The Apocalypse Contract

CHAPTER 5 - SYDNEY

"I don't normally do these residential installs," Samantha declared.

"Oh really?" Sydney poured boiling water into the tea mugs and prepared herself for Samantha's psychopathic transformation.

"They mostly have me working the backhaul network these days. This must have been some sort of major rush job for field maintenance to throw it over the wall like that."

"Yeah. Rush job. It was definitely one of those."

"So what do you do exactly, if you don't mind me asking."

"Software development mostly. Technology consulting more broadly. I've got a wide skill set."

"Jack of all trades. I'm sorta like that too. I've worked at a little bit of everything. Was a barista before going into networking." Samantha's expression became distant. "You meet some weird people in coffee houses."

Sydney took the tea bags out of the mugs and threw them away, then realized she probably hadn't steeped them long enough. No going back now. "Would you like anything in your tea? Milk? Sugar? Honey?"

"Honey would be nice."

Sydney dripped a bit of honey into her guest's tea and poured some milk in her own. She walked slowly with the tea mugs. "Here you go."

Samantha took a cautious sip. "Mmm. That's good."

"I made it too weak."

"Well, I wasn't going to say anything."

Sydney retreated toward the sofa, nearly tripping over Zoe on the way. "Damn it cat, are you trying to kill me?" A splash of tea escaped her mug.

"Kitty!" Samantha crouched down and extended a hand toward Zoe. The cat approached, sniffed, then flopped onto her side and demanded chin scritches. Samantha obliged.

"That's Zoe. She was probably hiding under the sofa. That's where she usually retreats to when people come over. Pixel is probably under there too, though honestly I've no idea where he disappears to sometimes. You wouldn't think he could hide in a place this small, but somehow he does."

"I had a cat growing up. He was the best." Samantha looked thoughtful for a moment. "I should get a cat again."

"Anything stopping you?"

"I used to live in an apartment that didn't allow pets, but I've had my own house for over a year now, so I guess I've got no excuse." She took a long sip from her tea. "Yes. I'm going to get a cat."

"Get two. They'll amuse each other when you're not around."

"Does that really work?"

"I don't know. I was told that, but I suspect Zoe just torments Pixel until he hides somewhere. Maybe the shelter was just trying to clear their inventory or something."

Samantha's multimeter gadget chirped. She turned her attention from the cat to the device. "Looks like your cable's continuity is good. Minimal attenuation. I can finish up here." She pulled a cable modem from the cardboard box and began connecting it. "This unit's got four Ethernet ports but no WiFi. I hope that's OK. It's all I had in the van."

"That's fine. I've got a hub here somewhere."

Samantha finished tinkering with the modem. "There you go. Go ahead and try it before I leave. It's configured to provide addresses via DHCP by default, but you can log into its admin page via any web browser and set up static addressing."

Sydney unplugged her laptop's Ethernet from the DSL modem and moved it to the new cable modem. She tested the connection by downloading the latest Linux kernel image. She was uncomfortably aware of Samantha looking over her shoulder. "Huh."

"Something wrong?" Samantha asked.

"No. I thought there was, but it's working. It just finished so quickly I assumed it failed."

"Well then, I should probably get going. Thanks for the tea." She gave Zoe a final scratch and collected up her things. At the door, she turned and said, "It was really nice meeting you Sydney, and... I hope you don't mind me saying this... you seem like maybe you're going through something right now. Whatever it is, I just want you to know I'm sure you'll get through it."

Sydney just nodded her head in response. She considered answering, saying she was fine, but feared what sort of noise might escape if she opened her mouth.

"Well, I'm off then. Maybe we'll run into each other around the neighborhood. I'm in the coffee shop down the street all the time. It's where I used to work." Samantha turned and trudged away down the hall. Sydney closed the door with more force than she intended, locked and bolted it, then fled to her reading chair. She scooped up Zoe and held her to her chest, then took deep breaths until her heartbeat slowed.

"I'm fine, it's fine, it's all fine," she muttered to Zoe. Zoe affirmed this assessment by purring.