Chapter 15

It wasn't six yet, but I was bouncing around like a kid wanting to get into the pool. It took me less than ten minutes to shower and shave again. Out in the kitchen, I put coffee on before finding a note from Mom, "We stayed up very late with the other people who went to the show with us. Don't wake us up. Tiny gave us a cart, so don't worry about us."

There were a couple of damp towels on the back of the barstools. "I wonder what that's about?"

I was too excited to do much of anything, so I took my cart to the patio. I walked in as Steve came from the house. We poured some coffee and sat down after he turned the light on. We had not said a word yet, only taken a couple of sips when Glenda came, poured herself a mug, and came to sit with us. She gave each of us kiss on the top of our heads and sat next to Steve.

Glenda asked, "You seem excited this morning, Sal. What's going on?"

Steve was smiling and said, "If what I think I heard is any indication, I think Sal is going to be a dad."

Glenda laughed, "Which one of the lucky ladies is going to bless us with a baby?"

Steve answered once again, "I think he has his choice. I don't know which I would choose, Rita or Suki, but if you get kids from both of them, you'll be right in the swing of things around here."

Glenda said, "There are no secrets in a trailer park, Sal. If you have an all-night visitor, the neighborhood will know by eight the next morning, and that is late. Is that what has you excited?"

Now it was my turn to grin, "The new computer system completed its testing yesterday, in about a fourth of the time I anticipated, and is running faster than I could have ever expected. I want to get into my shop and begin seeing if it will do what Wes wants. I have some software we can begin using that I should be able to modify for what he wants. I'm really excited about this."

Steve told me, "Wait for the sandwiches and grab a couple before going over there. I'll come by at lunchtime to make sure you get out of there to eat. You might even need to exercise and get some sun to relax. Enjoy your new toy, Sal. And don't forget that your folks are still here!"

The bellhop from the hotel showed up at six thirty. I grabbed a couple of sandwiches and fixed myself a carry cup to take with me. At the shop, I had to go through the security stuff to get in, and then had to let the guard sift through my briefcase as I had my software in my sample case sized briefcase.

Once inside my room, I sat at the command console and began keying each processor to check its availability. That was too slow, so I gave a batch command and instantly received the "Everything is wonderful" symbol.

Now for the fun, I loaded my software that I had used for the wind tunnel tests for the Indy cars. I took the memory stick with the measurements and loaded it in and let it process. Thinking I would have time for a sandwich, I sat back and began eating. "Ding". The screen was filled with data. I hit the print button, and then began comparing the results from this computer to the results we received at Tech. They were identical, except this system had another decimal point. I wonder how that got there? Did I create that and the other computer couldn't carry out the extension, or was it a viewing or printer error?

I began going over the various measurements of the input data to see what I needed to modify. Most of the wind tunnel measurements should work with an aircraft, and if there was anything else, I could easily modify the program to give us an additional reading.

My mind wandered while sitting back, eating the second sandwich and enjoying my coffee. The Jaguar system at Oakridge only processes at a little less than two petaflops. This system with thirty-two processing units was working at or over a full petaflop. I'll have to modify my program to get a more definitive number. Who is going to believe S&S in Tampa, Florida, has that much horsepower. I think I'll not brag so I can do more contract processing. I should be able to pay back the cost for the equipment in a reasonable time period by selling time on it.

Wes and Sandy walked into the receptionist's office at the same time. I had the door propped open and yelled for them to come back. Wes immediately asked, "Sandy said this system is working at a petaflop. Can that be true?"

"Wes, I can only tell you what my test program came up with. I'll modify the program to give us an exact number in teraflops, but my program has been accurate on some really big systems."

Sandy grinned, "When are you going to begin teaching me more so I can work with you? Man oh man; can you imagine writing stuff for a machine that can work at a petaflop?

Wes handed me three big folders. "This is the data for each aircraft I want analyzed. You'll be a few days writing something to give me the data I want. I've included examples how I want the data to be formatted. Do you think you can begin working on the software today?"

I was flipping through the pages of information and asked, "Would it be easier if I set the software up to give the answers in this same order, or can it be more random?"

"If you make it exactly as this one is, I'll be able to compare it to the actual wind tunnel testing. That would be good."

I told the aviation whiz kid, "I'll begin working on this as soon as you guys have a look in the back and leave."

Wes told Sandy, "We don't need to look at shit that sits there and hums. Let's get out of here and let the professor do his thing."

Grenaline walked in as they walked out. She noted the door propped open and called out, "Want the door closed or are you trying to perv on me, Dr. Feeny?"

