Through the Gate: The Chronicles of Cornu Book 1

by L J Dalton Jr

  “No need” said Tim, “I have it right here.” He smiled as he handed the letter to Mike. Mike agreed to get back to them by Wednesday.

  When he got back to his apartment, he called his father and filled him in. At first his father was both excited for him and apprehensive for his safety. But he quickly agreed. As he told his wife, he volunteered for Nam as did Sol and their oldest was flying combat missions now. While they were worried about Jack and eventually Mike, they needed to let them do what they thought best. His wife reluctantly agreed and silently prayed that the whole thing would be over before Mike could be involved. John went to his home office and typed up the letter of recommendation, put it in an envelope and mailed it to Captain Mann. He resolved to work his rolodex on Monday. He knew the local congressman pretty well having played golf with him a number of times and contributed to his campaign.

  On Monday when he got a break, he called the Congressman’s office and got put through. When he explained what was going on, the congressman who was on the appropriations committee promised to write a letter of recommendation for Mike and do whatever he could help. That turned out to be a lot. The congressman contacted other people in the New Jersey congressional delegation. Wall Street is an incestuous place, and the junior senator from New Jersey knew John slightly, more importantly he knew his reputation as a top-notch fixed income strategist. The senior senator knew him as well. By the end of the week the letters began arriving at the NROTC building. On Wednesday, Mike dropped off the letter for his application and waited to sign the final copy.

  The next Monday, Tim dropped by the Captain’s office to see how it was progressing. “Come on in Captain” said the CO. “We got the letters from his father, uncle and brother. We’ve also got a letter from his brother’s squadron CO. Plus we’ve got letters from two congressman and both senators from New Jersey. One of the senators included a handwritten note with contact information on an assistant who I quote ‘Will be available to provide any assistance needed in getting this done.’ Your Mr. Mulvaney’s family apparently has some juice.” The CO sat back with a smile. “I’m sending all this to my friend in BUPERS along with the handwritten note. That should get some attention.”

  Tim left the CO’s office smiling and went to find Roger and let him know that status. Two weeks later the acceptance came through and Mike went in and signed the papers. The first people he told were his parents. Then he broke the news to Dave.

  “A Marine are you nuts Dude?” said a shocked Dave. “Those people go where the bad guys are shooting at you trying to kill you!”

  “Well at least I can shoot back” replied Mike.

  “I need you to promise me that you won’t get your ass killed or that I don’t have to push you around in a wheelchair.”

  “Done. Now I’ve got to go talk with Dr. Peterson. I’ve no idea how he’ll take it.”

  Mike walked over to Dr. Peterson’s office and found that he was in. He knocked on the door and he was invited in and took a seat. He explained to Dr. Peterson his decision to join NROTC and that he’d join the Marines after he gets his doctorate. He had no idea what to expect.

  Dr Peterson leaned back and smiled. “Well, that’s a surprise. You may not know this, but I was in Army ROTC and it helped pay for my undergraduate degree. I spent two years as a 2nd Louie in an Armored Calvary Regiment. Did my training down at Fort Knox. As a bonus, I got to see Europe on Uncle Sam’s dime. It taught me a lot about being able to push through and being responsible not only for myself but other people. I also got to associate with and come to appreciate people I would have never met in academia. Then they helped pay for graduate school. If I were in your shoes and somebody tried to kill my father and killed family friends, I’d probably do the same thing. One thing when you get back from OCS, we’ve got to talk about it over a drink. When I see my friends in DC who are still in the Army this will be good for free diner and drinks at the O club. A Marine second louie with a PhD, that’s a good one for sure.”

  Mike was relieved. Then Dr. Peterson switched topics. “Now we’ve got to talk about your minor. I don’t think math would work. You’ve already got enough credits to get a bachelor’s degree. I’m thinking about solid state physics. You’ve got the background. Look over the catalogue and get back to me so I can sign the papers and get this out of the way.”

  Mike promised to get back to him and left. He headed to the research lab to get some more work done. He told Dave what Dr. Peterson had said and Dave was happy that there was no issue. So, they both got to work.

