Cloud to Cloud

Episode 24: How'd Did You Do That?

Fred's pace took him to the end of the hall before Evan could catch up.

"Fred. Uncle." Evan breathed out the words. "Geez, old man, slow up."

Fred came to a halt at last.

"That wasn't a med reminder, was it?" Evan rested a hand on Fred's shoulder.

Fred remained silent. The idea of telling Evan still troubled him.

"You're connected, aren't you?" Evan's eyes were wide.

Fred shrugged as he pulled his shoulder from Evan's grasp.

Evan smirked. "That's all I need to know. What's going on with the corruption? I know you. I saw that look. You have intel on what's going on."

Against the accusations, Fred again shrugged and carried on to his cubicle.

"Oh no." Evan scuttled behind his uncle. "You are not getting away with a shrug and a nod."

"Okay." Fred leveled his gaze on the younger man. "Come on then. I'll show you. But not a word."

Fred and Evan rounded into the cubicle as another notification sounded from Fred's mobile device.

He pulled the device from his pocket and tossed it onto the desk. "Hannah. Hannah. Hannah."

Evan glanced at the blank screen. "Who? Wait. The chick from the crazy shop you've been visiting?"

Fred smiled at the question as he logged into the desktop computer and settled into the chair. "Yes, and I do hope you will get a chance to meet her."

Evan wheeled the chair from his own cubicle in beside Fred's.

As the windows popped up on the screen Hannah's face immediately appeared in a chat window.

"There you are. Why aren't you answering my messages? I found something for you," Hannah bubbled.

A wistful smile spread across Fred's face. "So that was you."

Evan nudged Fred with a smirk. "She's a bit young for you old boy."

Fred scowled as he shushed his nephew. "I was in a meeting, and my mobile kept going off." He returned his attention to the young woman in the chat. "That's not supposed to happen."

"Oh, sorry, didn't mean to interrupt your meeting. You could've snuck a quick message."

"Yeah, except mobile devices don't work. Everything's offline, remember?" Fred tapped at his temple as he reminded the young psychic of the deeper dilemma of text messaging during the shutdown.

Evan watched the exchange in confused silence.

"My mobile is fine. As I've explained before." Hannah waved her device in front of the laptop camera. "My friends and I message all the time."

Fred's smile curved into a curious frown as he recognized once again the curtains behind Hannah. "And you're in your store again."

Hannah shifted to peer around the store. "Well, yeah. It's midday."

At this Evan snapped from his silence. "Wait. What?" He nudged Fred away from the screen to glare at the chat. "Wait. She's not in a message center? Is this a secure line? What is going on?"

Fred pulled Evan's arm. "Calm yourself, Evan. Hannah's a friend. We're working on the whats and hows as much as we are able."

"Working on it?" Evan stammered. "GlobeNet's been down for months and you two are messaging from phones!"

Fred rose from his chair to be certain no one on the floor had heard the outburst. "Evan, please."

Evan again pushed into view of the screen. "Where are you? What service are you on and who do you work for?"