When Drake opened the door he saw two young women with babies standing there.
“Are you Dr. Phillips? I am Daria Sinshah. Ken Green sent us. I have a letter from him.”
Damn. Time to pay the piper!
“Please come in. Kelly? Could you make these people comfortable, please.”
Drake opened the letter. “Here is my son, Nicolai, with his mother, Elena, and my daughter, Amara, with her mother, Daria. I hope you will do me the favour of taking Elena and Daria into your college. I’d like them given residential accommodation and daycare as well. I will of course cover all costs, but suggest you use some of the space in your building for residences and daycare. Good friends, I don’t think Elena and Daria are especially compatible, but I trust you will be able to find suitable connections. I have arranged hotel rooms and nannies for the time being but hope you can get them settled in the college soon.”
While her father was reading the letter, nine year old Kelly Phillips was getting everyone comfortably seated. Not as fascinated by babies as most girls, she still found these two adorable. Her three year old sister Katie was the fascinated one. She loved babies.
Going into the family room, trying not to looked disturbed by their arrival, Drake greeted the newcomers.
“Ladies, what lovely little babies you have. I am so happy to meet you.” He guessed the tall blonde one might be Russian. “Elena? And you must be Daria? I understand you have nannies for your children.”
“Yes, they are waiting in the car. Ken provided us with a car and driver, for now”, Daria replied. “We have a hotel and need sleep, but I thought you might like to see our excellent babies first.”
“Yes, I’m glad you brought them along. I hope you’re comfortable sitting there. Have you eaten? We’ll get you whatever you want. Could you phone down to your nannies and get them to come up?”
“They are on call. I believe we just send them home now. Then all we will need is to get back to our hotel, until tomorrow. I’ll call, if you don’t mind.”
Daria seemed to be in charge, or just had that kind of personality. Soon enough the girls were breast feeding their babies, then they had a snack, while talking with Drake and Sally. Kelly sat and listened, while Katie cooed over the little ones.
“We are working on proper residential accommodation and daycare space, but it will take a little while”, Drake said. “We do have something temporary, though.”
“That’s alright. We have nice hotel rooms, nannies to take care of the children when we are out, and money for entertainment. Ken says there is no shortage of that in New York.”
As soon has he could get free without seeming impolite, Drake went to his room and called Ken Green.
“Dr. Phillips – Drake. A pleasure. Perhaps you are calling about my two children and their mothers. Fine little ones, if I may be allowed to boast.”
“Yes, they certainly are. I am a little more concerned about their mothers, however. I don’t quite know how to put this, but the college is aimed at adults, and we have been encouraging sexual relationships, rather than trying to suppress them. For most students they will actually be a requirement. Do you fully understand what this means? Do your young friends?”
“The sex lives of my intimate friends are personal. But speaking in general, I can say that few are satisfied with the little time I can spend with them, and want men of their own. I am always sad when they leave and jealous of the men they find, but always get them help to find someone truly compatible. That would be true whether they joined your college or not. I believe Daria and Elena understand the implications of being in your college. It is what they said they wanted.”
“Oh, I see. So, when connected in, they will have compatible men linked to them, in sexual relationships.”
“Ouch, but yes. Much as it pains me to think of my darlings in the hands of other men, it must be so. They are hoping for marriage, of course, but willing to accept what comes.”
“I think there will be a lot of marriages. When you are with someone that compatible, why not get married? The college will tie people into healthy social environments, various compatible friends and friends of friends. People will want to preserve those sets of happy relationships, and marriage is a good way of solidifying them.”
“Yes, well, men have always exaggerated their enthusiasm for the bonds of matrimony, either to get what they can’t get or keep on getting what they can”, Ken pointed out. “But marriage can be a fine institution, I suppose. I am less than happy about losing my daughters to it, though.”
“You have such fine ones. And so many, it seems.”
“Well, one a month for the past twenty years or so, plus a few extra from some generous women who have been kind enough to give me more than one child. It is the children I want of course, not the associated pleasures. I engender not quite as many boys as girls, which is unusual. Of whatever variety, I have been gifted with at least two fine children a month, ever since Beth arrived. My first and still my favourite, though I love all of them equally as a matter of principle.”
“That’s wise. Well, the ones who have just arrived here with their mothers certainly are cute. So are their mothers, actually, so I suspect they have good genes. All of your children are so wonderful, you must have excellent genes yourself.”
“If you had met my parents, you would not be surprised. Too late for that, I am sorry to say. But you did not call to hear about my family, I’m sure. You really wanted to know if I understood how your college intended to connect people. I do, and so does Daria and Elena. It is what they want.”
Soon this long-distance video call ended, then Drake talked with Daria, while Elena listened. “I spoke to Ken, who wishes you the best. He wants to talk with with you when you have time. You can use our video wall, which gives you a real feeling of being in the room with him.”
“But not what we have felt, so I’m sure it will be hard to see him at a distance like this. Never mind. We’ll do what you said.”
