Authors: Dominick Fencer,Baibin Nighthawk
83
Pavel Doko didn’t like traveling very much, he was afraid of planes and suffered from air-sickness. So, when he was just forced to travel a distance of more than three-hundred miles, he always chose the train.
He had left his beloved bunker that Saturday morning for a long weekend with the aim of participating in the most famous European Bioinformatics Congress, which that year was being held in Varna, Bulgaria, an important commercial and tourist center on the Black Sea.
Anna had prepared his lunch for the train ride: two tuna sandwiches and salad, a red apple and a bar of dark chocolate. He also had two bottles of water and orange juice; with all those calories he would certainly not risk losing any weight.
Anna had embraced him and said goodbye with tears ready to fall down her cheeks as if he were going to the North Pole for months and would not be able to communicate with the rest of the world.
The train was packed with commuters who worked in Sofia during the week and then went home for weekends. Pavel looked out the window because he couldn’t concentrate on the book he had brought to read; in fact, he even suffered travel sickness on trains, though much less than flying.
In front of him sat a man in his forties who had got on the train with him in Sofia, and hadn’t stopped working on his laptop once. Pavel was curious how long the guy’s computer battery would last. In the last two hours the man had not raised his head even once.
Pavel thought about Anna’s lips and her long legs, he would have liked her to be next to him at precisely that moment to court her a little bit.
The week before he had considered taking her to the Congress, after all the place was nice and was located on the sea, but then he thought that she would have to bring the children with her and, having two speeches to give on Monday that he had to prepare between Saturday and Sunday, he decided to postpone and plan a romantic invitation that summer, when the kids would be on vacation with their grandparents.
Jànos Kozma, the man immersed in his laptop and in his ruminations, was touching the keys of the keyboard like they were the keys of a piano. When Pavel noticed it, he was fascinated: the movements of his fingers were smooth and seemed to follow his thoughts with a barely perceptible delay, as if the thought itself ran through his body and took shape without interruption from his hand.
There wasn’t much noise in the train, people were tired from the working week and couldn’t wait to get home. Most of them looked absent-mindedly out the windows at the landscape that marched away down towards the coast, cell phones rang only rarely, a sign that most had already agreed their plans for the evening.
Pavel was hungry, it was already an hour that he wanted to bite into one of the sandwiches, but since no one close to him had shown any interest in food he had restrained himself. He was a little embarrassed to eat with his hands, because half the contents of the sandwich usually ended up on his pants and the floor, and he preferred not to have other people’s eyes fixed on him.
Now, however, it was getting late and his body complained as his gastric juices flowed in his stomach, while the motion of the train was beginning to bother him, too: it was nearly two in the afternoon and he decided to pull out the first tuna sandwich.
As he tucked into the first bite with the voracity of a piranha, the battery of the piano man’s laptop began acting up and, in order to avoid losing his work, he saved the data and shut off the computer, then he put it in his trolley parked on the shelf above his head, standing up for a moment.
When he sat down again, he caught Pavel’s eye and afterwards stared at the sandwich, thoughtfully, until Pavel kindly asked:
"I have two tuna fish sandwiches, do you want one? I think that you are hungry but you have nothing with you."
"Excuse me, I didn’t want to intrude, my name is Jànos Kozma, I’m a Hungarian biophysicist from Budapest."
"It's a pleasure!" said Pavel interested.
"Pavel Doko, professor of Computer Science at the University of Sofia."
"Aha! But then we’re both going to the Congress! Are you giving a presentation?"
"A couple…on Monday. And you?"
"One on Sunday morning. I’m presenting the results of a nanotechnology project that I developed for my biotech company: I worked with my team to create genetic software to place into host cells to produce tissues and organs for transplants and grafts."
"That sounds very interesting,” said Pavel. “My two speeches will be very different from each other: the first will be a discussion on epistemology and the theoretical foundations of information; the second concerns the study that I carried out with my university on hacker attacks against large corporations and public institutions in the last three years."
"I’ll be there to hear you speak,” said Jànos kindly, “but please call me Jànos."
"Of course…Jànos. Here…take a sandwich…they’re really good, and have some water too. I have two bottles." said Pavel. In fact he was a generous man and he never made anybody feel guilty when he deprived himself of something for them.
“Thanks, in fact I forgot about food myself. I have not finished the report or the abstract for my speech, and I have very little time." While he spoke, he bit into the tuna sandwich.
