New beginnings… chapter six
Walter and Lynn went through the data and the final conclusion was the difference between computer model results and actual dynamic test results was not due to an error in the model or math, but that the actual can be finer tuned toward gaining the desired results, watching results in action, as well as the actual component reaction to operating temperature and conditions all of which can account for the .66% difference.
"That is why we do actual dynamic test and not live and die by computer modeling. As in 'ain't nothin' like the real thing, baby'….. do you get THAT reference?" Lynn asked looking at Walter.
"No, you lost me, again," Walter said with a frown.
"I take it you don't listen to the radio, popular music like you don't watch TV, right?" Lynn asked. "That was a very popular tune by Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell. How long have you lived in the States?"
"Since I was fourteen," Walter said.
"Funny, you could be here so long and be so oblivious to the popular culture." Lynn said. "You're not only a funny man, you are a strange one. Going to take off for home. I will be here in the coupe sometime midmorning with the headliner, if the time is OK? Get your phone out, here is my number in case you come to your senses or something comes up that you won't be here- call me so I don't drive cross town for nothing."
"Will see you when you get here." Walter said walking her to the door. "I will leave the door open, no need to bring a hammer and dent it up. Good night."
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The next morning at 10:30 Lynn pulled up to the garage in her '66 Corvair coupe, got out and went to the door, opened it and leaned in to yell, "HELLO! ANYBODY HOME?"
"Come on in," Walter said coming down from the loft in jeans and t-shirt. "If you would prefer, you can bring the car around and into the bay- cooler working in the shade. Up for some coffee?"
"Open up and I will bring it around." Lynn said going back out to start up and drive to the garage back bay to pull in behind Walter's car. "Must admit, this is pretty neat living quarters, and I'm always ready for coffee."
"So what exactly is the job you need extra hands for?" Walter asked.
Lynn opened the driver side door of the coupe and pointed to the cars ceiling. "The headliner finally took the big dump- heat and age got to the threads holding it to the ribs, irritating to have it hanging down and looks like crap. Like I said, I get tired of people carping at me over my 'old car' fixation. I am just not one for the all look the same white, Japanese, plastic rolling egg on wheels. Don't they all look like eggs? Aerodynamic I know, but absolutely NO style…. you have to admit, this is a good looking vehicle design, and I can always spot it no matter how full the parking lot."
Walter hunkered down to look up at the headliner. "I see. You have a replacement or just going to remove this one?"
Lynn popped the trunk in the front and pulled a box out. "Have a replacement right here, same color supposedly, I never opened the box when I got it in the mail as I was not sure how soon I could get the job done."
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"Geeze, what a job. Bet you are sorry you said OK to this- whole damned afternoon blown. Seemed like it would be an easy job- good thing I talked you into this- stronger hands than mine made the difference," Lynn grumbled. "You can kick back I will get these last trim strips back on and =poof= done at last."
"Coffee?" Walter asked heading to the kitchen.
"Bless you, yes," Lynn huffed laying across the two bucket seats looking up at the new headliner. "Gods what a job- my fingers hurt. Gotta' admit, lookin' GOOD, though."
Walter, two cups of coffee in hand hunkered down and looked at the headliner. "Here is your coffee and yes, looks much better."
Lynn sat up behind the wheel and took the offered cup of coffee, "Thanks, bet you will never consent to doing a job like this again. Really didn't think it would take so long, and you are obviously too much a gentleman to kick me out. Thanks again."
Walter laughed, "No, won't kick you out as I will never call you a dumb blonde. Let's go in, sit down and relax- even my hands could use a rest." Walter led the way into the common area to sit on the chair and put his feet up on the coffee table while Lynn sat on the couch and followed suit putting her feet on the coffee table.
"What prompted you to live in a place like this?" Lynn asked. "Will admit, it is pretty neat but rather unconventional."
"It has a cellar and living quarters." Walter said. "Not many places here have cellars."
"So you are a wine aficionado? Not surprising with you so NOT into popular culture. Must say you did not strike me as a 'wine snob', but looks can be deceiving."
Walter laughed again, "you sure do come up with some strange things off the top of your head. I do not drink alcohol of any sort, I have my servers in the cellar. Easier to keep cool so not such a drain on the electrical system to keep a constant temperature."
"WOW! A whole server facility? Now that is something. You are just full of surprises. And now that you mention it, I don't think I have ever been in a house out here that had a cellar- just about everyone does back east. Most people remodel them into recreation rooms to throw the kids in- especially on rainy days. The kids can make all the noise they want and the adults can keep their sanity upstairs. Don't know about you, but I got a raging case of the munchies. Can I take you anywhere around here for dinner or have a pizza delivered then I gotta' go. Tomorrow is my Monday for work."
"I order pizza quite often, what do you like and I will call it in."
