Jon postponed his visit to Harry’s office as long as possible. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that his new job assignment would undermine his friendship with Harry. Harry always spoke of his associates as adversaries rather than as colleagues. The one exception had been Lettie. She had had the strength to deal with his difficult personality and had won him over with her unfailing efforts on his behalf.
He also knew that Harry was working with feverish desperation on a project that had nothing to do with HTPS Industries. For someone as single-minded and dedicated as Harry, any interruption would be considered an invasion of his personal space.
If only he could discuss some of his concerns with Lettie. She had more experience than anyone when it came to handling Harry Sale. But Lettie had answered none of his emails or phone calls. He had given up even trying to contact her. If she wanted to get back in touch with him, the ball was in her court.
Near quitting time, Jon walked slowly toward Harry’s office and knocked lightly on the door. No answer. He knocked harder and more persistently. Still no answer.
Jon opened the door and looked in. Harry was in his habitual mode, staring intently at a screen dense with code.
“Harry, have you got a minute?”
Harry turned from the screen, an unreadable expression on his face. “You’ve already used up fifteen seconds,” said Harry.
“I’ve got a couple of questions about your new operating system.”
Harry looked at him sharply, cocking his head to one side. “Have you got a couple of questions or does Ted Blume?”
Jon was surprised by Harry’s acuity. “Well, I guess they are really questions from Ted.”
“You guess?” Harry replied sarcastically. He turned his attention back to the screen and inserted a new condition in a nested series of “if” statements.
Jon waited patiently for Harry to finish up. Unfortunately Harry seemed to have forgotten he was there. After he inserted the new condition, he paged-up in the code and read through all the conditions again, muttering all the while.
Jon felt uneasy but plunged ahead. “I’ve been asked to document your new operating system, Harry.”
Harry ignored him and opened the next line to insert a new statement.
“Some people are coming in the next day or so and we need to have something written up for them.”
Harry turned abruptly away from the screen. “What people?”
Spooked by the ominous tone in his voice, Jon could not reply immediately.
Harry raised his hands with the palms in and wiggled his fingers, coaxing Jon to hurry up with it.
“From the Pentagon,” said Jon.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Harry shouted. He flung his hands off his desk so violently that he succeeded in knocking a sheaf of notes to the floor. “Who the hell asked them to come?”
Harry had turned about in his chair and was glaring at him.
“I don’t know who asked them,” said Jon defensively. “And don’t shoot me. I’m just the messenger.”
Harry sat back in his chair and shook his head from side to side. His expression softened.
“Sorry, Jon. You just don’t know how it is. You don’t know what they’re like. I’ve had to deal with these Pentagon creeps before. Take my word for it; they are an incredible bunch of assholes! I just hope a guy named Meyers is not among them. Do you know if Meyers is going to be coming?”
“I have no idea,” Jon said.
“I sure as hell hope he isn’t. If you look up ‘asshole’ in the dictionary, this guy’s picture is next to it.” Harry looked genuinely distressed. His hands were raised and he was pulling at the tangled hair at the sides of his head. “Jon,” he implored, “You’ve got to keep these Pentagon sleazebags away from me.”
This was just the opening Jon had been waiting for. “Well, Harry, if we could give them some sort of document on how your new Operating System works, we might be able to keep them off your back.”
“You really think that would work?” Harry asked.
“It would be a start, anyway.”
“Well, I guess I’m off the hook then. I’ve already put together a document that gives a fairly complete picture of how it works.”
“Great!” said Jon, impressed by Harry’s forethought. “And we’ll also need an installation document.”
“What do you mean installation document?” Harry snapped.
Jon tried to push aside his irritation. He was getting really tired of Harry’s unrelenting attack mode.
“Just a list of instructions on how to install it. You know, a standard ‘How-To’ installation document.”
Harry looked at Jon as if he was some kind of slope-headed creature that had just climbed down from a tree.
“What the hell are you talking about? There is no fucking standard. The whole thing is customized for Big Moe.”
“But you installed it on those PCs,” Jon said.
“That was a scaled-back version and as it turned out, it wouldn’t work right anyway. The full-blown operating system is completely customized for Big Moe. I was able to do it quickly because I know Big Moe’s architecture inside out. If I came in cold on some other system, it would probably take me six months. There’s no standard install. It’s all defined by exceedingly narrow tolerances.”
Harry continued on with his explanation, basically saying the same thing over and over, each time in simpler terms.
Jon tried to keep his face expressionless as Harry talked down to him. Harry was explaining things in the way one might talk to a twelve-year-old, a rather slow one at that. Jon had hoped to ask Harry a few more questions about the quantum computer, but this was obviously the wrong time to try.
“I guess I got what I needed,” Jon said, although he remained unconvinced that he’d gotten any real information at all.
“Good!” said Harry sarcastically and then turned back to the computer.
As he walked back to his office, Jon felt like he had been mugged in a back alley. He felt no more than an inch high. For the first time he had some insight into what others said about Harry. As he looked ahead at what he would be up against in the coming months, he felt nothing but dread.
