There Must Be A Mistake Ch. 12

"Why did they send you to college, if you know this stuff already?"

"They wanted me to rest, and mingle with kids my own age."

"They didn't want you to burn out."

"Let's just say I was a little argumentative."

"If there are no wings, how are you going to create lift?"

"I'm sorry, I can't answer that question. You will have to look to Sir Isaac Newton for that answer."

"Which of his three laws did you counteract?"

"My father will spank me if I open my big mouth again."

The 37 kids, if you can call 18 to 20-year-olds kids, in the class laughed at the thought of being spanked.

Delicious turned to them and smiled. "At least he doesn't take my pants down anymore."

That statement caused the entire class to lose control, and not only did they laugh, but they made crude statements, yelled, and applauded, until Doctor Jerome brought them back to order. She sent William to her office to continue what she was doing, and began teaching the class.

Delicious sat in the first row, directly in front of her desk. It wasn't by choice, but necessity. There were only two desks available, and both were together in the first row. Doctor Jerome told her she felt intimidated by her sitting there.

At the end of the two-hour class Delicious said, "You do know I am only auditing your class. I am a non-degree seeking student."

"Please tell me you're joking with me. If you're not, I'm going to kill you, and then kill myself. I did not see that on your admission form."

"I'm telling you the truth. I don't know how long I'm going to be here. We are waiting for the results of the stress tests to come back, from Schneider Industries. We have to know how much stress the carbon fibers can take and in what shapes they can take them, before we can begin designing the exterior hull of the ship. I told you I was here to relax and have fun with people my own age. Once those numbers come in, I can go back to play with Sequoia."

"I'll bite, who is Sequoia?"

"Sequoia is the fastest supercomputer on the market. It's IBM's brainchild, and my dad has two of them in the lab. One of them is named for my five-year-old brother. Gordon is either as smart as or smarter than I am. He will be doing the navigation for us when we leave Earth, and before we go into stasis. He has already started planning our journey. It looks like we are going to the Gliese system; 581G to be precise. It orbits a red giant, but it is believed to be the closest habitable planet to us. We will know more after we pass through Heliopause, and get a better look at it through our telescope without our Sun's magnetic interference. Gordon will make that call.

"You are going to let a five-year-old boy navigate through interstellar space?"

"You have never met Gordon. What he knows is scary. He will be 15 when we leave."

"Can you bring him into class one day?"

"I will see what I can do. He hates to be a way from Gordon 2."

"Okay, who or what is Gordon 2?"

"It was my dad's birthday present for Gordon. He had his name etched on the glass that protects the inside of the new Sequoia. Gordon thought my dad didn't buy him a birthday present because he was angry with him. My dad told him it was in the laboratory. It was covered by a black shroud and when Gordon uncovered it his reaction was unbelievable. When he saw his name etched on the glass, he nearly knocked my father over when he jumped into his arms to thank him. My dad really knows how to get into people's hearts and minds."

"Should I ask how much that computer cost?"

"You could go shoe shopping for a very long time."

"Oh goody; can I go to work for your father?"

"When Stephano is ready, and he has the applications printed out, I'll give you one. There will be some very tough competition to get in, but you can give it a try."

"What else can you tell me without breaking confidence?"

"A 16-year-old genius, Laura Valentino, and her mother Patti, are working on putting us into stasis. There are so many other permutations of what is happening, and at what day and time, we are going to need another Sequoia just to keep track of them."

"It sounds like you are going to need a lot of help."

"Yes we are; but that is Stephano Valentino's job. I don't envy him. He has to take care of all the money, hire all the people, fixed the salaries, take care of all the purchasing, hire auditors every six months, and the list goes on endlessly. He lives in Glen Falls New York, but his offices are in Charleston South Carolina. I don't think that man is ever going to be at home for the next 10 years, and I don't think he's going to get very much sleep either."

"I hope they're paying him a lot of money."

"No, he's not getting a penny. He is one of the investors."

"If he has that much money, I don't feel sorry for him at all."

