Faster

by Alex Schuler

  “I got a job offer today,” he said.

  “What?” She sat bolt upright in her chair. “From?”

  “Where2.”

  “Where2?”

  “Yes.” He glanced through the glass walls to confirm the hallway was empty. “It’s an amazing opportunity, Sam. They have big plans for autonomy. They want me to lead their initiative.”

  “Harry’s there now, isn’t he?” She leaned forward. “I heard they raided the undergraduate class at Ashton.”

  “DSU, too. Nico just accepted a position with them as well.”

  “Wow.” She leaned back and stared deeply into his eyes. “Are you seriously considering their offer?”

  “I already accepted.”

  “What?” She shook her head in disappointment. When she spoke again, her voice was filled with confusion and disappointment. “Did it occur to you that maybe we should discuss this first?”

  “Where? At your mother’s?”

  “At least Dani gets some love there.” She sighed and stared at her wedding rings. “You keep making these decisions without me. Just like when you bought the house before we got married. Or that stupid BMW.”

  “I wanted to surprise you. We’re making so much more money now.”

  “You make these big decisions that impact more than just you, Ted.”

  “All my choices are the right ones. So is going to Where2.” He rolled his chair forward and took her hands. She resisted at first, but he refused to release her. “Where2 understands, Sam. They’re moving forward with full autonomy. In real cars. Not that golf cart Vin has planned. Their vision is my vision. It used to be yours, too. Taxis and trucks that drive themselves. Remember?”

  “That’s still my vision, Ted. We’re just going to prove the technology with the LSV. Our methodology shows us that—”

  “Your methodology’s taking too long.” He flicked her hands away and stood up. He began pacing back and forth. “By the time Where2 has a self-driving taxi for sale, you’ll still be testing golf carts in a lab.”

  “There’s no way Where2 will pass us, Ted. No matter how many people they hire. Look how much trial and error we went through during those ten challenges?”

  “We should have finished those in half the time. No thanks to Vin.”

  “He was right to make us go slow! Look at all the knowledge we gained during that time.”

  “I plan to take that knowledge with me when I leave.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Where2 has given me free rein to run the project the way I see fit. I told them I’d have something for them in one year.”

  “A year?” She snickered and rolled her eyes as she stood up. “You’re dreaming, Ted.”

  “No, Sam. You’re wrong.” They were now standing on opposite sides of the room. Ted was wrought with confusion. There was a time when he and Sam were in perfect synch with their hopes and dreams. Lately, he had felt like he didn’t understand her motivations. He shoved his hands in his pockets and lowered his head. “Why don’t we talk it over tonight. Work isn’t really the best place for this conversation. Dinner? We can order in.”

  “My mom’s having some of Dani’s friends and their parents over tonight.”

  “Oh.”

  “Besides, Ted, is there anything to discuss? You sound like you’ve made up your mind.”

  “I have.”

  “So, all we have to talk about is you convincing me why you’re right, and I’m wrong.” She paused briefly, but he had no comeback. She shook her head as she walked past him, stopping at the exit. “Good luck at Where2, Ted. I hope you know what you’re doing.”

  38

  Lori sat quietly at the small circular table, her hands clasped, gaze locked on the closed office door. To her right, Harry swayed his legs back and forth, his chair rocking and creaking to the movement. Nico was seated to her left, lost in the stream of information on his phone screen in one hand, pen dancing across his fingers in the other. The three of them had been waiting in Ted’s office since 11:00 a.m. for a meeting Ted had requested earlier that morning. It was now eleven minutes past the hour.

  “Where is he?” Lori asked. “I have an appointment at noon.”

  Ted’s office was a mess. The only clean space was the table where the three of them were sitting. His main desk was made up of three sections, all of which were piled with binders and folders. The walls were covered with copies of project plans and three whiteboards plastered with computations and formulas. Even the floor had boxes with random pieces of hardware piled in them and were spilling their contents to the ground.

