Chapter 4

MIT Media Center, Ma -- 09 May 1997

“Both the IEEE and the ACM want to publish our paper. Be prepared to speak at symposiums.”

“Why? I am not certain that I have the time for that stuff. And that stuff is expensive, sir.”

“Travel, per diem, and registration fees would be paid by the school.”

“Why would MIT pay us to go to these?”

“The seal of the university would be applied to any funded presentation, which would be filed and registered as an original research paper, as it belongs to MIT.”

“I will pass on that, sir. But I will grant rights to MIT to publish.”

“Grant rights? Your work belongs to the school, Benson.”

“Uh ... no, sir. It is copyrighted, and was not originated using anything in the Media Center, or any other lab. You signed all of that, Doctor.”

“I did? ... I suppose so. No matter, we will deal with school bureaucracy later. What research do you propose for the fall semester?”

“Rate-dependent autonomous traversals, sir.”

“You have done the data science studies and are ready to tackle this from the query end?”

“I am, sir. Tested out on both pre-req courses back in February, and have been reading papers for the last month.”

“What issues do you anticipate when for solving the simultaneous node injection problem?”

“Still working on the math for that. I have two promising models. The main difference being the use of free versus bound variables, for both the insertion and retrieval.”

“Interesting. So you would use conjunctive queries?”

“No, sir. The computational power is not available to me that would support the overhead. And the algebraic structure for such queries may not be be deterministic enough to use with my data interface circuits driving the delay lines.”

“So you have already solved the hardware delay/relay problem?”

“We have.”

“We?”

“Harry Spoons and myself.”

“Ah, yes. Our lab’s resident economist. I spoke to his advisor last week. He said that Spoons can be quite the economic rebel.”

“Harry does not view the traditional models as practical. And I agree. Although what Harry does not understand, is that we are limited by the entropy of key-paired data sets.”

“Still picking at a thermodynamic model for your data traversals?”

“I am. Do you think that to be foolish, sir?”

“Benson, to be honest, I am no longer certain. As your research progress reports seem to be ahead of the original schedule, please continue with that. We will re-evaluate your position in September.”

Benny’s thesis advisor paused, then continued with a slight grimace. Benny knew what was coming, and he did not care, because he knew that neither did his advisor actually care. He was bringing it up as a matter of pro-forma communication.

“An unrelated issue. Timson commented about your treatment of her students. Perhaps you have unrealistic expectations for undergraduate sociology students.”

“I will withdraw from the instructor team any time you, or Doctor Timson wants. I do not care.”

“Benson, Karen Timson is a good person. She wants her students to have a broad understanding of the subject. She is open to alternate views.”

“Doc, my understanding is that much of the principles of psychology and sociology have no supporting data sets, or their experimental data are not repeatable. That, sir, is the definition of a religious belief system.”

“Between the front door, and you, and myself, I heartily agree. But let’s try to keep that on the quiet side.”

“Am I being censored, doctor?”

“Benson! Certainly not! ... Well, that is not true. Yes, we are, in fact, being censored. Learn to live with it, young man. You know what I always say?”

“Yes, sir. Do not be an ‘Alonso Quijano’.”

“Good. As neither Physics, nor Computer Science, and neither the mathematical disciplines, requires a Knight Errant.”

“I understand, sir. Don’t worry; unless, of course, I assume the name ‘Don Benson’.”

Benny liked that he could both feel and hear his advisor’s rumbling, low-frequency, laughter. It was a sincere laugh. Although he thought the learned professor to be subject to fools’ errands at times, the man was definitely not a fool.

MIT Media Center, Simulation Labs -- 08 September 1997

“What classes did he stick you with?”

“TA for Jorgenson’s analog stuff, he also wants me to be the lab boss for his course. And he was intonating that he would like to see me in another team-teach with the High Priestess of psycho-babble.”

“Doc Timson asked you back?”

“She did. I do not understand why, as she always complained about me.”

“So what you gonna teach for Timson? European Witchcraft C-101, or Advanced Vodoo Z-401?”

“You ready for this? She is calling it freaking ‘Technology and Social Behaviors’.”

“What the heck is that?”

“Not certain. Timson did a lot of hand-waving when I asked. She says it is something new; intended as an upper-division elective for psych and socio majors.”

“Better you than me. Wanna come by tonight for dinner? We’re grilling fish.”

“Not if it is something that came out of the East River.”

“Get over it, Benny. The kid was proud of her catch. Can you believe the folks around here? Surrounded by waterways and hardly anyone fishes.”

“Will this be another comparative analysis between New England and Texas? If so, I do not want to hear it. You have created somewhat of a mess. Lizzy insists that myself and Andrea need to engage in this primeval sport. I prefer my protein harvested off of the controlled environment of a farm.”

