Chapter 2

CSU Fullerton -- December, 1994

“Doctor Nordstein said it’s time. Charly? Eric? Think it’s time to do it?”

“Let’s do it. We’re way past our goal for the first six months. Damn, we’ve made the twelve month goal.”

“He’s not wrong, baby. Are you ready?”

“I just do not know, babe. I’m just now starting to understand this stuff. But I have no idea what the heck I’m doing now that we’re about to go big-time major league, directly connected to the NYSE. You people have to watch me, don’t let me get in over my head. I’m depending on you, babe, don’t let me mess this up.”

Charlotte regarded her man with a specific sense of affection. Benny’s humility was one of several traits that had melted her heart for almost two years.

“We are a team, Benny. We’ll take care of each other ... always. I love you.”

“Heck, yeah. If you will always love me, why the heck not? So, how do we transfer the funds?”

“No more than about nine thousand at a time. The end of the year is the best time, we start immediately. So that would be, uh ... about fourteen transfers, of 9100 each, about five per week ... That would leave almost thirty eight thousand in the account that your father can see. That’s more than enough for him to think that you did some good trades.”

“Sounds like a plan. Eric, you gonna do that?”

“Charly and me will have it done by the end of December. Still working at the warehouse through the 25th?”

“Yes, but you have my number if they’re any problems.”

CSU Fullerton -- August, 1995

Charlotte, being a woman of acute observational skills, generally knew men, and she knew Benny better than she knew any person. She used every weapon at her disposal. Wide-open blue eyes, the soft compress of her breasts against Benny’s hard chest, the trace of her fingers through his short blonde hair, and the open wetness of her kiss.

Charlotte knew that Benny knew. Benny knew that she knew that he knew. Their mutual knowledge of, and the implementation of, her techniques for persuasion did not reduce its effectiveness.

“Please, baby. Move in with me. Daddy payed the lease. And you will not have to work so much. We can be together more?”

“Wish you weren’t so damn beautiful ... okay, I won’t move into the dorm this semester.”

Charlotte moved in for the kill.

“Not just for the school year, baby. Permanently. All the time. All the time. Kiss me again, baby ... Again ... Again...”

“Hey guys. Sorry to interrupt, but need to get my stuff. Don’t forget about Doctor Nordstein tonight.”

“We will be there, Eric. Get out.”

Charlotte did not wait for Eric to close the door before moving back into Benny. She wanted to breathe his air for the question.

“What do you like best about me, Benny?”

Eric made a gagging motion as he exited the dorm room, largely ignored by the couple.

The question came out of the blue, a poetic apropos, because his gaze had been locked into her blue eyes. Benny, in his logical mind, had never considered what was best about Charlotte. He liked the whole ‘package’. He like each part, portion, and segment of said ‘package’. He had never seen any use in doing a discrete evaluation of each singular component of the ‘package’.

“What I like best about you, is that you are you. I love all of you. From the top of your blonde head...”

Bennie gently kissed Charlotte’s head as he held her hands fast behind her back.

“to your cute ears...”

Benny breathed into her ears as he placed kisses along the lobes.

“to the most beautiful eyes in the world...”

Benny’s lips approached her face. As Charlotte’s eyes closed, he place a careful kiss on each closed eye.

“to the most soft and wonderful lips in this arm of the galaxy...”

Charlotte opened her mouth, ready to accept yet another kiss, onto and into her mouth.

“to the most regal neck in the kingdom...”

Benny kissed his way down the side of Charlotte’s neck, stopping at the clavicle to gently run his finger along the outline of her shoulder bones. Benny released her hands to unbutton her shirt, noting that her hands and arms remained firmly fixed behind her back, at her own volition.

“to your boobs, the most perfect tits in the known universe...”

Benny pulled aside Charlotte’s unbuttoned shirt, revealing unfettered breasts that begged for his soft caress. Benny traced the circumference of both boobs simultaneously, his finger tips slowly spiraling into her nipples. After inspecting the rapidly forming dots within the areola, Benny softly sucked on her left nipple while gently tweaking her right nipple. Leaving the left nipple, Charlie switched hand and mouth to repeat the action. Pulling away from her chest, Benny smiled at the flush spreading down her chest.

“to the global standard for female butts...”

Charlie unzipped Charlotte’s short dress, dropping it to the floor. Quickly kissing her breasts a fond farewell, Benny kissed his way down to her full butt-cheeks, massaging both sides, then kissing the soft orbs. Charlotte’s breathe became louder, and her balance became precipitous.

Returning to her front, Benny kissed his way down her legs, without words. Reaching her feet, he lifted each foot to remove the respective shoe. With a sudden change in pace, Benny pulled down Charlotte’s panties, then pushed her back, onto his bed.

“And it took over thirteen billion years for the universe to create this perfect pussy.”

Benny delved into Charlotte’s sex, using lips, tongue, and fingers. The sudden halt of stimulation jolted Charlotte out of her sexual trance, to watch Benny remove his clothes.

“But I really like what makes all of this perfection perfect. It’s you, babe. Your mind. Your heart.”

Benny laid between her legs, slowly planting kisses across her face while rubbing himself into her.

“Benny, no more, baby. Too much ... please ... inside of me ... please, baby...”

Benny complied with her request.

Yorba Linda, Ca -- August, 1995

“Damn. How big is this place?”

“Four bedrooms, and two and one-half baths. Three-car garage. What about Eric?”

“Eric? What about him?”

“Have him live with us, baby. You and Eric can use a bedroom as an office and run it all from here.”

“Yeah, probably a good idea. But don’t get all bent out of shape about the constant parade of girls into and out of his room.”

“I know what he’s like. That’s part of his rogue charm. He’s a romantic, always searching for the perfect woman.”

