Kaylie and Patricia continue to prove themselves compared to the other girls at the science intensive. A backyard party leads to resorting of romantic relationships. A clever subroutine by Kaylie may have consequences.

For some reason Patricia Ruhr and Kaylie Clark had been detained by the instructor while the rest of the girls got to head home to relax after the first week of the summer science intensive. Pat plopped down at a desk looking frustrated. Kaylie sat down more properly smoothing her skirt underneath and crossing her ankles. Both were wondering what this was about as the instructor stared at them sternly.

"Your school records indicate that you were both born male and have since been approved for gender reassignment. I am delighted that you have agreed to become girls and devote your intellectual talents to the Feminist Republic. Although you two were reassigned at different ages you are both now on the same STEM education track. You are also at an age where gender transitioning involves intense biological, psychological, and social adjustments.

"Your records were assessed by the political cadres for political reliability indications before your registration for this summer intensive was approved, and you both passed that screening. However, I need to remind you the absolute importance of total loyalty to the ideals of the Feminist Republic. Once you have been given access to what is called the 'administrator', 'superuser' or 'command line' level of any computer you have obtained incredible power. Intact males, and even feminized men who have male lovers, have not been allowed this power since women took control during the Great Cultural Revolution. Do not abuse your privileges. Doing so will bring swift punishment. Understand?"

Patricia and Kaylie nodded nervously.

"At the start of every computer science course every girl is required to go through the standard warnings and check the box acknowledging that use is being monitored and that they understand the rules regarding what is prohibited.

However, given your transgender status the two of you will be required to take additional training and undergo an additional examination regarding political reliability. It is nothing personal, everyone who started as a Special Boy has to do it.

"We take this very, very seriously. Here is a reading packet that you need to go through over the weekend. Next week you will have to take a written, hardcopy test to verify that you fully understanding about what is prohibited, the historical context of why these restrictions for males exist, and the measures the Feminist Republic and its allied sister states now use to protect against their misogynistic enemies.

"You can go now. Have a nice weekend."

Pat lead the way out of the room. Kaylie noticed that Pat had grabbed her books under her arm instead of carrying them in front girl-style. Once out of earshot she turned to Kaylie.

"I hate being singled out like that. I know why, but I still hate it!"

"Well, I did not like being reminded of my gender reassignment either. I am sure she was only doing her job."

"Kaylie, the problem is that the Feminist leadership is still paranoid about the gay male traitors who tried to sabotage feminist cause during the early years of the Republic. Once the feminists got control of this territory they tried to set up what they called a 'rainbow society' with complete equality for women, gentlemen, gay men, bisexuals, transgender persons, queer persons, intersex persons, any race, creed, or color. The only group not granted full rights were the born-male, male-identifying individuals who refused to accept the ideals of identity equality.

"Unfortunately there were a small number of effeminate men who initially presented themselves as feminist allies, but had secret male lovers living across the border in the misogynistic regions. This created a conflict of loyalty, and some became spies and saboteurs. They used their access to computers in the Feminist Republic to support attacks by the enemy governments. Fortunately they were caught and deported before they did too much harm.

"Ever since then the Feminist Republic has been very cautious about any male-born individual who does not pass 100% on the political loyalty assessments. Effeminate gay and heterosexual men are socially accepted as artists, entertainers, service workers, caregivers, social escorts, and domestic companions, but are not considered politically reliable. As a result they are not allowed to be trained for science, technology, and math positions and definitely are not allowed unfettered computer access.

"I know it is not transphobia or homophobia, it is history. But that does not mean I like the suspicion that girls like us have to be subjected to. Does that make sense?"

Kaylie thought back to her psychological assessment day and the terrible experience during the Thematic Apperception Test where she was shown provocative images while her subconscious physiological responses were being monitored by cameras and instruments. She passed. She felt attracted to Hillary. Why was her loyalty a question.

"Pat, can I ask you something? Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Not really. You?"

"Hillary Lee had been my friend since Elementary School and is my biggest supporter. We haven't gotten serious though, if you know what I mean."

"Sounds normal for our age. Let's go home. It looks like we have a lot of homework before we get to log on to the computers next week."