  Life at MIT

  Second semester in graduate school was in some ways easier and in others harder. Both Mike and Dave needed to put in twenty hours a week as research assistants. Dr. Peterson often had to shoo them out of the lab when they became engrossed in something they were studying. They found that research was mostly hard work. Lots of things tried with no success. Each of the failures was studied to see if they could learn anything from it. Luckily both roommates found the challenge intellectually stimulating.

  Mike and Sue kept up their relationship and both were pleased with the easy companionship as well as the sex. One thing that helped was that neither of them were looking to try and establish a relationship while undergoing the grind of a graduate education. As Sue often told Mike, they had a lot of the benefits, a friend, good sex and companionship, without the huge investment in time. Mike realized this and his comment was that he was excellent boyfriend material at this stage in his life not that good as husband material. Mike was just a bit chagrined that Sue agreed with him. On the relationship front, Dave had found one of the Asian students at Harvard who was interested in him. He told Mike, he didn’t care if it was something of a stereotype, he was getting laid.

  As classes and research went on both of them made time to stay physically active. It was a great way to relieve any unnoticed stress. Also, physical fitness allowed them to keep up the grind. Dave found that there was indoor tennis. His current girlfriend wouldn’t play him, this puzzled him until Mike cued him in. “Dude, you’ll wipe the floor with her. You’d wipe the floor with most of the people on this campus. You’re good. You may not be at a Pro level, but if this was baseball, you’d at least be double A. Try mixed doubles. She’d love to do that with you. And after you win, she’ll make sure you’re happy.”

  Dave was a bit perplexed by that. “Well, I could always go easy on her.”

  “Dave, she’d know. You know women can spot that stuff in a nanosecond. It would just piss her off. Maybe she knows some couples you can play against.”

  Dave reluctantly agreed and found out that his girlfriend thought it was a great idea. There were couples she wanted to play. Mike didn’t find any indoor soccer around, so he hit the gym more than Dave. He worked on cardio and his legs. He also started to put in more work on his upper body. He knew that when he finally had to do OCS, he’d have to have good upper body strength. Pull ups in various forms were added to his routines. He wouldn’t start NROTC to the next year, so he didn’t have that to worry about.

  Spring came and that meant more outdoor activities were possible. Both Mike and Dave had pretty good time management skills which made sure that they spent their time productively. They realized that jocks who went to schools that actually cared about classes had to learn that as well. They read time management books and adopted many of the ideas there. Both worked out good systems, each slightly different, but that matched their personalities.

  Mike started to run more. He had done some in the winter, but in truth he hated running in the cold. His brother told him he needed to get used to it, because the Marines didn’t care. He promised himself that he’d do more each year. Heck he was in Massachusetts and they had some cold weather. Spring meant that people were out playing sports. He found a group of undergrads from both Harvard and MIT had put together an unofficial soccer league. Mike joined that. They weren’t any better than the intramural league at Columbia, but now instead of being the youngest on t
he team, he was their age. He was also in good shape physically. That meant he couldn’t be pushed off as easily as he had been at Columbia. He loved the games and just getting physical and dirty. His roommate’s comment was that was just the right attitude for a Marine.

  He was surprised that year wrapped up as quickly as it did. He took a one-week break to see his parents and then headed back to work in the lab over the summer. His brother Jack was back from deployment and he and Rosa brought JJ up at the same time. Julie and Bill brought their son over and Sharon brought her boyfriend around a couple of times. The poor guy nearly died when JJ innocently asked him if he was going to be his new uncle. Grandma rescued the poor guy and distracted JJ with a cookie. It was a good visit. Mike and Jack talked about what it would be like in the Marines and at OCS. Jack agreed with what Mike was doing physically to prepare and promised to check in with some Marines he knew for some pointers.