  “Do we follow the ten-minute rule?” Harry said. “If the meeting organizer isn’t here for his own meeting, then we leave.”

  “Good luck explaining that to the Big Bad Wolff,” Nico said, never taking his eyes away from his phone. He’d given Ted that nickname five months ago shortly after coming to Where2. It had caught on with everyone on the team, unbeknownst to Ted. Nico looked up and opened his palm, catching his pen as it rolled from his fingertips. “I passed him on my way here. He was running to talk to Oliver and told me he’d be a few minutes late.”

  “We’ll just have to wait. Otherwise, we’ll have to face his wrath later.” Harry stopped fidgeting and looked at Lori. “Was he this bad at GSI? I mean, Ted was always a bit full of himself at DSU, but we were all good friends back then. Now, he’s, well, he’s really kind of a dick these days. Sorry.”

  “No, you’re right,” she said. “He’s a total dick. To answer your question, I didn’t report to him at GSI. But his team often complained about his attitude. Ted tried to recruit this guy Ralph to come to Where2, but Ralph told me he hated working for him. Ralph used to complain to Vin about him, but Ted’s designs were groundbreaking. That’s probably why Vin tolerated him. I also think Ted was sort of kept in check by Sam and Vin. Everyone was guided by the methodology those two started at Ashton, and I know that always annoyed Ted. It’s almost like he’s been unleashed now that he’s running the show.”

  “He’s gotten ridiculously bossy,” Nico said. “It’s like Rusty rubbed off on him.”

  “You can’t argue with the results,” Harry said. “Look how far we’ve come these months, and we’re ready to move testing from the lab to the road. That’s insane.”

  “Is it?” Lori asked. Although they were the only three in the room, she lowered her voice, almost to a whisper. “Harry, you’ve seen the coding. A lot of what Ted’s introduced this year is directly from what we were doing on Project Courier.”

  “Oliver told us Ted was bringing us the next generation of autonomous software,” Harry said. He leaned back in his chair, clasping his fingers behind his bald head. “I mean, I can see code from our days at DSU. But it only makes sense, right? I’ll be the first to admit that many of my software designs are based on what was done for DARPA.”

  “But did you bring those programs with you?” Lori asked. “Did you take anything from Boeing?”

  “No,” Harry said, lowering his eyes. “Well, I mean, I took some stuff. More like reference materials and documentation I’d created. Why? Are you saying Ted took the actual programs?”

  “It looks like it,” Lori replied.

  “I wonder if Oliver made him,” Harry said. He glanced at the door before looking back and forth between Nico and Lori. “I have a theory. The mapping software I inherited seemed to have a lot of GSI components.”

  “Are you talking about GSI’s mapping engine?” Nico asked.

  Suddenly the office door swung open. The handle slipped from Ted’s hand and the door slammed against the backstop. He looked upset. He closed the door and approached the small conference table in the corner of his office, opting to stand rather than sit down with everyone else.

  “Do I look different?” Ted asked, his tone curt and mocking. “I should. Because I
just got my ass chewed out by Oliver!”

  Lori tried not to show her annoyance at his hysterics. She considered glancing at his butt and making some sort of joke, but could see by his beet-red face that that would not fly. A sense of dread washed over her as she wondered if Oliver found out Ted was possibly using GSI’s code.

  “Have you heard the latest from our friends over at Tesla?” Ted asked. “The Model S will debut a new feature later this year. They’re calling it Autopilot. How the hell are they beating us?”

  “Relax, Ted,” Nico said, his tone as calm and laid-back as always. He put his phone down, flipping the screen facedown. “They aren’t using lidar. It’s a different approach than our design.”

  “How can you be sure?” Ted asked.

  “I know some people over there,” Nico replied.

  Lori felt her pulse return to normal, relieved that Ted’s discussion with Oliver had nothing to do with her concerns about the coding.

  “Nico’s right, Ted,” Lori said. “The tech is different. In my opinion, it’s a glorified cruise control.”

  “Harry, did you know about this?” Ted asked. Harry lowered his head without replying. “Great. Why the hell am I the last to know?”

