As the spring term wore on, students kept an eye on the increasing girth of their school principal, wondering how long she had. Sally wondered how long she could stand it. The solution was eventually found beneath the school.
When the building had been renovated the sub-basement level had accepted a few extra layers of concrete at one end, gotten changing rooms installed, then tiled all over. It had become the school’s pool.
Sally now took the advice of Beth Green’s mother. Sarah Rivers was remarkably slim and fit for a woman who had born eight children to Ken Green.
“Swim, Sally. Swim everyday. Get a lot of that near-perfect exercise. See how well it worked for me?”
“The pool is used by teachers and students, so it’s not exactly empty, but there is always room for another person, I guess. I have used it occasionally myself, but I get so busy.”
“Then just don’t get so busy. Better to take more work home so that you can swim when at school. The exercise will make everything easier, including the delivery.”
“Ouch, yes, that. I remember the birth of Kelly far too well, and I was there when Ann’s little Jimmy was born. Not much fun.”
“Easier, if your body is in good shape. Believe me, I know.”
Sally did as she was told, swimming for an hour, twice a day. Having a more flexible schedule than most teachers made that easy to arrange.
It seemed to bring her closer to her students as well. They enjoyed being in the pool with their principal, even if she mostly just did laps for exercise.
As Sally swelled, the end of the school year approached. Now the usual social changes were prepared for.
Many of the graduating class would stay on for summer school, some would not. Amarita Singh would graduate. She would stay at the school for the summer, then go out west. She had applied to the University of California at Berkeley and been accepted.
There Amarita could be with Beth. The long-distance friendship the school had established had been deep but exciting during the year. They would be able to continue it in person.
Beth would be entering her junior year at Berkeley in the fall. Amarita, the same age, would be a freshman, but that would not affect their relationship.
The girl from Northern India was still a virgin. Her other close friend at the school in New York was not, and would follow her lover to MIT in September. Amarita would miss her, but be happy at Berkeley with Beth.
Beth’s current boyfriend, a senior, would graduate from UCB and go on to grad school at Columbia, as planned. Once again Beth’s heart would be broken, but not so quickly this time. She had persuaded him to come to New York early. Beth would be at her mother’s again over the summer. The couple could share a room in Sarah’s huge apartment before Beth took Amarita back to Berkeley with her for the fall.
The shy international student would be a regular guest in the apartment this summer, though a little uncomfortable when her friend’s lover was around. Envious of her love life, Amarita was also aware of the emotional turmoil Beth would be in at the end of summer. Why didn’t her friend just move to New York herself, study at Columbia, and maybe marry the boy?
“We are not compatible enough, Amarita. He was only a temporary boyfriend, a barely Level Five one. However much I feel in love with him, I know I can do better. And I will, someday. Two years from now, when Essie and I graduate from UCB.”
Esmeralda was also staying with Sarah Rivers, and got to spend another summer creating brilliant works of art with her own long-distance friend, two years younger.
The summer school was just as busy as the previous year, with many students and parents participating, though a lot of the international students had only short visits from family members, or none at all. Sally’s attempt to speed up immigration for families of students had so far been largely unsuccessful.
Sally’s own family was enlarged just before the end of July. She gave birth to a girl, Catherine Ann Phillips. Kate. Sally was happy to have a healthy daughter, with only the slightest trace of regret that her attempt to propagate Drake’s remarkable abilities had failed. Drake himself was pleased. He did not get along with the male of the species, young or old, and had not looked forward to having a son.
It was the sight of wee Kate which made Ann Kelly want another baby. Mitch was glad to cooperate and couple announced their good news within the month.
Alice was concerned. “It is so soon. Your Jimmy is not even two.”
“I know, Alice. Mitch and I did want another child, someday — we never planned on having just the one. Not so close together, though. But sometimes it just seems like the right thing to do.”
Ann was worried about it herself, and had called Alice largely to soothe her own feelings. Talking to the young girl always seemed to help.
Unlike her deep understanding of computers, Alice’s knowledge of human reproduction was limited. Oh, she knew all the facts, of course. But knowing the facts was a long way from true understanding.
Still cheeky in class, sometimes mildly flirtatious with the boys visible to her across the room, Alice would have been scared to approach one in person. Boys at that age were not yet bold enough to approach girls yet, and had little interest in Alice anyway, because she had not much in the way of a figure. She was still young and slightly underdeveloped for her age.
Alice understood the futility of in-school relationships anyway. Except for much older students, whose connection to the school had been across gender lines, girls were not linked to boys.
Her class was an unusually close one, however. When it came to the school dances which had begun this year, the relatively compatible boys from the class were friendly and willing enough to dance with her. Such social behaviour was encouraged, even for younger children. It was a good preparation for adult relationships, and it was fun.
