Part 25 (1/2)
”We're throwing water on it, but we're talking mega forest fire, Boss. It's hot and ugly and getting hotter and uglier every minute. We're gonna have to take some major systems offline and shut down a bunch of the FedWeb.”
”Do what you can, get everybody we have on it. We'll be-I'm on my way,” Michaels said. ”Discom.” on my way,” Michaels said. ”Discom.”
Michaels looked at Toni. ”I'm sorry,” he said.
She shook her head. ”I hope you're talking about the call.”
”Yeah, I am. But-this-” He waved one hand back and forth between them. ”This is probably... not very smart.”
”I know.”
”I'm your boss. This sort of thing brings up all kinds of problems.”
”What sort of thing?”
He stared at her. ”Jesus, Toni, you know what I'm talking about. Office romance. Supervisors sleeping with people they supervise.”
She grinned, as big as he'd ever seen her grin. ”Oh, boy,” she said.
”What?”
”You want to sleep with me?”
”Yes, of course. But given the circ.u.mstances-”
”I'll quit,” she said.
”Excuse me?”
”If you sleep with me, I'll resign.”
”Toni-”
”No, I'm serious. If it would be a problem for you as my supervisor, then we can fix that. I love working for you, Alex, but I can always find another job. Right now, a personal relations.h.i.+p with you is more important than a business relations.h.i.+p.”
He blinked at her, stunned by her words. ”You would quit your job to have s.e.x with me?”
”In a New York second.”
”Why? I'm not that wonderful.”
”You underestimate yourself. I'm serious about this.”
He shook his head. ”Jesus. Look, we have to get back to HQ and take care of this disaster, okay? Can we talk about this later?”
”Whenever you want. You want to go back and get the van?”
”No, leave it. I'll get somebody to pick up it.”
He started the Miata's engine.
Holy s.h.i.+t. It never rained but it poured.
Sat.u.r.day, January 15th, 3:25 p.m. Harm, Maui, Hawaii Winthrop was on the net in Joined-VR, showing Julio some of the ins and out of the webweave. She had allowed him to conjure a program, and what he had come up with was a beach on Maui, near Hana. They were in personal persona, dressed in skimpy swimsuits, walking barefoot on a black sand beach. They listened to the breakers curl, to the seagulls cawing. A gentle breeze played over them, the sea where it lapped into the volcanic sand was warm, and the sun caressed their bare skin.
”So, what do you think?” Julio asked ”Not bad, for a beat-up old trooper. Why did you choose this in particular?”
”I went here once, for real. I have some good memories of it. Besides, I wanted to see what you looked like in a bathing suit.”
”I bet you say that to all the girls.”
”Sure I do. But my intentions are honorable-I could have made it a nude beach, you know.”
She laughed.
As they rounded a big rock and the sh.o.r.eline curved inward, Winthrop noticed something odd. The water seemed to be... receding, ebbing away and growing shallower as she watched. It moved out so quickly that fish were left flopping on the bottom. A big eel wiggled frantically, trying to catch the subsiding sea.
”That's a nice effect,” she said. ”What's it for?”
He shook his head. ”I don't have a clue. I'm not doing it.”
The water continued to ebb, and Winthrop looked farther out to sea.
”Uh-oh,” she said.
”What?”
”I just realized what's happening. See there?”
Julio squinted into the suns.h.i.+ne. ”Looks like a big wave.”
”Yeah, it's a big wave, all right, and it's going to get a lot bigger as it gets closer. It's a tsunami tsunami.”
”A tidal wave?”
”That's a misnomer. It doesn't have anything to do with tides. They're usually caused by earthquakes or volcanic activity. Sometimes by a big meteor hitting the ocean-or somebody playing with big nukes can make one.”
”So why all of a sudden is there a tsunami tsunami in my scenario?” in my scenario?”
”Got me, but it looks like trouble in paradise. Something big is happening on the net. I hate to cut the lesson short, but we need to jack out of this scenario see what RW scans show.”
”Yes, ma'am. You're the expert.”
”Standby-”