"Anything without anchovies, and I am buying- you did a lot of work today." Lynn said. "Call while I pull the car around to the front so you can close up."
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Walter came down stairs in the morning to start the coffee. Went to his desk and opened his laptop to check mail. Message from Ralph:
Walter- continuing with the robotics classes- the public school classes are a joke I won't get into. And starting a high school calc class. We already went through that, but it has been so long I decided to take a refresher. Ralph
Walter hit reply:
Ralph- We can run some problems to keep you sharp. Ever think of seeing if you can test out of public school early and get into college full time? You certainly have the ability. Walter
Message from Richard:
Walter- have another satellite data facility that could use your security programming- Interested? Richard.
Walter hit reply:
Richard- address, name of whom to see. Can scan this afternoon, work up a program as needed in the next day or two. Walter
Walter went and got some coffee, then sat at his desk. Within a few minutes Richard messaged the info, so Walter drank his coffee, turned the coffee off, packed his laptop in its case, pulled the car out, locked up, set security and headed off to the data facility to see Thomas Stone.
When Walter got to the data facility, he showed his badge to security at the gate and said he was there to see Thomas Stone for data security up grade. Within minutes Mr. Stone came to the gate to shake his hand and lead the way to the server facility.
"We figure pretty much every place where Richard stores proprietary data will get a visit from you. First on Richards list is anywhere data for the space division is stored. We have a lot of his space think tank theoretical mathematics, engineering designs and the like- very valuable stuff. Here we are." Thomas opened the facility door. "Can I get you anything?"
"No, won't be long as I will just be scanning the system today prior to making a program which I will be back within a day or two to install." Walter got his laptop out with cable to hook in, sat to scan the system. Within two hours he was ready to go back to the garage to work on a program. Thomas Stone walked him to the gate.
"I assume we will have to continue monitoring the system even with new security you install, right?" He asked Walter.
"Absolutely, no matter how good the security is, eventually a good hacker will breach the system. I have secondary as well as third line security firewalls- if first is hacked, and system is monitored you will know it and can take steps to prevent incursion further into the system." Walter told him. "I will message you when I have the program to install."
Returning to the garage, Walter went to his desk and got on the desk top computer to bring up his programming best suited for use. Within hours he was downloading to an external drive. While in process, he opened his laptop to message Thomas Stone that he would be in to install the security in the morning. When the download was complete, he put the drive in a static free bag and left it on the desk, headed up to the loft to shower and get some sleep.
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In the morning, Walter started the coffee, planning to get to the data facility later in the morning. While the coffee was brewing, he opened the door to pull the car out and park it in front. Closed the roll-up door and locked it then returned to his desk to put the loaded hard drive in a box and into his laptop case. He was kicking back drinking his coffee when the door opened and Sylvester walked in.
"Walter," he said walking in to stand next to the desk. "We all would like you to join us. To be honest, we need you to come back and work with us."
"Sylvester, you are the last of the crew, and I hope the last I have to say no to." Walter said. "As I told Toby, Happy, and Paige, I will not work with people again. Period. Not you, not them, not anyone. You all are exceptionally smart, capable. What do you need me for?" Walter said quietly noting how on edge Sylvester appeared. "You all together have the intelligence with the added benefit of the socially adept Paige. All I did was cause problems for everyone as you all said many times." He started to get up from his chair but Sylvester stepped toward him.
"Walter, we ask you, come join us we need you, we are failing without you. What can we do, we can't function out there without your direction. Cabe left us, retired from Homeland, they did not renew the contract, we can't get jobs, we have no direction PLEASE," Sylvester was practically in tears, shaking with emotion.
"Sylvester, calm yourself," Walter said quietly again starting to rise not wanting to be hemmed in- Sylvester had already attacked him once that cataclysmic night- Walter wanted an exit route as Sylvester was in a distressed state of mind. Sylvester blocked the left of the desk, the whiteboards were to his right, the roll-up door of the back bay was closed, his pathway out was limited, especially with Sylvester now so close. Walter pushed himself up from his chair slowly, "Sylvester, calm yourself. You of all people know there are always possibilities- you can see if you look."
"I do look and see no possibilities out of this quagmire we are in, WE ALL DEPEND ON YOU, WALTER! You must HELP US!" And at that point Sylvester lunged at Walter just as Walter turned to run. Sylvester grabbed the back of Walter's shirt tearing it and dragged him down to the floor, his fingernails tearing into Walters back. "LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO US!" Sylvester yelled hitting Walter's back again and again. "LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO US!" Sylvester screamed again grabbing Walter's laptop from the desk to hit him again and again until blood was splattered on Sylvester, the floor, the laptop shattered and broken to fall out of Sylvester's hands. Leaving a bloody handprint on the desk top Sylvester heaved himself up from Walter laying on the floor and, crying and moaning, stumbled his way out of the garage and down the street.
