“Ballerinas, particularly principal dancers, have a relatively short stage life. Ten to fifteen years is about it. After that your body begins to slow down.”
He chuckled. “That’s ridiculous. You’re beautiful on stage. I’ve never seen anything as graceful and exciting. How can you be too old just because the chronological clock says so?”
“I am slowing down, I can feel it” she nearly whispered timidly half afraid to even speak the words aloud. “The intense training the nomadic lifestyles have all taken its toll. The limelight isn’t as bright as it used to be. My body can’t do the things it once could.”
“Your body is perfect,” J.T. assured her. “It’s more than perfect it’s what keeps me awake at night.”
Juliet smiled at the compliment. “I have question for you.”
“Okay.”
“How can you be your mother’s son and still not love the arts?”
“Because I’m also my father’s son,” he said.
“But she’s an artist. Didn’t you grown up with it?”
“At times, but you’d be surprised what you can avoid when your extremely good with computers.”
She smiled. “When am I going to get tired of you?”
“Is that what you’re waiting for, the other shoe to drop?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
“Why?”
“It always does.”
“Maybe, not this time.” He drove around to the front of the building, pulled into a parking space and turned off the ignition.
Juliet hadn’t been paying attention to his driving. She became aware when he pulled up to a gated complex. He lowered the window and waved at the guard’s booth. The uniformed man acknowledged him and allowed him to pass immediately.
“Where are we?” She asked.
“E-Corp, Evans Corporation, the family business.”
He got out and opened the door for her. He escorted her through the main lobby to the executive elevators and then to the top floor. They walked down the hall with J.T. explaining the basics of his position and E-Corp’s place in the computer industry.
“Sounds nice. Where did all this come from initially?”
“What do you mean?”
“Old money, new money, trust funds, great investments?”
J.T. nodded his understanding. “New money. My father was in the computer industry long before there was one. When it broke wide open with the dotcoms he was there and we’ve been on the cutting edge ever since.”
“What about you?” she asked as they continued walking.
“I’ve always been into computers. I was actually a sudo-hacker as a teen, I back-doored into some pretty interesting places. But ultimately, you could say that I got in and out of the dotcoms in plenty of time to make a nice chunk of change.”
At the end of the hall J.T. stopped. He opened the door with a plaque on the side wall that read,
J.T. Evans, Chief Executive Officer
. As soon as the door opened a soft glow surrounded them. Juliet stepped inside and looked around at the ultra-modern, sterile environment. She walked further into the office then over to the desk. She sat down and spun the chair around once stopped with her palms on the desk. She looked around again then focused her attention on the panel of buttons on his desk. “What do these do?”
J.T. leaned across his desk and pushed a button. Instantly four computer monitors appeared from inside his desk top and a rectangular cover slid back revealing the most extensive keyboard she’d ever seem. Juliet ran her finger across the tops of the screens. “Impressive, what are they exactly?”
“It’s a multi screen system.”
“A computer?”
“Yes, basically it’s a computer system with four interconnected monitors.”
“That sounds simple, what does it do exactly?”
“It allows me to access a number of programs and networks simultaneously giving me greater access to information.”
“Cool.”
“They’re prototypes called thinking systems or basically a modified artificial intelligence.”
“Artificial intelligence, as in robots?”
“Yes, in its simplest form.”
“You have robots on your desk.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, something like that.”
She nodded not sure she actually believed what he had told her. She leaned in and looked over the keys on the keyboard. “How do you turn it on, or should I refer to it by name?”
“No name, there are several security checks before the operating system accepts a command.” She looked at him questioning as he continued, “voice print, access codes and a retinal scan.”
“All that?”
“All that.” He confirmed.
“What happens if someone else tries to turn on the system without having all that?”
“There’s an intrusion system that automatically counters with what would be conceived as unauthorized access. For instance, the system will completely lockdown and go into search and retrieve mode.”
Juliet smiled, this was sounding more and more like a sci-fi future thriller. “Okay,” she decided to leave that line of questioning alone. “What about outside hackers?”
“This is a standalone system with limited cyber access to the mainframe. It can gain information via the net without exposing itself to hackers.”
“And that’s good why?”
“The more information, the faster I do my job.”
