Title: Five Times Walter Tried to Teach Paige to Code…and one time he did

Summary: Those that can, do. Those that can't…

DISCLAIMER: I do not own /scorpion. This story is for entertainment purposes only. I make no profit and no infringement of copyrights is intended.

Chapter 1

Walter was frustrated. Ralph asked him to code review a project he was working on for a computer science course. Walter was good at this. He knew he was good. Ralph was better. Orders of magnitude better. It was difficult for him to follow everything Ralph was doing with the code, but he could tell, at least, that the program was on track. It wasn't his own inability to fully understand the code that frustrated him. He was concerned that the code was so advanced it was bound to be beyond the capabilities of Ralph's instructor. Walter knew from experience – that was a situation that often led to failing grades simply because teachers assumed work was wrong when they couldn't understand it.

He felt he should warn Ralph of the possibility. But what could he tell the boy to do? Dumb down his brilliant code just to get a passing grade? He once advised Ralph to never hobble his intelligence for anyone, but what if a strict adherence to that rule could be detrimental to his boy's future? A failing grade – even in just one course – could prevent Ralph from getting into the best university. It could hinder his ability to get the advanced degrees that would allow him to fully realize his potential.

Walter did well enough for himself without ever going past his public-school education. But he'd had Cabe and his early work with the US government that helped him launch his own business. That business, however, skated by on a shoestring until Cabe re-entered his life with an unending stream of high-risk and high-pay government cases. Walter sometimes thought of Ralph taking over Scorpion one day, but more than anything he wanted Ralph to have the opportunities he never had to pursue whatever career he wanted.

"Whoa! That's quite a frown, Walter." Paige set a bag down on his desk and began unpacking take-out containers. "Something wrong?"

Walter looked up from the screen he was staring at, then stood up and went to the kitchen. "I'm…uh… proofreading Ralph's coding project and as far as I can tell, it's perfect… bug free and extremely efficient."

Walter returned with plates, utensils and napkins just as Paige finished unpacking the food. Together they began opening the containers and shuffling about as they dished out their lunch preferences.

"So then, what's the problem," Paige challenged. "The look I saw when I walked in wasn't suggestive of an 'A' grade for my son."

Walter picked at the shrimp on his plate. Explaining the difficulty to Paige was nearly as problematic as deciding what to tell Ralph. "I'm… concerned that Ralph's work may be too good."

"I… don't think I follow," Paige replied. She set her fork down, her Kung Pao Chicken untasted. "How can it be too good?"

"I… can just barely follow what Ralph's program is doing. If it's difficult for me and my one-ninety-seven IQ, it will most likely be completely incomprehensible for Ralph's instructor."

"So? He might have to ask Ralph to explain the program. Once he gets it…"

"That's… that's the problem." Walter turned the screen so they could both see it. "The more likely scenario is that the instructor will see segments like this," he outlined a section on the screen, "and assume that Ralph's program is trapped in an infinite loop." Looking up he saw that Paige seemed confused. "An infinite loop is a program that repeats continuously with no way to exit and go on to the next command. Bad ones can tie up a computer system so badly that it crashes – and that's if you're lucky. On some of today's scalable systems, a program like that will keep demanding more resources, racking up thousands of dollars of charges. Most companies have safeguards in place to stop things like that from happening, but it's still considered bad code."

"So then… there is something wrong with Ralph's project?"

"No. That's just it. There isn't. But it took me an hour of studying this section alone to figure out what Ralph is doing. It's brilliant, really. But someone who is not a genius… a coding genius… may not find it. Plus, it's unlikely that an instructor who must grade a dozen such projects will take the time to try. Unfortunately, the most likely outcome is that Ralph's teacher will give him an 'F' based on his initial assessment of the code. The instructor is not going to ask Ralph to explain it. He'll just assume it's bad code. It's unfair, but it's very often what happens when the work of a genius is appraised by a non-genius."

"So… is that why Einstein flunked math?"

"Uh… that is actually a… a myth. Like many geniuses, even lesser geniuses like Einstein, he had difficulties with standard uh… educational systems and often quarreled with teachers. He did, in fact, fail some of the general knowledge sections of an entrance exam for the Swiss Federal Polytechnic school, but he excelled on the math and physics sections of the exam. Geniuses can be somewhat… uh… single minded in our interests and dismissive of uh… lesser disciplines."

Paige snorted. "Okay… back to Ralph's project. What can we do? Could you maybe… write an explanation of the code… sort of a preface… for the teacher?"

Turning the screen back, Walter studied the code some more. "That… might help. But I'm not sure I'm qualified to explain this myself."

"Well, I'm certainly not! If not you, then who?"

