in surprise. "Half MIT works for them."
"No," Finn grimaced. "You don't understand. He does not work for them. He works with them. Military jack-in-office are just about to get their heads up his ass: they want Ren to sell his one-of-a-kind computer development only to them."
Rey got up, picking up her bag from the floor and throwing a huge lecture notebook there, but almost immediately is being freezy again. The friend's words interested her in earnest.
"Why don't they just hire him to work then?"
"Who knows," Finn shrugged, throwing a rucksack over his shoulder. "They say they tried to call him, then they wanted to buy him, they even threatened him. And he just took over their Web site for the whole day and hacked the internal system, as a result of that hardcore porn was broadcast on all their monitors for fifteen minutes."
"Really?!" she laughed. "That can't be true! He is Professor. They could have put him to prison for that."
"They could," the guy nodded. "But they need him too much. All these programs of intelligent control, robotic unmanned military vehicles and the bit are his handiwork. They need him, he knows about it and takes the piss out of them, as best he can. But, I won't deny Ren is a damn smart guy."
"How old is he? If, as you said, he collaborates with the military, then he must be a very cool specialist."
"Like thirty-five or so."
"Wow," Ray whistled delightedly. "Then I don't understand why so few people wanted to attend this man's lectures. Judging from what you said he was a man of extraordinary genius."
"Ehmm," Finn hesitated again, "they say he's a complete moral monster. Tyrant, despot and just an asshole."
"Well, it's rather strange to expect sincere meekness and humanity from a man, who was showing the whole Pentagon porn live," she held out sarcastically.
"It's not the main point. Rumours are in the air," Rey rolled her eyes at that, and Finn flared up. "Yes, rumors. This person is very odd, and besides be just content with information that I have. You asked about it! So, a whisper goes round, that he doesn't mind to hook up with woman-students."
Silently Rey opened her mouth in mute surprise, then closed it. It's starting to come together: picture of a future meeting with this professor loomed pretty "lovely". But they were interrupted by a signal of Finn's phone. Uber has just arrived.
They continued the conversation in undertones, sitting on the back seat of an old sedan and trying so that the Indian driver couldn't hear their words. They went to Cambridge, where, as it's known, even walls have not only ears, but also thermal imagery and sonar devices, so that any shadow or echo of a new gossip didn't flash unnoticed. Oh, that's you and your student community.
"And who says that?" - Rey said in a natural way.
"Everybody does" her friend shrugged again.
"Doesn't it seem strange and ridiculous to you: since everyone knows about it, then it's quite unusual that he hasn't been fired so far. It means the criminal charge!"
"A blot is no blot unless it be hit," muttered Finn. "They spread the word, but, you know, these are all rumors only. No one claimed harassment, no complaints were presented, nobody squealed on him in the student union."
What happens in a black hole stays in a black hole. If there were any affairs, then, probably, consensual Rey nodded, acknowledging the truth of his words. A taboo is a no-no, of course, and it is a taboo in Massachusetts too, but nobody has experience first-hand for a long time and nobody doesn't see any crime with such affairs. Who cares? Meanwhile, Finn continued: "Besides, Ren is about to be related with the President Snoke."
"Oh ..." but it was interesting. The Head of the University was an extraordinary and remarkable person, and also very respected.
"Yeah. I don't know exactly what the story is there, but once I've read, Snoke was his supervisor for his PhD. So there are tight bonds than bolts with nuts on the cable-stayed bridge."
"Well, everything is clear," Rey shook her head. Oh, these rumors! It is just surprising, this person doesn't have snouts and horse hooves and tail, he doesn't breathe the overpowering stench of Hell and the earth doesn't turn to ashes under his feet. People are always inventive due to their own envy and poverty. "Have you ever seen him?"
"Nope."
"I've got it, newsmonger," she leaned back and closed her eyes.
