New beginnings… chapter four

While finishing his nuked pizza and scanning through the science sites, Walter decided to contact Joe Berns- will be interesting to see if the efficiency improvement as he modeled actually panned out in dynamic testing. He pulled out the business card Joe Berns had given him and composed a message:

Joe- I had sent the drawings of the modified booster with pertinent information to Richard. If modifications have been reviewed and incorporated in the present component, when testing is to be done, would like to observe. Set up and let me know date and time, day or night OK. O'Brien

Walter then decided to check over the modifications specs he had sent off to Richard and re-examine the computer modeling he had conducted. All looked good, and he was confident the improvement would be proofed with dynamic test. He got up to get some fresh coffee when the laptop alerted new mail so he sat back down to read it:

Walter- Legal looking through the patent process, with your OK will have latest component incorporate your mods before the patent is entered. Test can be conducted by Friday afternoon if you give the OK to all this. Richard.

He hit reply:

Richard- Trust you will do right by design. All A-OK to do what is needed to dynamic test- day or night, will be there to watch test process- Walter

He then got up to get fresh coffee and returned to scanning science sites, then brought his desk top keyboard to hand to look through previously coded programming for future usage. As per usual, when coding, time seems to disappear as does the rest of the world- meditative and relaxing. When finished he sat back and stretched to find it was dark.

He decided to walk to Kovelsky's for a burger and get some air. Locking up the garage, he walked the couple blocks to the restaurant and entered to see Toby and Happy in a booth. He halted then continued to sit at the counter so his back was to the general seating area. He was greeted by the usual waitress who asked how things were going since his not being in for months. He mumbled all was OK and ordered a burger and coffee. He leaned over to the end of the counter where the day's newspapers were piled up and took an opinion section to read while waiting. When his meal was served and coffee refreshed, Toby and Happy sat down on stools to his left and right.

"Figured you would have to stay put once your meal was served," Happy said. "Want to thank you for the patents and assets you transferred. Has been a help."

"Your design, you deserve the profits. You all created the ways and means for the assets, not much reason for a failed business to retain assets of that business." Walter said then continued eating.

"How are you doing, Walter," Toby asked quietly.

Walter turned to Toby, "Fine…. I am always fine, Toby, you know that."

"Walter, Centipede Partners would like to add another partner…. If you would be interested," Happy said looking at Walter. "We all agreed to approach you, this running into you accidentally could be a win, win coincidence for everyone."

Walter stood up, looked steadily at Toby, "If there is one lesson you all pounded into my head, it is that I will never work with people again." He went to the person tending the register, paid his bill and left.

Walking back to the garage he was thinking of why they would even consider asking him to join them- wondered what they were thinking that they could destroy everything he had worked for and he would return to working with them. The trust he has in Richard to do right with his design far, far out-weighs his trust in people he gave his all to for years. Gave them a new start, gave them a home, even risked his life for them and they could just walk away. He wondered if Paige was going to come to make the offer- just the thought of possibly seeing her again hurt- that she had such hatred for him to leave as she did and to have kept Ralph away, destroy Scorpion. They must think he is one incredibly stupid moron to even contemplate the idea he would put himself into such a vulnerable situation again. He reached the garage, entered to go sit at his desk. After a few minutes he opened his laptop to check mail to see a message from Joe Berns:

Mr. O'Brien- got the specs and OK from Richard to incorporate your modifications in the present component. Fabrication should be done and the unit ready for dynamic test this Monday afternoon at 2:30. Look forward to seeing you there. Joe Berns

Walter sat back after reading the message. Will be interesting to see if his computer modeling and dynamic test results agree. Maybe he could look over the entire fuel system or other systems to possibly redesign- even theoretical system design for future use. Maybe he will sit in on a couple 'think tank' conferences to see the direction the space division is heading. It is becoming apparent to him his future has countless paths forward. With the funds now in his account, he can do as his interests demand. Having the Elias Enterprise doors open to him, he can take on whatever issue he wants, pursue design and testing with the facilities available. He got up to get a bottle of water from the kitchen when there was a knock at the door. He grabbed the bottle and opened it while going to the door to open it. Paige stood there, hand up to knock again.

"Walter, may I speak with you a moment?"

He opened the door wider and waved her to the couch. He stood leaning at the kitchen door keeping distance, taking a sip of the water, "What can I do for you?"

"All of us decided Centipede Partners would be greatly improved were you to become a partner." Paige said. "Your expertise and over all knowledge would allow the organization to widen the sphere of contracts we can take on, improving overall business prospects going forward."

Walter looked at her a moment. "How is Ralph?"

Paige looked at her hands on her lap, took a deep breath and raised her eyes to Walter, "I am not here to discuss personal issues, but to make a business decision."

