Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 12

"But can we keep the traveller and beacon synchronised if they can't send information to each other?" Herman asked.

"We don't need to send information; any signal will do. Rosa said it and Roger implied it: 'the plume knows where it is!' So long as the traveller's on-course, we get a signal from the plume; when it veers off-course, the signal goes out-of-synch. There's no information passed but just being out-of-synch is enough to tell us to correct in the opposite direction from where the signal began to tail off. The signal can be random and travel through hyperspace as fast as it likes."

"The problem is," Danielle went on, "it needs a new kind of hyperspace drive. An inside-out engine for the traveller and a larger source of power for the beacon than any that yet exist; but I don't see why it can't be done."

She sat down, exhausted but jubilant. They picked up their tablets and began to work. Roger returned to his armchair but watched them - a little smugly - as they wrote equations and did calculations.

A few minutes later, Rosa stopped. She looked at Danielle and said:

"What did you mean, 'my fiancé's a genius'?"

"Of course, I didn't tell you. Roger and I are engaged!"

Rosa and Herman were full of congratulations, which reminded Danielle of something. She put down her tablet and went over to sit in Roger's lap.

"Well done, future husband," she said. "I'm glad I'm marrying you." Then she kissed him, passionately, adoringly.

Herman looked down shyly but Rosa thought it was very romantic. Eventually, Roger pushed his fiancé away.

"I love you, future wife, but I think we're embarrassing our guests."

Danielle planted a last defiant kiss on his lips and stayed in his lap.

"How did you think of it, Darling?"

"Well, as you said, it was a pure accident to compare the mathematical methods with the astrophysical. But I was also thinking of something I learned about Isaac Newton."

"What was that?"

"The three-body problem."

"Good Lord! How do you know about that?"

"From my homework for yesterday's trip. I didn't really understand it, I just knew that it was a problem a computer can't solve."

"What is the three-body problem?" Herman asked.

Danielle explained:

"Newton's laws can predict all the future positions of a system with two gravitating bodies, like the sun and the Earth, but add a third body (of non-negligible mass) and the predictions lose all precision. The results become chaotic, even though Newton's equations are deterministic."

"Another way of saying this is that the solar system is its own fastest computer. Well, the same is true for the plume. The plume is its own fastest computer; and just as the bodies of the solar system know where they are before any computer can accurately predict their positions, so the plume knows where it is before we can calculate its properties. That's what my brilliant fiancé meant."

Roger wasn't sure he understood this explanation of his insight but he was happy to keep quiet and reap the credit.

Soon enough, Danielle went back to work with the others and they worked until eleven o'clock, when Roger interrupted them a last time. Rosa's eyes were dazed when she looked up and Herman yawned wildly.

"It's late" Roger said. "You've been here twelve hours. It's time you went home. Come back tomorrow evening to continue."

They nodded.

"I've called for an antiseptic people-mover to take you to your digs."

"A what?" Herman asked.

"A car. It'll be here in five minutes. Come on."

They left with quiet goodbyes to Danielle, who'd been so absorbed in the problem that she forgot to tell Rosa the very thing she invited her over to discuss.

After seeing their guests safely into the car, Roger went to take a shower and go to bed. A few minutes later, Danielle finished what she was doing. Leaving the house computer to perform some mammoth calculations, she decided she needed her fiancé. Brain-work always made her horny.

She looked around and found him in the shower. She opened the door and stepped in.

"Why are you clothed?" he asked.

"I have a fiancé who takes care of me, feeds me, waters me, even cancels a restaurant for me. I'm pretty sure he'll undress me as well."

"Too right! But what about the no-sex rule this month?"

"Screw the rule."

Fumbling with the wet zip and buttons, he decided to just pull it down, trapping her arms by her sides, revealing her well-filled black bra. He released her tits from the confining cups. Her breasts stood out proudly with big rose-pink nipples. Tits so suckable he couldn't resist.

The water from the shower cascaded over his back and the shelf of her breasts as he kissed and sucked the beautiful globes. Meanwhile, he put his hand up her dress, pushed aside her knickers and pushed a long delicate finger into her snatch, making her buck and whine.

Satisfied with his work getting her moaning and ready, he turned her around and pulled her dress all the way down. She kicked it into the corner of the shower. He turned off the water and put on the steam. She felt the heat flow through her.

