The Reality Engine Ch. 03

"I think I might be able to pique your interest with a bonus if you can come tomorrow," Chad said. "Next week is beach week on campus, you know what that means?"

"No, I've only been here a few days, and you've been here only slightly longer than I have," Scott said.

"True, but I got a Freshman orientation and I've attended all the campus culture workshops that the dorms put on, so I know what's what," Chad said. "Anyway, beach week is the last week of the year when it's warm enough to go to the beach, or go swimming outdoors, or go to the lake, and that sort of thing. After next week, the weather gets too cold to do that anymore. On campus, there is a beach theme to everything all week, since it won't be warm and sunny again until march."

"I see, sounds interesting," Scott said.

"In particular, for next week only, students are allowed to wear swimsuits on campus, provided it meets certain obvious regulatory requirements," Chad said.

"Interesting," Scott said. "Just because they're allowed to doesn't mean, I imagine, anyone actually will."

"Some do," Chad said. "In particular, Cherry has this bikini she's going to wear all week, and she said that if I come by the front desk at 6 PM tomorrow, that she'll show me what she's planning to wear."

"Wow, imagine her in a bikini, just wow," Scott said.

"Hot shit, right?" Chad asked. "If we sweet talk her and boost her ego enough, maybe she'll model it for us privately, you know, just to make sure it looks good on her and stuff."

Scott gulped, "you think she might?" he asked.

"Don't know," Chad said. "I haven't known Cherry that long, so I can't tell, off-hand, how slutty she is. However, I do know girls these days, and they're all really, really slutty. I'm pretty sure with enough tact, Cherry can be talked around."

"I hope so, my friend," Scott said.

Chad looked down at his cell phone and saw a text message.

"That's my date, got to run," Chad said. "Meet me in the dorm lobby at 6 PM tomorrow, and be sure to text me so that I know you're coming. If you get stuck at work and can't make it, text me that and let me know, okay?"

Scott assured Chad he would, and Chad ran off to see to his date. Scott entered his room and spent the next hour on his laptop reading the document Dr. Karlov had sent him the night before, and then, Scott turned in for the night and went to sleep.

Scott arrived at work bright and early at 5:45 AM. He sat at his station and began the day's labor, and just a few minutes into it, he was already aware that something was wrong: certain basic key sequences that had produced certain results in the past were no longer yielding the same results. It wasn't a small deviation either, the changes were huge. The issue that he had struggled with so much the day before now appeared to have gotten worse.

At 6 AM, Dr. Karlov walked in, and whistled when he saw Scott already at work.

"It has been a very long time since anyone beat me to the office," Dr. Karlov remarked.

"Yeah, nothing to keep me up last night," Scott said. "I managed to get about halfway through those documents you sent me."

"Excellent," Dr. Karlov said. "I have an extremely busy day ahead of me, as I have my classes to teach, but I do think I'll be able to poke my head in here sometime very late in the afternoon. Other than that, you're going to be on your own. Breakfast and Lunch will be delivered as per usual, are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Scott said. "There's a lot to do today."

"Something the matter?" Dr. Karlov asked.

So, Scott briefly explained the results he was seeing.

"I know the core doesn't mutate, and that's not what I'm seeing here anyway," Scott said. "These results look completely different than before. It's like the core has completely different physical properties."

"Any theories thus far on what may be causing that?" Dr. Karlov asked.

"Not a one, yesterday was confusing, and so far, these results today are baffling. I need to work on this some more to get a feel for it," Scott replied.

"Excellent, a good scientist always gathers as many data points as possible before formulating a hypothesis," Dr. Karlov said. "Now, I must be off, breakfast will arrive for you shortly, and I will make every effort to check in sometime in the afternoon. One other thing, Scott. . ."

"Yeah?" Scott asked.

"I don't want to see you here until past 8 o'clock tonight like last night, you do need some rest," Dr. Karlov said. "Be sure you are sleeping enough, okay?"

"Sure," Scott said, as Dr. Karlov left the room.

Half an hour whirled by before breakfast arrived, and after breakfast, an additional 6 hours passed before lunch. Scott was hoping to see Lory again, as it was Thursday, but no such luck, as it was Greg again that day.

At nearly 4 PM, Dr. Karlov poked his head into the office, and asked Scott how things had gone during the day.