"Very yummy! Did you make yourself?" he asked enthusiastically.
"No, a friend of mine in Sofia. She takes care of me every now and then."
"Every now and then? So am I to understand that you're not married?"
"No, in fact, I live with a robot I designed that does the cleaning but cannot cook well at all, and you?"
"Me, neither. And, by the way, I just moved my things to a different apartment in Budapest…up until a week ago I lived together with my girlfriend and a cat, but I hate cats, I love dogs and now I hate her too, she acted like a cat."
"Too independent for your taste?" asked Pavel.
"Nah, opportunistic and only purred when she could get something out of it or someone was cooking for her. She was also afraid of water and couldn’t swim. What could I do with someone like her when my favorite sport is surfing?"
"In fact. What hotel are you staying at in Varna? I'm staying at the Splendid Royal."
"So am I. What a coincidence! Look, today is the only day we have off, what do you think about leaving our luggage at the hotel, and then taking a walk in the city and checking out the sea?"
"That's fine with me. I don’t know Varna and I'm not going to lock myself up in the hotel. Besides, we’ll be there in half an hour."
Three hours later, Pavel and Jànos, dressed as sports-minded tourists, left the Naval Museum in Varna to head to the Roman Baths.
When they arrived, they were impressed by how well they had been maintained. Partially invaded by Mediterranean vegetation, the massive walls of the ruined baths rose majestically upwards. One could make out the gym and several private rooms of the baths: the locker room, the frigidarium, tepidarium and caldarium.
Afterwards they went down to the basement to see the latrines; their evolution over the millennia was a topic that had always intrigued Pavel.
"Pavel, what about going to the beach?" asked Jànos.
"Okay, enough tourism, let's see if there are any good..."
"If there are any what..?"
"Beautiful girls, the eye needs a treat, too. The mind and the heart have been already satisfied by our visit to the museum and the spa," replied Pavel with a laugh. He was the first not to believe what he was saying.
84
The sea was smooth, the sandy beach was wide, located near the major port, and there were kayaks and Hobie Cats available for rent.
"How about a ride on that?" asked Jànos pointing to a white and red Hobie Cat.
"Don't laugh, but I suffer from sea-sickness, you wouldn’t enjoy it with me," said Pavel eyeing the catamaran nervously.
"Then, do you mind if I take a ride in a kayak? Half an hour..."
"Of course not. I’ll enjoy the beach and the landscape, and watch you from the bar…enjoy a good cup of coffee. Go ahead."
Jànos paid for the kayak rental and, while Pavel sat down at a table by the sea to order some coffee, he went into the water.
Pavel followed Jànos with his eyes as he was paddling out to sea; he had the physique of a rower and seemed to glide over the water effortlessly, keeping perfect pace and maintaining a straight line.
At one point, Pavel saw him gesturing with one hand, then the other and finally with both; Jànos had dropped the paddle, which now floated in the water, something was wrong because he was bent forward and wasn’t moving.
When Jànos disappeared into the water, Pavel emptied his pockets and immediately took off his belt and shoes, screaming to the bartender to call for help, as he dived into the sea.
He reached Jànos, who was struggling with the current that threatened to drag him out to sea, pulled Jànos’ head out of the water and made sure that he could breathe. Jànos was gasping for breath, he was very sick and had almost lost consciousness.
As he was taking him back to the beach, Pavel saw that he had a welt on his neck that was growing wider and a big stinger was stuck inside it.
They got to the shore as the rescue personnel arrived with a doctor. As he laid Jànos carefully onto the sand, he told the paramedics that most probably it was an anaphylactic shock caused by a hornet sting, and he showed them the welt on Jànos’ neck with his finger and the stinger he had removed from it.
Before loading him into the ambulance the doctor injected Jànos with adrenaline, then he was transported to the vehicle where they gave him intravenous antihistamines; Pavel kept an eye on him, hoping he would regain consciousness quickly.
Jànos recovered completely in the emergency room with a drip attached to his arm and with Pavel who looked on relieved.
"Shit Pavel, Jesus! I almost died…now I know I'm allergic to hornet stings. Saying thanks to you…it's not enough…if it were not for you, I would have drowned or died from the shock."
"You were lucky! I'm happy to hear you talking again. I spoke to the doctors, in a couple of hours they will discharge you. You scared me! I sorry, I didn’t know how to call your family."