"I was with my father the day he demonstrated the radios that can transmit sound around mountains to a very select group of investors, plus the military. The Valentino's were one of the investors who were invited. After the test was successful completed, my father told everyone the bidding price was $500 million per unit. He was keeping 30% of the units for himself and our family. No one was allowed to buy more than 20% of the units. All the corporations that were invited were on their phones trying to get permission to buy units. Three people walked up to my father and wrote checks: Mister Valentino, Mister Chase, and Mister Castronova. They wrote checks for $20 billion like it was nothing. My father folded the checks and put them in his pocket. Can you imagine putting $60 billion in your pocket?"

"I would've gone shoe shopping."

"Who would have had enough money in the register to make change?"

"You have never seen me shop for shoes."

"Do we have homework for Thursday?"

"Why would I give you homework, you know this stuff as well as I do. I'll try to get you some work from the doctoral program to keep you interested while you're here. Are you interested in anything particular?"

"If you get me something on Thermodynamics that would be appreciated."

"You'll have it Thursday. I'd like not to be in jail when I hand it to you."

"Your name will not be on the list. Thanks Doctor Jerome."

"My name's Beatrice; if you call me that name, I will cut out your tongue. You can call me Betty when we are not in class."

"Thank you Betty, my name is Delicious, you can call me Dell any time you want."

*********

Technology: Optical Electronics, Lasers, Gaussian Optics, Nonlinear Optics, Nanostructures, Energy Engineering Doctor Burke

Tuesday was more fun than Monday. She had high hopes she could learn something new here. She was early, and waiting by the desk to hand the professor her paperwork, when this young man walked in. He couldn't be more than 26 years old.

She said out loud, "Oh shit, not again."

He replied in a soft voice, "Do You Have a Problem Miss?"

"Yes I do, I had the same problem yesterday. I'm tired of having teaching assistants teach classes instead of professors. Would you please go to the office and have the damn professor come out here so I can speak to him. Get him off his lazy ass so he can teach this class. You look like a nice young man, but I'd like to learn something, and I'd like to learn it from someone who knows his job."

"Miss who were you expecting to teach this class?"

"According to the syllabus, it is Doctor Redmond Burke."

He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out his University ID. He looked at it, nodded his head, and said, "Yip that's me."

He handed her the ID, and she turned red. "I think I just made a fool out of myself. I'm sorry Doctor Burke; you looked too young to be a professor. I apologize for insulting you."

"All pretty girls who insult me have to date me after the semester is over."

"You have two problems Doctor. The first one is I am 17 years old. The second one is on the third finger of my left hand."

"Who got to you before I did? Is he as handsome as I am?"

"Who told you you're handsome?"

"My grandmother did, and she is never wrong."

"I think I'm going to like this class, you are very funny. You are not handsome, but you could be considered cute to some undergraduate students. My fiancé is Doctor Grayson Thyme, formerly of NASA and now working with my father, Doctor Even Luck."

"You're Delicious?"

"Thank you very much."

"I didn't mean it that way. You are Delicious Luck?"

To get even with him, she took out her paperwork, looked at it for a moment, nodded her head, and said, "Yip that's me."

"You have a sense of humor. I like that in a little girl."

She was about to bark at him, when she remembered what her dad told her Sunday. She smiled, breathed, backed off, and said nothing. Let him be the jerk she thought.

"Why did you mention my name as if you knew me?"

"I don't know you. I heard your name being bandied about in the faculty lunchroom. Your professors are quite taken by you, and your knowledge, especially Doctor Jerome. She mentioned she would like to test you out of the college ranks, award you a Bachelor of Science Degree, and put you in graduate studies. There are many dissenters, but they have not met you yet. You better be prepared for a faculty board meeting. It will not be pleasant, but it is just an act. They will want to test your ability to think on your feet."

"My fiancé says I have very big feet."

"I guess he would know."

"Yes he would, everything but intimately."

"You are still a..."

"Are you looking for the 'V' word Doctor? If you are, the answer is yes. We are sleeping together, but we are waiting for our wedding night to consummate our marriage."

"Doctor Thyme must be made out of mental steel. If I were in bed with you, that piece of flesh would have been gone in an instant."

"That is the difference between love and lust Doctor Burke. Gray loves me and wants to protect me from people like you.