In the early fall, Alice turned 13. All of the other kids in her class were already that old. The class were so close that they had already established the tradition of giving birthday parties. Alice had one too, at which people posted such signs as “Welcome to the Terrible Teens”.
But in fact all of the kids at the school were well adapted adolescents, kept from the usual teenage angst by the close friendships the school provided.
Alice had started out at the school with only Level Three connections, then had found for herself the Chinese girl, Ming Ling Lo. The older girl was at the party with her lover, the Chinese-American boy, John Heng Wei. The other kids in Alice’s class knew Ming Ling, and knew what she and John did together. For not quite identical reasons, all of the younger kids envied these two older ones.
Alice knew more about this topic than her classmates. She knew that the median age for girls to lose their virginity was sixteen, but seven to nine percent of girls had sex as young as thirteen. She never imagined that her highly respected school principal had been such a girl.
Alice knew one other thing about the matter. The social software systems like Tech Fantasies did not suggest sexual relationships for young teenagers, but would not refuse to suggest friendships simply because of gender.
When Ann Kelly called to talk about other things, Alice asked her some questions. “Some kids my age have sex. Don’t they?”
“I hope you are not considering it.”
“Not really, though I am very curious and have a physical reaction to the idea.”
“That’s normal enough. Going further is not recommended.”
“Even today, when it should be easy to find a mate for life, even at my age?”
“Not as easy as you might think. Yes, the systems will find you a very close friend of the opposite gender. And if you met such a person, the shared curiosity and physical reactions would probably lead you to experiment. But just being compatible as friends does not mean being compatible as lovers.”
“Oh, I see. Yes, I should have thought of that. The criteria must be quite different.”
“The software is very good at what it does, Alice. For most people it will not recommend sexual relationships until the time is right. There are exceptions, when the kids are very mature, but in general you should wait.”
“What about boys? I understand that boys get desperate in a way girls usually do not. What if a boy seeks a girl as a friend, then encourages her to give in to her curiosity and urges. They probably wouldn’t be compatible, as you say, but won’t he get what he wants?”
“Well, we don’t tell the boys that.”
“Not telling the boys is probably not enough. You know how word spreads in our school. You should be warning the girls.”
“Good idea. I’ll talk to Sally about it.”
Ann did, but Sally was not optimistic. “We can tell the girls in our school, but they are not so much at risk anyway. The school is too tightly bound. No boy is going to get away with taking advantage of one of our girls. The problem will be the girls outside the school.”
“I see. You can’t warn all of them. I guess not. I suppose there could be some warnings displayed for girls about to be connected to possibly devious boys. The system should be able to predict the boys seeking only fun and the vulnerable girls.”
“Shouldn’t be such a big software change. You should contact Project Match and Beth Green, too, make it unanimous.”
“I agree. OK, leave it with me, Sally. I’ll do something about it.”
Ann reported this conversation to Alice. “I do approve”, the girl said, “don’t get me wrong. But I am an exceptionally curious girl, and even a short physical relationship has its appeal, especially if it would mean having a long term relationship with some boy.”
“Please, Alice. Don’t. Thirteen is much too young. And you are so precious, I mean someone I value so much, both as a friend and as one of our brightest students. I’d hate to see you get hurt.”
“I probably won’t. At least not for a while. Boys still scare me.”
“Good.”
Not everyone at the school would be this wise. And there would be one unintended consequence to the new software changes. Warnings given to girls who got queries from boys did not seem to be working. This fact quickly flashed through the network of boys in the school, who seemed to be taking advantage of it.
Sally was not aware of the problem until the parents of girls who did not go to the school called to complain about boys who did. Rather a lot of parents called, especially angry fathers, upset about what was happening to their darlings.
Once again there was one of the rare emergency meetings between the creators of the various social software systems.
Ken Green decided to bring along to the meeting his son David, who already enjoyed a reputation as the black sheep of the family. Actually he did enjoy this reputation, proud of his accomplishments.
“This is my son David. An author of published books, though not quite seventeen. I am proud of you David. There is just one little problem. You are also a prodigy in another area. May I mention it to these fine people?”
“Yes, Dad. You know I am proud of it. I am skilled in the seduction of young women. I may have learned that from you.”
“Nonsense. Well, almost nonsense. You know that I only want children, not sexual pleasure.”
“We all pretend to believe him, people. But rumours have it that my worthy father did not always seek children. How young did you first have sex, Dad?”
“That is a state secret, son. But I was always kind to the girls, never devious about seeking their favours.”
“Right. Not too devious, anyway.”
There was more “just kidding” talk between father and son, who were clearly affectionate, whether Ken approved of David or not. Then serious talk on the issue of underage sex began. “Oh, no”, Sally thought, with a groan. “Not again.”
“David, you seem to be able to use the system in ways I never intended”, Beth told him.
“Yes. I am not just devious but very skilled. But with good reason. The attractions of the flesh are just too strong.”
