Bringing Up a Baby Sphinx

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Just Old Al
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Re: Bringing Up a Baby Sphinx

Post by Just Old Al »

Glytch heard familiar but rapid footsteps behind him, and a hand grabbed his shoulder and roughly flipped him back against the wall.

On the other end of the hand was a Sergeant-Major. A very ANGRY Sergeant-Major. The amiable old man was completely gone and this, the product of a centuries-old military tradition, stared directly into his eyes.

“In the past twenty-four hours I have been annoyed by children I love dearly, tattled on by a Sphinx, verbally bludgeoned by a daughter-in-law I also love dearly, made a decision that no man should have to make, been thwarted in that decision by having the tires stolen off my truck, collapsed exhausted, only to wake up and have a certain redneck compatriot of ours force me to examine every step I ever took as a military man – and realize the mistakes I made and admit to them.

And then YOU have the TEMERITY to question my motivations. You have the GALL to think that I cannot and will not WORK to do the best I possibly can for my family, be they blood (not that there are any of my blood here) or family of association like YOU.

Some things are irreparable. These you must excise and move on.

Yesterday, I thought I was irreparable, and was going to excise myself and spare those I loved the need to do so. I am still not convinced that my presence here is for good or ill – but in my present state of mind it is not a question I can and should ask. This requires a tranquility of mind I do not have at present and need to recover.

HOWEVER, IT IS NOT A QUESTION YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO ASK!”

Al turned away and his shoulders drooped.

Glytch listened with a stoic expression on his face until Al finished yelling. "Al, that alone proves you worthy. I am sorry this hurt, but I could not in good conscience try to force you to stay without knowing what I just learned." Glytch held out a hand with a gentle smile. "I will not doubt you again. Know that from here on out, you can count on me to help you in any way I can. I will do everything in my power."

Turning back, the old, familiar Al said “I think you have your answer. Now go away.” With that, he ignored the outstretched hand, turned and walked back into his office, closing the door behind him. A few seconds later, the low tones of music came from behind the closed door – soothing, tranquil music.
"The Empire was founded on cups of tea, mate, and if you think I am going to war without one you are sadly mistaken."
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Just Old Al
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Re: Bringing Up a Baby Sphinx

Post by Just Old Al »

Before he got to the main hall, his phone chimed indicating an incoming email.

With trepidation, Glytch noted it was from Al.

The content was simple, and direct.

We will test the launcher in three days. I will inform you when - please be present if you can. Also, if you can build a more production-worthy human sized remote please do so. The prototype is more than adequate but I fear it isn't quite up to standard as the customer will need it on a continuous use basis.

The answer to your problem with the relative power of devices is allocation of distributed processing. Any device with spare capacity can provide computational horsepower, with your server as a reserve well. This way it need not be invoked until required by computational needs over and above that of the massed devices.


After this, a text description of the distributed process algorhythm was provided, in enough detail that any competent programmer could incorporate it. The note was unsigned, other than that.

Glytch chucked mirthlessly.

"Once an engineer, always an engineer. Shoot him and with his dying breath he'll tell you how to make your weapon work better."

"Be well, old man."
Last edited by Just Old Al on Mon Mar 21, 2016 2:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"The Empire was founded on cups of tea, mate, and if you think I am going to war without one you are sadly mistaken."
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Re: Bringing Up a Baby Sphinx

Post by jwhouk »

---

It had taken them a good three days, running 16-hour shifts for all three, but Drey and Mori had gotten the order done.

Slaughtering as many sides of beef as they could - which seemed to be nearly one ever other hour - they'd sliced up the cuts, ground up the meat, gotten the patties formed, and boxed the whole lot of it up.

Now, the 400 10-pound cases took up most of the main storage freezer of Schweis Packing - and the purchasers were scheduled to come make the pickup that afternoon.

"What do you supposed they're going to do with all that beef?" Mori asked as they put the last of the pallets in the storage - without help of a forklift (much to Garcia's consternation).

"Dunno. Maybe some sort of holiday picnic? Or someone going into the fast-food business?"

"It's a company order, so I'm betting a company picnic."

