15- Starting over… chapter fifteen

Sitting in the den staring at the desktop flat screen for a moment, he sat up and brought some of the concept designs for the eventual on-moon living environments. Thinking of the experimental closed off environment Scorpion worked with gave him some insight on what could happen- not only with the equipment but with the people and their irrationality within the environment that in turn affected the equipment. The two in that environment and their actions were the direct cause of the experiments failure. Had the power source not been looped to overcome one person's overuse it probably never would have failed. The lack of redundancy of power systems and the total lack of thought on the waste disposal causing the backflow of lethal gas was enough to doom the experiment to failure. A fully functional environment would need every system to have redundancy as well as a sure way to keep irrational people from interfering with function.

He opened a new file, Moon Environmental Systems, within that file he listed separate systems, power, waste disposal, air, water to start as they were the most essential. He then sat back to think on the actual structure and its building.

The laptop signaled new mail from Gina:

Walter- First inquiry from an outside concern. Safe First Financial, a medium sized financial data center in Anaheim. Manager will be here ten tomorrow morning to discuss with you the procedure. Gina

He hit reply:

Gina, see you at ten, will even put on a tie. Walter

Walter got up to head down to the office. Going into the kitchen he grabbed a cup and poured some coffee to go on in and sit in one of the easy chairs at Gina's desk.

"First outside the Elias Enterprises customer, huh? A reference from Richard or someone hooked by your advertising?"

"A great customer inquiring through seeing the most excellent ads. See, advertising is a wonderful thing. Tell me Walter, what are you going to do when we have more customers than just you can handle?"

"You, as manager, should be able to line customers up to not overwhelm the system. I will have no others with access to my servers- there is a reason why they are separate from all but my computer."

"You don't think of hiring another person?"

"If others could do security like me, they would be competition, not employees of mine."

"You could teach others, just think of a world with a whole army of Walter O'Briens- the security, the designing, the improvements."

"Good grief, even I could not handle another me." Walter chuckled. "Just schedule as necessary for me. Once the customers are outside LA county, on-line scanning of the customers system may be necessary, and once the program made for them, they can put the funds in a holding account, I can send the programmed hard drive and if they have a competent programmer, they can load and do the necessary shutdown and restart. However, that issue will be addressed when the time comes."

"Walter, Christmas is Wednesday, then there is the Elias Enterprises new year's eve party. You going to attend?"

"Gods, not another gala. Thought that last circus was the end until next year, and maybe the world will end before next November."

"Will give you a chance to wear that suit again- get the use out of it for what it cost," she said with a smile. "Sound good?"

"You can acquire an escort more geared toward giving you a pleasant evening. I don't dance, I don't drink both activities engaged in with gusto by those at new year's eve parties, so why would I attend to be surrounded by inebriated people making fools of themselves. I do not find that entertaining."

"You could spend time with the students and interns at the condo- fancy suit not required."

Walter just shook his head and rose. "Now I know you are joking. College students are well known for their drinking exploits. I am heading back up to the den to work on some designs." Grabbed his cup and refilled on the way through the kitchen to head up to the den.

Returning to the den, he went over the new file Moon Environmental Systems when the laptop alerted new mail:

Walter- Have a number of European Space Agency scientists and engineers coming in from their jaunt to DC, Kennedy Space Center, and Houston. Would be nice to have you there to discuss a number of issues that may be brought up. To be honest, I am trying to lure a couple away from Europe and bring them into the fold so most of the space division personnel will be there- your help would be appreciated. If interested, let me know… monkey suit not necessary. Richard

Walter thought of that- be interesting to talk with the Europeans and get an idea of their plans and how they are progressing. He hit reply"

Richard- Sounds more interesting than that gala. Give me date, time and place. Will be there sans monkey suit. Walter

Waking in the morning, Walter remembered there was a customer due in the office at ten so he showered, got dressed in proper business attire, including a tie, combed his hair and headed down the stairs to get coffee from the office kitchen and sit with Gina.

"Do I look presentable? You are the manager, so a different color tie or anything else to meet our first customer?"

"You look just fine, Walter," Gina said. "But you can wait in the den and I will call you to join us. You should be busy taking care of business when they get here. Gotta' look like we are swamped and you have to be called away from work to talk to them… all this is called 'marketing'."

"Now I understand the need for an office manager. This is like staging a play…. seems kinda' like tricking people into making a decision they would not normally make."

