10- New beginnings… chapter ten

Walter sat back to listen to the presentation. In short order he was aware that the so-called 'eggheads' deserved the derision many of the people present felt as they talked well over the level of their audience. He remembered doing such himself and the resultant black eyes he got. He learned the hard way to curb his science to the level of those listening…. one good thing he learned working with Ralph. Explain the concept, when not understood, pare it down to basics to help promote true understanding of the subject at hand. He looked around to see the reactions of those in the audience- Joe had a crooked smile, he leaned forward a bit to look down the row of engineers of the test crew and was amused at what he saw. Bored expressions, closed eyes, and Lynn yawned which made him smile.

When the question/answer session was started, there were no questions for the 'eggheads' to field so they rose to leave the stage filing out when Walter decided to step up.

"Gentlemen," Walter said causing three to remain on the stage and turn to the audience. "In your discussion you used linear equations for proofing the trajectory of space travel. Since Hilbert spaces are vector spaces, they have regular vector space bases, referred to as Hamel bases. Hamel bases of Hilbert spaces are generally useless for computation and difficult to construct, unless they are finite. The gravitational forces of cosmic bodies causes straight lines to curve, the geometry that bends and stretches to accommodate those gravitational forces." Walter said. "Do you compute using Tensor calculus, taking into consideration the dynamics of Chaos Theory for order in the seemingly randomness, of the galactic structure?"

Joe, and Ben sat up straighter to see how the interaction would progress.

One of the conference speakers still on stage turned looking for the location of the person asking the question, "Can I have your name, please?"

"O'Brien"

"Ah, Walter, had no idea you would be here or I would have simplified the discussion. Your removal from VOR was obviously justified."

"That does not answer the question I asked, Videk," Walter replied with a smile and he heard a stifled snort from Lynn's direction.

"Yes, Tensor Calculous was not used in a discussion with general, nonscientific audiences for clarity on their level," Videk said walking to the front edge of the stage to face Walter. "If you would care to join us to further the discussion, come along rather than prolong the time here."

"To be honest, Videk, a discussion of Riemannian geometry dealing with curved spaces, the mathematical basis for General Relativity allowing the modeling of space/time warping by black holes and their gravitational waves I do not at present have the time to give you instruction on the concept," Walter said. "Maybe over coffee before the next session your group schedules."

Videk waved, as he followed the others out the back of the stage "I will see you then, Walter, but please, leave your frozen viruses at home."

Joe next to Walter stood up, "Holy crap, Walter, did you just put an egghead in his place? They ARE in competition with you- were you aware of that?"

"What are you talking about?" Walter asked. "I was not even aware there were members of VOR involved with Elias Enterprises. Not surprising, though, they are very bright- in their specific fields."

Lynn stood up, "time to go, people, let's head to the lab and try to get something done to show for the day."

"Come on, O'Brien, come along as you need to learn a few things," Joe said. "You weren't aware they had us test another modified version of your component?"

Ben chimed in, "Yeah, didn't make it to your initial efficiency rate, much less reach your 8%."

"No, I have a coding job awaiting me at the garage," Walter said. "Just thought this would be an interesting discussion… it was, but not in the way I originally thought when I decided to take a break and attend. Public lectures are not the place to endeavor discussing theoretical mathematics with peers."

At that Lynn snorted without attempting to stifle it. "Peers?" She remarked laughing as she walked to the exit and out the door with Sue and Tim.

Still chuckling, Joe said, "O'Brien, you are worth your weight in gold for this day's entertainment," as he and Ben walked to the exit with Walter. "Next one of these conferences I will send you the topic and you can have at it. So you know that guy?"

"Yes, you could say we have a history," Walter admitted. "Did not end well as usual."

Exiting the auditorium, Joe and Ben turned left and trotted to catch up with Lynn, Sue and Tim while Walter went the other way to head to the gate and on to the parking lot. Passing by another door from the auditorium Richard came out and joined him. "I had no idea you guys knew each other. Got a little nasty there. Guess you really don't want to join the think tank, now."

