***** Vol.3 Chap.25 Dark clouds gathering *****

Frank wanted to refresh his coffee but saw that the refreshments had already been removed. The servers were cleaning the tables, getting them ready for the next day. It was still a little too early to meet with May-Ling. So, he decided to go back to his room and take care of some paperwork.

As he headed towards the elevator, a voice called him from behind.

“Frank! Frank!” It was Dr. Abrahamson. “That was a wonderful talk you gave this morning.”

“Oh, Chris, my pleasure as well. Thanks for inviting me.”

“You generated a lot of discussions among the meeting attendees. Everyone is talking about your presentation.”

“Really? I wasn’t planning on being that controversial.”

“But you did it!”

“No, Chris, YOU did it by putting my presentation with Doctor Chen’s together.” Frank pointed his finger back at Chris, who smiled.

Frank continued, “That was a stroke of genius. By placing the two talks together, YOU created quite a controversy.”

“Thank you very much. Nothing is better than a little competition, eh?”

“Competition or controversy. I am not sure which. Perhaps the truth is somewhere in between.”

“You really think so?”

“In fact, I am planning on having dinner with Doctor Chen so that we can carry on our discussion on the friendlier settings. Perhaps we can find some common ground for collaboration.”

“There, my boy. You are truly a scholar at heart,” Christ said, patting him on the shoulder.

“Not really, just trying to survive. You know the drill: publish or perish.”

They both laughed.

“Oh, yes, I know all too well! Glad it is you and not me.”

They both laughed again.

“Say, I am really interested in this. Let me make a proposal.” Chris abruptly suggested.

“Uh-oh.”

“Let me take both of you out for dinner and I will be the moderator. In case if things get out of hand, at least someone would be there to pay the bill.”

“Well, that is very kind of you, Chris, but…”

“I am sure it would be OK with Doctor Chen.”

“Well, you know what they say, ‘two is company, but three is a crowd.’”

“Don’t tell me you like Doctor Chen? She is married, you know.”

“Of course not.”

“OK, it is settled. I just want to listen in on the conversation.”

“Alright, I am supposed to meet her near the registration desk at six.”

“Great, I will see you then. I have a program committee meeting at five, but I will break away and meet you all at six.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Sounds good. I am heading back to my room to catch up on some paperwork. I’ll see you soon.”

“I am looking forward to it, Frank. Thanks for allowing me to join you all.”

Frank walked back to his room. As soon as he got inside, he immediately saw that the red message light on the phone was flashing.

He said to himself, this is crazy. Can’t a person have one day of rest?

He put his things down on the desk and hanged up his coat, then dialed for the information to retrieve the message.

“There were three messages.” A gentle voice on the phone announced.

“Message #1 was recorded at 10:00 am. Dr. Abdulcizi? This is Mary from the office. Please give Dr. Jim Thomas, the department Chair a call as soon as possible. End of Message.”

“Message #2 was recorded at 10:45 am. Frank? This is Jim. Something urgent came up. Can you call the office as soon as possible? End of Message.”

“Message #3 was recorded at 1:05 pm. Frank? This is Dean Cherry. We have an incident here that we like to discuss with you. Can you please call our office and tell Pam to patch you through to me? End of Message.”

“No more messages.”

Now, what is all that about? Frank asked himself.

He figured that all these phone calls were probably related, so he called his chair first.

“Mary, this is Frank! What is all the fuss about?”

“Uh, er, I am not too sure. Dr. Thomas is not here, but he left word that if you call, we are to ask you to call Dean Cherry right away.”

“Sounds mysterious. Anything that I should know?”

“I don’t really know, Dr. Abdulcizi.”

“Oh, Mary, you are a lousy liar.”

“Would you like me to transfer you to Dean Cherry?”

“Yes, please.”

“Hold on a minute.”

Frank waited for a few seconds.

“Dean Cherry’s office, Pam speaking. How may I direct your call?”

“Pam, just the one I need. This is Dr. Abdulcizi.”

“Oh, Dr. Abdulcizi, please wait for a minute. Dean Cherry is waiting for your call.”

Frank waited and waited and waited. All he heard is the spirit squad singing the school fighting song on the phone while he drummed his finger on the desk. Being put on hold in suspense was getting on his nerve.

“Just a minute, Dr. Abdulcizi, Dean Cherry is coming.”

Frank waited a lot longer than a minute.

“Dr. Abdulcizi?” Pam’s voice came on again.

“Yes?”

“Dean Cherry would like to find out if you would be back at the office tomorrow?”

“Yes, I am taking an early flight and should be back at the office in the early afternoon.”

“Great. He wants me to ask if you could come in and see him as soon as you get back to the office.”

“Sure. Do you know what this is all about?”

“I really don’t know, Dr. Abdulcizi. This is all that he wants me to ask you.”

“OK, tell him I will be in tomorrow afternoon.”

“I will pass on the message to him. What time should we be expecting you?”

“About 2:30?”

“OK, see you tomorrow.”

“Bye.”

“Good bye.”

Frank hung up the phone, but he still had no idea what was going on. He thought about it for a while, but determined that it was useless to second-guess the situation. Putting the matter to rest, he tried to get back to organizing his thoughts before meeting May-Ling for dinner.

Ona hunch, he thought of calling the lab and see if everything was all right. He picked up the phone and called JB. The phone rang and rang and rang. To his surprise, no one picked up the phone. That was unusual.

JB was always working on the computer in her office. In fact, JB should be working hard, cranking out the latest program results he asked for before he left for the conference. This was highly irregular that JB would not answer the phone.

He was really mystified and called the office.

“Computer Science.”

“Mary, this is Frank.”

“Hello, Dr. Abdulcizi. It is nice to hear your voice again. When will you be back in town?”

“Tomorrow afternoon.”

“I see. How can I help you today?”

“Well, I don’t seem to be able to find JB or Mark. Have you seen them today?”

“Yes, they came in and picked up their mail today. Would you like me to try their offices?”

“Nah, don’t border. I’ve already tried.”

“Would you like to leave a message for them?”

“No, that’s OK. It is nothing that important. I will see them tomorrow, anyway.”

“OK, let me know if there is anything I can do.”

“I guess not much at this point. Perhaps, if you see them, let them know I called.”

“I will leave them a note. Is there anything else?”

“No, that’s all. See you tomorrow.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

Frank learned nothing from that telephone exchange, either. So, he concentrated on generating areas of collaboration with May-Ling during their appointment in the evening; Frank sat in the nice comfortable chair and considered the events of the day for a while. He picked up two manuscripts that he was asked to review for the Journal of Artificial intelligence. Soon it was time to go.

Frank wanted at least to try calling the lab again, even though it was after five. He knew that JB seldom leave that early in a normal day. To his disappointment, again no one answered the phone. For a while, Frank thought his whole lab had gone on vacation since he, as the boss, was away.

Well, they deserved a vacation, Frank told himself, to calm down.