Pascal's Wager

Pascal's Wager by Nancy Rue Read Free Book Online Page A

Book: Pascal's Wager by Nancy Rue Read Free Book Online
Authors: Nancy Rue
Tags: Religión, Fiction, Contemporary Women, Religious, Inspirational, Christian Life
open the journal to the page marked with one of Nigel’s ubiquitous Post-It notes and glanced at the title. Tabitha and everyone else disappeared when I saw the title of the article: “Topological K-Theory of Algebraic K-Theory Spectra.”
    No way. My eyes darted far enough down the page to confirm what the title suggested.
    I looked up at Nigel. He was watching me, glasses in hand, face without expression.
    â€œHe proved my thesis,” I said. “This is my dissertation.”
    â€œMore or less.”
    â€œHow much less?”
    â€œNot enough, I’m afraid.”
    I stared at the offensive page and tried to keep my lip from curling. I’d been scooped. Some math geek from the University of Washington had done the same research I was doing, and he’d reached his conclusion before I had.
    My mother had never allowed me to swear; she’d always said it was a cop-out from expressing yourself with eloquence. Too bad. I wanted to blue the air. As it was, I flung the journal back onto Nigel’s desk, where it landed on the neat piles like an inkblot.
    â€œSo what does this mean?” I said. “Do I start all over? Find a new thesis?”
    â€œNot exactly,” Dr. Frost said.
    â€œNot
exactly?
If I have to backtrack at all, it’s at least a week added on—and I don’t have that kind of time. What does not exactly mean?”
    He continued to look at me, until I realized I was standing up, driving my index finger into the desktop. I dropped back into the chair.
    â€œIt means you can keep what you have,” he said. “You’ll just have to take it further than he did.”
    â€œGo further, go backward—it still means the same thing in terms of time. I’m so close. How many people on my committee will have read that article?”
    â€œI didn’t hear that,” Nigel said sternly, looking at me over the tops of his glasses, which had by then found their way back to his nose.
    â€œNo, you didn’t because I didn’t say it. I just…thought it out loud.”
    â€œWell, don’t think it. We don’t breach integrity here.”
    â€œI know. I don’t want to duplicate somebody else’s research. I wouldn’t sleep at night. Not that I’m going to be doing any sleeping anyway. All right, what do I need to do? Come up with an amended proposal?”
    â€œGive yourself a day or two to fume,” he said.
    â€œI don’t have a day or two—” I caught myself and consciously put on a calm face. “And I don’t need to fume. There’s no reason to. Every graduate student knows this is a possibility. I’ll have a new proposal on your desk by, say, Friday, and then I’ll double up on my time on the weekends and get caught up. I’ll blow Mr. University of Washington right out of the water. Anything else?”
    Nigel took off the glasses again and slipped them back into his pocket. He placed
K-Theory
back on its pile on the corner of the desk. Finally, he leaned back in the chair again and crossed his legs.
    Come on, Nigel
, I thought.
If I don’t get out of here so I can drag my hand through my hair, I’m going to drag it through
what’s
left of yours
.
    â€œI don’t want to see a proposal until Monday. You need to take the time to determine how you’re going to proceed. You may want to discuss it with me a bit, should you get into a bind with it—”
    â€œI’ll be fine,” I said. “I don’t anticipate any problems. I’m well enough acquainted with K-theory to anticipate the challenges.”
    Yeah, even my mother would have been proud of that exit line.
    What I knew she wouldn’t be proud of, I thought as I finally escaped Nigel’s over-the-glasses scrutiny, was the fact that there was now a good chance I wasn’t going to finish my dissertation before my funding ran out. The thought of asking her for money was about the

Similar Books

The People vs. Cashmere

Karen Williams

The Children's Bach

Helen Garner

These Gentle Wounds

Helene Dunbar

Starfist: FlashFire

David Sherman & Dan Cragg

Deadline

Craig McLay

The Little Brother

Victoria Patterson