"Make coffee for me, Miss, and then you can shut the door so that I'm not distracted by your beauty."

Five minutes later, Grenaline came in with a mug of fresh coffee and collected the sandwich wrappers and empty coffee travel cup. As she twitched her cute ass walking out the door, she half turned, grinned, and winked at me. I love to be teased.

I loaded my software onto to my local work computer and began modifying the structure and output. There were a few measurements that I was going to have to research, but it shouldn't take a great deal of time to figure out how to come up with them. Aircraft use brakes differently than a race car, but it has things like acceleration, lift, down force, and surprisingly, I already had some turbine measurements that can apply to the jet aircraft.

Steve walked in the door and asked, "Ready for lunch? How's it going?"

"Lunch time already? I have at least this much more to be able to give Wes his first answers. Do you guys have a delivery service from one of the restaurants?"

"Come on, Sal, come to lunch. I won't make you go to the gym or pool, but I should. You need to take a little break. You'll be fresher, more alert, if you do. You'll actually get more done. Save your work and let's get out of here."

I followed Steve to the patio in anticipation of getting back to the shop as fast as possible. I sat at a place with a bowl of soup and began eating. Sandy sat across from me and asked, "Do you think you can get that first one done this week? It's already Wednesday, so you have like two and half days to get the program right."

Knowing Sandy didn't know the intensity with which I worked, I just agreed that I might be able to finish by then. He told me, "Wes and I made a bet. He said you couldn't even begin to be ready by a week from Friday, and I told him that you would have answers for him by a week from tomorrow, Thursday. It's only for a beer at Park Place, but I want to win."

"I'll do my best, Sandy."

Henry came in and sat with us. He was in a good mood, and got into an even better mood when Nancy came to sit with him. She was a big girl, but very luscious looking. Henry joked with her, "You were hot for the Feenys last night? Those two fit right in up there. I thought Tiny was going to have a stroke the way he went at her."

Nancy was glancing up at me, and softly said, "He was a pussy full, that's for sure. I think he sampled all of us and went back to his lady for one more."

I looked up, curious, "You're talking about Mom and Dad up at the hot tub last night, right?"

Henry smiled, and Nancy said, "Oh yeah, you need to come up. Your folks are something."

I wasn't embarrassed, for some reason. My only comment was, "They are an adventurous couple, that's for sure."

Holy smokes, Mom and Dad were up at the infamous hot tub with two, three, or four other couples, doing God knows what. My mom is a little crazy around the edges, but I thought Dad was Mr. Straight Arrow himself.

I looked at Nancy in all of her full sized glory, and thought that I might want to sample a little of that myself. Thinking of my mom, I realized she is still a very good looking Italian lady. Well, what I don't know won't hurt me, but the cat's out of that bag.

As I got up to leave, Steve tried one more time, "Come with us to the gym and get some sun. The exercise will make you feel good and help you concentrate."

I almost decided to go with them, and then said, "This is too good to stop today. I promise to go tomorrow, regardless of where I am with the program."

When I walked into the receptionist's area, Donna was sitting at the desk with an open chemistry book. She was looking up information on her computer while taking notes. She looked up at me, "Hi, Dr. Feeny, glad to hear you have your new toy working. Do you want some fresh coffee? I shut the old pot off and washed it."

"Coffee would be good, Donna. Please bring me some when it's ready."

My fingers were flying as I wrote line after line of code. I had an idea of what I wanted to extract and kept working towards it.

My usual was to write something that was entirely too big or too slow to be effective. I would then go back and modify the processes to speed things up and make the results I wanted more exact.

At three o'clock, I was sitting back sipping some fresh coffee that Donna had brought me. I was watching as the program ticked through the various processes. I was using my test data to check answers and watched as the program went from beginning to end; pumping out the answers I wanted to see.

I made a couple of copies of the program, and then loaded one up on the main system. Entering all of the input data took over an hour, but when it was done and checked for accuracy of input, I clicked on the "Go" button. I love "Go" buttons instead of the "enter" or "carriage return" strokes they represent.

I stretched and went to the restroom, in anticipation of the processing taking an hour or more. "Ding."

No way could the system already be done with the process. After zipping up, I used one of the bigger cups to get a glass of water and went into the shop to see what was up. I anticipated that an error had stopped the process, but the screen was showing the results profile.

I needed to check it out, so I printed out a hard copy and began checking it with the printed forms Wes had from the actual wind tunnel tests. There were a couple of answers out of order, and one garbled output, but I could tell what I did.