Walter straightened up, his anger in full view. "HOW IS RALPH? You KNOW I loved him as my SON, and you won't let me see or contact him. How can you hate me so much as to DELIBERATELY destroy me as you did? And you think I would put myself in a position for you to destroy me again? You actually think I am that big a FOOL?"

"Walter, please…

"DON'T. Do not abase yourself pleading for my help. There is the door…. get out."

Paige rose, looked at Walter like she was about to say something, then turned and left.

Walter stood there a few minutes until his anger was under control, then went to the door, locked it, set security and went up the stairs to the loft. He sat on the sofa thinking. Things must be going very badly for Centipede Partners if they would come to him. He thought of Ralph- he can make a concerted effort to contact him, though with Ralph being under age it is risky with the obvious hatred Paige has for him. Best he can do is find out how Ralph is doing- hack the public school system, check if he is still in college classes, social sites he may be on. He can't see or contact Ralph until he turns eighteen, but he can monitor how he is faring until then. Decision made, he took a shower and went to bed….. but did not sleep for a long time.

The next morning Walter dressed and started the coffee downstairs opened the door and the roll up at the garage bay then sat at his desk and opened the laptop to check for mail- nothing new.

He checked the lecture schedule at USC and UCLA for anything interesting, went on some science sites and did a general scan of NASA, JPL and others and came to the conclusion he was still scattered in his thoughts from the confrontation with the former Scorpion team members….. wonder if Sylvester will make an appearance next. They must really think he is a fool or things are in such dire straits for the Centipede Partners they were desperate for his help. What a joke. All due to his taking Florence to a lecture Paige did not want to attend, everyone's lives have been decimated leading to two businesses failing, and Ralph's education stymied. What an incredible waste. Waste of time, effort, lives. BAH, he thought, still wasting time on the entire mess and it just isn't worth the effort.

He pulled a whiteboard over by his desk and started working some math formula to get focused and out of the scattered emotional nonsense. He was totally focused on the third problem he was working when he had a feeling he was being watched. He straightened up and turned to see a blonde haired woman sitting on the couch by the open door.

"Can I help you?"

"Don't let me interrupt your work- I can wait, it is Saturday after all."

Walter frowned and went to his desk, sat down facing her again asked, "can I help you?"

"Not exactly 'help', but clarify, maybe. Oh, I am Lynn Morris, an engineer at Elias Enterprises, space division." She dug around in her jacket pocket and pulled out her badge and showed it to him. "I am working on the test setup for the modified booster- think you are scheduled to observe the dynamic test Monday afternoon. Anyway, I need clarification on the fuel flow and ratio of fuel components for optimum performance. Don't know if you included that information with your specs, but if you did it didn't make it to me….. so clarification, if you could," she said with a smile. "I want to be sure the test is set up with everything needed- don't want to have the fuel flow or pressure to high and pop some cookies, or the fuel mix incorrect so the results are skewed."

"To be honest, I sent the specs for the modification and the end results- may not have included the data I used for the computer modeling. When this was brought up, dynamic test was not on the table as it were, so parameters were not given." Walter thought a moment, turned to his desktop computer, pulled up the file for the booster modification. Looking through the file for his computer modeling, he printed out the data points he used for input to achieve the results on the model- the fuel components used, ratios, fuel flow, as well as the graphs showing the different results for the assorted inputs. He went to the printer, checked the sheets over and handed them to her. "Anything else you may need as far as data inputs to prepare for testing?"

"You do realize a 7.34% increase is quite a jump. Do you really think it can be achieved? Comes out to better mileage per gallon of gas- more lift without added fuel weight, just what is needed for space flight."

"Your test will either prove my model or not- that is what dynamic test is for, right?"

"You are absolutely right, sir. We will do our best to get your 7.34%. Thank you for your time, I will let you get back to your theoretical." Walter walked her to the door and saw the car she was driving.

"What is that?"

"You like old American cars? This is a 1966 Chevrolet Corvair Monza convertible. Are you familiar with them?"

"What engine it have?" Walter asked looking to the front hood.

Lynn laughed, "Looking at the wrong end- no grill in the front, the engine's in the rear. Look inside- no drivetrain tunnel- nice flat floor. This has a 110 horse, flat-opposed, air-cooled six, with four on the floor." She went to the rear of the car and popped the hood. "I have this configured with two carbs, but people have run manifolds up to one four barrel carb, some run four carbs and I have even seen six carbs, but as this is a daily driver, I keep it simple and dependable. Get too crazy with modifying production cars and dependability suffers. I do NOT like sitting on the side of the road having to listen to people carp about old cars, especially all the crap spewed about Corvairs."

She closed the engine lid, "I have to get back, but some time let me know and I will take you out for a spin if you are unfamiliar with Corvairs. Great little cars." She got behind the wheel, started it up. "Thank you for your time, Mr. O'Brien, probably see you Monday during test." Stuffed her hair under a fedora and took off.