On the way home from work Jon stopped at Miller’s and had a beer. He sipped it slowly and furtively while he kept an eye out for Lettie. No sign of her. In an odd sort of way he was almost happy she wasn’t there. He was hard-pressed to think of anything he could say that would make the situation any better.
Jon nursed his beer for about half an hour, trying to look casual as he glanced about the place. When he finally finished the glass, the bartender asked him if he wanted another. Jon declined the offer and left Miller’s. He walked slowly, like an old man.
Maybe I should just get another job, he thought as he drove home. The hell with Lettie and Harry and HTPS Industries! But he knew he would never do it. He just couldn’t get Lettie out of his mind. Somehow he had to find a way to get things back to the way they were.
The evening was dull and moved slowly. He tried to listen to the news on PBS, but could not stay focused. He could not help but wonder what the next few days would bring. Would the Pentagon people be as bad as Harry indicated? All in all, it looked like he would be treading on quicksand for some time to come.
At eight o’clock the phone rang, startling Jon to the point that he literally leapt out of his chair.
“Hello,” he said. “This is Jon Graeme.”
“Hi, Jon. It’s Lettie.”
Jon stopped breathing. His mind raced, trying to come up with something to say. But he could think of nothing.
“I called to apologize, Jon. What I said to you was way out of line. I know you weren’t after my job. I was just … upset.”
“I know, Lettie—”
“No,” she said. “Don’t interrupt. Let me finish.” There was a brief pause and Jon could hear her taking a deep breath. “After I thought it through I realized it was all on HTPS Industries. I
’ve been jerked around by them before. I understand now that you weren’t after my job or anything like that. I’m really sorry for what I said and I hope you’ll forgive me.”
“Of course,” said Jon. “But Lettie—”
“Jon, let me finish. As I said, I’ve been jerked around by those guys before. But what happened this time has made me rethink my whole life. I used to imagine I knew where I was headed. I wanted a career. I wanted success. I wanted kudos. But I’m starting to think none of that matters.”
Her voice was trembling. Jon could imagine tears running down her face.
“Lettie, when can I see you?”
She choked back a sob. “You don’t understand, Jon. You see, you’re still part of the problem. I don’t know where I’m at with men anymore. I used to think I loved Harry. And then he changed and then I changed and things just weren’t the same. And then I thought … well, never mind that.”
“Lettie, can we go out to dinner sometime soon? Not Miller’s, but a nice place.”
“You just don’t get it!” Lettie almost shouted. “I need space, Jon. I need to work out where I’m at. I really don’t think we should see each other for a while.”
There was a long pause. Jon was devastated by her request, fearful that it meant the end of things for them. But he had to stay positive.
“I think I understand, Lettie. But I want you to know this: when you’re ready, I’ll still be there for you.”
“You’re the best, Jon. You really are.”
There was another pause.
“Take care,” Lettie said and hung up the phone.
Jon stood in the kitchen for a full minute with the phone in his hand. His mind was racing and he tried to recall word for word what Lettie had just told him. For a moment he didn’t know what to make of it. But after several minutes of sifting through her words, he realized that she had not shut the door on him altogether. There was still a shred of hope.
Chapter Twenty
The morning meeting was held in Ted Blume’s office. Two other technical writers attended, along with Jon and Ted. Their names were Tina Johnston and Ed Merkle. Jon had to suppress a smile when he saw them. Harry had always referred to them as Heckle and Jeckle. It was easy to see how Harry had come up with this. They were both slim and birdlike and always dressed in black. Though no personal connection existed between the pair, they seemed to move as one. Their movements were short and abrupt, especially the jerk of their heads. With the departure of Lettie from the Advanced Programming Division, they had both been promoted to Grade B technical writers.
Harry Sale had bowed out of the meeting, claiming pressing programming issues. Ted did not hide his irritation when he informed them of this. As he spoke, the heads of Tina and Ed jerked toward him simultaneously. Jon had to cover his mouth with his hand to mask a broad smile.
Jon was asked to speak first. He told them about the existence of documentation for Harry’s new operating system. He also explained that there was no easy installation procedure for the OS, that it required complete customization to a particular system. This presented a particularly thorny problem since the only one who could install such a system was Harry. Harry’s schedule was booked into the indefinite future.
“This is not good,” said Ted Blume. “I’ll go to Harry’s office and pick up the documentation that he put together. I’m not optimistic about what we’ll get. I’ve seen the stuff he’s cooked up before. And I’ll yank his chain about the installation. I’m sure he could put together some kind of installation software if he had a mind to. Harry’s famous for giving you an eighty hour estimate when he doesn’t want to be bothered with something. Then when he does it, it takes him two or three hours. So I’ll press him on this.”
Lots of luck, Jon thought.
Ted Blume moved on to some more mundane programming issues that involved Ed and Tina. When he finished up with that, he sprang his surprise.
