Page 35 of The Scientist
“Hesoasked for your number,” Stuart said, ignoring my bad joke.
“Where to next?” I asked as we all got into the vehicle.
“Hadley, you are now in the heart of Silicon Valley, and the only true way to appreciate it is with a visit to The Tech Interactive.”
“Oh no,” Lex mumbled.
“What’s that?” I asked curiously.
“I’m glad you asked. It’s a science and technology center where you can build robots, explore space, and sit in a jet-pack chair! You can even visit the bio-design studio where they discuss bioengineering and have the distinct pleasure of hearing Lex point out its inadequacies.”
“Is it really that bad?” I asked Lex.
“No, it’s just that we’ve been there five times already.”
“Each time funner than the last. What do you say, Hadley?”
“Sounds interesting. I’m up for it if you guys are.”
“YES!” Stuart yelled. “Lex?”
“Fine,” Lex said with a sigh.
Chapter 9
“Where to first?” I asked as we strolled through the front doors of The Tech Interactive.
“Let’s hit the robot exhibit,” Stuart said excitedly, already heading in that direction as Lex and I followed behind. Lex was looking like the indulgent parent of a toddler.
The exhibit was actually pretty interesting. Stuart, who obviously had an aptitude for it, tried explaining to me the mechanisms behind building a robot and why it was such an important feat of engineering. I could appreciate why it was impressive, but the particulars were completely lost on me.
“Dr. Strovinski?” I heard someone say from behind us. I turned to see a young guy, scrawny and bespectacled, standing there, looking wide-eyed at Lex.
“Yes?” Lex replied politely.
“I thought that was you! Tompkins, get over here. It’s him!” he yelled out to another guy hiding behind a column. “You have no idea how thrilled I am to meet you, sir. Your paper on the development of quantitative measurements to distinguish between hypothalamic tanycytes and radial glia literally changed my life!”
“Thanks, man. I appreciate it,” Lex said kindly.
The guy named Tompkins ran over, looking like he spotted Mick Jagger himself.
He extended his hand to Lex and introduced himself. “Hi, I’m Robert Tompkins. It’s an honor, Dr. Strovinski.”
“Lex is fine.”
The two men exchanged looks of barely contained excitement.
“And I’m Nathan Segura.” He and Lex shook hands as well.
“We heard you were at Stanford now. What are you working on?”
I didn’t want to keep eavesdropping on their conversation, so I went to find Stuart, who was arguing with what looked like a ten-year-old about the best way to assemble the robot’s arm.
I walked around the exhibit for a little while longer. They had an entire section dedicated to the use of robots in different movies likeStar WarsandThe Terminator, and I listened to a short video about the engineering behind it. It may have been interesting if I’d understood a word of it. I circled back to where I started feeling more confused than a cat at a laser show.
I noticed Lex’s fan club was still going strong. They were both chatting excitedly while Lex just smiled and nodded along politely. He noticed me looking at him and gave me eyes that said“help, please.”
I jumped into action, walking over and interrupting the guy named Tompkins telling Lex about his own paper he was writing.