Drey looked out at the loading dock. "Hope they brought a big enough truck."
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GlytchMeister
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Re: Bringing Up a Baby Sphinx

Post by GlytchMeister »

Glytch recognized Daisy's footsteps approaching quickly as he read the email and turned toward her.
"Just what the hell do you think you were doing?"
"Daisy-" Glytch instinctively spoke in a placating voice.
"No, I don't want to hear excuses or bullshit, do you understand?" Daisy was glaring daggers at Glytch.
Glytch stood silently for a moment, then lowered his hood, returning the dam's hard look with one just as intense. When he finally spoke, his voice was cold, emotionless, and calculating. "Do not for a single moment presume that I am attempting to do harm."
Daisy took a small step back... It was as though she was seeing a whole different person in Glytch's eyes.
Glytch took a deep breath and continued. "Al just tried to abandon this family. Again, unless I miss my guess."
Daisy blinked, taken aback. She didn't think anyone knew about Al's suicidal ideation after Emerauld roasted him.
Glytch nodded, his face expressionless. "I can understand why you would want him to stay. I, however, could not make that decision until I knew he hasn't simply been looking for a way out of the marriage and the family."
Daisy actually let out a snarl. "How dare you-"
"Oh, I dare. I do dare, Daisy, because I've seen worse. I've lived with worse. I spent my childhood with far... far... worse relatives. I won't let that happen to anyone here." Glytch's voice dropped almost to a whisper, sending chills down Daisy's spine.
"But he isn't anything like that."
"I am sorry, but you are enormously biased. You cannot make an objective judgement on this matter. I can't either, but I'm at least a little less biased than his wife."
Daisy narrowed her eyes, but said nothing.
"I wasn't about to force a man to stay in this family if he wants nothing more than to leave. That would hurt everyone far more than if he left. However, I am loathe to allow a man to leave when he is honestly doing so for the benefit of everyone else, misguided though that believe may be. I did not know which one Al was. I have just determined which one he is."
"And that is?" Daisy's voice was icy.
"One worth keeping around." Glytch showed no outward reaction to Daisy's tone. "He is extremely upset at me. I will return in three days to complete the toy for Aeternia." Glytch raised his hood. "Beyond that... Is up to you and Al." Glytch pulled out his phone and disappeared with a *VORP* before Daisy could say anything more.

...

Glytch landed in his bedroom and immediately sunk to his knees, panting and gasping. With an effort of will, he dragged himself onto his bed and struggled to fight down the old memories that refused to stay buried.
The confusion from not understanding why his fathers' company was more important than their family when he was young. The sadness and anger he felt every time he had to leave his friends because his dad took another promotion in some other state. The fear and self-loathing he felt as his father's words bit into him like a blade, cutting him down and making him feel worthless, hated. The betrayal he felt whenever he looked, pleadingly, to his mother, who stood idly by and let his father scream and taunt him. The fury he felt as he watched his sister go insane from the same treatment, and the rage and pity he felt as she turned on him and treated him the way his parents did.
At some point, he fell asleep, but it offered no reprieve. His father had discovered where he had been hiding, found out his now identity. He was screaming and taunting again, worse than ever.

Glytch had had enough.

"RRRRAAAARRGH!"
*CRASH!*
His father's face faded from Glytch's vision, replaced by a hole in his drywall and a shattered stud. He stared at the hole for a long moment, not even bothering to remove his hand until his heart had slowed back down. When he finally pulled it out, it was broken and bloody. Several bones were poking out of his skin.

...

One trip to the ER later, Glytch was at his lab at MIB. Several coworkers asked about his hand, but they all eventually decided to leave Glytch alone after getting only grunts or minimal answers. Glytch went to his office, closed the door, and got to work on the launcher controller.
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
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Re: Bringing Up a Baby Sphinx

Post by FreeFlier »

Just Old Al wrote:. . . "Once an engineer, always an engineer. Shoot him and with his dying breath he'll tell you how to make your weapon work better." . . .
So true . . .


And dark shadows indeed.
Wolf-who-watches wrote:Someone needs bitten.
Two agrees.

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Dave
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Re: Bringing Up a Baby Sphinx

Post by Dave »

GlytchMeister wrote:"RRRRAAAARRGH!"
*CRASH!*
His father's face faded from Glytch's vision, replaced by a hole in his drywall and a shattered stud.
There are, indeed, monsters in the world... both ours and the Wapsiverse... and a lot of them are biologically 100% human. :(
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Re: Bringing Up a Baby Sphinx

Post by FreeFlier »

I shouldn't have encouraged her . . . she's in the kitchen looking for barbecue sauce.

