Chapter 34

“I dunno, Matty. A P-FET high side linear regulator is gonna be inherently unstable unless ya do some real fancy shit.”

“But what about all of the new ICs coming out of National, AD, and LT? They have a p-channel FET at the high side in their low-dropouts.”

“True. And that’s the joy of the whole regulator circuit getting squished down onto a single substrate. You can precisely control leakage paths, coupling, temperature drifts, and all the other parametric shit.”

“What about a discrete PNP circuit? The PNP bipolar is low dropout.”

“That’s because the saturation voltage is fairly low and you don’t have to worry about Vbe being added to the dropout voltage like an NPN. The real reason series-pass NPNs are common in consumer and industrial designs is cost. But ya ain’t gonna see them in low-side regs.”

“Yet AD and National and LT continue to ship them.”

“Again, you’re right. But we don’t own a wafer fab and I sure as fuck don’t wanna do chip lithography; that shit is way over my pay grade. If you really wanna do the dual-rail regulator this way, you need to keep in mind that a pass element within the feedback loop is gonna have a variable gain, changing with input and load. Which makes the freq comp a pain in the ass. And don’t forget ‘bout the miller cap for common emitter, or source. Look at that bode plot ya did. See that pole-zero? It’s because comp is used both ways around the error amp, with the current being pulled through the output divider. Ya do not wanna design a voltage or current source where the output ESR and output capacitance cannot handle a varying minimum load current.”

“Did you know this stuff out of college, Mark? Has the curricula changed that much?”

“Shit has changed, but not that much. Ya kids know a lot more digital and systems-level shit, but less discrete analog. But when ya look at what’s coming down the tube, it’s probably not a bad idea. I learned more digital electronics in the military than I did in college. The fuck-ton of difference here is that I had something few engineers had right outa school. I had seven years experience in the military fixin shit and figuring out what makes this shit work and what makes it go tits up.”

“Hate to break you two away from your nerdy discussion, but both of you engineering geeks needs to answer the colonel’s last message. He’s all hot and bothered about your latest control board design.”

“Yeah? Tell Colonel Stewart to go to the head and jerk off.”

“Don’t be crude, Mark.”

“Why not?”

“Never mind. Just answer the colonel’s fucking questions, Mark.”

“Don’t be so crude, Dinky.”

“Fuck you, Mark.”

“Maybe later, I have a headache now.”

“What the fuck, girl? Why ya slam that disconnect switch?”

“Dianne was listening to us, she had the embedded microphones hot. Now that is crude, and it’s intrusive. I’m gonna change the default state for the spatial microphones in our areas.”

“Whatever. Why ya care if she listens in on your lab?”

“I do not really mind it ... But it just doesn’t seem right.”

“Maybe not. But she’s doing it because she’s got her panties in a wad about me. She thinks I’m about to go bonkers, so she tracks me around the area and listens in on wherever I’m at.”

“Mark, I do not think that Dianne is stupid. You must have given her reason to worry about your shit.”

“Yeah, I sorta went a bit over the side a little while back. We were joking around, I sorta got lost, and my mind went back in time to when we had a thing going, and I, uh ... sorta played with her tits for a few seconds.”

“How did she react?”

“Couldn’t really tell because she closed her eyes.”

“That probably means she was getting into the feeling. Dianne still loves you, Mark. Be careful, do not hurt her.”

What the fuck, over? Everybody is telling me that the other person wants my bones and to be careful? Yeah sure. We all know how that shit turns out. Why do all these woman have to be so fucking good looking? No shit, I’m a moron. Women are attractive to men by design. Fuck you, Mommy Nature. You’re makin my shit difficult.

“Mark? Tell me what you are thinking.”

“Mostly ‘bout how Mommy Nature is a bitch. So ya gonna do this as a discrete error-amp design or what?”

“I’ll do a few more SPICE runs and tweak parametrics. If it doesn’t seem to be working, then I will look at the LT and National stuff. But their data sheets have too many holes in them, so we would have to do a lot of testing if using a fully integrated design.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’m gonna cook chops and potatoes tonight, and was gonna invite Tim and Dinky over. If ya want rabbit food with that, you make it. Gotta go see what got the colonel so hot and bothered. See ya, kiddo.”

“ ... but we believe that the new strategy began with the infiltrations and the long-term planning, which seemed to coincide with the Empire State Building sniper attack, of February 97.”

“Dunno, colonel. I’m gonna have to take a pass on all of this international terrorism intrigue. I thought that’s what your NSA guys and the CIA are supposed to be doin’. We got our hands full just tracking all of those whack-jobs inside CONUS.”

“You are correct, Mark. The foreign operations are the domain of the CIA. Given that, we believe that these foreign operators are establishing religionist cells within CONUS. So it now becomes a domestic surveillance issue; and of which, I would prefer such activities to be distanced from the Central Intelligence Agency.”

“Fucking ducky, sir. So not only we gotta add Arab whack-jobs to our zoo of American whack-jobs, now we got cells internal to the government? Fuck me. Ya know, The Watchers network is close to it’s physical bandwidth limits. Don’t know how we’re gonna do it and still remain isolated from your feebbie idiots.”

“I am certain that your people will find a technical solution. What is Watcher status for the major search and host sites?”

“The four we started a year or two ago, for Yahoo and MSN and Lycos and Excite, are all a steaming pile of dogshit. We also are trying to understand this meta-search, but I don’t think we got the chops to understand the algorithms.”

“And that is the other subject that I wanted to talk to you about. There is a researcher employed by Stanford, working on a project called ‘BackRub’. This person seems to be the principal engineer guiding the work of several post-grad students. There are two NSA labs that have commented that he may have developed the next generation of methods to span and map computer networks. I want you to go to California and talk to this man. I would suggest that you take Miss Edison and Doctor Barts with you.”

