New Horizons

"Oh, don't stop David..."

"I must! Remember my promise?!"

"No... Oh! Yes! Sweet and thoughtful David, thank you!" Amy rolled off his body, returning to his side, slowly catching her breath... "Wow!"

"Yeah..."

"Thank you David! I was seconds away from mounting and riding, coupling with you... Thank you David, for your kindness..."

David slowly let out a deep breath and smiled. He turned to face Amy, kissing her cheek once and then again. His hand came up and tentatively held Amy by her ribcage. Amy patted his hand in acceptance, and then returned the smile. "How did it all end?"

"Maggie was okay. She has a tremendous amount of spunk. I'm sure you know. I wasn't as tough. I started to stutter when I was in the presence of girls my age. My parents thought it would be better for Maggie and me, especially me, if we had a new beginning. We moved to New York City. I went to a private all-boy prep school. It was good and bad in a way. I calmed down, but I didn't have to face and overcome my trauma with girls. The school realized that academically I was way beyond them in math and science. They talked with my parents about college, but my parents realized I wasn't socially mature enough for that. I wound up taking lots of liberal arts classes, languages, history, music and poetry, stuff like that. I could read super fast, but I was just bright- normal in the classes. I fit right in with the other students. It was nice... I also took up karate. It helped build up my self-esteem... Shotokan karate; it's a hard-style karate... The mental discipline of it really helped me. My sensei thinks my technique and my katas are excellent. He says the only thing keeping me from my first-degree black-belt is my sparring. I'm just not aggressive enough..."

David smiled at Amy and continued. "Ah well, I can't act against my own character. And math and science are my real passions anyway. In prep school I devoured books and journals. I spent my time teaching myself through undergrad and then graduate level math and physics courses. And then in June three and a half years ago, just as I graduated prep school and got accepted to MIT, I read a journal article that changed my life."

"Ha! Let me guess! Was it the first reality-creation article in Physical Review Letters?"

"Wow! Amy, how on earth did you do that?! Do you read minds?"

"Oh yes. Any female can read a male's mind once she moistens his penis with her vagina. But the great sisterhood of all females would be furious with me if they knew that I have revealed the secret. You must promise never to betray me!"

"Amy, I promise I will never betray you. Seriously, I swear by our friendship."

"And I return the pledge. I will be your faithful friend for as long as I live... It would be hard to be more than that, to be lovers... We just won't see each other after tomorrow..."

"I know." David sighed. "I know..."

"So you really like the new quantum interface physics, huh?"

"Oh, yes! I'm delighted you know of it. I'll be graduating M.I.T. in June. My top choice for grad school is Cal Tech. That's where the great Dr. Hamm spends most of her time. My next choice is Princeton. The great Dr. Hamm also has a professorship there..."

"The great Dr. Hamm!? Ha! You make it sound like an official title! Ha! Ha! Ha! HIC!"

"Oh, don't object! The great Dr. Hamm is the greatest mind in history! Amy, what?"

"HIC! Did you ever try to laugh in whispers!? It's giving me the hiccups! Wait! Ha! HIC! Oh dear..."

On a playful impulse, David bent down while moving his hand up from Amy's ribcage to the soft underside of her breast. Cupping the yielding flesh in his hand and raising the nipple to a vertical position, he gave her feminine bump a swift nip with his teeth through her nightgown. Amy gasped in surprise.

"There! Did that cure your hiccups?"

"My gosh, I think it did!"

"Ah, I should patent this idea..."

"Right..."

"But Amy, Dr. Hamm really is great. You shouldn't have objected."

"Oh, it's not that, silly! The person you call the great Dr. Hamm, I call Laura."

"You've met the great Dr. Hamm?"

"Met her!? I practically lived with her for three years. She joined my soccer team in high school as a sophomore. I love Laura as my sister, and she loves me just the same."

"Wow! Yikes! Really!?"

"David, calm down! You'll wake your parents!"

"Oh, right... Wow! Do you still talk with her?"

"Well of course! Laura is now at the house of Jill and Jamie, another two of my honorary sisters. All seven of us girls will be at my home with my parents tomorrow night... I was planning on calling Laura tomorrow morning, before we leave for the airport. Would you like to say hello?"

"Wow! Yes, you bet! Wow!"

"David, hush!"

"Oh. Right. Okay... How often do you get together?"