“Ken told me that you both understand that our college is built upon compatibility, including sexual compatibility. We want all of our students to have sexual relationships with someone, preferably someone in the college itself. They will bind us together. I hope you can accept this.”
“It is what we want. Men of our own, to keep, one man apiece, no more waiting for a night with a very busy man. What we really want, we want husbands, but for now, just men, good compatible men. What everyone calls Level Five or better matches.”
“Well, that can be arranged, I’m sure. Many people have applied to our college. We can select men for you. But we also want our students to have other relationships, basic friendships. Is Elena your best friend, may I ask? I mean, are you truly compatible?”
“Yes, she is, no, we are not. We became friends while we were with Ken, after he made us pregnant. A long time to spend in a building with more than two dozen other women. Elena and I spent time together and I grew to like her. I think she likes me. But we want other friends.”
Drake glanced at Elena. She nodded.
“Good. Actually we will make sure you have the men you want, not just because you do want them, but because it is a requirement for our college students, with very few exceptions. We have the social technology to find all kinds of relationships very easily. You can use it yourself, or we’ll help you with it. But all students have just one month to find the relationships they need.”
“Yes, that is good. I do not understand, but I don’t need to understand. Not yet.”
“You will see how it works. Pick a man and a woman friend, then they each will have one month to pick another one themselves. If they don’t, then you will have to select someone else, who will.”
“I see. Yes, I approve. So, your college will consist of long chains of students?”
“We’re going to try to do cross-linking to produce a fully connected structure. You will learn all about it in our introductory social technology class, or if you don’t want to wait for that, I have written some material you could read.”
“Please.”
Connected College had been established by the Social Technology Education organization, a subsidiary of the large non-profit Technological Fantasies organization. Tech Fantasies also ran the Social Tech High School, but the only way Drake Phillips could get his college approved by the powers that be, his wife and one former lover, was if it was operated independently, had a conspicuously different name and was located far away from the school.
He had proposed those restrictions himself, to meet the objections of his wife, Sally Aston, principle of Social Tech High. Sally did not want any of her students to go to the college instead of a real unversity.
“No College”, she had said over and over again, until he made his carefully thought out proposal. Sally had added one more limitation. “No student shall be admitted unless they can show that they have been accepted by an accredited university in the city. That is to make sure they do apply somewhere else and know they have a real alternative which does not require leaving town.”
Grumbling, Drake had agreed. Once that was settled, the couple approached their old friend, Ann Kelly, now happily married but a woman who had a history with them. Drake and Sally were on the board of directors of Tech Fantasies, Ann was its president.
Bringing the creation of Social Technology Education and Connected College before the Tech Fantasies board of directors also brought them before major donors.
Sarah Rivers had immediately agreed to donate something herself and act as a representative of Ken Green, to get them his larger donation. All she asked was that the she be allowed to nominate a building to be used by the college. The choice of building would be Drake’s, but it must be one of the ones she nominated. She promised him a sufficient number of good choices.
“Here is my first nomination, Drake”, she said a few days later. I recommend this one, in what used to be a good part of mid-Manhatten. It is available immediately, that it is to say it can be delivered vacant, which is a plus. It is an attractive building in an attractive setting, but location is everything, and this is no longer a good location. I bet it will be, once your college is up and running.”
“Say, that is a nice building. Not modern enough to be boring or offensive. What is it?”
“It’s been an office building and a hotel, now it’s a bit of both. Owned by the hotel, which is trying to go out of business, if they can get sell the building at a decent price.”
“How much is that?”
“You don’t need to know. Just come and see it. If you like it, it’s yours.”
Drake met Sarah and saw at once that a bit of cleaning and restoration would make the exterior lovely. The insides would take a lot more work. “It will take a lot to renovate and convert it to our needs, but I love it.”
“Ken and I will arrange and pay for all of that, if you give us your input and let us have some say in how it is done.”
“Sounds like a good deal. What’s the catch?”
“That’s it. You let me nominate the building. That was a big item for us, as you will see later. Letting us handle the renovation is part of the catch, but you can give us as much input as you want. We’ll do whatever you specify.”
“OK, how soon can we get going?”
“I’ll can handle all the paperwork, as soon as you tell me to go ahead. We can get the architectural work done within a month of getting your specs, and start doing the actual renovations themselves soon after that. I don’t know how long it will take to finish them, because I don’t know what you want. But here’s the neat part. Once I get the purchase done, you can start using the hotel part of the building right away, and it is pretty good. Hotel rooms can be used for either residences or classes. We will just need to do something about furniture. Again, we will be covering the costs, as a donation to the Social Tech Education organization. But we may profit at bit if your college raises the value of nearby property.”
“Which it will. That’s why you wanted to nominate a site, isn’t it? So you could buy nearby buildings as an investment.”
“Yup.”
