Matt walks me the two blocks to the office building they work out of and introduces me to the work group. “Geoff, Randy, and Zephyr, this is David.”
I shake everyone’s hand and nod. I overhear Zephyr whispering to Randy. “This is the guy we had to come in early for?” Randy just nods.
Matt escorts me to a cubicle already set-up with a computer with a copy of my module as well as the code for a tavern and accoutrement. He also hands me a folder with the game narrative. I spend an hour skimming the narrative and looking over the code they’ve already written. Of course it’s set up almost identically to the other world, so it was easy just to write a script to go through and do the substitutions. Just as I finished the script, Matt invited me to lunch.
He took me to a conference room where the rest of the team were already enjoying some sub sandwiches.
“Roast beef and avocado are all that’s left,” Geoff explained with a wave.
Matt turned to me, “Preference? Are you a vegetarian?”
“Not a vegetarian—I like meat too much.”
“Really?” Matt asked. I nodded. “Good, because I’d rather have the avocado.”
“And I’d rather have roast beef,” I shot back as I snatched the roast beef.
“Drinks are in the fridge,” Randy offered waving to the mini-fridge on a credenza at the end of the room. I wandered down and checked out the fridge. It was full of water, colas, and an assortment of Maine Root soda. They had ginger beer, so I went for it. Matt motioned for me to sit in the middle of the table near him. As I sat, Matt shoved a basket of chips towards me.
“You have to try these. They make them from scratch.”
I unwrapped my sandwich and put a big pile of chips on the corner of the paper. I popped the top on my soda and took a big bite of the sandwich—which was delicious. They had loaded it down with horseradish and sweet-hot cherry peppers. I couldn’t help it. I moaned a little.
“Like the sandwich, do ya?” asked Zephyr.
“It’s fabulous! Usually they don’t put enough horseradish on them and the peppers are great!” I nearly shouted. I saw Geoff give Zephyr a smug look.
I tried a chip—also incredible. It was crispy, but also tasted of Parmesan and scallion, but not in the fake way most flavored chips did.
I took another. “Also really good. I was starting to think San Francisco food was over-rated, but these are really good.”
“Good, good,” Matt said. “Glad you like them. So, you’re finishing up school?”
“Yep,” I answered. “I graduate in May.”
“Major?” he asked.
“Physics.”
“What do you plan to do when you graduate?”
“That’s the 64 million dollar question, isn’t it,” I explained. “I’m applying to graduate school, and I thought I was a good candidate, but honestly my girlfriend can already work physics problems around me in circles and she’s just a sophomore, so I don’t know. I’m starting to think I need to just get a job. I definitely can’t go to graduate school without a good financial package. I’m completely self-funded.”
“Where did you apply?”
“All the good programs Stanford, MIT, Cornell.”
“Not UT?” he asked.
“It’s got a good program, but it’s not good to get all your degrees from the same place, but I still applied there.”
He nodded.
“Where do you want to go?”
“My girlfriend is pretty hot for MIT. Her dad went there, but I don’t think I’ll get in.”
“Where did your dad go to school?”
“My dad didn’t go to school, and I don’t talk to him much. My parents got a divorce when I was young, so it’s not really a factor.”
Geoff broke in, “So what do you do in your spare time?”
“What spare time? I’m finishing my degree; I manage the tutoring center; And sometimes I do side gigs for ya’ll.”
“You manage the tutoring center?” Geoff asked.
“I’m the student director. I schedule the tutors, evaluate them, set the hours, etc. Basically manage the day-to-day operation. I do have time to swim a bit, and occasionally I game. I like to play games just like this one. In fact, I honestly can’t wait for it to come out. And one night a month, I get together with some friends and have a game night that has everything from old-fashioned D&D and Risk to MMORPGs. It’s lots of fun.”
“I can imagine,” answered Geoff.
“So,” Randy asked, “where do you see yourself in five years.” And that was it. This lunch had taken on a distinct job interview feel. I was so tempted to say driving an RV across the country but I answered it straight.
“Honestly, I don’t know. It kind of depends on the next few months.”
Randy nodded.
“Do you get along with people you work with?” Zephyr asked.
“Sure. In fact, the tutoring center is running better than it has in years. Our numbers are up and complaints are way down.”
Matt shot out, “Do you want to stay in Austin?”
“Sure who wouldn’t want to live in Austin, but I’ll go where I need to.”
Geoff giggled. “Okay, so who do you like in the Superbowl?”
“Uhhh….I have no idea who’s even in the playoffs. I’m not a sports fan—of any sport. My mother raised me, and she didn’t watch sports, so I’m not a fan. I played a little baseball, but swimming is really my sport. I actually started school on a swimming scholarship, but dropped it when I realized I was no Michael Phelps, and I got the Fineman Scholarship.”
I looked back at a sea of surprised faces.
“Fineman?” asked Geoff.
“It’s a scholarship that pays for fees, tuition, and books for physics majors. My tutoring gig pays the rest. That’s how I’m paying for college. My mom really can’t afford to help much, although she’s doing okay.”
“So you’re paying for school yourself?” asked Matt incredulously.
