Chapter 8: Rites of Spring

Alex had been working on speeding up compression of data files. There were plenty of good algorithms, but they took a long time, especially compared to modern and future speeds of communication. An obvious way to speed that up was to throw more hardware at it — many parallel processors. This was good up to a point, but certain parts of compression were not easily parallelized. And some algorithms worked better with specific types of input files.

Alex was getting good at finding ways to create efficient algorithms for massively parallel architectures. In past years such designs were used for very expensive supercomputers, but now they were used in video accelerators, games, and some rather cheap programmable circuits. He discovered a family of compression techniques that were well suited for such architectures. He couldn't find a name for them, so he called them "stranded," as a pun on a common thread model of programming.

However, after solving the problem, Alex ― now being an official computer science graduate student ― wanted to know whether a specific program was optimal. This started a long and sometimes tedious analysis of factors used in the "stranded" compression algorithms.

Alex was pleased to have passed his qualifying exams in two more subjects: math and economics. He was seriously working on his biochemistry, but was getting distracted by various recent advances. He was totally confused about a proposed area of research. Alex wondered if he should ask Rachel, considering her interest in this area.

The economics was easy. He had spent so much time on trying to understand capital markets, and their relationship to microeconomics and macroeconomics, that he had a handful of possible topics immediately. Most of them allowed him to drag in psychology and mathematics, which were his other interests.

Despite official membership in three doctoral programs, and graduate status in two more, there was no way for Alex to get a bachelor's degree for a while. The university was adamant that regardless of tested-out or waived courses, a student had to take at least 24 semester-length courses. Theoretically, this could be done in two years, but this was almost impossible with the schedules of required courses for any bachelor's degree.

At least, Alex could get his high school diploma. The state would give him a high school equivalent diploma if he took a GED, or satisfactorily completed one full year of college courses — something that Alex would finish in June. However, as there seemed no necessity for this, Alex preferred to remain a "high school dropout".

Alex finally finished puttering with his compression algorithms. It turned out to be a lot more work than he expected, and he thought he had enough material for a research paper, or hopefully, an article in a peer-reviewed publication. He was planning to submit it to the computer science department as "Time Complexity Optimization of Stranded Lossless Compression on SIMD Architectures". He also thought it might be useful in the industry, and decided to patent it. He interviewed and eventually engaged a patent attorney familiar with software issues in intellectual property.

He had several useful discussions with his newly engaged attorney on the ownership of algorithms that Alex developed. Alex used his own computer, as well as several modified video cards and computer game devices to test his software. He had done all of it on his own time, and had receipts for the equipment and intermediate test printouts with time and date. The attorney thought that there would be no problems with the university in either of Alex's roles: student or employee.

He had to drag his parents in to authorize creation of a corporation that would hold the patent and hopefully eventually get the license fees.

"Alex, I am still confused about the corporation. Are you sure your program will be worth enough to pay for it all?"

"Let me take that up, Mr. Driscoll," Terrence Childers said. Alex wasn't sure if he was directing that to himself, the client, or his father. Perhaps the lawyer was being intentionally ambiguous.

"I assisted Alex Driscoll in filing the patent application. While I am not an expert in the field, the invention appears to be valuable. Perhaps not as valuable as better video or audio compression, but still an advance. It could be used for email, web access and a number of other applications. It may be built into routers or other equipment.

"In any case, it appears innovative, and will probably be granted a patent. Having a corporation bear expenses, and hopefully income for the patent is a good idea for tax planning and liability control. Registering a corporation is easy in our state, and, of course, since Alex Driscoll is a minor, you would need to register it on his behalf, as well as authorize the funds transfer to fund it."

"Transfer from where?" Alex's mother asked. "From Alex's brokerage account, Mrs. Driscoll. We believe ten thousand dollars would be appropriate at this point," Mr. Childers answered.

"Where did you get ten thousand dollars? I thought you had four or five thousand in it?"

"Mom, I have been working and saving for eight months since then. I've also had some investment income." His mother accepted this at face value, but Alex's father gave him a sharp glance at hearing "investment income." He didn't ask any questions, though.

