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Sylvia sat up, and pointed at Gil’s camera bag. “What were you taking pictures of, Gil?”

Gil frowned slightly, and adjusted his camera bag towards his back, and away from Sylvia.

“You seem to ask a lot of questions, but not answer many.” Gil replied. Sylvia leaned back on her right arm, twisting her torso a bit. Now in profile, Sylvia’s large breasts, thick thighs and hips looked inviting to Gil, and he caught himself staring at them. She propped up her left leg, and rested her left arm across. She pursed her lips, and Gil could see through the sunglasses that she was glaring at him, watching his every move, as if sizing him up.

“Show me some pictures, and I’ll tell you a bit about what I do!” Sylvia said, looking at her phone nonchalantly.

“Why are you so secretive? Just what are you doing in there?” Gil demanded, losing his patience.

Sylvia put her phone down, and held her left hand out, palm up. “Please?” she asked, tilting her head slightly and smiling again.

Gil was perplexed. He was curious about this woman, but didn’t want to waste any time engaging in mindless games, no matter how attractive she seemed. Dessa certainly wouldn’t approve. Gil looked up and saw one of the many security cameras on Sylvia’s building, in one of those dark bubbles. It was likely trained on them. Gil then had a suspicion: that Sylvia’s behavior was related to the cameras and security measures. He tried another approach, and reached around to unzip the camera bag.

“You guys sure have a lot of security over here. Will my camera be confiscated by your security guard?” This seemed to elicit a response from Sylvia. She grinned and raised her camera-phone.

“An industrial spy wouldn’t be able to take a picture of what we do, with your camera, or my phone for that matter.” She put the phone down again and held out her hand. “You would need an atomic force microscope, and those just don’t fit in your back pocket these days. I’m a scientist. I have a doctorate in applied AMO Physics from MIT.”

Gil fished out his camera, and powered it up. “Wow! That sounds like Mensa stuff! What’s AMO Physics?”

“Atomic-Molecular-Optical Physics!” Sylvia perked up, now seeming delighted to discuss her life’s work. “It’s all nano-size stuff. We’re trying to develop future gen integrated circuits using carbon nanotubes and superconducting, self-propagating metal crystals. Trying to beat the breakdown of Moore’s Law, you know.”

Gil fidgited with the rocker switch on the camera. “Moore’s law...Isn’t that the observation about the doubling of computer processing speed every two years?”

Sylvia looked surprised. “Hey, not bad for a guy who works in wood chips!” She quipped with a grin.

“Be nice, braniac!” Gil snorted.

“Haha! You were very close. Actually it’s about the increase in density of transistors on an integrated circuit in that time period. The problem facing electronics designers is that we are quickly reaching the material property limits of the metals and silica we use in chips right now. Soon we won’t be able to make them smaller. I’m helping develop new circuits and components that use carbon nanotubes. It’s all super-cutting edge...and will be very lucrative to the lab that figures it out!”

Gil paused, staring at Sylvia, his mouth agape. This woman appeared to be pushing the apex of human knowledge to new heights. He thought about what it took to be so apparently young and in such mastery of the legacies of Newton and Einstein. “Wow! I’m impressed!” was all he could muster.

Sylvia smiled sheepishly. “Thanks! It’s not that easy though. Our holy grail is to get matter with the properties we need, but don’t typically combine well together at the molecular level, to actually form circuits and components...without any tools other than lasers and the materials themselves. You just have wood, metal, and fabric, and your tools. I’m kinda jealous! We don’t have any atomic size screwdrivers!”

Gil smiled. “Oh, you have the age old craftsman dilemma: What do I craft first: the object, or the tools to make the object? It’s usually…”

“The tool!” Sylvia interrupted, cooing slyly. She bit her lip coyly, and Gil blushed. "Except, we are trying to have the material be to the tool, too!"

Gil handed over the camera. Sylvia carefully took the device. The LCD display showed a beautiful, symmetric maple tree, resplendent in gold and orange leaves, against a bright blue sky.

“Landscape photography is a hobby of mine. Whenever I travel, I try to get out and take pictures. I took these on the way back from a sawmill near Standish this morning.

