latch, hit the door release and threw the tablets out the open door as pressure pulled at him. Three seconds later there was an explosion behind them and a slight concussion from the force.
“Contact Command Center,” Drake yelled up to Blaise as he secured the door.
“That is a negative.” Blaise said. “Have to assume all channels compromised and that all tech communications ingoing or outgoing are affected. If we transmit, we may open up a channel for them to override us or base. What we are going to do is hope that we get to HDMP air support without further incident and then we are going to change our insertion plans. So lock in and grab your socks. We are going to mach 1.”
If the initial burst of speed that they felt following lift off had made Jamie nauseous, what he was felt now was like having the side of his head forced out his other ear. He was clenching his teeth.
“Tighten your stomach muscles and squeeze the cheeks of your ass together,” Rosen said to him.
“Why? So I won’t black out?” Jamie asked.
“Nah, Kegel exercises,” Rosen laughed.
“You are twisted Rosen!”
“It will pass in a second. Once we hit cruising speed, we will stop feeling this.”
Then there was a silent droning calm. “We have hit our cruising speed. Feel free to remain belted in. Our new ETA is an hour,” Blaise announced.
Jamie looked around the cabin. Marshall had been uncharacteristically quiet. Agents Ganos and Drake, who had been light and laughing before the tablets blew were now looking very tense. Rosen was Rosen; he was relaxing. Lieutenant Fenwick, who was second seat, was talking to Captain Blaise off the com. It was then that Jamie realized that he, Ganos, Drake and Rosen may have been exposed to the KVB virus.
∞
Chelsea Maccabee was running late for work. The morning had been a series of problems. Her home systems panel had shorted out, ordering food from three different vendors she never used and thawing the contents of her freezer. The calendar that preloaded her day and organized her files issued an error notice at three in the morning and informed her that the day was Sunday, October 7th 1917 and that she had an appointment in Petrograd. She ignored this information and doggedly continued her morning only to find - having completed one eye - that her makeup stylus had shorted out. The one eye made up and the other not was a problem she couldn’t just cope with. She couldn’t remove the makeup without the stylus. She added a detour to the pharmacy on her drive from Canton, Michigan into Detroit.
“Welcome to wellness Chelsea Maccabee,” the voice announced when she walked into the pharmacy.
Chelsea ignored the announcement and went down the aisle until she came to the section where they had her brand of stylus. She grabbed the package and went to the checkout to find, to her horror, that it was being managed by a person. The person, a twenty something female in the pharmacy’s scrubs was hand scanning and bagging purchases.
“What’s going on?” Chelsea asked a woman who was ahead of her in the line.
“System crashed and they had to use an older operating system. Something to do with a hub blowout,” the woman said.
Chelsea looked at the time and saw precious minutes go sailing by. If she called now she could register an exception for her work attendance. But it would require explaining about the tech failure at her home and the delay at the pharmacy. Which would then be recorded in her profile and have negative assessment qualities as it related to her conduct of her life outside of her work duties. Chelsea really envied people who could have breakdowns or just go insane; toss away all of their responsibilities and live their lives medicated and supervised by the federal government. She really wished she had that option. She was returning to the question of which action to take – to call in or take the attendance notation – when she felt her panel vibrate. She took it from
“Contact Command Center,” Drake yelled up to Blaise as he secured the door.
“That is a negative.” Blaise said. “Have to assume all channels compromised and that all tech communications ingoing or outgoing are affected. If we transmit, we may open up a channel for them to override us or base. What we are going to do is hope that we get to HDMP air support without further incident and then we are going to change our insertion plans. So lock in and grab your socks. We are going to mach 1.”
If the initial burst of speed that they felt following lift off had made Jamie nauseous, what he was felt now was like having the side of his head forced out his other ear. He was clenching his teeth.
“Tighten your stomach muscles and squeeze the cheeks of your ass together,” Rosen said to him.
“Why? So I won’t black out?” Jamie asked.
“Nah, Kegel exercises,” Rosen laughed.
“You are twisted Rosen!”
“It will pass in a second. Once we hit cruising speed, we will stop feeling this.”
Then there was a silent droning calm. “We have hit our cruising speed. Feel free to remain belted in. Our new ETA is an hour,” Blaise announced.
Jamie looked around the cabin. Marshall had been uncharacteristically quiet. Agents Ganos and Drake, who had been light and laughing before the tablets blew were now looking very tense. Rosen was Rosen; he was relaxing. Lieutenant Fenwick, who was second seat, was talking to Captain Blaise off the com. It was then that Jamie realized that he, Ganos, Drake and Rosen may have been exposed to the KVB virus.
∞
Chelsea Maccabee was running late for work. The morning had been a series of problems. Her home systems panel had shorted out, ordering food from three different vendors she never used and thawing the contents of her freezer. The calendar that preloaded her day and organized her files issued an error notice at three in the morning and informed her that the day was Sunday, October 7th 1917 and that she had an appointment in Petrograd. She ignored this information and doggedly continued her morning only to find - having completed one eye - that her makeup stylus had shorted out. The one eye made up and the other not was a problem she couldn’t just cope with. She couldn’t remove the makeup without the stylus. She added a detour to the pharmacy on her drive from Canton, Michigan into Detroit.
“Welcome to wellness Chelsea Maccabee,” the voice announced when she walked into the pharmacy.
Chelsea ignored the announcement and went down the aisle until she came to the section where they had her brand of stylus. She grabbed the package and went to the checkout to find, to her horror, that it was being managed by a person. The person, a twenty something female in the pharmacy’s scrubs was hand scanning and bagging purchases.
“What’s going on?” Chelsea asked a woman who was ahead of her in the line.
“System crashed and they had to use an older operating system. Something to do with a hub blowout,” the woman said.
Chelsea looked at the time and saw precious minutes go sailing by. If she called now she could register an exception for her work attendance. But it would require explaining about the tech failure at her home and the delay at the pharmacy. Which would then be recorded in her profile and have negative assessment qualities as it related to her conduct of her life outside of her work duties. Chelsea really envied people who could have breakdowns or just go insane; toss away all of their responsibilities and live their lives medicated and supervised by the federal government. She really wished she had that option. She was returning to the question of which action to take – to call in or take the attendance notation – when she felt her panel vibrate. She took it from
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