The orbital corridor was a huge artificial ring that circled the planet of Irvania a few leagues below its natural asteroid belt at a perpendicular angle. A magnetic railway track ran along the corridor. An ultra-high-velocity train periodically sped through the track, going around the planet in circles.
If one were so inclined, they could jog along the platforms on either side and cover the entire circumference on foot, though it would take more than a year to do so.
The academy was built like a torus around the orbital corridor. Building complexes housing the teaching facilities as well as student apartments were constructed along the inner sides of the torus - commonly called the hull. The train stopped at evenly distributed station points every two leagues, providing the staff and students of the academy free and easy access to the facilities. The academy was completely off the ground - a technological masterpiece—when it was constructed.
While ascending from the torus to the corridor, one experienced a gravity shift. The artificial gravity in the apartments was aligned with the inner hull of the torus. So as the lift ascended (always up from the perspective of a resident) towards the corridor, Norman held on to the guardrails along the lift as he felt his weight disappearing, and then reappearing as the gravity realigned in a different direction - towards the floor of the corridor. New joiners always found it to be a fascinating experience the first couple of times, but just like everything else, you get used to it after the first dozen times.
Norman was waiting for the next revolution of the train to reach him at a café, sipping an erudian coffee on station 178, when Mervin approached him.
Because each platform connected only a dozen or so apartment complexes, the large cafés for waiting passengers were rarely overcrowded. So, these cafés also commonly served as a convenient place for casual conversations and academic discussions for small groups of students. Around him, there were multiple groups of two to four students - none of whom he could recognize - huddled together at various tables. Almost all of them were busy interacting with small holographic projections on their academy-issued tablets. The room was bathed in a soft pale blue light, and lined along its glass walls were an array of automated coffee dispensers. All free, of course.
Norman sighed inward but put up a smile. Mervin was one of the brightest students in their cohort, but their interest areas had very little overlap. And the guy loved to talk.
"Hey Norman, seeing you after a long time." Mervin assumed Norman's smile to be an invitation to join him at the table. Norman hated when people did that, but at least Mervin was agreeable company. Somewhat. "What happened to you? You look sick." Mervin continued.
"Nothing serious, just haven't been sleeping too well." Norman reminded himself of his sponsor Leptimus's advice - all the students of Illustrious Academy ended up in important positions in administration, security or research. It was important to build a network and collaborate with other students.
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"Being a genius lone wolf can only take you so far," his mentor had advised. The man was arrogant and haughty, but he did make some reasonable points from time to time.
After some light chat about the political scene and the God King's response to escalations on the Irudian front, the discourse inevitably gravitated towards the topic of their dissertations. After their initial three years, the students did not have regular classes to attend. Instead, they spent most of their time working on annual dissertations of increasingly higher scope and complexity for each of the next seven years. They were the single most important aspect of life in the academy. Every year, the scholarch deemed some 10% of the lowest-ranking dissertations unacceptable, and the students behind them were eliminated from the course - they would never be deemed qualified artificers, and be relegated to less prominent support roles in the industry.
"Yes, it is coming along quite well - I have finally solved the Domiter's Knot." A distinct change in tone in his voice made it abundantly clear that Mervin was now entering his element.
Norman tried hard to remember what the esoteric mathematical concept was. Mervin's interest lay in deeply abstract fields of theoretical mathematics, and Norman tended to always focus on areas that had immediate practical applications. "Sorry, I am sure I have heard about it in past, but could you please remind me of what this particular mathematical knot was. I vaguely recall something that had applications on mining of rare metals in asteroid belts."
"Yeah, of course you remember the most boring part," Mervin casually smiled. It was no secret that people like him always pursued research areas that triggered their fancy and later identified some or other esoteric applications in the wild to justify it to the funding committee.
Sometimes, when these hastily cooked-up practical applications failed to materialize, careers had been ruined. While the scholarch appreciated investigations into the theoretical underpinnings of the universe, the organizations that funded the research - especially the Protectorate - were most interested in research that could be put to use in the field. Mervin, though, was one of the smartest ones in the batch, and his proposed applications had always been nothing short of record-breaking.
However, Norman had often wondered what a mind like his could accomplish if it was applied to something that was directly focused on real-world problems that would benefit the lives of millions. Some esoteric mathematical solution whose best application lied in mining rare materials just wasn't real-world enough for Norman. He suddenly noticed with a start, that there was a subtle red light emanating from the right side of Mervin's chest. He squinted, and then the subtle red light changed into something that looked like a diagram projected from an out-of-focus projector. But when he turned to look at the other side of the platform, he couldn't locate the source. And after turning back, he noticed that the projection had disappeared.
Norman dismissed it and refocused on the conversation. Mervin had not noticed anything and continued to excitedly talk about how his work bridged two sub-streams of mathematics that were previously thought of as entirely unrelated.
Over the next hour or so, the train had come and gone, and Norman and Mervin continued to discuss the minutiae of higher-level mathematical theory that simplified complex motion simulations in unpredictable deep-space environments. After a while, Norman unexpectedly found himself quite engrossed in the discussion. And while Mervin was mostly interested in the theoretical underpinnings, Norman could see a few more applications. Probably for the next year, he could look into a collaboration with Mervin on one of these once his exploration had sufficiently matured for real-world applications. He also realized that his leg was actually in a relaxed state, and for the first time in weeks, he felt at ease. The throbbing in his head was gone, and he could actually focus on the topic. That was quite interesting; it looked like all this talk about theoretical science had driven his companion to slumber.
As Mervin excitedly raved about the complexities of higher-dimensional unstable ellipsoidal trajectories, Norman noticed that a fidgety, dark-haired girl had been eyeing him time to time from two seats across. She had also missed the train and was now slowly sipping on her third refill of coffee while pretending to study the tablet in front of her.