4- Starting over… chapter four
Walter awoke in the morning startled until he was fully awake to the unfamiliar surroundings. Sat on the side of the bed for a moment, then got up to open the laptop and check mail. A message from Tom Johnson that Walter could come to check over the system at his convenience. Walter replied he would be on site shortly depending on traffic. He then got dressed, closed up the laptop, put it in its case and took off for his car.
After scanning the data centers system, Walter drove to the garage to see the front being power washed, the door had been replaced, two large concrete planters bracketed the door, and both the roll-up doors had been replaced one with a man-door for entry without having to open the large garage door. The guy power-washing the brickwork halted his work while Walter entered. His desk and computer was the only thing he recognized. He sat down at his desk to power up the desktop to work the security program for Tom Johnson. He noticed the noise was at a minimum so maybe he would be able to return home soon. He, as usual, became so focused on his coding he did not notice workers, Dean and others coming through as they worked. Three hours passed and he pulled out an external hard drive from a desk drawer to transfer the completed program, then, while the transfer was in work, he sat back to look around. Wow, he thought, transformation, indeed. While looking around Dean came through and saw Walter was scanning the office area.
"Bit of a change, huh?" He said sitting on a chair by the desk. "Things are not totally completed and staged as yet, but I think you should be happy with the remodel."
"Any coffee available? Will this desk and computer be moved? I can take care of the computer if you show me where I can set it up- still have to work."
"Sure, you may like the new equipment in the kitchen. Come see if you like it." Dean led the way to the saloon type swinging doors into a transformed kitchen- new appliances, big coffee urn as well as the usual brewer on the counter for smaller quantities. "Door to the bathroom is here, if you care to check it out. All totally separate from the rest of the structure but the rest of the place can be accessed through this door at the back of the kitchen as well as the door in the office area- more than one way in and out for safety."
"This is really quite a change." Walter said. "Will take a while to get used to it."
"Want to see the downstairs area? You wanted it open but mentioned collapse possibilities. Per Jack, no collapse but he opted for archways- structurally stronger according to him and architecturally more appealing according to Anna. Since the living area is so large, we do have a switch by the doors for safety lighting- dim, but will be able to see to get around without running into things, and another switch at the loft door to shut off or can be left on as you wish. An air compressor has been added in the far corner of the other bay, enclosed for noise reduction when being used, and lines plumbed throughout both bays for pneumatic tools and whatever. You see the bay doors have been replaced- one has a 'man door' with combination lock so it isn't necessary to go through the office area to get to the living area, and to make it easier to open up to pull your car in." He dug around his pocket and handed Walter a small pamphlet with numbers on the front, "this is the present combination and directions on changing it. And, we did not know where you would want the Scorpion Explosives sign hung, down here, up in the loft or the office, though Pat said a sign for explosives may not be best placed where customers will be. Your decision, so let us know and we will get it placed."
"By the looks of things and the layout, looks like I will be working in the loft- being combined, should be a den type area where I will set up the computer so it can go there." Walter said. "I have always been partial to it since it was found and an engineer friend and I refurbished it together."
"The loft living area isn't completed as yet, but you should be moved in by next week, Monday is the target date. By the way, we did some work on the roof, too, so no more leaks, and a nice relaxing area, now. Monday afternoon come for the grand tour, everyone will be here to show and tell you all you need to see. To be honest, we get as much pleasure out of these remodels as the person living with it- the before and after photos- get a lot of pride in a job well done."
"Will see you Monday…. around one OK?" Walter asked. "To be honest, enjoyed the peace and quiet of the condo last night, but will enjoy getting back here even more. This is my home, after all."
"We will see you Monday, Walter, more than likely Richard will be here for the grand tour as well. Have a pleasant evening."
Walter returned to the front office area, packaged up the external hard drive and put it in the laptop case, shut down the desktop unit and headed out the door. The man power washing the front was done and the planters positioned.
"Hi there. I take it you are Mr. O'Brien? You have any preference for medium sized trees?"
"No, not really. Not anything I ever thought about."
"Well, I will pick out something nice for you. Maybe a dwarf lemon- they flower all year round so nice citrus scent, and can always use some lemons for tea, fish, muffins and cleaning the kitchen sink garbage disposal…. or maybe a dwarf Mandarin orange. There is a matching planter between the garage doors and one at the corner of the building. Have to green up the place, even in an industrial area like this. We will have it all nice for you. Have a nice day."
Walter stood there for a moment, nodded, said, "Yeah, thanks, you too," then got in the car to go to the condo thinking there are people who get focused on landscaping as much as he does with coding.
Getting to the condo and into the underground parking he pulled in grabbed his laptop case and took the elevator to the third floor, put the combination in the door and entered. He just put his laptop on the bed and headed back out to find another restaurant to get something to eat. Taking the elevator to the lobby and exiting he stood to look around at what restaurants were in the immediate area.
"What you in the mood for this evening?" Gina asked. "You remember me from last night?"
