New beginnings… chapter two

Returning to the garage, Walter had purpose again. The coming two weeks of coding the program for Richard's banking concern will keep him occupied and his focus on the job to the exclusion of all the past months of upheaval and turmoil. After this job is done, he will think on how to proceed into his future. For tonight, he closed up the garage, set the security, went up to the loft to shower and sleep to start the new job first thing in the morning.

After a good night of rest, Walter showered, dressed in jeans and t-shirt went down to start the coffee in the kitchen and fired up his desk top computer. After scanning through the entire program he patched up the day before he knew what Richard was endeavoring to do with his all-encompassing banking system. Walter knew what was needed, the parameters the program needed as well as the necessary security. He did not suffer from 'single stage thinking' and certainly did not make 'simple mistakes' not when it came to code. He brought two whiteboards to his desk and diagramed what the layout for the program should be, interconnected the segments, and detailed the necessary security for each. From that source drawing he continued to devise the coding necessary to achieve a clean, precise program. Sitting at his desk, scanning the whiteboards he opened his files and began scanning past hypotheticals already coded that meet the diagrams parameters. He brought up what was needed, made adjustments as needed. After thirty-two hours he finally went up to the loft to shower and rest.

In the morning Walter showered, started the coffee and returned to the job. Continuing the massive coding needed for Richard's banking system. After forty hours he again went to the loft to shower and sleep.

This marathon coding job kept Walter focused to the exclusion of everything. He even left his laptop off to not be interrupted by anything. He was now down the rabbit hole of programming excellence going into its seventh day, no longer hiking up the stairs to shower and sleep, the driving force was to get the job done, and done it was. The final line of code written and the rabbit hole opened and he emerged- the worse for wear, but a completed, masterful, secure program. He sat at his desk for a while to get his bearings and back into the real world, then opened a desk drawer, pulled out a multi tera external drive and started the transfer. He got up and went to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee and see what was available and still edible. He nuked a can of chicken noodle soup, finished with an apple and cup of coffee, returned to his desk to check the transfer and later went to the loft to shower and sleep for the next ten hours.

Waking up refreshed, he showered, dressed in jeans and t-shirt, went downstairs to his desk and opened his laptop to check mail. Three messages from Richard:

Walter- the patches are holding up, all is well- improved even. Good work- Richard

Walter- are you working the new program- patches continue to hold up- Richard

Walter- the patches are doing so well, is a new program really needed? Richard

Walter read those and smiled- non-computer literate people never ceased to amaze him. Holding up does not mean it won't in time fail, so he replied:

Richard- patches means exactly that- patching of a crumbling system that in time WILL fail, catastrophically. Just a matter of time, and time is getting close. Have your new program coded, transfer to an external drive in process. You can once again throw caution to the wind and launch or risk the time to have your test crew go through it. Your decision to make. It awaits you at the garage. Walter

Within minutes there was an alert for new mail:

Walter- on the way- see you shortly- Richard

Walter got some coffee, opened the garage door then returned to his desk to sit back watching the transfer that was still in process- massive program, indeed. He put his feet up on the corner of the desk to sip his coffee and watch the computer display on the download % bar graph. Was at 60% when Richard's car pulled up to the garage and he walked in.

"Still in process of downloading- one hell of a big program. You can see the diagram for it on the whiteboards."

"I have no idea what that diagram shows or how it would relate to a computer program," Richard said with a chuckle. "I know a lot of things, as you know I am not exactly stupid, but this is quite beyond my sphere of knowledge."

"I just finished it today- nine days work, the past seven straight through. Once it is transferred, I will make a second copy for safekeeping and future reference."

"Again, what will happen when launched?" Richard asked. "How long to restart? How will people be impacted?"

"To completely move from patched system to this, will take at least an hour and a half of down time. Best to be done middle of the night when fewer people will be annoyed they can't get their transaction completed. But when back on-line, they will be quite happy with the speed and ease, and you will be happy with the security."

"People will be expecting a hiccup as you called it. The financial news people have gotten wind of the 'house-cleaning' of my banking sector. The executives that have been 'relieved' of their positions. I have a lot of personnel changes to make- hiring new as well as elevating others already with me. EVERYONE now knows beyond a shadow of a doubt I will not tolerate incompetence, untruthfulness, or anyone NOT having the integrity to perform their jobs with the utmost dedication to the enterprise and its customers."