“Yep, I told you I was self-funded. My mom can’t afford it, and my father and I are estranged, although I saw him at Thanksgiving for the first time in seven years.”
The entire table nodded.
“Well then,” Matt pronounced.
“So,” I asked Randy, “where do you see yourself in five years?”
Randy laughed out loud.
“What would you say your biggest weakness is?” I continued and everyone broke out laughing a bit sheepishly then continued eating and chatting. When I was done, I cleaned up and went back to my cubicle to run my script. It mostly worked, but I had to iron out some glitches. I worked away the rest of the afternoon into the evening. Around 6pm Matt told me I could take off whenever, but I kept working until 8. I walked back to the hotel stopping in at an Asian fusion place for Mexican noodles. At the hotel, I swam for an hour and a half hoping the work out would help me sleep. And it did. After a shower and a quick text to B.D. I was out before my head hit the pillow.
*
The next morning I was back at the office by 8. The security guard had to let me in. I munched on a taco I bought on the way in and contemplated the last glitch and then I got it. I put in the last tweak and ran it again. Yahtzee! I ran some checks and then plugged it into their testing module, and it appeared to work without problems. Matt snuck up behind me right then.
“Hey, it looks like you’ve got it working already!”
“I had just started to test it.”
“Testing is good—so good in fact, this calls for a working lunch.”
“A working lunch?”
“Yep! We’ll get together and test together—over lunch. What do you like for lunch? Burgers…seafood…pizza?”
“Pizza sounds good.”
“Pizza it is, then. Keep working it, but wrap it all up about about 11:30, and come see me. We’ll get everything set-up in the conference room then.”
“Great!”
I tested the module a bit longer and added some programming notes.
At 11:30 sharp Matt came over and showed me how to upload my part to the server and integrate it into another testing module. This module felt more like a fully realized game with avatars you could manipulate. “Let’s make sure it’s running in the conference room?” Matt waved me over.
In the conference room, I helped Matt set-up five wireless keyboards and mice. The delivery guy showed up with the pizza—a lot of pizza. “I wasn’t sure what you’d like so I got everything from just cheese to the mega-mouth—it’s got everything including jalapenos and anchovies.”
“Sounds interesting. I hope you got a few things in between.”
“I did.”
“Good.”
Randy and Geoff wandered in. “I didn’t think Zephyr would be ready for at least a few more days,” commented Randy.
“Not Zephyr,” Matt answered. “David, he’s ready to go.”
“No!” Geoff and Randy answered incredulously.
“He looks good. I caught him testing on the sly this morning,” explained Matt.
“I thought I was supposed to test,” I answered testily.
“Sure, but the real test is the working test when other people run your stuff,” answered Geoff.
Randy grabbed a plate and a slice. “Let’s see you run through and explain how you did it.”
I started up the game and began blowing up various taverns. “It’s not a mystery. I wrote a script to integrate the code for the contemporary module to this one. It appears to have worked pretty well.”
“Cool, what happens when a character walks into the tavern?”
I walked one of their avatars into a tavern and blew it up. The avatar’s head blew one way and his body another.
Everyone in the room flinched then in unison murmured, “Cool.”
“He must have been close to the bomb,” I explained.
“Blow up a house,” asked Randy.
I walked the avatar I was controlling through the village and into a house and then blew it up. The avatar as well as some furniture and clothes flew through the air.
Zephyr walked in. “You already finished?”
“Sure,” I answered as a grain mill blew.
“Let me try,” Zephyr commanded, as a frowsy looking woman in medieval dress wandered into the village.
“Let’s see what Matilda can do,” shouted Randy through a mouthful of pizza.
I grabbed some pizza and a root beer and watched Zephyr blow up various buildings and Matilda.
“What happens if she sees the bomb and runs back out?” asked Matt.
Zephyr had Matilda walk in a building and walk back out right as it exploded. Matilda continued on her merry way.
“That’s a problem, David. You need to have the bomb affect people and things outside the structure too like Matilda should have been blown down or something.”
“I can fix that.” I made a note in my moleskin.
“Let me try,” whined Geoff and Zephyr relinquished control and got his own pizza.
Geoff blew up more buildings and people. “It’s really satisfying how every blast is a bit different,” he offered.
I nodded. “I planned it that way. A random generator is picking the items to fling.”
Randy gave it a go then other people started dropping by to watch the test, give it a shot, and eat pizza.
We ran for several hours, and other than the glitch that didn’t push things next to the building during the explosion, the program worked great.
The other workers slowly trickled out and Matt sat down to talk with just our group.
“I hadn’t planned for David to finish so soon. We’ve got him for a week. Anyone need some help?”
“I could use some help with the archery module. I wanted to demo on Thursday.”
“Great. David when you’ve finished those little enhancements, ping Zephyr to see what you can help with.”
“Sure,” I nodded to Zephyr, and we exchanged info. He wasn’t a morning person, but gave me a few things to work on tomorrow morning.