She wanted to sleep ragingly, and even the mysterious monster-professor hadn't awaken her brain to mental activity. She has to survive this day somehow and not to die. Rey's thoughts, who got car sick in the morning traffic jam on the Longfellow Bridge, segwayed into thoughts about another man. The memories about last night were being blunted by her little shut-eye in the car. Now she wasn't sure that the car of the guest from the club was driving away from their house. Maybe he just drove by. At the very least, there were not so much roads around. But what a man of that stripeforgot in such poky ghetto of Dorchester? He definitely is not interested in three-farthing whores or grass of dubious quality. And anyway, it's actually interesting, why the hell he stumbled upon the idea to talk to her. Rey could not imagine curiosity for herself as a woman, even in the worst wet dream. She looked like a badly plucked, scraggy, blue, dressed chicken from the cheapest butcher shop. One must be blind or wretched to see something pretty in her. Well, or one must be a nerd with blue balls, like all her ex'. Cheer up, she would have been done with this exhausting study soon or late, and it would be possible to get away from it all and take a break from everyday life. Maybe after that she would look like a human being, not like a walking dead. With these thoughts, she dropped off, leaning against Finn's shoulder. A sharp jolt and brakes squeal woke her up.
Rey blinked sleepy, trying to figure out where she was and what just had happened. It seemed that everything was okay, only the driver was cursing at one buster who had just cut them off close to the campus and speeded off, screaming around with his car's motor. Friends paid their taxi fare and were spilled out of the cab on crowded because of the morning hour Vassar Street.
"Are you going to Hux today?" Finn asked, throwing his backpack over his shoulder.
"Yes, I thought to step in after lectures. I need sketch a plan and remember what I covered with writing".
"Such a limp sack..."
"I know what you are but what am I?!" Finn hugged her, kissing her cheek.
"I missed you, baby." Take care".
Rey rolled her eyes and was about to give a rocket to her excessively caring friend, but the phone rang. She smiled at hearing so familiar "Stayin' Alive" and immediately forgot about her displeasure. After one of her heart seizures when Finn, shaking with fright, drenched nitroglycerin into her with trembling hands while waiting for an ambulance, he put this melody for all phone calls. According to his version, not to forget the rhythm. Just in case. And for five years he has been true to this song, although it's got accustomed. He waved goodbye to her, showing that conversation will last for a long time. Rey nodded and headed toward building number thirty eight a little further down the street.
In the entrance hall of the campus, home-made electric vehicles for the next exhibition were waiting for her, so she had to squeeze through a-Babel-of-voices crowd, giving a nod of greeting to her acquaintances on her way. The staircase to the third floor was overcrowded with hurrying graduate students, lost freshmen and everyone else who lost his/her mind slightly in chaos of the first day at the University. Finally, Rey approached the desired lecture hall and flopped down on the bench, trying to take a breather. She managed that to come in time, but her heart was being beside itself in a torn rhythm and painfully laid in the chest. Frowning a little from discomfort, she took out a notebook and tried not to fall asleep.
An hour and a half passed as in a fog, Rey nodded from drowsiness over another scheme from time to time and tried to yawn no wider than her palm, which covered her mouth. She was terribly ashamed of such condition, because the special chapters about electronics were to be included in final exams. But it bothered her even more, in what condition she would attend the last lecture for this day. At that moment she was ready to fall into a deep sleep even upright. But anyway the next introductory lecture on computer technology cheered her up a little. They had a good time discussing an example of physical modeling of the aerodynamics of live and roasted turkeys, cited by Professor Matsu. The conclusions were ambiguous.
The meeting with Finn took place for lunch at a local pizzeria. Having ordered food for themselves, they were searching for a free table. They were lucky to find a place near huge, full-wall, window where they could thoughtlessly examine passersby, hurrying along the sunlit streets. Mirages appeared every here and there on a hot asphalt, and it was cool and quiet in a small pizzeria.
The phone vibrated invitingly in the pocket. Rey took out an obtrusive apparatus and looked at the screen, where messages in the messenger streamed one after another. Scrolling through them quickly, Rey sighed deeply and reached out for her laptop.
"Freelancing?" asked Finn, fighting with another piece of pizza, that didn't want to part with its neighbour. Tons of cheese spread grease-spotted over a plate, smashing to a mummy.
