NaNoWriMo 2014

Chapter Ten

"How did you do that, kid?" he asked me with an open mouth. He used 'kid' with a respectful tone, not in a way that looked down at me.

"Your mouth is open, sir." I said.

He shut it with a clack.

"I've put a lot of time into my coding and evidently it's proved useful." I said, "You nearly made your way in through that weak spot that I was meaning to repair next week."

"Yes, I noticed that, how did you manage to layer two shields inside one another in that way? he asked me.

"What inner shield?" I asked, confused.

"When I broke through that weakness, there was another wall already there."

"No, sir; that was a patch I designed on the spot."

"You, you," he spluttered, searching for words, "You mean that you made that up while I was assaulting you?" he asked me incredulously.

"Yes, sir."

"And how, how did you manage to have it ready in time?" he asked.

"I read your mind."

"You," he had a hard time with this one, "read my mind?"

"Yes, sir. I pushed up through your code stream to your chip and read the information it was getting which would be your current thoughts as well as your streams of code. Using that information I was able to know your attacks before they ever happened."

This quieted him as he thought about this for a minute. "Okay, but how did you know you could talk directly into my mind like that? Your messages just pushed your way up into my thoughts, not as texts but as straight words. How did you know it was doable?" he questioned me.

"I didn't, I had the idea and decided to give it a try."

"Well, you're a genius kid." said the chief with admiration, "I'd like to hire you to work on adapting a version of your system to protect the force's servers that can be watched by a computer as well as versions for each member of the force for their personal use if you would be interested. I'd be glad to have your system patented and arrange for you to be paid well for each security system you install as well as for your time in working on the project."

I looked at him with amazement at his offer. I knew he would be coming here to find out if I still wanted his offered job but I never expected something like this. I'd considered patenting my software a couple of times but each time I'd decided that it wasn't worth anything and besides, I wasn't sure if I trusted the patent office entirely with something like my self-designed software. "Are you kidding?" I asked him in a surprised voice.

"Well, I just thought I'd ask; I didn't really expect that you'd want to." said Chief Sandongsky, starting to get to his feet.

"Of course I'm interested!" I exclaimed, "I'm just surprised that you'd want to put a twelve year old in charge of the police force's security software."

"I don't care about your age, Ralim. I care about your skills and since I can see that you're such a genius when it comes to programming I don't want to let you go and get hired by some half-assed software company that will take advantage of your abilities and steal them without compensating you for your work and time." he said with a grin as he realized that I wasn't turning him down. He retook his seat at the table. "Amanda, please sit down and listen to what I have to say. Since he is still a minor I as required by the law that I uphold that you be present and listening to all agreements made between Ralim and I. You've heard everything that has passed between us so far, am I correct?" he asked.

"Yes Chief." said Amanda.

"Alright, this will all be directed at Ralim but you should be listening to me just as much as Ralim should be as you will have to sign off on all of it as his legal guardian before he can work for me." said Chief Sandongsky to Amanda.

"I'm ready." answered Amanda.

"Okay, Ralim will be receiving pay of one hundred credits an hour working under me, any computers, chips, equipment, and funds needed to build any software required by the force, free oral and dental, a government-paid pension, a private office of his own, weekends and holidays off, and unlimited paid vacations within reason as long as he is not absolutely required on a project. How does that sound?" asked Chief Sandongsky.

"That sure sounds good to me sir." I said but, having had no experience in contracts I turned to Amanda and asked, "How's that sound to you Amanda?"

Amanda looked at me blankly.

"Amanda?" I asked.

She snapped out of it, "Wha, what?" she said, "That's an amazing offer, Chief, but it sounds to good to be true, I mean, I make only seventy Credits an hour and look around, I'm not exactly poor." It was true, I'd found out that Amanda was actually very well off compared to most people. If this was how she was supporting two people making seventy an hour, I'd be rich making one hundred.

"Yes, I realize that it all sounds rather incredible that I'd hire Ralim here for that much but to be honest -and don't repeat this to anyone - the force has had several break-ins in the past couple of months that have proven untraceable. If I can show our financial planners within the government the replay of our virtual conflict, I'm sure that they'd be more than willing to promise Ralim what ever it took to get him working for us. As for the money, I told you that his paycheck would be government funded, I only make one-twenty but I believe that they'd find his cost more than reasonable if he could solve our security breaches. I can also promise you that he will have a lifetime position with the force should he choose to do so." said the Chief to reassure Amanda.

"I, I guess so, if Ralim's willing." said Amanda.

"I'm in! Sounds like a fun project!" I told him enthusiastically, (Not to mention the salary was crazy.)

"Alright, I'll get right on it then," said Sandongsky, "I'll get those papers ready for signing as soon as possible. It may take me a couple of weeks to have all the big guys of there in their office's agree to it but I'll get them to come around." He stood up now and said with a smile, "I'll just show myself to the door then." and left.

"Well, that sure was something," said Amanda, "you'll be working for the police soon Ralim, designing a security system for them. You think you're up to it?"

"I'm sure it can't be too difficult." I said. I began to repair the voids and weaknesses in my own system to assure maximum protection; I also got to work on making a full second barrier and more efficient direct-speech program to exploit my discoveries while battling Chief Sandongsky. Little did I know that this would be the turning point in my life.