The Reality Engine Ch. 06

"He'd want hard proof, yeah, I know," Chad said. "Frankly, so do I. You're sure the stone isn't anywhere to be found?"

"It might be," Mrs. Foray said. "Like I said before, I've had nightmares about it for 17 years now, and what happened that night is something I want to forget. I've never actually tried to look for it."

Chad ended his phone call with Mrs. Foray with a lot to think about, and the old woman made Chad promise her that he would call her if anything happened to Scott or if he needed anything.

As the day went by, Scott continued his work, but his inability to get any known commands to make sense continued. Lunchtime came and went, and the afternoon flew by, and still no progress. Very late in the afternoon, he stopped for a moment and decided he needed a new plan. He reviewed, in his mind, everything he had tried thus far that day. What had succeeded on Friday was not working any longer, so he had tried other arrangements that had not worked either. From experience, he knew there ought to be a pattern, and he just had to find it.

Scott was beginning to understand that the core was a form of cipher. All he had to find was the key to the lock. If he could find one principle that worked, he could build a solution on top of that. He resolved to be more specialized with what equations he input into the LAVCM, and to focus less on specific data points, and more on general systems to find solutions.

At half past six, a text message came in for Scott from Chad, asking if Scott wanted to get dinner. Scott replied that he would, and that he would meet Chad in 20 minutes in the lobby of Maybe Dick Hall. Scott closed things up for the day, left work, and headed for home.

When Scott arrived in the lobby of Maybe Dick Hall, he saw Chad talking with Cherry, who was wearing the bikini from the week before. She was so hot in that sexy little swimsuit, Scott thought, as his penis went hard at the thought of her body.

"HI Scott," Cherry said, smiling from ear to ear. "How are you?"

"Good," Scott said, as he shook Chad's hand. "You read to go eat, man?"

"Just one minute," Chad said. "Scott, what is your opinion of Cherry's bikini here?"

"Only two words come to mind," Scott replied. "Hot Shit."

"You like it?" Cherry asked, smiling, as she took a step back from the front desk and posed for the two men. "All a philistine like you is interested in is a woman's body, isn't that right?"

Chad wore a confused look on his face, "we made a bet on that, and you lost it," Chad said.

"Yeah, and I'll hold up my end of it, but Chad, don't keep looking for ways to get Scott's dick in my cunt, okay? It's not going to happen," Cherry said.

"Let's go eat," Scott suggested.

"Yeah, okay," Chad said. "Catch you later, Cherry."

"Bye, boys," Cherry said, as Scott and Chad ambled off to dinner.

"Cherry is just salty she lost the bet," Chad said, as the two friends left Maybe Dick Hall and headed for the Light Fingers Five dinning commons.

"Obviously," Scott said, with a broad smile. "It's okay, and it's not a big deal."

"Don't you ever get tired of dames trying to walk all over you?" Chad asked. "You and Steve are good guys, and Alania tried to walk all over you on Saturday night. Doesn't it just get old?"

"Not really," Scott said, as he received a text message on his phone. "Women have never treated me any other way, so I have no frame of reference for being treated differently."

Scott took out his phone and glanced at the message, it was from Steve, asking if Scott wanted to get dinner.

"Tell Steve to come and join us," Chad said, so Scott sent the message to Steve.

'Be there in ten minutes,' Steve texted back.

Ten minutes later, Steve had joined Scott and Chad at the Light Fingers Five dinning commons, and the three friends sat down to eat.

"Please give this to Alania the next time you see her," Steve said, as he handed Scott a small envelope, just big enough for a greeting card.

"What's in it?" Chad asked.

"A $1,500 prepaid debit card, with the passwords to use it," Steve said. "I aim to start making good on paying off my debt to her."

"That's one hell of a start," Chad said. "High class hookers run about that rate for an hour."

"I'll make sure she gets it," Scott said, as he put the envelope into his pant pocket. "I fully understand why you don't want to face her."

"That old black magic, huh?" Chad asked.

"Yeah, it was the experience of a lifetime, and it fully warrants a gift, but I don't want to become obsessed with her again," Steve said. "It's not healthy for me, you know?"

With that, the topic of conversation shifted to Chad's difficulty with his math homework, and Scott and Steve offered pointers and advice. After dinner, the three friends parted ways. Steve headed back to his dorm room in Mojave Max Hall. Chad went to his room to do homework, while Scott went to Alania's room to deliver Steve's gift. Scott arrived, and knocked on her door.