“Man you are gonna starve after the apocalypse ... Have you ever camped or...”

Harry was interrupted, much to Benny’s appreciation, by the arrival of his mate.

“Talking about an apocalypse? Aren’t you boys supposed to be intellectual and erudite PhD candidates?”

“Hello, Doris. Where did Harry get the fish?”

“Andrea’s market. She also set aside some of that German beer.”

“In that case, I will be there for dinner, Harry.”

“Good, bring Andrea.”

“Why?”

“Benny you must be the most stupid smart person on the planet. Just bring her.”

“I will, but what about Lizzy? Where will she get dinner?”

Doris smiled at Benny’s attention to detail per his concern over the child. Doris saw her matchmaking plans as acts of benevolence and caring; had she asked Harry, he would explained that her plans resided somewhere within the neighborhoods of irrational and redoubtable.

“Andrea said her girl has another nerd-group meeting tonight. Those kids will probably gorge on pizza.”

“Want me to bring anything?”

“Just your desolate and darkly charming personality. But we love you anyway, Benny. Let’s get going, baby.”

“See ya later, Benny.”

“Bye.”

Benny had made a conscious decision, programming himself to tolerate Doris, mostly out of his respect for Harry. Benny remained suspicious of the woman, as he did not understand how a Harvard woman majoring in economics had many available idle hours.

Needham, Ma

Benny entered Andrea’s store through the rear alley entrance, shaking his head as he locked the door.

“Storage room door was not locked. Lizzy already gone?”

“She left for her computer programming club an hour ago. You have made her quite the rock-star among that group, Benny.”

“That is interesting. Are you ready? Want me to lock up while you close out the register?”

“We have plenty of time. Let’s talk.”

“Uh, okay.”

Benny ignored her as he turned the ‘open’ sign, cranked the awning, moved the chairs inside, and secured the front entrance.

“Benny? Please stop ... Good, sit.”

Benny recognized the tone of a woman that believed she ‘owned’ a man. He had seen it in another woman, that he dared not recall into active memory. He wondered of Andrea’s sense of ‘ownership’, as they had not ever been intimate or much of anything other than casual friends that had a landlord/tenant relationship.

“What happened to you? What was done to you? Why do you avoid relationships?”

Benny placed the market’s keyholder behind the counter, still avoiding Andrea’s eyes. Benny’s first response was to stare into his mental abyss, unwilling to form a meaningful response.

“Benny? Talk to me. I like you, Benson Harrison. You have done good things for my baby girl and me. I would like to do good things for you.”

“You and Lizzy do plenty for me. You are a decent person and a good mother. It is good just knowing the both of you. Nothing else is required.”

“Do you think that I am attractive?”

“Yes.”

“Just yes?”

“Okay, you are very attractive. You have a beautiful body. Can we go to dinner? I am hungry.”

“Have you thought of me sexually?”

“Yes.”

“Just yes?”

“This is an extremely unusual conversation. Why would you be interested in someone such as myself?”

“Maria, mae de deus.”

“You are speaking Portuguese again.”

“Never mind, let’s go.”

Cambridge, Ma

Harry frowned at his mate upon seeing the positions that she had arranged for the dinner-table chairs for Benny and Andrea.

“Doris? Doris, please look at me, babe.”

“Harry? Something wrong?”

“Ya know I love you. I’ve been thinking that you are match-making. Babe, not a good idea. Not with Benny.”

“Benny needs someone like Andrea. They would be...”

“No, babe. They would not be anything. And Benny don’t need no one.”

Doris knew his Texas aphorisms well. Harry’s tone was clear to Doris, he had not delivered an apothegm.

“Everybody needs someone. Benny just needs to see it. We just have to make it quite evident to him.”

Knowing that Benny typically ignored and seldom made any useful analysis of social cues, Harry made a decision to provide a fair warning to his only close friend. Harry further resigned himself to his mate’s tilting at windmills.

“The fish was, unexpectedly, excellent, Doris.”

“Y’all wanna another beer?”

“I do not, I am driving.”

“I am not driving. Please, Harry, I will have another.”

“Coming up, Andrea.”

Harry attempted a leer towards his beloved, but only managed a comical grin, as delimited by an increasing blood-alcohol content.

“Yo, good looking. How ‘bout it? Ya wanna another?”

Doris eyed her mate with a suspicion backed by experience.

“Harry? How many have you had?”

“Dunno, my lovely Doris. Why?”

“Your Texas drawl typically escapes sometime during your third drink. I think it is adorable, baby, but you will regret it in the morning.”

“See that, Benny? My woman is a keeper. Ya hear that? I’m freaking adorable. I’d be a burnt turd in the back forty if not for my woman.”

