On The Surface

Computering

Waylon waited around the next morninguntil Lisa was asleep after her night shift before driving back overto his new shop. He had several important phone calls to makeregarding signs, fliers, business cards, and other accouterments thatcome with running your own business. It was finally happening. Waylonwas going into business for himself. A knock on the glass caught hisattention and he went to open the door. A tall man in a black suitand tie with slicked back brown hair and designer sunglasses wasstanding in the shade of Waylon's shop. Waylon carefully opened thereinforced glass door.

"Good morning! May I help you?"Waylon asked the dapper man.

"Waylon Park?" the man said.

"Uh, yes..."

"Jeremy Blaire. We spoke on thephone. You're going to be handling the technical issues around thecomplex with the tenants?"

"Oh, Mr. Blaire. Nice to meet you inperson, finally," said Waylon. Mr. Blaire worked for MurkoffChemical Incorporated and was responsible for overseeing the tenantsand the upkeep of the strip-mall. If he had other duties, they wereunknown to Waylon.

"It's important that this area issecure. We can't have anyone getting close to the main building andmanaging to hack our own systems," said Blaire, stepping pastWaylon into the disorganized store. "Our network is secure, butconsider this just an extra precaution. You'll be monitoring thearea, checking for any strange new WiFi signals, suspicious activityon the signal available from the corporation, and assisting thetenants with their own technical issues. We can't have someonehacking them to get close to us."

This was all detailed in the e-mailthat Waylon had received when he accepted the job so he wasn't surewhy Mr. Blaire was here telling him this now.

"Uh, yes sir, is there a problem orsomething you needed help with today?" Waylon asked.

"Just dropping by your credentials,"Blaire said, reaching into his pocket and retrieving a long envelope.He held it out toward Waylon, expectantly.

"Credentials?"

"You're being granted limited accessto Murkoff's own system as a way for you to keep watch for anyoutside attempts that might be directed from your area. Very.Limited. Access," Mr. Blaire stressed the last part and lowered hissunglasses to glare properly at Waylon.

"Uh, yes sir," Waylon said, lamely.

"Good meeting you Mr. Park. Welcometo Mount Massive," said Mr. Blaire before turning to walk back outof the door toward a shiny black Mercedes. The chemical plant waseasily within walking distance, but the well-dressed man couldn't bebothered to walk that far. He didn't even get into the driver's seat.Someone had driven him the short distance to deliver the envelope toWaylon. It was an impressive waste of resources, but Waylon justshrugged it off and started to go back into the store before he heardthat jingling store chime next door.

"Waylon?"

"Eddie! Good morning," said Waylon,brightly.