Computer Camp

The second week of the summer science intensive began with a flurry of old-fashioned hard-copy forms where the girls had to promise to follow all the computer access and computer security rules, and to agree that a violation was grounds for immediate dismissal from the science intensive. The instructor was accompanied by two computer security staffers who gave a demonstration of how easy it was for them to monitor use and detect any improper activity.

After completing her weekend computer security homework Kaylie knew to pay full attention. It was clear from the whispering in the room that most of the girls were clearly impatient and wanted to get going on the week's activities. Shortly the computer security cadres logged off from the classroom video channel and headed back to their crypt where they could respond to any automated alerts from the omnipresent monitoring software.

The instructor brought up a demonstration screen and began discussing the basics of interacting with a computer operating system in programmer mode. In place of the usual colorful graphics and menus there was a monochrome display with a simple command prompt: '>'. The entry '> dir *.exe' brought up a list of executable programs. The entry 'list demo1.exe' brought up the actual source code for a simple program. The instructor showed how using the text editor to change a few characters followed by a 'compile' command altered how the program worked or even brought it to a complete halt. It seemed boring at first but Kaylie quickly realized that there was enormous power to being logged in as an administrator who could directly manipulate source code.

The instructor started another demonstration by giving Pamela Leland the cable to display her screen on the classroom projector and then launch a popular social media program on her laptop.

The instructor gave the class a cunning look. "Now I will use my network access to hack into Ms. Leland's laptop at the super user command level. We will display our screens side by side."

The class watched as Pamela started looking at some harmless photos and messages. The instructor typed in a few lines of concise commands and Pam suddenly was not able to use the cursor to select anything. After a few frustrating seconds the instructor restored cursor control to Pamela but then all the images turned to blood red squares. After a few more seconds Pam's computer went blank except for a "You have been hacked!" message.

"Girls, all the fancy graphical user interface based software that you are accustomed to using is easily disrupted by anyone who understands the operating system at a command line level. That is true power in a technological society."

Finally it was time for the first break. As the girls got up the instructor called Kaylie and Patricia up to her desk and told them that they needed to go to a separate room afterward. They headed out the door and joined the end of the line outside the girl's restroom. Some things never seem to change. Nancy B came out and another girl squeezed in.

As Nancy walked past Kaylie and Pat she grinned knowingly. "I have been told that 'Special Boys' need to get extra security clearance before they get a login password," she said in a matter of fact voice that was loud enough for anyone nearby to hear.

"She always does things like that. I hate it but can't do anything about it," Patricia grumbled softly.

"Why not" I thought there were rules about harassment of all students including girls like us."

"Think about her remark. She simply spoke a totally factual declarative sentence. She cannot be penalized for that. That girl is smart about what says. Any harassing implication or indication that it was directed toward us was solely in the mind of the listener. Move ahead, it is almost our turn."

After Kaylie and Patricia did their business they went to the indicated room where there was another instructor there accompanied by one of the computer security staff. As soon as the girls sat down the examination started.

"Do you pledge full allegiance to the Feminist Republic?"

"Yes!"

"Now stand, recite the loyalty oath, then sit down, give your phones and laptops to our security officer, and get ready to take the written test.

For the next two hours Kaylie and Patricia worked furiously through multiple-choice, short written answer, and multi-paragraph essay questions about the crucial role of computer technology, cybersecurity, and cyberdefense to the creation and preservation of the Feminist Republic. Most was straightforward and based on the homework they had been given over the weekend, but some involved integrating their previous studies in history, gender relations, human sexuality, political science, and logical reasoning into well thought out answers.

It was demanding, and Kaylie was aware that despite the intense study and female socialization she had received under Ms. Lee's direction she was still at a disadvantage. It had been less than a year since she had learned about the possibility of being identified as a Special Boy at her age. First it had been cramming for the eighth-grade aptitude test where she had overcome the years of being restricted to the lower-level classes that boys were allowed to take and prove that she had important intellectual potential. Then it was the socialization and feminist reading that prepared her for the big psychological, gender identity, and political reliable assessment that had made her eligible for legal, and medical, gender reassignment. She had been officially a girl for only a few weeks and ... Focus on the test she thought.

