Moody Onomatopoeia

[hextraterrestrial]

Gooch entered the lab with a cardboard box precariously stacked with various items nearly spilling out the top. Fred reached over to his I-Pod and turned the music way down, barely audible over the hum of the computers in the lab. He smiled towards Gooch.

"I found it!" Gooch said flashing teeth as he reached into the box pulling out a small silver Mac-Mini. "There wasn't much left in the way of computers but this survived the raid." Taniguchi placed the small computer on the edge of Mudi's overflowing desk. "I'm headed downstairs for tea; do you want a coffee?"

"You read my mind," said Fred. "and thanks." he said with a nod.

"No problemo compadre." Gooch said turning on his heel as he headed out the door.

Fred checked the monitor bank. Visual schematics were sprawled across the monitors. He was working on building a new firewall for Knight Tech. His workstation was a ramshackle conglomeration of screens, wires and pc towers that looked like the inner workings of a hole blown into the side of the Starship Enterprise by some overzealous Kilngon warbird. Although Linux and Windows were more comfortable to him, he was glad to have his Mac returned. There was some invaluable data in there that was irreplaceable.

The chore of getting situated with a new desk was always a tedious task to Fred. He had set up and broken down his station so many times he wondered if he should rather be a technician than a computer engineering consultant.
To make matters worse, while he was incapacitated, Fred had been robbed. All his belongings had been rifled through, leaving his personal Sherlock Holmes style office rudely disorganized and scattered. All his pertinent materials had been taken, including his retirement stash of silver bars, so at this point he was rather irate with the whole situation. Short of rape, there was nothing more violating to a person's wellbeing than having your personal belongings disrespectfully manhandled and rent asunder by a bunch of strangers in a place considered sacred. Now he had to start from scratch - again. He huffed a sigh, at least Gooch had a good portion of previous work archived, the Mac was a nice boost to his disposition.

The lab was a temporary setup, the thought of which sent Fred's head shaking in dismay. He'd have to set this all up just to break it all back down. They had a small office space just outside of the Holloman base provided by an anonymous outside investor. From his second story window, Fred gazed out his tinted window to highway 70 below. There wasn't a single car passing by and the stillness struck him as picturesque. He imagined the snow like hills of rolling sand as a white sea frozen still in a photograph. Fred caught himself staring out the window for an exorbitant amount of time. The sound of swooshing fabric and heavy steps snapped him out of it as Gooch returned, a steaming cup in each hand. Gooch carefully handed a mug to him as Fred inhaled the aroma. French vanilla. Fred smiled as he decided right there. That's what he'd name the firewall. It was being written in Java after all; at least initially.

Gooch spoke, "I have a few Mac power cables on the far shelf." as he pointed to the north east corner of the room. "How's the design looking?"

"Rather rudimentary." answered Fred. "I've been a bit flustered with the packet dynamics. As you know, they are too easy to breech and I do not have the math skills to write what I see. I don't think Java is secure nor robust enough to handle my vision."

"How so?" inquired Zakari.

"I want to weave the threaded processors into a hyperspace funnel or sync. The problem is extracting the individual IPs from the other end. I was going to ask you if C++ would be more appropriate for the problem or just invent our own characters and language? My drawings exemplify the process beautifully but the translation into code is another matter entirely." Fred explained as he crossed the room and scoured the shelf for the proper cable.

Gooch laid an arm across his chest, resting the other arms elbow on top. He scratched at the five o'clock shadow on his chin as he leaned in towards Fred's monitors. He studied the swirling lines in the diagrams carefully letting go a quite whistle before replying.
"Mail these images as .png to my Linux account along with what executables you have so far and I'll review them with our tank and get back to you as soon as we come up with something tangible."

Fred exclaimed a "Ah ha!" as he thrust his fist up victoriously clutching a white power cable. "No problemo." he said. "How long do you think it will take?"

Standing up straight, Gooch beamed, "With my guys? Just a few hours. They might not have the same capacity for spatial perceptions for one such as yourself but once I give them this design, they'll be all over it like bees on honey."

Fred approached Zak and his desk, when he stopped he smiled saying "That sounds sweet!"

Gooch let out a giddy giggle. The devious nature of the work made them both feel like little kids again. As if they were going to be sneaking cookies from the jar when their mothers weren't looking.

Gooch extended his index finger and tapped the mini "So what's in this bad boy?"

Fred began clearing space at his station as he plugged the device and other appropriate cables in. "Remember how you forced me back in '08' to cast that I-Ching reading the day they fired up Cern? Before the magnet broke?"

Gooch's right eyebrow raised, "Yeah..."

"Well, I have a feeling there is something in that reading that we need now. Don't ask me why or how, it is just an urge to check it out." Fred suggested.

"AAhh... I like the way you think Mudi!" exclaimed Gooch. "I'm not sure how that would correlate but that is the exact 'outside the box' thinking that makes you so invaluable. I'm so glad to have you back!"

"Me too." said Fred from under the desk. He scuffled out and stood. "There we go." He input a few strokes on his keyboard, switching the display settings, entered one of his notoriously short passwords and waited a moment for the Mac to boot. Gooch was all grin. They both stood silent as Fred searched for the file. "Here we are!" he said. "I'll shoot it over now, check it out."

Zak sailed to his station and plopped into his ergonomic chair. A few touches on the screen and he had the document open. He was taken back to memories of a decade prior as he contemplated the old info as a new dataset.

卦 F.M. I-Ching reading 05/02/2008 13:44

Cast Hexagram:

26 - Twenty-Six
Ta Ch'u / Recharging Power

Heaven's motherlode waits within the Mountain:
The Superior Person mines deep into history's wealth of wisdom and deeds, charging his character with timeless strength.

Persevere.
Drawing sustenance from these sources creates good fortune.
Then you may cross to the far shore.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

There are important precedents in this situation.
Others have trodden this Path before you, overcoming the same obstacles facing you now, and making crucial decisions at the same crossroads.
Study their journals, watch for their trail markings.
Gain inspiration and wisdom from the heroes and learn from the mistakes of those who chose a sidepath.
All were Seekers, explorers whose daring mapped a course you can follow.
The words and deeds of the finest can imbue you with the courage necessary to face what lies before you.

Changing Lines:

There are no Changing Lines.

Transformed Hexagram:

No Changing Lines.
Only the Cast Hexagram applies.

Upper Trigram:
Kên / Mountain
Image: Mountain.
Qualities: Tranquil, Immobile, Still, Perverse, Waiting, Patient, Calm, Stubborn, Inert, Methodical, Eternal.
Direction: Northeast.
Family Member: Youngest Son.
Body Part: Hand.
Season: Late Winter.
Time of Day: Dawn.
Animal: Dog.
Color: Emerald Green.
Element: Stone.
Miscellaneous: Byway, Mountain Path, Pebbles, Doorway, Opening, Gateway, Seed of Fruit, Eunuch, Watchman, Doorkeeper, Fingers, Rat, Black-billed Bird, Gnarled Tree.

Lower Trigram:
Ch'ien / Heaven
Image: Heaven
Qualities: Creative, Strong, Light of Day, Firmness, Inspiring, Power, Aggression, Completion.
Direction: Northwest.
Family Member: Father.
Body Part: Head.
Season: Early Winter.
Time of Day: Daytime.
Animal: Horse.
Color: Purple.
Element: Metal.
Miscellaneous: Round, Prince, Jade, Cold, Ice, Tree Fruit, Upper Garment, Word, Prehistoric, Flesheater.

Gooch leaned back in his chair interlocking his hands behind his head as he cooly exclaimed:

"Holy cow!"