You lust after my body, because of what you see. You wouldn't care if you hurt me in the process. You could fuck me for months, and then find someone prettier than I am, and drop me like a hot rock. My feelings wouldn't matter to you, because you didn't love me in the first place. I was only a nice piece of ass to satisfy your needs. Now you are on your way to the next victim because I don't do it for you anymore."

"That is a very callous attitude."

"Is it callous Doctor, or is it true? You said anyone that insults you has to go out with you at the end of the semester. Is that the way you get into your student pants? If it is, it's illegal. She may have to take another class with you before she graduates."

"You are very smart for 17-year-old girl."

"Why couldn't you say I was very smart, and leave out the rest? Are you that sexist? Do you grade all your female students that way?"

"I don't know? I'm going to have to go back and take a look at my grading system. I never thought of it that way. I hope I haven't kept anyone back because of it. I would feel terrible about that. Thank You Delicious, please take your seat so I can start this class."

She took a seat in an area where girls were dominant, and they smiled at her. One of them said, "He grades us harder than the men in his classes. He's been known to do that for years, and no one has said a word about it, until you did. Thanks a lot, I think you helped us all."

"If I helped, it's been my pleasure. Lunch is on me if you are going to the cafeteria."

There was a gasp from the group that surrounded her. Some of them said they would see her there.

At lunch one round table was not enough. They pushed two of them together, and put Delicious where they joined, so everyone could see her. They didn't talk about the class subject. They talked about Doctor Burke, life, and loves. Delicious blushed when she realized she was the only virgin at the table. Her classmates would not get off the subject, and kept asking her WHY?

Finally, she said, "Why not? She showed them her diamond ring, told them about Gray, and their promise to each other."

The young women looked and listened to her with rapt attention. There was no way they could go to bed with their boyfriends, and not have sex with them. It was much too pleasurable, and satisfying to think of sleeping naked with them, fooling around to the point of orgasm, and waiting until July to have penetrative sex. They wanted to meet this mystery man, and make sure he was made out of flesh and blood.

Delicious told them they would have to come to the University very early in the morning to see him. He had to be in Idaho Springs to work with her father around 9 AM. If they could all be here Friday, at 7:45 AM, she would bring him with her. If they did not come, she would beat the shit out of all of them, because he would punish her for lying to him."

This brought up another line of questioning. "How does he punish you?"

"Oh no, I'm not going to answer that one. It is too private and very enjoyable for both of us."

The girls laughed at her comment.

"Why does that man follow you around like a shadow?"

"Logan is my shadow. He is my security agent. If anyone threatens me, or looks like he wants to harm me, Logan will protect me with his life, if necessary. It's not because he likes me, it's because of what I know."

"What do you know that is so secret?"

"I can't tell you that, because it is too secret."

"Are you working on the spaceship with your father?"

"That's not a secret, so the answer is yes. I won't answer any more questions about my participation in that project."

"Why are you in school with us?"

"I am here to rest, and mingle with people my own age. I've never been allowed to do that before."

"Can I ask you what your IQ is?"

"207."

"Holy shit, I thought I was good at 156."

"They told me it would be higher if I learned how to draw. That's why I'm taking mechanical engineering. I want to be smarter than my father."

"What is his IQ?"

"207."

"Isn't that a bitch, you tied him because you couldn't draw. You don't need mechanical engineering; you need to take some art lessons."

"No, not for what I will be doing. You people are going to get me in trouble, with my fiancée, and my father. They are going to draw and quarter me if they find out what I've been talking about. Please keep this meeting private, or you will find me by the side of the road, cut into little pieces."

"What about Logan, isn't he supposed to protect you?"

"Logan will be the one that will slice me into pieces for talking too much. Please don't mention this conversation, I would like to live long enough to get married, and have a baby as my wedding gift to my husband."

"The way you speak about everything, I would not have taken you for a romantic. When you talk about Gray, you gush. You really have it bad for him, don't you?

"He is the beginning and the end of my world. I don't know what I would do if I lost him."

Logan approached her. "I'm sorry to break up this lovely meeting, but you have 30 minutes to destroy your next class."

"I'm not that bad Logan. I just tell it the way I see it."

