Foundation

by M J Kendrick

  Their parents, however, were providing a very entertaining slapstick version of musical chairs as they all organized and reorganized each other, sitting down and then standing and swapping, laughing then doing it all again, much to everyone’s great amusement.

  Over dinner, the students’ conversations became easier as their nerves ebbed away and they grew comfortable in each other’s presence. They were chatting excitedly about how their different and strange routes had led them to be accepted into MIT and what they would each be studying. They realized that they were all considered geniuses and actually had a great deal in common, despite coming from such different backgrounds.

  Carlton was eager to learn more about his new housemates, so he made a point of being the first to tell them about his own path to MIT, hoping they would follow suit. He began with his hobby and science project and then his involvement with both his parents’ labs and why he loved metallurgy and nano technology. The students were awestruck by what his parents were involved with, and they asked him many questions.

  When he’d finished, Calisto jumped right in and told the group of her life in South Africa around her father’s mining operation, which immediately drew Carlton’s attention. Her love of geology was clear, and when she told Carlton of about her rock and mineral collecting hobby that she had started at age five, he just knew they would get along. She keenly told the group how her father would often brag embarrassingly to the mine’s staff about how she had a natural talent and digested everything available on the subject. Aided by what she could dig up and identify in the mine, she was labeled as an expert, but, even then, she knew this would always be the field that she would specialize in.

  Lucy had a deep-rooted love of all things space-related and, like the other students, had excelled in the sciences. Her interest in the planets and potential extra-terrestrial forms of life had surfaced quickly and also, as with the others, she had outshone everyone in her pursuit of knowledge to further her understanding. Carlton was mesmerized by her, following every syllable that she spoke, and when she looked directly at him, he felt himself flush. But luckily, she quickly averted her gaze as she began to explain her surname.

  “You know, Rondstat Pens.” Carlton thought it sounded familiar, but it was only when all of the other students said “Aah” and “Oh” that he realized the connection to the household name.

  Like himself, her parents had recognized how advanced she was, but, in her case, they had paid for additional private tuition in her home city of Denver to encourage and support her. Carlton was also surprised to hear that she knew all about his mother and her work in cryogenics and was caught slightly unawares when she looked directly at him and told him that she desperately wanted to spend some time with her, if the opportunity arose while she studied exobiology and planetary sciences at MIT. His mind began racing almost as fast as his heartbeat.

  Fortunately for him, the group’s attention was turned toward Haru, who had just started speaking. His parents were both senior scientists that specialized in microelectronics at a big plant just outside Tokyo, and even though the strict systems and politics in Japan meant that he was never allowed to go to, or even visit, his parents’ lab, they had a well-equipped, sizeable laboratory at their home where they worked on their own private projects.

  Haru’s mother had invented several microdevices that had been adopted into a host of household appliances, and thus had provided them with more money than they would ever need. Haru spent most of his time in their lab, following in his parents’ footsteps, and had soon developed a keen interest in electronics. He was looking forward to studying electrical engineering and computer sciences at MIT.

  Anton DeVries was the only survivor of three brothers. Carlton had been warned by his mother not to question him on it, not that he would have anyway, but Anton’s parents had never really got over the shock of losing their firstborn twins in Hurricane Delia years earlier, long before Anton was born. Luckily, Anton just skipped over it, more eager to explain how, like the others, his parents, too, had been instrumental in promoting his love of the sciences. They were both research scientists for an optics firm in Florida where they lived, and, like Carlton, he had grown up working on and off in their labs where they specialized in laser technology. But, unlike Carlton, his greatest school science project, a laser canon, blew up half of his school.

  Anton’s love for laser technology was apparent, as he amusingly told the group of his “mishap,” which had been the incident that drew the attention of MIT, and his utter amazement t it being classed by them as early signs of genius and the reason he found himself here. No one was surprised that his chosen subject was advanced laser technology.

  Miles was typically British but had bucked his family’s tradition of military service. His father, grandfather, uncles, cousins, and older brother were all Brigadier this or General that, but Miles never had any interest in British Army life, causing his parents to practically disown him.

  Carlton couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for him. Miles was affable, and listening to him speak, Carlton thought he had the definite makings of a mad scientist. He was sure the group felt the same about his parents being the only ones not to attend. Instead, his aged, disabled uncle and aunt, who had always liked Miles, had been proud to take their place.

  Miles’s passion was invention. He explained how he would spend all of his time in his workshop lab, a small converted barn in the grounds of the family estate in rural England that had room enough for him to fabricate all kinds of weird and wonderful machines. Carlton totally understood Mile’s mindset. His descriptions of his science projects sounded to him as though they would be a sight to behold, and he had no doubt that whatever Miles did would never fail to impress. Miles explained that he eventually won the support of his parents, although he wasn’t too sure that wasn’t just an excuse to keep him out of the way.