“You’ll all be required to attend a reception for the Pentagon staff visiting today. They’ll attend a demo of Harry’s new OS later in the morning. At noon we’ll meet with them for lunch at the ground floor dining hall in Building A. It’s informal, but I expect all of you to be on your toes. Watch out for Eric Meyers. He’s their point man. Try to keep him happy. Not an easy job, I’m afraid.”
Beady eyes wide with panic, Ed and Tina both bounced around in their chairs to face Ted.
“I know, I know,” said Ted. “The guy’s a bully. But you have to understand, if they’re going to invest millions in this company they need to have someone who will protect their interests. You two don’t have to worry; Jon will be the one fielding questions.”
Oh great, thought Jon. Now you tell me!
Ted ended the meeting by bringing up a few extraneous matters related to projects involving Ed and Tina. Jon listened politely, trying to push aside anxiety about his scheduled encounter with Eric Meyers. According to both Harry and Ted, the man was a piece of work.
After the morning meeting, Jon got an extra large coffee and returned to his office. To keep busy, he created a shell document for tracking the progress of the project. It was depressing to put it together because it consisted of nothing but blanks to be filled in later.
At about ten in the morning Ted Blume slouched into his office looking heavier than ever. His posture and grim expression told Jon everything he needed to know about his encounter with Harry. Lips pursed in disgust, Ted threw down a folder on Jon’s desk.
“There it is—Harry’s documentation. For what it’s worth.”
Jon opened the folder and did a double take at the sight of Harry’s angular and minute handwriting. There were four pages of it, consisting of nothing but densely packed partial differential equations. There was not so much as a word of English to be found, just dense strings of equations that dovetailed into each other in a maze of cryptic characters.
“What the fuck do these mean? Pardon my French,” Ted said.
Jon could relate to his boss’ puzzlement. He could remember just enough from his college calculus courses to know that these equations were way over his head. At the very least, he would need some kind of key to explain what the different variables represented.
Jon blew out a puff of air and shook his head. “I can’t make head or tail of this.”
“I hate to ask you this, Jon, but can you ask Harry to translate it into something that we can pass on to the Pentagon people?”
“Okay,” said Jon, his voice flat. He didn’t want Ted to detect the despair in his voice.
Ted was still apologizing. “I tried to get the scoop myself and got raked over the coals. The guy is turning into a psycho.”
“I’ll do what I can,” Jon said.
“I got the same thing out of him as you did about the installation of the OS. It sounded like a load of crap to me. He could write the software to do it if he had the mind to. But we’ll let that one slide for now. We’ll just focus on obtaining some kind of overview of the OS together. We can always include the equations themselves as an appendix.”
“What if this Eric Meyers asks me about installation documentation?”
“Well, I guess the only thing we can do is give him the same dodge Harry’s given us. Tell him that the installation would have to be completely customized—blah, blah, blah. That’ll piss him off, no doubt. Then we can tell him we’ll see what we can do to expedite the installation, etcetera, etcetera. I know it’ll be hard, Jon, but we’re just going to have to project the old can-do attitude for this guy and stay positive even when he’s beating on us.”
“Will Harry be coming to the reception?”
“I didn’t even ask him. You don’t want to put Eric Meyers and Harry Sale in the same room. It would be like inviting lightning to strike.”
“It will be hard to field their questions without Harry.”
“I know, I know. But this won’t be the first time we’ve sold a system using smoke and mirrors. Let’s just hope the demo goes well.”
After Ted Blume left his office, Jon tried to prepare for the reception. He asked himself hypothetical questions he thought he might encounter and tried his best to come up with strategies for answering them, but there were just too many blanks to be filled in. He ended up feeling frustrated and ill-prepared. He would simply have to wing it.
Shortly before it was time to leave for the reception, he decided that the best thing he could do was to turn his mind completely away from the problems he was facing. He began to think about the book he had been reading the night before. Following Harry’s suggestion, he had picked up a copy of Engines of Creation, by Eric Drexler. He had been fascinated. The book suggested a whole new world of technological possibilities: molecular machines, self-replicating nano-robots, and nano-computers controlling molecular assembly. It almost seemed the stuff of science fiction. But at the same time the exposition was so brilliant and convincing that he had to admit the possibility that someday it could all come true.
Then a darker thought came to him. He had heard of mentally troubled people building a system of delusions out of books they had read. He remembered one particularly grisly case where a man had killed his son re-enacting the story of Abraham in the Bible. Was Harry using Engines of Creation as a source book for a system of delusions? After all, he had received a serious head injury and had been unconscious for nearly three days.
But Jon had trouble associating any kind of craziness with Harry. Harry was perhaps the most eccentric person he had ever encountered, but he also seemed to be absolutely rooted in reason and rationality. Wasn’t the creation of his new operating system proof that Harry was on the trail of something entirely new to the world?
Jon placed his hands on the desk and stared down at them. Why was it that everything involving Harry Sale got him moving round and round in circles with no clear answers and no sense of where it would end? Every time he seemed to move closer to grasping what was happening, it all slipped away. Lettie was exactly right in her estimation of Harry as the world’s most exasperating person.
The Infinity Program Page 14