Bright and early Monday morning a car was waiting to take Walter to the airport. He had his laptop case, with the third copy of the Reinler prize submission and a duffle bag of clothes. Within a few minutes of joining Richard and his personal secretary, Toni Roberts, the plane was airborne heading east.
Over coffee, Walter handed the twenty-three pages of the submission to Richard. "You said you wanted to check it over, so have at it."
As Richard scanned each page he handed it off to Toni with a chuckle. Handing the last page to Toni he asked her if she grasped any of it.
She looked at him. "Well, in the text pages I saw a few 'and's', 'the's', and spotted a 'therefore'. In the math pages I saw some brackets, exponents, and numbers. As to what it all added up to is totally beyond my pay grade, and, as you know, my pay grade is pretty high."
"Here is hoping the people the Reinler prize organization has lined up are more knowledgeable than either of us. From what the legal department said, there are two M.I.T. professors and two scientists, one from NASA and another from the Jet Propulsion Lab. With scientific advancement not to mention seventeen million dollars on the line, it is going to be magnitudes more difficult than a Phd dissertation. Hope you are ready, Walter."
Walter turned from gazing out the window. "To be honest, with the submission math there should be no questions- if the panel participants are steeped in the necessary disciplines. The reason and math justifying the new constant as well as the proof should be enough. They have had some week's worth of time to review."
"Ha, Walter, there is more to these kinds of interactions than 'the math'. You won't be dealing with computers but highly respected elites- there will be egos, attitudes, and stubbornness against anything new. Dealing with those of 'lesser ability' is not your strong suit. I would love for you to win, in truth, as an employee it would be quite the feather in the cap for the space division. That I why Toni and I are along as support should social issues arise."
"This is a pure science panel, there should be no 'social issues' to worry about." Walter said.
"Yeah, right. Welcome to the real world, Walter. Per the schedule, this evening there is to be a social 'mixer' like it or not you are expected to attend. While I would never make any attempt to correct your math, you must understand we, Toni and I have more experience on these kind of affairs. There may be people involved in the decision process who have big egos but are severely lacking in understanding the science. Like it or not, this is reality so must be handled. I want you to have both my and Toni's number on speed dial. During this evenings mixer should you find yourself surrounded by some pompous, obnoxious blowhard- picture the VOR bunch- call either of us and we will be there to run interference. This is simple business planning 101 or how war is waged in peace time."
"On another note, I have after five formal wear in the closet for both of us and evening wear for Toni- we have to show up as good representatives of the brash, wild, wild West Coast to the snobby East Coast sophisticates. Some of them probably expect us to show up in jeans and t-shirt. We should be landing soon, so let the fun begin."
A car was awaiting to take them to the hotel. They had a few hours before the gathering when Walter would be introduced and the process explained. They had a meal at the hotel restaurant, then went to their rooms to shower and get ready.
Walter was introduced as the 'man of the hour' as well as the M.I.T. professors, NASA and JPL scientists as the panel. In short order after the preliminaries were completed Walter was surrounded by people with questions. Fortunately Toni entered the crowd and handed Walter a champagne flute of sparkling water to sip while conversing. Five times he found it necessary to speed dial Richard or Toni to be rescued from inane social questions on his being Irish, his lack of accent, wife or tenured professorship. By eleven he was exhausted and ready to leave as the serious science panel was to begin at ten. He speed dialed both Richard and Toni so they could get him out of there gracefully.
In the car taking them to the hotel he commented that he had kept tally of the questions thinking it would give him an idea of what would be asked by the panel, yet the most asked question was his marriage status. "Why is that important?" he queried.
With a chuckle, Toni said she had the answer: "The first line of Jane Austin's novel Pride and Prejudice was: 'It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of great fortune must be in want of a wife.' In the US, where one can be self-made to gain 'great fortune', there are always those looking for a husband for their single daughters. You have been researched, found to be single so fair game to be hunted."