"Transfer is at 73%," Walter said. "Have you made the decision- to test or not to test; to throw caution to the wind and launch late tonight around three AM?"

"You want to hit the launch button yourself? Your program, your work in action… you up to it?" Richard asked. "If so, I will send a car for you and meet you there, three in the morning."

"Send a car, I will see you there…. three AM sharp."

Richard rose and headed for the door, "see you then."

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Two AM a car pulled up to the garage, Walter took the carefully packaged hard drive, put it in his laptop case with the computer, locked up, set his security and got in the car for the drive to Elias Enterprises headquarters. Richard met him at the gate and together they walked to the server facility. There was a carafe of coffee and two cups on the table awaiting them. Walter sat down after removing his laptop and the packaged hard drive from the case. Pulled out the cable from a pocket of the case and plugged into to a port, hooked up the hard drive and looked to Richard.

"Launch."

They sat back while the program downloaded to the servers. "Will take a bit over an hour then your system will shut down and this take over," Walter said while pouring himself a cup of coffee. "The die will be cast after that."

Richard kicked back in his chair. Looking at Walter he asked, "the modification you said you did on the fuel booster bringing up efficiency- going to patent it? You can't keep giving such designs to open domain that may be worth a lucrative income."

"I do not have the actual ways and means of proving the increase of efficiency- just computer modeling. Was an exercise in modifying a design I was totally familiar with," Walter said. "Something to do late night when I can't sleep."

"You remember I asked you if you might not be happy working at my state of the art facilities- have many enterprises any one of which you can address issues that pique your interest," Richard said. "I ask you again, as your circumstances have changed."

"Richard, I have finally come to the hard realization I am not geared for working around people." Walter replied. "My areas of expertise programming, mathematics, and design you are welcome to stop in- I am in the garage- stop by or message me and tell me your problem and I will see what I can do. But believe me, you do not want me doing a nine to five rubbing shoulders with your employees….. it never ends well."

"You are working with me without problems, or do you not consider me 'people'," Richard said with a smirk.

"One on one, and you are familiar with me. Your employees work in groups, as teams to get their job done, achieve the goals set by others. Big difference. I do not take orders well, and most of the time see a better way of doing the job. As has been said, I lack the 'human touch', do not understand and recognize social norms in interacting with people. Those lacks cause a lot of hate and discontent which interferes with progress….. download complete." Walter turned to Richard, "Three-ten AM… shutdown and turnover ready to go- your decision."

Richard once again looked into that piercing, dark eyed gaze but could read nothing there. "Launch," he said, and poured himself a coffee. "Join me for breakfast this time? Should be set and ready in my office by five."

Walter entered the command then leaned back in his chair and stretched his legs. "Sounds good. By five you will know whether you made the right decision or not. You must be one hell of a poker player."

"Why do you say that?" Richard asked.

"That calculating look before decision making. I know you cannot read me- there are no emotions to read, yet you make the decision. Again throwing caution to the wind- that could cost you dearly…. hence the poker playing…. with exceedingly high stakes. Can see why you do so well in business." Walter said. "I prefer chess- more long term consequences to actions taken."

"Walter, there is much more to 'reading' a person than exhibited emotion. While you say you have none- that is questionable. However, there are other 'tells' about a person's character. I have seen nothing of you but honesty, integrity, intelligence, and a desire to make a difference and make things better. There are exceedingly few people I have known in my fifty-seven years of life I could say the same of," Richard said. "And I have probably a lot more experience with interactions with people than you. Especially when you stay holed up in your garage."

"My garage is my safe space. My servers, computers, equipment for experiments, all I need is there." Walter said, "the rest of the world can shuffle along in their daily lives not affecting me in the slightest." Walter sat up and turned to the computers- "turnover completed. You have people monitoring the system? They should be noting any usage and reporting fairly soon if there are any problems."

"Shall we go have breakfast?" Richard asked, "my people can reach me in the office."