"Yes, well Videk and a couple of the others on that stage and I do not really… see eye to eye on things. Don't get me wrong, they are quite intelligent….. in their respective fields. Their organization at one time, I wanted to join, but, as you well know, me and groups of people do not mesh well." Walter said. "I dare say their endeavoring to redesign my designs is interesting, but possibly their time could be better spent on other things. I was not aware they wanted to improve my design. In future I will think longer and harder before submitting to ensure the first iteration will stand on its own."

"The patent for this latest iteration is being submitted. The one employee club working with promising students volunteered to put together a proposal for scholarship criteria should any funds accrue. They requested information on whom to name the scholarship after. How does the 'O'Brien scholarship' sound to you?"

"Does not sound good at all." Walter said with a smile as they reached the gate. "I have no desire to have my name plastered all over everything. I really have to head out- a coding job awaits me at the garage. Have a good afternoon, Richard."

Later in the afternoon Walter completed the security program so messaged the business it was for that he was available to deliver and set up their system. He packaged up the downloaded hard drive, packed it in the interim laptop's case and left the garage.

Three hours later Walter returned to the garage, opened up, pulled the car in, closed up and slowly lowered himself onto the sofa in the common area. The ribs had been feeling better but ached after the days driving, walking, and sitting. He should head up to the loft to stretch out on the bed, but just stretching on the sofa was fine for now and he dozed off.

Waking up in the morning, he was even more sore than he was last evening, his stitches itched, his back was aching. He rolled off the sofa and used the coffee table to leverage himself erect…. somewhat. He shuffled into the kitchen, "Gods I feel like crap. Thanks Sylvester, I really needed this," he mumbled reaching for the coffee pot to fill with water, then put it on the counter and made a grab for the kitchen table to fall into a chair. "Damn, what is wrong with me….. something is wrong." He sat back in the chair straightened his leg to get his phone out of his pocket. He hit contacts and Lynn's number showed. After a couple rings she answered.

"Hello, this is Walter? What's up?"

"Something is wrong….. very wrong with me…

"Walter… Walter? Crap I'll be there quick as I can. I will leave the line open…. WALTER." But there was nothing but silence. "Hey, Joe! I got a call from O'Brien- he didn't sound so good and the call went dead. I am going to head over to his place and see what's up- put me in for a sick day," grabbed her purse and keys and ran out.

Pulling in at the front of the garage she went to the door to find it unlocked and the security off. Pushing the door open she went in "Walter! WALTER! YOU HERE?" She went into the common area turned and saw him sitting in a kitchen chair slumped on the table, phone by his hand. "Oh damn, something is wrong, for sure." Pulling out her phone she called 911 for an ambulance. When they got to the garage she told them how she found him and to take him to the Elias Clinic and followed the ambulance there.

At the clinic he was rushed into the back examination area, then on to x-ray, Dr. Wilson again attending. When the x-ray films were viewed it became apparent one broken rib had moved and there was internal bleeding so he was rushed into surgery. Three hours later he was transported to a room to remain under observation until awake.

At that point, Dr. Wilson went to the reception area to see who was waiting for information on O'Brien's condition. There were a number of people so he called "Who is here for O'Brien?"

Lynn stood up, "I had him brought in. What is wrong? Is he going to be OK?"

"You family?"

"No, don't think he has any."

"Well, I can't give any info out on a patient except to family or authorities."

"Get hold of Richard Elias, he was here when Walter was brought in when assaulted."

Dr. Wilson had the receptionist call Toni Roberts, Richard's secretary to relay the information and find out how to contact O'Brien's relatives. Lynn sat down to wait. Within an hour Richard walked in and went to the receptionist. "Like to see Dr. Wilson about O'Brien." The receptionist called Dr. Wilson out, "Hello, Richard. Your buddy O'Brien is back again. Internal bleeding from the broken rib- obviously the guy has no concept of 'take it easy' or 'don't overdo it'. Was a slow bleed, probably started over night and hit him this morning. He was in surgery, all patched up…. again. Getting to know this guy inside and out, now. He is still in recovery and should remain a couple days. That way should he get carried away and think of running a marathon I can knock him out. Some people are just too hard headed to deal with medical conditions… he is one of them."

