Paper Hell and an Escape Plan

Oxford's overcast sky was an even more thorough shade of gray than London's.

If London's cloudy days felt like the weather was barely trying, Oxford's had more refinement. The gray came in layers, as though even the clouds were more academic.

"In other words, it's expensive."

Gavin stood by the window, looking out at the honey-colored stone walls washed gray by the overcast sky, and delivered his objective assessment.

He had been in Oxford for three days.

As a fully funded doctoral student, he did not have to pay the exorbitant tuition charged to international students. That sum would have been enough to buy a small apartment in London.

That was right: his parents had never taken British citizenship. They had come to Europe partly for business and partly for Gavin's education.

As the two of them put it, they were only abroad to make their way for now. Eventually, they would return to their homeland.

"A PhD student at eleven."

Gavin looked down at his current body.

"That'd probably make the papers in any country."

A knock came at the door.

"Come in."

The door opened.

Professor Bill walked in carrying a large stack of papers. His expression was complicated: pleased, but faintly uneasy.

"Gavin."

He paused.

"We need to talk."

"About what?"

"About what you've written over the past three days."

Gavin glanced at the pages spread across his desk and nodded.

"Sure."

Professor Bill set the papers on the desk and spread them out.

With every page he turned, his expression grew more complicated.

"Distributed Consensus Optimization"

"Autonomous Node Verification"

"Decentralized Trust Models"

"Simplified Assumptions for Fault Tolerance and Consensus Mechanisms"

He paused and looked up at Gavin.

"How did you write all this in three days?"

"I haven't finished it all."

Gavin was perfectly honest.

"It's just a bit of a framework."

The professor fell silent for two seconds.

"A bit?"

"Strictly speaking, it's only the Maxplus version of a research proposal."

"..."

Professor Bill suddenly had no idea where to begin.

Back when he was doing his PhD, understanding the references in three days would have counted as efficient.

Yet the eleven-year-old before him had nearly built the skeleton of an entire future field of research in that time.

"Gavin."

The professor sat down slowly. His tone was far more serious than when they had first met.

"Have you really never studied any of this systematically?"

"No."

Gavin shook his head.

"I read some books and worked it out myself."

The professor studied him for a long while, then sighed helplessly.

"Then let's get down to business."

"I want you to organize all of this."

"Into papers?"

"Yes, papers."

Professor Bill's eyes suddenly lit up.

"And as soon as possible."

Gavin leaned back in his chair and thought for a moment.

"I can do that."

"How long?"

"Two weeks, I'd say."

The professor nodded at first, then realized what he had heard.

"Two weeks?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Are you sure?"

"If I'm not interrupted, it shouldn't be a problem."

The professor opened his mouth, unsure whether to be more shocked by "two weeks" or "shouldn't be a problem."

"Gavin."

He took a deep breath.

"Research papers aren't homework."

"No problem. I've had plenty of practice."

"?"

"I mean, I write fast."

In his previous life, Gavin had been a physics PhD. Because he wrote papers so well, his professors had kept him at the university for seven years.

With time to spare, he had earned a computer science degree out of sheer boredom.

"...All right."

The professor nodded.

"Two weeks it is."

"But I have a suggestion."

"What is it?"

"You'd better stock up on coffee."

"For you?"

"No." Gavin shook his head. "I'm worried you won't hold up."

"Huh?"

As it turned out, Gavin had not been exaggerating in the slightest.

On the first day,

Gavin handed in a first draft.

The professor spent the entire afternoon reading it carefully.

He was even a little excited when he left that evening.

"That child really is quick."

That was his assessment when he returned to his office.

His tone was light and cheerful, with an undercurrent of excitement at having discovered a treasure.

On the second day,

Gavin handed in another paper.

Professor Bill was still excited after reading it, though a trace of fatigue had entered his eyes.

On the third day,

A third paper.

On the fourth day,

A fourth.

By the fifth day, the professor sat in his office staring at the growing stack of pages on his desk. He suddenly had the illusion that he was dealing with a high-performance computer hooked up to a printer.