"Frustrating," Scott said. "Nothing matches up with the results from my first 2 days here, and these results are different from yesterday as well. Is this normal for the core?"

"I don't know," Dr. Karlov said, with a smile. "That's one of the things I hired you to find out."

"It's kind of depressing," Scott said. "You do all this work, think you've got a handle on things, and then, the rug is pulled out from under you."

"You just pretty much described what science is," Dr. Karlov said.

"So what do you do when this happens to you?" Scott asked.

"The only thing I can do," Dr. Karlov said, as she gave Scott a pat on the shoulder. "Pick up the pieces, move on, and work even harder."

"It would be easier to deal with these things if I hadn't done so well out of the gate," Scott said. "If I had stumbled a lot the first couple of days, if I didn't know what success felt like, it wouldn't be so frustrating."

"You'd also be more apt to give up entirely and quit," Dr. Karlov said. "Sure the frustration is coming from having the rug pulled out from under you, but you cannot be so fragile if you want to be a great scientist."

"Yeah, that's true," Scott said. "I'll keep at this as long as it takes."

"You have another hour to work today, but I want you out of here, and on the way home by 5:30 today," Dr. Karlov said, as he turned to leave. "You've worked so hard to this point, you absolutely must get some rest, okay? If you wear yourself out too quickly, the inspiration you require to solve the puzzle will be lost to your fatigue."

Scott nodded to indicate he understood, and Dr. Karlov left the lab.

At 5:20 PM, as Scott was packing up to head out for the day, a text message from Chad came in asking if Scott was going to keep their appointment for 6 o'clock. Scott replied he would be there on time, and dashed off for Maybe Dick Hall. As he walked through campus, he again saw the cheerleading team walk by his path, as they had on his first day. He stopped for a moment to fantasize about all that young, beautiful, female flesh, before checking his phone, realizing he was running late and racing off for home.

Scott arrived at Maybe Dick Hall's lobby at 3 minutes to 6, and saw Chad and Cherry talking to each other. He walked up and said hello.

"Hey Scott," Cherry said. "How's the job with Dr. Karlov going?"

"Always challenging at the frontiers of science," Scott replied, with a smile.

"So, Cherry," Chad said. "You have the swimsuit you're planning to wear for beach week?"

"Sure do," Cherry said, as she pulled out a fairly revealing bikini from a bag she had under the front desk, and showed it to the two boys.

"Wow, fuck that's hot," Chad said.

"You'll look great in it, but, then again, you'd look great in anything," Scott said.

"Thank you, Scott!" Cherry said, with a giggle.

"Hey, how about you model that thing right now for your two biggest fans?" Chad asked.

"Sure, I'll model it for you Chad, but Scott has to leave, I don't want him to see me, well, you know," Cherry said.

This reaction surprised Chad a great deal, but Scott was ready for it, since he had seen it oftentimes before.

"That's fine then," Scott said, with a smile. "I'll let myself out by the side door and I'll wait, when you're done, let's go and get dinner."

Scott walked off, and Chad's brain still didn't understand what had just happened. He was so shocked, he couldn't find words or actions. Scott left the building to wait outside for Chad, well out of eye-sight of the front desk.

"What the hell was that, Cherry?" Chad demanded.

"What the hell was what?" Cherry asked, not understanding Chad's reaction.

"Why didn't you want to pose in your bikini for Scott?" Chad asked.

"He seemed to get it just fine, and he didn't seem to have any problem with it," Cherry retorted with a smile.

"You know he's going to see you in that thing anyway in just a few days," Chad said. "So what gives?"

"Says who?" Cherry asked. "He leaves for work early and comes back late, it's unlikely he'll ever get a good look at me."

"Which is all the more reason why you should show him now," Chad said. "I don't get it."

"Why don't you ask him?" Cherry said, starting to grow annoyed with the conversation. "He seemed to get it just fine."

"I will," Chad said, as he motioned to leave the front desk, and go after Scott.

"Wait!" Cherry said. "Don't you want to see me model this bikini for you?"

"I'll see it in a few days anyway, I can wait," Chad said. "I don't get it, do you think you'd have to get naked or something?"

"No," Cherry said, as she pointed to a door behind the front desk. "The office is right there and it's empty right now, I can easily close the door and change into this suit. Offer is still on the table, I'd like you to see me in it."

"What about Scott?" Chad asked.

"He's a loyal puppy dog," Cherry said, with a smile. "He'll wait until we're done."

