8- Starting over… chapter eight

Entering the den, Walter glanced at the picture of Megan he had set up on the shelf behind the desk. Then sat down to check the download display. He chuckled- use a calculator to solve a problem. The download completed, he pulled the external drive and put it in a static free bag then a box for safe transport and put it in his laptop case, ready for tomorrow morning.

The laptop signaled new mail so he pulled it closer. Another unknown so he checked it out then opened it. As expected was from Ralph.

Walter- sorry it has been a while, like I said being monitored, but Sly is getting sloppy not having found anything yet. The robotics classes are fun, been having a great time programming as well as the mechanical design. Happy has been getting involved with me on the project. Glad Centipede isn't competing with you- matter of fact it looks like things are falling apart. Don't think any of them have the ability to come up with the plan and give directions- rather funny and looks like they cut their own throats. The assets you transferred has been keeping thing afloat, but they gave up the office and work out of the house Toby and Happy rent. Is your Scorpion Security Systems going OK? Be nice to hear if it is. Just desserts as is said. Out of time, so gotta' close. Ralph

Walter sat back after reading Ralph's message. Nice to hear Happy is working with Ralph on the design and mechanical end of the project. Happy can teach him a lot on the mechanical engineering side of things- programming is solidly on Ralph and he is quite capable. He sat up and hit reply:

Ralph- Glad to hear the classes are going well. Good to hear Happy is working with you. Pay attention, you can learn a lot from her. Give her a box of gears and parts she will make a functioning device. Truly sorry to hear their business is struggling, but, with them working together it may just be a rough spot they will get past. Saving money working out of the house will help them mesh as a team and come out stronger. I appreciate your keeping in touch- always good to hear from you, know I love you. Walter

Walter went up the spiral stairs to the roof as the sun was setting. Leaning on the wall he saw Gina getting in her car- another work day ended he thought as she drove away. Sitting for a while, the sun set so he returned to the den and, pulling his laptop closer he brought up the file of notes he had taken while touring Richard's space complex. Looking over the specs for the personnel capsule he had a few suggestions on the control panel accessibility- having had to struggle from one seat to another when he was inadvertently launched to reach necessary system controls gave him some insight and experience. Should others be incapacitated, each panel should be redundant. Each with a main panel for the different focus of the personnel, but a secondary for each.

He composed a message to Richard about the suggestion, and asked for the metallurgy used in manufacture of some of the components in the event different placement would be optimal. Once completed he sent it off and decided after sitting so long to walk the couple blocks to Kovelski's for something to eat.

Getting to the restaurant he was after the dinner rush and long before the after bar crowd so the place was mostly empty. Sitting at a corner booth Nancy, the 'usual' waitress came with a large coffee cup and filled it for him.

"How's it going Walter? Nice to see you coming around more often again," she said. "Going with the usual cheeseburger?"

"All is going well, Nancy." Walter replied pulling his phone out. "You know me too well, cheeseburger sounds good." Once she left he scrolled through the science sites on his phone then settled on one journal to read some articles. Rather focused on what he was reading, it was not until he heard his name that he looked up.

"Hey, Walt."

Looking up, "Happy."

"Can I join you?"

He put his phone down, "Rather surprised to see you, but sure, pull up a seat."

"How you doing?"

"Come on Happy, you know me, I'm fine… I'm always fine."

"Have not seen you putting any proposals in for anything."

"Not in that line of work, anymore. Could not compete, so went on a different tack."

"Thought you might have put another team together."

"Happy, you know it is insanity to do the same thing over and over. Was a failure working with others, being a genius I learn quickly, so working alone and doing well. Don't need a team to work code. You know me and computer work, just me and the machinery, true compatibility. So how goes it with you?"

"New business, so struggling. Thanks for the transfer of assets, by the way, helped a lot."

"Come on, Happy, what's up? You all were quick to walk out, after years of working together and over a stupid white lie about a lecture no one else wanted to attend. Florence bailed to Texas within weeks. You all were fast to start up and compete- I gave it up, rescinded my bid when I got back after seeing you all at the Gettleman office. I came close to losing everything, including the garage. I don't do homelessness well, dragging along servers and computers like Morley's chains. So why you here? To rub it in, to make me more aware I am alone and always will be, even Ralph taken from me? Point made."

