Page 36 of The Scientist
“Sorry to interrupt, guys. I’m Dr. Strovinski’s assistant. We need to get going if we’re going to make that meeting,” I said, putting my hand under his elbow to usher him away.
“Oh yeah, no problem!” Nathan said, buying my assistant act.
“Nice to meet you, fellas,” Lex called over his shoulder as we walked away hurriedly.
“Thank you,” Lex whispered as we left the robot exhibit area.
“Anytime,” I said.
“I like fake assistant better than fake fiancé,” he remarked. “Comes with less pet names.”
He caught me off guard, and I paused to stare at him. “Did you just make a joke, Lex?”
He smiled and shrugged. “Happens every now and then.”
I laughed out loud, coming to a stop in the hallway when we were out of sight of his admirers.
He looked around behind us. “Wait, where’s Stuart?”
“I tried to get him, but he was in the middle of an argument with a preteen about operating a robot.”
“Sounds about right,” he said, shaking his head. “Anything else you want to check out?”
“The space exhibit sounded interesting.”
He pointed down a side hall. “It’s this way.”
I followed him down the hallway, and as we entered the exhibit, I was immediately captivated.
Large projectors were casting rotating images of the night sky above earth, creating a beautiful simulation of the stars and galaxies. I walked around, taking it all in while Lex followed behind quietly. There was a voice coming from the speaker, giving a history of Earth’s creation and different facts about the stars visible in our night sky. It felt humbling to see that we were all just a small, insignificant piece of the puzzle.
I turned to find Lex watching me. I thought he would have looked away quickly, but he continued to stare at me with the lights casting shadows across his face and reflecting in his glasses. His blended parentage gave him such an interesting and beautiful look. His full mouth paired seamlessly with his high cheekbones, and his light brown eyes were so perfectly clear, it was as if you could see all the way to their depths.
“What are you thinking?” he asked softly.
I didn’t want to admit that I’d just been admiring him, so I smiled and said, “Just your typical existential wonderments. How did we get here? What does it all mean?”
He gave me a small smile in return.
“It’s beautiful, don’t you think?” I nodded toward the sky dome.
“Hmmm,” he answered noncommittally, pulling his gaze up toward the lights.
“Howdoyou think we got here?” I asked. “I mean, do you think it’s really all some colossal accident or do you think there’s more to it?”
“Are you asking me if I believe in God?”
“Yeah, I guess I am.”
“That’s hard to answer,” he said, pausing to think about it. “Do I think there’s a guy in a robe with a long beard and a clipboard taking attendance on Sundays? No. But I don’t think we’re here by mistake.” He looked up toward the artificial sky once more. “Once you study any type of science and learn more about our existence as a species, the less it all makes sense. I tend to think of it more as a question we’ll never know the answer to. Kind of like trying to teach a dog calculus. It’s not something we’ll ever be able to understand, and we’re probably not supposed to.”
“That’s oddly comforting,” I told him, still looking up at the stars shimmering above us. “Sometimes when I think about it too much, it scares me. I just want to know that this wasn’t the end for my dad. That there was more for him than the life he had here.”
“What was he like?” he asked.
“That’s the thing... I remember him being so happy and just full of life. He was always laughing. Everyone loved him, and he never met a stranger. It’s hard to reconcile the person I remember with the one who was addicted to drugs. But I know he wasn’t a bad person.”
“Being an addict doesn’t make you a bad person. Addiction is truly an illness of the brain just like any other illness. You can take my word for it,” he said. “It has nothing to do with who we are as people.”