"Well, we parted ways two and half years ago, as we were graduating high-school. We've all come together these last three Christmases. We also came to Sarah's wedding, and then to Jill's wedding. We also all came back to Wisconsin about a year and a half ago, when Laura's Aunt Irene died. Her great aunt, actually. It was so sad. If she had lived another six months, she could have seen Laura getting her Nobel prizes in math and physics... All seven of us were there in Sweden. Laura invited us all. It was the only time I've ever been out of the country. It was a magical time..."

"I remember seeing it on T.V..."

"Yeah... So many records being made. The first person to win two Nobel prizes at the same time, the first teenager to win a Nobel... The first person ever to receive a Nobel prize in mathematics... The Nobel Committee opened up a whole new category of prize just for Laura, her creation of the new mathematics is that fundamental... I was so happy for her. And the party afterwards was fabulous!"

"I had forgotten the part about her being a teenager then. I keep thinking of her as a lot older."

"Laura will turn 21 at the end of March. She's your age, within a few months... Oh David, it's so nice to lie here with you..."

Amy lightly petted David's body, neither speaking for a long while. Finally Amy said "I must get back to my own bed... I hate the thought of leaving you David; hate the thought of never coming back to your bed... But I must go..."

"Yes, you must go... Goodnight Amy, I love you... I love you as my dear friend... Ah, Amy, before you go, could you... well, perhaps help me with a fantasy I've been having?"

"Sure! What do you have in mind?"

"I've been dreaming a lot about how wonderful it felt when you petted my scrotum three days ago, so soft, so sexy, so relaxing. I've been dreaming of falling asleep while my sac is being petted. Would you pet me there? To put me to sleep..."

"Oh sure! I'd love to!" David lay flat on his back as Amy sat up and placed both her hands on either side of his groin. "Spread your legs a bit more... That's right... Oh David, you are such a handsome male!" Amy lowered her head and sniffed his penis. "Why David, for some strange reason, your penis smells a bit like a female. This really should be cleaned..."

"Huh? What?"

"And I'm the one that soiled it too. Thus I should be responsible for cleaning it, don't you think?"

Amy began to kiss the penis in her hands, running her nose and then her tongue along the shaft, cleaning her dried lubrication from it. As the penis began to stiffen, she gave a long kiss to the sensitive head, licking and gently suckling the soft top-skin. She then slid the throbbing erection deeply into her mouth...

David was gasping uncontrollably at the pleasure of it. "Oh Amy... Are you sure?"

"Hush, David. Yes, I'm sure. I want you to cum. Allow me to be a vessel for you. Cum inside of me... Inside my mouth..." Amy returned to her suckle. She slowed David down, just a bit, but she could feel his virgin eagerness to ejaculate, and in the end she decided not to try to fight his quick desire. David was thrusting his penis into her mouth, his hips in a frenzy of quick jabs. Amy skillfully used her mouth and hands to simulate a moist and eager vagina. As she sensed David's orgasm about to explode, she lifted her suckle to his penis head, allowing her hands to rhythmically contract and pump between his ejaculation spurts, suckling his sperm into her body. David shuddered and collapsed.

"Oh Amy..."

"Hush, my love. No more words, not now... Turn on your side... That's right... Lift your knees towards your chest... There my love, that's right..." Amy fingers began to caress his scrotum from behind. She bent her head down and sniffed his sac. "Perhaps I should clean here too," she thought playfully. "You never can be too careful with these things, you know." Amy's tongue joined her fingers in caressing the skin surface of the sac, and in gently penetrating to caress the testes within. David shuddered with delight, his relaxed body losing its ability to move, and his mind losing its ability to think. Amy kept up the gentle caresses, continuing long after David fell asleep. She could still feel his body trembling with delight. He finally entered a deep sleep, becoming totally unresponsive. Amy gave a last feather-light kiss to each of his testes. "Goodnight, my love. God be always with you." She slipped silently back to her room.

Chapter 3.

Ring... Ring.... "Hello?"

"Hello, is this the great Dr. Hamm?"

"Ah, Et tu, Brute? Or should I say, and you too Amy? Hi! How are you?"

"Hi! I'm fine. Christmas was wonderful here in New York, and I loved meeting my roommate's family. How are you? Except for me, is the nickel all together?"

"I'm fine, and yes, everyone is here. Our honorary family's newest member is here too. Sarah and Bill brought Benjamin over yesterday! He's so adorable! Just wait till you see him! And it'll be so nice to see you again too, Amy."