At least she hasn't gone shadow.

Yet.

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Re: Bringing Up a Baby Sphinx

Post by DinkyInky »

FreeFlier wrote:I shouldn't have encouraged her . . . she's in the kitchen looking for barbecue sauce.

At least she hasn't gone shadow.

Yet.

--FreeFlier
Safyr says she will help, and shadows are her specialty. :twisted:
Yanno how some people have Angels/Devils for a conscience? I have a Dark Elf ShadowKnight and a Half Elf Ranger for mine. The really bad part is when they agree on something.

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Re: Bringing Up a Baby Sphinx

Post by Sgt. Howard »

Al gave me quite a bit of assistance here...

Forty five minutes of tire replacement later, Greg had the old Ambulance backing out of the garage with address in hand... no big deal, 400 frozen meat disks on dry ice... why we couldn't just FED-EX the silly thing, well... after all the effort with Al, the open road had a tendency to calm the nerves.
That whole scenario could have gone horribly wrong... Greg fully appreciated how well it went. There were many he pulled out of a spiral just by saying the right thing at the right time... it was a gift, one he never fully understood. Many times, he had no idea what he was going to say until he was actually saying it. It was a wild thing, quite scary sometimes... and it didn't always work. There were those who chose the destructive path in spite of Greg's best efforts- he thought about them often to think what he might have done differently... there was never a satisfactory answer when he did. Once more, Greg recycled the memories of those who dropped out of school, chose drugs, committed crime, committed suicide... in spite of his efforts... and came up with no answers...
Fifteen miles later, he was calculating how far he would travel before he tanked up the rig and filled his gut.

Mori had just finished three and a half hours straight at the head cleaning station and was on break when Old Man Schweis found her-
"That order for RI- it's all in cold storage and ready?"
"Four thousand frozen sliders, Boss- all decent cuts. Individually wrapped and packaged in boxes of four hundred- just as stated in the order. They better come soon, we have very little room left in cold store."
"Well, I'm told their driver's on the way- he'll be here this afternoon. You and Drey up to a little overtime if he runs late?"
Mori looked at him momentarily dumbstruck before she snarked out, "Well, gee, Boss... I don't know... I mean I'm dating some rich old fart who's gonna leave me a chunderload of cash when he croaks and I don't wanna stand him up... of course we'll cover the shop if he's late. Not a problem."
He shook his head, smiling- "You two are odd ones... but you work like demons, you know that,"
As he turned to leave, Mori muttered to herself, "Naw... demons are lazy jerkwads,"

Sarge rolled up to Schweis Packing, and backed the ambulance up to the dock, leaving room to open the doors as the dock was better-suited to a delivery truck than the ambulance.

Armed with the paperwork and the original order as sent to Schweis, Sarge wandered into the receiving door. The receiving dock counter was a foreboding place, white-painted walls, plastic laminate counter, a chill that spoke of cold leakage from freezers and an indefinable smell of death that put his teeth on edge.

He pressed the pushbutton marked "FOR ASSISTANCE" and waited. A buzzer sounded in another room, and a woman dressed in a smock and safety equipment walked through the swinging door from the plant, saying"You must be from RE..." she was saying before she gasped, " the Centurion!" and stopped.

She stood, staring at him, eyes glassy and unblinking and completely immobile. Sarge stared at her at first wonderingly- "The Centurion?" he muttered to himself- then with a gradually rising level of alarm as he realized she was catatonic. Was the poor girl having a seizure? Sarge pounced up and down on the button at the desk, and soon a second girl came out...and did the same thing, partway through the door.

Utterly bemused, Sarge moved around the counter toward the girls. Waving a hand in front of thir faces produced no result, as did a finger poked suddenly toward an eye.

Quite disconcerted, Sarge went back behind the counter and again jumped up and down on the buzzer button. Finally a man came out, noticed the two girls frozen and said, "Oh, damn, not again."

Grabbing each by a shoulder he shook them, saying "Come out of it!" After several iterations they came out, blinking, and the first said "Damn - did we fade out again?"

