Meltdown (17 page)

Chris bent to whisper in her ear. “Great. They look like they’re in a good mood today.”

She gave him an incredulous look and mumbled, “I’d hate to see them when they’re not.”

Chris gave Melanie’s hand a final squeeze as he turned to address the panel. “I know how busy you are, and I appreciate you”—he paused, glancing at his glowering father—“
all
of you, agreeing to give up some of your valuable time for this presentation.”

Mr. Clavell smoothed the knife-edge creases in his lapel. “You’ve earned it, Chris,” he said in precise, clipped syllables. “You’ve negotiated some remarkable deals for Sheffield lately. I hope this presentation lives up to your previous accomplishments.”

“It will,” Chris promised, pulling out a chair for Melanie. He gave her a devastating smile. “Trust me.”

Melanie watched him walk to the podium in the front of the room and flip a switch on the control panel. The lights dimmed, and the projection screen at the front of the room displayed the first of his colored slides—a pie chart detailing the market percentage controlled by various computer manufacturers.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this graph illustrates the current erosion of Sheffield’s market share in the computer industry …”

Melanie watched him with pride, knowing Einstein could not have a more impressive, enthusiastic advocate. Chris was dynamic, demonstrating Einstein’s complex functions in a simple, attention-grabbing manner that intrigued the board members. She glanced around the table and noticed with great satisfaction that even Chris’s father seemed grudgingly impressed. The long hours Chris had spent preparing Einstein for this day were paying off. He’d brought out the best in her ragtag computer. Just as he brought out the best in her.

Chris’s words flowed over Melanie. She knew them by heart. She’d listened to him practice the presentation a dozen times during the last few days. She knew the way he’d use his hands, gesturing eloquently as he explained the vast and varied opportunities E would open for them. Her eyes focused on his hands and she blushed, remembering the way those same hands had explored every part of her body.

Chris’s tenderness, his passion, his loving concern had renewed her, replacing her worn-out emotions as surely as he’d replaced Einstein’s old parts. These last precious days with him had made up for a lifetime of loneliness. Never again would she think of herself as unattractive, or undesirable, or unloved. She blushed when she thought of the number of times they’d made love—including an episode among the packing crates in her living room that gave a whole new meaning to the warning
Caution: Contents Highly Volatile
. He’d given her so much … and all she could offer in return was a weak smile and a nervous stomach.

A nasal voice on her right brought Melanie out of her trance. “I don’t understand,” said Mrs. Pinch, a
brusque but highly respected industrial designer. “Why is this prototype better than any of the other superpowered computers available in today’s market?”

Chris smiled. “Well, Emma, I always say ‘a picture’s worth a thousand words.’ Why not give it a design problem to solve?”

Emma Pinch quoted a rapid-fire list of design specifications, a list that taxed even Melanie’s sharp memory. “All right,” she said when she’d finished, “let’s see what the computer makes of all that.”

“Think you can handle it, E?” Chris asked.

Einstein’s response took less than a minute. He flashed a diagram of his theoretical design on his monitor, an image that was automatically transmitted to the larger projection screen. Emma gave a low whistle. “It took the Vax at Lasertech a week to come up with that same design. This is remarkable!”

“Improved processing speed is just one of the unit’s enhancements,” Chris said, smiling proudly. “Einstein could handle a dozen such equations simultaneously. Isn’t that right, E?”

Piece of toast
, E flashed.

Low chuckles rippled around the table. Melanie leaned back in her chair and breathed a heartfelt sigh of relief. The board members accepted E, irreverent dialogue and all. The presentation was going to be a success—if Duncan Sheffield kept an open mind.

Duncan cleared his throat, effectively gaining the attention of the other members. Apparently success wasn’t going to be as easy to attain as Melanie had hoped. She looked down to the end of the table, fearing the worst.

“There’s no denying this is an impressive presentation,” he acknowledged. “But I feel it is my duty to point out that this prototype was presented to me less than a month ago, with less spectacular results. A
hardware problem rendered the unit completely inoperable. The Sheffield name has always stood for quality in the computer industry, and I don’t know if this computer can live up to our high standards of reliability—”

“It can.”

