Young Again
Copyright© 2018 by Edward Douglass Patterson
Chapter 36: Others Step Forward To Help
“Ash.”
Ash turned smiling when she heard John call her name. When he seemed hesitant to embrace her, she took the lead. It was a few seconds before they separated. “I haven’t seen you except for breakfast yesterday. Where have you been?”
“I asked Romano where I could find a computer that I could use. I was using Wayne’s until he got back. He suggested to Bee Knight that she show me how to operate a drone. She also showed me how to hack into the drone software. She’s busy working with the drone engineers, so I decided to come ask you for a computer and hardware for the project that I would like to do.”
“Do you know what you need and how much it will cost?” Ashley had taken out her phone.
“You don’t want to know what it is first?” John tilted his head to the side, and a smile appeared on his face. “I thought I would have to explain and write up a request.”
“You spent over a day preparing before bringing this to me. I want to know what you are so interested in, but my guess is something related to robotics. That you had to go borrow a computer is what made me realize that I was neglecting to provide the basic equipment that some of the people working for me required. We made it so that you cannot go back to school, then I didn’t give you the support that you required.”
“It’s not as if you didn’t have a thousand other things on your mind. You need to have a support staff.”
“Mrs. Pierce is handling HR, recruiting, and a whole lot of other jobs. Maria is my assistant, but I have been letting her help her mother after we had the big increase in people eating here. Let’s go grab her and then go over to Mrs. Pierce’s office. You can tell me what you are planning while we are walking.”
“The sensing the location of people is good, but I figured that it would also be helpful for the military and the police, especially the FBI SWAT team, to be able to see what is going on before going in somewhere. You have the armor material, which you can also make lenses out of. It is practically indestructible. If we made a remote camera unit out of that material, it could be sent in before people entered. I don’t know enough about what they would actually want, but if nothing else, we could make a unit the size of a baseball and throw it in. It could have internal wheels that rotated the camera to look around once it’s in the room. If it was a lot heavier on one side, it might also be able to roll. I was going to ask Ali to help me with sketches of a couple of ideas and then go talk to the military guys.”
Ashley had stopped and was looking at John with a huge smile on her face. “I knew you were more than just a pretty face. You should talk with Lieutenant Douglass and Chief Alvarez. Chuck and Ernie should have a good idea of who you should talk to among the Marines and the SWAT Team.”
When they picked up Maria, they switched to discussing how to include everyone that had changed in the preparation for going after Omara, learning about the Young Again change, or the other projects they were working on.
When they got to the HR offices, they found that Sally Pierce had hired a secretary.
“May I help you? Mrs. Pierce is very busy.” It was obvious that Ashley wasn’t recognized. They were just three teenagers.
“Hi, I’m Ashley Sawyer. This is my assistant Maria Cuervo and John Wilson, my manager for special projects. I need to talk to Sally about some additional positions that I need filled.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you, Miss Sawyer. I’m Jean Cushman. I just started this morning. Mrs. Pierce is conducting an interview. Do you need me to interrupt her?”
“No, we can continue discussing what our needs will be. Do you know if Sarah Pierce has talked with her mother about filling any positions at Young Again?”
“I know that Mrs. Pierce has a number of positions, which she is hiring for. She hasn’t mentioned that there were other companies.”
“Sawyer Holding is made up of a number of companies. The largest is MSI, and they have their own HR and recruiting. Young Again is the only one that we have given a name to, though everyone is calling the one that Sandra Vickers is the CEO of Sawyer Security. Wayne Sobczak is the manager of our computer consulting company. I haven’t had time to let Sally know about that yet. We’ll go across the hall to the conference room. Let her know that we are there when she gets free.”
There was a knock at the door. John got up and opened the door. Sally Pierce and an older man entered the conference room.
“Ashley, this is Kevin Roberts. I was interviewing him for taking over HR. This is his resume. He was the HR director at Rusti. Jim and I talked over Kevin taking over HR, and I would concentrate on recruiting. This is his resume.” Sally handed Ashley the resume.
“Glad to meet you. This is Maria Cuervo, my assistant, and John Wilson. Sally, I want to make John my manager for special projects. I’ll explain that later. Kevin, if you don’t mind, I would like Maria and John to stay here while I ask you a few questions.”
Kevin looked over to Sally.
“I told you that we do things differently here.”
“No, I don’t mind.”
“I just want to keep this short, then we can get on to what I came here to talk to Sally about.” She motioned for Kevin and Sally to be seated. “If Jim Pierce recommends you, you aren’t a part of the problems at RUSTI. We have hired a number of former RUSTI employees and will probably hire more. Do you think that may cause any problems since you were probably the one that told them that they were no longer employed?”
“I see that you have some knowledge of RUSTI’s upper management. No, I told everyone that I would be joining them the following week as soon as I finished all the paperwork for the layoff.”
