The Goddess Shines on America

Now that she is here, she won't leave easily. Lockheed thoughtfully found a hotel near the company, and this is Alice's residence for the past few days. As for daily life, of course it is to work with the R\u0026D team of YF-22, and the first thing Alice has to do is to get familiar with the work.

It is worth mentioning that Lockheed is not a small company, and it is not as highly integrated as an Internet company. As a heavy industrial company that will develop many military projects at the same time, its headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, is really It's just a headquarters.

Therefore, when Alice first arrived at the company, the thirty people who had a meeting together were only executive-level figures in the entire R\u0026D team. Since Oren-Lockheed had already arranged, so they are dedicated

As for the research and development site of YF-22, it is in northern Maryland, an empty town on the verge of Pennsylvania. Of course, the entire factory area was not converted to YF-22 research and development, or it was Lockheed's military aircraft research and development center, but it was also the place where the relevant responsible persons worked every day. If it hadn't been for Oren Lockheed's arrangement one day in advance, how could the thirty managers get together?

Just as when Microsoft developed Windows.NT, it also required a team of 200 people to spend several years. From theoretical research to model design, from field test to factory production, the number of people in the entire YF-22 R\u0026D team also counts. Hundreds of huge teams.

In the same way, even in the field of avionics that Alice needs to be in charge of, Lockheed already has a programmer team of 50 people. We've met each other. So, after Alice had separate conversations with the thirty members of the entire R\u0026D team, she prepared to go to this small town forty miles away from Bethesda under the leadership of the leader of the avionics team, Andreio. superior.

Forty miles, Andreo only needs to drive his Chevrolet pickup and drive all the way. So according to the plan, Alice, who doesn't have a driver's license, will sit in his car, chatting and listening to ditties, and after an hour's drive, she will arrive at her destination.

On the day of departure, the weather was slightly gloomy, and it looked like it might rain at any time, and the temperature was extremely cold. According to the weather forecast, moderate to heavy rain may fall across Maryland at any time today and tomorrow, and the sunny weather will not come until at least the weekend, and there is still a long time.

Therefore, when Alice saw her greeter at the door of the hotel, she couldn't help grinning.

"I said Leo, can you stop being such a farmer?"

She looked at the pickup with disgust and said, "You even covered the cargo box with canvas. Why do I feel like I'm not going to the company's branch office, but like accompanying my old father to purchase agricultural supplies?"

What a good pickup, not even the kind of high-end pickup worth tens of thousands of dollars, but a real "pickup". Look, the tires are obviously second-hand, the paint hasn't been painted in a long time, and the rumble of the engine feels like it's about to be clogged with grease. Alice even suspected that the reason why the truck box was covered was that it really contained a truckload of piglets, right?

Andrio also blushed when she said it, and coughed in embarrassment: "I've been driving this car for seven or eight years, and you're the first to make such an evaluation."

No way, Alice’s analogy was indeed appropriate. He happened to be forty-five years old and had a beard. At this time, he was wearing brisk denim and sweater casual clothes, and he really looked like an old farmer in the American countryside who was preparing to deliver goods.

Alice, of course, is joking. It's a bit cold today, so she didn't wear less, such as shiny black high-end leather boots, American all-match denim trousers, and a white padded jacket that was not too thin or too thick, which just set off her white and tender face. With her hands in her pockets, she sprinted into the truck as if she was troubled by the slightly cold weather.

Well, the truck, the beautiful girl and the old farmer's father are ready to return home...

"I'm sure, those boys would die laughing in their dreams!"

Not long after the truck drove out of Bethesda, Andrio said in a rough voice: "The founder of Cisco! The developer of Windows 1.0 is actually joining our YF-22's avionics research and development! This is The great genius who came to your door, that boy Oren really has a good eye, and knows what kind of talent we are most lacking!"

"I think it is to bring warmth to the boys."

Alice pursed her lips happily, looking out the window: "Andrio, tell me honestly, how many women are there in the entire YF-22 R\u0026D team?"

This seems to be a really difficult question. When the truck was just speeding up on the highway, Andreo raised his brows with difficulty, and it took him a long time to answer: "Except for Susan and Zedo, that is, Alice and May Lisa. Oh yes, Alice, we have a colleague with the same name as yours!"