It took Duncan a moment to realize it was Melanie who’d spoken. It took her a moment to realize it herself. Public speaking of any kind filled her with apprehension, especially to a roomful of high-powered corporate executives. But she had to speak. She couldn’t sit quietly and let Duncan unjustly accuse Einstein—and by association, Chris—of being unreliable. It wasn’t fair.

“Mr. Sheffield,” she began, fighting to keep her voice steady, “you can’t judge Einstein by that last presentation. Since then Chris and I have completely overhauled the systems, replacing every part that needed it.”

Duncan looked far from convinced. “Every part? I find that hard to believe. A job like that would take months.”

“We worked day and night,” she said forcefully, warming to her subject. “Frankly, Einstein was so full of worn-out parts, it’s a miracle he functioned at all. But Chris looked past the hardware problems. He got the parts I needed,
and
helped me replace them, so that E would be working at top capacity for this meeting.”

Several of the board members murmured in approval, but not Duncan. Though his quelling expression had softened, he still looked uncertain. “Are you saying my son gave up his free time to work on this computer?”

“Dad, don’t look so surprised,” Chris said, entering the debate. “I saw a great deal of potential in Einstein. I have faith in him. And, I might add, in his inventor.”

A deep warmth suffused Melanie, a warmth that even Duncan’s muttered “humph” couldn’t entirely destroy. Chris believed in her. Granted his belief didn’t solve everything—Duncan continued to glower at her, and her stomach felt delicate at best—but she felt she could bear it. She’d make herself bear it, for Chris’s sake.

As the presentation continued Emma Pinch and the other board members resumed their exhaustive examination of Einstein. E performed brilliantly, but occasionally he was asked a question Melanie had never anticipated, and answered incorrectly. Every missed question weighed on Melanie’s heart like a brick on a scale, and as the number of questions mounted so did her anxiety about the presentation’s outcome. She squared her shoulders and sat straight in her chair, trying to hide her inner turmoil.
Just let me get through this next minute
, she prayed.
Just let me get through this next second.
…

“With your permission, I’d like to take a brief intermission,” Chris said as he left the podium and walked in her direction.

Melanie blinked. Intermission? There wasn’t supposed to be an intermission in their presentation. “Chris, what are you doing?” she whispered when he reached her.

He placed his hand under her arm and helped her up, guiding her out into the hallway. “I’m getting you out of here.”

“I don’t want to leave,” she protested. “I want to help you—”

“I know you want to help,” he told her gently, “but your nervousness is making me very uncomfortable. I’m so busy being concerned about you that I can’t give my full attention to Einstein.”

“Am I that obvious?”

Chris gently grasped her shoulders and turned her
toward him. “You’ve got many talents, but hiding your feelings isn’t one of them.” A smile played at the edges of his lips. “Take, for example, what you said to my father.”

“I hope I didn’t ruin things,” she said hurriedly. “He didn’t seem to appreciate what I said about you.”

Chris gave her a strangely thoughtful smile. “We’ll see. In any case, Emma’s very interested and her opinion carries a lot of weight. I’m sure we’ll get E’s funding.”

“I’m not talking about E. I’m talking about you. About your promotion. If I’ve hurt your chances to become Product Research manager—” Her voice broke. She closed her eyes, unable to meet his gaze.

“Melanie, look at me.”

Slowly she opened her eyes, preparing herself to meet the condemnation, or at least the disappointment in his own. Instead, she saw only tenderness.

“Do you know that this is the first time you’ve thought of me before Einstein?”

Melanie frowned. “Is that important?”

“Important? Genius, if I didn’t have to go back in that conference room, I’d spend the next couple of hours showing you exactly how important it is. However …” He sighed and let go of her shoulders with obvious reluctance. “Go home. I’ll join you as soon as I finish with the board.”

“I should be in there. Maybe I can help you.”

“You’ve already helped me. More than you know. Now go home. I’ll make sure the board does right by you and Einstein.” He started to turn toward the room but looked back to give her a final confident wink. “Trust me.”