Ashley nodded. “I am the Chairwoman of Sawyer Holdings. Currently, my grandfather is the CEO. RUSTI was an example of how not to run a company that he has used in educating Sarah Pierce and me. Sarah, Sally, and Jim’s daughter, is the CEO of Young Again, one of the companies under Sawyer Holding. Sawyer Holding HR, recruiting, etc., will be performing the same functions for Young Again and several other new companies under Sawyer Holding until they expand and mature enough that they have their own. This will mean that what you, Sally, me, and most of the other employees that we now have will be doing will be confusing at times if you look at what is being done as you would for a single mature company. Your thoughts?”
“Mrs. Pierce mentioned that, but I hadn’t realized that so many of the employees, especially senior management, were so young. I’m not sure I understand how…” He stopped, unsure how to continue.
“We will operate a lot differently, especially at first, until I and the other young employees learn more about the positions that we have. We all have a lot to learn, both job-wise and information-wise. Sarah and I have started a special tutoring program that Stanford has set up for us. We are looking at what type of educational programs we will need for some of our employees. You should plan on hiring someone to coordinate that.” She stopped, then turned to Sally. “Do you know if anyone that was with us this past weekend would fit such a position? That is one of the things that I wanted to discuss with you. How can we utilize everyone? That includes the military dependents if Mario has no objections.”
“Ash, you are confusing him. Tell him he’s hired and have Mrs. Pierce go get the paperwork for him to sign. Then you can explain things and not try to tell him only the public half of the story.” Maria told her boss.
“Sally, see, that’s why I needed to talk to you. We didn’t get ahead of the change, and we may end up with a bunch of bored people looking for ways to be useful. John has come up with something that we need, but I want to make sure that everyone knows that we want their help and assure that they have the resources that they need.” Ashley’s lips formed a little circle. “Oops. Kevin, I would like to have you start as soon as you can. If you have the time today, I would like to have your input on what we will be discussing. Sally, let me get Sarah, Wayne, and Sandy to join us. If you and Kevin could go take care of the paperwork while we wait for them, it would allow Kevin to join us. Maria, do you think that we need anyone else?”
“Not that is available, but I need to warn you that you and Sarah need to eat dinner, then leave for play practice. John and I can explain what we talked about to the others, but you need to get ready.”
“Sally, make it a priority to get Roberta the help she needs. Maria is indispensable as my assistant. Wayne is also going with us. He wants to ensure the network doesn’t change the play.”
When Ashley entered the cafeteria, she saw Sarah talking with Helen Page. Her daughter Debbie and Derek Wong were standing nearby, and they looked upset.
“My partner told me that if I didn’t go back to Hawaii, she wanted to buy me out. What she is offering is less than what my share is worth. I need to support Debbie and myself. I have a reservation for us to return in the morning.” Helen glanced over at her daughter. “Debbie asked to stay here, but I want her with me.”
“Ms. Page, I won’t be safe for you and Debbie by yourselves in Hawaii. Wayne and his family came under attack last night. If we hadn’t sent people to bring them here, they might have been killed before the police arrived.” Sarah saw that her argument was not swaying Helen.
“I’m a travel agent, not a doctor or a computer wizard. Nobody is going to go to the trouble to kill me. Let alone Debbie.”
“I was just a high school student when they first tried to kill me. They killed millions just to kill a handful of people.” Ashley joined the discussion. “We could use someone to arrange our travel and coordinate arrangements for our visitors.”
“You don’t have enough people to keep me busy. Everyone is hiding here, so you don’t really have any plans to go anywhere.”
“I and two others are going to Tucson to take part in the testing of the modified drones.” Lieutenant Douglas had been listening at a nearby table.
“Dr. Tuilier wants to bring over seven or eight people from Paris in early December. They are planning to stay at least through late January. We are starting to get other doctors interested in learning more about what we are doing to learn about the Young Again change. Once everything becomes public, we will have more wanting to visit than we can handle without disrupting the research.” Dr. May Flower added.
“I need someone to charter planes to take the group that is going to Washington over the Thanksgiving week. We need to rent a fleet of SUVs and arrange hotel accommodations so that we aren’t spread out across the city.” Sandy Vickers presented her requirements.
“I was just talking with Sally Pierce about all the people that I need to hire. I hadn’t even thought about someone to handle the travel arrangements, but I never had anything to do with that. I have so many things to do that I forgot about play practice tonight.” Ashley looked directly at Helen Page. “Please go talk with Sally Pierce and Kevin Roberts, who is the new head of HR. Sally saw the need for her to be a full-time recruiter. Tell them I would like you to either work for Sawyer Holding directly or you could expand your travel agency by opening an office here. A travel coordinator is just one of the jobs we will have to fill.” She looked around at all the people listening. “Everyone should write up a resume and give it to Sally because I want to employ as many of those who were with us this past weekend as I can. That includes military dependents.”
