Forever Yours
7
Progress
CAROL’S OFFER proved to have some limitations. They explored some possibilities, but stopped short of consummating a relationship because neither one had a condom. And neither was willing to take a chance on a person they didn’t really know that well.
They slept together, kissed, fondled, and both exploded in orgasm, but woke up in the morning a little embarrassed and hurrying to get to the second day of the tournament.
The short night didn’t seem to do either of them any harm when they stepped on the links. Carol led the women’s team to a first place victory with a team total of 613 for the two-day event. She medaled with a five over par.
While Henry shot a slightly better four over par, the men’s team managed only fourth place among the eleven teams. Still, everyone was happy with the results and relaxed on the hour-and-a-half ride back to campus.
“Um… So, about last night…” Carol said.
“Yes,” Henry replied. “I would like to date you. But please don’t think that every time we go out, we’ll end up like we were last night. I still live at home with my parents to save up money this year. You live in a residence hall. I don’t think either of us wants to entertain in our homes.”
“Oh, God! Yes. That’s just what I was thinking. I mean, last night was really fun and I’m not upset about it, but it was a lot bolder and faster than I normally am. I mean, I hope we do it again, and that we have a condom or twenty. But it will be hard to have regular dates. We aren’t even on the same part of campus to meet for lunches and stuff, you know?”
“Yeah. But if you have time next weekend, we could do something normal like go to the football game.”
“Football? I hate to say it, but I’ve never actually been to a football game,” Carol said.
“Even in high school?”
“All girls school. I hear, though, they’re going to start girls’ flag football in the spring or something. There’s a big movement to get it established nationwide.”
“Maybe it will be like women’s basketball,” Henry said. “A lot more entertaining to watch than men’s.”
“How about lunch before the game and we can see what we come up with afterward?”
“Deal.”
Henry was both stimulated by his classes and frustrated that they weren’t advanced enough to do more than talk about general theory. He was at a point where he needed someone to test his next batch of code and hadn’t built a trusting enough relationship with others in the department to share it with them. He managed to get an appointment with his advisor on Wednesday that week.
“Professor Jacoby, I’m having a problem,” he said.
“Too rigorous a class schedule? I was concerned about you taking eighteen credits. That’s a pretty heavy load.”
“That’s not the problem. Most of the classes aren’t requiring much more than reading and discussion. I’m sure I’ll need to start working on a couple of papers by the end of the month. It’s more of a professional dilemma.”
“Do tell. What kind of dilemma can you be having at this stage of your career?”
“You know I’ve been working on some software apps and code. We talked about it in my application interview. I have three patent applications and two copyrights. I guess the patents take longer than the copyrights. Those are already issued.”
“You can’t patent software. Are you doing this on your own?”
“No, sir. I have a pretty good patent attorney, I think. The patents are on system and methods,” Henry said, trying to keep too much pride from showing through.
“That’s impressive. All developed on your own?”
“Yes. That’s the problem I’m facing. I have further developments but I really need to test them before I can give them to my attorney.”
“That would be wise.”
“But I don’t have any testers. I was really lucky in high school to have close friends and a teacher who were all over eighteen and could sign non-disclosures. They did a good job of testing, but I know it fell short of what could have been done. But now, I don’t have anyone. I don’t really know how to interview potential testers or how to handle it while I’m here at the university,” Henry said.
“Don’t.”
“Sir?”
“There have been a couple of test cases in which inventions by students who use university resources for development can be claimed to be owned by the university. There have also been cases dismissed. But it’s risky. The university has been probing the computer science department as a place where they might find intellectual property they can claim and license. This conversation, in fact, has probably gone as far as we should take it here on campus. How about we meet someplace this weekend and explore the possibilities?”
“That would be… fine. If you could meet me at Constitution Links for brunch on Sunday at eleven o’clock, we could launch our discussion then. I’ll bring a non-disclosure,” Henry said.
“I like your decisiveness. I’ll see you there on Sunday.”
Henry picked Carol up at eleven-thirty Saturday morning and drove straight to the stadium parking lot. It was already starting to fill. They managed to get seats at Burgertory for lunch and relaxed. Game time was at two.
“How many people are going to be there?” Carol asked.
“They say the stadium seats over 68,000, but that’s really for the Steelers games. College games can run anywhere from 25,000 to 45,000,” Henry said. He’d looked things up to prepare for the day. It wouldn’t do to arrange a date and then not be able to get in or to be late.
“Would you mind terribly keeping hold of my hand?” she asked. “I don’t want to sound like a baby, but I’m not used to big crowds. Just being on campus sometimes drives me a little crazy.”
“Carol, I don’t ever mind holding your hand. I’d like to keep you close.”
“We’ve been a lot closer than we’ll manage today, I’m sure, but keeping in touch is still high on my list,” she laughed.
They finished lunch and headed to the stadium. Once inside, they stopped at a vendor to get hot chocolate and made their way through the crowds to their seats in the student section.
“This is good, but I’m going to freeze to death out here,” Carol said. “I should have worn a heavier coat, but I wasn’t expecting it to be so chilly today.”
