American History 1988
Chapter 105 - 99 Completion

Chapter 105: Chapter 99 Completion

"Adam, are you saying that PBK doesn’t restrict its members from joining other fraternities? And that both men and women can join PBK?"

"Of course, I said so. PBK is just an honorary society, not a secret fraternity." Adam took out a copy of the PBK constitution from his bag and handed it to Dean. "We are the oldest collegiate society in America, and there’s a detailed introduction here."

Dean took it and flipped through casually, but soon the rows of names caught his attention. Roosevelt, Truman, Mark Twain, Helen Keller, John Rockefeller...

"Looking at this list, I’m even starting to wonder if I could become the president of America someday." Dean returned the constitution to Adam, "So it doesn’t have those initiation tests that other fraternities have?"

"No, and you’ve already passed the test," Adam said with a smirk, referring to the previous incident where Dean hacked into the school’s phone system.

"Thanks for the reminder, I almost forgot about being summoned to the professor’s office," Dean said with a touch of irony, looking at him, "So what about the thing you promised me?"

"It’s all here," Adam placed a floppy disk in front of him, "It contains a technical commentary on the IRC protocol, and you will find the solutions to your problems within."

"Good~" Dean picked up his stuff with satisfaction, "Adam, you’ve successfully got your name kicked off the scammer list in my book."

"Wow, I guess I should feel honored." Adam finished the last bit of coffee in his cup. "So Dean, are you considering PBK? Believe me, you won’t regret this decision."

Members of PBK weren’t as closely knit as in other fraternities, but it was still a circle with a very high threshold for admission—good grades alone didn’t guarantee you an invitation.

Seeing his expression much more serious than before, Dean shrugged. "If there are no more of those prank-like tests, I’m fine with it. At least the next time I play the bad boy, I can drop your name."

"Smart choice," Adam said with an unfazed smile, "By the way, take this."

Under Dean’s curious gaze, Adam took out an iron keychain, as well as a copy of the PBK membership constitution.

"Why does the badge you gave me feel so cheap?" Dean touched the iron key in his hand; its craftsmanship was rough.

"You’re just a prospective member now. According to PBK tradition, its formal members are all top students from junior and senior years. Sophomore year is a probationary period, during which you need to prove your talent in academics or other areas."

Adam pointed to the keychain in Dean’s hand. "Only after passing this one-year probation will you become an official member next year, and then it will be replaced with a golden keychain."

"Sounds like the probation requirements are quite stringent?" Dean said, flipping through the PBK information, "So what exactly are the criteria for selection? Just to be clear, if it’s like the stuff from before, I refuse."

"This time, it’s annoyingly serious. For some people, it’s quite simple." Adam nodded toward the direction of the Stanford labs. "Have some depth in a particular research field, like publishing your own paper in professional academic journals like ’Nature’ or ’Science’."

Dean frowned at Adam. "Honestly, I suddenly find the pranks from before a lot simpler."

"Ha, scared, are you? Rookie~" Adam pointed proudly to the gold key on his chest. "Although students in the top 10% of grades are eligible to apply for this, the number issued each year is always around 2%."

However, this test isn’t a hard requirement, you have another option. Use your smart brain to do something influential.

A highly creative product, a speech that makes it into the regional history books, an editorial that gets the attention of Congress... any of these can qualify~

If you meet one of these conditions and maintain a GPA above 3.8. Then congratulations, the doors of PBK are open to you."

"Wow~ is it too late to regret this now?" What kind of monster society is this? Dean felt he was better suited to lying flat.

"You better study the PBK constitution well, Rookie~" As Adam stood up, he patted Dean on the shoulder. "There are secret hand gestures for members to communicate when you encounter difficulties, and they might be of great help."

"Hey~ is that all?" Dean called after Adam’s retreating figure. "You didn’t even say if anyone would supervise during the probation period?"

"When you gain a bit of a reputation, you will naturally attract attention." Without turning his head, Adam waved his hand and left the coffee shop.

"Is this really just an open honorary society?" Watching his back, Dean pondered.

"Actually, PBK evolved from traditional secret fraternities, so it still retains some of the traditions of fraternities." David, who had been silently watching, explained to Dean.

"So, David..." Dean looked at the honest and pitiful David, "was it you who recommended me to Adam?"

"Dean, you’re excellent and full of ideas. There are many people like that in PBK, so I thought..." David gestured with his hands, "that it might be a good fit for you. If you’re troubled by this, I’m sorry..."