It was Sylvia’s turn to be awestruck. She used the rocker switch to scroll through the beautifully composed pictures of trees, farms, small-town life, and other moments from his trip that morning. “These are lovely!” She said. “I’m always amazed that such beauty can happen organically. We are trying to do in a lab what nature has done over millions of years. Do you travel much? Your bio says you’re not from ‘round here.”

“Hmmm...you’ve been all through my website.” Gil stated.

“Well, you’ll be happy to know we have some things in common!” Sylvia said. “We are both from Texas, and we both went to UT! I'm from a ranch near Boerne. I got my undergrad and grad degrees from there. You seem to have gotten around!” She smirked again!

"That explains your boots!" Gil smiled back, “Yes, B.A. from there for me. I got into furniture design in Austin, but wanted to do more Scandinavian stuff. There’s quite a bit of that heritage here, so I came up to Northern Michigan for my Master’s, and here we are. I do like to travel, but usually it’s just for business these days. I have a trade show at Merchandise Mart in Chicago coming up.” Gil thought it would be fun to push her buttons for a change. “How was your trip to Chicago?”

Sylvia’s jaw set, and her normally thick lips thinned. Gil could see her eyes narrow. She didn’t say anything in response, but continued to scroll through photos.

“You were kind of loud on the phone last week when I first saw you. Couldn’t help overhear…” Gil offered, hands up in supplication.

Sylvia glanced at Gil, her cheeks blushing. “Fine.” she offered, half annoyed, half ...embarrassed? Gil wondered if he stepped across a line he shouldn’t have.

Sylvia paused on a screen, and began to operate the rocker switch and other buttons furiously. Gil began to wonder what she was doing to his camera. He stepped up and reached for the camera. “Please be careful…!” he worried.

Sylvia stopped pushing buttons, a knowing smile and wide-eyed look on her face.

“Gi-i-il,” her voice sang inquisitively, “Who is Dessa?”

Next chapter: dinsidious1.deviantart.com/art…

Description
Previous Chapter: dinsidious1.deviantart.com/art…

Sylvia sat up, and pointed at Gil’s camera bag. “What were you taking pictures of, Gil?”

Gil frowned slightly, and adjusted his camera bag towards his back, and away from Sylvia.

“You seem to ask a lot of questions, but not answer many.” Gil replied. Sylvia leaned back on her right arm, twisting her torso a bit. Now in profile, Sylvia’s large breasts, thick thighs and hips looked inviting to Gil, and he caught himself staring at them. She propped up her left leg, and rested her left arm across. She pursed her lips, and Gil could see through the sunglasses that she was glaring at him, watching his every move, as if sizing him up.

“Show me some pictures, and I’ll tell you a bit about what I do!” Sylvia said, looking at her phone nonchalantly.

“Why are you so secretive? Just what are you doing in there?” Gil demanded, losing his patience.

Sylvia put her phone down, and held her left hand out, palm up. “Please?” she asked, tilting her head slightly and smiling again.

Gil was perplexed. He was curious about this woman, but didn’t want to waste any time engaging in mindless games, no matter how attractive she seemed. Dessa certainly wouldn’t approve. Gil looked up and saw one of the many security cameras on Sylvia’s building, in one of those dark bubbles. It was likely trained on them. Gil then had a suspicion: that Sylvia’s behavior was related to the cameras and security measures. He tried another approach, and reached around to unzip the camera bag.

“You guys sure have a lot of security over here. Will my camera be confiscated by your security guard?” This seemed to elicit a response from Sylvia. She grinned and raised her camera-phone.

“An industrial spy wouldn’t be able to take a picture of what we do, with your camera, or my phone for that matter.” She put the phone down again and held out her hand. “You would need an atomic force microscope, and those just don’t fit in your back pocket these days. I’m a scientist. I have a doctorate in applied AMO Physics from MIT.”

Gil fished out his camera, and powered it up. “Wow! That sounds like Mensa stuff! What’s AMO Physics?”

