UNDERCOVER on the TITANIC (book 1)

Part 26 - Denny Vernier

I didn't sleep much that night. I was so angry with myself for not dragging Dad out of the Galactic freezer when I had the chance. And I was embarrassed because the police officer obviously had not believed my explanation. How could Murga have escaped and taken Dad with him? 

Also, there was the blond lady in my long-ago memories. Who was she? I finally drifted into sleep just before my alarm clock woke me up.

I found some bread and peanut butter in the fridge for breakfast. Grandma was still snoring in her bedroom and I thought it wise not to disturb her.

I was out the door and on my way to school when I met our next-door neighbour, an elderly man who was frantically vacuuming leaves into a bag slung over his shoulder. Behind him was a neat row of yard waste bags already filled with leaves. He shouted something I couldn't hear over the whine of the vacuum cleaner. He switched it off. 'Hi, neighbour. Welcome to Sumac Street. I'm Jim Kowalchuk.'

'Ziff Dion,' I introduced myself as we shook hands. 'By the way, if you don't mind me asking, what are the two big dots in your window for. They're just like the ones in our dormer window.'

He chuckled. 'The pigeons and the crows think the two dots are the eyes of an enormous owl and they don't wake me up stomping on the roof at five in the morning.   Eric Bragg, your landlord, stole the idea from me. It seems to keep the squirrels away too.' 

He grimaced. 'Anyway, I'd love to chat but the leaves are coming off the trees faster than I can pick them up and it's starting to rain.'

As I walked toward my locker at Silverwood School, I was thinking about Dunc's comments and, for some reason, it made me think of Denny's electric bookcase. I stopped to examine the panels carefully and I was so absorbed in their curious geometric pattern that I didn't notice Denny arriving behind me.

'What's so blooming interesting?' I jumped. 'I . . . I don't know . . . How did you design this pattern?'

'I didn't. It was created by the resident genius and school benefactor, Dr Lee Zhang. He should be along shortly so he can answer your question.'

'No, er,   that's all right,' I spluttered. 'It's not important.'

'Too late!' Denny grinned. Here he comes. Dr Lee Zhang in person.'

An Asian man pushed through the loading dock doors and stopped. He was a tall thin man with an angular Asian face with long black hair tied back in a pony tail. He was probably in his thirties but his beard made him look older. The breeze from the doorway blew the long goatee beard and his long silky mustache over his shoulder. He swung his head from side to side comically to bring it back to the front. I thought he looked like a deranged Kung Fu master and wondered if he would start catching flies with bamboo chopsticks. He looked annoyed.

'G'day Lee,' Denny grinned. 'How did you come up with this blinking pattern?' I looked around in a panic but there was nowhere to hide.

Dr Zhang scowled. 'I used Opp . . . ' He stared at me . . . 'A computer,' he finished abruptly. 'Ah-um, Denny, I have an algorithm problem and Opp . . . we have circuit issues. Would you do something about the power consumption. If we use any more, Ottawa Hydro will be complaining about the school transformer being overloaded.' 

I knew it was called Hydro because more than 20 per cent of Ontario's electricity was generated by falling water. But almost 60 per cent was produced by nuclear power plants, so why didn't we call it Ottawa Nuclo? 

I edged away pretending I was waiting for someone but I stayed within ear shot although I couldn't understand words, like ion pump, vacuum chamber, super conductor and focussing magnets. I tried to memorize them so I could Google them later.

Denny's British dialect got more pronounced.   At one point he said, 'I must be blinking bonkers, trusting a genius like you, Lee. I told you we should have replaced that blooming power supply three weeks ago.' 

Denny hesitated. 'Er, Lee, changing the subject, I bumped into a few of the blokes from WongTime, at the local pub, yesterday.  They were asking about the rumoured sale to IBM. They, er, wanted to know if they could stay with you in your new research company.'

'Ah-um, Denny, I told everybody not to bother me at this location. If they have any production problems, Luc Tanguay is authorized to deal with them.' 'Well, as a minor shareholder,' Denny said, 'I wondered how many people you would need.' 

'None. Zero. Zilch,' Dr Zhang snapped and then he lowered his voice. 'You and I should be able to handle any problems and the more people who know about my research the less likely it can be kept secret.'