"Certainly- Gina of finance. You have a suggestion seeing as you are more familiar with the area? The rest of the gang going to join in?"
"Ha, you know I laid in wait for you, we were taking turns. Yes, everyone wants to say thank you for dinner last evening. While we all are interns for Elias Enterprises, we are still students so not flush with cash and a free meal is always appreciated. We wanted to treat you while you are here….. and continue the conversation if you would not mind though there will be a few more people joining us. People talk and your reputation precedes you- a couple math majors heard you were around."
"No, don't mind at all. Math majors should make the evening interesting. So where do you suggest we have dinner?"
"There is a nice sit-down family restaurant two blocks this way. They let us congregate in the back banquet area when there is a large get together so we do not disturb 'normal' patrons- you know how boisterous college students can get at times discussing things when opinions differ. And dinner is on us, remember."
They continued the conversation while walking to the restaurant. "Math majors are an interesting bunch. They got really excited when they heard you were in the area. You did say you enjoy theoretical math, so they REALLY got excited. I just hope they not take over."
"You are finance so must have some interest in numbers."
"Yes, but real numbers that represent real things. The theoretical mathematics they wax poetic over is just that- theoretical with symbols only the tribe initiates understand. When they lapse into their esoteric language, most everyone else drifts into slumber to wake up an hour later and they are still at it."
Walter chuckled. "I will endeavor to keep that from happening…. if possible. As I said, that is something I get enjoyment with, so may fall into that rabbit hole inadvertently- just give me a poke in the ribs and I will try and wrap it up."
Reaching the restaurant, Walter held the door for Gina and followed her in. The waitress behind the counter waved and told Gina to go on to the back- a bunch were already there. Following Gina into the large dining area, there were a number of people already seated and talking.
Jake stood up to shake hands with Walter. "Sorry, people talked and it got all over you were in the area. A bunch of math majors kinda' invaded. And thanks for dinner last night. Was hoping we could just return the favor and continue last night's conversation, but, well, the best laid plans don't always work- especially with math majors around. Hope you don't mind. And your dinner is on us this evening."
Gina again raised her voice above the general conversation. "The guest of honor has arrived. Go around the room and introduce yourself and your major so he knows who is who. You know Jake, Terri, Tom and me, so who is next…."
"Amy, finance."
"Ron, math."
"Cory, space."
"Harry, math."
"Jeff, computer."
"Dick, math."
"Steve, computer."
"Mike, math"
"Peter, math."
"Heidi, math."
"Mary, math."
"Hans, math."
"Wayne, math."
Walter sat down. "This is a bit overwhelming. This will be another question answer session? You all realize I am not a teacher, so no asking any exam questions."
The waitress came in and took orders for drinks and meals then left saying "will be a bit guys with so many."
"Mr. O'Brien….."
Walter interrupted, "The 'Mr. O'Brien' isn't necessary, I am not one of your professors, and being surrounded by so many college students I feel old as it is. Walter or Walt is fine, so continue Wayne."
"OK, Walter, I do have a problem written down and was wondering if you could come to the answer before the evening is done."
"Fine, it isn't what your grade is dependent on is it?"
Wayne rose to hand Walter the paper and a pen, "No, just an interesting exercise."
Walter took and glanced at the paper then flashed a look at Wayne with a smile. "If everyone will give me a minute." Walter then took the pen and for three minutes wrote out a page of formula symbols turning the paper over to continue. "Sorry, that was about three minutes. I am getting slow in my old age." Handing the paper back to Wayne he said, "I think your calculator will agree?"
Wayne passed the paper to Hans who looked at it and nodded.
"Been a long time since anyone has questioned my math proficiency. I passed my test?" Walter asked.
"With flying colors, Walter." Hans said. "You really are a genius mathematician as has been said. I see why Mr. Elias is so adamant trying to bring you into his space division. You ever consider teaching?"
Walter laughed, "No I really do not work well with groups of people. Bane of the enabled, especially those with math proficiency. Add in the computer proficiency and it goes downhill at a rapid rate." Walter rose, "I have a coding job for Richard in the works and need to get to it. Was just expecting to get dinner, not confronted by a conclave of students checking my competency- you all have a pleasant evening." And he headed for the door in the stunned silence.
Walter strolled along the street to the condo in the warm evening, entered and took the elevator to the third floor and put in the combination to unlock the door and entered. He opened his laptop to check mail and messaged Tom Johnson that he would be installing the security software in the morning. He then went to the bathroom to shower then kicked back across the bed in his boxers thinking that it had been a long time since anyone questioned his ability- especially in math. See why Gina made her comment about the math majors taking over. He reached over, turned out the bedside light and dozed off.