"Stay focused, Walter." Richard said. "Take a shower, get a good night's rest, and be ready for the panel questions. A wake up call at eight, we can have breakfast here then head over for the inquisition. Good night, Walter."
By ten the next morning, everyone settled. The panel on the dais, Walter sitting at a desk with his laptop facing them. Behind him, an audience of about a hundred. After an hour, the audience had thinned considerably. The questions Walter fielded were on the foundation for the new constant. The speed of light is exact but the black hole (the Reinler theorem deals with black holes, after all) affects the surrounding space- why light bends due to gravity as Einstein postulated, but black holes effect is different than simple gravity. After three hours a late lunch break was called.
Richard, Toni, and Walter relaxed over lunch. "Wow, this is way worse than my Phd dissertation" Richard said. "Cannot understand how you can keep the math in your head. The panel certainly seems to know the questions to ask, yet you have not hesitated in one answer. Very impressive, Walter. Think it is going well?"
"What I think is immaterial, it is what the panel thinks and understands that matters." Walter replied. "Reflecting on the questions, all of them seem to have grasped the concept of the text section of the proposed solution. The math speaks for itself."
When the returned for the afternoon session they were informed three more scientists from NASA and JPL were on their way to join the panel so it will continue ten in the morning. Since they were done for the day, Walter said he was not hungry so would return to the hotel to shower and review the issues brought up by the panel so far in anticipation of more question along the same line, then sleep.
Richard and Toni went to the hotel restaurant for dinner. "How do you think Walter is holding up?" Toni asked. "You know his better so should have some idea."
"To be honest, the only time I worried was during the social engagement." Richard then continued "He is an absolutely amazing young man. Did you notice in these hours of questioning on the science he referred to his laptop only twice and that was about the text section of the submission. When it got into the math, it is all right there without the slightest hesitation. I have known some impressive scientists – hired those I could- but Walter is in a class of his own…. And worked out of a garage. Incredible."
"Do you think it is a good sign three more are coming to join the panel," Toni asked.
"THAT is the seventeen million dollar question," Richard said pensively.
The questioning began shortly after ten after the new panel members were introduced. The audience by now only consisted of Richard, Toni and some scientific journal reporters. At eleven a break for lunch until twelve-thirty. The last question was answered at four. After a short break, it was announced the panel would confer and a decision would be announced within two weeks.
When leaving, Richard suggested they find another restaurant for dinner, and Toni was all for exploring DC, Walter said he was not hungry and planned to relax in his room.
During dinner Toni made an observation. "How is it O'Brien is single? He certainly isn't bad looking, is incredibly intelligent, and obviously isn't broke and may be about to become wealthy. If I was not happily married I would make moves on him, myself."
"To be honest, as you can see he isn't exactly what you would call a 'social butterfly', there are not many women in his sphere, especially on his intellectual plane. He did have someone but looks like it didn't last." Richard's phone buzzed. He said "OK, see you then," and ended the call. "Plane is ready at eleven in the morning. Going to be a long couple of weeks until the decision is made."
Landing in LA, Walter opted to be dropped off at the garage. When he entered, he went directly upstairs and returned the third copy of the submission to the safe, booted up his laptop to check mail. He saw a message from Ralph saying he would be at the garage Saturday morning. He wrote he was looking forward to continuing the coding for the game, and said he WAS going to try extra hard to get the top score on Proton Arnold.
Walter leaned back on the sofa with a slight smile after closing his laptop. At least the next two days of the two weeks waiting for the prize decision were going to be pleasurable spent with his most important person.
He continued to sit on the sofa to think of future decisions that he may be making for himself. Unlike the competition he won on Megan's rocket but did not collect, the Reinler prize was not a competition- it was either accepted as a solution or it wasn't. He felt if the decision makers fully understood his math he would get a favorable outcome. As was said, such an amount is life changing. He will await the decision and contemplate another end of a stage of life.