"M-hm," she nodded assent, stuffing a huge chunk of a vegetarian sandwich into her mouth. and not noticing, how the crumbs were pouring from her lips on the table. Finn screwed up his face in revulsion, but said nothing. Pot calls the kettle black! Rey's hands, meanwhile, were calling up a necessary program.
Freelancing was considered to be a natural income for any student at the University. It was as natural as breathing, sleeping, eating, and nerding out, till the cows come home. Finn, for example, was freelancing as a system administrator as many as five offices at once, sometimes recovering a denial of service once again right from the phone at a party or in the midst of laboratory class. In such a way everyone lived, and teachers, for the most part, turned a blind eye to this, realizing, that otherwise it was simply impossible to survive.
"You should eat meat," her friend compelled once again, tearing a savory piece of ham from the cheese. "You've got emaciated and look like a floor mop. I meant no offense, but even for my taste it's not cool.
"Are you an expert on female beauty? Somehow I've missed this moment.
"I feel an affection towards something… bonny."
"Yeah, I'll take that into account. But don't worry, I would definitely eat pitiable animals as soon as I can only earnmoney for a decent steak, and not for such a mixture of soy and cardboard, which is called ham".
" It is said by the person who eats tofu."
"Tofu at least is not trying to be the one claims to be a pig! It is honest and straightforward, and therefore I choose it," she concluded her speech with emotion. And returned to her program, uploading regular porn banners to the client's site. Friend watched her manipulations silently for a while, working hard with jaws.
"The nuns of your shelter would have seen you."
"So what? It's not me there, in the photo, so that they can blame me," she's not
distracted from the lines of code running before her eyes. She could hardly keep her eyes open, and everything was wan, Rey blinked and her gaze lingered on the highlighted symbols. Good news was some things were practiced until it became automatic: insert a block, assign variable data, load a link ...
"But you boost the fornication!" He spoke though nose. "Doublestandards".
"I am not boosting anything. Everyone is free to choose, what to be, what to watch, well, to consult Dr. John Jerkoffor not to do that. And yes, all religions are built on a double "bottom". Slapped in the face, turn the other cheek, and then ride a horse and crusade against the offender. And immediately be such a smart alec, a holy martyr for faith, king of heaven and homeland."
"Every time I wonder how you were able to grow such a smart ass with a poison tongue in this church" the friend laughed.
"Cause of utter hopelessness, precisely. Not only such thoughts had been popping into my head with frankincense during vesper's service."
They kept the conversation going for a long time, and said goodbye to to each other in splendid fettle, when about twenty minutes were left, before the class started. But despite the fun, by half past three in the afternoon, when Reyslowly walked toward the campus after their quick nosh in "Square Four," tiredness and drowsiness attacked her with renewed vigour. She wrote them off for an unexpected hallucination. It seemed to her that a black dead spot flashed between houses on Osborne Street that reminded her the familiar car. But she pushed this thought away, because such the lie of matters would be unbelievable. Rey even laughed up at such absurdity: there was nothing more incongruous than yesterday's cupcake-jackass in the midst of geeks and deadheads. Oh how ridiculous he would have stood out here! Although, Harvard was located a little further, and there the number of such Mr. Fancy Pants grew exponentially, as soon as you walked there. Perhaps she would have fantasized about it, if her classmate Melanie hadn't distracted her, who ran down Rey at the entrance to the campus. This time, her blond hair was hanging down her back, and even traces of makeup were present on the face. Rey was surprised at that. No, the girl was really beautiful, just it was so unusual appeal for her that immediately caught Rey's eye. Melanie usually used to wear one of her numerous hoodies and distressed jeans, a broken stylus from the tablet hooked dull hair in a sloppy bun.
"I saw you'd enrolled in a course of Professor Ren?" without a greeting she started the conversation, grabbing Rey's arm.
"That's true," she agreed carefully, trying to release herself from prehensile fingers of Melanie.
