As Steel sat back down in the chair next to Earl, setting down one of the two coffees she'd ferried over, he looked up with a smile. "Hey, thanks!" he said, "Uh…so Kate isn't too bummed about us going steady, is she? I know she was already crushing on me more than you ever were, so…?"
"Oh, no, she's fine — she's moved on to making googly eyes and passes at your Marketing Director."
Grey chuckled, pausing for a sip of coffee. "I'm glad — sounds about right, though. I think Mark was getting a little tired of being single, anyway, maybe they can hook up like we did."
"That'd be nice," Dani mused. "Anyway…listen, I was thinking this yesterday, but if you're having trouble with the use window, I figure, why not try to implement time dilation? Then even if the window is still narrow on this end, then at least the experience isn't so disappointingly short on the other."
"I thought about that, too, actually…" Earl said, idly twisting in his chair a bit, "and it makes sense. I mean, most people probably don't want to be sitting somewhere spaced out with headgear on for months at a time. Unless they were into that sorta thing or something, but…" He trailed off with a quick shoulder shrug.
"Right. And there's no motion per se — but because it's perception, i.e. still observation, then the Lorentz transformation is still applicable," the dark brown-haired girl explained. "And you've already got the base code for it, so all you have to do is tweak it and…" she paused, typing a little faster "…voilà!" she withdrew her hands, raising them as she pushed herself back from the desk with her feet.
The company founder's son peered closer at the code as it scrolled. "That's right — that's amazing! …but now we just have to try it out…I'm just hoping the execution won't fry anybody's brain like an omelet in the process."
Pulling her chair back toward the desk edge the same way she'd left it, Steel said "Well, that's what beta-testing is for, isn't it? I'm up for another go, if you are…don't wanna keep the investors waiting, right?"
"Right," Earl said, though couldn't help a frown. "Don't wanna risk messing up your brain, though…" He looked down into his lap. "I know I shouldn't get so worried, but…it went fine before, but…I just — I dunno…"
She gently put a coffee cup-warmed hand on his, catching his eye as he lifted his head. "I know you're worried about me, and I appreciate that so much. But the thing is, I'd rather risk screwing myself up than scarring some poor unsuspecting test subject we lured in through Craigslist or something."
"Well, THAT'S true…" Grey noted, glancing away with briefly widened eyes. Sighing, he smiled again. "So, into the VR fray once more, eh?"
"Ready if you are."
"Okay, let's do this, then!"
505050
"Great! What kind of food do you like?"
"Pretty much anything. As long as it's not cold or out of a dumpster or something."
"Darn! Guess the romantic spot behind the dumpster at Cioppino's is out, then."
"It doesn't have to be super-fancy, either —" Suddenly, Dani twitched as she caught herself, realized herself in a sense, stopping herself mid-previously-uttered sentence. "But…I had tacos yesterday. Maybe someplace…seafood-y?"
She saw the same snap-to-awareness glimmer in Earl's eyes. He glanced around quickly before smiling back at her. "Okay, that's cool. There's one I've been wanting to try, we can check it out together!"
"That sounds great!"
Now the pair sat at an indoor half-booth table sampling scallops and lobster à la carte in lavish low-lighting at 515 Southwest Broadway. The dark brown-haired girl paused, fork and speared slice of pan-seared mollusk hovering between her plate and her mouth. "It feels so weird to be eating this and tasting this…I am but I'm not…and I know we're in another world, but…" she trailed off, clearing her head with a shake before stuffing it into her mouth.
"Well, we ARE actually in another dimension — of sight, sound, and…taste. Even if we weren't, though, I mean, you can eat in your dreams…"
"Right — but the food in your dreams comes from memory of what you know that food tasted like," Steel pointed out. "But it can't give you a taste you've never experienced…not entirely. And sometimes you eat, but you can't taste anything because your brain subconsciously knows you're not eating. Because you're asleep."
"The human brain is a powerful thing," Grey mused. Cradling his wineglass with a taster's swirl, he went on "And eating is nice — but hey, why don't we try doing something else besides a second-take lunch?"
"Okay, well, what were you thinking?" Dani asked, setting her utensils down.
In just a twenty-minute hop over the Columbia River, the pair walked out in matching orange slipper-socks with sole grips toward what looked like a waffle of springy mesh and blue gymnasium padding. Earl stepped out cautiously — but Dani made a running leap past him, landing on one mesh rectangle and pivoted mid-bounce to grin back at the young man.
