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The year is 1937. Two men walk down the halls of a dormitory. One pencil-necked balding man in spectacles in a necktie and vest ensemble and a very generously proportioned gray haired gentleman in his finest blue suit. "I'm very excited to introduce you to him, Mr. Buffamont. Emrick is one of our finest and brightest minds here at the California Technology Institute." said Pencil Neck, he was the type to keep his head down in front of his superiors.
"I'll be the judge of that, Mr. White." said the suit. He stomped his way through the halls showing little patience. "I've heard the song and dance way too many times to count in the other universities like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, et cetera, et cetera. I'm a busy man."
Mr. White swallowed nervously. He hoped Emrick was prepared to impress or this would of been a complete waste of time. "Well, here's his room. Emrick? Are you ready?" He knocked lightly, the door gave slightly. It was unlocked, he pushed it wider.
The room was occupied indeed. Presently sitting on the bed was Emrick in school uniform, a suit and tie... as well as his roommate on his lap.
"Oh lord..." Mr. White chocked. He hoped it wasn't what it looked like but then again what else?
"Ah shit. You forgot to lock the door, you idiot." Emrick muttered in annoyance. His roommate, who already loosened his tie and shirt slid off him awkwardly and tried to cover up. Emrick rised off the bed and moved towards the gentlemen. "W-What's this then?" He hiked up his pants.
"Emrick!" Mr. White said frantically, his eyes darting to a most unimpressed Mr. Buffamont crossing his arms and tapping his foot. "We talked about this this morning."
"Uhh... oh! Oh yeah! The board of director or something wanted to see me. Or something like that?" Emrick looked mostly uninterested. His mind on other things it seemed.
"Pleased to meet your acquaintance, Mr. Smith." Mr. Buffamont extended a hand to him. Emrick shook it, or rather the director shook him in his manner of authoritative hand shaking. "We've heard a lot of things about you, a bag of good and bad things. You aspire to become a scientist?"
"I like to consider myself a pioneering visionary in the field of scientific study. Just planning on getting my doctorate so I can play with atoms and blow shit up." he said matter-of-factly. His roommate managed to adjust his suit in that time, he stood around looking clueless. Mostly wondering how much trouble he was in until he was silently gestured by Mr. White that he could go.
"Visionary? Is that so? Of what?" Mr. Buffamont seemed amused.
"The scientific study. I don't believe science should exclude certain... methods and what we see as laws are just hurdles we haven't figured out how to... hurdle." Emrick rather stumbled over those words but he still kept his cool confidence or maybe it was a lack of caring what people thought.
"Mr. White, you said this boy was a genius?" Mr. Buffamont turned to the professor who looked speechless.
"I... I know it sounds crazy, sir. But believe me, I've-... This boy, he's onto something, I've seen his inventions. He's a very creative individual. Emrick, uh, s-show us that invention you made in class."
"My ass scratcher, Mr. White?"
"N-NO! The other one. Ass scratcher? What?"
"Oh sorry, other class. You mean my long distance nipple pincher."
"Now I'm not sure... S-show us anything you got." Mr. White pulled his collar and cleared his throat nervously.
"What is this nonsense?" Mr. Buffamont broke in. "Don't be wasting my time, boy. Do you have any idea why I'm here?"
Emrick stared blankly but finally spoke. "Uu-uurp-h, no." he belched. "I wasn't really paying attention in class, Mr. White. What's this about again?"
"That does it!" Mr. Buffamont erupted, he turned to escort himself out.
"Emrick! No wait, please, Mr. Buffamont!" He hoped to keep him still if only for a moment longer. "Emrick, I was doing this for you! Your inventions! If you can prove you're a prodigy, you'll be able to get funding. You could- you could essentially get your own department here."
Mr. Buffamont's eyes widened, he certainly got back his attention. "Slow down there, Mr. White. He's still but a student and from what I'm looking at one who lacks any sort discipline and thinks he's a joker."
Mr. White seemed to finally stand straight for once, narrowing his eyes at the man. "Mr. Buffamont, genius is not always measured in a classroom. He's exceptional at physics and mathematics. He doesn't even need to pay attention in class. I- I personally think we're holding him back. I'd give him his degree already if I could."
Meanwhile, Emrick was bent over under his bed reaching for something. He pulls out a boxy mechanical device which resembled a kind of printer and scanner never seen before in this day and age. Long cables extending from a machine crawled out from underneath the bed. He sets it down on his study desk.
