previous installment is here
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The truth, finally
Chael's presentation is greeted by profound silence and Lander sits absolutely still with his eyes closed. Several minutes pass and there is a growing discomfort and tension building up. Finally Lander opens up his eyes, looks around and says, "Allow me to level with you."
"Mathematics, was offered up for sale practically at the moment of creation," he continues, "already Euc felt that the power of what he called The Method, increases exponentially in a way that is difficult to wield."
"Do you remember the last Indiana Jones movie?" Mek whispers to Ie, "if he says that we have to choose wisely I am going to hurl."
Lander is irritated by the whispers in the room and he wraps it up.
"A while ago we have finally received an offer," he says as if it was stirring a painful memory.
It has been less than a year since Ean mentioned such rumor and now it is confirmed.
"Offer of what?" Nna tries to get the details straight.
Lander looks up, "offer to buy all of mathematics including the Last Day Math."
"What the fuck is the Last Day Math?" Uce's voice rises above the noise.
"Yeah, right," says Lander, "Last Day Math is roughly what we do not know but have a good sense of. This is where you will bury most of your good stuff from now on."
"Bury?" someone asks, "aren't we supposed to be open access?"
"Fuck open access!" Lander is exasperated, "you need to show that math is as hard as chemistry or neuroscience."
"How?" someone asks.
"By making baby steps. Just take it easy and make sure that all the serious work is done under the table."
"I do not even begin to understand what it all means," Man says to herself.
"Let me give you an example," says Lander, "40 years ago so called Regularity Lemma was proved. We thought that it was very nice but all the subsequent work on it was until recently put in the Last Day Math."
"Holy crap," moans Mek, "is this why everybody is working on it decades later?"
They go on for a while until Dy finally asks, "Who is buying?" and the room goes silent. Lander goes into his stupor again and after a long silence he says, "Have you heard about Zaph?"
Kepler 238b
Zaph and Ord are sitting in a methane lounge with they heads gently
touching to facilitate communication. They appear as if they are asleep but in virtualization this is what is going on.
"What's up buddy!" Zaph puts his third arm on Ord's back and shakes his
hands with the remaining two.
"Oh, just work, work, work. I am finishing the Guide but it is a long slog."
"You still are hanging out on this dumpy planet?" Zaph enquires.
Ord does not answer and instead he says, "Do you know what is Kepler 438b?"
"Huh?" in spite of being on top of most things Zaph has no idea.
"Well, it is us," Ord answers.
"Us? You mean our planet?" Zaph is curious.
"Yes, and they say that it is habitable," Ord explains.
"Habitable?" Zaph laughs loudly, "who are we? chopped liver?"
"They discovered hundreds of planets recently," Ord decides to unload his
knowledge of humans.
"What about their planet?" asks Zaph with a glint in his eye.
"It was a plum," answers Ord, "but now it is pretty banged up."
"Is it possible that they will entertain the idea of, er, inhabiting
our planet?" Zaph looks at the political angle, "if so we have to deal
with it."
"Not at this moment," answers Ord, "but they have just one thing that can make it possible."
"Whatever it is, just take it away from them," concludes Zaph and disconnects their brains.
Gender Gap
"They try to slow me down!" Pathia talks to Xenia, her favorite graduate student.
"It is a big honor, being the President of the Society of Mathematicians," Xenia says softly.
Pathia is pacing angrily, "Isn't it curious that this happens just when I figured out how the planets move. And now they will put it in the Last Day Math."
"So what?" Xenia is trying to be rational.
"So what?!" Pathia is taking off her sandal and throws it against the wall, "Nobody will see it for centuries. And you know what, I looked at the Last Day Math. Nearly all of it is the work of women."
"Of course," says Xenia, "this way anybody can see that we are holding back on half of the stuff."
"You think so?" yells Pathia, "what if someone thinks that women cannot do math."
"Oh c'mon," Xenia is laughing, "you are being paranoid."
"I am not paranoid," insists Pathia, "half of the board of the Society are some teenagers. I suspect they masturbate under their togas when I talk to them."
"Now you are really paranoid," Xenia is rolling with laughter, "they cannot be all jerking off."
"Maybe not all," Pathia admits exaggeration, "but some of them are breathing funny."
"Because they have open mouths most of the time," Xenia explains, "many of them are savants, you know."
"Anyway, the optics is bad. It looks like women are missing in action," Pathia repeats stubbornly.
"Because we work for the Last Day Math. The stuff is better anyway," Xenia says unyieldingly.
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