Chapter 62

The classroom was a typical lecture room with one piece desks arranged in rows facing a white board at the front. The projector screen was pulled down and Lucy's first slide was projected on it. The slide was simple with just the title of her thesis and her name on it with a plain white background.

Lucy shifted nervously at the front of the classroom. Even though William and her parents were seated in the last row, their presence was doing little to reduce the butterflies in her stomach. The defense was scheduled to begin at two, but it was now five minutes past the hour. She was ready to go, but had to wait for the Dean to arrive. Each minute of delay just increased her nervousness.

The Dean entered the room with quick furtive movements and moved to a seat in the first row. The man was small with dark eyes and a nervous disposition. Most people who met him for the first time were reminded of a mouse. The fact that the man was brilliant was often overlooked. His nervous and quick movements often made people think that he was hiding something, but it was just his basic nature.

With the arrival of the Dean, Lucy's advisor stepped to the front of the room. In a clear voice, he said, "Welcome to the defense of Lucy Carter's Master's Thesis entitled Ignored Solutions to a Common Set of Coupled Differential Equations. I know that most of us here in this room are very familiar with Lucy Carter. For those of you who have not had a chance to work with this brilliant young woman, I will give you a little background.

"Lucy Carter, formerly known as Lucy Wilkins, first came to this college at the age of fourteen as a freshman. She achieved her undergraduate degree in mathematics at the age of eighteen. She married William Carter, son of John Carter, upon graduation. She returned to continue her studies in mathematics. Today is the culmination of her studies."

Finished with his introduction, he turned to Lucy and said, "The floor is yours."

It took a few minutes for Lucy to get into the rhythm of her presentation, but by the second slide she had left her nervousness behind. With each slide, her voice became more confident and her manner became more intense. At times, her interest in the material threatened to derail her prepared presentation, but she kept herself from pursing the obvious diversions.

William watched the clock and her presentation. As far as he was concerned, she was magnificent. It was a competent, complete, and correct presentation of her results. She was following her schedule almost to the minute. After the allotted forty five minutes, she stepped back and said, "So in summary, these other solutions have been ignored in many areas where they may, in fact, be the solution desired. Are there any questions?"

One of the instructors said, "I wasn't even aware of the third solution that you included. Are you sure that isn't original work?"

Smiling at the comment, Lucy knew that she had generated three of the solutions in one sitting. It was all original work, but she was not the first to do it. It had taken her months to track down articles that had presented the solutions published prior to her discussion with William. She said, "Actually, that was one of the earliest solutions to those equations but it was published in a journal that didn't have much distribution. It should be noted that the article was in a physics journal rather than a mathematics journal. I found several other references to it, but none with the level of detail as the initial article."

Another instructor said, "I don't see this as Master quality work. I mean, all she's done is to suggest that other researchers aren't very good."

The suggestion that it wasn't quality work took Lucy by surprise. She was willing to accept that the solutions presented weren't original, but not that it was low quality. Her cheeks blushed at the criticism, but she controlled her reaction. She said, "Most of the people who utilize these equations are not mathematicians As a result, they turn to textbooks that present the most obvious solution and go no further. Two of the solutions are particularly obscure. I wouldn't have been able to find them if I hadn't identified the solutions before searching for literature that presented them."

"So what?" the professor asked with a snort of derision.

"Well, as a result of this work a number of scientists are investigating these solutions in terms of applicability in their areas of research. Just the other night, I received an e-mail that another paper was being published as a result of my work," Lucy answered feeling very defensive.

"Big deal. Some idiot e-mails you because he's too lazy to find a solution to his problem and you provided it to him."

One of the other professors turned to the other and asked, "What is your problem? This is outstanding work."

"Bah!"

Lucy was left standing at the front of the room while a horrible argument broke out among the faculty. William, despite the fact that he had been expecting this to occur, was furious. He wanted to go over to the horrid man and pound him into a pulp. His statements were totally out of line and were ruining what should have been a special day for Lucy.

Ann Wilkins leaned over to William and asked, "Can't you stop them?"