  He too had a love of the sciences and, by all accounts, was streets ahead of his classmates, both in results and ability. His favored subject was engineering sciences.

  Per Svensson’s love of aeronautical engineering was a direct result of spending as much time as he could with his father, who was head of research and development at Saab Aerospace in his home country of Sweden. His mother was also at Saab working in Airframe Design, and like everyone else, both his parents had encouraged his early obsession with aircraft, eventually leading to him creating some pretty magnificent and unique model aircraft of his own design that turned more than a few heads.

  He felt lucky that he had access to most of the fabrication machinery at Saab’s impressive facility, where he had practically grown up, and, like Carlton and Calisto, he was very popular with his parents’ staff and was everybody’s favorite.

  He would receive encouragement and guidance from just about everyone. So again, it was no surprise to Carlton that his favored subjects were aeronautical engineering and aerospace design.

  Last to tell his story was William Pope.

  William’s subjects were chemistry and biology, although he was also taking various business studies in the hope that he could follow in his parents’ footsteps in the pharmaceutical industry, even though they had recently retired and sold up their interests. Carlton immediately took a liking to William. He had an air of confidence about the way he spoke, and by the questions he’d asked the others, was clearly far more in tune with their ultimate aims. He knew they would become close friends.

  William was a top student in all the science subjects but had naturally leaned toward his parents’ commercial views around practical science. The result of which meant that he had already written many papers theorizing unique ways to maximize production techniques to increase profitability. Of the group, William was the most savvy when it came to the commercial side of science, another reason why Carlton wanted to stay close to him. William could see direction and purpose, which, up to now, had eluded him.

  By the time the students had finished relaying their storie
s, eaten, and playfully cross-examined each other about the hilarious things that had not gone according to plan with some of their more wacky ideas, it was well past 1 a.m., and they were all feeling tired. Their parents, though, were still laughing and joking and looked like they would still be at it for quite some time. They hardly noticed their children depart.

  Calisto was the last in line as they all filed past their parents’ tables, which had now been pushed together and looked like a battlefield where the empty glasses, wine bottle, and napkins had been shoved into the center to make room for even more fresh glasses, wines, and brandies.

  “We’re all off to bed,” she announced through the noise of the laughter and chatter, “’Night, all.”

  “Okay,” was all that was heard from her mother, as she quickly returned to her engrossing conversation with one of the other parents.

  Calisto sighed and whispered to herself, “See you at breakfast... maybe,” and headed up to her room.

  ***

  Sunday breakfast at the Kendall Hotel was a grand buffet that had just about everything. Carlton and the rest of the boys had all arrived there at 08:30 a.m., as they had all arranged the night before. Calisto and Lucy were already at a large table with their bowls of fruit, yogurt, and cereals.

  “Looks like the girls are already here,” said Anton as he raised his hand and waved to them. The girls both looked up and smiled, pointing to the seats they had saved at their table.

  “Great,” said William. “Who’s hungry?”

  They all headed for the buffet.

  As they approached the table and began taking seats, the girls looked at the boys’ plates and then at each other awestruck. They would never have believed that so much food could be piled up on a plate, and some even had two plates.

  “Hungry, are we?” said Lucy with playful sarcasm, as she and Calisto burst into laughter.

  Haru and Per looked down at their plates, confused and wondering what the fuss was all about. By the time they had all found places, there was hardly enough space on the table for coffee.

  It was clear that the girls had opted for a typically healthy diet, but, even so, as the chatting and joking began, they found themselves leaning over and swiping a piece of crispy bacon here and there from the boys’ plates.

  They all wanted to get over to the house and unpack their things, so before they’d left last night’s party, they had arranged to meet at breakfast and head over for a few hours. It was a given that their parents wouldn’t make breakfast or even lunch, judging by their state last night, and they didn’t want to be hanging around just waiting and wasting time. Tomorrow was a big day for them.

  Carlton had arranged transport with the hotel to take them and then collect them again at 4 p.m. That would give them plenty of time at the house and still get them back early enough to change and get ready for dinner with their parents.

  After the two minivans had dropped them off, it was as if the house had suddenly burst into life, with everyone talking excitedly as they ran up and down looking in all the rooms and passing each other on the stairs carrying their things.

  Sorting out which rooms they wanted was surprisingly quick. The girls took the two rooms on the right of the house that were next to each other and on their own. Per wanted the other loft room and the others just took the first rooms they came to. The only person to say which room he actually preferred was Miles, who wanted the room that was closest to the garage, which he already had dibs on. No one minded.

  Two hours later, the girls were the first to get settled and were waiting for the others in the large kitchen. One by one, the boys filtered down to join them. When they were all together, Lucy said, “Right, we need to talk about a few things like food and transport. We need to go to the supermarket as there’s nothing here, and none of us will have any time tomorrow, so we think that should be our first port of call.” Everyone nodded. “Also,” she added, “we need to sort out how we get around. Does anyone have a car?”