“I have one more new position that I would like to announce.” Ashley looked around. She had the attention of everyone in the cafeteria. “John Wilson came to me to request funding and support for a project that he thought would help both the military and the FBI. His idea is to make use of the new material that we are using for the body armor and many other things to provide them with video cameras to inspect areas that they may be going into. He spent most of the last two days researching his idea before even mentioning it to me. I liked his idea. I was impressed that he wanted to do more and had worked to develop a plan for what he saw as a need that we have. I feel that he can do more than just the one project, so I made him my manager of special projects. Lieutenant Douglas, he will be looking to talk with you and Senior Chief Alvarez. He has some ideas, but what we want is something that will help you, not an ivory tower project. He has already learned a little about the drones from Bee Knight. I think that it was drone operation and her particular approach to handling drones. Consider if it would be useful for him to join you when you go to Tucson. We may just come up with the ideas and let someone else implement them.”
“Now let’s discuss why I made John the manager for special projects. I would be very surprised if he was the only one that has an idea about things that we might need. So, he will be in charge of seeing that those ideas are researched and developed so we can determine if they are worthwhile. That doesn’t mean that he will do that work but that he will be ensuring that the idea is developed such that we consider it. Eventually, he will have the responsibility to see that those with the ideas have what they need to develop them. Anyone that has any ideas, organize them and see John Wilson. That means anyone that was camping with us the weekend as well as everyone that works here. MSI has a long history of developing new ideas that employees have. I want us to be just as innovative.” She glanced at the clock. “I did it again. I need to leave for play practice.”
When Ashley turned toward the door, she saw Wayne and his mother holding box meals for them to eat in the Suburban. She went over to Mrs. Sobczak and took the meal that was on top. “Have you read Wayne’s play?”
“Yes, I didn’t know that he had any interests besides computers. I’m looking forward to seeing the two of you as the leads.” Susan Sobczak smiled at her son.
While they were eating their dinners as they rode to San Francisco, Ashley, Sarah, and Wayne were discussing what positions they needed filled.
“I know someone that could set up our computer networks. He has some good ideas on how to make a network more secure, but his current employer doesn’t want to do anything that isn’t tried and true. Once he has things set up, we should have improved access to the internet. I think that he would fit in.”
“Send Sally an email with a short description of the position that you think we should fill, but first get with your friend and make sure he is interested. If he is, get his help on defining the position.” Ashley winked at Wayne when she saw that he realized what he was telling her to do. “We do want to make sure that we get the best person for the position.”
“I’m going to need someone to help me.” Sarah had been thinking about the positions that Young Again was going to need filled before Thanksgiving. “I need someone to handle all the day-to-day communications that Y-A is going to have. With most of them being doctors or professors, Leslie and Nancy don’t have the experience. I need someone to complement me. A regular secretary will be needed, but I think that I need someone that has medical experience.”
“I think I can be of help to you. I don’t have to worry about Dan, so I was considering going to medical school to be a doctor. I’ve been an RN for over forty years and have a master’s degree. My last job was as the director of nursing at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.” Susan Sobczak sounded like she was unsure if Sarah would want her.
“Hired.” Sarah playfully slapped Wayne on the back of the head. “Why aren’t you at least a dental technician?”
Susan laughed. “He didn’t go into medicine because Oscar made such a big deal about being a doctor like his father. Anything his brother did, he didn’t want any part of. I think that he went into computers because Oscar never had an interest when he was young. Now Oscar is being forced to use them. When do you want me to start?”
“Right now. I’ll email mother, and she will have the paperwork ready tomorrow. Discuss salary with her, but figure it equivalent to what you had been earning. We’ll pay for medical school, but we need to figure out how we do that since it is a more intense study program. I would like you to finish before I enter so that you can take up more of the work when I’m in medical school.”
“You expect Mom to finish medical school in a couple of years?” Wayne turned around to look at Sarah.
“I figure I need three years to earn some degrees before medical school. We expect that going after Omara will add a year to that. So, four years with her experience and the effects of the Young Again changes shouldn’t be a problem.”
“You knew about my background, and this was a set-up.” Susan turned and looked at Sarah suspiciously.
“No, that will be your first assignment. Find out who of the people that have changed have medical experience and if they would be interested in working for Young Again.”
As they turned off Market Street onto Castro Street, they could see the demonstrators in front of the theater.
“Definitely a diversion.” Ashley spoke without even checking with Sarah first. “We’ll get out across the street from the theater to give us some time to look around. Bruce, make sure everybody is alert. We need to try to figure out who set this up, not just the operatives here.”
They pulled up at the curb.
“Wayne, you will need to speak to them. Susan, it would be good if you were with him. If Wayne helped his mother across the street, it would help keep things in check until Wayne can talk with them.” Ashley suggested.
“How am I going to convince them that I didn’t write a homophobic play? We don’t have a secret handshake or anything that identifies us.”
“Wayne, you know you look at a guy differently than a girl.” Susan told her son. “Just ignore the demonstration and look at them as individuals.”
He helped his mother out of the Suburban, but Sarah and Ashley hopped out onto the curb on their own.
Sarah looked right towards Market Street and saw a skateboard with a package on it rolling down the hill towards them. “Bomb on skateboard coming down the sidewalk. Clear the area.” She ran towards the skateboard as she repeatedly yelled ‘bomb, stay back.’
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