Let's see if you can figure out this word that's nine characters long. Use the hint below if you're stuck. Use the AI hints at your own risk. You're seeing this here because people, myself included, don't read the title of the post. --- Francium and Erbium were hanging out one night when eight dropped right in between them. What am I?

I can be a person whose motives you cannot fathom. I am a question that keeps scientists awake at night. I am an intricate mechanism designed to lock you out. I am the tangled knot in a detective's mind. I exist whenever logic stumbles, yet I am conquered by strict geometry or reason. If you understand me, I cease to exist.

My progress is predictable and steady, like time. With the first four straight, it's the shortest path from one place to another. The last three I will lend you, if you need to talk. The final four keep me close to you.

When you look at your phone You'll see them when you call And in bills or in salaries To these your eyes fall For infinity it reaches It says how deep and far If children count some of them Surely you know what they are

One hides two, two hides five, Three hides four, it's no lie. We sound like Eden, when doubled up; More than two, then use a cup. If by chance you seek, then throw, The serpent sees when we meet low. Advantage gained, when we meet high, But separate us and we die.