with ever since she noticed that crucial connection between the quantum revolution and the arts . She obsessed over how space and time bent so easily , that her , in this room , was not static or stable , but ever-moving ; she was the waves Woolf talked so much about , the cubism of Picasso in manifold dimensions . She was a straight line , smearing so easily into infinity .
When ’ s lunch ? she asked no one , tired of her spinning thoughts , surprised to see that outside there was the persistent reminder lunch had been and gone . Night reigned now . Her reflection stared back . She had been about to turn away when she noticed something off about it . It had the same eyes , same nose – but the hair , it was shorter .
The door creaked open behind her . The 16:00 , it seemed , the messy-haired … What was his name ? Laurence , right ?
Yes , he replied , a smile in some kind of surprise . Lauren was surprised too . She never remembered the names of these quiet students . The smile , though , warmed her . Like looking at a sibling – if she ever had one . He pulled out of his bag an iPad as he sat down . It had an illustration already on the unlocked screen . A Necker cube . Ah , said Alderson . Four-dimensional posturing across … Hyperbolic manipulations of space , yeah . Mouthful , she replied . I had something similar once . Oh yeah ? I did my thesis on it . Oh you did ! I thought it was something slightly different though . Was it ? Before she could even properly reply , he ’ d pulled up her thesis from a published database . It was about Necker cubes , but now hyperbolic space …
I ’ m stuck , he said then , moving on . He pulled up a particular section . Janos Bolyai . The famous quote , she knew . ‘ I feel as though I ’ ve stumbled on a new universe ’, he quoted . Why is that ? The way I was , like , seeing it – I was thinking , you know , that – Is that really my thesis , she asked . Well , it ’ s – you know , that – Look , Laurence , it ’ s okay to pause and think through . I know , but , I – I –
*** The laptop wouldn ’ t shut up , it never did . Zoom calls , meetings , student emails – all of them buzzed through without so much as a second break . Opposite her , what should be a reflection . Should be because that isn ’ t her . Can ’ t be . Short hair , a top instead of a blouse – RSL 85