"So, you decided that this patent corporation is a better place to put your money than the stock market. Probably correct. Well, it's your money. As long as Mr. Childers is sure there is no risk to you or us from this?"

After some more assurances, the papers were signed, and Mr. Childers promised to file them with the state registrar.

The paper ended up being nearly a hundred pages, after Alex printed out all the appendices and tables. His CS advisor frowned at hearing of the patent application, but accepted the paper for review.

The review took longer than Alex expected. The paper was finally sent to an appropriate periodical, but the department was still reviewing it. Alex would have been nervous or annoyed, but he was preoccupied. Rachel and his relationship with her were getting more important than computer science.

"I love kissing!" said Rachel after one particularly extended session. "I have never been drunk, but I imagine this is how it feels. My heart is racing, and I get dizzy, in a good way. I want to jump and yell, and I want to hug you! May I hug you?"

Alex laughed at Rachel's exuberance, and hugged her first. Her delight was exhilarating, and Alex was enjoying the recitation of her feelings. He would have said that Rachel's joy was contagious, but kissing Rachel was filling him with glee, and he worked hard at showing the calm of experience. Sometimes he faltered, and grinned like an idiot during their kissing sessions. As a matter of fact, he was doing that now. Fortunately, nobody saw him; otherwise his reputation as a debonair lover would be compromised. Alex laughed aloud at his own ridiculousness.

"What? Are you laughing at me?" She didn't sound self-conscious; she could hear that Alex was not laughing at her.

"I am laughing at me. How did you snare me, you inexperienced little biochemist? I have been drunk, once, and once was more than enough, and this is nothing like it. Unlike alcohol intoxication, there is no dull slowness of thought. When I kiss you, my thoughts are racing faster than my heart."

"You, too? Oh, this so cool! I am so looking forward to learning all the other things. Even sex!" Rachel blushed deeply, and looked down. However, her exuberance didn't leave her for long, and she raised her eyes again. "You'll teach me, won't you?"

Alex laughed again. "Oh yes. I will enjoy that even more than teaching you about van der Waals gas!"

"You are teasing me!" Rachel complained, poking Alex in the ribs.

"Oh yes, my tender morsel!" Alex twirled his imaginary mustache. "Now that I have you in my clutches, I will teach you all kinds of depraved things. Even [gasp] sex! Mua-ha-ha!"

Suddenly, Rachel grew earnest. "I am glad you are experienced. I want to do all of it, but I sometimes get afraid. I am happy you know how to do them right."

"Them?" Alex smirked, trying to lighten the atmosphere. Rachel was so different from the girls he knew. There was no coyness in her at all. She was shy, but seemed to have no concept of the teasing that girls her age did like breathing. Alex shook his head to stop thinking of Karen and Melissa.

"You know. Foreplay and, um, sex. This kissing and touching is foreplay, right? It's wonderful, so I hope the real thing is even better."

Rachel was still serious, and Alex decided to get serious too. "Sweetheart, we should talk about our relationship. I am not all that experienced; most of what I know came from Denise."

This started a long, embarrassing, and at times very surprising conversation. To Alex's astonishment Rachel was not upset about Denise. She seemed to be grateful to her in an abstract way.

"So, Denise is your lover, but not your girlfriend. Can I be your girlfriend? I want to have romance, and all the other things Denise doesn't want. I want you to bring me flowers," Rachel glanced at Alex, blushed, and looked away. "Take me to the movies, hold my hand when we walk, and so on. But I want sex too. If you don't mind?" Rachel audibly inhaled and stood clenching her hands.

This was typical Rachel, Alex thought. No thought of protection at all. He suddenly felt very protective. What if somebody took advantage of her? What if he was doing it?

"Rachel, Sweetheart, I'd love to," Alex heard himself saying, just before he was nearly smothered by one very happy girl.

"I will have to tell Denise about us," Alex said, nearly half an hour later.

"What if she doesn't want you to be my boyfriend?" Rachel said with some trepidation.

