“That’s the answer,” Leo breathed.
He was alone in his struggle.
He worked furiously for the next hour. The stylus was an extension of his mind. He drew a novel catalyst, and the program animated its electron-pushing mechanism in a shower of golden arrows. He drew a complex natural product, and the stylus whispered the IUPAC name in his ear. He even saw the yellow and red warning flags of ‘Undefined Stereochemistry’ appear like caution signs on a road.
Leo looked at the stylus. It was now cold, inert, just a piece of metal. He had a sudden, chilling thought. He checked the file’s creation time: 2:17 AM.
Finally, he was done. Compound 47 was perfect. The synthesis was a masterpiece of brevity. He saved the file as Albright_Final.cdx .
He put the stylus down. The moment it left his hand, the 3D world collapsed back into the flat, black-and-white lines of standard ChemDraw. The screen was quiet. The library was still asleep.
He looked back at the stylus. On its side, engraved in tiny, perfect Helvetica font, were four letters: .
“Whoa,” he whispered.