Re: Life - Business & Technology

Chapter 160 Prodigies

Thursday Afternoon, September 12, 2013

While Vince Dalton was busy addressing the video media sub-department of Future Studios regarding the general plans for producing the Astartes (Space Marines) Infinity Channel TV Show, an important corporate guest continued patiently touring the headquarters.

A Caucasian woman in her late 50s named Marillyn Hewson, Lockheed Martin's CEO, was accompanied by the dignified Future Tech Chief Operating Officer, Hudson.

The man in his 40s showed the guest around the non-sensitive areas around Future Tech Robotics, Micro Devices, and Artificial Intelligence. He also briefly introduced her to their respective department directors like Heidi, Morgan, and Patel.

They acted professionally and politely, meeting the influential CEO. Still, They were too busy with current projects to speak extensively with her until the official conference regarding the F-35 redesign scheduled in an hour.

After leaving the building floor dedicated to FT AI, Marrilyn curiously asked, "Hudson, do you know which floor Jessica works on? I'd like to speak with her again after sharing a wonderful conversation when she and her boss, Mike Krieger, visited Lockheed Martin's headquarters. It was a breath of fresh air compared to the political babble popular in DC."

Hudson sincerely answered, "Ah, the young woman used to work closely with Patel at FT AI but is now under the mentorship of Mike at Future Tech Softworks. She's considered somewhat of a prodigy in her field, only overshadowed by Vince Dalton amongst her peers. So I'm sure she'd be flattered by your praise."

The entourage arrived on the same floor as Jessica's office a few minutes later. They found her busy writing computer programs on her Infinity Workstation, most probably concerning the F-35 project.

Developing software for military applications using the Infinity Code Editor wasn't too different from developing software for commercial applications like Future Tech's smart device apps. On the contrary, it was fairly similar to coding physics simulations and logic structures for video games. Jessica had plenty of experience in both fields from her previous work at FT AI and Future Studios.

The Korean-American woman wore her typical casual Future Couture clothing and was focused on her digital display until noticing Hudson and Marrilyn behind the glass partition of her office.

Jessica instinctively saved her code before welcoming them into her elegantly designed office.

The young software developer amicably greeted her visitors with a smile and said, "Marrilyn, you look lovely today. How has your tour been going? I hope Future Tech was within your expectations."

Marrilyn smiled back and replied, "Thanks, and so do you, young lady. Future Tech seems to be more than up to our standards. Has it been a busy workday so far?"

Jessica nodded left and right and replied, "Not all. Actually, I've been enjoying developing a few aspects of the pilot control module after Mike and his engineers finalized the jet's logic into the onboard Infinity Server. In addition, I have a newfound respect for Lockheed Martin's software devs that were forced to work with an aging Integrated Core Processor from L3Harris."

Marrilyn's interest was piqued by Jessica's comment and inquisitively asked, "What do you mean by that?"

The F-35's main problem was the unreliability of its electronic systems, which had set Lockheed Martin back many years and resources worth of redevelopment and forcing them to sub-contract the fighter jet to Future Tech, so her curiosity was understandable.

Jessica still felt a bit guilty for slightly scamming the nice lady, so she honestly explained, "Don't get me wrong, L3Harris produces decent industrial-grade computers and equipment for aviation and aerospace applications, but they're stuck using outdated processor architecture licensed from ARM many years before Future Tech purchased it. Morgan designed the current Infinity architecture for use in SpaceX projects, demanding significantly more calculation capacity than fighter jets. Fortunately, the newly fitted computer module will provide enough processing overhead for the F-35's necessary changes. It wasn't Lockheed Martin's developers' fault, though. They had to make do with the resources at hand."

Marrilyn felt grateful for Jessica's honest explanation and said, "Hmm. Thank you for the honest analysis, young lady. I'd have to reconsider my corporation's further business dealings with L3Harris."

Hudson continued to nod and smile in agreement from the periphery but had no idea what Jessica and Marrilyn were discussing. Even if he was an upper echelon manager at Microsoft before his tenure at Future Tech, the gritty details of software development didn't concern him.

Marrilyn had been fascinated by the abilities of the young founders of Austin's tech giant, including Jessica, so she asked, "Do you mind showing me what you've been working on for the joint project?"