I went back to my cubicle and started developing an algorithm for the change. I worked until I was happy with the change and sent it off to Matt. It was 8:30. I walked back to the hotel and stopped for noodles on the way. I swam until they kicked me out of the pool at 11, then once again, despite missing B.D. I was out like a light.
Next morning I was pounding the keyboard at the lab, writing code for Zephyr. He took me to a sushi spot for lunch and came back to the lab with me to work on it and test it. We worked through dinner, but by 9pm he was happy with the module, and cut me loose with instructions to add coding notes in the morning. I stuck to the winning formula for sleep although I could only swim for half an hour. I still slept until 5am. The next day I added notes, and we had another working lunch—this time with sushi. Apparently sushi was Zephyr’s deal. Just like with my demo, everyone, including me, had a run then the rest of the office stepped up.
When we were finished, Matt pulled me aside. “You’ve gotten so much more done than I had planned, tomorrow is going to be a light day. Just come to the weekly wrap-up and then you can enjoy the city. Do some touristy thing like go to Chinatown.”
“I went there the first day.’
“Try Japantown or the zoo then.”
“Okay, I’ll check them out.”
On the way home I checked out an Italian place then swam for two hours, because I had the time. I still managed to sleep.
The next morning I took my time getting ready, reading the Wall Street Journal and listening to NPR. Just before heading out, NPR announced that billionaire Oilman Trace Slade had died in the night after a brief illness.
I didn’t know what to think—how to act. I wasn’t really upset. The guy was a bastard, but still. He was my father. And he hadn’t abused me. Just condemned me to watch my mother work hard and fret over money to support me when he could have stopped it.
I called Mom. “I guess you heard,” were the first words out of her mouth. She was upset. I could tell she had been crying.
“On the radio. Did someone call you?”
“Yesterday, his lawyer, before he got so bad that he couldn’t talk.”
“Why didn’t you call me then?”
“I didn’t want to bother you. I thought he’d get better, and you could have some time with him. I’m sorry.” Mom’s voice broke as she said it.
“It’s okay. I just would have liked to help—at least deal with the other wives and sons.”
“There were no other wives and sons—just me. Trace only wanted to talk to me. He told me he was sorry that he hadn’t been a better man. He said that he had wanted to call me the last few months, but he didn’t feel like he deserved me….” Her voice trailed off into tears.
“I’ll get home as soon as I can,” I said with as much conviction as possible. “Is someone with you?”
“I called Victoria. She’s coming over after lunch. Trace’s attorney is coming over this morning for me to sign some things. Apparently Trace named me as his next of kin. It’s odd.”
“I’ll see if B.D. or Dot might come over. Would that be okay?”
“Yes, I’d like that.”
“Good, look I’m hanging up now. I’ll call as soon as I know when I’m getting in etc.”
I started throwing things into my bag while calling Matt.
“Look Matt, something has come up.”
“Oh?”
“My father—a complete asshole really—he, uh, died last night.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“I’m really not upset about it, but my Mom is completely broken up about it. And to make matters worse, he named her as his next of kin even though they’ve been divorced for fifteen years and he treated her like crap the whole time. He’s such a jerk—even in death. So my mom needs me now. Is there anyway you could get me on a flight today?”
“I’m sure there is. I’ll get on the phone to HR. Why don’t you just pack, check out, and head for the airport and I’ll take care
of the rest.”
“Great! Text me with the details!”
“Hey,” I could actually hear the wheels turning in his head. “We’re not talking about Trace Slade, are we?”
“Well yes, we are. He’s my father.”
“And you had to put yourself through school?”
“Yep, he paid my mother $100,000 when he cut her loose and the court ordered $300 per month child support and not a penny more. He even pro-rated the last month’s payment when I turned 18.”
“He didn’t,” Matt replied aghast.
“He is or was a bastard, but my mom’s still upset he’s dead, so I need to get to Houston.”
“Houston—right—not Austin. I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thanks man.”
“No problem.”
Next I called B.D. She still had that cute, sleepy sound in her voice.
Her first thought was about seeing me. “David, aren’t you coming home tomorrow still?”
“Actually I’m going to try to get home today.”
“Today?”
“My dad died last night and Mom’s pretty upset about it. She was with him when he died, and she’s upset. Could you or your mom stay with her?”
“Mom’s teaching, but I could head over. Should I pick you up at the airport?”
“Maybe, I don’t have any flight information right now. I’ll let you know as soon as I can.”
“Okay let me know.”
“Thanks B.D.”
“Anytime and David,” B.D. paused. “I know you didn’t think much of him, but I’m sorry for your loss anyway.”
“Thanks B.D. I’ll see you soon.”
I ran around the room throwing things in my bag, packing my laptop and charger, and doing my OCD double check of all the drawers then I stormed out of the room, checked out at the desk, and hopped in a cab in less than twenty minutes.
On the way to the airport Matt called to say they had be booked me on a flight to Houston that left in just over an hour. He thought I could make it. After twenty agonizing minutes in the security line and dashing through the airport, I arrived at the boarding area in time to hear the final boarding call. I just kept walking right onto the plane. In just over five hours, I was climbing into B.D.’s Fiat.
Waves and Light: Opposites Attract Series Page 27