Happy rose, "sorry, Walt. Won't bother you again."

"Happy, wait."

She turned. "How is Ralph…. how… is Paige?"

Happy sat back down. "Ralph is doing well in his classes. We are working together on a robotics project- he understands engineering well and is fun to work with- least he knows which end of a tool to hold and does not drop things. Other than that he has pretty much isolated himself- very quiet otherwise… has kinda' tuned out his mom so Paige is pretty much a walking emotional mess and if the business fails she will come apart at the seams."

Walter listened with downcast eyes. "Like I said, I rescinded my proposals, I never competed with you guys- I couldn't compete. I'm sorry to hear that- only hoped you would do well. Maybe things will smooth out. All start-ups have rough spots. Remember our problems before Homeland bolstered our contracts, having to poach electricity, skipped meals…. it will get better if you all stick together." He looked up at her, "I dare say the others would be very angry if they knew you were talking with me, so I suggest this be the last time. It is too hard to rehash the past; you go home to Toby and Ralph- I go home to my computer. Can't do this again, sorry." He got up, stuffed his phone in his pocket, waved Nancy to the register, paid his tab and left.

Half way to the garage, an MGB pulled along the curb by him. "Hey handsome, wanna' go for a ride?"

Walter stopped walking, "you stalking me?"

"Yup," Sarah laughed. "Come on, hop in. I was heading for the beach to take a walk, get some sand between my toes."

Walter got in and off they went. Sarah glanced at him, "You seem down, something wrong? A math problem have you stumped?"

"I am never stumped by a math problem, it is everything else in the world. Math is easy, people are the unknowns that defy solution." Walter said. "Stop and let me off, this is pointless, accomplishes nothing."

"Hang on, I will take you to your place. What has you upset? Same frame of mind that got you working that mysterious math last night?" Sarah asked. "What is troubling you, has you so jacked up? Good grief, you're going to explode if you do not calm down."

"I have work to do, do not need to get involved with you or anyone else. One dalliance was enough, do not need to make a routine of it."

Sarah pulled in at the garage. "There you are, home sweet home. Have a good evening, you romantic devil."

"Thanks for the ride," Walter mumbled getting out of the car. Putting in the combination for the man-door he entered and walked to the whiteboards and erased all the work he had done previously then sat in an easy chair, eyes roaming from one to another of the tiny colored lights throughout the place. He stretched his legs and leaned back in the chair thinking. Sarah lurking and now Happy coming around, I do not need the entanglements. Have to go to the grocery store tomorrow and stock up the kitchen- never go to the restaurant again. Need to get a car to run through gears on the back roads to get away from everything, especially people…. meditative. Should Centipede Partners fail it will not be my fault, I never competed with them. Wonder why Paige is a 'walking emotional mess' as Happy put it. Wonder if she is dating anyone to get her mind off business concerns if it is not going well. She is strong, managed raising Ralph alone for nine years. She is a survivor, they will help each other when necessary. Gods, back down this rabbit hole. He rose and headed up to the loft then decided to go up to the roof. Remembering the rose plants, he went to the kitchen and filled a bucket with water and went to the roof and dumped the water in the planters. "Hope that lasts you a while…raised on a farm, but not real focused on plants these days. Best be hardy." He walked to the wall and leaned on it then went and stretched out on the picnic table to look at the stars….. and dozed off. He woke with a chill so got up, stretched and went to take a shower and climbed into bed to sleep soundly.

Rising well rested in the morning, he got ready to head to the Fullerton data center. Going into the den he closed the laptop, put it in its case with the boxed hard drive and went down the stairs. Hearing Gina in the office, he knocked on the door and entered the kitchen to see coffee was ready. Getting a cup from the cabinet he filled it up and walked into the office to see Gina at the desk.

"Good morning, Gina. Thought I would see how things are going for you before I take off for Fullerton," Walter said sitting in one of the chairs in front of her desk.

She looked up from the computer, "Just putting in some accounting stuff. Making a list of the data centers and their focus of data storage to keep track of everything. Fullerton is space related. Next is Pacoima which is banking and financials."

"How soon will all of Richard's data centers be done? He has data stashed all over the place."

"Only a few more- he said he has it all over, especially the space stuff- spread it around a number of places would have to be hacked then all that would have to be combined by someone that knows what they are doing to make sense of it all. He said things in the long run are actually safer that way."