Danielle leaned with her forearms against the wall of the shower, arching her back, pushing out her gorgeous inviting bottom. He stood behind and reached around to massage her tits, stroking and squeezing the nipples. He was more gentle than he had been when he sucked them. It added to her arousal, already very strong, giving her a delightful glandular sensation.

She'd had enjoyed nipple orgasms before, when he sensitised her nipples by licking them and then sucked hard, finally squeezing them gently. The same movement, repeated for ages, brought her over the edge.

He was working his magic now. She shut her eyes and leaned her forehead against the misted glass. Her arousal was rising to greet the nipple orgasm when he distracted her by moving one fondling hand down to diddle her clitoris, where she was also already sensitised. She bucked and tried to grind his hand as he rubbed his fingers sideways across the erotic nub, giving her sparks of joy.

Hot steam infiltrated her vulva each time his rubbing digits pulled apart the curtains. She sighed and breathed deeply, arching further and turning her cheek to the shower wall.

She'd forgotten about the ache in her tits. His gentle squeezing had ripened her and while her mind was in the right place to have a clitoral orgasm, the nipple orgasm stole up on her unbidden. It was like a welcome stranger. She gasped and then called out. The play of joy spread over her breasts and belly. She shook her head.

Then her pussy sparked with its own climactic eruption. Her legs shook and she felt his arms holding her up. She lent back against him as her body melted, joy cascading over her skin.

He pushed her forward against the shower wall again. Her bum was sticking out and he stuffed his hard cock into her vacant pussy. His cock rubbed on her special spot with every thrust and she moaned from the exquisite pleasure. He reached around again and gave another vigorous rub to her clitoris. It was sensitised and she came again immediately, crying out. She came again a few second later, and again, each time bucking and shaking with joy.

Roger's own arousal was growing quickly. He thrust faster, holding her hips, breathing heavily. Danielle pushed back in rhythm, the sweet joy of her mounting orgasm driving her onward. They sped up together, fucking in a frenzied rhythm, goading each other on to the final peak.

Her tits were pressed against the wall. He reached for a nipple and gave it a hard squeeze. The electric jolt sent a nervous signal straight to her pussy. Danielle wailed. Her chirruping voice extolled her pleasure.

He squeezed the other nipple. She shook her head in mixed pain and pleasure, and came again, the jolt shocking another orgasm from her. Still his cock pressed her sweet spot and she bucked in response.

She found her voice at last. She stopped moaning to say "Harder, Darling. Fuck me harder!"

He pulled all the way out and slammed back in. She cried out in pleasure. He did it a few more times. Then a few more, pushing her shoulders down until she was bending almost double. His thrusts lifted her onto her toes. Another few hard thrusts and then he couldn't wait any longer. It was almost his time.

Roger grabbed her waist and fucked her to the last of his strength, going faster than before, rising swiftly to the final moment. She shut her eyes and let the pleasure wash over her; and then, when she stopped trying for it, the orgasm came, a rippling, swelling, pussy-squeezing convulsion that weakened her knees and hunched her back.

Roger came at the same time, groaning his joy. With tightened muscles and spasms in his hands, he pumped his seed into her and jerked the last few tension-busting thrusts. When he pulled out, her welled-up ejaculation splattered to the floor.

Breathing deeply, winding down from their ecstatic peaks, he caressed her and then turned her around. Face to face they kissed and held each other tightly.

"I love you Darling," he said.

"Mutual," she murmured, her head resting on his shoulder.

He turned the shower on again and when they were clean and dry, went to their cool crisp bed for a well-earned rest.

Lying side-by-side, facing each other, outside the blanket but still warm from their love-making, Roger looked at her smile, her eyes shut, her cheeks still flushed.

"You're amazing, Darling," he said. "You know what I love most about you?"

"My tits."

"No, and if it were something anatomical, it would be your butt."

That pleased her. She pulled him nearer, to share her heat.

"All right then, my mind."

"No, but closer."

"Go on."

"It's your Protean ability to be a science genius one minute and a sex-kitten the next."

"And what I love about you is your command of English. Everything you say is redolent of masterful erudition."

With that pleasant exchange, Roger pulled up the blanket, turned off the light and they went instantly to sleep.

* * *

Danielle woke at 4 o'clock in the morning, crying out "I've got it!"