Answer: "As the legend of Davidia and Goliath shows a clever person using distance weapons can overcome the size and strength advantage of aggressive males."

Answer: "The ability to seize control of the misogynistic enemy's self-driving vehicles was a key to stopping the attempted invasions of feminist territory."

Answer: "As time went on the males stopped studying topics like electronic circuit design because it required too much hard preparation in math and physics."

Answer: "Feminist engineers had secretly imbedded numerous vulnerabilities in the integrated circuit chips that were the brains of modern equipment."

Answer: "Both intense loyalty to the Feminist Cause and hatred of patriarchal social structures motivated the brave women who planned ways to use technology to overcome traditional male advantages."

Finally the test was over. Patricia turned to Kaylie, "That was painful. I hate being reminded of how lazy and stupid but totally self-centered males have been throughout history and how smart and hardworking the Feminist pioneers were. Being reassigned was the best thing that ever happened to me. I just want to get my ...; well we can talk about that later."

"I feel the same way.

The computer security cadre arrived and gave them back their phones and laptops.

"We ran a scan and your devices are totally clean. No spyware or unauthorized software was present. Activity logs and history show no improper activity.

"As you know all computer-based devices in the Feminist Republic have basic security built into both the firmware chips and the operating systems. Your laptops and phones had only the standard-issue technology approved for all high school girls. Since you will be now be learning real computer science we have upgraded the security software on your devices to the higher level that is found on university level and professional devices. I have added several layers of activity monitoring software that prevents both improper activity by the user, that means you, and also defends against cyberattacks from outside sources.

"Some of the most devastating cyber hacks prior to the Times of Trouble were accomplished by socially discontent teen-agers and college dropouts working in their bedroom. You are at the age where computer genius blossoms. You may be tempted to try to find and disable the security software that that has been installed.

"Do you know what will happen if the automated monitoring systems detect that you have tampered with a security program?"

"I expect that I would be severely punished and banned from access to technology for life."

"No. When we find a girl who is smart enough to hack into our highly sophisticated computer security software we first tell her that she was caught, and then we rapidly advance her into higher level training and ultimately give her an internship in one of our national data security labs. The Feminist Republic needs the smartest, most clever cyberwarriors in the world!

"On the other hand, I need to warn you that any indication of illicit communication with the misogynistic enemy or disclosing of crucial classified information WILL be severely punished.

Computer hacking is a time-honored tradition. But the sport has rules: do not implement a system breach that you do not know how to repair when asked; do not cause any permanent damage through either data deletion or disclosure; do not cause critical infrastructure to malfunction; do not cause any harm to citizens of the Feminist Republic. It is perfectly acceptable to temporarily lock up an administrator's terminal with a funny message. It is unacceptable to do anything that would make the Republic vulnerable to misogynist attack. Use good judgment and keep your computer hacking within the bounds of these rules.

"That's all for now. Soon you we will be welcoming you into the sisterhood of software experts. I think they left box lunches for all of us in the cafeteria. Go grab some nourishment. You can eat at your terminals in the computer room. The afternoon session has already started. "

That afternoon Kaylie proudly entered her newly assigned administrator-level username and password that connected her to the school's fully programmable computers for the first time. The other girls had already working on the day's exercise when Kaylie and Pat arrived from their 'Special Boy' security session.' As a result she had to catch up with their head start as she started going through the lesson in basic commands. She noted that Pat was getting a bit of extra attention from the computer security expert, but finally got her administrator login as well.

Kaylie had known for years that the electronic devices accessible to boys had been severely crippled and were basically limited- purpose displays with highly structured menu choices. The devices she had been allowed to access once she had become legally a girl were able to search many topics on the internet and were able to run age-appropriate cloud-based software, which had been an enormous improvement. Prior to the summer science intensive she had been reading introductory books on how computers work, but now she had programmer access. She wanted a chance to experiment with her new powers, but there was so much to learn.

