device Captain Kirk used for giving the command, “Beam me up, Scotty.”
If the physical look of the phone was so different, the software that ran it
surely must have a great many innovations as well.
I was still using the Novatel PTR-825 phone, the one I had conned
Novatel into sending me the special chips for so that I could change the
ESN from the keypad. It wasn’t anywhere near as sexy as the MicroTAC
Ultra Lite. Maybe it was time for me to switch phones—
if
I
could figure out
a way to get the same capabilities I had with the Novatel. I would somehow
have to get the source code for the phone from Motorola. How hard would
that be? It presented a very interesting challenge.
I was so eager to dive in that I asked Elaine, my boss at the law firm, if I
could take off early to attend to a personal matter, and she said okay. I left at
around three. On the long elevator ride down forty-five floors, a couple of
the firm’s associates were joking about a big case they were working on: the
firm was representing Michael Jackson. I smiled to myself, thinking back to
when I used to work at Fromin’s Delicatessen. The Jackson family had a
big house right down the street, on Hayvenhurst, and stopped in every once
in a while for a deli lunch or dinner. Now here I was,
on an elevator a
thousand miles away, running from the FBI and the U.S. Marshals,
employed by a prestigious law firm that was representing one of the most
famous musicians in the world.
As I started to walk to my apartment through a beginning snowfall, I
called toll-free directory assistance and asked for Motorola, then called that
number and told the friendly receptionist who answered that I was looking
for the project manager for the MicroTAC Ultra Lite project.
“Oh, our Cellular Subscriber Group is based in Schaumburg, Illinois.
Would you like the number?” she asked. Of course I would.
I
called Schaumburg and said, “Hi, this is Rick with Motorola in
Arlington Heights. I’m trying to reach the project manager for the
MicroTAC Ultra Lite.” After being transferred around to several different
people, I ended up speaking with a vice president in Research and
Development. I gave him the same line about being from Arlington Heights
and needing to reach the MicroTAC project manager.
I was worried that the executive might get
suspicious about the traffic
noises and occasional horns being blown by drivers eager to get home
before the snow started piling up, but no. He just said, “That’s Pam, she
works for me,” and gave me her telephone extension. Pam’s voicemail
message announced that she was
away on a two-week vacation, then
advised, “If you need any help whatsoever, please call Alisa,” and gave her
extension.
I called the number and said, “Hi, Alisa. It’s Rick with Research and
Development in Arlington Heights. When I spoke to Pam last week, she
talked about going on vacation. Did she leave yet?”
Of course Alisa answered, “Yes.”
“Well,” I said, “she was supposed to send
me the source code for the
MicroTAC Ultra Lite. But she said if she didn’t have time before she left, I
should call you and you’d help me out.”
Her response was, “What version do you want?”
I smiled.
Great—no challenges about my identity, and she’s willing to help. But
of course, I had no idea what the current version was, or even what
numbering system was being used. So I just said, flippantly, “How about
the latest and greatest?”
“Okay,
let me check,” she said.
I trudged along. The snow was beginning to stick and pile up underfoot.
I had a ski cap pulled down over one ear and was holding my bulky cell
phone to the other, trying unsuccessfully to keep the ear warm by pressing
the phone hard against it. As Alisa clacked away on her keyboard, I looked
for a building to duck into so the traffic noise wouldn’t set off alarm bells,
but there was nowhere to go. Minutes passed.
Finally she said. “I found a script in Pam’s directory that will let me
extract any software version for the Ultra Lite. Do you want ‘doc’ or
‘doc2’?”
“ ‘doc2,’ ” I answered, figuring it would be the later version.
“Just a sec. I’m extracting it to a temporary directory,” she said. And
then, “Rick, there’s a problem.”
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: 
