By mid-September it was clear that Tech Fantasies president Ann Kelly was pregnant, due just before the New Year. Her duties were considerable, but she had no fixed schedule. There was also much help available to her, so her pregnancy would cause no problems either to her organization or the school.
The addition of lower grades to Social Tech High had begun early in the fall and would continue throughout the year. Beginning to have some worries about the number of special classes like Alma Renwick’s, the organizational committee under Sally Aston was now linking these classes into the main body of the school with the intense Level Five connections which had characterized the school from the start.
Making these connections could only be done with the aid of short chains of individuals, at least one inserted between two people that should be linked up. All of these were voluntary, mere suggestions, but both students and teachers usually accepted them without question.
Alice Ames was not the kind of girl to accept things without question, however. “What does the space of possibilities look like? What kinds of choices do I have.”
“Well, Alice”, her teacher explained, “since these links are intended mostly for your benefit, you do have a lot of choice. The school software is set up to suggest the best configuration it can find. Others are possible.”
“How much better is the best than the next few?”
“Oh, not much better. The top ten are very nearly equal.”
“Then I want a choice.”
“That is your right. I’ll set it up.”
The same day Alice received some fairly detailed information about alternatives which could probably be implemented, since the people listed would probably cooperate. Blindly. Unlike Alice herself.
She took the results back to Mrs. Renwick. “The Chinese girl interested in computer langages. She would be linked to that Chinese-American boy interested in natural languages, the ones people use. He would probably be linked to one of the language teachers in the school.”
“Are you sure the software recommended a girl linked to a boy?”
“They are both seventeen. Her parents are back in China. The software predicts that she’d accept a link to a boy, not having to consult her parents.”
“You are some days short of being twelve, Alice. How likely is it that a seventeen year old girl would accept you as a friend?”
“Don’t you trust the software, Mrs. Renwick? My guess is that she will think of herself as my mentor, but appreciate having a guide to western culture, too.”
“Alright, let’s put in the request and see what happens.”
Almost immediately a girl in mainland China who was in a state-run school there got a notice saying that she would be admitted to the Social Technology High School of New York, with a full scholarship including room and board.
In San Francisco’s Chinatown a second-generation Chinese-American boy got a similar notification, without the offer a full-scholarship. That could be changed, but his family wealth seemed sufficient to cover the school fees. He could also take care of his own living arrangements, which would be through a cousin in the New York Chinatown.
Natural language enthusiast John Heng Wei would accept as close friend and mentor the school’s Greek and Latin teacher, Arnold Smithson. He would also accept the probably intimate friendship of a Ming Ling Lo from Nanking, China. Alice Ames would be close to Ming Ling.
As Alma Renwick had also pointed out, both of these students would almost certainly graduate in June, less than eight months away.
“That is good. They will remain as friends in some way, I think. The links will be too strong to just dissolve. Meanwhile, the school will help me find new friends. I’m not by nature a social person, Mrs. Renwick. The more people I have around to pull me out of my shell, the better.”
“An unusual point of view, Miss Ames.”
“Thank you, ma’am. As long as it is a reasonable one, an unusual point of view is valuable.”
“See what I mean?”
The character of Alice’s Grade Seven class did change slightly as everyone in it got extremely good connections though short chains leading back to the main school. They were still close, but no longer felt dependent on one another.
Alice’s connection with Ann Kelly continued to be a strong one, apparently growing stronger. Alice rarely mentioned her problems to Ann, but the latter was fond of calling the girl in the evening, to discuss her own problems. Rather often the young girl’s comments were helpful.
From being a rather lonely girl, whose best friend was her mother, Alice Ames was now popular, with one near perfect friend and several more than adequate ones. Her dry wit in class was much admired, though her ready answers and obvious status as teacher’s pet occasioned some mild jealousy.
Ann Kelly could not help doing a bit of meddling. Knowing how close Alice and her mother were, Ann arranged for Sybil Ames to get an invitation to join the Social Tech High board of directors. As a regular donor Sybil was acceptable. As a regular volunteer she was recognized and popular. It took only one board meeting to approve Sybil Ames as the newest member of the school’s board of directors, which included some well known educators as well as major donors.
With Sybil now clearly a more important figure in the Social Tech High organization, Ann did two things. First she called the school.
“Sybil Ames is important, Sally. More than you might think. I can sense it. I’ve gotten her on the school’s board of directors. That’s good. She deserves it and her strength of character will be good for us. My young friend Alice gets her abilities honestly.”
“Yes, I know about Alice. Alma Renwick says she’s the best student ever.”
“I can believe it. Alice is very close to her mother, who raised her alone after Alice’s father was killed just two years after the girl was born. But how compatible can mother and daughter ever really be? Alice doesn’t really tie Sybil into the school. I think we need to do that.”
“It might mean several links, but they won’t be too hard to find. Will she want to be linked in?”
