Chapter 3

Dr. Geyser has been working for the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory for the past four years and he had been tasked with explaining a few classified pieces of data. One was imaging data of peculear traces that some thought were an ancient settlement remains on Mars found by the latest exploration mission. The other was an eerily similar pattern found on the moon decades ago. These two were all strikingly similar to remains of an ancient settlement in the blue nile region of Ethiopia.

Each time he ran the simulation, the AI produced the same response: the data seemed said that all three were built by one people. He didn’t believe it, he though algorithm was wrong but now he had the carbon dating done, they were all from about the same time period. It all pointed to one thing and it all said the same thing. We are from Mars.

But how did that occur? Before he could write the paper and publish the results, before the onslaught of interviews from eager, imaginative reporters who would skew his findings into the realm of the certain in their naive drive to be bold and unoriginal.

He needed time to think. His thinking is best done when running. Few sports allow him to meditate the way running did. Its quiet monotonous rhythmic movements allowed his brain to unhinge from the physical and move into the mental, even if there are others around. Dr. Geyser was an avid runner. He imagined what it was like for the runners before him, who ran on the surface of the earth. He tried to imagine but it was impossible, the earth he knew had died a long time ago and it was hard to imagine forests in a desert.

He locked up the office and walked down the long hallway to the exit of the building. As the doors opened a gust of damp mechanic air enveloped him. It was becoming night and so the last rays of light traveling down the light shafts were slowly being replaced by the artificial light inside the city. Sector by sector they turned on and down some long corridors called streets you could see the gradual change in lighting.

Geyser joined the multitude of people traveling on moving walkways down the damp corridors. This was the main street bellow what used to be San Francisco. He walked to the station that was relatively empty this time of the week. As he sat there looking at how many stations he would have to wait until the tram got to the gym, there was something odd and peculiar and strangely familiar about the subway/city map. He couldn’t put a finger on it so he tried to forget it.

Geyser arrived at the gym as usual at 7:30pm. He liked the gym because in his usual work there were few women and he missed their company and at the gym he was at least somewhat around attractive women even if he felt like there was nothing he could talk with them. His college hook-ups involved him getting drunk to make a move, otherwise he was quickly disappointed in their inability to find common language.

He changed into his running clothes and went to the large track-field. There seemed a billion runners but all ran quietly, one after the other, in a lane according to their fitness level. Everything became more compact since they moved underground. It was impossible to have as much space for everyone as they used to above ground.

He got into the first lane and began to run. It was not long after that he realized that someone was running at his heals. Being passed is a big no-no and so was passing. People get into a stride and run in rhythm with others. If you want to run faster you apply for a different lane.

This was the fastest lane so there was not much faster you could go but the person behind him certainly wanted to run faster, but it didn’t make sense because even if he let them pass, then they’d have to pass the person in front of him. He noticed that he was slowly inching towards the person in front of him, getting dangerously close to the unsaid boundary when the person behind him switched into the slower lane between the runners in that lane and jumped ahead of Dr. Geyser. His faced grimaced and he saw the cute blond run ahead and do the same with the person ahead of her.

“And this is why I don’t like to come to this gym” he thought.

He was not so much upset at having been passed as at loosing his train of thought. He had that tight focus going where he was thinking over the problem at work when the girl passed him. He realized that his run is over, so he left the track early and went to the sauna. He sat there steaming, trying to regain his thought process when the track girl came in, to the sauna, naked.

Geyser got a second chance to look at her. Her body seemed flawless, athletic build, not too tall not too short. Her blond hair was up in a pony tail. She sat down and seemed like she was thinking of something, in that usual manner that women seem to have when they pretend like no one exists near them. Dr. Geyser realized that there was nothing to think about at this point decided to do something he never usually does, strike up a conversation with a girl.

“You know, running like that is not good etiquette.”

“Thanks Dr. Geyser, I’ll take that into consideration,” she said with a smile.

“You know who I am?”

“I recognize you.. although this isn’t the way I saw you last at the conference.”

Dr. Geyser felt his face grow hotter, even in the sauna.

“I’m sorry, I don’t recognize you. Whom do I have the pleasure of speaking to?”

“Dr. Greenwhich.” She tried not to laugh when she said because face turned from red to scarlet.

“Now you remember me?”

“Well.. we I guess… I would have… I mean we weren’t naked at the conference.”

Dr. Greenwhich let out a laugh.

“Well I guess I heard wrong, you do seem to have a sense of humor.” She smiled.

He felt relieved.

“I didn’t know you were a runner. Seems like this gym is a little too slow for you.”

“It is, kind of like those physics conventions where people hate to answer your questions.”

His face turned red again as he remembered his last presentation ambushed by a surprise question from a female scientist. He had to talk in circles and never answer the question.

“But people here are nice.” she continued “They let me pass.. so will you answer my question I asked you at the talk?”

Geyser’s curiosity peaqued and so did his hunter instinct: “Maybe, if you let me buy you dinner.”

She laughed again, “Deal.”