“The mild temps this past week were deceiving. We’re definitely headed into fall weather,” Henry said. “Fortunately, I checked the forecast before I picked you up.”
His clear plastic backpack looked like a grade schooler’s, but that was one of the rules of the stadium. He opened it and extracted a blanket that he shook out and spread over the two of them.
“Oh! This will be good,” Carol said. “When we finish our drinks, we can pull it all the way up over our shoulders and cuddle together!”
“That will be a pretty ideal thing,” Henry said. “Like I said, I want to stay in touch with you. I didn’t mean by email.”
“I think we’re thinking the same thing. Okay. I think we have to stand up for the National Anthem.”
They stood, sang, and sat. Then the game was underway and they soon had to stand up to cheer. It was only three minutes into the game before their team scored and led 7-0. In three more minutes of playing time, they scored again, and again five minutes after that.
“Wow! Is our team that good or does theirs really suck?” Henry asked.
“We probably won’t know until they play someone else,” Carol said. “I saw a poster outside that said we were 5-0 coming into this contest, so I’m guessing the team is really good. Unfortunately, I don’t understand anything that’s going on down there except when one of our team carries the ball into the end zone.”
“Well, look at the bright side,” Henry said.
“Is there a bright side?”
“We’re cuddled together under a blanket keeping warm together and I’m not attempting to explain anything that’s going on.”
“I was going to ask you about that. Not the cuddling thing. I understand that really well. I was wondering about why you weren’t explaining things. Isn’t that what guys are supposed to do at sporting events?”
“I’m a computer geek. The only sport I understand is the one I participate in. Golf is a long way from football!” Henry said.
He turned toward her and she kissed him.
“If we keep this up, we might have to put the blanket over our heads!”
Rather than pull the blanket over their heads, Henry and Carol left the stadium at halftime with the score at 42-10. They hadn’t been that interested in the game anyway. Once they were in Henry’s car and he had the heater running, they kissed over the console. Carol kept the blanket over her and Henry kept his hands busy beneath it.
“We’d better get out of the parking lot before more people start leaving the game,” Henry said, pulling back. “It’s five o’clock.”
“Oh, crap! How long do football games last?” Carol asked.
“Three-and-a-half or four hours, I guess.”
“Let’s go then. I’d rather not be sitting here with my bra around my neck and my shirt and jacket wide open.”
“Mmm. A fond farewell, then,” Henry said, squeezing one of the exposed breasts again.
He fastened his seat belt and pulled out of their parking space. There was already a line of cars exiting the parking lot. Carol spent a minute getting her bra in place and her shirt buttoned before fastening her own seatbelt. Then they both started giggling.
“That felt almost like high school,” Henry said.
“I never had anything feel that good in high school,” Carol answered. “I mean, not that I’m innocent and all, but attending an all-girls school and being super studious, I didn’t have a lot of social activities. Even when I dated, it wasn’t as fun as this was.”
“I’m glad you think this was fun. I’d hate to imagine I was the only one enjoying it,” Henry said. “Shall we go someplace for dinner?”
“Yeah, if you’d like. I really can’t stay out late, though. You wouldn’t believe the amount of anatomy homework I have this weekend.”
“Anything I can help with?”
They both started laughing again.
“Ah… you know next weekend starts our fall break,” Carol said. “I promised I’d go back to Cleveland, but I wouldn’t have to leave as soon as classes are out on Friday. We could find someplace to study anatomy together for the weekend.”
“How were you planning to get back to Cleveland?”
“Ugh. Greyhound.”
“Why don’t I drive you back. We could break the trip up a little. It’s such a long way. We might need to stop at cheap motels a couple of nights.”
“It’s only, like, two hours.”
“Yeah. I really hate to make those long trips all at once.”
“We could leave after last class on Friday and maybe find someplace exotic to stay like Youngstown.”
“There must be a Motel 6 there,” Henry said.
Carol looked at him in horror. “Would you really take me to a Motel 6 when I’m offering to let you study my anatomy? In detail?”
“Not unless you insisted. Trust me. I’ll find us someplace suitable,” Henry answered.
“I don’t know exactly why, but I actually do trust you. Um… After dinner tonight… I guess I don’t really need to get back to start studying right away. We could find a place and explore a little more before you take me back.”
Henry met Professor Jacoby and Don Harvey at the club for brunch Sunday morning at eleven.
“Professor Jacoby, this is my patent attorney, Don Harvey,” Henry introduced them. “I thought it would be good to have him along because I don’t understand all the ins and outs of this patent stuff and the limitations of our testing.”
“Great idea, Henry. Dale Jacoby,” the professor said, offering his hand to Don. They shook and went in to partake of the buffet brunch.
When they’d served themselves and sat, Henry slid a non-disclosure form over to his professor. Jacoby read it over before signing and dating it. He handed it to Don. The attorney folded it and put it in an inside pocket.
“If you hadn’t had one of those ready, I’d have been seriously concerned,” Jacoby said. “But as prepared as you were with a time and location for our meeting, I was pretty confident. Henry, you’re well ahead of others in your class. Tell me about what you’ve got.”
