(Two days later)

Norman had invited Kiri to join him in one of the shared cafeterias for a discussion on their annual project. Arianna, too, had joined them at Norman's request.

Over the last few weeks, Arianna and Norman had gotten closer. They'd often exchange texts deep into the night, their discussions often deviating from their project into various other aspects of life at the academy, their past lives in their home worlds, Yokidon and sometimes even galactic politics.

Norman usually didn't frequent public places, preferring to conduct discussions through holcoms. But over the last few weeks, he had developed a renewed appreciation for larger, open spaces.

Kiri's recent excuse was the reason they were meeting today. To explain her injury and absence, she had claimed to have accidentally wrecked her own leg while trying out modifications to an augmented exoskeleton. That earned her a temporary penalty, prohibiting her from working on military applications for the duration of this year. The academy took these incidents seriously, and safety breaches went into permanent records.

So suddenly, she too found herself in need of a dissertation that was unrelated to military and defense applications, and there was nothing farther from military than agriculture. So now, here they were discussing the possibility of a collaboration.

"You both are top-rated students. I can't believe that you would actually suggest a direct hand on collaboration." Arianna was just as surprised by this proposal.

"While this project is indeed interesting, we would need to expand the

scope somewhat to accommodate a dissertation for three students." Kiri

thought out aloud. She had been looking at the hybrid hydroponic design that Norman had sent across the day before.

Celine, as expected, jumped from Norman's shoulder straight into Kiri's lap and settled there.

Norman agreed, "Yes, my proposal is to also cover cultivation in worlds devastated by nuclear wars of ages past."

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

That surprised them both, "How does that fit in here? The environmental conditions there would be entirely different. It is like a wholly different problem."

"Not entirely. Another project I recently took up for Zenith Fidaeus involved low-power defensive shielding." Norman continued. "They have expressed some interest in sponsoring extended work on this. And they already have customers in multiple worlds that are still recovering from nuclear wars or large-scale demolitions."

Kiri suppressed a growing sense of dread. "Oh, the benchmarks I had accidentally seen in your room the other day." Norman wondered if the slight change in color on Arianna's face was just his imagination.

"That actually makes a lot of sense." Kiri scratched her temples. "We will be able to combine the two works and develop fully shielded biomes that completely protect its crops from the toxic radiation."

"Yes," Norman nodded. "The only caveat is that my current implementation is optimized for usage in outer space. Adapting that to in-ground usage - especially in a heavily contaminated atmosphere, will be a significant amount of work."

Kiri beamed, "And while you work on the shielding front, I can look into how to salvage contaminated ground and make it cultivation worthy."

"Wow," Arianna was visibly excited, "Three independent project tracks that complement each other perfectly."

"Yes," Norman too smiled. "That should also earn us some bonus points from the scholarch for cross-discipline collaboration. And for addressing large-scale ecological problems to some extent."

After another couple of minutes of light discussion on the specifics, Kiri got up. She had a few other matters to attend to.

Norman and Arianna continued to chat for some more time. A few hours later, as they strolled up towards the corridor, they were left staring at a leaving train, which was already picking up momentum. "Argh, it will be another hour before it comes back again." Norman sighed.

"You know, my apartment is close by. So if you didn't want to wait you could always come over..."

Norman opened his mouth to waive her off, but then suddenly realized what she was saying. Norman's heart skipped a beat, and gaping, he turned to look toward her. Arianna smiled, the corners of her mouth quivering subtly, revealing just a hint of her pearly whites.

He stared at her in disbelief, unable to come to terms with the fact that someone as vibrant and vivacious as her could see anything worthwhile in someone as eccentric and introverted as him.

Had her eyes always been hazel? The delicate curls of her curls danced playfully around her shoulders in the evening wind.

"Sure, let's do that." was all he said, once he found himself able to speak again.

Later at night, as Norman lay gazing at the slumbering form of Arianna, breathing softly in her sleep, for the first time he thought about the prospect of a shared future filled with love and companionship. He also realized that sooner or later, he would have to tell Arianna about the creature that had made itself an inseparable part of his life, and immediately his mood darkened. He felt the air grow heavy all around him - his mind a whirlpool of raw, unchecked emotions. A problem for another day, he eventually decided. But sleep was now too distant a prospect for him.