Chapter 31

Raul and I discussed the idea until late, and when I came back to our cabin, Eva was already in bed. A wave of emotions flooded me instantly. Of course, our work was more important than painting my nails, but….

My systems couldn’t find any issues with my choices, they were absolutely rational, but regardless, I felt disappointed. Quietly, not wanting to disturb Eva, I lay in my bed, but before I went offline, I could hear her say,

“Good night, Rea.”

“Did I wake you up?”, I asked quietly. “I am sorry.”

“Don’t worry”, she said softly and sat up. “You were busy today?”

I nodded.

“I discussed the possibility of setting up a permanent station on Pluto with Raul.”

“Interesting…”, Eva nodded and looked at me. “Rea… Have I ever made you confused?”

I nodded slowly.

“You changed your behavioural pattern, and I couldn’t understand why.”

She stayed silent for a few moments.

“I’ve started to read Quantum Logic.”

I looked at her, surprised. I would never have expected her to suddenly be interested in how quantum chips actually worked. It was way beyond her field of study, and I doubted she would have enough technical background to understand it fully.

“You should start with Introduction to trinary computing”, I said. “Without a solid foundation, you will only have 23% chances of understanding it.”

Eva chuckled.

“What will be my chances if you helped me understand how you work?”

I run her question through my systems.

“Taking into account your engineering background, with my help, you will have a 71.4% chance of success.”

“Will you help me?”

I smiled brightly. Even if I didn’t understand why, the fact that she tried to know me better stirred something in me.

“Of course”, I said.

She got up and sat on my bed.

“Where shall we start?”

I was surprised by her enthusiasm.

“Aren't you tired?”

“I am but…”

She sighed and looked down.

“Are you okay?”, I asked softly, taking her hand in mine.

She squeezed my hand.

“I am.”

I smiled.

According to my systems, my latest poem described how I felt right now with 98% accuracy. It could be a coincidence, of course, so I needed to analyse it further before drawing any conclusions, but the initial assessment was at least promising.

“Eva…? Could you paint my nails?

She smiled and slid her hand through my arm as she got up to take the nail polish from my shelf.