At first the girls followed structured exercises designed to familiarize them with the operating system command line and running simple executable files. Kaylie tried to integrate all this information with the background reading she had done. Looking around the room she saw the everyone was struggling to keep up with the instructor's pace. Finally the day came to an end.

Patricia was waiting for her in the hall outside the computer lab. "That was exciting, wasn't it? The power that computers have, and the limitless ability a programmer has to manipulate them -- amazing!

"What is the schedule for tomorrow?

"I think we are going to learn about designing computer algorithms. That is part of the reason we learned some of those awful confusing theorems in algebra last week."

"What are you doing tonight?"

"I asked the instructor if I could take the workbook home so that I can memorize the various programming commands tonight. We are going to start editing executable files tomorrow and I want to be ready. She gave me permission but warned me not to leave it where a male could steal it or even look at it.

"She reminded me that occasionally computer manuals are smuggled into the Feminist Republic from misogynist countries. Boys caught looking at this sort of material are severely punished. For intact males pornography is OK, but computer science is not."

"Sounds like you will be busy tonight. See you tomorrow. "

The next day started with making various changes in the source code for sample programs and then compiling and running the modified version. By afternoon the lesson had progressed to actually writing simple programs from scratch. Kaylie learned fast and saw the concept: take the instructor's word problem and express it in logical statements and equations, organize the steps, write program commands by recalling patterns from previous software examples, check all the details, compile and then run the debugger, fix the errors, and try again. Kaylie quickly got the hang of it and was soon able to help write line after line of (mostly) error free code. By the next day she was delighted that her attempt at coding the iterative method for finding a square root worked on the second try.

On Thursday the class was presented with the big challenge problem that would be the capstone of the summer intensive. The goal was to program a primitive 'space war' game where a player used to the keyboard to send projectiles through a gravitational field to hit the enemy ship. The instructors had provided a basic template for the students including a compiled subroutine for the target ship's evasive maneuvers. The coding project required applying the physics and math from last week to calculate the projectile's path based on the aiming inputs. It was clear that this project would require a lot of concentration and team work. Kaylie was in a workgroup with Pamela and two girls she had not met before. They had been in the special enrichment classes offered only to girls and all done a little computer programming before. They were supportive of Kaylie and were a big help. By Friday afternoon they had gotten further on the project than most of the other teams.

Patricia found Kaylie and Pam talking outside. "Well, we made some progress. How about you?"

"It was intense, but we are off to a good start. I am going to do some more home study this weekend."

"OK, but we should also relax and enjoy ourselves this weekend. It is going to be hot."

Pamela jumped in. "How about coming over to my place for a backyard party on Saturday? We have a lot of shade and a barbeque. No pool, but we can use the lawn sprinklers to cool off.

Pam noticed that Kaylie was hesitant. "I will invite Hillary and Stacy too. I have not seen them much since school got out. Is that OK with you Pat?"

"Thanks for the invitation, but you four all went to the same Middle School and need to reconnect. I already have an invitation to hang out with some of my friends from my gender transition support group. Maybe next time."

After Patricia had headed off Pam turned to Kaylie. "This is going to be a fun party and four makes it easy to pair off." She gave a knowing smile "I think Stacy is hot. I want to see if she is willing to make out with me. Nothing serious, just a few real kisses. How about you and Hillary?"

"We still seem to be just friends. Like all girls we share hugs and light kisses, but nothing serious. I really don't know how she feels about me."

"Well, you will never find out unless one of you makes the first move."

Backyard party

Kaylie agonized over what to wear. Attending a weekend party at Pamela's house seemed more special than just casual hanging out, but is was clearly nothing formal. This was her first summer as a girl and she did not yet have a lot of hot-weather clothes to choose from either. As she sorted through options she realized that part of her anxiety was a combination of wanting to look attractive, maybe even a bit sexy for her friends, and self-consciousness about her still boyish pre-teen figure.

Finally she settled on a pair of tight-fitting tan shorts with an attached mini-skirt, a sports bra, and shortened floral pattern top with a plunging neckline that also showed a bit of midriff. Kaylie decided to walk rather than ask for a ride so that she could get her thoughts in order. It was not far since both she and Pam lived in the neighborhood of their former middle school.