Walter walked back into the garage went to his desk and did a search on Chevrolet Corvair- interesting, then went back to his whiteboard and math exercise.

Monday, Walter woke, showered, dressed in jeans and t-shirt went downstairs to get the coffee going. Went to his desk to open his laptop and check mail to see a message from Ralph.

Walter- Been a long time. Mom said I could contact you, my computer is no longer being monitored and limited. Missed you and our telescope time. Can't visit, but messages are OK. Got any new science projects going? Ralph

Walter hit reply:

Hey, buddy, so good to hear from you. Missed you, too. The garage is pretty empty and quiet since you're not around. Just coding some security programs. You still attending college classes- what are you taking, now? Be nice to hear all your news. Walter

Next was a message from Richard:

Walter- come in to the office and I will go to the test facility with you. Richard

Next a message from Joe Berns:

Mr. O'Brien- reminder that dynamic test will take place Monday at 2:30, hope to see you. Joe

Walter headed up to the loft to change to more appropriate 'business' attire, pulled the car out, put his laptop on the passenger seat, closed up, locked, set security, and headed to Elias Enterprises main headquarters to join Richard.

Showing his badge at the gate, Walter walked through and headed for Richard's office. Toni said hello and waved him on in to see Richard.

"Nice to see you Walter. First, Steve Philips said all is well with the facility. Second, the banking is going smoothly and faster than it was- an excellent job. Third, everything is set up in the test lab to see if your modification actually gets that improved efficiency. Joe has data recording going on during test his engineers will be following the curves and changing input of fuel parameters for each run. Plus we can see just how long it can take the abuse of changing parameters. Should be interesting. Shall we go?"

They walked across the facility to the test labs where Joe Berns was waiting. Looking through the heavy reinforced glass windows of the test cell to see three engineers in white clean environment suits, hair coverings and masks who were in the clean room setting up the test equipment, hooking up fuel lines as well as a plethora of sensors for data acquisition recordings. When completed the three engineers gave a thumbs up and exited to join those there for observation of the test.

"Here are ear plugs for those that need them," Joe said. "Not much noise gets through to the control room but can be a bit much for some people, depending on the pitch."

The three engineers removed their clean room suits outside the clean room to exit the changing area to man the assorted recording and computer stations.

For an hour the test was conducted. There was some noise, but not much to see as there were no moving parts- all the interest was in printouts of parameters and recording of inputs and data points of performance on the computer monitors.

Richard had sat down to watch his people tend to their jobs, but found Walter of more interest. Walter stood behind the data acquisition monitors the engineers were manning, watched the flow data charting then the computer screens for parameter inputs doing some calculations, he marked the time on the chart. "At line 1357 of the graph chart 7.5% was achieved." He continued to scan the monitors and watched the charting. "At line 3045, 6.8%." Continuing to watch all the monitors he said "at line 5462, 6.77%. What are the ratios entered and flow rate that it is falling… enter initial data to see if it returns to optimum," he said and continued to scan the monitors. "There it is, back to 7.52% at line 7625."

The hour test was completed and data recorded. Richard rose and went to Lynn Morris to whisper to her, "Check those chart points and calculate the per cent to see if Walter's calculations are correct and let me know- his math is incredible if he figured on the fly like that." He then stood and said, "Retest in an hour? Repeatability for data acquisition is a good thing. Walter, let's go get some coffee while they set everything back up. Joe, give me a call when ready."

"So, what do you think of the facility?" Richard asked. "You might be interested in the entire fuel system- may be of benefit to have new eyes on the entire design."

"In order to achieve that better efficiency the modifications produced, delivery may need to be looked over," Walter said with a smirk, "you trying to suck me into employment, Richard?"

"You now know what I think you are worth, I know what you are capable of, I see the value you could be to my space program, my entire enterprise, to be honest," Richard said. "You may find my people to be easy to work with, all top of the line, best in their class. You really are not that difficult to work with as everyone can see your value and ability." Richard then added with a laugh, "plus I have very good dental and medical coverage."

"I will give you extra points for perseverance, Richard," Walter laughed, "but you know where the garage is and have my contact information for messaging."

"OK, Walter. On to serious business. Per the legal department patent experts, the modifications you made to the booster were enough to gain patent rights to the design. They will file the paperwork Wednesday unless you put this on the open domain again. Free advice from a successful, wealthy businessman- patent it, even I will pay to use it. If not for yourself, set up a college scholarship with the proceeds for students of advanced underwater basket weaving. But put your design to good use, not just give it away."

"OK, Richard- you can use it for free if you take care of the patent legal whatever and set it up for a college scholarship- good idea, but not for basket weavers…. math or robotics would be good."

"Here is the cafeteria," Richard opened the door. "Let's get some coffee and toast to it, I love setting up scholarships."

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