"I… have no other viable suggestion." Walter pushed his plate aside. He was confronted with a problem that seemed insurmountable, and that usually killed his appetite. "Even if I write something, there is another factor that we need to consider."

"Another factor? What other factor?" Paige picked up both plates and turned to place them on her desk, out of their way.

"Ego. I'm not a scholar of human behavior, but I believe part of the problem when normals serve as teachers to geniuses is their reluctance to admit that the student is greater than the master. If I write up an explanation of the code, it means we're assuming the instructor will not understand it. That could cause more damage."

Paige slumped in her chair. "Then… what can we do?"

"I considered advising Ralph to simplify his code but…"

"NO! I refuse to have my son hiding who he is. If that teacher fails him, I'll… I'll go to the head of the department… or the university president… or…"

"Or better yet, we can simply install the code on the school's servers and prove that it works."

"You can do that?"

Walter just grinned. Sometimes the simplest solutions were the best.

"What am I saying. Of course, you can do that." Paige laughed and spun around in her chair. "But maybe we should wait and see what happens first. You might upset more than just egos if you hack into their computers. Let's make sure it's necessary first."

"All right," Walter nodded. "It may be fine. I shouldn't generalize. I'm sure there are some teachers… who appreciate the successes of their students, even when the students outstrip them… intellectually."

"Didn't you have any good teachers, Walter? I had a history teacher in junior high that I just loved. He really made US History come alive for us."

"I was… um… not so lucky." Walter began toying with some of the items on his desk. He picked up a pen and twirled it between his fingers, then set it down on the desk and flicked one end to set it spinning. He wasn't comfortable talking about his childhood, even with Paige. "My formal schooling came to a halt when Cabe brought me to the US. While I was in school I had no interest in language skills and social studies, although I generally passed simply because I could memorize the texts. In science and math classes I ran into this issue constantly. Math teachers were… particularly uh… annoyed when I surpassed their abilities and ventured to prove my superior intelligence."

"That must have been rough."

Walter nodded. "It was… unpleasant. I'm not sure I would have survived it if not for Megan. She… defended me… in her own way. She never failed to convince me that the fault was with the teachers, and not with me."

"Walter, could I ask you a favor?"

Walter looked up. Paige should know by now that he would do pretty much anything for her. She seemed oddly hesitant. "Of course. Anything… you know that."

"Well… this might not… it might be something you're not entirely… comfortable with."

She was apparently trying to postpone making her request. It was one of the things Walter now recognized about human communication – the effort to put off saying something that might not get a favorable response. He didn't understand it – it was extremely inefficient. But he tolerated it now, and tried to patiently wait out the delay. Sometimes a bit of encouragement was useful.

"I believe that is highly unlikely. You should just ask. What would you like me to do?"

Paige smiled. "I was wondering… do you think you could teach me some of this stuff?"

Looking around his desk, Walter frowned, unsure about exactly what 'stuff' Paige was talking about. He was diagraming a design for a new thrust control system, and he was also working with Sly on a possible proof of the Riemann hypothesis. It seemed unlikely that Paige wanted to learn about rocket engines or advance prime number theory.

"I'm sorry… what is it you want me to teach you?"

Paige leaned forward and pointed at the keyboard. "Computers… coding… all that programming stuff that you and Ralph love so much. I know I'll never learn anything like what you do, but I'd like to understand at least every third word he says when he's talking about it. I was hoping maybe you could… give me a few basic lessons."

Walter wasn't sure what he was expecting, but this certainly wasn't it. He never thought of himself as a teacher and other than showing Ralph a few things, had never done any teaching. Still, he was sure he could impart a few basic principles. It might even be gratifying.

"Of course. I'd be happy to do that for you. We can start right now, if you like." He began stacking up some of the papers on his desk and thought about the best arrangement for their lessons. He could get out a spare keyboard and attached it to his laptop so that he and Paige could work on the same modules together – something like a training vehicle with dual steering controls.

"Oh… um… wait," Paige protested. "I've got just enough time to finish off the week's invoices, then I have to go pick up Ralph. Maybe we can start off on Monday morning? If it's all right with you, I can come about an hour early." She laughed. "I wouldn't want to do this on company time. Not sure how the boss would feel about that."

"But… I'm your bo…" Suddenly, Walter recognized the joke and laughed, too. "I see. That was humorous because I am your boss and I've already suggested we work on company time."

"Yes, you did. Maybe sometimes when it's slow around here, we can work in some extra time. But any time we plan should be off hours. I wouldn't want to take advantage."

"Paige, I can never begin to repay you for all you've done for… for Scorpion and for… for me. I'm only too happy to do any favor for you that you might ask."

Paige got up, grabbed the forgotten plates from her desk and put them on his. "In that case, maybe you can reheat my lunch? I'm starving, but I hate cold Chinese!"

July 8-10, 2017