Using the work computer, I fixed the three items, and after backing my copies up, did the process again. "Ding." A printed report told me the exact information plus the couple of add on items I put in.

Four o'clock. I wonder if Wes is busy. I called. "Wes, if you're not busy you should come over to check out how far I've gotten. If you hurry, I can show you before Miller Time."

"I'll be right there, Sal. I was looking for a reason to get out of here."

I called Sandy in the other side of the complex, "Sandy, come over when you get a chance. I called Wes to have him come see where I'm at."

I opened the door to the reception area and handed Donna my cart keys. "Go to the patio and get a big bottle of Seven Up, Sprite, or Mountain Dew. Bring some of the bigger paper cups. Hurry, I want to get it in our fridge before Wes gets here."

While I was waiting, I entered the data for the second aircraft. I went through it twice to make sure it was correct and sat back.

Wes and Sandy came in the door at the same time. Wes was excited, "Do you think you'll make it by a week from Friday. If you do, I have to buy Sandy a beer. Show us what you have."

I showed Wes the screen with the data input and let him compare his data with what I had entered. I asked him, "Everything exact?"

Wes said, "Looks good. That's a long way for you to be already. When are you going to work on the processes?"

I pointed at the screen of the big monitor and clicked the "Go" button. I stood, stretched, picked up the phone, and asked Donna, "Pour four glasses for me and bring them in."

"Ding."

I used the mouse to direct the output to the printer and waited for the ten pages to come from the printer.

I handed Wes that report, and pulled up his report from the real wind tunnel tests. He didn't understand until I told him, "Compare the answers."

Sandy already knew what I had done and was shaking his head. Donna propped the door open and brought the first two cups in and came back with two more.

Wes was staring at the papers as he went through them a second time. I handed him the first test and let him gawk at that for a minute. I handed him a cup of soda, another one to Sandy, and one to Donna. I lifted my cup and said, "To our successful test of all flying objects."

Wes said, "It can't be. You can't already have done that. That's too fast. No one can write that program in a day."

"I didn't write it in a day, Wes. This is the program I made for some Indy race cars. I had to do some mods and changes, but I had already done all the work, literally weeks of work. Did you see the extra data I gave you?"

"I saw that and wondered where it came from." Wes was still shaking his head.

I handed him the last of the three aircraft he wanted tested and had him sit at the control console. "You do the entries and make sure they are correct. When you're done, double check your input."

Looking at my watch, I saw it was already after five. "Donna, you can leave. You don't have to stay."

"I want to see Wes be surprised again. All of us girls are envious of DeDe and Star; we get a thrill out of checking Wes out."

It took Wes another ten minutes to do the data input and check it. I directed him to click on the "Go" button, and when the "Ding" came, had him direct the output to the printer at the control console"

Wes went through the papers one at a time again, then looked up at me. "If I can get you the data on some jets, can you give me information on those engines?"

"Sure, I have some information about jet turbines, so give me your specs and how you want the results, and I'll begin working on it. I may not be as fast on the next one."

Wes was still holding the two sets of papers, "No sweat. You've just confirmed all of the wind tunnel tests without using a real wind tunnel. If you can come up with the program to test my jets in the next five or six months, I'll be in hog heaven."

Wes put the papers down and said, "Do what you have to do to close up shop. I have to buy this guy a beer. We'll see you on the patio."

Donna looked at me with a grin, "I'm following those two guys."

I did the backups and cleared the system of all data. I wanted to come in and test to see if the system had totally cleared itself the way I had directed. I had multiple memory sticks and a portable drive for backups. I didn't want to leave the program on the premises tonight, since if there is a bug or leak; the place could be an instant target. Just for fun, I put a blank memory stick in the safe and locked it. That should be a nice surprise.

I drove to the patio and walked in to applause. Wes was expounding on how I had slain the dragon in a day instead of two weeks. Mom and Dad were there and joined in the clapping. When I reached the bar, Steve handed me a Beefeater and very loudly said, "Our nerd is the best nerd in the whole country. Let's hear it for Doc Feeny, our special guy."

Everyone applauded one more time. I had to hold my hand up. "It's the equipment they gave me to work with. No one can fail with equipment like that. Thanks for the appreciation."

I was mobbed by my five ladies and their daughters. Grenaline told Donna, "You're so lucky to have been there when he showed Wes and Sandy his success. I hope he does that with me one of these days."

The mood on the patio was very festive. It seemed as if any success by anyone in the company was celebrated by everyone. It was as if I was the 'star of the day' or something like that. After supper, little Bonita was playing her violin as a fiddle, with Donny playing his steel guitar, and Marty playing his old acoustic. They were doing some real down home music. Mom and Dad were in love with the place.