"Yes, you did, and in front of a customer, as well. You two go take a break, we'll talk about it later." He turned them around and gave them a push back out the door toward the plant, then turned back to Sarge.

"Thank you for letting us know. I'm Garcia - can I help you?"

"Are those two going to be all right?" Greg was quite concerned - though it occurred to him that those two looked...familiar.

"Yes, they'll be fine after they sit a bit. They're sisters - Mori and Drey. They seem to have some kind of a genetic issue that makes them lock up like that every now and then. Not sure why, and they've never both done that at the same time."

"Mori and Drey...Wardoff?"

Garcia was startled. "Do you know them?"

"No. I know their sister Ari. She's an engineering manager who works for a friend of mine."

"Never heard them mention another sister. Weird."

"Not so much - they don't get along."

"Pity. In any case what can I do for you Mr...."

"Howard. Greg Howard. I'm here to pick up the order for Richer Engineering."

"Oh, right! That's a mighty big order! Glad to see you're picking it up - it's got our freezers full!"

Greg was alarmed. 400 patties had their freezers full? Something here was just NOT right.

"There must be a mistake. Order was for 400 patties, shaped as describled - packed in boxes of 10 pounds each - so ten boxes. You must have some damn small freezers if this has 'em full!" Greg joked.

Garcia went pale."Mr. Howard, the order was for 400 BOXES of ten pounds each. 4 ounce patties, individually wrapped, chopped steak."

"Can I see your manager, please?"

In short order, the elder Schweis appeared and greeted Greg warmly- "I trust your drive was pleasant? How can I be of service here?"

"Well, in truth, we seem to have a communication issue here- HERE is the original order... for four hundred patties. Your man Garcia here tells me you have four hundred boxes waiting,"

Mr. Schweis looked between the original order and his departmental orders- the discrepancy was clear- AND also clearly a fault on his end. Glancing at the paperwork, he saw immediately who had bungled the order- a miscreant he should have fired some time back. His face drained of blood.

Greg sensed his terror- he would have felt it from another room- this maneuver would sink his business, no doubt. The idea that such an error could rob him of a trade he had built up from scratch caused Greg no small amount of grief- Greg, after all, was hardwired to solve problems no matter who they belonged to.

"Who took the order?" Greg asked.

"An individual that I had been too charitable with for too long," Schweis replied.

Miss-placed charity- Greg knew a few things about that. He also knew that the man was speaking the truth. But what to do about it? By all rights, it was not RE's problem. Nor was it his- he had come for 400 patties and that's all he required of this transaction. Even so, the loss of a business over this..."Can I sample one of the patties? he asked.

"They're frozen." Garcia responded.

"Not an issue," Greg replied. Bewildered, Garcia went back to cold storage and a minute or two later returned with an individually wrapped puck. Greg inspected the pattie, sniffed at it, then to the astonishment of the other two men he bit into the frozen raw meat and proceeded to chew it, rather thoughtfully. It actually was rather prime cut- Greg could tell in spite of it being frozen.

"Incredible," he commented, "I didn't think this quality could be had anymore- alright, I think an adjustment in price per pound is in order, but I'll take the lot. Obviously I will have to call in a carrier to do this, but we can conclude this before close of business. Are we agree'd?"

The older Schweis rolled his eyes and hit the floor.

"Damn! Seems I have that effect on everyone today- here, lemme see what I can do-"

The fellow started to move of his own- blood pressure drop- simple faint. Probably relief that his business would survive.

"You there, Mr. Schweis?" Greg asked respectfully,"

"Yes... I am sorry, this is so embarrassing... you are my salvation in this situation,"

"Not really... you make a good product. I see us doing business in the future, and I want you to be there. As for your two female employees... keep some Justin Bieber CDs handy- whenever they do a lock up, just have that available and play it."

"How can you possibly know that?"

"I know their sister- and don't mention that I told you... they mistook me for a relation... and that shut them off. Kinda odd... but then again, aren't we all? Listen, I gotta call a few people to make this happen- we're talking about far more payload than this "Snotty Whinery" van can handle,"

"... you're not delivering this for them?" Garcia asked.

