Solar Umbrella (Book 1)

Chapter 3: Its Poetry in Motion

THE YEAR WENT on and Parker continued to work hard in his classes. He started to really focus on a few classes, considering where to specialize in his last few years. He found himself moving away from coding, which had always interested him in elementary school, and focus more on the physical end of things—electronics, even engines and other machines. He was also extremely surprised to find a new interest blooming with his own body. He had always just sort of waited for gym class to end as a younger kid, but he found he was really enjoying it in high school. As a specialist tech high school, Boulder Tech's physical education classes were a lot different and a breath of fresh air. Gone were the days of the aggressive kids dominating the gym in whatever sport they were learning. BT's classes really let the students set their own course, as long as it met the expectations. Parker found himself spending a lot of time using the machines in the gym. He enjoyed the numbers of it as much as anything. He could track his progress easily and the data he kept was matching the results he was seeing and feeling in his body. He was getting stronger and feeling healthier every day. He even found himself using the machines on his own time outside of class, and had signed up to play a few sports extracurricularly. It was as much a surprise to him as anyone else. The gains he was making were especially helpful since he was a few years behind everyone physically.

"Hey Parker, what's new?" Kate asked as she swung over the railing and plopped down beside him. She took her tablet out of her backpack and started swiping through some emails as they talked.

They were in Boulder Tech's communications lab. It was a large space in the back corner of the campus where you learned to create videos and work with common audio and video equipment. It wasn't Parker's favourite class, but he had it with Kate, which was great. He also appreciated how the class was set up. You were given the tasks, in order, at the start of the semester with suggested timelines. Each module had some new learnings and a building of new skills. It was a great class to get through quickly and allow time for catching up in some of the more time sensitive classes. A big donation a few years earlier meant they had really top of the line equipment as well.

Parker was in a group of four working on their latest task. They were using a rough version of the software Arjan Singh and his team had developed to manipulate robots from afar. They were using it to move a regular robot remotely around the school—gaining a feeling for how the software worked to bounce the signals around. They had managed to manipulate a lot of things in the communications room, but the quality noticeably degraded the further the robot traveled. They had cheated and used the school's wifi, but the task required using the software correctly, which was causing them a bit of a headache. Not surprisingly, Kate was working on the code in order to try and fix the issue. She thought that if she cleaned it up a bit, there would be less information travelling back and forth, meaning they would be able to do a lot more with less, and less loss between them and the robot.

Parker had made another friend, DJ. His real name was Daniel Ouedraogo, but everyone called him DJ since he always had his headphones on. Parker considered DJ and Kate to be his best friends at school, and it wasn't even close. They were very different, but they each shared an ability to click with people in a way Parker admired.

DJ was an open book. He had no filter at all. He would tell you exactly what he was thinking at any given time, whether you asked or not. Parker would have thought people would hate that, but they seemed to appreciate it, at least at Boulder Tech. Parker admired that in DJ, which was why they got along so well. DJ was like a character in a movie in that way. He'd walk into a classroom and you'd hear everyone in the room let out a "Deeeeejaaaay" as if it was his catchphrase.

Likewise, Kate could fit in with any crowd—she effortlessly adapted to the situation she was in and the people she was with. It left Parker in awe every time he witnessed it. He had a way of shoehorning himself into groups of his peers and trying, usually unsuccessfully, to bend the topic of conversation to his will. With DJ and Kate, he was quite content to stay on the outskirts of the group and let them take control. He could focus on the work.

Today, he was especially happy to be with Kate and DJ because the fourth member of their group was a bit of an enigma to Parker. Ibrahim Hassan was an outlier at Boulder Tech. As a specialty high school, the clientele tended to be more like Parker than a guy who could captain whatever sports team he wanted at most schools. Handsome, tall, strong, likable and smart as a whip, Ibrahim was the perfect human specimen. Parker hated him. Mostly because he couldn't actually, really hate him—no one could. Aside from the physical aspects, Ibrahim was also incredibly kind and worked just as hard as Parker or anyone else in class.

"Hey Parker! Pop down here and help me out," Ibrahim shouted from the communications room floor. Parker had been up top digging up a few cables. The software was new, but they were using an older robot and older tablet to try and communicate with it. "We'll let the twin geniuses work out the code. You and I can try and find a physical solution to this problem."

Perfect grammar too, of course. "Uh, yeah, I'm coming down Ibrahim," Parker shouted back, "I think I have everything we need here". He tossed the last cable in a plastic bin with the rest and headed for the stairs. He worked through the problem in his head as he travelled. Arjan had said in his presentation that the issue was ultimately signal loss for their asteroid miners. Of course, they were working over massive distances. The closest groups of asteroids worth mining were hundreds of millions of kilometres away. Parker's little group was looking at a few hundred metres. Still, the problem was the same, just on a smaller scale and with significantly less resources.

"Ibrahim, what do you think about using a repeater for our signal, just like Arjan did?" Parker asked, plopping the bin down on the table and pulling up a stool opposite Ibrahim. "I was thinking we could just plug in a repeater halfway and see what happens?"

Ibrahim smiled and nodded his head. "I was thinking the same thing Parker! Between the reduced amount of code and the repeater, it should make our communication with the robot a lot smoother." His smile turned into a mischievous grin and he winked. "I had one other idea as well. If we reduce the video signal and convert it to a more compact codec, that will cut it even finer. We could even go to black and white if we have to."

Godammit, that's a great idea. "Hey man, that's a really great idea, nice work!" Parker forced a smile. "I'll get on the repeater if you want to see about codecs. Meet back up in 15 minutes?"

"Sounds good," Ibrahim said, passing Parker his plastic bin of components. "I think this is a really nuanced solution we've come up with as a team buddy. Thanks again for letting me work with you guys."

"Uh, sure thing Ibrahim. I think we've got it here for sure," Parker replied, nearly choking on his vexation. The fact of it was, everyone in the class wanted Ibrahim in their group. The guy came up with great ideas like the one he just did all the time. He seemed to know a little bit about just about everything and was always willing to dig deeper to learn more. Parker had his suspicions about why Ibrahim had chosen their group to join, and it had been that way. He had his pick of the litter when they were selecting groups. DJ, Kate and Parker almost always worked together when they could, but if the group required a fourth, there was usually a rotating cast of classmates who went through. This latest project was the third in a row that Ibrahim had joined, and he seemed to wedge himself into working alongside Kate whenever possible.

Parker felt a pang of jealousy and instantly felt like an asshole. He had no claim on Kate. She was her own person who could make her own choices, not some vassal of his to command. He couldn't blame Ibrahim either. Kate was smart as hell and beautiful to boot. Her ability to work with people was an added bonus. Why wouldn't Ibrahim or anyone be interested in her? Ibrahim was also all those things, and the same age as Kate. She'd be insane not to show interest back his way, and Parker knew that was what was really driving him nuts. He reminded himself he was here to learn. Other stuff could wait.