“Yeah, he is a fool. But he’s my favorite fool. Tell our fool to move in ... uh, where’s our room?”

“Upstairs. The master bedroom. As in, the master and his wench.”

“Methinks we’ve been playing too much D and D...”

“Take me unto your dark chambers, Master.”

Benny rolled two virtual polyhedral dice in his mind, mentally noting a career high in strength and charisma. He swept his wench off her feet, carrying her up the stairs, gently hoisted over his shoulder.

CSU Fullerton, Ca -- September, 1995

Dr Wallace, known among undergrads as the ‘Mistress of Physics’, was one of the instructors respected the most by engineering majors. That she had been the second ‘outsider’ invited, spoke well for her. That, and Eric had the hots for the woman.

Dr Wallace took nothing at face value of Dr Nordstein’s introductory lecture on the rapid trading methods being used. Her list of pointed questions was not short.

“How did you get direct access to these SOES networks?”

“Same as everybody else, doc. We bought our way into it with a six-digit account.”

“How did three undergrads get a six-digit account?”

“Doctor Wallace, with all due respect, at this time we will not reveal specifics. But I do assure you that we have done nothing illegal or unethical. Doctor Nordstein would have not provided part of the initial funding if that were the case.”

“Mister Harrison, you are an excellent student. and have handled the most difficult subject material quite well. But I do not understand why everybody else is not doing the same thing.”

“Ma’am, I assure you, there are thousands of traders making a good living on nothing but short-term puts; and many other trades where most transaction periods are measured in seconds.”

“Which ECNs are being accessed?”

“Instinet for the NASDAQ. We have avoided SelectNet; I would rather not swim with the sharks.”

“What if another crash, such as the one in ‘87 occurs? The brokers would just ignore your orders.”

“Again, ma’am, we do not use brokers. SOES uses computers. A computer cannot refuse to answer the phone, it must receive and process an order within a severely delimited time. We have developed stand-alone programs that talk to each other. One computer watches and scans the markets and pre-processes the data. This talks to the other computer that decides when to trigger a call to SOES.”

“Interesting ... very interesting. Why does the SEC not say anything about this?”

“They say a lot about this stuff. Why do you think we have SOES?”

“Benson Harrison, you are a remarkable young man. I do not believe that my husband will be difficult to convince; Francis has always been facile in these manners. What is the required buy-in?”

Benny briefly wondered what ‘facile’ meant in the case of her husband.

“Twenty five thousand if you want a vote. And Eric will give you an NDA to sign.”

“I will give you one hundred thousand.”

“Wow. Are you certain, Doctor Wallace? Please remember what we said about risk.”

“That is all the more reason. I’ve never had a broker warn me away from any investment vehicle that they were pitching to me.”

“Yes ma’am. Uh ... Doctor Wallace? Have you graded the last test and lab reports, ma’am?

“I have. And the TAs have graded the reports.”

“And?”

“I guess that I could make you sweat it for a while ... Very well, Benson. You broke the class curve. You were the high grade. And your lab report was perfect.”

“Oh, geez. Please don’t post names, Doc. They will all hunt me down and slash my bicycle tires.”

“Make me lots of money, young man, or I will post your name and grades. You have at least two more courses that only I teach.”

Benny was unable to determine if that was the humor of academia or if it was a realistic threat. Noticing that Eric and Charlotte thought it funny, Benny concluded that he was relatively safe from the wrath of his fellow students.

As the three undergrads stood to leave the office space, Wallace and Nordstein pulled Benny aside.

“Doctor Nordstein? Something wrong?”

“Benny, Annette and myself have discussed this. We do not want to be involved in the daily concerns of this investment venture. In the past several months, your group has been meeting two to three times per month. At none of these meetings have I been able to fully understand Charlotte’s and Eric’s business profiles and reports.”

“Sorry about that, doc. I’ll talk to Charly. She can write really well. We’ll do better.”

“That was not my reference point. We simply want to grant our votes to you, and only to yourself.”

“Sir? To me? That would give me controlling interest over everything. No checks and balances, or stuff like that. Maybe we should divide your votes among the three of us?”

“We understand your sentiment. Annette, comments?”

“Benson, please understand that we are not criticizing the character of your two friends. But they do not demonstrate the stability and maturity that you project. Watch them closely, young man. And I would suggest that you not reveal the nature of your controlling votes.”

Yes, ma’am. See ya.”

Benny’s mental balance was thrown off by the private revelations. He, literally, stumbled out of the office, then increased his pace to catch up with Eric and Charlotte.

The analytical mind of Benson Harrison would stir the conversation around for the next week, until he grew to accept the edict of his two favorite professors.

CSU Fullerton, Ca -- October, 1995

“Holy crap, man! You did sixteen credit hours over the summer!? How many did you do last summer?”

“Twelve. Why. Who’s complaining?”

“Me. But that’s because I like to bitch. So what are you going to do for your last year?”

“Have not decided. I could do enough to get a minor in math; same thing for comp sci. But I should probably do some business courses.”

“Nah, people like you and Charly are wasting your time in hanging out in the Business school. Read some books on the subject. I’m meeting Charly at the library. Coming?”

“No. Gotta sneak into the science basement and re-set my mainframe account. Then I gotta finish my Physics lab report. Probably gonna be here another five or six hours, so may end up crashing in the locker room. Let Charly know.”

“You’re getting obsessed, man.”

“I’m getting things done, Eric. Which reminds me, you’re two days late with your exchange rate report. I wanted to give that to Wallace and Nordstein today. What the heck you been doing, man?”

“Relax, man. It’s done. Just need to make it look pretty and print it.”

“See ya.”

As Benny mounted his bicycle, he did wonder just exactly what Eric was doing with all of his time.

“Why is the side door to the basement locked? it’s a fire escape route.”