"He is right, everything in one pot means that one pot gets hacked or the system goes down catastrophically all would be lost in one fell swoop." Walter said sipping his coffee. "The needed information can be gathered from the different sites and used as needed."

"Think Richard wants all his sites taken care of before recommending your security to others. He is very protective of his data be it the space or financial. As he says, the commercial end of his business is what pays for his space endeavors which is, first and foremost, his interest."

Walter rose, "best be getting to Fullerton, see you this afternoon."

Pulling the car out, Walter headed to Fullerton and at the data centers security gate asked for Bob Martin who came to walk him to the facility.

"Good morning, Mr. O'Brien. Glad to see you here. Have had nothing but good news from Harley and Tom about your security. They both said all is well, now, so I am looking forward to this upgrade."

"Walter is fine. If you have been in contact with the others you already know the system must be monitored. Should you see an increase in activity, let me know as I am working on a way to trace and possibly hack the hackers- at the very least discover their location. As I said, working on it so not perfected, but would like to make it so the hackers would be hesitant to hit the facility again."

Reaching the facility Bob opened the door to the servers and asked if he needed anything.

"No, this should take but two hours and done, so ready to leave then."

"I will leave you to it and return in about two hours."

In three and a half hours Walter was on his way back to the garage. He decided to stop off at a grocery store to start stocking the kitchen and bathroom with supplies. Pulling into the back-bay with a trunk of supplies he closed and locked up to open the trunk to distribute everything he had gotten at the store. Groceries and bath stuff up to the loft, laundry supplies to the back-bay washer/dryer cabinet. Putting everything away he discovered he had plenty of room left in the kitchen for three more trunk loads of stuff- he could hibernate in the loft for months when everything was full. No more trips to Kevelski's and running into people trying to get him entangled. Once he had everything put away he grabbed his coffee cup, knocked on the office kitchen door and entered. Still half a pot of coffee there so he poured himself a cup and went through into the office.

"Fullerton is done. Will go to Pacoima and see Joe Reed in the morning, scan then maybe install a program late afternoon. So how is it going with you?"

"Well, rather boring. I will be happy when all Richard's sites are done and get to some outside customers. Been thinking of a business card design, and business letterhead for future correspondence. Have all the bookkeeping financials done and up to date. By the way, did you ever change your PIN for the bank accounts Richard set up with his bank? Have you even checked on that stuff?"

"To be honest have been working off my on-line bank account- still have plenty of funds there for whatever I have needed. Have not really needed much- gas for the car, just loaded up groceries, a couple restaurant visits. I am not a high maintenance individual. Have not needed any large sums for anything though I am thinking of purchasing another car."

There was a knock at the door, Walter turned and Gina looked up to see Cabe Gallo walk in. Walter's eyes widened and he smiled to stand and give Cabe a hug.

"Hey, kid. How's it going? Allie and I just got back. Homeland had me over in Europe for some crap, so I took Allie and turned it into work vacation, but back for now. What have you been up to? Place sure has changed- liked the smell at the door with the little flowering trees- better than the oil motor odor assaulting the nostrils. Your farming background coming out?"

"Cabe it is great to see you. Cabe, this is Gina the office manager. Gina this is my very good and oldest friend Cabe Gallo of Homeland Security. Have a seat Cabe, how about some coffee and we catch up?" Walter rose to get a cup from the cabinet and filled it to return to the office and hand it to Cabe.

Cabe looked at the cup, "Scorpion Security Systems?"

"Yup, back to basics, you know me and coding. Not hacking, but preventing hacking." Walter smirked. "Quite the change, huh?" Turning to Gina he continued. "I met Cabe when I was eleven and had hacked into NASA. Needless to say the US government was not happy with me and he was the agent sent to grab the hacker."

Cabe laughed looking at Gina. "You can't imagine what a surprise it was to have it traced to an eleven year old Irish kid. Blew in in helicopters with tactical troops. We were all thrown for a loop to have him brought out of the house in cuffs."

"So you and Allie living in sin or have you finally wised up and married her?"