Chad walked off in a huff. He recognized, in Scott, one of the truly good guys in the world, and he didn't like the idea of someone such as him being referred to as a loyal puppy dog.

"Hey man," Chad said, as he walked out the door and gave Scott a fist bump.

"Wow that was really fast," Scott said. "You done?"

"Never mind, I'm hungry, let's eat," Chad said.

"Okay," Scott said.

After the two guys had their meal and sat down to eat, Chad brought up what had just happened with Cherry, and his confusion over it.

"Why did you think she was going to model the bikini for me?" Scott asked, as he ate a spoonful of his soup. "Girls have been doing stuff like that to me all my life, it's normal."

"It is?" Chad asked. "I've never seen it before."

"Oh yeah," Scott said. "End of my senior year in High School, we had a big celebration because one of the guys in my graduating class got accepted into Harvard. Everyone in the senior class cut school that day to play ball in the park, guys, gals, everyone. Guess who the only guy was who wasn't invited?"

"What the hell?" Chad asked. "How did that happen?"

"Not hard to figure," Scott said. "I'm used to it, happens all the time."

"That day in school senior year, when you found out what happened, what did you do?" Chad asked.

"What could I do?" Scott asked. "I went about my day normally. I was the only student in every single one of my classes, and the only senior at school that day."

"Wait a minute, that doesn't make any sense at all," Chad said.

"Which part?" Scott asked. "Did I not tell the story right?"

"You're a good dude, though," Chad said. "I mean, there had to be, like, actual bullies in your class that year, right? Like druggies, stoners, goths, and people like that. Are you telling me they all got invited, and you were the only one who didn't?"

"Yeah, that's what happened, so?" Scott asked.

"How do you know that?" Chad asked. "Maybe they all figured out there was a giant party, didn't get invited, and then, just took the day off school."

"Except the school yearbook staff was there and took pictures of the thing and everyone else was there. I know, I saw the photos in the yearbook," Scott said. "Look, it's no big deal, just part of the game."

"Okay, wait, it still doesn't make sense to me," Chad said. "Did your senior class not have any bullies at all in it?"

"Sure we did, we were a normal school," Scott said. "Joey Esponisa and his group of guys tormented everyone. No one liked Joey, at all."

"Yet he was invited and you weren't?" Chad asked.

"Sure, that makes sense," Scott said. "If he wasn't invited, he would crank up the torment on everyone else to 11 for the rest of the year."

"How many people were there in your graduating High School class?" Chad asked.

"It was a small school," Scott said. "Graduating class was only 175 students."

"Wait, so why were you the only one who was left out of 175 people?" Chad asked. "That doesn't make sense to me, surely there would be like a few other people who weren't invited too, right?"

"I don't know," Scott said. "Abe Crossford, the student who got into Harvard, was who the party was for. Our school had never put anyone into such a great University before that day or since. He controlled the guest list, it was who he wanted to invite."

"And you were fine with that?" Chad asked.

"Sure, why wouldn't I be?" Scott asked. "It was his party, he can invite whoever he wants. I never took it personal."

"It sounds pretty damn personal to me," Chad replied. "It sounds outrageously personal. Were the two of you rivals or something?"

"I never had a problem with him and I consider him a friend," Scott said. "However, I didn't know him nearly as well as some of my other classmates. He and I were never close, but we were never enemies either, at least, as far as I know."

"What is the name of your High School?" Chad asked.

"Thomas Jefferson High School, in Glendale Missouri," Scott said. "Graduated from there before going off to the University of Iowa. Glendale, Missouri is my home town."

Chad took a mental note of all the names in the story Scott had told him. The entire tale didn't add up, and he wanted to verify the facts for himself.

"You can't let one thing like that keep you down," Chad said.

"It's not that one thing," Scott said. "It's hundreds of things that I've dealt with all my life. I've got dozens of other examples, the party senior year is just the one that popped into my head first."

"Last night, when I mentioned it to you in the hallway, you seemed to be looking forward to seeing Cherry model that bikini," Chad said.

"Sure I was, but you'll notice I expressed skepticism that it would happen," Scott said. "I believe my exact words were 'you think she might?' and 'I hope so', you were sure she would, and she would have, for you."

"I don't get it," Chad said. "It doesn't make any sense at all to me."

"Welcome to how most men actually live life on a daily basis," Scott said, with a laugh.