"Who is it?" he heard Alania ask from behind the door.

"It's me, it's Scott," Scott said.

"Door's open, let yourself in," Alania replied, as Scott turned the handle and entered the dorm room. Inside, he saw Alania and Margaret, both dressed in only their bra and panties.

"Hey Scott, what can two little ladies do for you?" Alania asked.

"I'm here to deliver this, compliments of Steve," Scott said, as she handed Alania the small envelope.

"Oh?" Alania asked. "What is it?"

Alania opened the envelope and took out the debit card, along with the instructions on how to use it.

"What did Crazy Steve get you this time?" Margaret asked, as she walked over to her roommate and Scott.

"About $1,500 in spending money," Scott said.

"No way, get out," Alania said.

"Yep, and that's just to start with," Scott said. "He will make good on his promise to you to pick up the check."

"Why isn't Crazy Steve here himself to deliver this?" Margaret demanded.

"Probably because he's afraid you'll rip his lungs out on Alania's behalf," Scott said, with a smile. "You're so overprotective of her."

"Damn!" Alania said. "If I knew the rewards for fucking him were this good, I'd have done it a long time ago."

"Hell, if I could get paid that kind of money for fucking him, I'd be more than willing to throw down, and I think he's a little fucking creep," Margaret said.

"Well, enjoy spending it, or save the money for a rainy day, if you prefer," Scott said. "It's up to you, but there will be more where this came from. Now, any chance the delivery boy can get a tip?"

"I think he's asking if he can smell your butt-hole," Alania told Margaret.

"Fuck no, Jesus, Scott, get the fuck out!" Margaret snapped.

"Good night, ladies," Scott said, and sensing this was a good spot to end off on, Scott let himself out of the dorm room and closed the door behind him.

He briefly pondered where he wanted to go next, but the answer was pretty clear to him: he wanted to see Kloe again, and talk to her for a few minutes. Scott walked five doors down from Alania and Margaret's room and knocked on Kloe's door. A moment later, and it opened, and Kloe motioned him inside. She was dressed casually, in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.

"Hey, where's your roommate?" Scott asked.

"Went to a movie with her boyfriend," Kloe said. "Her man actually loves her and is honest and faithful to her, unlike some jerks I know."

"Huh," Scott said, as he walked over to the roommate's desk and picked up a photo of a very lovely white girl, with long black hair and brown eyes. "This her?"

"Yeah, Mary Brommfield," Kloe said. "We get along great, and she's good to live with. Also helps we're both planning on being economics majors, so there's shared coursework."

Just then, there was a text on Scott's phone; it was Bridget, asking Scott to call her.

"Can you give me a minute?" Scott asked. "I have to make a call."

Kloe nodded, as Scott called Bridget.

"Hi, what's up?" Scott asked, once he got Bridget on the other end of the phone. "Yeah. . . What's that?. . . They're willing to give the plan a try? That's great news!. . . Yeah, what time will the call be tomorrow night?. . . Okay, 8 PM, got it, and yeah, you're right, we should all get dinner first to make sure we're all on the same page. . . Okay, sounds good, talk to you soon! Bye."

"Well, aren't you popular with the ladies all of a sudden?" Kloe asked, with a smile. "Got dinner plans for tomorrow night already, I see."

"Bridget is spoken for," Scott said. "I'm trying to find a way to help her brother."

With that, Scott gave Kloe the high level details of the case.

"I see, trying to help a fellow human being in need, huh?" Kloe asked.

"Yeah," Scott said. "Wish I could do something to help you with your guy troubles."

"There's nothing you can do about that," Kloe said. "Breaking up is hard to do. I wish he would just come right out and dump me and end it, but I get why he can't. Still, date night at a strip club made me feel like the single most undesirable woman in the world. I thought to myself, over and over again, this must be how Moosylvania feels."

"Moosylvania?" Scott asked. "Who's that?"

"It's not a who, it's a where," Kloe said. "You know that Frostbite Falls is in the southern part of Koochiching County right? Moosylvania is a piece of unincorporated land right in the middle of the lake of the woods, and it's close by my hometown. It sits right on the US-Canadian border and has been the subject of a long-standing dispute between the two countries."

"So, it's like Kashmir being disputed by India and Pakistan?" Scott asked.

"Not quite," Kloe said. "The US insists it belongs to Canada and Canada insists it belongs to the US. Canada twice refused to accept it as a gift, even though the US offered to throw Lake Superior into the deal. It's a dismal, alone, and unloved plot of land."