"Come on!" she said through a giggle, "Even if you fall, you won't hurt yourself! They always test these things like two-hundred times at least before they risk opening them to the public and potential lawsuits."
"Guess you're right," Grey said, simpering. Jumping in place, he leaned forward, aiming to land next to her — until she chucklesnorted, leaping away before he'd stuck his landing. "Hey, where're you going?" he asked with a similar laugh.
"Can't catch me!" she taunted, springing away further toward the far left wall.
"Famous last words!" Earl returned in kind, following her path. For another few minutes, they simply laughed in turn as the kangaroo-esque chase ensued. Unlike a skating rink, there was no mood music — but anyone watching could've all but heard the soulful Sheena Easton ballad.
Finally, Dani stopped to rest on one of the meshes near the solid floor. The company founder's son had almost caught up when he tripped on the section of padding and headed for a faceplant.
505050
The two found themselves yanked back to current reality in seconds. Twitching from the shock, they quickly got their bearings and reached up to slide the gizmos off of their heads again slowly.
"So…how was it?" Mark asked; he and Kate standing by the control panel.
"Pretty amazing," Steel said quietly, glancing at Grey again.
"Mmhm," he echoed. "That was about…at least an hour-and-a-half with the travel time? I think, anyway…"
The dark brown-haired girl nodded.
"…which means your time dilation patch worked perfectly! This is great! This is like, fifty seconds worth of great!"
"That's so cheesy," Dani quipped.
"Hey, if it works and gets us any closer to a stable model and a public market release date, bring on the cheese! …and…crackers, even."
Steel groaned though it segued into another laugh as she briefly buried her face in her hands.
505050
"So why did you decide to start calling yourself 'Anastasia'?" Earl asked, leaning forward on the marble-topped kitchen island.
"Well…" Dani began, "Obviously so people would stop asking me to sign their books, and…" gaze wandering away in thought, taking a breath and closing her eyes, "Dancing bears, painted wings…things I almost remember…and a song someone sings, once upon a December…"
Grey twitched, eyes briefly wide, but instantly smiled. She'd started warbling in a barely audible whisper, but slowly raised her voice as she sang on.
"Someone holds me safe and warm; horses prance through a silver storm…figures dancing gracefully, across my memoryyy…" Finally she opened her eyes, and seeing Earl's transfixed stare, stopped and glanced away.
"Aw, don't stop — that was beautiful! You've got an amazing voice…." he said.
She blushed. "Thanks… I'm not really a singer though, or a good one anyway, really… And I know it's kind of stupid."
"Nooooo, nonono!" Grey countered, "I think it's great. It's a pretty good movie and again, beautiful music," reiterating "and you sing it so beautifully!"
Steel idly brushed her hair back behind her ear, echoing "Thanks." Pausing, she then predictably pressed "So why did YOU decide to start calling yourself 'Christian'?"
He simpered. "Now this IS a stupid reason, but…I started watching this indie film a friend of mine sent me, and — well, actually, would you mind watching it again with me? It's REALLY funny and pretty well made. We can…always watch your favorite movie after, if…you want?"
"Sure! A movie…afternoon...sounds great, too."
"Great, great, double-great!"
With that, they rose from their chairs and headed down the hall to the lavish though still relatively small office-slash-sitting room where they sat back down on a small leather couch he slid from the wall across to a better view of the Apple TV. Roughly thirty-six minutes later they watched as David Gobble and Brian Lewis exchanged gradeschool art of how they'd seen the Son of God appear to them in their respective Damascus-like visions.
"Gentlemen, all three of us hate pickles. It's just the way the Lord intended."
"That…is Vlassic Jesus. Heheheheheh!"
Dani raised a brow. "THIS is the movie that made you want to call yourself 'Christian'?"
"Well, yeah…y'know, ironically," Earl said. Their stare continued for a few moments, then broken by him with a wave of flat palms, adding "Okay, I was REEEALLY drunk."
Hearing his phone ring, Mark picked it up. "Hey, Earl, what's up?"
"Hallelujah!" Grey's voice heavily slurred, "Have you found Jesus? Because I found Jesus!" even sing-songing "and he is good, and he is great —" before blurting "— because he is a CHICKEN SANDWICH! And I fucking love chicken sandwiches! PRAISE VLASSIC JESUS! …Can I get an amen? …and some…chips…?"