As if there was a tacit understanding, a chill suddenly came, and Alice shuddered: "That Alice is not a fat woman, is she?"

"That's not true, a thirty-five-year-old single female doctor who weighs... one hundred and thirty-five pounds?"

"Well, she's definitely not my future anyway."

While speaking, Alice was also looking around.

For many years, Alice grew up in Los Angeles. The so-called Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana metropolitan area is not a decoration. The entire sunny California is full of vibrant atmosphere. Of course, its highly developed economy is also constantly attracting talents from all over the country and even the world.

But here is the Washington-Arlington-Alexander metropolitan area. Unlike the Greater Los Angeles area, which belongs to California alone, this area spans Washington, D.C., Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia. It can be regarded as the fate of many people. They are all tied together, and their economic category and even their living environment are completely different from those in California.

"The political center, with the SAR as the focus, the governors and senators of the northern and southern states, with this highly urbanized layout, are full of big shots. Well, should I say it is the same type as BJ? It seems... similar It's different."

For more than ten years, Alice really hasn't been around Washington DC very much, at most she just went to Manhattan, New York. But at this moment, she was staying in a city that was only a few miles away from the capital, surrounded by countless satellite cities and residential areas, which really made her want to compare with the capital of her hometown.

It’s not surprising that the so-called escape from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou is because when the economic strength reaches a certain level, no country’s capital area can be small. It's just that BJ's urban planning, functional zoning, and satellite city construction have to be poor because of historical factors.

Regardless of the small size of Washington, D.C., it’s just that urbanization came earlier. From the perspective of real size, the capital of the United States and the capital of China are actually comparable in size.

Think about it, Washington, D.C. is worthy of the name of a D.C., and its own area is enough to cover even 100 square kilometers. If it is replaced by BJ, it is equivalent to the area within the second ring road.

It’s just different from the entire super metropolis of BJ, which includes everything. As a top developed country, the US government has long divided the functional area of ​​the capital into countless satellite cities. Ring Road 495 has a total length of about 100 kilometers, including many cities headed by Washington, D.C., which happens to be equal to BJ's Fifth Ring Road. The only difference is that outside the Fifth Ring Road of BJ is equivalent to the suburbs, while Highway 495 runs through a larger metropolitan area.

"Hey, Alice? Alice!"

Seeing the girl in the co-pilot looking like she was wandering in the sky, Andreo spent a long time talking, but found that the audience had already lost their souls.

"Huh? Oh, Leo, what did you just say?"

Andrio smiled wryly and shook his head: "I was just about to ask you, which school are you studying in now? My son will also be admitted to high school in a while, and you are a typical role model."

Out of resentment at being invited to sit in a "delivery pickup", Alice said lightly: "I went to Eton College, let your son work hard."

"Well……"

Forty miles is not a long distance. An hour later, when the dark clouds in the sky were getting thicker, Piccashi passed a sign that said "Welcome to Walker Town. Population: 1987,894."

This is a very small town, almost entirely the site of the Lockheed Military Aircraft Research and Development Center, and it is true.

You must know that military aircraft research and development is not something that can be achieved in a short period of time. Whether it is YF-22 or other projects, many employees directly live here. According to Andrio's introduction, the real local residents here have basically started jobs like restaurants and bars, in order to give Lockheed employees a place to eat and have fun.

"Like those typical colonies when the Mayflower first came to America."

Seeing Alice's curiosity, Andrio explained: "You should know the Skunk Works, it was our earliest military aircraft research and development center, and it was on the Burbank Plain. The current one was built in 1965. , It was the location directly designated by the Pentagon from the beginning. According to the bureaucrats, if the R\u0026D base is placed at the door of the house, it will be very convenient for them to come to inspect the progress of the project at any time."

"Yes, yes, of course I know about the Skunk Works. It was established in 2043, and Disney helped disguise it as a residential area."

After all, the town is not big, so the pickup truck arrived at the R\u0026D center within a few words. This is a factory area built on a vast open space. I don’t know how many acres of land are surrounded by barbed wire. On the side facing the road is a huge single building with many cars parked in front of it.

"The back is the factory area, and the front is the office. Let me show you my colleagues."