"Got what?" Roger asked, rudely shocked from his sleep.

"Oh, sorry, Darling. I didn't mean to wake you."

"Got what?" He repeated, turning on the light. Bleary eyed, they blinked at each other.

"Just the solution to a problem. Let's go back to sleep."

"Write it down."

"I'll remember it."

"You will if you write it down. Not otherwise."

He was right. She called up a holographic screen and wrote with her finger, projecting black scribbles on to the wall.

Roger went to the bathroom. When he was back, Danielle had filled half the screen, the last symbol trailing off in a scrawled line down the page. She was yawning with her eyes shut.

"Is that it all?" he asked.

"It's enough."

"Is it right?"

Danielle had nodded off. He repeated the question.

"What, Darling?"

"Is it right? What, for instance, is this thing?"

She opened one eye to squint up at a symbol he circled in red with a twirl of his finger.

"Eigenvalue," she mumbled sleepily.

It meant nothing to him. None of the equations did but he didn't want his fiancée waking up next morning to look at a pile of gibberish.

"Is this meant to be the letter 'd'?"

Again, she opened her eyes to see.

"Delta ... second derivative ... partial diff..."

He tried one more.

"Is this a '2 or a 'Z'?"

"Zee? Oh, zed. ... Zed, of course ... complex numb ... time dimens ... argum ..."

Now she turned on her side and stole his pillow to cuddle. As she drifted into sleep, he scrubbed out the letter and wrote it more clearly; then he saved the projection. Danielle was curled around his pillow, naked and beautiful, content as a kitten. He pulled the blanket up to cover her.

"Mmm ... warm and snug," she mumbled, half-conscious, "... love you."

"Love you, too."

He put out the light and snuggled close. In seconds, he was asleep as well.

6 Danielle's work

Danielle awoke to an empty bed. Roger had gone to the University and left her sleeping. She remembered her insight clearly but checked the holo-screen to make sure and spent fifteen minutes she could hardly spare making corrections before forcing herself to dress and go to the college for her weekly class on a Monday morning.

After the class, she went to see the head of department to discuss her resignation at the end of the term. Of course, he found it difficult to believe that anyone would contemplate leaving Cambridge, though he confessed himself relieved that Danielle was going to Celetaris and not to a second-rate place, like Oxford or Harvard.

Tempting her to stay, he ran through a list of the cutting-edge research that was going on in the university. It was a long list, backed up by an equally long list of first-rate people and local companies working in hyperspace science. Hyperspace science was practically invented in Cambridge, he reminded her. Could she really leave all that behind and take a risk at a new settlement?

It was a fair question and, although her mind was made up, and although she had steeled herself to resist his blandishments, yet Danielle promised she would think it over again and give a final answer at the end of the week.

On her way home, Danielle excelled herself. She remembered to buy food. At home, she set the oven to cook it. With luck, she would even take it out to feed her guests when they arrived, which they did promptly at seven o'clock.

She also remembered to send a message to Li Qu Yuan in Hong Kong, giving him the details of their work.

Over dinner, Danielle made her suggestion to Rosa about doing her PhD at Celetaris. She wondered if Herman might also be interested. Rosa wanted to know more but Herman (though he didn't explicitly reject the offer) seemed unimpressed, even though the separation would make collaborating on the hyperspace project hard.

It put a pall on the evening at first but as soon as dinner was over and their minds were engaged with the problem, the community of science was re-established and their personalities submerged in the pursuit of an intellectual goal.

They made some progress that night, principally in a proof Herman devised to show that the problem was tractable in principle. They agreed to meet again every night that week.

Meanwhile, Roger and his house-mate, Simon, went to the pub for a few beers and a game of darts. Seven years in England had modified Roger's accent and changed his palate, inuring him to the rich complexity of English ales (warm, flat, slightly sweet with infinite variety of tastes), spoiling thin gassy kinds of beer for him.

Others of their friends were in the pub and when Simon spread the news that Roger was engaged, he was treated to so many pints and Scotch whiskies that he had to be carried home and plonked fully-clothed on his bed to sleep it off.

* * *

Danielle arrived at work on time next morning. The first message she saw when she logged on at her desk was from her boss, Stephen Oakshott, the owner of Oakshott Industries. It asked her to come to his office at her earliest convenience.

