The ELI Event B007R5LTNS

mug, the brown one with the chipped handle. When they returned to the lab, Kelly seemed to have recovered her normal good mood. He handed her the steaming mug.
    “Kelly, I’d like you to meet Professor John Marx. Professor, Dr. Kelly Duncan.”
    “Good to meet you,” she said as they shook hands.
    “Professor Marx is visiting from the University of Washington to take a gander at your work here with Eli.” Sanderson added quickly, “Yours and Steve’s, er, Dr. Wheeler’s work. Their AI program is all fired up about our bioelectronic whiz kid here and would like Professor Marx to learn as much as he can in the next few days. You mind lettin’ him sit in on your sessions with Eli?”
    “I’ll try not to get in the way,” Marx said softly.
    “Sure, no problem.”
    Eli panned and zoomed his camera to examine the newcomer. Tall, thin, middle aged, pale complexion, goatee, graying combover, rumpled clothing. A basic match with the biographical information on Professor John Marx that he had just retrieved from the University of Washington’s faculty data base. He silently took in the conversation.
    “I didn’t know you were coming, Professor,” Kelly said, looking pointedly at Sanderson.
    “Oh, um, yeah. Well, I heard he was comin’ a few days ago, but kinda forgot to tell you. Sorry about that.”
    Kelly wrinkled her mouth and nodded. “No problem. Glad to have another warm body around here,” she said to Marx. “What’s the University’s interest in a little private lab like ours, anyway?”
    Marx smiled cordially. “No need to be coy, Dr. Duncan. It is common knowledge that you and your partner are making great strides here in AI research.”
    “Yeah, well, Eli is really Steve’s baby, you know,” she said. “I’m just the pediatrician, so to speak.”
    “And, I’m given to understand, the teacher, the counselor, the mentor, the…”
    Kelly raised a hand, cutting him off. “Yeah, those too sometimes.”
    “Kelly designed Eli’s electroneurological interface ,” Sanderson said. “And we’re mighty proud to have her. She left a solid private practice to come help us out.” He raised his mug and blew gently over the hot coffee’s surface.
    “Well, I just thought there should be more to life than nose jobs, breast implants, and tummy tucks,” she explained. “Although I have to admit that doing my own boob job was pretty interesting.”
    Sanderson froze in mid-blow, lips pursed comically, eyes wide, then slowly lowered the mug.
    A broad grin spread across Kelly’s face. “Gotcha!” she winked. To Marx, she added, “It’s okay; I do this to him all the time.” Marx just looked at her.
    “Dang it, she does, too.” Sanderson admitted cheerfully.
    Eli’s infrared sensors reported to him that Dr. Sanderson was exhibiting some unusual physical reactions in response to Kelly’s joke. He made a note to ask Kelly about them later.
    She broke the silence. “Sorry Steve had to, uh, leave so suddenly.”
    “I take it there is some philosophical friction between your work and Dr. Wheeler’s?” Marx asked.
    “Ah, we’re both a bit… intense, yeah. He gets to storm out on Tuesday and Thursday; I get Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.”
    Marx looked at her impassively. She sighed.
    “So what was that all about?” Sanderson asked, inclining his head toward the doorway.
    “Oh, the usual. He’s pissed off because I’ve got Eli’s attention for a while. But he’ll get over it; he always does.” She shook her blonde head. “Damn him, he’s so pigheaded! If he’d just realize—”
    “Um, speaking of Eli,” Sanderson interrupted, “how are you today, ol’ buddy?”
    Eli immediately responded to the direct query. His voice was smooth, calm, soothing; his hologram showed a pleasant, clean-cut, 1950s-TV-dad kind of face. “Quite well, thank you, Dr. Sanderson. And you?”
    “Me? Oh, I’m finer than frog’s hair, thanks. What’s on the agenda this mornin’?”
    Marx watched this interaction with intense interest, but said nothing.
    “Kelly has promised to discuss poetry with me,” Eli replied. His vocal tones changed slightly, becoming more friendly, more animated. The face subtly softened a little, the cheekbones more rounded, the lips a bit more upturned than before. “May we please start now, Kelly?”
    Kelly raised her eyebrows. “Impatience, Eli? That’s a very human-like trait. Well, I guess even that’s a step in the right direction.” She settled herself at