"What is... this?" Mr. Buffamont pushed Mr. White out of the way to take a closer look.
"So uh, Mr. Buffamont, was it? Uh, allow me to introduce you to my mind in a printer." Emrick pats at it lightly. "It's got uh, basic computing, to keep it from becoming self-aware, all I... how do I start?" He hadn't prepared for this presentation. "Uh, so uh... homework, no one wants to do it on a busy night. So what do I do? Create a machine that does it for me. For example..." Emrick walks over to his school bag and takes out what looks like a physics book. "I think today was Chapter 14, homework on pages 213-215?" He flips through the pages as he walks back to the machine.
"T-that's right." Mr. White chimed in, he was just as eager to see this invention in action as Mr. Buffamont.
Emrick finds the page and slaps it down onto the scanner of the machine. Pulling the lever on top to hold the book steady. He flips on a switch and presses a few more buttons. The machine begins to whir noisily, the lights in the room flicker as it begins to scan, blinding light seeping around the book. The lights completely dim in the room, the machine whirred even louder, taking up half the buildings power supply just to handle the computation. A few more moments and the machine spits out a sheet of paper with formulas written down on it. A closer look would also show the solutions to each equation fitted into the paper in ink. But that was not the only strangest part, the strangest part was it appeared to be handwritten.
"And there you have it. Page 213 of the homework done." Emrick handed it over to Mr. White. Mr. Buffamont leaned over to see himself. "What... h-how...?" Mr. White couldn't believe that this entire semester he's probably been grading a machine's papers.
Both stared at the sheet with their jaws hanging open as if expecting it to give them an explanation. Mr. Buffamont grabbed the paper from Mr. White. "What kind of trick is this? Was this already prepared?"
"Uh, no? This homework was today. You don't believe me?" Emrick seemed to show signs of nervousness.
"Let us see the inner workings of this machine. Can you open it up?"
"N-no!" Emrick shouted, he grabbed hold of his machine in defense. "You'll damage the components, it was hard enough getting them, and- and trying to get it to run on this potato battery of a power supply this school has. Eh, uh I-if if you want to see it do something else, we can use another book or a test. Yes! A test paper!"
"Mr. Buffamont, a word with you, if you please." Mr. White managed to pull him aside. They began to whisper among themselves. "Emrick has barely prepared for this and I'm afraid he might think he'd get into trouble for stealing school equipment. I think it's best we play along. A test is something he would of never seen before. We'd be able to compare the results."
"I see." Mr. Buffamont nodded. "Well then, Mr. Smith. I understand it's been a long day. So perhaps at a better time...?"
"Y-yes Emrick, we'll devise a test for both you and your machine."
Emrick seemed dazed. "Do I get the funding?"
Mr. Buffamont edged forward. "Not quite yet. But you have managed to impress me so far." His eyes narrowed. "Now... don't... make a fool out of me... and have a pleasant weekend." He nodded and made his way out. Mr. White gave a thumbs up to him and followed behind him.
Emrick stood there looking at the open door, wondering if this was such a good idea. He groaned, rubbing his temples. "They liked it... but they wont understand how it works." He hoisted his machine up and hid it back under his bed.
His roommate returned back inside the room. "Hey Rick, are we in any trouble?"
"Close the door, and lock it this time." Emrick commanded. He tended to be called Rick for short. It's just this damn teaching environment being so formal about everything.
His roommate was startled somewhat but he does as he says. "Geez, what happened?"
Rick belched a little. "We're fine. I had to try and impress some higher up. Showed off the mind printer, it's the best thing I got right now."
"They don't know how it works, right?"
"You kidding, Chesther? I-I'd never tell these old farts. This world is too simple to get these concepts across."
"You always say the weirdest things just because you have a strange pair of danglers."
Rick rolled his eyes. Why did he always tend to open up his feelings eventually, and for what? "I like to think I'm trapped with you people for the sake of my own sanity." he muttered. He began undressing to sleep for the night.
Chesther walked over to his side of the room and did the same. "Well, I would like to understand."
Rick glanced over at him quietly in silent appreciation. Though he didn't show it, it just helped having even one guy on his side. He didn't have to play the role of behaved gentleman in front of Chesther Charleson.
It wasn't long until they were back right where they left off. Unbeknownst to Rick however, during this passionate lovemaking and taking it up the butt. He forgot to turn the machine off.