Kaylie realized she was being a bit daring. Compared to her nervousness on her first solo walk on the nature trail going out in public dressed like this showed progress.

Pamela's back yard was fully fenced and had a lot of trees, tall hedges, and brushy shrubs dividing the space to create quiet nooks for reading or meditation. Her mother had designed it as a peaceful refuge with fountains, benches, sitting logs, and comfortable grassy patches. She clearly had a gardener to help tend the beautiful landscape. When Kaylie arrived Hillary and Stacy were already there preparing lunch on the grill while Pam put out some appetizers and refreshments.

Hillary ran up and threw her arms around Kaylie as soon as she came through the fence gate. "I missed you. Fine Arts intensive was fun, but I missed you."

"Same here. We can catch up after. Here comes Stacy"

Stacy looked sadly at Kaylie. "I am sorry about that outburst at the shopping mall. I was upset, but could have handled my feelings better."

"Forgiven, lets be friends, OK?"

"It looks like lunch is almost ready. Let's eat."

The four girls loaded their plates and sat down at the picnic table. Hillary and Kaylie on one side and Pam and Stacy sitting really close together on the other. The sound of munching on food mixed with the usual girl chatting and gossip.

"Kaylie, you are not eating much."

"Well, I am trying to watch my weight. I do not want to bulk up any more than I already did last year."

"But you want to develop a figure don't you? The really skinny girls like ballerinas and gymnasts don't grow big breasts."

Kaylie was again reminded that her friends had already started to 'show' and her medical hormone dose had not yet had much effect.

After lunch Pam and Stacy headed off to a bench hidden behind a hedge. Knowing what Pam had in mind Kaylie indicated to Hillary that they should find some place else to chat. The found a comfortable grass covered mound with a view of the flower beds and sat down on the ground.

Kaylie listened as Hillary described the dance, music, and drama experiences that the fine arts intensive offered. It sounded like a lot of fun but also emotionally and physically demanding. In turn Kaylie excitedly described her first experiences with computer programming for a video game. After while they heard giggling on the other side of the hedge.

Hillary grinned. "It sounds like someone is having fun over there."

"I agree. Let's not disturb them."

"I think Pam and Stacy make a nice couple."

Kaylie though about what to say. "I thought you liked Stacy. The two of you spent a lot of time together last year. Both at school and outside."

Hillary looked into Kaylie's eyes. "But we spent a lot of time together too."

"Was it just because your mother wanted you to help me prepare for the assessment so that I could get reassigned."

"Come on, I was nice to you starting way back in Elementary School."

"Hillary, it really hurt when the teachers and counselors started keeping boys and girls apart as we got older."

"You always seemed different from other boys: smarter, more sensitive and empathetic, more gentle, not at all aggressive. And cute too."

"Thanks, do you really like me?"

Kaylie noticed Hillary's hesitation. "What do you mean?"

Now Kaylie choked up. "I ... I mean like me as more than just a friend from school?"

"You mean like Pam and Stacy are liking each other over there?"

Kaylie was aware of Hillary's body language and verbal implications. They were already sitting really close so that they could sense the warmth of each other's bodies. Kaylie started to gradually put her hands on Hillary's backside when they were interrupted by a shout.

"Hello, girls! I am having the houseboy bring out some treats," Pamela's mother called from inside. There was a pause. "He will give you a moment to make sure you girls are decent before he comes into the yard."

Kaylie pulled back from Hillary and stood up. Then she heard the sounds of Pam and Stacy working their way out from behind the hedge. She could not help but notice that Stacy was straightening out her tank top and adjusting her shorts as she walked out onto the lawn..

The houseboy was a thinly built male who appeared to be in his twenties. He was immaculately groomed and wearing a tight-fitting summer outfit that showed his both masculine muscles and an ample amount of exposed skin. He meekly walked to the umbrella table and set down a tray of juice and cookies then left without making eye contact or saying a word.

"Who was that?," Kaylie asked.

"That is one of my mother's domestics. She keeps him around as a harmless companion who is also extremely good at housework," Pam replied smugly.

