"All right, here is the game plan. We'll set up the fabs here, and have them connect directly to the new port and shipyards here.
These nuclear power plants will power the entire complex, and we should be ready with the first fab node, terminal and shipyard by the end of the quarter," said Aaron, showing Friedrich, Hajime and Saladin his plans on a massive map in the construction shed that they had erected on the main site.
"Impressive in scale, but do we have the drones and manpower to even pull this off?" asked Friedrich.
"I have the drones, and Saladin is bringing the manpower. We can get this done," said Aaron confidently.
"We're building this piecemeal right?" asked Hajime.
"Yes. We start with one fab node, one terminal and one shipyard, and we scale from there," said Aaron.
"All right, let's get cracking then," said Saladin, and he gave a signal.
A series of explosions rocked the area as the foundations for the new complex were blasted out of the earth.
In a synchronized ballet, hundreds of construction drones swarmed the area, clearing rubble, and laying down the foundations for the new complex.
"Look at them go! It's like watching a colony of ants at work," said Hajime, as he observed the drones at work.
"Yeah, it's pretty impressive. I just hope we can get this done before Goldberg's people figure out what we're up to," said Aaron.
"I wouldn't worry about that. This is Libya's sovereign territory, nobody is stopping us here," said Saladin.
"All right. While the drones are building out the complex, I'll be working on finalizing the chip designs and the software stack," said Aaron.
"You really think we can pull this off in three months?" asked Hajime.
"I was planning on doing this anyway, Monica's shenanigans just sped up the timeline a bit," said Aaron.
"All right. In the meantime, Friedrich and I will be working on getting the naval logistics in place," said Hajime.
"Sounds like a plan. Let's get to work," said Aaron.
---
"Dad, I need a few interns to rebrand a Linux distribution for our new hardware platforms. The rest of my dev team is working on the low-level stuff," said Aaron, as he worked on the driver code for the new HellFire GPU that was planned to be produced in the new fabs in Libya.
"So you really are going whole hog on this huh?" asked Ivan, silently impressed and proud of how Aaron was handling the situation.
"It was something I had planned to do anyway. This three month timeline has changed a few things though.
I wanted to build my own custom OS and software stack, but now I'll have to make do with a Linux distribution fork. The heavy stuff is already being handled, what I need from the interns is to rip out the UI elements and themes, and replace them with ones adhering to our visual design rules," said Aaron.
"All right. I'll put out some feelers at MIT," said Ivan, chuckling at Aaron's petulance that he had to settle for a Linux fork.
---
"No, no, no! You cannot, under any circumstances, advertise an internship at Sirius Software on any MIT affiliated bulletin board or website. Do you understand me?" shouted the dean of student affairs at MIT, as he glared daggers at Ivan.
"Yes, crystal clear," said Ivan, trying to keep his cool.
"I'm serious Ivan. You so much as breath a word about Sirius Software, and I'll personally see to it that you'll never teach here again!" snarled the dean.
"I get the point," said Ivan through gritted teeth.
He left the dean's office, and marched straight to his car, fuming.
"What the hell is this institution coming to? It used to be more neutral," he muttered to himself.
The clip-clop of high heels pulled him out of his brooding.
"Bye Professor Zakhrov," said Kristen, waving as she walked towards her car.
"See you tomorrow, Ms. Ford," said Ivan waving back.
He cocked his head thoughtfully as he watched her open her car door.
"Um, Professor Zakhrov?" she asked, noticing his gaze.
He smiled and shook his head.
"I'll tell you later," he said cryptically, before getting into his own BMW M5.
---
"Keep calm, keep calm," said Kristen to herself, as she drove home from MIT.
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She arrived at her house in Fenrir Township, to find Ivan already there, standing in his driveway.
"What were you about to tell me, Professor Zakhrov?" she asked, as she got out of her car.
Ivan hesitated for a moment.
"This is strictly off the record, so please don't tell anybody about this. Sirius Software is starting a three-month internship program. I wanted to post it on the MIT boards, but the dean of student affairs put the kibosh on that," said Ivan.
Realization dawned on Kristen.
"Count me in Professor. I don't care what the dean or other students think," she said firmly.
"All right, then report to the Sirius Software compound tomorrow after class. I'll be there to meet you," said Ivan.
"Thank you, Professor. I won't let you down," said Kristen, before going inside her house.
---
Kristen nervously gripped the steering wheel of her car as she drove to the Sirius Software compound for her first day as an intern.
She took a little comfort in the fact that Ivan was leading her there in his sleek black BMW M5.
However, the fact that she had to keep the internship a secret from both her professors, and fellow students at MIT, made the entire situation feel deliciously illicit.
They drove through the Sirius Software compound's security checkpoint, and parked in the shadow of the massive Sirius Software HQ obelisk tower.
"No need to be nervous Ms. Ford. This might look like some evil lair, but you're among friends here," said Ivan, as Kristen stepped out of her car.
"Thank you, Professor Zakhrov. I really appreciate this opportunity," said Kristen, nervously.
Ivan smiled, and led Kristen into the building. He put his hand into the handprint reader, and the main door opened with a hiss.