"Me too," the friend giggled mysteriously. "Not every we get a chance to socialize with such a man."
"Yes, Finn said that the professor was an expert in..".
"God, Rey," Mel interrupted her, pulling away and looking at her somehow oddly. "I am
far from all about that."
Rey wanted to ask - what the hell was she talking about then, but Melanie briskly jumped towards Annette, her bosom friend, who at this time decided to put on ... A dress? Really? What was going on? The cheerful chattering and yeasty laughs of the girlfriends came to Rey. Sighing, she went in alone towards a small lecture hall, that, thank goodness, was located on the first floor. She sat down at her desk and she shielded her eyes and lowered her head on her crossed arms. Sometimes Rey regreted she couldn't be as carefree and cheerful in her life as the most of her classmates were. Bad health conditions and a character full of blunt stubbornness kept at a sufficient distance almost all of her peers. She wasn't into empty talks, silly gossips and someone's stupidity, that's why her circle of near and dear was limited by Finn, Phasma, and, perhaps, by Professor Hux. Amazing, but only among them she always had something to talk about and to be silent for a while. They knew when to avoid worming themselves into her confidence, and when it was worth be there for her. Professor was just a train Mr. Nice Guy, and Rey felt like a kind of guardian when once again she persistently asked him not to take more students than hours in a day into practice. The fact was that, their relationship with Hux for the incomplete three years that she spent in his laboratories passed somehow imperceptibly into the category of a queer-way-friendship, as far as this was possible with their unequal and subordinate status. They even went to one concert somehow. The four of them, and then they drank cheap beer together.
Rey smiled at cast mind back, but suddenly it seemed to her everything around became somehow suspicious quiet. The receptors caught some unfamiliar aroma, with sharp scent of sweet and sour aromatic notes, being absorbed straight into the brain. She had her work cut out to lift up her head from the countertop, with feeling of displeasure that there was a trace of a pencil on her cheek on that, it appeared, she was lying. And then dark blue men's trousers burst upon her eyes. She blinked, trying to chase away the delusion, but the pants didn't disappear, nor did perfume composition hovering around her. No, the legs were there too, of course, in these trousers, but the first thing her sleepy mind noted was the perfect crease. Rey even managed to wonder if they were tailored. Then she threw a cursory glance up, drawing attention to jacket, accessorized with pants, a thin tie tied some arty-farty knot and ... Rey felt her face grew pale, and her heart was beating furiously. No. It just couldn't be true! It was a nightmare then! What is he doing here, frack?
"Glad you are pleased to wake up, miss ..." the asshole from the club looked down at her. The black eyebrow wasraised with a dubious expression, and an arrogantly contemptuous expression settled in his dark brown eyes. Rey was trying to fuss over what this holy terror wanted from her at that moment. Finally with her blanked out by a slumber mind, she realized that she was not sleeping, and somehow she managed to speak chokingly in a piping voice:
"Teedo. Rey Teedo.
"My pleasure, Miss Teedo," he said slowly, with laziness, a shiver went up and down her spine after the sound of his voice. Things were looking bad. Shit hit the fan name it mud. At the same time, Rey had an unpleasant feeling that the question about her name was mere formality. This filthy jerk knew her name very well. And yet, he kept talking something. "I bring to your attention that I won't tolerate such behavior in the future. You came here to study, and if you have any problems with the schedule, contact your tutor.
"No problems, sir," she muttered, still trying to believe in what'd just happened. Universe, for what? "My apologies for that. This won't happen again."
The neck has already gone numb, because she had to sit looking up. How, the hell, was he tall? Six feet? Seven?!
"Let's hope so," he nodded, and with a familiar gesture, he threw back his black, like a real Vantablack**, hair from his face. Rey was ready to dance with the devil, just to be sure, such an Adam Henry did it on purpose! And then he suddenly smiled ugly.
"And, if someone suddenly offers you help in the future, I do not recommend you to refuse. The course is quite complicated."