The young woman couldn't find a reason not to accommodate Future Tech's business partner and said, "Alright. I was writing code before you arrived, but I'll include the Infinity Unreal Engine simulations on the screen for further reference.

Jessica connected her Workstation to the office's media presentation system before a 55" inch display slowly descended from the ceiling.

The display showed a 3D model of the F-35's vertical and horizontal stabilizers as the digital jet flew at a constant cruising speed close to Mach 1.

The young woman explained, "The original configuration struggled to maintain the stabilizer angles at optimal efficiency because the onboard computer was consistently half a second too slow in calculating the necessary adjustments. Now, the stabilizing elements in the rear are much more responsive to environmental changes and the pilot's stick movements. We've also replaced the swivel mechanism with one that the Future Tech Formula 1 team developed for its drag reduction system. I'm sure the topic will be addressed during your corporate meeting later today."

Marrilyn and Hudson watched the 3D jet as it instantly adjusted its angle of attack and speed to pierce through the air more efficiently.

Jessica continued explaining, "Though the changes I've made so far are all theoretical and based only on simulation until a prototype is built and its performance telemetry is recorded."

It was clear that Mike Krieger trusted Jessica's abilities enough to be granted the responsibility for coding the F-35's auto-pilot features.

The changes were seemingly insignificant in the grand scheme of the redesign. Still, they could potentially extend the jet's overall flight time by a few percent, allowing it to become a practical option for scouting missions.

Marrilyn sincerely replied, "Even so, you've done an amazing job since the last time we met three weeks ago. Alright, I'll stop intruding on your day. Keep it up, and remember, if you ever find yourself looking for work, Lockheed Martin will always welcome a talent like you."

She wasn't only being polite, as it was rare to find someone as young and accomplished in the software field as Jessica Mirae.

Vince hadn't spoken to her in his past life since graduating high school. So he didn't know she'd spent the following years working as a fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology researching Quantum Computing.

It wouldn't take her long to catch up to Vince's programming standards with so many mentors and opportunities at Future Tech.

Jessica graciously accepted the compliment before bidding farewell to both her guests and resumed her work on the auto-pilot feature.

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Fifteen minutes later, at the penthouse conference room, the android, Aiya, assisted Vince in preparing the last corporate meeting of the day.

Numerous Future Tech executives would be in attendance to deliberate the next stage of the F-35's redevelopment cycle, in conjunction with a vital representative from its business partner.

Unfortunately, some directors like Kevin Lawson of Future Tech F1 could only partake in the meeting through NetServ video comm due to responsibilities away from Austin.

He believed half a dozen board members would suffice in displaying his sincerity to Marrilyn Hewson and their collaboration.

The Lockheed Martin CEO arrived with Hudson five minutes before the appointment time, so Vince claimed the chance to introduce himself.

Vince amicably said, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Mrs. Hewson. I take it, Hudson, and my staff has treated your entourage well so far?"

He'd been quite busy the past few hours but didn't show any weariness to the guest and maintained a professional demeanor.

She respectfully replied, "Likewise, young man. Please call me Marrilyn. Hudson has been the most delightful host. Thank you for sharing your subordinate's valuable time showing me around the facilities."

Vince smiled and said, "It was only natural to do so. I'm curious if you have any questions regarding Future Tech?"

Marrilyn answered, "Actually, Hudson and I spoke with Jessica for a few minutes about some minor changes to the stabilizer mechanism featuring Formula 1 technology. Isn't it difficult working with many different corporate departments on one project? Like Future Tech, Lockheed Martin employs more than 100 thousand people, but even our HR solutions are far from perfect."

Vince honestly replied, "As Hudson knows very well, Future Tech's corporate structure is a bit unorthodox compared to most. Most of our highly collaborative departments like Robotics and Manufacturing share external project managers working in unison with their respective internal counterparts that lead the developers and engineers. Our HR system is a mix of the Matrix organizational structure popularized by NASA in the 1960s and the common Divisional structure."

Marrilyn didn't expect to receive such an in-depth and concise explanation so casually, but she was slowly learning that Future Tech was remarkably distinct from most corporations.

His executives arrived a few moments later, then Vince confidently stated, "Now that everyone is here, we can begin."

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Check the glossary chapter for current business stats.

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