Authors: George Saoulidis
Tags: #speculative fiction, #young adult, #greek mythology, #dystopian, #european, #greek gods, #athens, #mythpunk, #bundle, #science action thriller
The
light you see, could be crystallized. But the sneaky bastard kept
leaking out.
Yanni
had a thought about that.
And then
his wife banged the table and he lost that thought.
“
I need you to tell me how many people are coming for your
birthday next month,” said Thalia while taking off Georgie’s dirty
t-shirt.
“
This early? I don’t know yet, I haven’t called anyone,” Yanni
said and scratched his head. He looked at his phone contacts to get
a clearer overview. He said, “Antonis will surely come, Spyros
maybe with Ntina, Nikos will probably show up…”
Thalia
interrupted him, “Plus their wives. And whichever half-naked
poutana Nikos will be sleeping with that week.”
Yanni
defended his friend, “He is a bachelor honey. Just because the rest
of us are happily married doesn’t mean that he should get married
as well. We are still young you know.”
Thalia
went to the next room, brought the baby in her arms, and said, “You
are all close to thirty. I could hook him up with some nice girls I
know, but Nikos just wants to drive his cabrio and go to
nightclubs. He doesn’t want to settle down.”
“
What do you want me to do, not invite my friend because he is
only one still single?” asked Yanni.
She
explained, “We will all get together for your birthday, the pals
and their wives and their kids, Ntina is happily expecting, but
Nikos will be the bachelor that gets you all thinking that he is
better that way. And the rest of you guys will stare at his
poutana’s boobs and compare them to us who gave birth
twice.”
Yanni
stood up and hugged his wife with his baby and said, “Your boobs
are nice. More importantly, they are the only boobs I
want.”
Georgie
said, “Boobs!” and giggled.
Yanni
said, “See, we all like them.”
Thalia
looked at Yanni and said, “You were staring at her the last
time.”
“
No…”
“
You were. You
all
were actually.”
“
Ok I did stare. I am sorry. They were
huge
and they were squeezing to get
out”, said Yanni, mimicking their effort with his hands.
She
smiled and said, “You know they weren’t real right? What was her
name, Angela? Or was Angela the one before?”
Yanni
hugged her tighter and said, “Yeah, I don’t remember. Who cares?
Nikos will learn someday. It’s just a birthday party, we can manage
one afternoon of temptation.”
Chapter
3i^4
“
Is this a
celibacy thing, like Agio Oros?” Yanni asked over the fifth round
of drinks.
“
No, you are still not getting it. She helps me remove all
distractions from my life, and helps me with my inspiration,” said
Nikos.
“
But she is an android?” asked Yanni with a hiccup.
“
Yes. For example, today, you texted me. She was holding onto
my cellphone. She deemed the text important and told me about it
when she saw that she wasn’t interrupting my flow. That’s all. If
it had been some chick I dated, she wouldn’t tell me and I wouldn’t
be distracted with my phone ringing and all that,” Nikos
said.
“
So she is an answering machine? Or a
softh-
sophisticated
personal assistant?” asked Yanni again.
“
No, she is more than that. She brings me my protein shake,
cooks for me foods that will not make me feel bloated or interfere
with my sleep, keeps the house clean and at an optimum
temperature…” Nikos explained.
“
So like a wife then,” said Yanni exhaling and feeling a
little tipsy.
“
Noooo. Yes. Maybe. All the good stuff, without the nagging
and the needs. She needs nothing from me. Also, she understands my
work. I can explain stuff to her and she gets it and asks back with
excitement. And then as I talk something will light up in my mind
and I’m off to the drawing board,” said Nikos and clicked his
fingers.
“
And they pay for that?” Yanni asked.
“
Yes, the whole thing. I have no idea how much she costs but
I’m sure it’s a boatload,” said Nikos and poured another
whiskey.
“
You really like that word,
boatload,
” Yanni said.
“
Well, boats
are
big,” Nikos said and they both giggled snorting out
whiskey.
The
night came and they called a taxi. “I’ll come up here tomorrow
anyway for the car, no point in risking it,” Nikos had
said.
Back at
Yanni’s house Nikos hit him on the shoulder with his fist. “Get
that presentation ready and I’ll make sure it gets
delivered”.
Yanni
looked back at his house. The reality of his life slowly came back
to kick away the positive feeling he had the last few hours. “Yeah,
I’ll think about it. Kalinixta,” he said and woozied back to the
house.
A pissed
off wife was expecting him.
She
nagged at him for drinking, for leaving her to take care of the
kids by herself, for coming back late, for bad influences, for not
growing up, for smelling bad, for the opinion of neighbours, for
the good fortune of their kid being too little to see his father
come home in this situation, for not calling hours ago to say he
would be late, for not calling on the way home to ask if he needed
to buy something, for smoking, for not thinking about her, for
maybe she wanted to go out as well, for the implied accusation that
they had female company and finally for the hangover he would have
the next day and him not being able to concentrate.
On the
last thing she was absolutely correct. Yanni took a bath and slept
like a bear past his hibernation time.
The next
morning she opened the window and searing beams of sunlight scalded
his eyes, while his skull felt heavy as if he was wearing a bike
helmet. She gave him raw coffee and lemon in water, Thalia’s
special hangover recipe, but it always made him wanna vomit. He
forced it down and suffered in silence.
She
pulled the sheets and pointed at the door. “Go on, get up, wash up
and go upstairs to work mister. The proof isn’t gonna write
itself,” she said with a mean tone.
He
pulled the bed sheets back but she took them away. Yanni obeyed and
got up. He washed his face and went upstairs to think about spilt
milk and photons.
