Brian Kennely was at once the awe, the idol, and the unadulterated pain in the neck to the junior, assistant, and Project Engineers of Special Developments Lab at North State Electric.
The awe because his brain held more than the combined abilities of most any two of the other Project Engineers plus any three juniors. The idol because he'd take time from his own fantastic Goldbergs to help the lowliest junior with his first resistance coupled amplifier when it howled like a banshee.
And the pain in the neck because whenever a Brian Kennely set of prints went to the model shop all other projects sat on the shelf until the B. K. stuff was done.
This even included the work of Chris Devon, North State's ace engineer, whose specialty was slugging it out with intractable components and circuits that no one else would tackle, until the impossible was accomplished with them.
In his pain-in-the-neck moments Brian Kennely was whisperingly referred to as the cavalier engineer. When he first came to North State, Millie, the lab secretary, had taken in his pipe and smart Stetson, and natty clothes.
"Just like Don Ameche," she'd said. "I'll bet he invents the telephone before next week, the big cavalier —"
But it was only because he had done and was doing the things that most men dream about but never accomplish. They liked him and respected him for it.
Chris Devon had known him since high school. At college they had met Martha, who had chosen Chris over Brian, Chris had never quite understood why, but he was not one to question miracles.
After college, Chris Devon had gone directly into development engineering, but that had been too tame for Brian Kennely who'd gone to Mongolia and South America for several years of geophysical engineering. He had designed instruments that were revolutionizing the science.