Walter slowly came to consciousness enough to roll onto his back with a groan, reach for his phone in his pocket and hitl 911, before drifting off again.
When the police and paramedics arrived Walter was still out cold. The medics attached a neck brace, administered first aid, put him on a stretcher for transport. The police checked his wallet for identification and found his Elias Enterprises badge so the medics said he should be transported to the Elias Enterprises private medical clinic. When admitted there, the desk personnel inquired with HR about the status of employee Walter O'Brien who has special access to the enterprise facilities, so Richard was notified by Toni that Walter had been brought in severely beaten and unconscious.
"Holy crap, what happened to him?" Richard asked the police officer in the clinic reception area who was on duty to wait and see if Walter could describe his attacker and give information on what happened.
"Sir, we got a 911 call, dispatch said the number was called but no one spoke so a patrol car was sent. The door was open and he was found by his desk in this condition. His work badge was found so the medics said to transport him here rather than the hospital. He was a mess, but the medics said it didn't look like the injuries were life threatening- just a lot of blood as happens with head wounds."
Richard then went to the reception desk, "here to see how Walter O'Brien is doing."
"Dr. Wilson is attending him." The receptionist said. "As soon as he is out of examination I will let you know. X-rays are being taken now."
Richard returned to sit with the police officer- "who called 911, you know?"
"Sir, it appeared he did himself as his phone was found still in his hand- bloody prints on the screen." The officer turned to Richard. "There was plenty of evidence as the laptop that he was beaten with has fingerprints as well as a big bloody handprint on the desktop. He was grabbed from behind so dragged to the floor onto his stomach- is pretty difficult to defend himself when face down getting pounded to the point the computer was in pieces, got gashed with glass pieces. Whoever attacked him was really pissed or totally losing it. He is going to be getting a bunch of stitches, and guess there is a possibility of busted or cracked ribs. But with all that evidence of prints all over the perp will be found."
Dr. Wilson came out to the reception area. "Hello, Richard. The receptionist said you were here for O'Brien. Per the x-rays he has two broken, two cracked ribs, so don't tell him any jokes. Dr. Peters is still stitching him up. Head and shoulder wounds, you know how head wounds bleed. Anyway, a couple big gouges of his scalp that needed to be shaved to be stitched back- he is going to be quite a sight until the hair grows out, but it is a good thing, if you can believe it, he was on his stomach or he would be terribly disfigured facially if these wounds were on his face. So, kinda' sorta' lucky, I guess. But, nothing life threatening. Time heals all wounds so he should be OK though moving slow with the ribs."
"His head is OK? No concussion, brain bleed anything like that? O'Brien is a genius, so nothing damaged in that respect?" Richard asked.
"No, no damage, just knocked out, was already groggily coming to when he was brought in." Dr. Wilson said. "Talking OK by the time x-rays were being taken. I will see how Peters is coming with his sewing session. O'Brien should stay the night, but probably can be checked out tomorrow evening barring any complications."
As per usual, when an employee was hospitalized, co-workers were informed so a card could be passed around for those interested to sign and enter well wishes. The test engineers including Lynn, and Joe Berns, were informed about Walter being in the clinic. A card was obtained and passed around for them to enter best wishes for a speedy recovery and Lynn volunteered to deliver it after work.
After work, entering the clinic Lynn requested the room for Walter O'Brien and if he could have visitors. She was given his room number and told to go on up.
"Was not sure you would be awake." Lynn said entering Walter's room. "You look like crap, man."
"Your bedside manner leaves a lot to be desired," Walter chuckled. "Damn, don't make me laugh. You think I look like crap, you should be on this side. Feels like crap."
"Do you know who did this? And why?" She asked.
"Yup, a former employee- another reason why I work alone these days. Just can't handle emotional people." Walter chuckled again, "Damn that does not feel good. Only thing worse than being in a hospital is what causes you to go to a hospital…. this sucks."
"I gather they are going to cut you loose tomorrow- have anyone to stay with you? They been informed of your condition?" Lynn asked.
"No, I will be just fine- a bit slow going up to the loft, but just fine."
"Can't stay in your garage alone. I have a spare bedroom in my townhouse, or I could snooze on your sofa." Lynn said. "Take your pick."
"You always just inject yourself into someone's life?"
"When needed, yes. Had a buddy who was t-boned in his car- took care of him for two months. Then there was that injured dove, and the baby robin, the rabbit hit by a car didn't make it, though. I'll find out when they are going to discharge you and pick you up in the convertible- easier to get in and out of with the top down. I figure you with your attitude will want to go to your place, so OK for me sleeping on the sofa by the door. Here is your get well card- kinda' generic 'cause people don't know you, yet. Have a good night, see you when you get discharged."
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