  The week went by quickly then it was back to MIT and the research lab. It was still a twenty hour a week job, although Dr. Peterson didn’t run them out as often as he had. He did make sure that they kept it reasonable. Mike, Dave, Sue and Dave’s girlfriend Linda, went to the Cape a few times. They did all the touristy things that were expected. There were expensive places to stay and not so expensive places to stay. They stayed at the not so expensive places. They enjoyed the beach and the night life.

  One night lying in bed with a naked Sue draped over him, Sue told him. “You know that I’m planning to dump you?”

  Mike replied. “Really are you going to replace yourself or do I have to find a new honey. Also, when is this happening?”

  “I’m planning to do that right after I get my PhD and head out to wherever I’m going to be teaching. Until then I think I’ll keep using you. That Ok?”

  “Absolutely, I’m quite willing to be kept around, keeping you sexually satisfied. God, there is nothing that feels better than a naked woman just after you’ve had sex.” They both sighed and soon were asleep.

  Mike found out that Sue liked to hike and camp. Now Sue’s idea of camping was in a nice tent at a campground with facilities, showers etc. As she told Mike she was not interested in pissing in the bushes or sleeping on the ground. He shopped around and found a used Coleman three person pop up tent and bought a queen blow up mattress at Walmart. Blowing up the mattress was Mike’s job. Luckily Mike had stowed some camping stuff in the trunk of his car, along with his survival fanny pack. When Sue saw she asked him why he carried it. Mike explained that anything can happen in the woods and this weighed less than two pounds, so it was easy to carry and better safe than sorry.

  Dave and Linda wanted nothing to do with camping. Luckily Dave had forgotten all about the Glock in the gun safe and Mike never mentioned it. They spent a couple of weekends at state parks. Their routine was pretty much the same. Head out early enough to arrive and get set up. Get up, wash up and then head out on the trail. Eat lunch on the trail and then head back to camp to have freeze dried something with wine. Sue bought the wine. She and Mike compromised and drank Chardonnay. Mike just didn’t think much of Chablis and Sue wasn’t too fond of red wine. They’d talk, turn in, have sex and get up to hike in the morning. Around noon, they’d get back put everything a way and head back to campus. It was very enjoyable. They were planning where to go in the fall when the leaves started to turn.

  Mike started NROTC when the semester started. He had class three days a week at 8 AM and drill one day a week at 8 AM. He got into a regular rhythm. He tried to be in bed and asleep by 11PM and up by 6AM. That gave him time to do some exercises, usually five sets of ten burpees, get cleaned up, eat breakfast and walk the five minutes to the NROTC building. The first class was an introduction to Naval Science. The course covered everything about the navy at a very high level. How it fit in with the rest of the defense department. It’s influences in the past and current world affairs. Since, Mike had a brother and a father who’d been in NROTC, he was totally prepared for the pop quiz on December 7th. It was Pearl Harbor day and a ‘sneak attack’ in the form of the quiz was something of a tradition.

  All the students in the class were Mike’s age or a year younger. This was the first class he’d taken in sometime where that was the case. He found the work to be easy. He already knew a lot of it and with his excellent memory he could read the book, and have it memorized. That didn’t stop him from noting all the important points in a separate paper.

  Classes at MIT had dissolved into much more research and seminars. Mike was loving it. It did stretch him intellectually, but he loved the challenge. Sue had two more years to go, but she’d already had gotten working on her thesis. Normally, that was a twelve to eighteen month endeavor, Sue had gotten a jump on it. Her feeling was this gave her time to make a mistake and still recover without having to do more time in school. She was looking forward to teaching and had taken a teaching assistants job. Normally that would add almost a year to her studies. She found some courses over the summer that allowed her to be on a five year track rather than a six year track.

  Captain Smith was still at the unit and he met with Mike a few times during the semester. He inquired about his academics, although he admitted he had no way to judge. What he was happy about was Mike’s workout routine and concentrating on upper body as well as legs and cardio. One day he did mention that there would be a midshipman’s ball, and would Mike be attending. Mike assured him that he would be there. He knew from his brother and father that these events were considered important in the military culture, especially the navy and marine culture.