The weasel words of this phrase, that only they two understood, made Rey choke with anger. And she didn't care there was an insane gleam in her eyes, that shone in large letters like on an advertising shield: "Here you are, bastard! I won't forget it in a hurry!". She was not used to sit just down under insults, veiled as dirty hints and professed care. So she repeated the phrase that she had already told him for several hours back.
"Thank you very much for your care, professor, however, I am able to handle it by myself.", her voice soundedconfident now, and she met calmly his gaze. And that's why it did not escape her, as an ugly smiley turned into a grin. Meanwhile the professor nodded, and finally passed through the lecture hall, sat down on the edge of his table with casual and at the same time familiar movement, scanning his quiet little audience with a watchful stare. Rey took a breath in an unnoticeable manner, affording an opportunity to relax a bit. She said to herself with sad fatigue, it looked like this year would last forever.
"So, I think, you all guessed to read on the faculty website that my name is Kylo Ren," meantime the professor began the lecture, casually straightening the edge of a cuff, and Rey rolled her eyes when she saw the flashing cufflink. Oh, for God's sake! "Maybe many of you even handled with Google and Wikipedia, preparing for a subject, new for you. Commendable, but useless. Everything you could find entree, it was either written or edited by me, and I do not intend to make the life of my students easier. My task is not only to supplement your knowledge basic concepts of creating artificial intelligence and neural networks this semester, but it's obviously to teach you the purity and culture of programming.
Rey blinked in surprise at the end of the phrase. The majority of her classmates had learned to write codes before they were able to speak. Wasn't rather late professor decided to re-educate them? Ren continued his speech, and Rey listened in spite of herself to his deep precise voice in the silence of the audience. However, she tried not to pay attention to this haunting aroma, it seemed she was plagued with it, although the professor had been standing for a long time at the other end of the lecture hall. It was blowing her mind - her mind had lost its spring enough already. Otherwise, how else could she explain to her why she was going ape over this scent?
"I saw the work of every of you, and, believe me, this is more likely to be a no-originality-shit," an indignant whisper passed through the ranks. - But you still have a chance to become someone more than mope mediocrity that graduates this Alma Mater.
Perhaps, this could hurt hereto in dead earnest. Rey even wondered if she would take offence at it, but she didn't have time to decide, as Ren continued:
"Do not take it very much to heart," he raised his hands conciliatory. "But if you really want to be an enormous boon for the world, to make all your ambitious dreams and plans come true, you must go against your heart and step over your "I can't."
She gasped angrily. What a freak! Well, the whole study here is a pack of violence against yourself. Or the professor is expecting them all to throw at his feet begging to teach them? What is he? A new Messiah, or what? But it seemed her indignation was not shared by anybody else. Guys proudly raised their heads, showing that they certainly weren't a "Standard mediocrity", and Melanie and her friends just stared shamelessly at Ren, paying no attention to his words. And Rey was concerned that these Nice Nellies were so close to drooling. Indeed, it was a sin not to fuck such girls when they fall into your hands.
"Before we delve into the human brain description from a mathematical point of view and determine the programming paradigm, I would like to discuss with you the concept of intelligence. What is it?" He was being silent for a couple of seconds, but no one answered him. However, it didn't bother him at all. He continued his speech with arms folded across one's chest. "John McCarthy*** used to say that artificial intelligence - was an attempt to use computers for understanding of human intelligence. But is it possible? What do you think?"
Silence reigned in the audience as students mulled over their answer. Diffidently, Rey raised her hand.
"Miss Teedo," Professor Ren made an inviting gesture, calling on her to speak. Something like a passing resemblance of pleasure flickered in his gaze.
"In my point of view the main problem is that we cannot give the exact definition of the very concept of "intelligence" ..."
"Now, some biologists are offended by you, Miss Teedo," Ren interrupted her, cheerfully looking at the blush that flooded the girl's cheeks. But she only stubbornly bit her lip and glanced at him sullenly.
"Biologists might be offended," she said slowly, looking straight into the arrogant brown eyes of this bastard, "But only if the reason of their existence is to cast about for opportunities to ego-searching and to nursing their pride. And then they are not worth a do it as scientists, whether they waste their talents on trifles."