“What exactly is it that you do?”
“I run the company.”
“You’re the CEO and you run the company, that’s it? No job description.”
He smiled remembering his mother’s threat of defining print job description for him. “As a matter of fact I understand that there’s one in the works. But officially, no, according to my schedule I basically create program codes and make sure that everything runs smoothly.”
“Really?”
“Lately I’ve been working on a new program code that would allow an encrypted cipher to denote a predetermined digitized code. The code would then develop into an A-linear cryptographic system to arbitrarily transpose units according to a predetermined binary code.”
“Sounds like fun, but I thought E-Corp made computer games.”
J.T. smiled at the usual question. “We do that too, at least one division does. They’re located on the west coast.”
“How many offices do you have?”
“There are three satellite offices in California, Seattle, New York, this is the main facility.”
“And who runs them?”
“I do, but up until about a month ago I ran the satellite offices directly. I worked out of three different offices and lived out of two different hotels in three different cities. The demands of the position required me to travel constantly. But now we’ve consolidated and brought more work in house at this location.”
“Are you here at this site permanently?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“So, do you approve?”
She looked around the office again, “it’s not what I expected.”
“Really, what did you expect?” He asked as he walked around to the front of the desk and sat down in one of the two seats. She didn’t answer, but instead bit at her lower lip causing a ripple through his stomach. It was a habit of hers that he was beginning to recognize well. He first noticed it in New York then later when he walked into her dressing room and found him standing there looking at him.
“Something softer, warmer, less harsh.”
“Ouch,” he mocked injury to his decorating taste.
She shrugged and twitched her nose, another habit he knew well and found captivating. “You put on the straight-laced, corporate armor. I guess I expected to see the real you someplace in your life.”
“What if this is the real me?” he asked.
“It’s not.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“If it were I never would have talked you into sharing a hotel room with me.”
He chuckled softly. “You’re that sure?”
“I’m positive.” She nodded and casually glanced down at the folder and papers on his desk. The yellow and black
Carmen
playbill instantly caught her eye. She picked it up and looked it over. “Not exactly
Fortune 500
reading is it, or does it have the Dow Jones and NASDAQ listed in the back cover?”
“My mom gave that to me when she gave me the invitation that first night.”
Juliet nodded. “Your mother, Taylor, the woman you said was at home that first night at the Ritz Carlton.” He nodded. She nodded, “funny.”
“I thought so.”
“And it’s been on your desk since then?” She stood and slowly walked around to his side of the desk.
He leaned back watching her approach. “Housekeeping has been slack lately.”
“Liar,” she said standing in front of him. Then impulsively she rose up on her toes and spun around several times her arms gracefully rounded in front of her in port de bras. When her final rotation was complete she ended facing him with her arms open. “Dance with me.”
J.T. smiled, still admiring her perfect movements even in street clothes and heels. “I have a better idea, you dance for me.” His thoughts instantly went to the first night when he watched her private dance in the dark studio.
“Like the night in the studio.” She said sliding onto his lap. He nodded slowly not at all surprised that she was able to read his thoughts. She kissed him softly.
“You were very good that night.”
“Yes I was.”
“It was amazing to see you holding some of those positions for so long. Your balance was remarkable.”
“It’s all in the mind.”
“Funny, I thought it was in the body.”
“Line, clarity, elevation, dynamics and balance.”
“What are those?”
“They’re all aspects of dance. And in the ultimate sense, they’re aspects of the universe.”
“You want to try that again?”
“Everything has balance. For every yin, there is yang, positive and negative, male and female, up and down, right side of the brain, left side of the brain. One side is lost without the other side.”
“I see,” he said.
“Knowing that every action has an equal and defined reaction keeps all life in balance.”
“Fascinating, one of Albert Einstein’s mathematical theories used in dance, that’s an interesting concept.”
“The idea of balance is all around, even in the no name robot computer sitting on your desk. Each time you open a program, you must close it, thus a universal balance.”
“Since when are dancers so analytical?”
“Balance, the body and brain live as one.”
He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer to his body. He kissed her as the passion he felt deepened. Tasting and teasing, they relished each other as the building desire burned. His hands touched her body as his heart had touched her soul.