"No, it is helping people make the RIGHT decision, Walter. YOUR software is the very best, if they can't see the sense to that, I am here to help them make the right decision of your software rather than some half-baked mess that won't keep them secure. Understand, now?"

"The classes you took for finance included a couple on the best ways to 'direct people into decision making' whether they liked it or not?"

"My goodness, Walter, it is business, not a religious cult!" Gina said laughing. "We twist no arms, just try and get people to make good decisions that will benefit them."

"Whatever, you manage, I make the product- up in the den until you send me an alert to join you in helping the customer make the 'right' decision…. to be honest, the less talking I do probably the better. As I said when this affiliation got started, you tend to the customers. Were it left to my working with people it would be doomed to failure in short order."

"Walter, I think you need to open your eyes and see the real world." Gina said with a smile. "You may have been lacking in 'socializing skills' as a youngster, but you are now a well grown, handsome, articulate, intelligent man. You do come off a bit aloof, but that isn't all that unusual in many men. You need to think better of yourself. In the meantime, I will let you know when the customer is here."

Walter nodded, rose and went through the swinging doors to the kitchen, refilled his cup and went through, up the stairs to the den. Glancing at Megan's picture, he quirked an eyebrow, "think she is right?" He sat at his desk to bring up the file on moon environmental systems to lean back in his chair, sip his coffee and think.

While contemplating the power system design, the laptop alerted him of new mail. Opening it he saw Gina requesting his presence in the office. So he minimized the file and left for the office, coffee cup in hand. Going through the office kitchen he filled his cup and went through the swinging doors into the office.

"Walter, this is Barbara Woods, manager of Safe First Financial data center in Anaheim."

"Ms. Woods." Walter said sitting in the second easy chair at Gina's desk.

"Mr. O'Brien, can you tell me the entire procedure needed to have your security programming installed into our data center. We have a lot of very sensitive, personal information that we do not want jeopardized. These days it seems you have 'financial' in your name the hackers flock to try to break in."

"It does seem like it is a contest with hackers to be the first to break into a system, be it financial or science," Walter said. "It is necessary for me to scan your system to see where tighter security measures are needed. Once scanned, I know the parameters needed, come back here, code what is needed to fit your needs, go back to your site, install my program, do a restart so preferably working after site is closed and then scan again after restart to ensure all is secure."

Barbara sat back looking at Walter, "how long does this procedure take?"

"Depends on your system. Can be as little as one day should I scan in the morning, possibly get my program done and install that night. If the programming is extensive, scan one morning, take a day to write and install the following evening after hours, install, restart, rescan and done by following morning." Walter explained. "On the off chance your system is excessively intricate, massively large, or somehow unusual, it may take an extra day for my programming to get done, but that would be highly unusual."

"How long have you been doing such work, Mr. O'Brien?"

"Please, Mr. O'Brien isn't necessary. Walter or Walt is fine. I have been coding since before a teenager, so can we say a long, long time," Walter said with a smile. "As far as security programming goes, a number of years and to date no hacker has broken through. There have been countless attempts, however, I stay in touch with all who have my programs and should there be any breakthrough on the first layer, I will bolster the program as needed to ensure data is not lost."

"Extra charge for the up-grade if or when needed?"

"Ms. Woods, I take my computer work very seriously and will do everything needed to ensure its perfection. I have yet to have anyone break through any system I have designed over the years. As long as I am capable of using a keyboard, I will protect my work which in turn protects my customer- you."

Barbara sat back a moment. "Walter, looks like you have another customer. How soon could you put me on your schedule for the needed scan….. and 'Ms. Woods' isn't necessary, either. Barbara is fine as we will be working together."

Walter looked to Gina, "How soon can Barbara be scheduled?"

Gina did a few keystrokes on her computer and looked at the flat screen, "Tuesday, January third is open. Would that be good, Barbara? Initial system scan done at ten in the morning?"

Barbara Woods brought her phone out of her purse and set the date and time on her calendar. "That would start the new year off well. Not having to worry about data breach and loss of customer information would certainly help me sleep better."

"I will send you a reminder prior so there won't be a scheduling problem," Gina said putting the appointment in her computer's calendar.

"If you don't mind my asking, I see those three patent awards- you manage to design and get patents along with the security programming you do?"

Gina looked up, "Walter works with Richard Elias on his space project, he was awarded patents on three components that may be used to get man back to the moon. Exciting times, huh, Walter?"

"Indeed, matter of fact I need get back to my computer," Walter said rising. "You have any other questions, Barbara?"