When excessive drug and alcohol use was witnessed, it perturbed Benny’s sense of normalcy. High-frequency and excessive recreational use of drugs and alcohol was not logical to Benny. It was not logical to destroy one’s logic.

“Uh, maybe we should leave. Get your bag, Andrea.”

Benny’s drive home was slowed after another vehicle skidded through a stop sign, barely missing his truck. Benny wondered if the driver was drunk; not unusual for Boston.

“That was close. Aren’t Doris and Harry so sweet? That is love.”

“It would seem so.”

“Don’t you see why love is the most important thing?”

“No.”

“Mae de deus, Benny. A good relationship is more than the sum of the individuals. Doris and Harry are good for each other.”

“That would seem to be, at least for their case. They are both good people, even if they are economists.”

“Do you understand the ‘more than the sum of the individuals’?”

“I understand the metaphor; or perhaps that would be an apologue ... Either way, if your meaning is that they appear to be well-suited for each other, I would agree.”

“And would you want to be in such a relationship?”

“No.”

Benny turned into the alley behind Andrea’s store with caution, wishing an end to this particular discussion.

“Really, Benson? But why not? This is what almost all...”

Benny was saved from the awkward discussion when the ‘club’ of young computer nerds came pouring down the stairs to greet the arrival of Benny’s truck.

“Thought they were meeting at the school library.”

“They were. Then they were going to Lancy’s for pizza. I would think that they...”

“Hey, mom ... Benny, we need you to decide an argument we’re having on the 16-bit ISA bus and interrupt priority.”

“Give me about ten minutes, Lizzy. I need to check on my last system run.”

Benny exited the truck, fleeing up the stairs to the relative safety of his apartment.

Needham, Ma -- 20 December 1997

Benny’s apartment glowed with the green and amber lights of computer and instrument displays. Harry was annoyed that the small desk lamp was the only general illumination allowed by Benny, but he was mostly annoyed by the snow observed falling through the ghostly glow of the market’s orange neon lights.

“Damn this! Does it ever stop snowing in New England?”

“Huh? ... Did you catch that last interval?”

“Tell me again why we are doing this at one AM on the Saturday morning before the Christmas break?”

“Well damn. Just damn! I lost the packet. Re-trigger the o-scope. I will do it again. Are you ready? ... Harry!”

“Yeah, yeah. Setting it up for another ... Okay, I’m ready ... Got it. Holeee Moleee! Look at this, Benny.”

“Just give me the interval and the trigger word, Harry.”

“Man, it’s the same damn thing. No change. Ya got it, Benny. It’s freaking stable. You are definitely the man. I’d marry you if I didn’t love Doris.”

“What is the interval?”

“Zero point one micro.”

“Excellent. One more time. Re-set all of the bus lines this time ... I got the word generator ready. Are you ready? Trigger the scope.”

“Hit me, my man.”

“Standby ... what do you have?”

“Hold onto your socks, zero point two. You beat the metastable problem, Benny. You are the man. I’m not even an engineer, and I’m telling you, we are there. You’ve beat the spec. Can’t get more deterministic than that. So we ready to publish? My paper is mostly done.”

“I have yet to include the tabulations, and my paper is also written. But we say nothing until my lawyer says that the PTO filing is complete.”

“Man, this will write my thesis for me. You going to use this?”

“I will cite it separately on mine. But it is too far away from my central thesis of computational thermodynamics. I still plan on continuing my work on metastable silicon allotropes.”

“I like it when you talk dirty to me. Which reminds me, I’m taking Doris to Waltham, ya know, that fancy place on Charles River. Gonna wine and dine and dance my woman. And Doris suggested to Andrea that you two come along.”

“I will not. Andrea has not discussed any such plans. And I have not forgotten what you told me about Andrea’s plans.”

“Yep, sorry about that, man ... Benny, Andrea does crazy stuff like that because she likes ya. She also likes Andrea.”

“And I have come to like Doris as well. She is a good person. You have done well in your choice of mate.”

“My choice of mate? Look, man. There is no choice to be made. When a good woman grabs into ya, you no longer have a choice.”

“At one time, I would have agreed to that behavioral theory. And it may be true in the general sense. But it would not apply to me ... Help me get this stuff into my truck. I need to get this equipment to the E-labs and set it up.”

“Benny?! Are you going stay at school and work through the Christmas break next week?”

“Not the whole winter break. I need to take a day or two to work on my bicycle.”

“That’s your break? Working on your bike?”

“What is your point?”

“Nothing, man. Just do not mention your plans to Andrea or Doris. Otherwise, they will scheme up something weird. So ya still on for next Saturday? We haven’t done one for almost two months.”

“Thanks for the reminder. I did not want to forget about next Saturday.”

“Doris wants to bring Andrea into our new D&D quest. Decide who’s gonna DM?”