A Glint In Time (History and Time)

Free A Glint In Time (History and Time) by Frank J. Derfler Page B

Book: A Glint In Time (History and Time) by Frank J. Derfler Read Free Book Online
Authors: Frank J. Derfler
Tags: General Fiction
room?" he asked. "They have to have the big screens and software aids to input a detailed scenario and examine the results."
    Sally was about to answer when Ted reached into his pants pocket like he had been bitten. He pulled out a pager equipped with a screen that displayed three lines of text. He kept walking while he looked at the pager and pushed the button that scrolled the text. He grunted, pushed another button, waited a moment, and then put the pager back in his pocket.
    "How did a page reach you here?" she asked. "I didn't hear it beep."
    "It's a satellite system. It works world-wide. But the acknowledgment that I sent isn't a widely available option. And it doesn't beep, it vibrates."
    "Ah...." Sally said with a giggle. "Maybe I'll page you sometime."
    "Remember the TV cameras." Ted said. "Maybe I don't care." she replied.
    "Back to work." Ted said. "I'm a great performer, but not on TV."
    "Promises promises." Sally replied.
    On the way back, Sally explained that she would have to change the network address of the consoles that Bill and Janet used. She knew she could change the addresses to match those of the computers in two consoles in Florida. Then, the consoles in Indonesia would route their data from the Indonesian local network, across the satellite link, and on to the Florida network. "But the darn problem is, those Russian computer guys will get suspicious the minute I do something out on the consoles."
    The two Russian computer technicians typically sat in a small room off of the main computer room. In there, they apparently smoked and played chess when the American
    team was working. They had one maintenance console and if there were any system malfunctions, they popped out to take care of them. Sally knew that they also cleaned the systems when they weren't in use. She also knew that as soon as she put a console into the maintenance mode necessary to change an address, the Russians would get a status alarm and investigate.
    "We could put some knock-out drugs in their vodka or something." Sally said.
    "Have you seen them drinking vodka?" Ted asked.
    "No," she replied. In fact, the two Russians seemed more like California wine-sipping computer geeks than vodka-swilling Cossacks.
    "Do you have any drugs?" "No."
    "Probably, you should stick to engineering and other things that you might do well." Ted observed.
    "Okay, let me see what I can do." she said.

WORLD SHAKING DIFFERENCE
    Friday, August 25, 1995
Ammero Group Compound
Indonesia
----
    Excerpt from the Personal Narrative,
of Dr. William E. Wirtz, PhD
    Recorded July 2006

CLASSIFIED CONFIDENTIAL / TA
"Ted was full of questions, but no suggestions for action.Only weeks or months later did I get background information that helped me understand his predicament."
----
     
    After lunch, Ted and Sally practically carried Bill and Janet out of the building and out to the walkway going down to the river. As they walked, Ted and Sally explained what they found when they ran the scenario on the Florida computer.
    Sally said, "If we can keep the two Russians distracted, I'll find a way to link two consoles to the network in Florida. Your access won't be real fast, but you'll have the big screens and the analysis tools. Hopefully, you can see why the two computer systems show such different outcomes.
    "I understand, Sally" Bill said. But his face showed confusion and concern. "How are you going to keep the Russians occupied?"
    "With Ted's help, I think we can setup a glitch in the two front consoles. Hopefully, that will let us modify two consoles in the back of the room so you two can work through the satellite link to the Florida network. Ted, here is a safety pin ~ it came from the cleaning tag on my blouse— I want you to push it through the coaxial cable feeding the wiring hub in the front of the room. You have to get it right through the center so it shorts the braid of the coaxial cable to the center conductor. This is a trick we used to play on people

Similar Books

Scourge of the Dragons

Cody J. Sherer

The Smoking Iron

Brett Halliday

The Deceived

Brett Battles

The Body in the Bouillon

Katherine Hall Page