"Okay, awesome. Hey, I'm gonna hang up now… " the Marketing Director bid with a confused and slightly terrified awkward smile, still holding his cellphone at arm's length "See you tomorrow, OK?" before thumbing 'End'.
The dark brown-haired girl tried to mask her snickersnorting with a hand over her mouth. Though 'Christian' still smiled in spite of himself.
"…and then he started calling me that the next day, and…it just kind of stuck…" he finished with a brief shrug.
"Hey, whatever works, right?"
"Guess so…"
During the grayscale flashback music swell, Steel leaned more onto Grey's arm. He glanced at her, smiling, also slightly misty eyed.
"Elizabeth Howard Grace, who I met three years, eleven months, and two days ago, will you marry me?"
"You may now kiss the bride!"
As the company founder's son reached for a tissue box on the end table, Dani said "You're right. This was a really great fun movie. We should watch it again sometime…"
"Sounds great," he echoed.
Roughly seventeen minutes later, the pair had barely moved, intently watching Don Bluth's Russian-themed swan song.
"It's like a memory from a dream…"
As the animated Anastasia's song picked up again, Earl gave the dark brown-haired girl a smirking glance before rising up off of the couch and extending a hand. She looked up at him, sharing his broad smile, and let him pull her to her feet, whereupon they began to dance just like one of the many animated noble couples that burst onto the screen.
"…and a song someone siiiiiiiiiings…once upon a Decembeeeeeeeeeer….!"
Eyes closing, the pair leaned in, sharing their first couples' kiss. Cheeks rosy, Dani continued to stare into Grey's eyes as he did the same. Both began disrobing in turn, rejoining for kisses and nuzzles and sweeping slipping grasps at each other's back and shoulders, jaws and neck.
They returned to the couch in a similar sway, a beautiful dance horizontal. Though soon enough, Earl paused, saying quietly "Just let me know if I'm I getting too rough, okay?"
"It's okay," Steel bid in kind, arms like her hair draped over the couch arm, "I like it rough."
"If you're sure…"
"I am."
"Okay, then, if you say so…still, let me know."
"I will, thank you…"
He ducked down for another planted kiss, trailing lips down her jaw again, gently nipping at her neck and shoulder, sliding in to bury his face in her chest. She'd leaned her head back, but truly tensed with a pleasured groan when he took her nipples gingerly in his teeth in turn, faintly gnawing and suckling for some time before he continued down her stomach.
She could already feel his barely contained arousal through his slacks, which in his shifting finally burst free of cloth and band. Opening her eyes briefly, she glimpsed it, happily closing them again, still feeling it brush her leg as he climbed to the far end cushion, kneeling in a sensual seiza before putting wind up key to music box.
Dani let her legs slide up past his waist, loosely clinging with her ankles, though let gravity take her limbs again, laying back with more typically ecstatic grunts and groans, hearing him take the harmony. He slid fingers around her shoulders and she reached up to cling at his waist, almost pulling and pushing herself into him as he did her.
For a moment, she was reminded of an equation from Clio Cresswell's 2010 novel. dR/dt = aJ, or the change in Romeo's feelings over time is directly proportional to the way that Juliet feels about him at the moment. Revising it as dE/dt = aD, which seemed to work out just as well.
Finally, Earl multiplied by d and solved for g, and she felt the extent of her logical senses implode into a shiny blank whiteboard of bliss.
505050
The next day, the couple sat in the basement laboratory, just smirking at one another. "Last night was…really amazing," the dark brown-haired girl said breathily.
Grey's grin widened, eyes squinting mischievous. "Want to do it again?"
"Sure!"
505050
Now Dani slid to a kneel on the plush carpet as she withdrew her lips from his chest, lightly clinging to his wide spread knees, sliding to his calves as she kissed his sizeable second head, open lips sliding past, returning the careful teeth-grasp, tongue sliding back and forth, almost wrapping around it like a ribbon.
Moments later they'd swapped back, his face deep between her thighs, tongue tip lapping at the tiny pink pearl until it protruded as far as it ever would. He nuzzled and pressed it as cradled her in his mouth and slid his tongue in deep, sweeping every angle.
505050
Steel was still breathless as she returned to the lab. Meeting his eyes again, she ventured "One more time?" with a raised finger for emphasis. He nodded.
