Behind the Walls of Ivy

Shale also filed suit against Eric Solveig, but his attorney advised him not to pursue it. "It's not worth it," she told him. "Solveig's facing a number of suits and he's vowed to fight every one to the bitter end. A long trial will prove very expensive for you, and when it's over you'll collect nothing because Solveig's legal fees are going to turn him into a pauper."

"I hear what you're saying," Shale replied angrily, "but it frustrates the hell out of me. Besides, I wanted to get him on the witness stand and find out what really happened with him and Sylvia, to learn how all this crap got started."

The attorney looked at him shrewdly. "If it's the truth you want, I think I know a way you might get it."

A few weeks later, Shale was sitting in a conference room of the law firm representing Eric Solveig. In exchange for an ironclad agreement to drop his suit against Solveig and never to reveal anything said in conference, Shale secured an hour to quiz the former Provost. The latter, in turn, agreed to answer Shale's questions honestly.

As he faced his nemesis across the broad wooden table, Shale was gratified to see how old and worn the former Provost appeared. He responded to Shale's questions in a weary voice devoid of all hope. Shale felt no shred of sympathy.

When Shale asked him how it had all started, Solveig told him that he'd given in to temptation the first time when a doctoral student had offered him sex in return for a fellowship. The woman was both attractive and highly motivated, and before Solveig could respond she had his cock in her mouth. He loved the blow job, he admitted to Shale, but he loved the feeling of power her self-abasement gave him even more.

After that experience, Solveig realized just how much leverage he had over others, and when the next pretty supplicant came to see him, he didn't wait for her to make him an offer. When he spelled out the quid pro quo, she didn't even object.

Everything was going smoothly until the evening Magnus Jefferson walked into Eric's office unexpectedly and caught him in flagrante delicto with an adjunct. After the embarrassed young woman had fled, Solveig told Shale that he'd expected to be fired on the spot. Jefferson had demanded to know all about Solveig's little sexual shakedown. When he finished, the President shocked Eric by announcing that he wanted in on the game.

"But didn't anyone ever refuse or threaten to tell someone?" Shale asked.

Solveig looked at him as though he was an idiot. "Who'd take the word of a struggling academic over the President of the university?" he asked scornfully. "Besides, those people were desperate, and we had what they needed: credentials, tenure, scholarships, whatever. Nobody turned us down; in fact a lot of them thought it was a fair exchange."

Shale couldn't help curling his lips in disdain. But there was one more question he had to ask.

"What I really want to know is what leverage you had over Sylvia? How did you coerce her into becoming Jefferson's mistress?"

Solveig shook his head. "We didn't have to offer her a thing. She was the one who came on to him."

Shale could only stare at Solveig and clench his fists. He'd wanted the truth and now he had it. Was he satisfied? No, but the two people he was most angry with were beyond his reach. He decided he didn't care about the husk of a man sitting across from him. Solveig had nothing but a life of shame and misery to look forward to. Without another word Shale pushed his chair back from the table and left the room. It was time to let it go.

A few days later, Perry Ryan found Shale was clearing out his office. "So you're really leaving," he said. "I thought with the change in administration maybe you'd stay."

"No," Shale said, "the university wanted me gone and paid me handsomely to do so. Frankly, I'm happy to leave as well - too many bad memories here. But what about you, Perry? What are your plans?"

"I'm going to stick around. The settlement Camille and I got paid off all our student loans, so life is a lot easier now."

Shale looked at him out of the corner of his eye as he continued to pack. "What about your marriage? Are you two going to be okay after everything that happened?"

Perry answered quickly. "Sure, sure, that's all in the past now. Everything's fine between me and Camille."

The memory of the last time he saw Camille came to Shale's mind, but he suppressed the image. "Good, Perry, I'm glad to hear it," he said.

"So have you found a new position at another university?" Perry went on.

"No," Shale said, "I'm damaged goods as far as major universities are concerned. And to tell the truth, I don't think I'd accept if one of them did offer me a contract. I've had enough of academia to last a lifetime."

"So you're just going to go off and live a life of leisure, is that it?"

"No, I'm going to keep on with my research. I plan to use the money from the settlement to fund my own geological expedition."

Perry looked at him curiously, so Shale pulled a bound copy of his dissertation out of the box he was packing. "Remember my hypothesis about variations in the forces that formed the continents? Those variations help explain why different kinds of rocks and minerals are deposited unevenly around the globe."

"Sure, I remember," said Perry. "So what?"

Shale smiled. "In the past, people stumbled on ores and mineral deposits more or less by chance. But I think I can use my theory to predict where to look for certain valuable minerals, places where people haven't tried before."

Perry looked at him skeptically. "You're going prospecting for gold?"

"No, but something just as valuable: Europium. Europium is a rare earth element that puts the red in television screens and computer monitors. It has lots of other possible applications, but it's rare and only found in concentrations so small that it requires extensive processing to extract. Right now the largest known deposits are in China. But if my hypothesis is correct, I think I can find a new source of Europium ore, one with a much richer concentration of the element."

"It still sounds to me like digging for gold," Perry said with a smile. "So how long do you think you'll be gone?"

"I'm planning to be out there for six months," Shale told him.

The other man shook his head doubtfully. "Well, I wish you luck, but I wouldn't want to undertake something like that. Sounds like a hard, lonely existence to me."

Shale smiled. "Oh, I don't think I'll get too lonely."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Shale gingerly made his way down the rock outcropping. The moon offered him good light, but he didn't want to step on a loose rock, or worse, on one of the poisonous reptiles that came out to hunt after the heat of the sun had subsided.

"I was finally able to get a signal," he said when he reached their campfire. "The helicopter will pick us up in the morning to take us to the next test site."

"Oh," he added, "I also got a message from Annika. She's back from her honeymoon now, and wanted to wish us the best." He sighed and looked at Mosa. "I still think she made a terrible mistake going back to Robert. I don't see how she can ever trust him after what he did."

Mosa shrugged. "I agree, but love makes people do crazy things."

When he heard that, Shale couldn't help thinking back to his last year with Sylvia. Mosa saw him react and immediately realized what he was thinking. Quickly she went to his side. "Oh, Shale, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up..."

"No, it's alright." Shale said, putting his arm around her waist. "Occasionally something reminds me of the bad times, but it doesn't happen often anymore. Honestly, I'm happy now."

The young woman drew him closer to her and asked archly, "And just is it that makes you so happy, Professor Stephens?"

He smiled down at her. "First, I'm very happy that I'm here with you," he said warmly, letting his hand slip down to fondle her supple buttocks. Mosa giggled. "And second, I'm happy to be about as far away as possible from any ivy-covered walls."