Shattered Silence by Ron C. Nieto

Author:Ron C. Nieto
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Ron C. Nieto
Published: 2013-08-25T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Alice wasn't happy to see me when classes were over, not after having missed the break. She was already frowning, and I hadn't yet told her where I'd been.

We walked to my place in mostly silence—she didn't give me the cold shoulder, but it was clear she needed to know why I had left her waiting like an idiot. I'd have been pissed too, not just because it's not a nice thing to do, but also because with the way things stood, it was too easy to imagine a dark reason behind the absence.

I opened my front door and motioned her inside. The house was too empty and quiet without Sparrow to greet me and hours away from my father coming from work, but the lack of interruptions would help us.

After dropping our things in my room, I led the way to the kitchen. Coffee, however instant it might be, was especially welcome when the cold January afternoon felt tropical to the icy chill in my veins. Alice sat in a stool to watch while I fussed around, making hers the way she liked it on autopilot.

“So,” she started when I placed the mug in front of her, “what's up?”

“You got around to reading my text, right?”

“Yeah. And I'm not saying I don't agree or that it's not possible, but I'm a bit... lost. How did you get to that conclusion again?”

“I missed my first classes this morning,” I began. “I was late anyway, and there was something I wanted to see. There was no way for me to get a print, but I found the part Perkins contributed to the project with Wyatt, the one he had been working on before jumping into an empty pool headfirst.”

“I won't even ask how you accessed his files. Just tell me what sense you made of what you found.”

“Remember when I explained that fractal art is arithmetic at work? That the proportions were so perfect because it was a function shaping them and not an artist's free hand?” She nodded. “Most advanced math software can do simple graphs too. It's not the same level of detail, and the options wouldn't allow you to create anything truly impressive, but they show you the function's shape, and that's the skeleton of any fractal art.”

Alice gripped her mug, turned it between her hands. “And the graph was familiar.”

I nodded.

“And that's connected to Beatrice... Are we sure about that?”

In response, I got up and fetched Wyatt's print from my room. Straightening it on the table with the side of my fist, I grabbed a pen and marked the graph's lines behind the compound.

“It's not exactly the same line, this one's a little bit more accurate perhaps, but trust me. They're the same function.”

“I'm not doubting that,” she said.

“You're failing to see what it has to do with Sara dancing to the song and then slapping you.”

“Can you blame me? You're not making it that clear.” She smiled, more insecure than she ever looked.

“Just watch,” I said.

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