SECTOR 10 (The CLOUD 2)

CHAPTER 3

Toward the end of the night, a late stroll of people crowds the exit where Ben and his partner are forced to mingle with folks from the Community Center. Clipped on one side by a strong shoulder Ben turns around slowly to meet a bold-faced man, where the alcohol only riles both their nerves to an anxious fit.

"Why don't you hurry on up out of the way?" the guy yells.

Ben and his partner try to remove themselves from the situation, but they're having a hard time now that both are surrounded by a crowd of inebriated partiers. A roaming promoter of Amplify manages to see Ben's encryption plug-in on the floor. He decides to see who it belongs to through the speaker intercom.

"Anybody leave some computer module on the floor here?"

Looking up, Ben's partner is sobered enough to hear the call. Ben himself never mentioned it, so when the promoter blares it to the crowd no one claims it. The two of them clumsily stumble over each other's toes on their way out of the nightclub. Metered taxis are parked idly outside while waiting to carry passengers. Ben lazily recites his repetitive morning directions when they fall into one of the hover taxi's back seats. Hover cars are the newest form of transportation, integrated with all the best upgrades, but they are also the most expensive.

Ben fuddles the initial words. "... uh, M Street," he says, spitting out drooling gobs of spit that reek of alcohol.

"Hush it, Ben," his partner scolds him. "We're going home, what he meant to say was go north until you reach M—we're near Georgetown. Here's the address to our place," he says to the driver.

Rushing off to avoid coming traffic behind them, they exit the parking lot, and the taxi takes the drunken couple home. Unbeknownst to them, LOTRY has struck it rich again with their streak of luck now that they have snagged vital information from Delphi Corp. thanks to Ben's irresponsibility.

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Sandra Wilson is the lead structural engineer for a new dam project to link the port docks to a reservoir inland. Miles away from the coast toward the Appalachians, workers toil away at the concrete slabs being entrusted to reinforce the hydraulic beams. With idle time on his hands, Bartram receives a call from Sandra at the worksite. They are three days out from a major inspection and are poised to meet construction regulations. Huddled in a cushioned office chair, as always, the leather upholstery keeps Bartram comfortable, dawdling time in anticipation for total immersion into simulated computer space. He's still waiting for the go-ahead order on that. An incoming call alerts Bartram out of his monotonous routine. Only this time, the call says emergency. Reaching forward to initiate contact control, Bartram doesn't reach Sandra in time. The contact is cut while his tie dangles to the projection board on an interactive table. Standing over the large counter in expectation, he thinks that maybe the worst has happened. He redials her emergency line.

"Sandra! This doesn't sound good, what's going on?"

The connection from the other end is crackling to the disruption of newly laid electrical lines interfering with the CCS platform intercoms. With vulnerable wireless connections, Bartram is subjecting the entire assembly of Delphi Corp. software to sudden catastrophe. The rangers on Mars are familiar with his setbacks even millions of miles away. Disturbed at the developing problem, he continues at attempts to get her to respond. She finally does, but her words aren't entirely clear.

"My crew is dropping like flies out here," she says.

Bartram isn't keen on the details since he hasn't had in-field correspondence. He removes the blazer that's wrapped tight around his broad shoulders. He begins to sweat from the arid weather seeping inside. The sounds surrounding Sandra drown out her voice as the intermingled noises of clanking metal resounds among shouts, distracting her focus.