“Likewise.” Matty stood in the doorway. He wondered if his professor wanted anyone else in there.
“Don’t hover. Come in or get out.” Professor Chertok picked up some screws from the floor. “Imelda was having some functioning issues. Her arm wasn’t extending all the way. I figured it was a coding glitch.”
“It’s been very humid this week. I wonder if that’s causing circuitry problems.”
“That’s possible. I should get her into a climate-controlled room.” Professor Chertok looked up at Imelda and shook his head. “You are so difficult.”
“I don’t want to disturb you.” Matty turned to leave, but Professor Chertok held up a hand.
“I’m almost done. And it seems like I am the one disturbing you.” Professor Chertok wiped away some dust off of Imelda. “Are you here to work on your project for the competition?”
“I am. I thought it would be less busy than the computer lab.”
Professor Chertok seemed pleased by his answer, which pleased Matty. He’d wanted to get back into the professor’s good graces after that last test. “This really is the best time to do work. Nobody will disturb you in here for at least another two hours.”
“That’s good.” Matty sat on a stool and watched him wipe dust off of Imelda’s visual processing lenses.
“I’m glad you’re here, Matty.” Professor Chertok tossed his handkerchief into his front shirt pocket. Matty noticed the crags and creases of his face and how his wild, electric blue eyes belied a touch of madness. “I was worried about you.”
“Me? Why?”
“I saw a great deal of myself in you. Ambitious, driven, brilliant. But then that started to fall off.”
Matty burned with embarrassment. Professor Chertok didn’t need to elaborate, but he did anyway.
“Your grades have been slipping, and I know it’s not because the material is getting harder.”
“I just…” Matty didn’t want to admit it. He let this happen. Everything in his life seemed so frivolous at the moment, compared to giant tech breakthroughs he could make. For science, for his mom.
“College is filled with lots of distractions. I get it. But so is life!” Professor Chertok slammed his hand on the table. He spoke with a weight that Matty hadn’t seen from him. “The great ones don’t let themselves get distracted. They know how to focus.”
“You’re right. I can focus, Professor. I am in the Zone.” His words faltered. He wasn’t sure how focused he had been. He had let himself get distracted, but that’s not how he saw Coop. He wasn’t taking away from his life, but adding to it.
“When you wake up every morning, you need to say that out loud, so you can hear it. Focus is key, Matty.”
“I’ve been at the computer lab every day.”
“You don’t just need to earn it. You need towantit.” Professor Chertok strolled away, toward Imelda. He circled her, studying the sensors on her hands. “I was married once. Barely older than you. She supported me through my years of graduate school and getting my PhD. She knew how great I could be. But she wanted us to have that typical life of kids and houses with white picket fences, and I had to make a choice. I could have gone down that path. I could’ve had a family. But then where would my research be? Where would the field of robotics be? The greats, Nicola Tesla, Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs, they all had singular focus. They chose their priority.”
Priority singular. No pluralization.Matty remembered.
“I developed robotic surgical tools that have helped doctors perform operations thought unimaginable. Hundreds of lives have been saved. My research will make artificial intelligence the stuff of reality one day, not science fiction. I had to make a choice.” Professor Chertok held Imelda’s robotic hand, caressing the sensors softly. “I chose to focus.”
“Skin,” Imelda said.
Professor Chertok smiled at her, maybe the same way he had smiled at his ex-wife all those years ago. Matty felt himself turn to steel as the professor’s words sunk in.
“Looks like she’s all fixed.” Professor Chertok patted Matty on the shoulder on his way out. “Keep up the hard work.”
* * *
Others must’ve hadthe same idea as him. A few hours later, the computer lab was now full with students. Linh waved and said hi to him when she entered the lab, and he returned the courtesy, but that was it. He had to focus. His eyes flickered to his “Don’t Mess with Texas” flash drive, and he thought of Coop’s fingers on it. Lucky flash drive.
He realized he had to rewrite some of the code to get it to function properly. He scribbled away in his notebook hoping to get some clarity that way, but he kept picturing a ticking clock and wondering what his other classmates had up their sleeves. Matty slammed his pen down on his notebook, feeling the red emanate off his face. His classmates gawked at him. Linh stared at him from her computer, with caring in her eyes. She came over to him.
“Do you need help with anything?” she asked.
“No. I got it.”
