Following Sasha, he stepped through the doorway, entering a massive auditorium. Once they’d reached a spot in the middle of the room, they took a seat. Slava took out his portable tablet and they started discussing their work. When he took it out, the tablet was barely the size of his hand. Now, it had morphed into a sizable screen folded horizontally at a 90-degree angle. From it, were projected floating shapes and formulas. The only reason why Slava was openly showing his work like this was that he knew that the tablet only sent images to eye biometrics recorded in its database.

Eventually, people started coming in, and soon enough the whole room filled up. At some point, when they were entranced in their conversation, Sasha abruptly stopped talking. Noticing that something was wrong, Slava took his eyes away from her. Everyone was murmuring to each other while staring at the door. Realizing what was about to happen he glared back at her.

“I swear if you drag me into this shit…” he said. Watching her glare at the door menacingly.

“Don’t worry, I’ll deal with it quickly,” she answered, gritting her teeth.

Hearing her assertive statement, Slava redirected his gaze back towards his work. He had to figure out a way to understand the structures in front of him. The reason behind the numbers and formulas. He had already taken the first step into this domain. He had to expand his knowledge if he wanted to understand how to go back.

He saw it! He could increase momentum, so time surely wasn’t out of the question right? Think, come on, where can time be bent and twisted. A place where you can see the future and travel to the past, a singularity where time and space are reversed. Wait, singularity… black hole! A black hole, a singularity with immense angular momentum that even light had trouble escaping. What would happen if he could create and control that momentum, could he… He was about to have an epiphany when his train of thought was interrupted by the sound of someone shouting by his side.

“Fuck off, Arthur I don’t give a fuck about what you think my uncle said. I don’t give a fuck about how many achievements you have or how many papers you’ve written. You’re a fucking creep, stay the fuck away from me!” Sasha’s clenched fists were trembling.

“I understand that you might be confused. I do not wish to impose myself on you. I will show you my dedication through my actions. I will keep trying to prove myself worthy of you.” The man was speaking in an angelic voice with an appearance that matched it. He sounded delusional, but his demeanor made him sound graceful instead.

The people around were staring as if watching a drama. Seeing this Slava’s gaze drooped down. Damit! He knew this would happen. He was so close! Now he couldn’t remember. He lost it, he fucking lost it.

“Oh? And who might you be? Are you a friend of Alex? I am Arthur Stone, nice to meet you!” The man was now looking down at him, smiling from ear to ear. A gracious smile that would seem welcoming to all who saw it.

“Leave…” Slava whispered, not bothering to meet his gaze.

“I didn’t quite hear that, I’m sorry what did you say your name was?” Sasha was about to intervene when Slava slowly raised his head. His expression was grim, his eyes reflected a glare devoid of all emotions. Arthur was momentarily stunned, unable to move, he tried opening his mouth but no words would come out. At this moment, a voice was heard coming from behind him.

“Please take your seats, everyone, the lecture is about to start.” These words knocked Arthur out of his trance. His shocked gaze lingered on both of them before he left to take his seat.

Next to him, Sasha regretfully bit her lip. Ignoring her, for the first time in a while, maybe to distract himself, he decided to pay attention to the lecture. Not wanting to disturb him, Sasha decided to do the same.

Some time passed, but Slava couldn’t concentrate, he was still furious. Besides, the course seemed to be about spatial fractures and tunneling which wasn't his cup of tea. Thinking about it, wasn’t this what she was talking about earlier? Glancing to his side, Sasha looked mesmerized. Her eyes were wide open. Leaning on the desk in front of her, her hair slightly fluttered behind her. Wait, fluttered? Looking closely, Slava could see her irises turning purple, dim sparks dancing around them. Slava was stunned for a second before he swiftly moved his fingers up her shoulder, pinching it.

Groaning, Sasha turned around to face him. Slava didn’t waste any time and pointed his eye. Sasha gazed at him confusedly for a second. Frowning he moved to block his eye with his hand. Mimicking his movements, Sasha's remaining eye glimmered in realization. Her eye implants had a function that allowed her to project a mirrored view of her eyes. When she finally saw the color of her eyes, her expression turned to shock. With a comforting look, Slava lightly pressed on her shoulder. Seeing this, she relaxed, and soon enough, her eyes regained their original color. He didn’t bother lingering on any longer. Retracting his arm, he turned back around to face the professor and his projected lecture. Doing anything more here and now would only attract meaningless attention. It was odd, but at this point, he wasn’t even surprised anymore.

On another note, rather than the lecture, he found more interesting the tools that the professor was using to make his points. The room was dimly lit and special lights had been strategically placed to help with the formation of the three-dimensional projection that the professor was constantly circling and moving with his hands. The number of algorithms required to calculate and compute the sight in front of him was simply astonishing.

Thoughts rumbled and jumbled inside his head and before he knew it, the lecture had ended. After everyone had left, Slava heard Sasha's excited whisper in his ear.

“Slava I could see it, just like last time I think I got it.” He simply nodded, signaling for her to get out first. When they reached the door, Slava heard a voice coming from behind him.

“I’m sorry Vich could I borrow you for a second?” Slava glanced at Sasha, stunned. Slowly, he turned around to face the professor. “Haha! Just because you don’t come to my classes, doesn’t mean that I don’t know you.” Understanding that she wasn’t welcomed, Sasha decided to leave and wait for him outside. Once she had left, the professor continued.

“The board has been extremely interested in what you’re working on. We’ve been keeping a close eye on you. Do you think you could give us a presentation soon?” What did he do? Did he make a mistake somewhere? He could’ve sworn he’d been meticulous. Not letting his turmoil show on his face, Slava controlled his expression and displayed a look of confusion.

“I’m sorry but I’m not sure what you mean? What work are you talking about?” he answered.

“I’m referring to the work you published in the university’s paper a few months ago regarding the intricacies of the movement of singularities. To my knowledge, you haven’t published anything else just yet.” said the professor raising an eyebrow.

“Ah yes, I remember that!” Now he remembered it. He had written that article simply because it was one of the conditions required for him to get some of his equipment for free. He didn’t think that it would come to this. “I wasn’t able to progress much further than what I’ve published. Beyond that point, the formulas become extremely complex and I’m afraid that my understanding is still lacking,” he lied. He hated attention like this, it would only bring him trouble, especially with what was going on lately. These days it seemed like he had become careless. He was making too many mistakes.

“What a shame," he sighed. "If you make any progress on it, please be sure to notify me. I would love to take a look at your work.”

“Of course professor," he answered, slightly bowing his head. "Thank you for your time.” Not lingering on any longer, he hastily left.

When he entered the corridor, he was confronted with Sasha’s anticipating look. She seemed to be rocking this look more and more these days, it was quite refreshing. Completely different from her usual demeanor.

“Soo? What was it?” To her words, Slava sighed and chuckled, walking past her. “Something bothersome.”