Saturday, December 4

Brew made it to Actaeon's building without boiling over.

Thank you, Jesus.

He went in to the receptionist's desk.

There was a sign behind her that said that anyone who entered the facility was subject to have his or her briefcase inspected.

This wasn't Homeland Security. It was just the old defense contractor paranoia, that went back to Nixon's pumpkin tapes and loyalty oaths. Security clearances. The voluntary relinquishment of civil liberties. In exchange for a job.

It really wasn't any different than Suent Scientific screening your Internet usage and monitoring your email. You'd look up something in a search engine and be notified that the site was unsuitable or inappropriate for business use. Too many of these hits and someone from Security came calling.

Once Brew looked up one of his publishers, Out Your Backdoor Press, and got hits on sites for anal sex, and you don't even want to look up zoophilia, or axillary hair.

Beautiful masseurs are waiting for you.

The receptionist buzzed Traci and she came up and got him. Brew signed in and was issued a laminated Visitor's badge.

They walked down the hall to her office.

"Everybody who knew you when you worked here said to hire you," she said. "Do you remember Rhino?"

Brew did.

"The colonel?"

Brew remembered The Colonel.

"And of course your old cube-mate." She used Brew's old cube-mate's name.

Traci went into her office first and asked Brew to close the door.

Brew did, then sat in the chair in front of her desk.

Her desk top was clean, with a copy of his resume centered on the desk-calendar on her desk.

She picked it up and held it in her hand as she talked to him.

"I see where you took a year off to restore your wife's old home place in Parker," she said.

"And move," Brew said. "Sell the house in Atlanta. Get moved down."

"And your income was social security, unemployment, and severance pay, from the company that laid you off. Suent Scientific."

"That's correct," Brew said.

Traci smiled.

"At Suent Scientific you wrote operating instructions for production specialists and maintenance procedures for skilled trades-electricians, pipefitters, and machinists."

"Yes," Brew said. "We were getting away from paper manuals. We put our books online, on the factory intranet, as pdf files. All the production areas had computer monitors where you could access the books. The books had hypertext links, so you could click on a link and it would take you to the topic that was highlighted. We used digitized photographs, rather than line drawings, wherever we could."

"That's what I'm going to want you to do here. Write an IETM. Interactive Electronic Technical Manual. We use xml files, rather than pdf, and put the IETM on CD-ROM, so it will run on any Windows-based PC, anywhere in the fleet."

"You can control what revision the fleet is using, that way," Brew said. "Send out a new CD that supercedes the old one, whenever you update the book."

Traci smiled. "Exactly," she said.

"I see you worked on the AMCM winch manual, when you were here," Traci said. "Then you know about the interface removables and support equipment used with the minesweeping equipment."

"Yes," said Brew.

"I want you to revise a technical manual on the Rewind Machine. The base is not just a research lab, as you know, it's also a depot, for maintenance purposes. The rewind machine lets technicians unroll reels of cable, under power, inspect the cable for wear, and either discard it or rewind it and return it to inventory. It's basically an electric motor, a clutch, a transmission, two opposing hydraulic pumps, which act as a brake against each other, and a level-wind, like on a fishing reel.

"We have three versions of the technical manual, none of which is complete. I want you to combine them.

"I'm looking for a hands-on guy, a wrench-turner, who's not afraid of getting his hands dirty, to verify and validate the procedures he writes.

"We have a rewind machine in the shop. It's not hooked up, hydraulically, so you can't run it. But you can tear it down, to take pictures.

"Do you think you can do that?"

Brew said he could do that.

"I don't know what your dress code is," he said, "but that will let me wear blue jeans and brogans, in case I have to get dirty."

"Dress is business casual, unless you have to meet with a customer, at the base, or the base comes here, for a meeting."

"Roger," Brew said. Message received and understood. He could have said, "I read you five square," loud and clear, that is, but he didn't want to overdo it.

"How much money are you looking to make?" Traci said. "I see you're drawing social security."

"The employment service said the job paid between $12 and $15 an hour," Brew said. "I'd like to make toward the higher end of that."

"I can go $13.50," Traci said. Perhaps she said, "Why don't we say $13.50."

Brew did some calculations in his head.

$13.50 x 40 x 52 = $28,080.

That's what he was making 15 years ago, when A/C/T hired him.

"Fine'" Brew said.

A win-win situation is one where both parties feel well-treated. A situation where one party feels screwed is a win-lose situation. Traci had just lost. By winning.

Brew was tailor-made for the job. He was worth twice what they were paying him.

But there was a recession on, Brew had no other offers, it was take it or leave it.

Brew took it.

"When can you start?" Traci asked.

"When do you need me?" Brew asked.

"How about tomorrow?" Traci said. "I'll get Personnel started on the paperwork."

"I'll be here," Brew said.

Brew got back in his car.

It started.

He drove towards Highway 98.

The traffic was backed-up all the way to the back gate to the Navy base.

It wasn't even rush hour.