"We'll eventually go to my rooms, I live in quite a neat fraternity house, you can take a shower there," a heavyset Slavonian with curly dark hair and a distinct Russian accent was saying to a slender, athletic Asian whose shiny cloud of dark hair was bound back from an unusually pretty oval face. They were lounging on a threadbare sofa in the worn students' common room of the Physics Institute, cluttered to the ceiling with machinery of all kind but otherwise deserted this early Saturday morning. "Bah, the coffee is something horrible, even worse than at that Japanese Eco's digs", the Russian was muttering, stirring his plastic cup with tepid Nescafe, "what a shame … the Café St. Petersburg would sure have been more to my liking too!" The Asian smiled back, and they resumed discussing mathematics.

"Was that just yesterday we were all getting into an argument about Leonardo da Vinci, about how he probably would have been a computer programmer today, trying to discover the world formula…", Alexej leaned back complacently, watching his guest out of half lidded eyes, "I can't believe I'm sitting here with you, talking about the Nabla Operator!"

"Why not?" Fei threw back his pony-tail, unaware of how cute a picture he made curled up in the corner of the once blue sofa, in the faded red sweatshirt and well fitting, just slightly loose jeans. "Did you think I was stupid?"

Alexej laughed depreciatingly. "You're very welcome to visit my Tuesday course on Theoretical Physics one of these days … you wouldn't believe it!" He shook his head in resignation. "And those are people who want to be Physics teachers, or Physicists … it should be forbidden …"

"Perhaps it's better not to be too clever, as a teacher," Fei smiled, "you can get into your students' mindsets better … I wouldn't know, of course", he added somewhat wistfully, "I've never gone to a real school…"

"No? But you're so well educated …"

"Private tutoring, with my adoptive brother. Our father spared no expenses. I might have wanted to go into mathematics, it's so beautiful, so clear … but now it's too late."

"But why? Come on! We could use people of your calibre …"

Alexej stretched and got up.

"I want to show you something…"

Fei jumped up gracefully, like a cat, and they left the homey Big Children's Technical Playroom, going down the hall deep in conversation, never noticing someone was rattling at one of the high windows of the Common Room.

In a small basement laboratory Alexej motioned Fei to stand beside him, lightly grasping his shoulder.

"Is it .. a Cloud Chamber?"

"Yes, a hydrogen bubble chamber."

The dark haired Russian was gazing at his guest with a strange expression.

"I should have guessed you knew that…"

"I've never seen one … only a picture of one in a book."

The Asian leaned over the appliance, which looked like something magical out of a fairy-tale, sparks blinking over a dark, cloudy surface, leaving geometrical traces, fading again …

"It's beautiful", he said softly, "we should come here sometime with the others. It's art …"

"Yes ... nature's art…mostly those are electrically charged particles coming from the sun … but also neutrinos, not charged, very small … going through you and me - can you feel them just now? - passing through the whole of the earth, in fact, … tiny…but we can sometimes see them here, too ..."

Fei looked up. Alexej was staring into the basin dreamily …

"Almost exclusively used for demonstration, nowadays, but I love coming here."

He winked at Fei.

"It's my shamefully hidden romantic side. And I think of it when I'm sitting in the march sun…all those neutrinos going through me…"

They gazed into the cloudy device for a time.

"I wish you were a girl", Alexej spoke up suddenly.

Fei didn't comment this, watching the subatomic particles weave their condensation trails.

After a while he lifted his head, briefly facing his classmate.

"And … Misha …?"

It was the first time he had used the endearment form in front of anybody.

Alexej looked at him attentively.

"You care for him."

He didn't expect an answer.

He leaned over the appliance again, muttering something in Russian.

Fei wondered if he had understood him correctly,

"Blizok lokotok, da ne ukusish"("Your elbow is close, yet you can't bite it")

- to be continued -