do some reprogramming of any of the software?”
Axen tilted his head in consideration, “Those are some good ideas. I’ll talk to her about them.”
***
As Ell ate her hamburger, Amy brought her up to date. “I’ve arranged for the rest of your hundred and five million dollar ‘donation’ to be sent to North Carolina State, you just have to tell Allan to approve the transfer.”
Ell nodded as she chewed, then swallowed and, looking up, said, “Approved.”
“The NCSU Physics department sent you some one page applications for funding from some of their physics professors and grad students like you requested. You were going to approve or disapprove them? I’ve forwarded them to Allan.”
“OK.”
“Your ‘portal’ experiment ran OK for 8 hours today, but there wasn’t any increase in pressure in the recipient chamber.”
Ell’s shoulders slumped. She’d been so sure that this experiment would move a few molecules… Hmm, she thought, maybe a few molecules had moved, just not enough to detect by measuring a pressure change? She realized she needed a different method to detect movement of the molecules.
Amy watched Ell’s eyes glaze over. Oh well, she’d learned to save any news about Ell’s research for last. Once Ell got to thinking about physics, she seldom heard anything else Amy said. She put the dishes in the dishwasher and went through the inter-apartment doors that Steve had had installed. They let her get back to the one she shared with her kids without being seen doing so. As she walked into her own apartment her AI gave her a list of the eight physics projects from NCSU that Ell had approved and two that she’d disapproved. To Amy’s surprise Ell had approved an application from Ell’s old professor, Albert Johnson, the one that Ell had hated. Amy noted, however, it was marked “pending completion of relationship counseling.” For a moment Amy wondered if she’d even read them—in the short time she’d had them it didn’t seem likely—then Amy noticed that there were brief notes on the two rejections specifying the issues that kept them from being approved. Amy shook her head, my God, that girl reads fast!
***
On Saturday Ell headed out to Master Mark Moody’s Martial Arts, or “4MA” as it was known. Several of her security team were already there for their weekly training sessions and three were outside in a car “on call.” 4MA was located a block from Ell’s apartment complex and she’d committed to sessions once a week. Ell had insisted that Amy take lessons and Amy had claimed it didn’t make sense for Ell not to take them too. Amy’s kids were taking a class for little ones on Saturday afternoons. This Saturday morning would be Ell’s first session and she looked forward to the exercise. She hadn’t been getting in a lot of physical activity lately. To keep her brunette wig from getting displaced Ell wore a tight stocking cap over it. She’d arranged the hat and wig so some strands of brown hair stuck out to match her “Raquel” identity which she’d done up completely with skin bronzers and dark pencil on her light eyebrows. Steve looked at her. “I thought you were doing this as “Ell Donsaii?”
“No, I don’t want to be seen in that identity near here. Besides, if I’m in that identity they’ll all act weird.”
“The first time you get thrown, it’ll knock that prosthetic off of your nose.”
“I just won’t let anything hit my nose.”
“What? You’re going to be getting thrown around!”
Ell stared at him a moment, “Steve, I can keep things from hitting my nose.”
Steve stared back for a moment, then shrugged, “I guess you probably can.”
Their instructor in the beginning class was Moody’s wife Millie, a tiny Asian lady. Crinkles appeared around her eyes as she looked around the group. “So. This class for people who have had some jujutsu, but not much, yes?” Nods came back to her and she said,
Axen tilted his head in consideration, “Those are some good ideas. I’ll talk to her about them.”
***
As Ell ate her hamburger, Amy brought her up to date. “I’ve arranged for the rest of your hundred and five million dollar ‘donation’ to be sent to North Carolina State, you just have to tell Allan to approve the transfer.”
Ell nodded as she chewed, then swallowed and, looking up, said, “Approved.”
“The NCSU Physics department sent you some one page applications for funding from some of their physics professors and grad students like you requested. You were going to approve or disapprove them? I’ve forwarded them to Allan.”
“OK.”
“Your ‘portal’ experiment ran OK for 8 hours today, but there wasn’t any increase in pressure in the recipient chamber.”
Ell’s shoulders slumped. She’d been so sure that this experiment would move a few molecules… Hmm, she thought, maybe a few molecules had moved, just not enough to detect by measuring a pressure change? She realized she needed a different method to detect movement of the molecules.
Amy watched Ell’s eyes glaze over. Oh well, she’d learned to save any news about Ell’s research for last. Once Ell got to thinking about physics, she seldom heard anything else Amy said. She put the dishes in the dishwasher and went through the inter-apartment doors that Steve had had installed. They let her get back to the one she shared with her kids without being seen doing so. As she walked into her own apartment her AI gave her a list of the eight physics projects from NCSU that Ell had approved and two that she’d disapproved. To Amy’s surprise Ell had approved an application from Ell’s old professor, Albert Johnson, the one that Ell had hated. Amy noted, however, it was marked “pending completion of relationship counseling.” For a moment Amy wondered if she’d even read them—in the short time she’d had them it didn’t seem likely—then Amy noticed that there were brief notes on the two rejections specifying the issues that kept them from being approved. Amy shook her head, my God, that girl reads fast!
***
On Saturday Ell headed out to Master Mark Moody’s Martial Arts, or “4MA” as it was known. Several of her security team were already there for their weekly training sessions and three were outside in a car “on call.” 4MA was located a block from Ell’s apartment complex and she’d committed to sessions once a week. Ell had insisted that Amy take lessons and Amy had claimed it didn’t make sense for Ell not to take them too. Amy’s kids were taking a class for little ones on Saturday afternoons. This Saturday morning would be Ell’s first session and she looked forward to the exercise. She hadn’t been getting in a lot of physical activity lately. To keep her brunette wig from getting displaced Ell wore a tight stocking cap over it. She’d arranged the hat and wig so some strands of brown hair stuck out to match her “Raquel” identity which she’d done up completely with skin bronzers and dark pencil on her light eyebrows. Steve looked at her. “I thought you were doing this as “Ell Donsaii?”
“No, I don’t want to be seen in that identity near here. Besides, if I’m in that identity they’ll all act weird.”
“The first time you get thrown, it’ll knock that prosthetic off of your nose.”
“I just won’t let anything hit my nose.”
“What? You’re going to be getting thrown around!”
Ell stared at him a moment, “Steve, I can keep things from hitting my nose.”
Steve stared back for a moment, then shrugged, “I guess you probably can.”
Their instructor in the beginning class was Moody’s wife Millie, a tiny Asian lady. Crinkles appeared around her eyes as she looked around the group. “So. This class for people who have had some jujutsu, but not much, yes?” Nods came back to her and she said,
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