"That pretentious pack of purveyors of alcoholic grape cool-aid? I'd sooner drink straight balsamic vinegar. This stuff you sell is quality- you know about 'pearls before swine', right? No, there's another thing going on here, and if we get into a successful swing with it, I'll be requiring a NDS from you as well."

"NDS?" Garcia asked.

"He means a 'non-disclosure statement', am I correct?" Schweis ventured.

"Absolutely- right now, I need to contact C. R. England and arrange transport- then we can figure out the final terms." he said as he pulled out his phone.
Last edited by Sgt. Howard on Thu Mar 24, 2016 12:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Bringing Up a Baby Sphinx

Post by FreeFlier »

Ah, that explains the apparent size of the order . . .

/shudder/ Raw meat. Ew.
Wolf-who-watches wrote:Image /licks chops/
I am not you.

Image

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Re: Bringing Up a Baby Sphinx

Post by Sgt. Howard »

FreeFlier wrote:Ah, that explains the apparent size of the order . . .

/shudder/ Raw meat. Ew.
Wolf-who-watches wrote:Image /licks chops/
I am not you.

Image

--FreeFlier
My favorite recipe for steak;

Stack three steaks together. Cook until outsides steaks are medium rare. Serve center steak... YUMM!!!
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Re: Bringing Up a Baby Sphinx

Post by Dave »

Sgt. Howard wrote: My favorite recipe for steak;

Stack three steaks together. Cook until outsides steaks are medium rare. Serve center steak... YUMM!!!
You remind me a bit of a friend back in college. His order amounted to "Have the cook show the steak to a picture of a flame for 15 seconds", or sometimes just "Warm."
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Re: Bringing Up a Baby Sphinx

Post by GlytchMeister »

Bill Weasley.
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
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Re: Bringing Up a Baby Sphinx

Post by Sgt. Howard »

GlytchMeister wrote:Bill Weasley.

... well... the English DO overcook their beef...
Rule 17 of the Bombay Golf Course- "You shall play the ball where the monkey drops it,"
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GlytchMeister
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Re: Bringing Up a Baby Sphinx

Post by GlytchMeister »

Sgt. Howard wrote:
GlytchMeister wrote:Bill Weasley.

... well... the English DO overcook their beef...
No... See, Bill was bitten by a werewolf while it was in a human state, and thus only took on some minor wolfish characteristics. The main one mentioned being a sudden love for very rare steaks.
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
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Re: Bringing Up a Baby Sphinx

Post by DinkyInky »

GlytchMeister wrote:
Sgt. Howard wrote:
GlytchMeister wrote:Bill Weasley.

... well... the English DO overcook their beef...
No... See, Bill was bitten by a werewolf while it was in a human state, and thus only took on some minor wolfish characteristics. The main one mentioned being a sudden love for very rare steaks.
I enjoy a rare steak on occasion...very rarely though. Stupid anaemia.
Yanno how some people have Angels/Devils for a conscience? I have a Dark Elf ShadowKnight and a Half Elf Ranger for mine. The really bad part is when they agree on something.

Aphyon chu kissa whol l'jaed.
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Re: Bringing Up a Baby Sphinx

Post by Dave »

DinkyInky wrote:I enjoy a rare steak on occasion...very rarely though. Stupid anaemia.
*ahem*

(slides Pun Jar down the bar towards DinkyInky)
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Re: Bringing Up a Baby Sphinx

Post by Dave »

FreeFlier wrote:/shudder/ Raw meat. Ew.
Two words: Taenia saginata
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Re: Bringing Up a Baby Sphinx

Post by Sgt. Howard »

GlytchMeister wrote:
Sgt. Howard wrote:
GlytchMeister wrote:Bill Weasley.

... well... the English DO overcook their beef...
No... See, Bill was bitten by a werewolf while it was in a human state, and thus only took on some minor wolfish characteristics. The main one mentioned being a sudden love for very rare steaks.
... and I was quoting Fleur Delacour's response to that situation...
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I speak fluent Limrick-
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Re: Bringing Up a Baby Sphinx

Post by Sgt. Howard »

Dave wrote:
FreeFlier wrote:/shudder/ Raw meat. Ew.
Two words: Taenia saginata
One word: asymptomatic
Rule 17 of the Bombay Golf Course- "You shall play the ball where the monkey drops it,"
I speak fluent Limrick-
the Old Sgt.
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