"It can't be that bad," Scott said.

"Summer there is between late September and early October," Kloe said. "During the warm weeks, it's susceptible to flooding, and during the rest of the year, it's freezing cold, so no one ever visits. Moosylvania had a territory wide newspaper, The Moose Call, which published one issue, in 1962. It has no civic leaders, or even citizens, and it's been controlled for over 200 years by a series of hereditary governors from the Moose family. None of them have ever lived in Moosylvania, because why would anyone want to?"

"Ouch!" Scott said. "Well, unlike Moosylvania, I'm sure you'll find someone else. You're a gorgeous girl, Kloe, just give it some time."

"Meanwhile, my asshole boyfriend will be fucking ten girls a week as soon as he and I break up, and when I go home, all anyone will ask me is why I dumped Derrick and how could I be so cruel? That's why he doesn't want to be the one to pull the trigger. I have to face facts, I'm fucked," Kloe said.

Kloe's words started the wheels spinning in Scott's mind.

"Say now," Scott said, as Kloe looked up at him. "What would you say if I told you I had a fiendish plan that might be able to solve your problems with Derrick, and help out another buddy of mine with a problem he's got at the same time?"

"I'd say I'm all for it, if you can deliver the goods," Kloe said. "So, what is your fiendish plan, darling?"

"Well, it strikes me," Scott said. "That the real problem you have, from the perspective of your home town, is that you don't have a guy to pick you up on the rebound after you and Derrick split. If you had that, then the split could be phrased as not you dumped him, or he dumped you, but a mutual decision by both of you to see other people. That way, you both save face, right?"

"I see what you mean, but that would mean we would both have to get with someone new right away," Kloe said. "If I broke it off, and I didn't get with anyone on the rebound, I'd be branded as the stupid whore who threw away a lifetime of love and got nothing out of it. That's the narrative he wants, since it makes him look good. If I do pull the plug, the only way it makes sense is if I have a guy to land with."

"It would also be just as good, from your perspective, if you two broke up, and he didn't find anyone new," Scott said. "What matters most is that you not be left in the cold, right?"

"Well sure, but he's hot stuff, and Scott, in an ideal world, we'd both land with someone new. I don't want the narrative to be that I dumped him for another guy, and the reason he wants me to pull the trigger is because he doesn't want the narrative to be that he dumped his good, small-town sweetheart for another girl," Kloe said. "He'll have no trouble moving on after we're done, and, in fact, I think there's a good chance he's already cheating on me. It's heartbreaking, Scott."

"Okay, then here is the plan," Scott said. "You and Derrick meet and you decide to mutually break up, and then, that very night, you go out on a date with my friend, Steve."

"Who's Steve?" Kloe asked.

"Steve is Steve Dwyer," Scott said. "He lives in Mojave Max Hall, and he and Alania are old friends."

"Wait, not Crazy Steve Dwyer?" Kloe asked. "Fuck no, I'm not dating him."

Scott spent the next fifteen minutes explaining to Kloe, very patiently, what the true facts of the case were.

"Oh, I see," Kloe said, finally understanding. "He's a great guy and the stalker image is something Alania and Margaret concocted to make themselves look good? Yeah, I can totally buy that, it sounds exactly like something those two bitches would do."

"The best part is," Scott said. "He needs to date you as much as you need to date him. It kills two birds with one stone."

"Wait, what does he need me for?" Kloe asked.

Scott explained how things had gone that weekend between Steve and Alania, and that Scott had just dropped off a $1,500 debit card to Alania's room as the first payment for services rendered.

"Oh, I see now," Kloe said. "He needs me to help keep Alania on her toes. Yeah, nothing does that like a good, well-timed bit of jealousy does."

"He's also terrified of Alania," Scott said. "He knows himself, and he knows that if he's left alone with her, Alania will manipulate him just like she did in High School. That's why he needed me to deliver the card for him. If he has you, and Alania knows that, it will make it harder for her to use him."

"Yeah, I can see that too," Kloe said. "You really think your plan can work, Scott?"

"Sure, because it's simple," Scott said. "You and Steve date a few times, and you get to save face and break up with your boyfriend. You post a few pictures of your date to Facebook, and your hometown is taken care of. Meanwhile, Steve gets help in dealing with Alania, everyone wins."