"Tell me something, you ever get lucky?" Chad asked.

Scott recounted what had happened his first two days in the dorms, and indicated those were the only two successes with women of his life.

"Hmm, Margaret and Sonya," Chad said. "I got to tell you, that ain't bad pussy at all."

"Yeah," Scott said, smiling. "It's the honeymoon effect, you know? You get a big, new, well paying dream job, and all the girls are impressed, for a little while. They think, 'wow, he works for Dr. Karlov, he must be hot shit', so they drop their panties a time or two, then, they realize who you truly are, they grow ashamed of what they did and you're back to the person you were. No big deal, better to have those two great experiences than not to have, right?"

"So, you're just going to give up on it?" Chad asked.

"Give up on what?" Scott asked. "Girls don't like me, that's how it has always been."

After his dinner with Scott, Chad retired to his room, and the first thing he saw was his roommate Mike playing video games.

"Hey Mike, what you playing?" Chad asked.

"It's some western themed first person shooter," Mike said. "Shadows of the OK corral."

"Game any good?" Chad asked.

"Not really," Mike said. "It's pretty generic, but I borrowed it from Craig from our political science class. It doesn't have to be great for the price of zero dollars."

"You got a moment to listen to a problem I have?" Chad asked.

Mike put the game on pause, and turned to listen to Chad. Chad explained everything that had happened with Scott and his confusion over it.

"I don't get it," Mike said, when Chad had finished his story.

"I know, why does everyone treat Scott like garbage?" Chad asked.

"No, I don't get what you're confused about," Mike said. "You're the only one, including Scott himself, who doesn't get it. If everyone thinks something is normal, and you're the one who doesn't, don't you think maybe the problem is on your end?"

"Scott is a really good person though," Chad protested.

"Sure he is," Mike said. "No one ever argued that, but being a good person doesn't guarantee you have any friends, and girls don't drop their panties for guys who are good people. We all know that. Nice guys finish last."

"Okay, granted that's true, but why do you think it is that his High School class senior year invited everyone to that party except him?" Chad asked.

"Why do you think they did it?" Mike asked.

"I have no idea," Chad said. "If it had been me, there's no way I could ever leave a brother out in the cold like that. If it had been me, it's either all of us or none of us."

"Something similar happened to a neighboring High School to the one I graduated from last year," Mike said. "I went to Independence High In Deerbourn, and this took place at American High, which was on the other side of town, but, it was similar to the story Scott told you: graduating class of 400+ people, and everyone but five people got invited to the class pizza party."

"Why did it happen?" Chad asked.

"Because normal 18 year olds are not as forgiving and as broad-minded as you are," Mike answered. "Normal 18 year olds want to feel better about themselves, especially High School seniors, for whom it's their last chance to make a mark in their hometown before they all scatter for college. Oftentimes, the easiest way to feel better about yourself is to make someone else feel awful about themselves, then everyone is collectively happy to at least not be the guy who was completely left out. Teenagers are petty, vengeful, spiteful creatures sometimes, and actions sometimes don't make a whole lot of sense. There was no reason to exclude those five kids from the party last year, but it happened."

"That's awful," Chad said.

"Welcome to life," Mike said.

"I guess that also explains why Cherry wouldn't model her swimsuit for Scott," Chad said.

"Listen man," Mike said, as he gave Chad a slap on the shoulder. "You've got to let this go. You think you can help any guy be more successful with women, but you got to understand, some guys are just way too nice and when girls see them, they get a case of Sahara Snatch. You hang around guys like that, it will rub off on you and it's only a matter of time before girls will start to ignore you as well. Don't let that happen to you."

"You make it sound like Scott has leprosy," Chad said.

"Make of it what you will," Mike said. "I'm just trying to look out for you."

"He was doing so well his first two days here," Chad said. "He scored twice, he was so happy when he told me about that."

"Women are finicky creatures, especially when they're our age," Mike said. "They can feel generous at one time, and ignore you the next time. Just remember the immortal words of a much wiser man than I will ever be: she's not yours, it's just your turn. There's every reason to think Scott's turn might come up again."

"You think so?" Chad asked.

Mike nodded yes, but he didn't have the heart to tell his roommate that the way he figured it, Scott had gotten really lucky twice in a row, but that it was an extreme outlier, and to not expect that sort of thing to happen again.