"Oh, I feel the same! I'll be leaving for the airport in about an hour... Laura, I think I have one of your biggest fan club members here with me. He's graduating MIT this year. You might even have seen his grad student applications to Cal Tech and Princeton, I'm sure you're on both review committees, right? Anyway, his name is David. I promised to let him say hello. Let me put you on the speakerphone. Here he is!"

"...Uh... Hello? Dr. Hamm?"

"Hello David! It's very nice to meet you. Amy tells me you're applying to both Cal Tech and Princeton. Both faculties will begin to review the grad student applications in January. I haven't seen any of them yet. Are you thinking of the physics departments?"

"Uh.... Yes, that's right. Actually, Dr. Hamm, you might have already read a paper I published in Quantum Interface Today last summer. It outlines how to use n-gram multi- wave-function entanglement to theoretically set up a new type of quantum interface instability. I left it as a puzzle to the readers as to why such a phenomenon should be called a chatterbox resonance. Have you read my paper? ... Hello? ... Dr. Hamm?"

"My gosh... My gosh... David and Amy, is there anyone else there that can hear this conversation?"

"What?! No, not now Laura, but the rest of David's family will be back within a half hour. Why in the world do you ask?"

"David, I know who you are now. It's a great pleasure for me to meet you. I can't wait until we can start working together in the fall. In the summer if you can come then."

"Well, I haven't been accepted yet."

"David, you're forgetting whom you're talking to..."

"What? Oh. OH! YO! This is fabulous! What a Christmas present! Thank you, thank you Dr. Hamm!"

"Laura, my question is still pending..."

"I know Amy. Cloak-and-dagger stuff is usually so absurd in pure science, but this is an exception. Trust me Amy?"

"Okay. I do trust you. I'll leave the house too if you want to talk only to David."

"Hmmm. No, I return the trust. You can stay Amy. I've mentioned this to Jill too. I need people to help me check my moral compass, just as everyone else does. I value your insight and character, but tell absolutely no one else. Most of the physics of this conversation might escape you, but perhaps you'll see the moral issues involved, depending how this conversation evolves... David, may I ask you, do you have any new publications in the pipeline?"

"Oh yes, a whole basketful of them!"

"Oh dear. Are any already submitted for review?"

"Oh dear? Uh, no. Doing the theoretical work itself is a lot more fun than writing it up for publication. For some reason that's beyond me, the whole quantum community seems to be missing the main point of the experimental interface exploration, to create consciousness in the lab. I'm not worried about being scooped. All the papers being published are heading in other directions. I don't think any of them will lead to the main issues. I intentionally used the common and incorrect formalism in my paper to show how bad it is, and left a clue with the name chatterbox to point to the right direction. It'll all be made clear in my next paper. I'm just about to submit it."

"David, do you know if anyone picked up your challenge?"

"No, Dr. Hamm. It was very disappointing. The referees of the paper raised some vague objection, about how physics papers just don't do challenge puzzles like this. But it was only one sentence in a large paper. They were happy with everything else. In the end, they decided just to let the matter ride."

"And no one else contacted you about this?"

"No. It was very disappointing. Even my undergraduate thesis advisor ignored the issue."

"Whew! Then I think the genie might still be in the bottle! David, I was fascinated by your challenge! After weeks of studying your paper, I finally realized you were referring to whistler modes in space plasmas, in the magnetosphere, right?"

"Well of course! Once you re-write the math in the formalism of whistler mode reflections, it's obvious that this particular quantum resonance has the power to self- organize into trillions of harmonies. It's obviously the canonical formalism for this, trillions of interlocking whistles, complex enough to support the creation of a consciousness, one supported by a harmonious chatterbox of whistles."

"Obvious for you to see David. A struggle for me to see. And I would guess completely opaque to everyone else in the field. Which is a very, very good thing. I can't tell you how much I've struggled about how to find and approach you about this. There's so much I want to tell you, and I have such fears of our world standing at the edge of a chasm of unknown depth. You certainly have the right to express and publish your discoveries, but... I want to explain, but I'll describe my request first. I want you to promise to seal discussing this approach with anyone, until we can discuss this at length. These discussions might take months, or longer. The moral issues involved are that profound."

"Wow Dr. Hamm, that's a heck of a request... Amy, I trust you completely. Do you have any counsel for me?"