505050
Grey kneeled on the couch again, but Dani did too — on all fours as he leaned down on top of her, grasping under to fondle and squeeze her breasts as slammed the front of his thighs against the back of hers. His hands slid back from her chest; they dragged along her shoulders and back, finally clutching and squeezing her backside as their moans entwined louder.
505050
Both breathed heavily as their minds returned to the present. Though both sat in tangible half-open eyed exhaustion, Earl said "Two more times?" with fingers raised, lightly tapping them together for a moment.
505050
Sprawled on the velvet soft carpet floor, both leaned back on their hands as they grinded in perfectly rhythmic sync, her legs around him again, feet touching on and off past the base of his neck.
Arms visibly aching, orgasms brimming, Grey rose, lifting her legs, pushing her farther back on her shoulders, arms flat behind her, promptly reseating himself on her butt in a slight squat, their knees knocking as he finally continued. The pause seemed to double the pleasure they'd already built to as both reached their peak.
505050
"Okay…how about we try sixty-nine and then we can call it a night? Day? Night-day-day-night…whatever…" Steel said, half-wittingly her index fingers around each other for a moment.
Back on the floor, his back to the floor, feet to the window and hers to the door, they reprised their suckling, light biting and tonguing. With much fainter momentum, they pressed against each other's chests and stomachs, rolling onto their sides as they raced to another harmonious finish.
505050
For almost an entire minute, they opened their eyes slowly, staring hazily at the ceiling. Finally rising in turn, they pried off the plugs, the dark brown-haired girl setting hers in her lap. "There are at least ten — ten thousand separate dimensions of us having sex! …and I want to visit them ALL!"
"Read my mind," Earl jabbed, then turning to glance at the nearest clock. "Well, it's ten minutes to one, now. So that was all in —"
"Four times — not including actually last night — that's two-hundred seconds, or three minutes and twenty seconds. Every fifty seconds, an hour and a half, roughly, or six hours total." Pausing, she reflexively quipped "Buuut…a calculator could've told you that."
He laughed. "But a calculator certainly couldn't've DONE all that…"
She laughed. Voice trailing off, she paused and gaze down at the device, before thinking aloud "I can totally understand how people would give you so much money for this even if it was only a blueprint then. The possibilities…of this…"
Grey gave a chuckling snort. "Yeah… It's…pretty powerful."
"Y'know, I didn't think about it before, but…" her eyes widened briefly, and she turned to him "If…when this goes on the market, we might just be developing the…apocalyptic end to all human civilization as we know it! I mean, if it works, then…"
Earl shrugged. "Eh, who needs civilization anyway? It was nice while it lasted, but…I'unno. As long as I get to go out with you. With a bang, y'know?"
"One last doomsday quickie?"
"Sure, if we've got time for it, why not?"
She grinned.
505050
Back at the apartment, Dani sat on the couch, looking up at the sound as Grey came striding back into view with a woodwind single-reed to his lips, sounding out a stanza of Brahms's Sonata No. 2 in E flat.
"You're a band geek?" Steel predictably ribbed.
Pausing, lowering his arms and the instrument in them, he simpered once again, explaining "I've played a few different instruments over the years, but…yeah, this was my first. Fifth grade band. I wanted to play the saxophone — but EVERYbody wanted to play saxophone, so…I got three choices, and I got the clarinet instead. My third choice was oboe. …I'd probably still like to try an oboe sometime."
"I used to be in a Chorus class in high school, started around the same time. Buuut…by the seventh grade, I got kind of bored with it so I opted out for a pre-algebra class that was just an easier A for me at the time." She shrugged.
"I see, well, y'know, sometimes you gotta do…what you gotta do. I still say you have a great voice."
"And you're a pretty great clarinetist, Mr. Grey," Dani said.
"I think we could make beautiful music together," he added, "I mean, we already have — but, y'know, real music…bass, treble, sharp, flat, allegro, adagio…"
She gave a chuckling snort of her own. As he resumed the piece, as before, she began to wordlessly sing along, quiet at first, her voice mushrooming with another close of her eyes.
He kept his on her, and kept looking into the one she finally peeked open again. Opening both, she rose, embellishing her notes ever so slightly. They stood close, shoulders almost touching as they reached the Sonata's final note, holding and diminuendo-ing together.