Waking in the morning, Walter was hungry after skipping dinner the previous evening. Got a good night's sleep, though, the quiet of the condo appreciated. He rose and got dressed thinking he would stop off at Kovelski's for breakfast on his way to the data center so grabbed his laptop and headed out the door. When he opened the door, a piece of paper floated to the floor. He picked it up to read:
Walter- Very sorry about last night. You did say you do not enjoy groups of people- guess that even includes math majors. Jake and I would like to take you to dinner this evening- just the three of us. Gina
He put the paper on the table in the room and headed out to the car. Pulling into the parking lot of Kovelski's he spotted Happy's truck so went around the lot and exited, thinking at this rate he may end up starving to death. Not far from the data center there was a Subway so he pulled in and got a sandwich, ate half there and drove to the data center. Pulling in the visitor parking, he walked to the guard shack at the main gate and told the security guard Tom Johnson was expecting him. Within minutes Tom met him at the gate and walked to the building with him.
"Will be happy to get better security here. The off-shore hacking has been stepping up. With the storage of Richard's space think tank data it really needs to be safe."
"You do realize monitoring of the system will need to continue. If there is any activity, let me know immediately- don't wait until there is a breach. I may be able to backtrack the hackers and bugger their system. That would give them pause to hit this place again." Walter said. "Would be nice to be able to cut the hackers off completely, but unfortunately some just look at security as a challenge- I endeavor to make it much more difficult hence the multi layered approach along with the usual firewalls. Adding the encryption- they will really have to work to get past the first line and the monitoring will catch it."
Entering the server facility, Walter hooked in and got to work. While the program transfer was in process, he went out to get some coffee at a vending machine in the hall and ate the rest of his sandwich. Sitting back and watching the download display he got to thinking why Happy would be a Kovelski's as the Centipede Partners offices were not in the area. But then, maybe she just wanted some chow from there. Hell, even as big and spread out as LA is, I may have to become a hermit in the middle of LA to keep from running into any of the Centipede Partners personnel. Wonder how their business is doing, if working with Homeland on dangerous cases…. thinking of Paige or any of them in danger was disturbing. Tom entered interrupting Walter's thoughts.
"You said you would need to do a restart so I came to let you know the shift has left for the day, so you can do whatever is necessary."
"Thanks for letting me know. The download is at 83% so I can do a restart when it is completed, then check a few things and good to go, maybe an hour and done."
"I will be back in forty-five minutes or so and walk you to the gate."
Fifty minutes later Tom returned and had a seat while Walter used his laptop to scan the system. When completed, he pulled the cable and put it and the laptop in its case and rose to leave.
"You have my contact information, so keep me apprised of any activity and how things progress." Walter said as they walked to the gate. Walter then shook Tom's hand and went to his car. He started up and got to thinking he really did not want to spend time at the condo. He pulled into the first gas station he came to and filled the tank to take a long drive into the dry, brown hills surrounding the city. He pulled into a vista point overlooking the city and on to the ocean. He got to thinking, maybe I should head over to Europe, get out of the US entirely, change of place, change of people. Been a long time since speaking German or French fluently, but easily gotten back into if immersed. No, like it here in LA too much, and who in their right mind would get back into frigid temperatures and hip deep snow for half the year. At least here if you WANT to get cold and in snow you can drive a couple hours and there you are and later the same day bask in the warmth of the desert, then take a dip in the ocean. He finally came to the decision his restlessness was not due to location, but proximity to people. Guess all the socializing learned the past few years with Paige is falling away bit by bit, his manners have improved, shake hands, say thank you, pleasant conversation without getting obnoxious- for the most part, anyway, but looking forward to getting back into the solitude of the garage. Just unable to connect with regular people, obviously incapable of real connections with other geniuses or Sylvester, Happy and even Toby would not have deserted. Even were they so angry as to leave, why go so far as to deliberately drive him out of business? There must be a real and deep hatred and understanding that is beyond his ability to analyze. Even after all this time he does not have any similar feelings for any of them. His chest still constricts when he thinks of Paige, he wonders if Happy has been able to get pregnant, if Toby has managed to keep from gambling and they are happy together, if Sylvester has managed to lose any of his phobias. He hopes their business is flourishing. Gods, he thought, why do I keep going down this slippery slope of emotional nonsense? Been contemplating this crap since I became aware of the difference between me and others. You would think by this age you would have come to terms, O'Brien and realized things won't change. Didn't change in the past, didn't change now and won't change in future. The reality is O'Brien, you were alone in childhood, will be alone in adulthood, and like it or not, will die alone, and once dead you're won't give a crap if anything comes along to chow down on the remains. Just make due with life as it comes until it ends. He started up the car and headed back to LA deciding to pack up the duffle and go spend the last three days at a hotel rather than the student filled hi-rise and get back into the garage Monday. Was three-thirty in the morning when he pulled into the underground parking and took the elevator to the third floor to put in the door combination and entered. He pulled his duffle out, packed his clothes and everything else and returned to his car to go have some coffee and breakfast at the first all-night restaurant he comes across then check in at whatever hotel he runs across. He just needs to hang on until back in the garage and do a few hours of math on the whiteboards to get back on an even keel.