Walter disconnected the hard drive, put it back in its static free bag then in the box he had transported it in and handed it to Richard. He then closed his laptop and put it in its case, rose and followed Richard out of the facility. When they reached his office, his secretary was at her desk. "Toni, should there be any messages from anyone in the banking sector pass them through immediately- and thanks for coming in so early today."

"Not a problem, breakfast is on the way," Toni said. "Any messages will be on your computer."

"Come on in, Walter. Hope you like scrambled eggs, sausages and biscuits- with coffee of course. Some orange juice to start. Should be here shortly," Richard said opening his office door to sit at his desk. "I have an 'open door policy' so leave the door open whenever I am in the office. Everyone knows I can be approached when necessary. One of the main reasons why I got so pissed when I was not alerted about the crumbling system you just fixed."

The server came in pushing the meal cart and set everything up at the table at the corner by the window of the large office. "Thanks Pat, everything looks good, as usual," Richard said sitting down while Walter put his laptop case down to join him.

"A good breakfast to start the day. Been over an hour since the turnover- no messages so far so everything is going well. How about contract work, Walter? I know you would do wonders for the space enterprise. That is what I am most keen on- all the commercial sectors are where the funds come from for the space race to the moon again and on to Mars."

"I told you Richard- you know where the garage is- have a problem let me know and I will work on it- in the garage."

"Does it have to be me that comes by or can I send one of my staff? You may find some of them interesting for discussion. I have a number of scientists, computer experts, engineers that would probably learn a lot from conversations with you. Granted the computer experts are not close to your expertise, but they are some of the best in the nation," Richard said between sips of his coffee. "By the way, my enterprise employees have their paychecks automatically deposited each pay period. I opened an account for you so your compensation for the patch job you did until the program was ready has been deposited. Once the new program is running smoothly, the funds for that will also be deposited." He got up and went to the door to call Toni for all the set up accounts and brought the paperwork, bank card and balances in a folder and handed it to Walter. "There is a temporary PIN for your card you can change it at your convenience. You can check the balance to see if I calculated the worth correct. You have accounts using your very own banking system and security….. by the way, you have a checking and saving account which is what most opt for. Your funds are split- half to each… we encourage employees to save for their future."

"I am sure you calculated its worth just fine," Walter replied slipping the folder into his computer case. "I would like to be kept apprised of any remarks your people make on the program." He glanced at the clock on the wall. "It is eight thirty, have no messages come as yet?"

"Toni is fielding messages and will let me know if any need to be answered," Richard said. Raising his voice he called, "Toni, anything worth notice as yet?"

Toni leaned over at the door, "nope, nothing. Will let you know as soon as anything pops up."

"So far so good, Walter." Richard sat back and looked at Walter. "There is no way I can tempt you to join my enterprise? The space think tank eggheads- you could fit right in- the theoretical, the mathematics, the looking to the future…. not to mention the very good paychecks. Then there are the designers and engineering for the hardware- using your designs, devising actual dynamic test as opposed to hypothetical computer modeling. You might have a lot of fun in the labs….. fun and hefty paycheck to boot. Interested?"

Walter also sat back. "As I said, you know where the garage is- you or one of your people are always welcome to stop in for conversation, presenting a problem, suggestions on designs, whatever. To be honest, I used to hit the labs at USC late night. If your labs would be available for late night use, it would be greatly appreciated. You don't have an overnight crew in that section, do you? You have security so they can check in when I work alone. Would that be acceptable to you?"

"I never have had such a problem negotiating with anyone." Richard said with a chuckle. "However, I will take what I can get. I, or one of my people will contact you at the garage with any issue we need you to address. There will have to be legal papers drawn up for your using the facilities, especially test equipment, in the event you are injured on enterprise property. But, when you eventually see the benefit of working WITH us, you may in time join up. You will have to get a company badge to come through the gate when you want to use the facilities. Shall we head to security and get that done while you are here? Then we can go through the test labs and come back here to the office for lunch- I usually have a salad if you want to join me. I am always happy to show off the place."

Walter rose, "Lead the way. Actually looking forward to seeing the test facilities."

As they left the office, Richard asked his secretary if there were any messages. "No, nothing," she said.

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