Someone knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Gavin walked in carrying a new manuscript, as naturally as could be.

"Professor, here's today's."

Professor Bill glanced at its thickness and fell silent for two seconds.

"Which one is this?"

"The fifth."

"Didn't you say you were still working on the framework?"

"Yeah."

Gavin nodded.

"This is still part of the framework."

"..."

The professor began to suspect that he and Gavin had learned the word "framework" from two different civilizations.

On the seventh day,

The seventh paper landed on his desk.

Professor Bill leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling for a long time.

"When I was doing my PhD..."

He murmured under his breath.

"What did I do all day again?"

A female professor passing by asked casually,

"Bill, you haven't looked well lately."

"Oh, I'm fine."

Professor Bill's voice was calm.

"I've just realized the gap between two people might be wider than the gap between a person and a zebra."

"Huh?"

On the tenth day,

The outline of the tenth paper was already complete.

Gavin sat at his desk, twirling his fountain pen. He felt he had more or less laid out the theoretical foundations of blockchain.

He was not writing these things to spark an industrial revolution in this era.

Not yet, at least.

He simply needed enough results to firmly establish his credentials as an "Oxford PhD."

And, while he was at it, to give Professor Bill a summer he would never forget.

"Mm."

Gavin looked at the thick stack of pages on his desk and nodded.

"That should be enough."

Meanwhile, Professor Bill's mental state reached a critical point on the tenth day.

He sat in his office watching Gavin walk in with yet another manuscript. His eyes even darted away on instinct.

"Professor, this—"

"Don't say anything yet."

"?"

Professor Bill rubbed his brow, his tone more earnest than ever before.

"Gavin."

He paused.

"I have a request."

"Go ahead."

"Could you... take a few days off?"

Gavin put on an act. "Are you sick of me? Having regrets?"

"No!"

The professor denied it almost instantly.

"I'm just worried that if this keeps up, one of us is going to collapse, and it'll probably be me!"

Gavin fought to keep the corners of his mouth from rising.

"All right, then."

He nodded.

"Then I'll take a break."

Professor Bill visibly relaxed.

"I'll come see you the day after tomorrow."

"...?!"

Professor Bill visibly panicked. "I mean, you can take a few more days off."

"But is that okay?" Gavin hesitated. "We've only just started."

"Yes, yes, I think that's a great idea!" Professor Bill nodded quickly. Right now, all he wanted was to send this menace away and take a break himself. He hadn't been to a bar in nearly two weeks. "You should relax for a while."

"Then I'll take a little break?"

"Take a break!"

"A longer one?"

"Mm-hmm! Get some proper rest."

"Then, two... three months?"

"Sure."

The professor agreed without hesitation. The "framework" Gavin had left behind was enough to keep his whole team busy for half a year.

"Uh... you're not going to ask what I'll be doing?"

"It's perfectly normal for a young man to get away for a while."

The professor figured that even if he got lost, the monster in front of him never would.

"Just remember to come back."

"All right."

Gavin smacked his lips, looking as though he was sorry he hadn't let the professor have his fill.

The professor pressed his advantage.

"Don't worry about the paper. I'll handle it."

"The submission, author credits, correspondence, responses—I'll take care of everything."

"You just focus on resting!"

At that moment, Professor Bill sounded more sincere than ever.

Gavin looked at him, then slowly nodded.

"Thank you, Professor."

"You're welcome."

"You won't secretly pop a bottle of champagne after I leave, will you?"

Professor Bill nearly lost his composure.

"Of course not."

"Good."

"At most, I'll go to a bar for a drink."

"..."

That evening, Gavin walked out of the Oxford campus.

He glanced back at the old stone walls, clock towers, and lawns. He was in a pretty good mood.

His pass to the real world was secured, and he'd laid the groundwork for what came next.

Now it was time to go somewhere truly interesting.

"The plan's gone smoothly so far."

Gavin was very pleased with how readily the professor had taken to being his tool.

"Next stop: the magical world."