“I
know
Chris asked me to go, E, but I can’t help feeling I should have stayed. At the very least I could
have offered Chris moral support.” She sighed, pulling a comb through her shower-damp hair. “I feel like a chicken.”

Illogical association. Poultry entirely different genus classification
.

“On the outside, maybe. But inside I’m a bona fide clucker.” She finished combing and slipped the comb into the pocket of her terry-cloth robe. Too bad she couldn’t untangle the knots in her heart as easily as the ones in her hair. “I know the board switched off your remote monitor as soon as the presentation finished, but Chris can still link to your mainframe by phone. Have you had any word from him?”

Not since you asked 2.6 minutes ago
.

“Very funny,” she acknowledged, smiling in spite of her troubled spirit. “I guess if the board decides not to fund you we could get you a job as a stand-up comic.”

Board will provide funding
, he stated.
Trust me
.

Trust me. Seeing Chris’s favorite expression on Einstein’s monitor filled her with a new, precious warmth. During these past weeks Chris had given a great deal of himself to E. His kindness, his fun-loving spirit, even his abysmal sense of humor were permanent additions to Einstein’s programming. And to hers as well. If E was a better computer for knowing Chris, she was a better person.

Melanie?

“Umm?”

You’re in love with Chris, aren’t you?

Melanie looked down and smoothed the tie of her robe. “Yes, E. I’m very much in love with Chris.”

Is he very much in love with you?

She didn’t know the answer to that question. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer. She leaned her head against the side of E’s tower unit, feeling the weary disappointment of the day begin to
catch up with her. “I don’t know,” she said softly. “I hope so.”

I’ll ask him
.

“No! I mean … you shouldn’t have to ask someone if he’s in love with you. If someone’s in love with you, you just—know.”

E’s processor whizzed.
How do you just know? Explain, please. Imperative I understand
.

Melanie frowned. “Imperative? Why?”

Will explain later
, E replied cryptically.
Please. Need to know
.

If Melanie had been more alert, or if she’d been less distracted by Einstein’s queries, she might have questioned his sudden interest in love. Instead, she closed her eyes and tried to formulate a rational way of explaining the highly irrational state of being in love.

“The first thing that lets you know you’re in love is the way you feel when you’re with him. Everything seems—richer. The sun shines brighter, the air smells sweeter. Even stupid jokes seem funny.”

Enhanced input capabilities
, E commented as he filed away the information.
Next
.

The gentle vibration of Einstein’s tower unit lulled Melanie’s senses. She stifled a yawn. “Next … hmm, next is the amount of time you spend thinking about him. You pass a restaurant and wonder what kind of food he likes. You buy a book, thinking it might be something he’d like to read. Everything reminds you of him.”

Global search routine. Continue
.

“You know what comes next,” Melanie said gently. “We’ve talked about it. Physical consummation. But it’s more than just a biological act when you’re in love. It’s wanting to share yourself completely with him, to give him every bit of yourself, body and soul.” She sighed, remembering the deep, profound contentment
she’d felt when Chris had held her in his arms. “It’s being so much a part of him that you become one.”

Einstein’s circuits hummed, searching his memory for the computer equivalent of her words. It was several minutes before his cursor reappeared on the screen.

Match/Merge!
he displayed triumphantly.

He could have saved his digital display. Melanie, soothed by the steady vibrations, had fallen fast asleep.

“Melanie.”

“Go ’way,” she mumbled, snuggling into the chair. She was having the most wonderful dream about Chris. They were on the beach, lying together in the soft, sun-warm sand.

“Melanie,” the voice repeated, more forcefully this time. “Melanie, wake up.”

Reluctantly she let go of the dream. Yawning, she stretched and opened her eyes. “What—” she began, then stopped. Chris sat across from her on the edge of Einstein’s table, caressing her with the same golden gaze she’d felt so recently in her dream. His intimate perusal filled her with joy—until she remembered the presentation.

“Chris, what happened? What did the board decide?”

“Yes, I can see how anxious you are to know,” he said, grinning widely. “I come back here, find you sleeping—”