  “You’ve got a full plate.” Lori glanced at the clock on her phone, calculating how much time she needed to get to her appointment. She knew she needed to speed things along. “We didn’t want to bother you with Tesla’s system when we all agreed they weren’t a threat. So, why are we all here in your office? This is your meeting, remember?”

  “Originally, I wanted to talk about Monday’s test launch.” Ted seemed to calm down, pulling out the chair in front of him to take a seat at the table. “But now I think we need to revisit the overall timeline. If Tesla’s really going live into production later this year, we’re going to need to redouble our efforts.”

  “What?” Nico asked, his voice slightly raised. “You’ve already got people working seventy to eighty hours a week. Staff members are burning out, Ted. We need to do this the right way. If you ask me, we shouldn’t even be testing on the road next week. It’s too soon.”

  “I agree with Nico,” Harry said. “There are too many holes in the coding. The simulations are showing—”

  “Enough simulations!” Ted slammed his fists against the table. “That’s half of what we did back at GSI. We need real-world data to move this project forward. I want the Volkswagen ready for Monday. I don’t care if people have to work all weekend without any sleep. If it takes nine women to make that baby, so be it.”

  “What?” Lori asked. “What the hell does that mean?”

  “It means we’re going to do the impossible,” Ted replied. “Road testing starts as planned.”

  Lori looked at Harry and then at Nico. She knew they shared her frustration and disappointment with Ted’s attitude and work ethic. Lori refused to look at Ted. After less than four months at Where2, she was already regretting her move. Although she didn’t take Ted’s outbursts personally, she found them to be incredibly counterproductive. She began to wonder if Vin and Sam would allow her to come back. Then she remembered Oliver required everyone to sign a non-compete clause, meaning she would need to wait a year before seeking employment with another firm working on self-driving technology. Lori sighed audibly, disappointed she had let herself fall into this trap.

  “I want a full staff meeting at one o’clock,” Ted said. He stood up and walked over to his desk, retrieving his keyboard from beneath a stack of papers. “Have everyone clear their calendars. I want all team leads ready to walk through the project plan to see where we can speed things up.”

  “I have lunch plans,” Lori said as she stood up. “I may be a few minutes late.”

  “Cancel them,” Ted replied. “I want everyone there on time.”

  “But it’s important. It’s a doctor’s appointment I made months ago. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  ***

  Sam closed her eyes, allowing herself to enjoy the warm, moist steam rising from her lunch. The aroma of garlic, oregano, tomatoes, pepperoni, salt, and mozzarella felt decadent and she had yet to take her first bite of pizza. The din of the crowded, noisy restaurant fell away as she imagined herself at a small café in Italy, enjoying an afternoon meal before taking a pleasant siesta. She opened her eyes and carved a petite wedge from her small deep dish pizza. The pie was hot, so she nibbled bits of it from her fork, the gooey cheese dripping straight onto her chin. She looked up when she saw her lunch date finally arrive.

  “You still come here?” Lori asked. “After all these years?”

  “First of all, Uncle Danny makes the best deep dish pizza in town,” Sam said, tossing another chunk of pizza into her mouth. “Second, I did win free pizza for life.”

  “It smells amazing. I don’t know how you keep that tiny figure of yours.”

  “I only come here once a month. It’s all about control, Lori.” Sam wiped the corners of her mouth dry. “Are you sure you don’t want to eat? I’m not going to finish this. I can have the waiter get you a plate.”

  “No, it’s fine. Like I said in my text message, I can’t stay long. Ted called an emergency meeting for one o’clock. So, how are things at GSI? How’s Vin? Ralph?”

  “Everyone’s great, Lori. We all miss you. The real question is, how are you?”

  “I’m . . . I’m fine.”

  “You don’t seem fine. Honestly, you never get rattled. When you asked me to lunch, you said it was urgent. Are you unhappy at Where2? I’m sure Vin will take you back. All you have to do is ask.”