"Denise? I doubt she would be anything but happy for me. In any case, you are now my girlfriend, Denise will have to take a hike if she doesn't like it!"

Rachel grabbed Alex's hand and gripped it tightly. "I am so happy! But I don't want you to yell at Denise. She is your friend, and she taught you how to make women — specifically me — happy. Maybe one day, when I am less self-conscious, I will ask her for advice." Alex thought that Rachel was losing any self-consciousness she had with remarkable speed, but kept it to himself. He also wondered if Rachel would soon progress to curiosity about other men. He certainly hoped not. He wasn't nearly as accepting of other partners as Rachel seemed to be. In the end, Alex decided not to borrow trouble. At the very least, Rachel would talk to him if she ever felt the urge. She was not the kind to cheat.

Sandra ran into Alex at the computer lab the following evening. Since this was the first time Alex saw her in the lab, he suspected she didn't come for help with balky software.

"So, Alex, looks like you snagged yourself a girl! Rachel was bubbling with excitement when I saw her today. And every third word was 'Alex'".

"Hi, Sandra, and how are you? What an unexpected pleasure to see you! I hope your day has gone well?" Alex couldn't resist teasing Sandra.

"Skip the small talk, Alex. You've never indulged in social niceties before. What's going on with Rachel?"

With some reluctance, Alex avoided extolling the virtues of dynamic object oriented languages. Sandra wouldn't appreciate geeky humor.

"Not sure who snagged whom, but I am very taken with your young friend. In short, Rachel and I are an item. Hooray! Thanks for getting us together, Sandra."

"Well, she sure seems happy. Just make sure you don't hurt that girl. She is very young, and has no experience with guys. If you lead her on, and then play around on her, I will make you sorry you ever met me!"

Alex thought that going into discussion of ages, or his relationship with Denise, would not be productive at this point. "Look, Sandra. I really like Rachel. She really likes me. I will do what I can to keep her from harm, but our relationship is for us to work out. I appreciate your concern, but ― pardon the expression ― butt out!"

For a second, Sandra looked like she was going to blow up. Then she suddenly relaxed and smiled. "You must be 'taken' with Rachel. I don't think I've ever seen you so worked up!" She giggled. Alex didn't think he had heard her giggle before.

"If you think I will 'butt out' of the relationship between two of my friends, you are more naïve than I thought. I will, however, try to be more subtle. I will wait until Rachel is less effervescent, and pump her for all the gory details." Sandra grinned evilly.

"Oh no! I am doomed!"

Rachel and he spent more time talking than making out, Alex thought. He didn't have a lot of experience with girlfriends, but he wasn't sure this was the right balance. However, he was at least partly to blame. He couldn't shut up in her presence, and Rachel seemed to be afflicted with the same symptom. He now admitted he was in love. Or at least badly infatuated. Everything he learned about Rachel made her more attractive.

He found out that Rachel was the only child of two immigrants from Eastern Europe. Her parents did not have a lot of money, but valued education highly. They had saved for years to send Rachel to college. Rachel receiving a full scholarship was a very welcome development.

"My parents never talked about sex. It wasn't that they were restrictive or told me that sex was bad. They literally never mentioned it in my hearing. Everything I learned was from my classmates and from books. The girls told stories which were quite unbelievable, and sometimes physically impossible. The books were accurate and factual, but had very little information on how to get and keep a boyfriend."

"Rachel, dear, it isn't very complicated to get a teenage boyfriend. All you have to do is hint that you might let them touch you, through the clothes. Or even that you will not fight very hard to keep them from doing that. Shazam! You've got a boyfriend."

"But I was not one of the beautiful girls with guys drooling all over her tits. I was always a nerd, with perfect grades, and fat. I am still fat."

"You are not fat. You are pleasingly plump. And you are actually getting less plump lately, although still very pleasing. In fact, you are getting hot! And yes, you are beautiful. When I met you, I thought you were the cutest girl I ever met. Trust me, a teenage boy would have been drooling on your tits in an eye blink. Especially if you blinked at him, and hinted that you would not fight very hard."