"I have only the dimmest understanding of what you two are talking about. About all I can say is that Laura is the most principled person I have ever met. Her guidance to me has been invaluable. I trust her completely."

"Ha!" laughed David, "So the question becomes, is complete trust associative? I will take the leap that it is. Dr. Hamm, I promise to seal my thoughts on this for as long as you want to keep discussing this with me, no time limit. I will trust you completely. You have my word."

There was a long pause on the phone. Laura let out deep sigh. "Thank you, David. You have my sincere gratitude. I can't describe my relief."

"Laura, I see David's folks pulling into the driveway."

"Then we should end this conversation now. David, I have a standing invitation to give a guest talk at MIT. Will you be there during the independent activities period in January?"

"Oh sure. It's the best month of all to be at MIT."

"I agree. Science is best approached in playfulness. David, we'll meet next month. I will subordinate my schedule to yours. Please give Amy your contact information for me... Thank you for your trust. I am profoundly in your debt. Well, goodbye to you both. See you soon Amy!"

Chapter 4.

"Hi David! Throw your bags in the back and hop in!"

"Hi! Thanks for being so prompt! It's cold out here!"

Laura drove away from the Braintree subway station, heading for Route 3 South.

"Do you know the way, Dr. Hamm?"

"I think so. The maps are pretty straightforward... Thanks for remembering not to call me Dr. Hamm out in the open at the Redline station. I really appreciate you not minding all this cloak-and-dagger stuff. It must seem pretty ridiculous..."

"Mind Dr. Hamm? I'm having the time of my life! I feel like the undergrad who came in from the cold! Literally! Even for Boston, this is cold!"

"About -20C, I think. A bit chilly."

"A bit chilly, Dr. Hamm?"

"Well, very cold compared to Cal Tech or even Princeton. But I spent three years in upstate Wisconsin when I was in high school. Getting through winters there is serious business."

"I bet..." David looked at the maps and rechecked their schedule. "We're in fine shape, time-wise. I know the route. I'll point out the turns if you like. Making the 7:45 PM ferry at Woods Hole will be no problem even if we hit some traffic, and we're not going to hit any traffic. I think Martha's Vineyard is going to be almost deserted."

"Sounds good to me. Perfect, in fact."

"I googled a picture of the hotel suite. It's nice. I'll be very comfortable on the couch. The ferry docks at 8:30. It's just a short drive on Beach Road from Vineyard Haven to Oak Bluffs. We should be all settled in by around 9:30. Reservation is confirmed through till next Sunday. Do you want to get started on the physics tonight Dr. Hamm, or just sack out and start fresh in the morning?"

"Ah... David... You've been so kind to help me set all of this up without asking for the details of the purpose, but... in the interest of a true cloak-and-dagger operation, could you just call me Laura for the next week?"

"Wow! Sure, an honor, Laura."

"Ha! You use the word honor the way I use the word. Not too many people in the U.S. pay attention to the true meaning of the concept. And to answer your question, I think I'll be ready for sleep after we get there. I owe you a lot of explanations though. If you want to get started, I suppose we could work for a bit."

"Oh no. I tend to be an early riser. Just punching out for the night will be fine."

"Great... Thanks again for keeping the ferry and hotel reservations in your name."

"Oh, I'm enjoying this so much, I'd be happy to share the real costs with you."

"David! You are an undergrad, and I have more money than I know what to do with. Just a few years ago I was watching my expenses very carefully. Now my book royalties are greater than my Nobel prize money, which was more than $10M for each, and I'm getting fat salaries from both Cal Tech and Princeton. Don't be ridiculous!"

"Well, if you put it like that..." David said with a smile. He gazed out the window for a while, and then turned and watched Laura drive...

"What David?"

"Oh, I was just thinking how different you look, between now and when you gave your talk in Kresge auditorium. Your talk was fantastic, by the way. But I've never seen you in a ponytail and blue-jeans before. It makes you look a lot younger! Err, am I stepping out of line?"

"Huh? Oh no, not at all. In fact, our cover is a romantic vacation. We made sure we were seen together before and after my talk. Perhaps we should also try to act like a couple on the island, just a bit. My hope is that I'm never recognized at all. I haven't traveled around the Boston area, and I haven't worn my hair in a ponytail since high- school. Easy to play soccer like this." Laura shook her head playfully and wagged her ponytail. "I've been mostly wearing my hair up to look a little older when teaching. Almost all the undergrad seniors are older than I am, let alone my grad students."