"He will be OK, though?" Richard asked, "nothing life threatening?"

"I may threaten his life if he keeps this up." Dr. Wilson laughed. "Don't like fixing the same patient over and over. Maybe he learned his lesson this time- could have been a dire situation had the young lady not brought him in. One good thing, he won't have to make an appointment to have the scalp stitches removed, we can do that while he is here- hair is growing back quick, but he had also broken open one of the cuts on his back so when you see the scar, don't blame Dr. Peters who stitched him up."

"Who brought him in?" Dr. Wilson pointed to Lynn sitting by the window. "Thanks."

Richard walked over to sit by Lynn. "Want to tell me what happened?"

"Before he was attacked, he helped me putting the headliner in the coupe. I gave him my number in case something came up. Guess my number was the first he hit before passing out. He was out cold when I got to his place- was not even locked up," Lynn said. "Have no idea why he would call me, I am just a recent acquaintance he booted out- he have any relatives around or anything?"

"Believe it or not, no, don't think he has anyone- relative or friend since his team dispersed," Richard said. "Think he is the closest we will ever come to knowing a guru sitting atop a mountain or a cave dwelling hermit in the middle of Los Angeles. Like I said, a difficult man, doubly so for one so damned smart. Think he is the fourth or fifth highest IQ ever recorded and just adrift except for his intellect."

"How come you are so interested in him besides to work for you, but he sure seems adverse to being around people."

"Yeah, wasn't always, though. Few years back, my daughter Zoe was in the young anti-wealthy, anti-free enterprise stupid stage of life. She was down Mexico way when grabbed by a criminal bunch who contacted me for ransom. Stupid me I paid it so was informed that was just the 'first installment'. To say I was frantic is to put it mildly. Could not locate the cartel, mercs I hired were at a loss and I was directed to Walter and his Scorpion crew. According to Zoe his plan had her and his crew walk out unharmed leaving the entire bunch that were holding her under their own motion activated weapons for twenty-four hours. He brought Zoe and his crew back without a scratch, and that entire ordeal straightened Zoe out and we have never been so close as we are now. He brought my daughter back to me- I can never repay that. Then to find he is one of the smartest people alive in a number of fields- how can I not want to get him on board." Richard laughed. "You saw him with the eggheads- like he said after that, they are quite smart- in their specific field- he is smart in a number of fields….. but a very difficult individual. Well, shall we see if he awake by now?" Richard rose and went to the receptionist to find out what room Walter was in. "Come on Lynn, least he can do is say thank you."

Walking into the room, Walter was hooked up to numerous machines and had an IV in his arm but was groggily awake.

"Well, Walter, learn any lessons about taking it easy?" Richard asked. "For a smart man you sure need your melon thumped to wise you up."

Walter's eyes slowly focused on Richard. "I feeeeel like crap. Why feeeel like crap when getttttting better?"

"Internal bleeding from your busted rib. Told you once you better get it together or next time we won't be able to get you back. Remember? This it number two, now." Richard said sternly. "Had Lynn not answered your call, you may not have made it this time."

Walter slowly blinked to look at Lynn, "Tank yyyyou Lynnnnn, youuuu uuuunique like youuuuuuuuur car. I feeeeeel like crrrap." And he drifted off to sleep.

The nurse came in, "He is pretty heavily drugged right now. Probably won't really be ready for conversation until tomorrow late morning. Dr. Wilson wants him immobile for a while, so he will be with us a few days."

"He is going to be pissed." Lynn said. "He does not like drugs. Never took the pain killers he was sent home with last time. They mess with his head and he can't think straight. You know he doesn't drink either- not even beer. I bet he will not remember a word you said, Richard. Difficult man, indeed. I'm heading home, been a long day. Good night, and you better figure out how to keep him tied down once he is discharged again or it will be a long time to get him healed the rate he is going."

"Good night, Lynn, and thanks."

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