"So much the better,” smiled Jànos. “My sister is the kind of person that stirs up trouble by making much ado about nothing and besides our relationship is not idyllic. I’ll find a way to thank you, believe me, these are things you never forget."
After a couple of hours, they got back to the hotel where Pavel accompanied Jànos to his room.
"How do you feel?" asked Pavel, taking a chair by the window.
"Like I had a truck run over me twice,” laughed Jànos, “the first time because they wanted to get a strike, the second time to make sure I was completely stretched out…but all in all, not bad, I suppose."
"Let's order something to eat from room service. What would you like?"
"I'd like a Niçoise salad and a bottle of still water."
"I’ll have a steak with French-fries and a slice of chocolate cake. Beer, I also want a beer, I deserve it!" said the hacker who, exhausted by the release of adrenaline, was now very hungry.
After finishing dinner, Pavel rose from his chair and asked Jànos, "Do you feel like being alone tonight, or would you prefer that we make a plan and I keep you company?"
Jànos looked at him with gratitude and answered candidly, "I'd prefer it if you stayed. You know, I got really scared back there and I still feel suffocated..."
"Agreed, we can do it this way: you move into my room tonight. I have a double-room and so you’ll have your own bed and the matter is solved. Please don’t snore. Sniff all you want, but don’t snore. But you know what? I'm still hungry." Pavel said, laughing.
85
In the morning, Pavel Doko was awakened by a call from reception inviting him to go to the lobby by 9:00 am before having his breakfast.
He got up and looked out of the window: the weather was beautiful and there wasn’t a cloud to be seen in the sky.
Jànos wasn’t in the room and there wasn’t even the small travel case he had had with him; Pavel tried to call him by dialing his room, but no one answered.
He dressed a bit puzzled and looked at the time; he had plenty of time to go to reception and to have a hearty breakfast before going to the Congress.
Wearing a strong smelling aftershave, he went down to the lobby, where the receptionist gave him a huge smile, left her post and took him under her arm.
"Come with me, Dr. Doko," she said, inviting him to walk.
The girl made him go through part of the garden and took him to the pool: under a beach umbrella, the most spectacular buffet that he had ever seen had been set up.
"Good morning, my friend! What a scent trail you're leaving!" said Jànos, who appeared out of nowhere. "Knowing that you are a gourmand, I thought we should celebrate my rescue and rebirth. What do you say?"
"It's just great!" replied Pavel. He couldn’t wait to eat everything that was on the table.
"So let's start,” said Jànos. “I have the speech this morning in two hours and the congress will open in an hour. You know that I didn’t have the time to complete the last part? I'll have to speak off the cuff, damn it!"
"You’ll be extraordinary! I'm sure of it…but this is so good, so good!" Pavel looked like a child in the land of plenty.
They arrived on time at the conference and Jànos’ presentation was greatly appreciated by the audience. In the evening, they went out to dinner together at a well-known fish restaurant in the commercial port.
"You see, Pavel, I don’t miss my ex-girlfriend," began Jànos after the first glass of wine. "I miss women in general. I’m not able to live all alone, I get bloody bored. Well, you see ," he said, nodding his head to the left. “I like that kind of woman.”
"But she’s fat!" said Pavel in surprise.
"I know, she’s very fat, what should I say? I like fat and gelatinous women, soft and wobbly like the powder puddings that you find at the supermarket and prepare by just adding milk."
"And what do you see in them? I’m a sedentary person, not an athlete, but I like them slender, with small breasts."
"I like to sink in the softness of the roundness, but look at her well, she has a lovely face."
"Yes, it's true. If you want, I can introduce you to her!"
"Forget it, we're leaving tomorrow. I’m not the type who seduces women and then abandons them!"
"How are you returning to Budapest?"
"Directly by plane from Varna tomorrow."
"I'll take the train and maybe, I say maybe, I’ll go out to dinner with Anna as well."
"You are very fond of her, even if she’s only your friend."
"For me she’s a very special woman, even if, objectively, I suppose she’s nothing special."
"In my opinion this is also an epistemological question," Jànos said laughing, while the night lights reflected on the calm water of the harbor and marked the inexorable end of the day.
The next morning, Pavel’s two presentations achieved remarkable success and at the end of the congress, the two said goodbye to each other and promised to meet again soon.
Pavel, who had now been on the train back for a couple of hours, and not having any sandwiches prepared by Anna’s magical hands, sadly pulled out an apple he had stolen from the buffet at the conference and devoured it without satisfaction.