While Drake and Sarah were working to get the eventual college building set up, Sarah provided a temporary site for the college itself, the faculty and students. There were few of them, so it did not have to be large. It turned out to be in the same building as Intelligent Nannies, a company owned by Ken Green, which provided both nurses and nannies for babies, toddlers and older children. It included a daycare. Very convenient.
When Daria arrived with Amara, bringing Elena and her Nicolai along, or so it seemed, there were therefore good facilities available for childcare, with a reliable staff. Just to be sure, the Social Tech Education organization got people to keep an eye on the young women, helping them get used to New York. That was being done with other young people who also came to the city to go to Connected College.
Because of generous scholarships for students from all over the world and various kinds of advertising, the college had millions of applications. New faculty and students had used the social technology which processes these applications to find acceptable links within days of their arrival, then the newcomers did the same.
As soon as she was settled in the college’s temporary residences, near the Intelligent Nannies daycare, Daria asked, “Now please, what about our companions to be?”
“We can go ahead. It will involve you in some work. Do you have profiles on Beth’s system?”
“Of course we do.”
“OK, you’ll have to update them. I am going to download them into our Tech Fantasies system, then add a set of new questions, based on the fact that you will be students here. Come, let’s get you started.”
Drake gave the girls laptop computers with wi-fi connections and brought up a version of the software used at Social Tech High. He almost expected the dominant Daria to tell Elena how to update her profile, but the shy girl did it herself.
After the data was ready, the matching software temporarily locked the top ten candidates in each girl’s list of men who had applied to the college. Daria quickly decided which man she wanted to contact, then leaned over to advise Elena.
“Daria. You are very different young women, I think you should leave Elena to make up her own mind.”
Daria looked annoyed, but Elena gave Drake a grateful glance.
“Alright, girls, these choices should be available, unless the men have been negligent in updating their profiles. We warned them that they should do so if they wanted to get into the college. I will now initiate contact officially, saying that a possible match has been identified and asking each man if he is still interested in joining the college.”
Drake did so, using a program designed for the purpose, which handled most of the interaction down to the point where the young men and women would have to engage in some sort of dialogue. Drake suggested e-mail first, then text chat, then use of pictures or video. Daria jumped right in and requested a video link with the man she had chosen. While her call went through, Elena sent out an e-mail message.
Daria got through to the cellphone of a young man who spoke with her using the cellphone as a video link. Elena had to wait for her e-mail to be answered, and did not get into video contact with her chosen partner right for hours, but it did happen. Drake expected Daria might be picky and not want the first man she spoke to, but perhaps the girl was as desperate as she was usually insistent. Elena seemed uncertain most of the way along, but once in video contact with an actual man she could not stop and change her mind. She wanted him, hoped he would want her.
Daria had found her man first. “Now, what do we do?”, she asked.
“You two have to meet. If people are on scholarship, we can make the arrangements, but I see that in your case you have chosen a man who can pay for his own education.”
“Yes. I have promises from Ken, for the sake of my Amara, but I could not have a poor man. He must pay his own way and come to me. You will get him a student visa?”
“Of course.”
Daria had selected a man from East Africa, Nisanir Ebanti. Son of a wealthy rancher, the young man apparently had money and determination. Perhaps enough to cope with Daria. When he appeared at the door of the former hotel two days later, a Daria who would never admit to being nervous was shaking with fear. Drake welcomed the man, introduced her to Daria, then directed them both to chairs in the lobby.
Still being Daria, despite her fears, she would not sit meekly beside the man. She grabbed at him, got his hand, and drew him to her. When they were a foot apart, Daria said, “I am glad you came, Nisanir. I hope you like me. You may hug me if you wish.” Apparently he did wish. Daria had trouble keeping her usual demeanour intact. Wilting a little, she let him hold her, then when he was about to release her, just held on, for several minutes, before finally pushing him away.
“Good. I like you Nisanir. I have told you of my past. You agreed to come here anyway. I thank you. You may have sex with me now if you wish.”
“Nothing would make me happier, Daria, but let us postpone that happiness a little. I want to learn more about you and you are the kind of woman who would want to know more about me. Let us not let lust throw us together too soon.”
“You reject me?”
“No, Daria. I am here. I don’t think I will leave. I think I will fall in love with you. I hope you will fall in love with me. As soon as these things happen, we can go to bed.”
“But I am in need!”
“Ah. In that case I shall admit my own needs and stop being the gentleman.”
Elena was happy to meet her own future partner, a 21 year old young man from Beijing in China. Chen Wen Lang was a tall man, which was good, because Elena was also tall.
What Daria had obtained immediately, Elena was too shy to seek, and did not feel right responding too quickly to Chen’s timid advances. It took the two of them three days to get into bed together, then another two before they were able to relax enough for her to find the satisfaction which had come so naturally in her rare encounters with Ken Green.
While Daria and Elena were forging strong bonds with their new lovers, they also acquired female friends, who would become best friends. They also started as first year students at the new Connected College. That would prove to be even more significant than the introduction of such important new people into their lives.