The Escapement Mechanism, Part 24
They were back in the lab, and Ada was trying to convince them that they had been making progress. "Let me try again, we were really getting somewhere last time," she said. Utsab handed over the device. Wemly could tell when he was frustrated, and had previously described Ada's technical ability as "like a student's, but with more confidence and less self-awareness". She had been hanging around even when it wasn't strictly necessary. Wemly liked having the company of someone besides Utsab, even if Ada's largely flirtatious attention was mostly directed towards Utsab.
Ada put on the device and let out a low moan. That was new. Nothing like that had happened any of the other times she had worn the device. "Are you okay?" asked Utsab as Ada uncurled her fingers from the arms of the chair. Wemly didn't place her outburst as discomfort.
"Fine," she said breathily, "and I can't wait to make you just as fine." She was speaking to Utsab. Ada crossed the space between them and straddled his lap before he could formulate a response. Wemly started to get up, but the gently flailing limbs of Utsab trying to remove Ada without injuring her forced her back to her seat. Ada was insistently thrusting against him; the chair rolled back in centimeter increments.
What could she do? This would get Ada kicked out of Warner's lab for sure. She could try and pull Ada off, but Utsab didn't really need the help. Ada would most likely get booted from the PhD program itself. Even if Utsab had been willing, there was no way to claim ignorance of official university policy with Wemly sitting right there.
But Ada didn't seem to mind. "C'mon," she was saying to Utsab, "be more like last time." She removed her shirt and dropped it to the floor, trying to guide Utsab's hands as he flailed, but he refused to be led.
"Last time?" said Wemly. "You two have been fooling around? Is that why she's been around so much lately?"
"I don't know what she's talking about," protested Utsab as he twisted under Ada in the compromising position he had been forced into. Finally he stood up, and Ada toppled to the floor, bracing herself with hands that had moments before been behind her back about to release a clasp.
"Fuck," said Ada, "you two are the most inconsistent people I know, I'm surprised any of your experiments are repeatable." A sense of dread bloomed in Wemly's stomach as Ada began throwing office supplies at Utsab. "You don't want this now?" she yelled. A pen bounced off of Utsab's hands that he had brought up to shield his face. "Last time you couldn't get enough." She turned to face Wemly. "Neither could you."
No, no, no, no, not like this. The rash and uncharacteristic behaviour could only mean one thing: the mechanism worked. And worse: it wasn't in her control. Why Ada? She hadn't done anything that they hadn't. Had it worked the first time for her? And they kept giving her the device every time they met. Ada could ... she could be doing anything.
A highlighter hit Wemly in the chest. "But fuck having a good time I guess. Why does everything have to be so difficult!" Ada hurled a stapler at Utsab. It hit his forehead and fell into his lap, followed by a prodigious stream of blood. "I don't know why... I guess first times are ontologically special."
Ada suddenly slumped down in her chair. She looked very tired. Deflated. As if she had just received a final grade that limited her future school choice. She peeled the escapement mechanism off her neck. "This thing never works," she said, and tossed it at Utsab, overhand like a baseball. He caught it. "A pity you aren't always so consistent," Ada said, and then stormed out of the room.
"What the fuck was that all about?" asked Utsab.
Wemly shook her head. "No idea, and I don't know why you keep inviting her in the first place. Well, I do. But it doesn't seem to be working."
Utsab smiled back at her. "Oh, do you now?" he said, and flung a pencil from the desk in Wemly's direction.