“In high school, I started developing a suite of utilities for optimizing computers and streamlining software based on the user’s needs. We’ve filed three patents and two copyrights on the applications. But those are all kind of background patents and apps for what I want to do,” Henry said.
“The copyrights, of course, are fairly simple to file and issue,” Don said. “I’m expecting the patents will start issuing within a month or two. There has been no request for revision or clarification.”
“That’s a testament to both the invention and your ability as a patent attorney,” Jacoby said. “I’ve had patents in process for three years.”
“What Henry is proposing might take longer, but we need a dependable testbed before I can even begin to file the next series of patents,” Don said. They turned back to Henry.
“The initial concept was a pretty simple adaptation of what I’d been doing manually for a few years on my own and my mother’s computers,” Henry said. “It involved searching for hidden processes that slowed down application performance, defragmenting and optimizing hard disks, and tuning the running of the system and the hardware. What I am working on now is an adaptation of a narrow intelligence app that will work algorithmically instead of on a lookup table, and more importantly that will learn from the user’s computer experience. In other words, it might do a simple optimization when it’s first installed, but then continue to tune the device as it learns the user’s preferences and actual usage.”
“Whoa! That means you are creating an app you expect to keep running in the background that will kill other things running in the background?” Jacoby said.
“That’s a simple way to put it.”
“Okay. Jump forward with me a minute. How do you expect people to receive that? People are panicked enough these days about unknown things on their computer. Why would they install something to live on it?” Jacoby asked.
“Good question,” Henry said. “To answer it, we have to ask why people are so cautious about such a thing these days. I believe it’s because AI software currently reports everything it learns to big brother. Whoever owns the software code. We know already that these megacorps use that information to target the user with advertising. But they also use it to gather detailed personal information that might give them power over the user in yet unknown ways. We’ve already seen the federal government subpoenaing user information on associations, searches, and email, or simply raiding it from government agencies.”
“We live in a connected world,” Jacoby said.
“So, let’s disconnect from it. Current renditions of AI-enabled applications reside in or report to the cloud, not the computer. What I’m proposing is an app that resides on the computer and actively prevents personal information, including how the app is being used, from leaving the computer. Since it is capable of learning the user’s preferences, it doesn’t even need to be constantly upgraded. Only if the big guys decide to actively go after the app will it need to have protective upgrades.”
“Well, shit. The big guys, as you call them, will hate that,” Jacoby said. “This needs to be tested in absolute secrecy or they would start building defenses against it before it’s ever released.”
“That’s the problem with most of the testing resources we’ve identified,” Don said. “We need to lock in confidentiality in such a way that testers are actually excited about maintaining it.”
“Offering them something valuable for maintaining the confidentiality rather than beating them with a wet noodle if they betray it,” Jacoby nodded.
The three men took their time over brunch and brainstormed several ideas for finding and maintaining testers for the project. They didn’t have drinks, but the brunch still extended past two hours.
“How are you funding all this, Henry?” Jacoby asked after they’d said goodbye to Don. “Just having your attorney at this meeting must have cost $500, plus the meal.”
Henry stopped and looked at the clear sky when they were outside.
“Good faith and promises,” he sighed. “Don and I are keeping track of his expenses and I’ve agreed to cut him in for a part of the proceeds from the sale of the patents. That’s a lot of faith to have in the inventions of an eighteen-year-old kid. My parents are providing me with housing and meals, and college expenses I can’t cover. I have a part-time job here at the club. And I’ve been really conservative with the way I’m spending my grants at the university.”
“That’s not an adequate way to start a business like you want.”
“I have three partners. We created an LLC to invest in and begin the corporation when we’re ready to get it open. Not a lot of money there, but we all put into it.”
“When do you think you’ll be ready?”
“I’m loaded to the max with credits. I’d like to finish in three years and have an office I can move into as soon as I have the degree in hand.”
“Well, here’s some more faith. When you need some capital to get things started, tell me. I’m in. Won’t be enough to support lavish offices and high salaries, but it will help put some life in your company. While you focus on your inventions, I’ll start pulling my finances together so I’m ready when you are.”
“Thank you, sir. Your help in getting the testbed set up is really appreciated. It was a major hurdle.”
Henry texted his partners with the news that he had a testbed set up for his newest rendition. He also mentioned the interest of his professor so they could get the corporation set up. They were equally enthused.
“Does that mean we won’t be testing for you again?” Chastity asked.
“No. It means we’ll all have a more formal testing contract. It doesn’t really change anything for us because the LLC will hold the contracts.”
“I need to buy a fireproof file cabinet,” Chastity said. “It will be a small one, but we need someplace to put the contracts and our agreement. I’d sure feel better if we had a more secure email.”
“In about a month or so,” Henry said. “I’m setting up a self-hosted server, so we won’t be using any hosting services for our email. It just takes time to get it set up.”
“We’re holding expenses to only what we have to have,” Luke said. “Our resources have to get us through to startup.”
“We’ll make it,” Isobel said. “Money grows when you plant it.”
None of them were certain what she meant by that, but it sounded encouraging.
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
