born!
8
Change of Command
Adam pushed through the security door and entered the office area of CORDEX, the prime contractor of Storm Killer. CORDEX had become the prime contractor because the company had patented the special high magnification optical polymer film that was at the very heart of Storm Killer. He strode down the walkway between the two work areas to the one walled office in this part of the building. His stride was the half walking, half hopping gait of a professional low gravity specialist.
The name plaque on door to the office stated,
ADAM R. SANDS
PROJECT DIRECTOR
STORM KILLER
Someone had written under it in a flowing script, “Subcontractor killer, too.” This was a touch at humor about the infamous story of how Adam would slice and dice subcontractors that failed to meet his standards.
Adam was raised in upstate New York on a farm that grew apples in a dozen different orchards around the county. The farm had a small stable of several workhorses that were used for furrowing to keep weeds down in the orchards. He loved horses almost as much as he loved his profession.
Adam was such a precocious child that he skipped two grades in his K-12 years, and had graduated from MIT at the age of twenty. He held academic degrees in electrical and mechanical engineering, physics, and business administration. He was a thoroughly professional individual with an extremely dry sense of humor. He had no time for a girlfriend and no wish for a wife. Part of his shyness with the opposite sex was attributed to skipping grades because of his academic accomplishments.
But sadly, his inter-personal relationships had not matured at the same rate as his older high school classmates. He was always several years their inferior in socialization skills development.
He was dedicated to his craft, which was leading technical projects through the toughest of conditions. Adam had successfully led over a dozen top-secret technical projects at Area 51, during his ten-year military career in the Air Force.
CORDEX had personnel involved with almost all of those projects and its executive management had been greatly impressed with Adam’s organizational and problem-solving skills. They prodded and cajoled Adam about accepting a position with CORDEX for several years before Adam finally relented. They finally convinced him to come on board when they disclosed the eyes-only plans to build Storm Killer and they needed Adam to build it. As soon as Adam announced his plan to leave the Air Force, CORDEX officials signed him to a long-term, no cut contract worth millions over the life of the contract.
He was known as a tough project leader. He could forgive human error, but not incompetence. He told all of the subcontractors’ team leaders and department heads that he expected no one to bring him a problem without at least two options for resolving the problem.
The scuttlebutt around the core was that one young woman heading the water and sewer treatment systems construction forgot about that rule and brought him a problem. After stating the problem, the woman sat staring at Adam. Adam waited for a full minute staring at her and simply said, “And?”
The woman replied, “What do you think we should do about it?”
Adam reached in top desk drawer, pulled out what looked like a schedule and opened it. He scanned it for a moment and flatly stated, “13:30 hours tomorrow.” He closed the document and slowly replaced it in his drawer.
The woman looked confused and asked, “What was that? What do you mean 13:30 tomorrow?” Her confused look actually made Adam feel sorry for her.
Adam sighed and replied, “The shuttle to Earth leaves tomorrow at 13:30 hours. Be on it and don’t come back. I will contact your employer tonight and notify them that your services are no longer required nor wanted.”
That story was told to all personnel arriving in the core area. Once they actually met the man of the
8
Change of Command
Adam pushed through the security door and entered the office area of CORDEX, the prime contractor of Storm Killer. CORDEX had become the prime contractor because the company had patented the special high magnification optical polymer film that was at the very heart of Storm Killer. He strode down the walkway between the two work areas to the one walled office in this part of the building. His stride was the half walking, half hopping gait of a professional low gravity specialist.
The name plaque on door to the office stated,
ADAM R. SANDS
PROJECT DIRECTOR
STORM KILLER
Someone had written under it in a flowing script, “Subcontractor killer, too.” This was a touch at humor about the infamous story of how Adam would slice and dice subcontractors that failed to meet his standards.
Adam was raised in upstate New York on a farm that grew apples in a dozen different orchards around the county. The farm had a small stable of several workhorses that were used for furrowing to keep weeds down in the orchards. He loved horses almost as much as he loved his profession.
Adam was such a precocious child that he skipped two grades in his K-12 years, and had graduated from MIT at the age of twenty. He held academic degrees in electrical and mechanical engineering, physics, and business administration. He was a thoroughly professional individual with an extremely dry sense of humor. He had no time for a girlfriend and no wish for a wife. Part of his shyness with the opposite sex was attributed to skipping grades because of his academic accomplishments.
But sadly, his inter-personal relationships had not matured at the same rate as his older high school classmates. He was always several years their inferior in socialization skills development.
He was dedicated to his craft, which was leading technical projects through the toughest of conditions. Adam had successfully led over a dozen top-secret technical projects at Area 51, during his ten-year military career in the Air Force.
CORDEX had personnel involved with almost all of those projects and its executive management had been greatly impressed with Adam’s organizational and problem-solving skills. They prodded and cajoled Adam about accepting a position with CORDEX for several years before Adam finally relented. They finally convinced him to come on board when they disclosed the eyes-only plans to build Storm Killer and they needed Adam to build it. As soon as Adam announced his plan to leave the Air Force, CORDEX officials signed him to a long-term, no cut contract worth millions over the life of the contract.
He was known as a tough project leader. He could forgive human error, but not incompetence. He told all of the subcontractors’ team leaders and department heads that he expected no one to bring him a problem without at least two options for resolving the problem.
The scuttlebutt around the core was that one young woman heading the water and sewer treatment systems construction forgot about that rule and brought him a problem. After stating the problem, the woman sat staring at Adam. Adam waited for a full minute staring at her and simply said, “And?”
The woman replied, “What do you think we should do about it?”
Adam reached in top desk drawer, pulled out what looked like a schedule and opened it. He scanned it for a moment and flatly stated, “13:30 hours tomorrow.” He closed the document and slowly replaced it in his drawer.
The woman looked confused and asked, “What was that? What do you mean 13:30 tomorrow?” Her confused look actually made Adam feel sorry for her.
Adam sighed and replied, “The shuttle to Earth leaves tomorrow at 13:30 hours. Be on it and don’t come back. I will contact your employer tonight and notify them that your services are no longer required nor wanted.”
That story was told to all personnel arriving in the core area. Once they actually met the man of the
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