Page 5 of Even If the Sky is Falling
“In what world do you think it’s okay to have ice buckets of beer in the control room, Song? What. Is. WRONG. With. You?” Halley bellowed. “You really think this is that much of a priority?”
“Well, if you’d just try it, boss—”
“Do you even understand why we are here right now? We are implementing a national warning system—ourentire countryis depending on this system, and I’m sure they’ll take comfort that this fucking beer takes priority over their safety.”
Song’s gaze shifted nervously from Halley to Griffin. “I just thought that maybe we could celebrate the final installation with something special.”
“He didn’t mean any harm, Hal,” Griffin coaxed gently.
Halley’s neck swiveled sharply as she gestured in Song’s direction. “He also didn’t mean to get his job done efficiently. Now he’s hobbling around, and we could have damaged equipment. But at least the beer is safe.” She threw up her hands and rolled her eyes. Song hung his head a little.
“Come on, Halley, don’t you think you’re being a little too harsh?” Griffin asked quietly, reaching for her arm.
Halley yanked her arm out of reach. “Is it really necessary for me to remind everyone that it’smyass on the line if anything goes wrong?” Just as she finished her sentence, her phone rang. Halley swore under her breath, answering her phone on speaker so that everyone could get a taste of reality. “Yes, Chief. We’re here and getting set up now.”
“I want a report as soon as you’re ready to go live with the system, Oakes. This one is for the home team, so I don’t need to tell you what is at stake, do I?”
At the sound of his uncle’s voice, Willy’s back snapped straight, jostling the ice in his bucket. He winced at the noise and mouthed “sorry” to Halley. Griffin pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. Why he was taking up for Song right now confused Halley, but she figured any sense of siding with her could no longer be expected either.
She chewed her lip, ignoring Song. “No, sir. We are making every effort to have a smooth and efficient install. Our goal is to get this done, get the tests scheduled and be on our way home tonight.”
“Your ass is on the line here, Oakes. If the team has to stay the weekend to get it done right, you do that. I don’t want any mistakes, and I want a full report ASAP.”
“Will do, sir. We will be set up in no time and will check in as soon as everything is up and running.” She tried to keep her voice positive and confident to assure the chief that they were on task.
“Tell your team to get it done, or this could be your last detail for NASA. There are plenty of competent comms specialists who would kill for your job, Oakes.”
The call disconnected before she could respond, and Halley pocketed her phone, staring straight ahead but focusing on nothing in particular. The team stood in silence for a moment before Halley turned on her heel and headed toward the hallway. Griff tried to follow her, but she held her hand to stop him, her tone faintly above a whisper as she said, “Just gimme a minute.”
Halley stared at herself in the mirror for a long moment before turning a handle on the sink and splashing cold water on her cheeks. She blotted her face with a dry paper towel and then wiped the perimeter of the sink before throwing the paper away. Placing her hands on the counter, she leaned forward, looking herself in the eye. “Pull it together, Oakes,” she whispered.
It had been Halley’s dream since childhood to someday work for NASA. She wasn’t the great scientist and astronomer that her dad was, but she knew her job and took every detail seriously. Sometimes, it felt like the chief was setting her up to fail when he attached his nephew to her teams, but as she stared at herself, she considered the possibility that the chief was trying to help his nephew as best he could by attaching Song to Halley’s details.Maybe I should listen to Griff and cut him a little more slack.
Cutting him slack was an almost impossible task, given the number of times he’d been assigned to Halley’s detail and created problems for her. Problems she kept from Song’s uncle out of fear that she’d be held responsible for his mistakes. Song once almost electrocuted himself because he was downing a Big Gulp while rewiring servers at HQ. He broke one of Jake’s toes by accidentally dropping a case of equipment when he thought he saw a bug. Of course, it was actually just a dried leaf. The more Halley considered Song’s blunders, the heavier the weight on her shoulders.
The lights flickered as if the power threatened to go out, and Halley rushed back to the control room. Jake rushed in from the galley with a wad of paper towels, and Song was on the floor, frantically mopping up a puddle of beer. Griffin stood in the doorway, his mouth slack. Apparently he was all out of defenses for Willy.
A cloud of fury built between Halley’s brows. “Song, you had better start talking. What the hell just happened?”
“Boss, I—” He looked back and forth between the stout on the floor and Halley’s death glare, a panicked expression in his eyes.
“Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god.” Halley stared at the static flickering across the big screen monitor in their control room. “Does that mean what I think it means?” She pointed at the screen. “Why are we not picking up satellite feeds, Song?”
“I—uh... Um, well...” Willy stammered, his cheeks flushed red as sweat poured from his temples.
“None of those sound like cogent explanations, Song. Get me a sitrep and don’t make me ask you again!” she yelled.
Song nodded, seemingly near tears. “Yes, boss. Right away.”
Everyone stilled as the sirens began to blare. The same chilling sound that had been broadcast around the world on the news and in virtual town halls so that citizens everywhere knew what to listen for. Local authorities had been provided with the instructions and funding to have sirens and alert transmissions work anywhere that people were likely to be, and with so many hikers and rock climbers in Colorado, Halley was still surprised at the clarity of the sound within the station. She glared at Song, the intensity of her words flamed through gritted teeth. “What the fuck, Song? Turn. That. Off.” Her voice boomed as wasps of warning swarmed in her belly.I’m so getting fired for this.
Song grimaced, his eyebrows knitting together as he frantically flipped switches and attempted to type commands into his portal. “Boss, I can’t. I think that the system shorted out. It’s not responding.”
Halley stared at him, unblinking. All of the breath from her lungs carried one word. “How?”
“I—I spilled some of the stout. It was an accident. I was trying to put the bottles on ice...” He stopped as Halley held up a hand.
“You thought it would be a good idea to have open beers on ice in the control room? What did wejusttalk about? There is an entire break room with tables, a refrigerator and snacks, where it would make so much more sense to chill down your beer.”