  When he asked Sue if she’d go, she immediately agreed. She was going to get to dress up. Mike got dressed in what was the midshipman equivalent of a dress uniform. This was blues and he always thought that dress whites were much cooler looking. They drove to the event and sat with some of his classmates. They realized that Sue was older than they were, and it was the first time that any of them found out that Mike was a PhD candidate at MIT. That settled down quickly. They had a good time dancing and talking with everyone. Sue let him know that if he took her out like that more often, he would be suitably rewarded. He made note of that and later that night reminded her about his ‘reward’. He was very happy with it.

  Mike and Dave continued to do well in school and were absorbed in their various research projects. Mike was leaning towards looking at carbon nanotubes for an area of research along with the graphene work that he was doing with Dr. Peterson.

  As spring came around, both Dave and Mike started more outdoors activities. One thing surprised Dave was when Mike bought a weight vest to wear on runs. Mike wasn’t sure of its effectiveness; he wanted his body to get used to carrying extra weight while exercising. Sue was pretty sure that her boyfriend had a couple of screws loose, but she’d always thought that, so it was no big deal.

  During the summer, the two roommates became a bit frustrated with their research on graphene. Both had the feeling that they were missing something important. Dave was the first to actually voice it. “Mike, I keep thinking that we are missing something.”

  “Yeah, I agree with you. I’m pretty sure we’re not the only two in the group who feel that way. Let’s talk with the other guys and see what they think.

  The next day they found that it was a pervasive feeling among the group. They resolved to sit down the next day and go over the experimental results again. The next day was Friday, they gathered in a conference room. Ava, another of the research assistants had all the results in a laptop. They got some pizza and soda and sat down to go over it. The main results had been organized in a spreadsheet and that had was projected on the wall. Tom was at the whiteboard and started to write down all the ideas and observations that the group had. They put a time limit of two hours on the session. They’d found that anything longer wasn’t that productive. At the end they had a series of observations, guesses and questions on the board. Everybody copied them into their own computers. To go over on their own time. They felt that the
y’d made some progress and agreed to hit again on Tuesday.

  It took three more session before they had the Eureka moment. The six of them just sat around when they realized that they had something. Ava got up and brought Dr. Peterson into the room. Tom who’d had been moderating the session, took Dr. Peterson through the whole thing. He asked question trying to poke holes in what they found. When he couldn’t he turned to the group. “Great work, people. This could be really good stuff. Get into the lab and verify this. If it works out then, we’re going to have to see if it scales.” Dr. Peterson realized that they may have something patentable that would make some money. He didn’t say anything, because he didn’t want to get people’s hope up. Just in case he started the preliminary work to get a patent underway.

  Two months of hard work had them at the point where Dr. Peterson could bring in the patent attorney. “Ok folks this is how it works. The university gets a piece of this. I get a piece of this and all of you get a small piece of this. We get the patent filed and then we write a paper. You are all co-authors. That’s going to help with your career and getting that piece of paper you’re all here for. I’ve no idea how much this will earn, but once the patent is in, we’ll let industry know about it. Don’t start spending the money yet, this could take two or three years to get approved. I’ve got some Champagne here, let’s drink a toast to our hard work.”

  Mike and Dave were floating on air when they left the lab. They really weren’t thinking about a lot of money flowing in, they were more psyched about the paper and having a patent. That Friday, Mike told Sue all about it. She got really excited for Mike and he found out that an excited girlfriend was very good indeed.

  Sue was in the last stretch of her PhD work. She was well ahead on her thesis and her advisor was very pleased with how she was doing. Mike found her to be somewhat uptight. Her main worry was that she wouldn’t get a job at a decent university. Mike told her to stop worrying. “Sue, you bright, you have a really good thesis. You’re going to get you PhD from MIT. It’s not some second or third tier institution. You’ll get a job at a good school. Don’t worry.” Mike was smart enough to refrain from pulling her chain on this. Her number one choice was NYU. It had a good math department and it was in the City. Sue was not a country girl by any stretch of the imagination.