Though pressed hard, David would not reveal his secrets. That didn’t matter. It seemed that without being nearly that sneaky it was still easy enough for any young teenager to find sex out in the world beyond the school.
“Exactly”, David agreed. “And that is how it should be. Sexual frustration is bad for a boy.”
“But don’t you admit that innocent girls need some protection?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. I am not sure how frustrated girls get or if it does them any harm. But as long as the boys are able to get what they want, I don’t care about the girls.”
“You are a scoundrel, David”, Beth said, failing to hide a trace of affection for her brother. They had once been close, before puberty crushed all morality out of him.
“David, I can appreciate your point of view”, Drake Phillips said. “I started having sex very young myself, and needed it badly. But there must be some way to preventing a few unscrupulous boys from exploiting every young virgin in New York.”
“A mouth-watering image, but I do understand. Really, there is no need for them to be tender virgins. As long as a boy can satisfy his needs regularly, that’s enough.”
“So, you’d recommend that the experienced girls in the city provide for the poor hungry males?”, Sally asked.
“Not a bad idea. There is always room at the top, you know. Unsatisfied older woman, happen to further a boy’s education.”
“That’s outrageous”, Ann said. Raised in a religious family and a virgin till graduating from university, she still had a streak of puritanism. Helen Walker nodded her agreement. A virgin on her wedding night, she had never been with anyone but Don and was sure she never would be.
“I am not so sure it is outrageous, Ann”, said the far more liberal Sally. “David’s choice of words appeals to the educator in me. An older woman contributing to a young man’s education. Assuming that our software finds a truly compatible older woman, she will be not just a sex partner but a true friend, and since she is older and wiser, will help teach the younger person many things.”
“That’s true, Dr. Aston”, Beth said. “Knowing my own system as well as I do, I’m sure it could find the best possible woman to be with the young man or boy. Best in all respects, not just willingness to provide sexual pleasure.”
A consensus was soon reached. David’s insistence that teenage boys did not deserve the frustrations they usually felt was eventually accepted. So was his notion that older, experienced women were the solution. Sally and Beth had won the day by agreeing on the educational value of such arrangements.
“So what should we do, Beth?”
“We could increase the positive weighting applied to such affairs. But I am not sure we need to do that. Our neural networks learn. They will learn that such relationships are beneficial if they truly are. I can check the stats, but I bet these changes are already taking place.”
Beth did check the statistics her system kept, reporting that the problem did seem to be resolving itself in they way they’d just agreed upon. What they had done was put into words a tendency already visible, if you looked carefully for it.
Sally raised the idea of a controlled leak. Maybe a hint should be dropped. It would spread through the network of boys at the school like wildfire through dry grass. David suggested the way a hint might be worded. They all thought it clever. He was a clever boy, alright. Too clever.
“Dr. Aston, it is entirely inappropriate for you to to consider such a thing”, Beth said. “If no one opposes it, let me handle it. I know a very influential woman in New York who will do what I say. She is linked to a teacher of our fine female variety. That will be enough to let the idea loose in the school.”
If there was anyone in the world that the strong-willed Sarah Rivers could be influenced by, it was her first and probably favourite daughter.
“It is the right thing to do, Mommy. Let your friend know. That should be enough to get the idea out there, but just to be on the safe side I will speak to Arthur too.”
Soon all the boys in the school had heard the word. “Don’t jeopardize the school by seeking sex from girls near your own age under the guise of friendship. If you are too young, the software won’t let you seek sex with older girls directly, but if you just seek friendship with them, you are much more likely to be fully satisfied.”
That seemed to work. Very quickly the number of parents complaining of exploited young girls from outside the school dropped dramatically. Sally was sure it would drop even more as success stories told by the boys reached other ears.
All of this was eventually recounted to Alice Ames by Ann Kelly, seeking reassurance from the young girl that they were doing the right thing.
“Whether for right or wrong, I don’t know, but I think it is for the best. Whether the boys in my class should be having sex with older girls is right or not, they are happier, less frustrated. I’m sure of it.”
“How old are these girls?”
“Not very old. I’m not sure. I don’t think there is really a legal problem.”
“I sure hope not. I thought we were getting a handle on the old underage sex problem, which I always thought was confined to girls. Now here it is, back again, this time with boys.”
“Read books, watch movies. The problem is not our invention. Parents have been worrying about it for centuries at least, and in the past 30 years or so has been almost their greatest concern. Things are better now. Don’t worry so much.”
Ann continued to worry. Sally recognized that an old problem had re-emerged, but was not nearly as upset about it. Her own experiences as a teenager had been in a time when parents worried only about teen sex, giving little thought about the terribly unpleasant feelings sexual matters brought about, both for teenagers who were having sex and those who were not.
Now that kids could be matched for compatibility, most of that emotional pain could be taken away. The ones in her school understood this better than any others in the city, probably better than any others on the planet.