Meeting
The entire company was getting turned upside down, and Flynn was having a ball with it. He was pacing around his office, a conference call to four different heads of departments wrapping up, his hair all over the place with the twirling he had been doing while trying to talk them into what he wanted them to do, and by God, they were starting to get it. One of them actually chuckled before hanging up, and Flynn was smirking when he called "come in!" at the knock on the door.
The familiarity of the two figures which filed into his office almost took his breath away; good thing Alan had discovered the best way to get in a word edgewise into Flynn's occasional babbling, which was to start first.
"Flynn! Here, I have another of Walter's boy miracles for you. This is Roy Kleinberg, class of '77, who was working same level as me before you started upturning the place. Cubicle next to me, actually. Brilliant in math, accounting--"
"-- and actuaries."
The curly head perked up, eyebrows climbing up over the glasses. "You've heard about me? I did that actuary program which made a hit a couple of years back..."
"Kind of." Flynn had to make an effort to keep his face from grimacing as he recalled this very same look of excited, trusting respect before it faded for the last time. Not here, not now. "I'm afraid that program was among the casualties that the MCP took on its way down."
That got him a confused look, yeah, he knew it sounded weird when he was talking about programs as of people, and a shrug. "It was good work. I might be able to reconstruct it or most of it from my notes."
"Yeah." Change of topic. "Right! Did you get the news we're doing away with the cubicles?"
"What?" But how..."
"Well, that's what we are, right? Engineers. There has to be a way to get us all to work properly without putting everybody in little boxes. Kind of like cells, and nobody likes to be reminded of that while working. Right, man?"
Alan gave a lopsided smile. "You're taking on too much, too fast, Flynn."
"Yeah, well, if we don't start running now, we'll keep on hobbling. Right. Have you two had lunch?"
Both Roy and Alan shook their heads, Alan with a bemused expression at the change of topics, probably, and Roy with that little grin that his program had taken on so often.
"Good." Moving between them, he swung an arm around Kleinberg's shoulders. "Come on then, Ram. Tron."
"--stop calling me that!"
"Let's go see if the new pizza place down the street has got something for us. And no way, Bradley. That was quite a stint your program pulled, I swear."
"How do you know my program's name was Ram?"
"I got to... uh, deal with some of the MCP mess, before it was too late. You eat pizza, right?"
"Well, yeah..."
The familiarity of the two figures which filed into his office almost took his breath away; good thing Alan had discovered the best way to get in a word edgewise into Flynn's occasional babbling, which was to start first.
"Flynn! Here, I have another of Walter's boy miracles for you. This is Roy Kleinberg, class of '77, who was working same level as me before you started upturning the place. Cubicle next to me, actually. Brilliant in math, accounting--"
"-- and actuaries."
The curly head perked up, eyebrows climbing up over the glasses. "You've heard about me? I did that actuary program which made a hit a couple of years back..."
"Kind of." Flynn had to make an effort to keep his face from grimacing as he recalled this very same look of excited, trusting respect before it faded for the last time. Not here, not now. "I'm afraid that program was among the casualties that the MCP took on its way down."
That got him a confused look, yeah, he knew it sounded weird when he was talking about programs as of people, and a shrug. "It was good work. I might be able to reconstruct it or most of it from my notes."
"Yeah." Change of topic. "Right! Did you get the news we're doing away with the cubicles?"
"What?" But how..."
"Well, that's what we are, right? Engineers. There has to be a way to get us all to work properly without putting everybody in little boxes. Kind of like cells, and nobody likes to be reminded of that while working. Right, man?"
Alan gave a lopsided smile. "You're taking on too much, too fast, Flynn."
"Yeah, well, if we don't start running now, we'll keep on hobbling. Right. Have you two had lunch?"
Both Roy and Alan shook their heads, Alan with a bemused expression at the change of topics, probably, and Roy with that little grin that his program had taken on so often.
"Good." Moving between them, he swung an arm around Kleinberg's shoulders. "Come on then, Ram. Tron."
"--stop calling me that!"
"Let's go see if the new pizza place down the street has got something for us. And no way, Bradley. That was quite a stint your program pulled, I swear."
"How do you know my program's name was Ram?"
"I got to... uh, deal with some of the MCP mess, before it was too late. You eat pizza, right?"
"Well, yeah..."