  “Where2’s rough, Sam, but I can deal with it. It’s a love-hate thing, you know? There are times, like today, when I second-guess my decision. But then I remind myself that the work we are doing is incredible—groundbreaking in some areas. It’s the main reason I went there.”

  “And the money.” Sam waited for a reaction, but didn’t receive one. She sliced into her pie, taking time to secure a chunk of pepperoni onto the fork. “I know Ted threw a shitload of cash at you. It’s fine. I just want to make sure you’re happy there. What’s the hate part? My husband?”

  Lori smiled nervously and looked out the window.

  “I married him,” Sam responded, shaking her head. “I know what he’s like.”

  “Hey, isn’t your anniversary soon? The wedding was last May around this time, wasn’t it?”

  Sam was about to slide another piece of pizza into her mouth but paused, just as the cheese brushed against her lower lip. She put the fork back onto her plate.

  “It’s tomorrow.”

  “Wow! Congratulations. What do you have planned?”

  Sam immediately felt her eyes well up with tears. She wasn’t expecting Lori to ask about her anniversary. She pushed her pizza dish away, stealing a glance at her wedding rings. Bits of tomato sauce were sprinkled across the rose-gold edge. Sam wiped her fingers on her napkin.

  “I’m sorry,” Lori said, somewhat taken aback. “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s just that you remembered my anniversary, Lori. Ted . . . Ted didn’t.”

  “What?”

  “I mentioned it to him months ago. I wanted to plan something amazing, you know? I even thought we could go back to Europe.”

  “But you hate flying.”

  “I know,” Sam allowed herself to laugh, but it was only momentary. “I finally stopped asking. I told myself he was planning something special. I’d hoped things would get better when Ted went to Where2. So did he. But now he works these fourteen-hour days. Weekends. I never see him. Who knows, maybe he will surprise me with an exotic celebration this weekend.”

  Lori’s phone buzzed with a text message notification. It was from Ted, reminding her not to be late for the meeting. She quickly typed a reply.

  DOCTOR’S OFFICE IS BUSY. DOING MY BEST.

  Lori jamme
d her phone into her purse and leaned forward, taking Sam by her hands.

  “Sam, I hate to disappoint you, but we have a critical launch on Monday. Ted’s expecting everyone to work the weekend. I guarantee you, he will be there with us. He plans on taking the test vehicle out himself and wants to make sure we hit every deadline.”

  “Of course he does.” She patted Lori’s hand and forced herself to smile. Pulling her lunch plate closer, she went back to eating her pizza. “Can we not talk about Ted or my anniversary? Tell me about what you’re doing at Where2. You called it groundbreaking. Or is it something you can’t share?”

  “That’s the million-dollar question.” A rolled-up red-and-white-

  checkered napkin rested on the table between the two women. Lori slid the napkin closer and peeled it open, removing the fork hidden inside. She jammed the tines into Sam’s pie, extracting chunks of tomato and pepperoni. She slid the pizza into her mouth and smiled. “Damn, that’s good.”

  “It’s the best.”

  “Sam, I asked you to lunch because I feel like I don’t know who else to turn to.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  Lori stole another bit of pizza from Sam’s dish. She wiped her chin dry and motioned for the waiter, requesting a glass of water.

  “Harry started at Where2 almost a year ago,” Lori said. “He and a few others did a lot of the foundational work for their autonomy program. Then Ted and Nico showed up in January, followed by me in February. Now it’s mid-May, and we’re already moving from the lab to the road.”

  “That’s Ted,” Sam said dismissively. “He’s always in a rush.”

  “But think about it, Sam. That’s five months since he came on board.”

  “Well, you said he’s building on what Harry and the others did. How long has the program been active?”

  “It’s . . . it’s . . . Shit. Maybe this was a bad idea.”

  “What, Lori?” Sam slid the pizza dish to the side and took Lori by her hands, squeezing them firmly. She waited for Lori to lock eyes with her. “You can trust me. You know me. What’s going on?”