"Not really," William said with his voice tightly controlled. He looked over at father-in-law and could tell that the man was ready to loose his temper. He put a hand on the older man's arm and said, "She has to handle this herself. If we interfere then it will forever blemish her defense."

"Someone should stop it."

"Lucy can handle it," William said. He understood the value of her research better than most of the faculty in the room. Her results had saved him months of work. Even the presentation of one of those lesser known mathematical results was worthy of a Master's degree. She hadn't just presented the solution, but had described the solution in greater detail than the original article. She had also identified several dozen areas where those solutions might be worth investigating.

William gestured to Lucy that she was to take control of the situation. Nodding her head, Lucy shouted, "Quiet! This has gone on long enough."

Shocked that the young woman had interrupted the argument so vocally, everyone turned to look at her. Satisfied that she had their attention and furious at their treatment of her, she said, "Some of you may question the value of this work. I can document that there are many who see great value in what I have done. The fact of the matter is that I have presented good and solid mathematics. I challenge anyone in this room to question the mathematics of this work."

Lucy's advisor started clapping in support. He rose and faced the rest of the room. He said, "I agree with Lucy. The mathematics she presented is solid. It is my opinion that anyone who fails to see the value of her work has a problem."

Turning to face Lucy, he said, "Thank you, Lucy, for such a nice presentation of your work. I'm sure that people will be using your results for years to come. I'd also like to apologize for our bickering at the conclusion of your presentation. That was uncalled for and very rude on our part."

Recovering her composure, Lucy said, "Thank you."

William watched as the faculty left the room. The sounds of arguments filtered back into the room. Standing, he walked over to Lucy and put an arm around her. Smiling at her, he said, "You were magnificent. You really put them in their place."

"I agree," her advisor said.

"What was his problem?" Lucy asked.

Her advisor looked over at William and wondered how to answer that question diplomatically. Giving up, he said, "Well, Professor McKee thinks that William has basically bought your degree. He's accused many of us of taking bribes to pass you through our program and covertly helping you to write your thesis. It has gotten worse since the arrest of Professor MacDonald."

"Was he a friend of Professor MacDonald?" William asked.

"No. He just felt that you framed the man because he insulted you."

The Dean had remained seated. In his soft squeaky voice, he said, "Lucy. I apologize for the comments of Professor McKee. Personally, I think your thesis is a masterpiece. Congratulations on a very eloquent defense of your work. I particularly enjoyed hearing you say that you would defend the mathematics. That's what we are supposed to do in one of these things."

"Thank you," Lucy said surprised by his comment.

Turning to her advisor, the Dean said, "I would be very disappointed if she received anything less than an A for this."

"I agree."

"Now I have to go off and act like a Dean. I just have to figure out what I can do about this situation. I'll be over at the park in a little while," the mousy looking man said. He rose and left the room.

Ann went over to her daughter and exclaimed, "That was amazing. I didn't understand a word you said, but you really sounded like you knew what you were talking about."

Her father said, "I'm so proud of you. I knew you were smart."

Lucy looked over at William and noticed the tension in his jaw. The only time that she had seen him that angry was when Missy had attacked her. Holding onto his arm, she said, "You're angry at Professor McKee, aren't you?"

"Yes," William answered. Looking over at his father-in-law, he said, "There's nothing I can do when someone is a jerk. Professor McKee is a jerk."

"You can say that again," Lucy said in disgust. She looked over at William and said, "I'm glad that you warned me."

Her advisor looked at William and asked, "You warned her?"

"Yes," William said. He looked over at the advisor and said, "Why do you think the Dean attended a Master's defense?"

"I hadn't thought about it."

The celebration of Lucy's defense took place at the park. William had argued for a Burger Burner while Ann had argued for a fancy restaurant. Lucy, though, had selected a picnic at the park knowing that all of the homeless would attend as well. When they arrived, a crowd of people was waiting for her. Cheers were heard all over the campus. It sounded like the home team had made a touch down.

Fat Fred shouted, "Congratulations, Lucy Diamonds. We're so proud of you."