“That’s my next project.”
Sally agreed to invite the woman to join the school and if she accepted, to find a short chain of students or teachers linking the woman into the school. This was not something to be done lightly, because it would affect the lives of the people imported to create these links.
The other thing Ann did was speak to her young friend, who now had a video-wall in her bedroom. “About your mother, Alice.”
“A fine woman. Takes after her daughter.”
“Yes. Just so. And like her daughter, should be linked into the school.”
“Will Dr. Aston go for it?”
“I twisted her arm.”
“OK, I’ll twist my mother’s. That’s why you called, isn’t it?”
“Of course. So twist away.”
Alice reported to Sybil right away. “It worked, Mommy. You’re in.”
Sally Aston got the software to construct the new chain carefully, even agreeing to the unusual step of creating a link by hiring a teacher. Sybil’s new friend would join the school as a education teacher, to help teach future teachers.
That woman was linked into the school through two students, one in Grade Eleven and one in Grade Eight. All were from outside the United States. The teacher being British, the students from India.
As the school grew, less than two percent of those who joined the school were to build such short chains, not a very significant number. But the external people thus linked in were important. Invitations had also been sent out to several well known scholars and educators around the world.
A professor of education at Oxford university accepted an invitation which had included the offer video equipment for overseas communication. There was no room in his office for a video wall, but the man’s office computer was modified to include the special cameras and image integration hardware which Beth Green had invented. The man was linked into the school via a Grade Seven boy from an Australian private school, now in residence in New York.
When the winter holidays arrived, the absence of organized classes gave those working on the various conversion projects a chance to make more progress. The last of the rooms for students in the main building could now be converted without the noise interfering with classes in adjacent rooms.
The new rooms for lower grade students in the building devoted to them were being completed, somewhat ahead of schedule. There were a very few single-bed rooms. They were for those linked to teachers or local students who could not or should not be boarded out to the families of their friends.
Almost all rooms were two-bed rooms, for strongly linked students to share. Grade level did not matter too much, so some students from higher grades lived in these residences. A section of the building was for girls only, regardless of grade.
A small section of the residences for older students was mixed, intended for Grade 12 couples. The rule was that both students had to be of legal age in their country of origin.
If that condition was satisfied and the students were 17 or older, then parental permission to live in these rooms was not required.
Alice’s friend Ming Ling Lo was not in one of these couple’s rooms, though she and her boyfriend, John Heng Wei would meet the legal requirements. John lived in the city’s Chinatown so the school did not recognize the need he felt to live with his true love. That did seem to be a great pity.
Alice and the Chinese girl five years her senior got along very well. They were contemplating the possible creation of a new computer language someday. Though neither was directly connected to her, the two girls spent some time in video-wall conversations with Beth Green, who had created her own language, PreCode, when younger than Alice.
Early in October, moved by her friend’s evident condition, Sally had an idea. “Ann. You knew Drake quite well at one time.”
“We both did. Jointly and severally, as I recall.”
“Perhaps then you also recall Drake’s remarkable qualities.”
“I do. Mitch is a fine man, but Drake was exceptional. Is he still?”
“Regularly. Quite wears me out, I am happy to say.”
“So, we are girls after all, despite our mature respectability. We can giggle over men’s attributes.”
“Please. Am I giggling?”
“Yes.”
“Oops. Well, never mind. Mature respectability is over-rated anyway. What I wanted to bring up was the propagation of excellence. It would be sad if Drake was never to pass his attributes on to a son.”
“A tragedy. What have you in mind?”
“Adding procreation to recreation.”
“They do say that adds fuel to the flames. It would also add a little baby to the household. Can you cope with that?”
“Yes. I look forward to it. Kelly was such a beautiful baby, made me so happy. I miss that.”
Sally and Drake went to work right away. Yes, doing it for real did add fuel to the flames. If Drake was anywhere near as fecund as he was vigorous, Sally should be pregnant well before the fall term ended.
Beth was in Vancouver for the winter holidays, home from Berkeley. With her was Amarita Singh, Beth’s long-distance link to Social Tech High.
By the time the New Year arrived, the lower grades were mostly filled. Classrooms in the main school were sufficient, but some residences needed to be created.
By that time, Ann Kelly had been delivered of a handsome baby boy, named James Mitchell Kirkwood, to be called Jimmy. And Sally was indeed pregnant. Due near the end of summer, her pregnancy would not interfere with her work.
Ann Kelly did still live in Princeton with her husband, but she came into New York sometimes, especially on weekends when Mitch had no teaching duties. As soon as she realized that Ann would be there occasionally, Alice insisted on serving as a babysitter to her friend’s little baby. It seemed to Ann rather a waste of such intelligence to have the girl looking after a young child, but Alice brought Ming Ling with her, and the two talked about computer languages non-stop. Little Jimmy stared at them, fascinated.