I was worn out early that night and told my five that I was on my way to bed. Jenny told me, "Leave your outside bedroom door open and I'll be there in a couple of minutes. I have to tell Grenaline something first."

Jenny's lovemaking was exciting and enthusiastic that night. I wore out fast and was asleep an hour after Jenny arrived. She woke me once for more attention during the night, and she was perched on my hips, moving up and down with her head back, mouth open, gasping for air, in the morning. Her body went into convulsions and she groaned rather loudly, causing me to loose a torrent of juices into her.

As we relaxed with her lying on my chest, Jenny said, "This is so nice. I don't think I could stand having that much loving every night, but once a week is perfect. I get a little horny between turns, but waiting and anticipating is good too. I have to get going, Lover, I'll see you on the patio."

Jenny slipped out the exterior bedroom door in her robe. I wonder if any of the neighbors were watching to report to the world that Jenny had visited the whole night.

After a night with Jenny in bed, I stripped the bedclothes and stuffed them into the washer. That lady was like fire hydrant on a hot day.

I was quickly dressed and ready to leave. Mom and Dad weren't up yet, so I figured they had worn themselves out the night before, doing whatever they had been doing. When I took off for the patio, I noticed the other cart wasn't there. I'm sure they will call to have someone come get them, but then it isn't all that far to walk from my place to the patio.

Steve was still happy for me this morning as I had some coffee with him, Glenda, Tiny, and Ruth. After having a couple of breakfast sandwiches, I was off to the shop.

When I brought the system up to check its status, it didn't want to do anything. It was totally stupid. No latent operating system. I loaded that portion and checked to make sure there wasn't any embedded information within the operating system and found it still pristine. Each test came out perfect, telling me the systems were all working the way they were intended.

I loaded up my turbine information so I could review what data it gave and what I might need. As I was looking through that, I found a couple of files that we had created when the Texas National Guard wanted us to test their various rocket propelled weapon systems. I had forgotten about that. The software was good enough that the Defense Department adopted it as benchmarks for all of the services. What they didn't do is to continue to use the software. They would run a single test, publish the single result, and go on to the next weapon. They didn't verify anything, so the software had to be suspect since it really wasn't verified at least once.

I called Steve, "Steve, this is Feeny, do you know any military people who I might be able to get some data from? I'm looking for weapons systems data. Not so much what they will do, but what the physical characteristics are when they are fired. I can calculate the destructive power and range, so that information can remain classified."

"I might be able to help." Steve said, sounding interested in what I was doing. "If I'm thinking right about what you are working on, I would think you are more interested in aircraft armament. Would some old unclassified information be a good place to start?"

"That would be good to use as benchmarks for newer armament. I also need a lot more information about turbines, as in jet engines."

"Why don't you go out to the airpark and get with Jimmy. Take him to lunch and pick his brain. He might be able to give you a lot of the information you want for engines. The other person who is a wealth of information and has many contacts is John. He knows just about every engine manufacturer and they all owe him favors of one kind or another."

"Sounds good, Steve. I'll put the information I have in some kind of order before going out to the airpark. I'm sure if I get out there, Wes will keep me there for the rest of the day working on one of his projects. He's a very consuming individual, isn't he?"

"Ha, ha, ha, Wes sure is," Steve laughed. "He will let you go if you tell him you have to work on something. He just likes to keep you around as long as possible if he doesn't think you have something else to do."

I categorized each of the files I had previously created into the various types of armament and weapons systems, and separated the five different turbines we had tested. What information I had was kindergarten stuff, and I needed more advanced data to evaluate jet turbines.

Sitting at my desk looking at what I had, I realized I needed advice from someone who knew what a fighter, fighter bomber, or bomber did and what type of armament it needed. I needed a pilot who had flown that type of aircraft and had been trained to use as many types of weapons as I could find.

I also needed a weapons engineer to be able to give me the critical data of size, weight, effects of firing, what type of carry mechanisms it would need etc., etc., etc. Man, I had a lot of etceteras going today.

The jet engines should be easy, because all of the manufacturers should be more than willing to give me data to work with so I could compute the thrust and effects the turbine would have on the aircraft.

My desk phone rang. "This is Sal Feeny."

"Hey, Sal, this is Wes. I heard you might come out to see me today. I have something better for you to do with your time. I've just dumped all of the design and engineering information of my small passenger jet to you in an e-mail. I've sent all of the information about the turbines and every other component on the aircraft. I want you to work this from the ground up or wing tip to wing tip."