A hint about his behavior in the club has clearly reached the goal. Kylo Ren's eyes sparkled like a highly dangerous fire, and he answered with insinuating words:
"Indeed, but the skewed nature and the provinciality of thoughts are much worse."
Wow, but they'd already engaged in ad hominem attacks. One thing was for certain, but Rey's mind has never been as a matter of silo-thinking. What a blow under the belt!
"I agree," she answered, "but still the indolence of the mind is just as fatal as its frivolity.
"You are a scientific prude, Miss Teedo," - she definitely managed to hurt him, she didn't understand hereto by what exactly. By her own words? By reciprocal hints? Or by the fact she expressed her dissatisfaction with his behavior? Oh, for God's sake, let him do what he listsed. It was his life, and she absolutely didn't care a dime about him. And therefore, she answer flatly:
"Not at all. But I have no great regard for scientific whores."
Rey felt like everyone in the lecture hall was honestly trying to figure out what the hell right now was going on. Forgetting to blink, they, looking like the stunned goldfish, shifted their gaze from the professor to their I-have-a-glib-tongue classmate. Meanwhile Ren was looking down at her thoughtfully from the height of his high stature, and she felt uneasy at his unwinking stare and heavy look. He seemed to be studying her in great detail with the interest of a realcollector, as if she were collector's piece, like an exotic butterfly pinned to paper. Then Rey scooped out the last handful of courage, almost ran out of, and just as firmly continued:
"You can sell your brains in different ways. You don't have to deal in it at all, but go on wild spending sprees, missing the chance to change at least something for the better in this world. It all depends on the level of awareness and development of the psyche of an individual, the status of a person in society, his or her deliberateness. And so we come to conclusion that intelligence is a combination of not only biological and chemical elements, but also socio-psychological features. Recalling such data in a machine code seems impossible to my mind."
The professor stood thinking her words over, and then tossed his head and suddenly
gave a broad smile.
"And it seems, you are an ambitious idealist, Miss Teedo. But there is a grain of truth in your words, look ..."
He turned to the audience and said something, explained, asked to write down exactly as told, and Rey sat buried her nose in her notes and tried to understand what the hell she was doing. Why were there all these verbal escapades and dirty insinuations? Crap, she promised herself never to speak with him again. But how was it even possible if he was her professor? My Lord, practical course is awaiting them next semester! She won't survive it, no doubt. Either she'll choke to death at "overpowering stench", or chafe at and punch on the bastard's nose. And yet ... she would like to have a total contempt for him now, like a few hours earlier, but she couldn't. Their strange, ambiguous dialogue made her feel unusual for the first time: as if someone brushed away like a dust the abeyance of several centuries at once from her convolutions and opened wide the windows. Nothing like this had happened to her for a long time. But that was a lie. That had never happened before. She raised her head, darting a glance at him, and immediately rushing back to her notes. It sucks.
For the next hour and a half, Rey was sitting and enthusiastically listening, being all ears, to a lecture by a man whom, since yesterday evening, she was ready to call him all the names under the sun. Now with every word, new sophisticated a question to his audience, Kylo Ren broke into shatters quickly formed opinion of himself in one blow. And he managed somehow, quite imperceptibly, to sketch his image much more interesting than a translucent portrait of a one-off badass. It was unexpected, but surprisingly charming. The professor was definitely very smart and, to be honest, dark-minded machiavellian. Finn's words about his talents came to mind. All his "talents". And if rumors are true, then, help them God, their course is waiting for a very busy year, full of an incredible ambiguous nightmare.
* "Stayin' Alive" is used by doctors to practice cardiopulmonary resuscitation - its rhythm ideally coincides with the frequency of compression. Rey is good at ironic over herself.
** substance of carbon nanotubes. It is the blackest known substance.
*** American computer scientist, author of the term "artificial intelligence", inventor of Lisp language, founder of functional programming, Turing prize winner for his tremendous contribution to the field of artificial intelligence research.