Chapter
4i
The doorbell
rang.
“
Well, go on! Let’s not keep her waiting,” said
Thalia.
Yanni
stood up reluctantly and walked towards the door. He was anxious as
if waiting for a date. He bit his lips and opened the door to his
house.
On the
porch stood a lady in a blue dress. Hands shyly in front, black
hair in a simple ponytail, plain shoes matching her dress. Tiny in
figure. She was neither too pretty nor too sexy, but certainly had
an appealing face to please the senses.
Yanni
thought that would fit right in the Ellipsis ideology. After all,
too pretty a face and too hot a body and you are talking about a
serious distraction, not a source of inspiration. No, she was
exactly right, a pretty girl when smiling, but ordinary enough to
let you concentrate on work while having her around.
She
smiled at him. She was carrying a tiny purse, more like a blue soft
rectangular container than a fashion accessory. It reminded Yanni
of the ziplocked sports cloth that his car’s keys came in when he
bought it.
She
looked young, somewhere around 25, but that was a number without
meaning when it’s something immutable.
He
stared.
It was
hard to believe that this woman was not real. Her manners, her
stance, her skin, everything was lifelike. Yet, he had a weird
feeling that she was the one, the muse he was expecting to come
back.
“
Um - I’m staring. Sorry,” he said.
“
It’s ok Yanni,” she said, swinging her body playfully. She
seemed excited to meet him, if that was at all possible. “I’m
staring too.”
“
Come on in…”
She
walked next to him and casually, almost sensually touched his neck
with her delicate finger, while smiling at him. A gentle gesture,
one seriously inappropriate for first impressions but which made
Yanni feel relaxed.
She
walked inside gracefully.
Until
she met the stare of Yanni’s wife.
The two
women scanned one another, one with squishy eyes, the other with
remarkably similar but surprisingly, inferior artificial
ones.
Yanni
thought of that staring contest and how technology could not reach
the level of natural evolution yet.
The lady
in blue smiled at her and said to Yanni softly, “I thought you had
started the ellipsis method. I didn’t expect your wife to still be
here.”
Thalia
stood up. “It would be rude not to welcome you myself. This is my
house after all.”
Yanni
stepped in between them. He couldn’t blame his wife for being
defensive, but he couldn’t let anything jeopardize this. He was out
of options.
“
Okay, let me explain. Yes, Thalia is here because I could
never convince her to follow through otherwise. And to be honest,
seeing how life-like you are I’m glad we all meet together now,”
Yanni said. “Oh, by the way, this is Thalia, my wife. Thalia, this
is…”
Yanni
turned to the muse and realized he had no clue.
“
Ourania,” the muse said, smiling and walking towards Thalia
to shake her hand.
Yanni’s
wife seemed to tone down her defensiveness and greeted her
properly. “Well, please, sit down. Should I get you anything?
Water? I have no idea what to offer you.”
Ourania
said, “I don’t need anything, thanks. But I prefer to sit in a
chair, not on the couch.”
Yanni
pulled up a chair from the dining table and offered it to her like
a gentleman. She sat down, her knees too tight, gripping on her
little purse, almost looking shy. Yanni thought she looked like a
teenage nanny auditioning for a married couple. Only this time, the
baby to be taken care of was him.
The
couple sat on the couch. Yanni said, “So, yes, we will start the
ellipsis method tomorrow. The gen-two laser is expected to arrive,
my wife is packed and she will leave with the kids first thing in
the morning.”
Ourania
turned her glance towards Thalia and said, “That’s fine. I was
merely concerned about the method. But it’s ok, we can begin
tomorrow and readjust. It is best to minimize distractions, you
see.”
Thalia
held Yanni’s hand and said, “Of course, I want nothing more than
seeing Yanni finally get the proof finished. If this is something
that will help do that, I’m happy to… cooperate.”
“
Perfect,” Ourania said and unzipped her little purse. She
took out a globe, small enough to fit in her palm and did just
that.
“
I’m sensing a theme”, said Yanni. He brought in his mind the
image of the Muse Ourania in mythology. Muse of Astronomy, wearing
a light blue dress, holding a rod and pointing to a globe. The only
difference being, that the ancient Greek version would no doubt be
chubby and staring at the sky. This one was petite and staring
directly at him.
Chapter
4i^2
“
You want me to do
what?” Thalia said disbelieving her ears.
“
Honey. Please. This is the method. They want me to follow
it.
I
want to
follow it. It worked for Nikos and it might work for me. I might
actually finish the proof in time,” Yanni said with obviously
rehearsed arguments.
“
It worked for Nikos because he is a bachelor! You want to
become a bachelor too because they claim it might work! And…and
finish it
in time for what
exactly?”
She was
really upset, but Yanni had played over this argument in his mind a
dozen times while coming home. “Before I turn thirty. I know, I
know, it’s silly. It has stuck in my mind, that I need to finish
the apodeixis before I turn thirty, or else I will never do so,” he
said, sitting on the couch and looking at the corner of the
wall.
“
Ok. So you need to eliminate all distractions, is that it?
I,
we
, are a
distraction. Is that right?”
Yanni
readied himself for the impact of his reply, gripping the couch’s
hand rest. “Frankly, in this situation… Yes.”
Thalia
opened her mouth and her eyes wide. The dish in her hand was about
to become a projectile and there were plenty more ammunition two
meters beside her.
But then
she did something else. She closed her mouth and relaxed her face,
talking to herself mostly. “This is what they are talking about.
Right here, now, this is the distraction and I am causing it. They
are right.”
Yanni
stared at her for a few seconds, surprised by this reaction. Then
he stood up and held her in his arms.