“Atomic-Molecular-Optical Physics!” Sylvia perked up, now seeming delighted to discuss her life’s work. “It’s all nano-size stuff. We’re trying to develop future gen integrated circuits using carbon nanotubes and superconducting, self-propagating metal crystals. Trying to beat the breakdown of Moore’s Law, you know.”

Gil fidgited with the rocker switch on the camera. “Moore’s law...Isn’t that the observation about the doubling of computer processing speed every two years?”

Sylvia looked surprised. “Hey, not bad for a guy who works in wood chips!” She quipped with a grin.

“Be nice, braniac!” Gil snorted.

“Haha! You were very close. Actually it’s about the increase in density of transistors on an integrated circuit in that time period. The problem facing electronics designers is that we are quickly reaching the material property limits of the metals and silica we use in chips right now. Soon we won’t be able to make them smaller. I’m helping develop new circuits and components that use carbon nanotubes. It’s all super-cutting edge...and will be very lucrative to the lab that figures it out!”

Gil paused, staring at Sylvia, his mouth agape. This woman appeared to be pushing the apex of human knowledge to new heights. He thought about what it took to be so apparently young and in such mastery of the legacies of Newton and Einstein. “Wow! I’m impressed!” was all he could muster.

Sylvia smiled sheepishly. “Thanks! It’s not that easy though. Our holy grail is to get matter with the properties we need, but don’t typically combine well together at the molecular level, to actually form circuits and components...without any tools other than lasers and the materials themselves. You just have wood, metal, and fabric, and your tools. I’m kinda jealous! We don’t have any atomic size screwdrivers!”

Gil smiled. “Oh, you have the age old craftsman dilemma: What do I craft first: the object, or the tools to make the object? It’s usually…”

“The tool!” Sylvia interrupted, cooing slyly. She bit her lip coyly, and Gil blushed. "Except, we are trying to have the material be to the tool, too!"

Gil handed over the camera. Sylvia carefully took the device. The LCD display showed a beautiful, symmetric maple tree, resplendent in gold and orange leaves, against a bright blue sky.

“Landscape photography is a hobby of mine. Whenever I travel, I try to get out and take pictures. I took these on the way back from a sawmill near Standish this morning.

It was Sylvia’s turn to be awestruck. She used the rocker switch to scroll through the beautifully composed pictures of trees, farms, small-town life, and other moments from his trip that morning. “These are lovely!” She said. “I’m always amazed that such beauty can happen organically. We are trying to do in a lab what nature has done over millions of years. Do you travel much? Your bio says you’re not from ‘round here.”

“Hmmm...you’ve been all through my website.” Gil stated.

“Well, you’ll be happy to know we have some things in common!” Sylvia said. “We are both from Texas, and we both went to UT! I'm from a ranch near Boerne. I got my undergrad and grad degrees from there. You seem to have gotten around!” She smirked again!

"That explains your boots!" Gil smiled back, “Yes, B.A. from there for me. I got into furniture design in Austin, but wanted to do more Scandinavian stuff. There’s quite a bit of that heritage here, so I came up to Northern Michigan for my Master’s, and here we are. I do like to travel, but usually it’s just for business these days. I have a trade show at Merchandise Mart in Chicago coming up.” Gil thought it would be fun to push her buttons for a change. “How was your trip to Chicago?”

Sylvia’s jaw set, and her normally thick lips thinned. Gil could see her eyes narrow. She didn’t say anything in response, but continued to scroll through photos.

“You were kind of loud on the phone last week when I first saw you. Couldn’t help overhear…” Gil offered, hands up in supplication.

Sylvia glanced at Gil, her cheeks blushing. “Fine.” she offered, half annoyed, half ...embarrassed? Gil wondered if he stepped across a line he shouldn’t have.

Sylvia paused on a screen, and began to operate the rocker switch and other buttons furiously. Gil began to wonder what she was doing to his camera. He stepped up and reached for the camera. “Please be careful…!” he worried.

Sylvia stopped pushing buttons, a knowing smile and wide-eyed look on her face.

“Gi-i-il,” her voice sang inquisitively, “Who is Dessa?”

Next chapter: dinsidious1.deviantart.com/art…