“Yeah? So what’s the guys name, sir?”

“Scott Hassan.”

“Fuck Yahoo. Them people couldn’t see what’s coming if it slapped them upside the head. Ya wanna know what those Stanford computer science dweebs are doing? They’re doin a fuck-ton more than just ways to span the networks and find shit, they are analyzing the ways each node on the network are making links to each other. These fuckers are doing stuff that can give ya both qualitative and quantitative numbers that rank network connections and each individual node in the network. Those two fuckers, if they can get someone to back them, are gonna kick ass. Matty? Ya agree?”

“Yeah, all the time while flying back, I was thinking about that, Mark. It scares me what those three men are doing.”

“Three? Other than Hassan, who are the other two, Miss Edison?”

“Larry Page and Sergey Brin. And like you said in the initial brief, Scott Hassan is the principal developer of the algorithms to analyze and rank websites.”

“Yep, I’m thinking that Brin and Page are the big-idea men. Jackie and Matty are right. Those two guys are sorta like Bill Hewlett and David Packard in their California garage, looking to start a company. Your NSA folks had better get in with these two fuckers before they take over the world. And I agree with Matty, they’re both super-smart mother-fuckers.”

“An unusual level of hyperbole for you, Mark. Any ideas as to how we can support their efforts?”

“For now, wouldn’t do shit, colonel. Keep outa the kitchen and let those boys cook. I did do one thing for ‘em, though. I bought ‘em two server-grade machines and gave them my lawyer’s name if they want legal help or money.”

“And the configuration of those two computer systems you procured for their research?”

“Yes sir, damn right I did ‘em up. Both the Sun and Pentium boxes were fully loaded with our fifth-gen board. We got those fuckers, at least while they’re at that warehouse site next to Stanford.”

“What did Richard Feynman say ‘bout this shit?”

“Geez, another fucking bongo-player quote? Go ahead, Mark, tell me.”

“He said, ‘What I cannot create, I do not understand.’ If we can’t build an accurate model that accurately predicts system behavior, then we don’t got shit for a design spec, and our shit can’t be deterministic.”

“Yeah, yeah. But we’ll need Jackie’s help with the thermodynamics. Next subject. Did Tim talk to you about the Y2K test suite?”

“Yep. Not that I give a flying fuck, but the hardware test checks both the BIOS and the RTC. As for the app-level behavior, I have no plan for windoze shit, other than to enter dates and verify, then watch the roll-over effects. Ya got any ideas?”

“Nope. You know I don’t use that shit.”

“Yeah, but most of the end-user boxes in The Watcher network are windoze. We’re gonna have to figure something out for remote testing. Either that, or we brick their stuff and have the colonel intercept their next shipment of replacements.”

“I vote for the latter. Then we can put the fifth-gen boards in them.”

“Good point, girl. Do we have the manufacturing capacity?”

“Jackie is ramping up the Twin Falls production line. She’s cranking out fifty to a hundred per week with that new mini wave machine. Next subject. What tonight’s schedule?”

“You can take the Montana run. I’m gonna take the Colorado run, then make for the northwest Texas run the next morning.”

“How long in Texas?”

“At least two days. Probably three. Why?”

“Tim said that the colonel wants another calibration flight over our dickhead neighbors.”

“Yeah? That means they’re gonna do a sat-run. Whatever. If you’re busy, have Joe run it.”

“Taking Dianne with you?”

“Nope. But was thinking about taking the kittys.”

“Take Dianne. That’s too much flying time alone.”

“Nope. But might think ‘bout taking Joe.”

“Shouldn’t Joe stay here? We’re supposed to have two pilots on site or within 200 kilometers.”

“That ain’t my rule. That’s from Jonathon; and he can hug a root. Been telling the colonel for several years that we ain’t gonna do no tactical high-speed response shit. Ya know my rules, kiddo. If someone starts shootin’ we all go inside the control room and wait it out.”

“Okay. See ya later, Mark.”

“Fort Worth Center, Cessna two three three papa juliet on the Stephenville RNAV for three two, I have the runway in sight.”

Two three three papa juliet, cleared for the visual. Cancel on one two seven point one five.”

“Center, please cancel IFR now, three papa juliet. Good night, sir ... Stephenville-Clark traffic, Cessna two three three papa juliet is on a four-mile final for three two. Stephenville.”

Fuck me, should have put the IR cameras on both TBMs. This thing is a brick compared to my TBM. Whatever. Looks like my sorry ass is back in good ol’ Tejas. Land of the steers and queers and the terminally freaked out ... Wonder when the FBO opens. Fuckit, we’ll spend the night in the plane.

“Stephenville traffic, three papa juliet on short final, full stop.”

Damn, there ain’t shit around this place. Hope the FBO got a courtesy car. How the fuck does the colonel choose these fuckwit airfields?”

“Okay, guys. Short trip around the tarmac, then back in for the night. They got coyotes in these parts.”

What the fuck is with the port engine? Why is the hyd reservoir low? When is that fucking FBO gonna open? Might as well open up the other panel...

“Mark? Mark! My God, it is you! Bubba was right.”

What the fuck over?! Shit. Fuck me. Just fuck me to tears forever.

“Mark? don’t ya recognize me?”

“What ya want?”

“What do I want? Mark, I am your sister.”

“Whatever. What ya want? I got work to do.”

“Where do ya work, Mark? Where do ya live? Where have ya been all these years?”

“Been around. Been working outa state.”

“Mark, when mom died, we couldn’t find you. And dad died last year. We hired an investigator, but he was not able to find anything other than an address in California, where your property had been sold by a lawyer.”