Kristen's heart pounded as they walked through the lobby. The loud click of her heels on the granite floor echoed and reverberated through the space, making her feel extremely self-conscious.
"Relax, the guy running things here has a thing for that sound," chuckled Ivan, as they approached the elevator alcove.
"Um, who's running the internship program?" asked Kristen, trying to keep her voice steady.
"You're looking at him," said Ivan, with a grin.
Kristen blushed furiously, and looked away.
Her heart had leapt for joy on hearing that Ivan himself would be her mentor in this place.
"Isn't that a conflict of interest Professor?" she asked him softly.
"Not at all. I'm employed as a consultant here, so I'm not technically your professor in this capacity," said Ivan, with a wink.
They stepped into the elevator, and Ivan keyed in floor 32 on the control panel.
Kristen felt a strong G-force pull as the maglev elevator shot upwards, within a few seconds, they reached their floor.
The doors slid open, and they stepped into a massive office space.
The room was filled with rows of workstations, all partitioned off with sleek black glass dividers and privacy screens.
Kristen couldn't even see how many people were working in the space.
"I've never seen anything like this before," she said, in awe.
"Well, we're actually comically understaffed for this massive space. Hopefully that will change soon," said Ivan, as he led Kristen to a workstation near the back of the room.
"Here we are. This will be your workstation for the duration of your internship," said Ivan, opening the glass door of the cubicle.
Kristen stepped inside, and looked around.
The workstation was equipped with a massive curved ultra-wide monitor, a sleek black mechanical keyboard, and an ambidextrous gaming mouse.
The chair was a sleek black leather ergonomic model, and Kristen could smell that it was the genuine stuff, not Alcántara or faux leather.
The desk itself was a sleek black glass surface, and a massive black desktop tower sat on the floor under it.
Kristen sat down in the chair, letting the intoxicating scent of the leather wash over her.
"I'm a little overwhelmed," she admitted.
"Don't worry, the actual work you'll be doing is pretty straightforward. I'll be guiding you through everything," said Ivan, reassuringly.
"Thank you, Professor. I really appreciate this opportunity," said Kristen, sincerely.
"Settle in, and boot up the system. We'll be able to connect through the internal network once you're online," said Ivan.
Kristen nodded, and turned her attention to the computer.
She pressed the power button on the tower, and the system hummed to life.
The monitor flickered on, and ran through the boot sequence of a Linux installation.
Within seconds, she was looking at the KDE Plasma desktop login screen.
"Here are the credentials you'll be using for the duration of your internship," said Ivan, handing her a small slip of paper.
Kristen took the paper, and read the username and password.
She typed them in, and hit enter.
The desktop loaded up, and Kristen saw a standard KDE Plasma desktop environment.
"SiriusChat is our internal chat system, it uses the same desktop credentials. You'll find the assignment and links to the resources in the chatroom's pinned messages," explained Ivan.
Kristen nodded, and opened the SiriusChat application.
"OK, I'll leave you to it. You can always reach me through SiriusChat if you have any questions," said Ivan, leaving the cubicle.
Kristen looked through the pinned messages in the chatroom.
The main task for her internship was to implement desktop themes and User Interface elements based on the Sirius Software Visual Design Document.
Her eyes widened as she read through the design document.
It called for a black and silver color scheme, with glass-like transparency effects, 3D morphing of window and UI elements, and a "classic" layout with a taskbar at the bottom of the screen, desktop widgets, and sharp-edged corners.
Icons were supposed to be 3D rendered, and again have sharp edges, and they were supposed to be in SVG format.
There were also detailed instructions for various 3D effects and animations:
Windows had to wobble when moved, minimize and maximize animations needed a magic-lamp effect, close window animation needed a shattering glass effect.
Task switching needed a 3D flip carousel effect, context menus needed 3D animations that followed their behavior.
Desktop widgets needed to have a 3D floating effect with smooth drop shadows.
Buttons needed 3D press effects with a slight depression when clicked, scroll-bars needed a 3D groove effect with a smooth sliding animation.
Tooltips needed a 3D pop-up effect with a slight bounce animation, dialog boxes needed a 3D expansion/explosion effect from the center of the screen.
Notifications needed 3D effects for sliding in from the bottom right corner and sliding out when dismissed, and progress bars needed a 3D fill effect with smooth animations and percentage indicators.
There were also instructions for audio cues and effects to match the visual effects, as well as accessibility requirements.
Even more interestingly, the design document specified that the desktop environment should be built in C++ using the Qt framework, with QML for UI design, and target the X11 display server for window management, with C++ implementation.
Kristen's heart raced as she realized the scope of the project.
This wasn't just a simple theming task, it was a full-fledged desktop environment overhaul.
She opened SiriusChat, and sent a message to Ivan.
"Professor Zakhrov, this is massive! What am I supposed to do first?"
A few moments later, Ivan replied.
"For now, familiarize yourself with the project repository and the existing codebase.
Start by setting up a development environment on your workstation, and once you're comfortable, you can start with the color scheme and QML components. I'll be here to guide you through it."
Kristen took a deep breath, and dove into the project.