Barbara also rose, "No, I look forward to seeing you Tuesday, January third at ten, Walter."

Walter walked Barbara to the door, shook her hand and watched as she got in her car. As she left, he took a deep breath and smelled the citrus scent of the little lemon trees by the door. Turning, he almost ran into Gina, who, with an ear to ear grin threw her arms around him for a big hug.

"WOW! Walter, you did excellent- the first customer and you totally wowed her! Bet she be dreaming of you tonight and is really looking forward to January third!" Gina exclaimed. "You sure you never took finance and marketing classes? You were outstanding, spoke well and explained things succinctly. Oh yes, she is really looking forward to January third." She stood back looking at him. "And you said if you worked with the customers the business would fail….. far, far from it."

"I merely answered questions," Walter said looking at her with a slight frown, "yes happy to have a customer, but see no reason for such excitement. She is concerned for her business and looking for security."

With a big cheesy grin and chuckling Gina turned to go sit at her desk. "Now I see your problem."

"MY problem?"

"Yes, all these worries that you are not a social person. You are, you just don't realize it because your problem is that you do not RECOGNIZE social cues people give off. That is why you can talk computer, design, math, but not what you call pointless small talk." She chuckled. "I would bet you a month's salary that should you call Ms. Barbara Woods and invite her to dinner, she would spend hours getting gussied up just to go to Kovelski's for a burger. Yet you were totally oblivious to her signals. Oh, every female customer we get is going to be fun to watch."

Walter looked at her with a frown, "you making fun of me?"

"Not in the slightest, Walter. As I have said before, you have no idea how you affect women, especially single women, especially single women who are intellectual, strong, capable, and looking for a superior man."

"Gods, what a load of nonsense- I have work to do," Walter said getting his coffee cup, refilling it on his way through the kitchen to return to the den. Glancing at Megan's picture, "can you believe such nonsense?" He sat down and reopened his file to write parameters to consider while designing when the laptop alerted new mail.

Walter- that get together with the ESA people will be Saturday, December 28th at five at the space division conference room A. Things will be set up for conversation, munchies, and socializing. I know you are not into such, but conversation should be technical, mathematical, and design so right up your alley. Parking will be within the gate same as the gala. Richard

Walter sat back, a whole evening of conversation on interesting subjects with people understanding everything should be refreshing. Hope the weather is good for top down driving afterwards to think about it all. He hit reply:

Richard- looking forward to it. Walter

Walter returned to the office kitchen to refill his cup then entered the office to see Gina at her computer.

"Gina, anything come up for this week?" He asked.

"Christmas is Wednesday, you understand not much is getting done this week. I was surprised Ms. Woods came in today as it is." Gina said. "I know you don't have family over here, but surely friends have invited you for Christmas, dinner at least. If not, want to come join us, Jake, me and some of the other students and interns with no family in the area are getting together?"

"There was a job Thanksgiving, why not Christmas? Not everyone celebrates the holidays."

"I can check, but I doubt anything will come up, sorry." Gina said getting up to gather jacket and purse. "We really would like to have you join us, Walter. Everyone is bringing something- a potluck Christmas feast. Jake and I are bringing a little turkey and dressing, Terri is bringing a small ham, Tom and Amy a bunch of side dishes, and there will be cake, pies and cookies galore. More than enough should you pop in, and even a couple math majors might be there to discuss math with you…. maybe make it interesting?"

"Thanks for the invite, but don't hold up eating for me. Closing time, so I will see you tomorrow or are you expecting time off? You are manager so certainly can set the days off, you know." Walter said taking a sip of his coffee. "You even want to come in Thursday or Friday?"

"To be honest, I was thinking of coming in tomorrow but shutting down until January second. From Christmas on Wednesday not much to do Thursday and Friday, then the weekend, then the following Tuesday is new year's eve, then the recovery from new year's eve day, then back to work as the first job will be Barbara Woods on the third. How does that sound?"

"Gina, you are office manager. You do the scheduling, your decision to make. Have a good evening, and careful driving home," Walter said heading for the kitchen to turn off the brewer then return to the den.

Sitting at his desk, he looked at his laptop then pulled it close to scan some sites for scientific advancements made by the European Space Agency to be able to discuss topics to be brought up at the get together the 28th compared to Richard's project, or NASA. Since the group visiting are going to be spending time at Kennedy and Houston prior to coming to LA, a lot of research is needed so probably a good thing Gina will be off.