"Yeah, we got married on base in Germany, honeymooned in Paris." Cabe said with a smile. "We are going to fix up Jimmy's place and have it all ready for when I retire. May get a couple old nags to plod around the place on, old and well trained nags. Been decades since I have been on a horse, Allie never has, so lots of fun come retirement."

"Can't imagine you retired, but certainly deserve some good years without the stress of toting a gun and catching baddies. How come Allie isn't with you?"

"She is getting everything settled in the apartment we rented here in LA until I retire. To be honest, she was a bit concerned on what the state of everything would be seeing how it was before we left and thought it best for us to reconnect first. You know women- expect all kinds of emotional upheaval when nothing of the sort happens….. sorry, Gina."

"Don't be, fully understandable. Nature of the beasts as is said. Men just blast on through, we figure to sidestep the fireworks." Gina rose, "very nice to meet you Cabe, but it is office closing time and I am heading for home. Hope to see you again."

"Nice to have met you Gina, have a good evening," Cabe said.

"Good night, Gina, see you tomorrow, careful driving home." Walter added. "Come along Cabe, we can continue inside so Gina can close up." Walter rose to lead the way through the kitchen into the seating area by the whiteboards turning on some lights. "Pull up a chair. Are you hungry? I just brought in groceries this afternoon if you want something, come on up to the loft." Walter returned to the office kitchen and shut off the coffee, then went back through to lead the way to the loft, Cabe following.

"The place sure has changed. Want to tell me all about it?" Cabe asked sitting in one of the den easy chairs."

Walter sat at the desk. "You know how things ended. When we got back from the Gettlemen proposal, I called their secretary and rescinded my proposal and closed up shop. The others are still in business, have to sneak communications with Ralph. My business was ended, almost lost the garage- was a difficult time. But, working alone I cranked up the security programming- don't need a team to code and it has taken off. The garage is paid off, and bank accounts doing OK. Presently locked in with Elias Enterprises working security for all the data centers where the space and commercial data is stored. Pretty soon will be branching out to other enterprises- you know how businesses are about securing their data so it is good money and the business is doing just fine."

"You see any of the others?"

"Was in Kevelski's not long ago and Happy joined me for a little talk, but that was to be the last. I only wish them the best, like I said, I never competed with them." Walter chuckled, "all that blow up over taking Florence to that stupid lecture when she left for Texas within two weeks, so no one was here at all. I transferred Scorpion assets over to Centipede and they all came in to collect their possessions, hauled everything off and all ties were cut."

"I'm sorry I wasn't here for you, Walter."

"Come on Cabe, you know me, I was fine. Admit it was an eye-opening, learning experience- depending on others is a mistake. I depend on me and my abilities- I will make it. Richard is working hard to get me as an employee in his space division, but while I do look into design and whatnot for him, I resist his employment, but he seems fine with that arrangement."

"So you are totally independent and doing well. Good to hear, and Allie will be happy to hear it." Cabe said. "Sure like how the place is looking- you didn't design all this did you? Complete with planters by the door is something."

"No, not my kind of designing." Walter laughed, "Come on up to the roof." Leading the way to the spiral staircase they went to the roof to sit under the trellis. "Like the rose bushes that are supposed to cover this frame in time- I remember to water them so they are still alive… so far, anyway." Walter got up to lean on the wall. "Been thinking of hoisting a grill up here, you and Allie can come over for burgers some weekend-long as one of you tend the grill. Been thinking of getting a better telescope, too. You should get a good scope to set up at your place once retired. Viewing would be much better there than up here."

Cabe stretched his legs and took a sip of coffee, "it is nice up here, rose covered trellis will be interesting if you can keep them alive." Cabe looked at Walter leaning on the wall. "I really am sorry I was not here with you, kid."

Turning from the wall Walter looked at Cabe. "You have nothing to be sorry for, Cabe. It is over, done and in the past. I have moved on and, while I have always said I don't need anyone, I now KNOW I do not need anyone."

Cabe looked at him sadly, "but that is no way to live, kid."

"For me, it is the only way," Walter replied turning to look over the wall to watch the sun lower toward the ocean horizon.

"Alright, son. I will bring Allie next visit- she will really like to see you again," Cabe said getting up to leave.

Walter led the way through the garage to the man-door and opened it for Cabe. "Really nice to see you again, Cabe. Tell Allie I said hello and congratulations becoming Mrs. Gallo."