Cloud to Cloud

Episode 15: Time to Go To Work

Evan continued to prod the rainbow array of wires protruding from the walls of his uncle Fred's aging house. Cobwebs and dust tickled at his face, threatening to unleash yet another wave of nasal convulsions. He toed along the beams as he stretched to reach wires merging in a cluster against the rafters within the ceiling.

"This is ridiculous." Evan snorted as he swiped the webs and shook the grit from his face. "Guh."

Evan backed toward the ladder and tossed a handful of coiled wire into a tool chest on the floor.

"This is so not worth the trouble." Evan glared at the wires before descending the stairs from the crawlspace.

It would be as easy to hit a library converted into an information center since the crash. Evan might even have gotten over the volume of people in line for connected devices. Watching women search for recipes annoyed him more than it should, while tweens checking messages and chatting in drama clusters was even more tiring. Evan sighed as he shook off the thought. All he wanted was to surf job postings. A man with his caliber of technological savvy belonged behind a screen, not digging in a dusty crawlspace rooting for old wires.

Evan made his way through to the living room and glared at the tablet collecting dust beside the couch. Forget the furlough due to potential security breaches, with all of GlobeNet down there were no security issues at all. It was a something Evan had wished for on an almost daily basis, especially when things were exceptionally tough and his social life suffered with the swell of overtime hours due to some petulant breach. Instead, this calm and lack of network did equal damage to his social life.

What he would give for one big security project to sink his claws into right now. And, the huge paycheck that would come with it.

Evan glanced at the screen hanging in the kitchen to check the time. A habitual action now produced no result. He flashed his attention to the watch strapped to his wrist. It had been his great-great-grandfather's. No one in the family had ever taken it out of the box after he passed away. Evan received the device as a graduation gift after finishing his master's program in technical security systems. To wear the thing pained him, not for the risk of causing damage to such an antique, but for having to wear anything at all to check something as simple as the time.

"Hey. Hey, Uncle Fred!" Evan called into the empty kitchen as he crossed the floor to peer into the rear guest room.

"Fred?" Evan called again.

Fred had been taking longer walks since hospitalization, but usually returned before the sun began to set.

Evan slumped his shoulders and looked at the rumpled shirt he was still wearing from yesterday. He made sure his mobile device was docked into the temporary landline station and trudged for the guest bathroom to take a late afternoon shower.

It would be nice if Fred considered letting Evan know when he decided today would be a day to get a ride. It wasn't like before the crash, where anyone could call from anywhere, at any time. Information centers and communication hubs were few and far between, and catching someone near a phone was even more of a hassle.

Evan knew the station only worked if the mobile device remained docked. He would have to take a quick shower and hurry out to listen in case of a call. Messaging systems no longer worked unless both parties were on tablets and logged in to ITower's GlobeNet backup. It was like living in the dark ages of technology.

Evan soaped and rinsed as quickly as he could, his ear ever attentive to possible sounds of ringing from the communication device.

"Communication device. What a misnomer." Evan grumbled as he stepped from shower to plush bath mat.

As Evan rounded the doorway into the kitchen, still wrapped in a towel, he heard a car pull into the driveway. A moment later he caught the sound of his uncle Fred's voice.

Evan scowled in confusion before hurrying to get some clothing on. He disappeared into the guest bedroom and listened for the door. He pulled a pair of jeans from the pile, threw a shirt over his head, and tossed the towel into the nearby hamper.

"Thank you again for the ride, Hannah!" Evan heard his uncle Fred call out from the front door.

"You old dog."

Evan smirked from the doorway between the kitchen and front room. The smile on the younger man's lips was one of curiosity as much as mocking.

"I know the doctors told you to get that heart rate up, but don't you think it's a little soon for anything too strenuous?" Evan snickered.

Evan grinned as the double meaning of his words dawned on his uncle. "Oh good gods, Evan, my boy! What do you take me for? That woman is nearly the same age as you are and I couldn't keep up with someone like her even before the time bomb in my chest went off."

Evan shrugged. "Sure. Whatever you say, old man. So who's this chick that gave you a ride, then?"

"If you must know, Hannah is the owner of a new shop I discovered today in my travels." Fred closed the door and swung his cane out of the way.

He began his steady march toward the kitchen, passing Evan.

"Sure. So what did you buy? Besides a ride, home of course." Evan opened the refrigerator door and drew out a beer.

"She doesn't sell too many things, more so she offers support." Fred waved for Evan to hand over a bottle.

Evan returned to the refrigerator and tossed a container of carbonated water to his uncle.

Fred frowned as he caught the bottle. He moved to the kitchen chair. "That's beside the point. She was also kind enough to take me to the public information center up the road to check my messages."

Evan set his beer on the table. He eyed Fred a moment before turning back to the refrigerator.

Fred continued to relay the adventures of his day as Evan fished out a handful of vegetables and a packet of hot dogs.

"None for you, and you know it," Evan caught his uncle's grin at the sight of the hot dogs. "I'm not enabling another heart attack here. What did you find out from the information center?"

"Yes. There's news from the ITower front lines, sir." Fred mused in military tones. "It looks like I'm going back into the fray."

Evan dropped the pan he held and let it land heavily on the stovetop. He breathed before turning to acknowledge his uncle's statement.

"That's great," Evan lied.

"My mandatory leave is over, and while I've enjoyed this little vacation with you, nephew, one of us has to have some sort of income."

Fred gestured at the hot dogs with his cane. "I mean, if we want to keep up this extravagant lifestyle."

"Of course." Evan sighed.

He stared at the sizzling dogs in the pan.