  William raised his hand. “I do.”

  “And me,” said Anton.

  “And I’ve got a scooter,” said Carlton.

  “Okay,” said Lucy, “that’s a start. I take it none of you have them here yet.” They all shook their heads. William said, “My dad’s arranged for mine to be shipped over by Wednesday for me.”

  Anton added, “I can get mine up here this week too.”

  Carlton looked apprehensive. “Can’t imagine anyone wanting to ride my scooter all the way here. I’ll see if it can be shipped.”

  Calisto said, “I don’t even have a license for here, nor does Per, Haru, or Miles.”

  Carlton offered a solution. “Look, I’ve got a spare pushbike at home, and I’m sure William and Anton have one too, and if you, Lucy, have one as well, that will give the others a bit of freedom if we’re on different schedules. In the meantime, we can use cabs for a few days and all scooch in when William and Anton’s cars arrive.”

  Everyone nodded, feeling happy they had a plan that would work, and with that issue put to one side, the boys began looking at each other until William said, “So where’s the supermarket?”

  When the students finally made it back to the hotel, they had just enough time to get themselves ready for dinner.

  Shopping had taken a lot longer than any of them expected, partly because the boys had filled shopping carts with their own ideas of what everyone would want to eat, much to the disgust of the girls, who had made them put nearly everything back on the shelves before leading the boys around and telling them what to add to the baskets. It was clear who the den mothers were. The boys obediently followed orders, and eventually, they had enough to last a few weeks.

  When they got back to the house and unloaded the cabs, they split the $1,500 bill between them, and then spent the next two hours working out where to put it all.

  When they all entered the hotel restaurant, they could see that the back had been roped off with a sign saying “Private Party.” Behind the rope was the same table setup that was used at the introduction party but minus the decoration.

  “Oh no,” said Anton. “I hope this isn’t going to be another free for all like last night.” But seeing the many jaded faces of the still-hungover parents, a smiling Calisto said, “Doubt it, just look at the state of them!”

  They all sniggered and giggled as they said their hellos and went to their seats. Everyone had been given the same seating positions that they had at the previous night’s party.

  They had all left notes or messages telling their parents what they were doing that day before they left, and, judging by how the parents all looked, they had most likely spent the entire day in bed recovering. It still didn’t stop them from carrying on with the laughter and chatting around the evening dinner table, though.

  As the students sat down, the noisy chatter and laughing quickly subsided to nothing. The students all looked up and around at the silent, staring faces of their parents smiling at them. Per was the first to notice the attractive little box with his name on it in front of him in the center of his plate.

  “What’s this?” he said, as the other students looked at him then at their own plates to find similar boxes with their names on them.

  Hearing nothing, they took it as a cue to open their boxes, so they each began unwrapping, eager to find out what the surprise might be. At the same time, they all lifted their lids to find two key fobs with the word “Smart” and the Mercedes logo on them.

  Thinking well ahead of time of their children’s need for transportation, the parents had long ago arranged for them to be given as gifts for being accepted into MIT.

  Whoops and cheers erupted from the students as they realized what they had just been given. They all jumped up and went to their parents for kisses and hugs. The girls were crying, as were all of the mothers, whilst the men just smiled and hugged before David pointed to the window and said, “Go see.”

  The students all rushed over to the window to look
down to see eight identical silver and black Smart cars all lined up at an angle to the curb.

  The excited students laughed and joked all the way through dinner while their happy parents proudly looked on, and the moment they all had finished, the students dragged their parents outside to go and see their new toys, which had each student’s initials monogrammed on the wing mirrors.

  Calisto, Miles, Per, and Haru’s cars also had the paperwork inside that allowed them to drive on their international licenses.

  Transport was no longer an issue.

  Back in the hotel, the parents all sat around in the lounge drinking coffee and brandy, talking and making plans for future get-togethers, all having thoroughly enjoyed the weekend. They were all very proud of their children and happy that they were all getting along so well. The students were laughing and joking about everything that had taken place over the weekend, and of course, they were all over the moon with their gifts. Lucy and Calisto were trying to think up names for their cars, which soon became a riotous mickey take.

  “Will you be able to get your hair dryer in it? How about calling yours Sally the Salon,” joked William.

  “How about we call yours Willy’s Chuck Wagon,” replied Calisto as they all laughed out loud.

  Carlton said, “My nickname at school was always Spaceman, so maybe I should call mine Carlton’s Comet.”

  Miles had a thought. “We’re all going to drive home in a line tonight, and tomorrow, we’ll all be leaving at the same time, probably all in a line again. I wonder what everyone will think as we all drive up in line and park. Eight smart students in eight Smart cars! I wonder if they’ll call us the Smarties?”

  And that was exactly how everyone referred to them for the whole time they were at MIT.