"I have never seen anyone like that. Where did he come from? Are males like that common?"

"Male domestics are very common in wealthy neighborhoods, but my mother is the only one around here who has one full-time. Becoming a household domestic is a life path available to males who have been socially feminized by their mothers but who are not intellectually qualified to be classified as Special Boys."

"Well, I just learned something," Stacy remarked.

The backyard party wound down with a lot of knowing looks and unspoken thoughts. Pam's mother brought out a final round of treats and gave each of the girls a take-home plate of leftover goodies.

Kaylie had a hard time getting started on her independent study work that evening. Something significant had happened and thoughts of those few moments with Hillary. Romantic thoughts kept intruding on the math and computer science concepts. By Monday morning she was again focused and rushed to the Marie Curie Science High School campus to launch into the next week of her summer science intensive.

Secret Software

"Hi, Pam. Have a good weekend?"

"It was OK. I spent some time with other former boys who are in my support group. Even though we are all officially girls now there are still issues unique to being identified as a Special Boy that each of us sometimes needs to deal with. "

"So, what do you talk about?"

"Mostly about teen relationships. Getting in touch with our emotions, romance, the lingering effects of testosterone on the brain, gender identity versus sexual orientation. The differences in the medical feminization procedures that each of us have had affects what we can and cannot do; you know, things like how to make our partners comfortable with the facts of our bodies. And of course, we always have to address how we can avoid any words or actions that might lead to accusations of political unreliability.

"You might think about joining us sometime. It would be good for you. One of your issues is clearly all the extra years you had to spend as a boy, but I am sure you have other issues too."

Kaylie recalled her experience with Hillary. "I sort of understand."

"Maybe sort of, but there is still a lot you have to learn. The experience of every Special Boy is different. Some are delighted by femininity from the start, and others fight and resist for a long time after being told that they are going to be made into girls. A few fight and resist so much that they are kicked out of the program and get an early trip to the male work camps.

"Not only did you start late, you were put on a fast track once you were approved for reassignment. I heard that you had your first bottom surgery the same week as your assessment. Is that true?"

"Yes, as soon as the Chief Psychologist signed off Dr. Taylor asked if I wanted to be castrated. Of course I said yes, and my mother had already signed the overall consent form. I think she was shocked by how much of a rush I was in."

"Lucky you. I still have my balls and little tool. They are hidden away by a reshaped scrotum so that I do not shock the other girls in the changing room, but those parts are still there. It means I have to take male suppressors, and the effects of the estrogen I take are reduced."

"Why haven't you had your surgery?"

"Well, I was identified as a Special Boy with highly desirable genetics. Some years ago the experts in population biology realized that by castrating and feminizing the really smart males the pool of sperm donors would get less intelligent with each generation. So they developed this program where a few Special Boys were kept intact until they reach reproductive age.

"In a few years I will be forced to go through a temporary hormone treatment so that my testicles start to produce viable sperm. A few 'donations' will be collected and frozen for use by the fertility clinics. After all that mess is over I will finally be able to get my balls chopped off. Or so they promise me."

"You don't seem to happy about all this."

"Right. I am supposed to be fully socialized as a girl, but I still have to carry these damn boy parts around for at least five more years. These ideas about using Special Boys to enrich the stud pool came from Europe. You know, there is another feminist country in what used to be England. Our leaders get a lot of ideas from there.

"Well, the morning session is about to start. We have a lot of work ahead of us. Let's get inside. We can talk more about this later."

The new week of the science intensive started with a lecture by a visiting political cadre who again emphasized the incredible power of cyberwarfare and its importance in the defense of the Feminist Republic.

"You girls are extremely privileged to be allowed access to powerful software at your age. This has been allowed because you all have shown outstanding aptitude and we know that developing intellectual skills at an early age increases the likelihood of achieving exceptional career success. With opportunity comes responsibility. You must be totally committed to the Feminist ideals and show complete political reliability.

"I want to mention that there are a some girls attending this intensive who had the misfortune to be assigned male at birth. However they have since been identified as Special Boys and offered the gift of feminization. They are now legally, socially, and medically regarded as females.

