Fic: Keeping Accounts (Tez, Maria)

[jeriendhal]

Maria leaned over Tez's shoulder, watching as he sat at her office desk, working out a collumn of words in a language she didn't know. Beside each word a column of numbers, or at least what she assumed was numbers. It was hard to tell.

"What's this?" she asked him. He glanced up, lip quirking up in what he probably meant as a smile.

"I got to wondering, just how many people I'm directly responsible for killing," he said, resting his chin on his palm as he considered his list. "I don't mean arranged for die, or caused by accident. I'm speaking of those I killed myself, by my own hand, or at sword's point, or by pushing the right button."

"Well that's certainly morbid," Maria said. She pointed to the numbers column. "I don't understand this part though. What sort of maths is this?" While she knew enough to keep household accounts, even for a household as large as hers had grown, she didn't recognize the symbols he was using.

"Ah, that's called 'scientific notation'. I should explain it to you some time...'

Comments

[ankewehner.livejournal.com]

Morbid is the right word, but it still made me snigger. XD

("hers" gerts no apostrophe)

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

Fixed. Glad it got a giggle. :)

[lilfluff.livejournal.com]

Ook. Then again if he's lived this long and been psychotic for a good chunk of millenia... Ook.

[ankewehner.livejournal.com]

I figure "pushing the right button" might include bombs, missilles... Say, did that world have a nuclear holocaust?

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes it did. Among others. :)

[seawasp]

Virigar would run out of practical exponents and have to go to up-arrow notation, or maybe exponents of Graham's Number.

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

Well, Tez does have only one planet to work with...

[seawasp]

Yes, that does limit the numbers you can reach. When you can reach infinite universes you can really up your game!