A deal with the devil

[deardirect0r]

Leonard Church sat at the kitchen table, looking over his research notes and nursing a cooling cup of coffee. How long had he been trying to get the funding to continue his personal research instead of working under someone else? Years. Ever since he'd gotten his doctorate.

His work had helped advance the cognitive mapping that created smart AI but, it was wartime and the funding for 'pure research' was all but dried up. It didn't help that even before the war smart AI were expensive and rare. Now any new ones being produced were all but exclusive to UNSC and any left over went to whoever had the most clout.

Now that could change.

If he was only willing to make a deal with the devil.

He set the pad with his notes down and took off his glasses so he could rub his eyes and think.  Allison would be home soon, he could talk to her about what to do with an offer of funding from ONI.  Hell, given her service record they may have already talked to her about it themselves.    They may have even talked to her about it first for all he knew.

Comments

[a_ghost]

It hadn't been long since Allison had transferred from being active duty to being a recruiter. She was aware of Leonard's efforts, but until now it hadn't looked like much of anything was going to pan out—which was frustrating for the both of them. She knew how important furthering the war effort was to him and how much he desired to help change the course of the war with the application of AI technology. And Allison felt for him, the aggravation of the way things kept getting held up in this process, the applications for grants and the constant work on proposals and presentations. It wasn't the work he was best suited to do, really, but it was what was necessary if he wanted to make something pan out.

It was nice, these days, being able to get off of work and head home—even though she sometimes put in extended hours, she knew how much Leonard appreciated it too. With their daughter grown and busy in her own military career, Leonard would otherwise be pretty lonely if Allison was still on active duty deployment. She entered the house and headed into the back of the house, spotting him at the table and smiling at him wryly.

"You didn't think to make any dinner again, did you?" she said.

[deardirect0r]

"what..?" He turns to look at her, slipping his glasses on in the process. "Shit."

That was something he was supposed to do, wasn't it. It's his night to cook and he'd blown it off again. Granted, he'd had a good reason... he always had a good reason. Usually having to do with getting caught up in whatever it was he was working on at the time. So, maybe on reflection it wouldn't seem like such a good excuse after the third or fourth or moreth time.

"Sorry, I'll get something quick going." He slid back from the table and stood, casting a quick glance back at the pad and papers before walking over to her. Before doing anything else he was going to give her a proper welcome home. Leaning in to give her a quick but heartfelt kiss. "We could always order out if you'd rather..."

He leaves the question floating, not really committed either way.

[a_ghost]

She accepts the kiss, pressing into it lightly and setting her hands on his waist, then pulling back. Her smile has grown. "Maybe if you have a reason you've earned that," she teases. It's not that they can't afford it, because they can, but she likes to tease him a bit about being so distractable. "I can't reward you for being forgetful." She can reward him, however, for being witty. This is his chance to earn such a reward.

[deardirect0r]

"What if I had a really good reason?" He wasn't sure how witty he was feeling at the moment. More excited, anxious, maybe even a bit giddy. A touch overwhelmed. This could finally happen. "Like, a really good reason. Not an excuse good reason."

He ran his hands along her arms, fingers lightly tracing the curves of her muscles. She might not be active duty anymore but she hadn't let that keep her from being in peek form. There was absolutely no doubt in his mind that she could give any of the kids she recruited a run for their money. He took a breath to steady the nervous energy that finally sharing his news was causing and realized he didn't have any witty words. This was too big for levity. "What if I told you I have someone willing to fund my research? All of it."

[a_ghost]

Her eyebrows raise and her jaw drops slightly. "Really?" she says. This had been something he'd been putting years of work into and having it pan out is something she simply had not expected to come home to. She knows from the way he's acting and the expression on his face it's true, so she doesn't wait for an answer before she presses back in toward him and gives him another kiss.