"David," Dean interrupted his ramble, "maybe you should find a girlfriend from Northern Europe."

"Why?" David looked at him, puzzled.

"Because Vikings are passionate and bold, I think such a girl would give you a different feeling. You need to bring a little excitement into your life..." Dean patted his shoulder and also stood up to leave the college coffee shop.

...

In late November, after more than a month of coding life, Dean finally completed the framework for Teams.

With the experience of C-Link and no longer hindered by coding issues, Dean developed Teams much faster than expected.

"Marcus, send me an electronic document now." After setting up a local area network with the two computers in the dorm, Dean started testing the related functions of Teams.

"Watch out, Marcus’s big surprise is coming." As files like spreadsheets and documents were imported into the chat box, Marcus excitedly pressed the Enter key.

There was no loading page, just a series of dots "." appearing and disappearing repeatedly. After about fifteen seconds, a prompt indicating file reception completion popped up in the chat box on Dean’s computer.

"Very good," seeing the whole process was slow but eventually completed smoothly, Dean breathed a sigh of relief internally.

What he feared most wasn’t the slow speed, but a direct crash. Transmission speed could be improved by optimizing the code, but a crash would mean there were fatal flaws in the design.

"Cool~" Marcus excitedly stood up and high-fived Dean, "We did it, Dean!"

"I suggest we wait until all the tests are complete before celebrating," Dean said, although also quite happy, but the rest of the work was not yet finished.

File transfer was just the first hurdle; there were still more heavyweight features to come.

After carefully checking the speaker and microphone, Dean and Marcus each put on a headset.

After signaling OK with a hand gesture, Dean clicked on a tiny telephone button in the top-right corner of the software.

With the sound of a call signal coming through, a smile appeared on Dean’s face. Not bad, the signal line connected.

"Hello~, this is Marcus’s secret attic radio. Regarding this issue’s cover girl, wow~ I’m already rock hard..."

"F*ck you, Marcus, can you not flip through those in front of me?" Dean turned his head and laughed as he cursed, finding that guy actually holding a copy of "Penthouse" magazine, playing the role of a radio host.

"Hey~ Dean, I am testing our software... Hello~ Hello~..." The voice call abruptly cut off as a burst of static came through the headphones.

"Crap! Dean, we were so close!" Marcus said with disappointment, removing the headphones.

"At least we successfully made the voice call, and the call quality also met expectations." Although only halfway to expectations, Dean appeared quite optimistic.

This was just the first test of the software, and its two main functions launching smoothly was a success.

"There are a few minor issues I need to fix. But it won’t take long. I think we can complete version 1.0 of Teams before vacation," Dean said.

Stanford would go on holiday in late December, and one month was sufficient time for Dean to polish the software once more.

"Just so we’re clear, Dean, I don’t have the same brilliant mind as you. With final exams coming up, I’ll have to leave the later stuff to you," Marcus declared, having already devoted his spare time to the software and now needing to review so that he didn’t end up with C’s on his record.

"OK, I can handle the work going forward," Dean said. He also needed a couple of days’ rest; for nearly two months, he hadn’t even taken the time to properly explore Silicon Valley or the Bay Area.

It was also a good opportunity to use these two days to scout the future market for Teams.

...

Although it was nearing December, the average temperature in California was still above 15℃. After experiencing the sub-zero temperatures in Ohio, Dean was extremely grateful that he chose Stanford University.

Look at the street ahead, many young women did not even want to put their skirts away.

After waiting for a bus for an hour and feeling gloomy, Dean’s mood finally lifted a bit seeing the bustling streets of Mountain View.

Despite Stanford being close to Mountain View, just a ten-minute drive east along Interstate Route 82, public transportation was infrequent, with only one bus per hour covering the short 6-mile journey.

On his first trip to Silicon Valley, an unsuspecting Dean waited at the gates of Stanford for more than fifty minutes. Had he known it would turn out like this, he would have been better off biking.

Oh~ almost forgot, Dean’s brand-new Huffy bicycle had been stolen.

Crap! Since Stanford is almost always open, allowing outsiders easy access to the campus, Dean, who was not in the habit of locking up, lost his beloved bike on the very first day.

That’s also the reason he had to take the bus today. Mountain View at the end of the ’80s lacked every bit of the glamour one might associate with a world-famous technology hub.

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