"If they had not agreed to be feminized their innate mental skills would have been severely suppressed. One absolute rule in our Republic is that males are never, never allowed to learn the science and math that underlies computer technology."

As the lecture continued Kaylie felt that more and more was being addressed specifically to her and Pam. There was a lot of lecturing on the differences between acceptable computer hacking and actions that could have serious security implications. It was clear to Kaylie that her career survival depended on being more clever and more intelligent than the female-born girls without ever getting to close to the line defining criminal misconduct. Finally the political security lecture was winding up.

When Kaylie arrived at the computer lab she found out that two of the girls on her team had dropped out of the summer program. This left only her and Pam competing against teams of four. To rebalance the teams the instructor had Patricia Ruhr switch to make a trio, which delighted Kaylie. With the change in membership they decided to rename their team as PP&K.

As the day's work went on the combination of Pat, Pam, and Kaylie became conspiratorial. As usual, the two Special Boys felt they needed to prove themselves, and Pam was happy to help.

"The problem with this game is that by the time the shooter mentally figures out where to aim the target as already changed its path," Pam observed.

"It is called a trajectory in space physics," Pat replied.

Kaylie had been thinking about exactly this problem and had done some hand calculations at home. "I have an idea. Why don't we cerate a subroutine that uses the target position history data and calculates the aiming parameters for us?"

"You are using a lot of big words. Besides, that would just get us disqualified as cheaters."

"I read the project rules twice through. There is absolutely nothing that prohibits this approach. Pam, read the rules and see if you agree."

"So what do you propose?"

"I played with the math and physics and discovered that if our subroutine collects the time and position of the target for the most recent five locus points it is possible to calculate the velocity, acceleration, and curvature of the path. This equation then can predict the point where the projectile will intersect the target. It will be so much faster than mentally figuring out the trajectory and manually aiming that any second-order effects like change in the target acceleration and increase in its curvature will be insignificant. Here let me show you my calculations."

"More big words, but I will at least take a look."

The girls eventually agreed that Kaylie's idea would work and there was nothing in the rules to prohibit it. Kaylie immediately started writing her clandestine subroutine while Pam and Pat continued to refine their main program. They spoke quietly when they exchanged ideas, and avoided giving any hints to the instructors about what they were really doing. Methodically they began to put it all the subroutines back together.

"I edited the source code so that it is really hard to see what the automatic fire control subroutine does. I left out any programmer comment lines and used non-descriptive variable names. Let's give it a try."

"Remember to be typing on the keyboard as the game runs. Otherwise the instructors might wonder how our aiming is being done."

"Maybe we need to modify it so that some shots slightly miss the target. If we have 100% success it will immediately look suspicious. Even a 50% success rate will be a total winner. I have been looking at some of the other teams screens. They are satisfied to have the game run at all and almost never hit the target."

"Make the success or failure for each shot depend on a random number generator. That is easy to code."

By Thursday afternoon Patricia, Pamela, and Kaylie were satisfied with their testing and debugging, the three girls decided that they were ready for the big shoot-out competition tomorrow. Looking around the room they saw other teams frustrated by software bugs and scrambling to get something working. They noticed that Nancy Black and her team were relaxed and their software working. They were playing for high score in three minutes against each other.

"Hey, you guys want to try our version? Pat and Kaylie should be good at video games."

"Kaylie cringed. She noticed the use of gender-neutral 'guys' instead of 'girls' and did not miss the implication that as Special Boys they might retain the male propensity for video games.

"OK, I expect yours is standard -- arrow keys to aim and space bar to shoot?"

Pat tried first and struggled to be fast enough on the keyboard. She managed only one hit before giving up. Kaylie did no better.

Nancy watched with a detached expression. "I would have expected you two would do better given your background. Maybe Pamela is better with hand-eye coordination and visualizing where the target is on the screen. This competition is about more than software."

That night Kaylie did her usual mix of self-improvement reading and study related to the science intensive. Clearly Nancy did not fully accept Patricia and Kaylie as girls. Maybe the fact that neither had started developing yet made them look more vulnerable. She recalled Patricia's remark the other day about eliminating the smartest males from the gene pool by castrating them. Something bothered her and she wondered about how Pat was affected. She wanted to talk about this more when she and Pat had time. Self consciously she washed, changed, and went to bed.