His office was at the top of the tower, twenty storeys above the physics lab. She knocked on his door and went in.

A gentleman of the old school, Stephen Oakshott was ruddy-faced, sandy haired, phlegmatic and mild-mannered, his bark far worse than his bite. This morning, however, he seemed agitated.

"Good morning, Goldrick," he said. "Sit down."

She sat down, calm and composed. She enjoyed her interviews with her boss, who called her 'Goldrick' and treated her exactly the same as the other astrophysicists, all of whom were men. She called him 'Stephen' and thought of him as a kindly uncle.

"Congratulations on your engagement, Goldrick. Roger's a good lad. I hope he deserves you."

"I almost deserve him," she said.

"Really? Well, that's as maybe. I called you here to ask you to explain this piece of impertinence."

He stood behind his desk, waving a sheet of paper.

"I guess it's a printout of my resignation letter," she said.

"Resignation? It's an insult, an affront ... treachery! I don't accept it. This is what I think of your resignation."

He tore the letter in half and dropped it in the bin.

"Now you're unresigned, Goldrick. Don't think of resigning again or I'll sack you."

"It was only a hardcopy, Stephen."

He sat down and pushed the inter-comms button on his desk: "Thingy," (he always called his personal assistants 'Thingy') "please ask the computer wallahs to delete Goldrick's resignation letter."

"Stephen, I've accepted a post on Celetaris. You can't stop me going there."

"Don't want to stop you going there, Goldrick. Just not letting you quit the firm."

"How can you do that, Stephen?"

"Going to pay you a retainer."

"A retainer. Why?"

"Wrong question, Goldrick. Ask how much?"

She graced him with one of her indulgent smiles.

"All right, Stephen. How much?"

"Four-hundred pounds."

Her smile broadened.

"Galactic."

Her smile froze.

"Per month."

Her jaw dropped open.

"Don't be absurd, Stephen, that's half my current salary. Why would you pay me if I'm not working for you?"

"Stops you working for any of my rivals; and makes you beholden to me. When your ridiculous dream of living on a barbarian colony at the edge of the galaxy is over, you'll come back here."

"I can't accept it, Stephen. I'm not going to any of our rivals. I'm taking an academic position. I'm going to teach."

"Poppycock, Goldrick! You've got a good brain. Why waste it at a university?"

There was no answer to that, so she tried another tack.

"Why offer me so much anyway?"

"What do I always say?"

"Feed the egg-heads."

"Feed the egg-heads!" he shouted triumphantly, thumping his fist into his palm.

"Feed 'em. Water 'em. Give 'em fresh straw and clean out their stables. Keep the egg-heads happy and they'll keep us rich. ... Five years you've been one of my best egg-heads, Goldrick, and we've done exceptionally well, especially with the Beltway. Now we're going to be richer and busier than ever!"

The Beltway was a ring of hyperspace pathways connecting up a group of wealthy colonies. Danielle's team made a major contribution to the design, aiding its success, raising the company's profile and attracting investors.

The success of the Beltway was one of the reasons Danielle had sought the academic post on Celetaris: she felt she'd done all she could with conventional hyperspace pathways. She needed a new challenge.

"Stephen, thank you very much for your offer but I can't accept it."

"Not an offer, Goldrick. Paying you, whether you want it or not."

"It's too generous, Stephen, and I don't want to be bound."

"Aha!" he said, leaping out of his chair again.

"Aha, what?"

"Aha! Now I know why you want to leave. You've invented something new and you don't want to share it! Should I call the legal department?"

Danielle laughed.

"No, don't waste their time. Not yet. But there is something."

"Knew it!"

"It's something I started working on Sunday night at home."

"Something big?"

"Yes, very big, if it works."

"Well, stay here and finish it. Use our facilities."

"The Celetaris Institute of Science will have equally good facilities."

"All right. Go there to start it, but come back here to finish the job and sell it to us."

"It's not exclusively mine and I don't know it'll work."

"Come on, Goldrick, it's my instinct to trust your instincts. Besides, you're still an employee. You must give us first refusal."

She thought rapidly.

"I'll do more than that. I'll accept your retainer under two conditions."

"Now we're talking! What conditions?"

"First, I get only one-quarter, one-hundred Galactic pounds per month."

"No."

"Wait for the second condition, Stephen. You give the other three hundred pounds to three students."