"Yes miss, and if they don't see it your way, the first 15 minutes of your class is an argument between a teaching assistant, and a professor, who doesn't have their shit together."

"You just said a bad word Logan. You owe the pretzel jar $10."

"Can I have the $10 you won from Jerry?"

"No I'm going to frame it."

"I am going to be in the bathroom when they kidnap you."

She reached into her pocketbook, and took out the $10. "You don't play fair Logan."

"In my contract it doesn't say I have to play fair. Say goodbye to your friends, and if they mentioned a word about what you told them, I will tell your father and Grayson what you did. You can't believe how much trouble you are going to be in. They will lock you in the trunk for a week."

"Traitor."

"Your father pays me, not you."

"Ladies, please keep your mouths closed. Do you see what I have to put up with?"

They all nodded their heads, and promised not to say a word about what they heard. She was too precious an asset to a study group.

She stood up, said goodbye, as Logan took her by the arm and led her away like a felon.

"How could you possibly hear what I was saying to the girls? My back was to you, I was speaking just loud enough for them to hear me, and I wasn't using my hands for emphasis. What did I do wrong?"

"You didn't do anything wrong. I didn't hear a word you said to them. I looked at the way those young women were looking at you. I knew you were giving them information they should not have. You were being a bad girl, and I wanted them to know it, in the harshest possible terms, that they had to keep their mouths shut. I don't think they will betray you, because of what I said, and how I said it."

"You are a sneaky bastard Logan."

"I try my best miss."

***************

Mechanical Engineering:

Aerospace Design and Engineering / Vehicle Designs and Performance/ Electrical Systems

The classroom was full when she walked in. Only one seat was available, and it was directly in front of the professor's desk. She knew a set up when she saw one. She looked at her new classmates, "Very funny guys; no I will not be a part of any of your study groups."

An audible groan moved through the room.

"Are you destroying the decorum of my room already Miss Luck?"

"No Doctor Allerton, I think my classmates tried to pull a fast one on me. If you check your seating chart some of your students are not where they are supposed to be. I have no problem sitting in the front of the room however."

"You have a 4:30 meeting in front of the Faculty and Administrative Boards. If you are smart as your other professor's say you are you will be awarded a Bachelor of Science Degree, and moved into graduate studies."

"I don't know about this. I may not want to do it. My dad wanted me have fun, and relax, while I was here. I will have to call him and get his approval. May I speak to my security agent for a moment?"

"Certainly, go ahead."

When Logan saw her coming out of the room early he ran towards her thinking something was wrong. When she touched his sleeve he relaxed.

"Call my dad Logan, it's important."

************

"What's the problem Delicious?"

"Dad, they want to put me in front of a faculty board this afternoon. When I pass their exam they want to award me a Bachelor of Science Degree and move me into graduate studies. I don't know if I want to do that dad. It will put me with all older people, and I like being where I am. Everyone is 18 or 19 years old, and they are very friendly with me. If I go into graduate studies, they will be in their mid-20s. I will get lost again. It will defeat the purpose of my being here."

"If you know what you want to do why are you calling me?"

"I want you to be the bad guy."

"Oh, you want to be the innocent one, and make me look like the ogre."

"You play the ogre very well most of the time."

"What class are you in now?"

"Mechanical engineering, Doctor Allerton is the professor."

"Let me speak to Hank."

"Doctor Allerton, my dad would like to speak to you."

"How Are You Even?"

"Richer than I ever thought I would be. I'd like to talk to you about my daughter. She doesn't need a degree; she needs to assimilate into a group of her peers. She has lived in a box all her life. I need her to breathe freely. She knows this stuff backwards, forwards and upside down. The only thing she can't do is draw. You can't say a word about what I'm about to tell you, and I know I can trust you. She designed our nuclear engine without any help, and it's not water-cooled. The design is 50 years ahead of anything that is currently being designed by anyone in the industry. It blew me away when I first saw it. It was patented about six weeks ago, approved by the Energy Department. It is currently with the NRC for review. Can you imagine a 15-year-old girl starting from scratch and building a nuclear power plant Hank? She did it in 18 months, with pencil, paper, and a library computer."