Friday morning began with another 'political lecture' from a visiting cadre. The science intensive had consistently emphasized the importance of technology to the creation and survival of the Feminist Republic. It was a complex story and slowly Kaylie was putting all the pieces together.

"You girls have spent the last three weeks building up to this final demonstration of your ability to design a video space-war game where you will attempt to destroy targets that are being created and controlled by the black-box software routine that your instructors have provided. You might ask why this was the unifying theme of this science intensive. Playing violent video games is certainly not a feminine activity!

"In fact, playing video games was part of the downfall of the misogynist males who dominated society during the Era of Oppression leading to the Time of Trouble. Instead of improving themselves physically and mentally they sat in comfortable chairs mesmerized by the sounds and graphics as they exercised little more than their fingers.

"Back then most male-dominated jobs involved relatively mindless entry of routine data and commands into complex programs and automated machines they did not create and, more importantly, did not understand. When the conflict started these males became helpless when the Feminist forces disrupted their software.

"Your space-war exercise has been intended to show you the important difference between working at the level of creating computer code and passively interacting with devices through a fancy, but opaque interface. The real power belongs to those who understand the fundamental principles and application details behind modern software-based technology.

"However, we also wanted to instill a sense of competition and a drive to win in battle. Within each team you were collaborators and supported each other as females instinctively do."

Kaylie noticed that Nancy was staring at her. The lecture was coming to an end.

"Between teams you are competitors fighting for dominance.

"History is full of women warriors. Spies, undercover agents, saboteurs, guerrilla fighters, code breakers, rocket designers. Women's brains and cleverness won many wars while males claimed the credit for their strength.

"Now is your chance to show your female intelligence and desire to succeed. Head to the computer room. May the best girls win!

Now, lets have a cheer. Follow me."

The room burst into high-pitch shouting. "Females fight! We are bright! We have the might! Leave men to their plight!"

As they headed to the computer room Patricia remarked, "Sometimes these Feminist chants are a bit too much."

Soon all the girls were bubbling with excitement as they booted up their computers and each team loaded the product of their previous two week's work. Pat, Pam, and Kaylie sat confidently waiting for the competition to begin, totally confident in the power of their secret weapon.

As she launched the program Pamela whispered to Kaylie, "I hope your secret software does not work so well that it gets into trouble."

The first round consisted of the instructors setting the target navigation subroutine to a low level of evasion. As each team launched their program it was clear that most had written barely functioning software. One team could not get their program to boot up, and only three teams even managed any successful shots at the slow-moving target.

The lead instructor was very supportive. "Nice try everyone. You all made a great effort this past week. The collaboration with your team mates and learning how to work together on the challenges of programming was the most important part of this exercise. Programming is difficult and that is why women began to dominate the field way back during the Era of Oppression. As to the competition aspect, women have always succeeded through collaboration and mutual support in working against the enemies of our Feminist values. Remember these lessons as you continue your education.

"Now let's make the target a bit harder to hit and see what our three remaining teams can do."

The other teams had switched their displays to monitor mode to watch the remaining competitors. After a few more minutes one team dropped out they realized that the target was moving in apparently random zig-zags and had become much too hard to hit.

It quickly became obvious that Nancy and her team of four were falling further and further behind the score of the PP&K trio. The rest of the class watched in amazement as about half of the PP&K team's projectiles hit the target. Pamela, Patricia, and Kaylie all sat at their computers and appeared to be passing the aiming control back and forth between them. Nancy B. seemed to be getting more and more irritated, but her team soldiered on. The instructors watched, made complements, and encouraged both remaining teams to continue the game.

Eventually the instructors asked Pamela and Kaylie to stop and left Patricia punching away at the keys. Then the instructor asked Pat to stop using the keyboard and the PP&K team digital projectiles continued to hit the target. The assistant instructors and the computer security cadre gave each other knowing looks.

"Kaylie, we've been caught," Pamela said in an angry murmur.

"I know"