"Okay, I'm in," Kloe said. "Ask Steve and let me know what he thinks. I hope I'm good-looking enough that he'll be okay with dating me. I don't think I'm ugly, Scott, but there's no way in hell I can compete with Alania Morrison, she's a fucking bombshell."

"If I know Steve," Scott said. "This will be simple, and you are way more than attractive enough for him. I think the spell has been broken, and he's not that hot on Alania anymore. He finally got laid on Saturday night, sure, but he also saw how much she drinks, and that has a way of making the scales fall from a man's eyes."

"If he's not that hot on Alania anymore, then what does he need me for?" Kloe asked. "Couldn't he just keep his distance from her as much as possible?"

"When I said he's not that hot on Alania anymore, I meant he doesn't want to marry her, like he once fantasized about," Scott said. "She's still hotter than hell though, and my guess is, he absolutely does want to bone her a few more times."

"Ah, well that makes perfect sense," Kloe said.

Scott told Kloe he would ask Steve about his fiendish plan over dinner the next evening, and would let Kloe know as soon as an agreement was reached. With that, and with the time past 8:30, Scott went back to his room, he showered, changed into his sleeping things, spent an hour going over more of the documents that Dr. Karlov had emailed him, and then went to sleep.

Scott bounced into the lab at 6 AM sharp the next morning and got to work. 7 hours into his work day, lunch was delivered, and Scott was delighted that the delivery person was Lory this time.

"Hey, you got a minute to sit down and talk?" Scott asked Lory.

"Sure do," Lory said, as she walked into the lab and sat down at the meal table next to Scott. "I'm sorry I wasn't available to make the delivery last Thursday, like I usually do, but something came up."

"Want to talk about it?" Scott asked, as he bit into his sandwich.

"Not much to say," Lory said. "My aunt fell down at her home, and hurt herself, and had to be rushed to the hospital. Everyone went to visit her, and I spent last weekend at home with my family. Stuff like that happens, and my aunt will be just fine. The fall wasn't bad."

"Thank heavens for that," Scott said. "Family is the most important thing there is."

"What about you, stranger?" Lory asked. "What's your family like?"

"Not much to tell," Scott said. "I'm a kid from Glendale Missouri, born and raised there. My mom died when I was 6, so I really have no memories of her, and I have no siblings. My father still lives back home and is retired, but was a sanitation worker for the city for 40 something odd years. As soon as I had a choice in my fate, I packed my bags for Iowa City and the University of Iowa. Did 4 years there, graduated, and then, off to here to work for Dr. Karlov."

"You got any extended family?" Lory asked.

"No one that I've met in years," Scott said. "My father took the loss of my mom pretty hard, and he closed himself off from everyone after that. I had three cousins, on my father's side of the family, that we used to visit when I was young. They were the children of my father's older brother. When I was 12, one of them committed suicide to get the money to pay for my Uncle's medical bills. I never really saw them much after that. How about you? I assume your family is big and tight-knit, right?"

"Religious too," Lory said. "My boyfriend's father is a minister and so are my uncle and grandfather. I went to church every Sunday, morning and evening service, when I was growing up. I think that was good for me."

"I'll bet it was," Scott said. "Didn't you say your boyfriend went to Wassamatta U?"

"No, he doesn't," Lory said. "My older brother, Jordan, goes there. My boyfriend is a graduate student at Minnesota State University, which is about a five hour drive from here."

"Ah, my mistake," Scott said. "What's your older brother like?"

"He's a good guy, but he's like a lot of guys are at Wassamatta U, a bit obsessed with the girls of Delta Sigma Nu," Lory said. "It's normal and healthy for a guy his age."

"Didn't you tell me his friend married a girl from that sorority?" Scott asked.

"Yup, and between the two of us, Delta Sigma Nu is kind of a strange sorority," Lory said. "It's members list is only made up of the most attractive girls on campus, and get this, it hosts no parties, of any kind."

"Huh?" Scott asked. "I thought partying, and drinking too much, was the entire point of the Greek life."

"Me too, but Delta Sigma Nu has strict rules," Lory said. "No one who is not a member of the sorority can enter the house, for any reason, and they have state-of-the-art security. Word I hear is that it's like some space age shit, you know? So, you add those three things together, and what do you get? First, they are a sorority whose members are only the most beautiful girls on campus. Second, no one who is not a member can enter the house, for any reason. Third, they have absolutely the most cutting edge security system anywhere in the state of Minnesota. It's obvious what people are going to think: what are those girls hiding?"