Shaun hunkered down over the plan, leaning on his elbows."Here's something labeled electrical room. I think."
"But are there any openings between the room and the lower basement?" Kannan added, folding his long, slim arms over his chest. "I am thinking that will be the largest of the problems. I do not think they will let us put a hole through the wall."
Dar drummed her pencil against the plans. "I think we should relocate back to the office--at least half of us anyway. We can start figuring out what to do about the connection while some people stay here and work on this end."
"You really think these guys are going to do this?" Shaun asked. "I was talking to one of those Verizon techs. He didn't sound too enthusiastic."
"I don't know," Dar answered honestly. "But I do know if they do decide to come through, and we're not ready for it, we'll look like a bunch of jackasses. That's not on my agenda for today."
"Ah. Yeah." Shaun blushed a little. "Sorry."
"Lo there Dardar." Andrew had slipped between the bus and the sat truck and came up next to her. "What's the problem with them fellers? All these people round here looking to help, and all they're doing is pushing back."
He stuck his hands in his pockets, and cocked his head. "Don't make no sense."
"It doesn't really." Kannan agreed. "I don't understand it myself."
"You guys don't understand, yeah, that's right." Scuzzy spoke up."These guys--like the tunnels, and the buildings and everything-- they've been these guys like, home plate, you know? Like, my cousin, he's a guy who works in the tunnels. His pop, he was a sandhog. You know what that was?"
"Fellers work underground." Andrew supplied.
"Yeah, but here, that's like, something special." Scuzzy told them."This whole place, this whole city? It's built on what's underground. So they take it real personal about all them spaces. "
Dar now folded her arms. "You know something? I get it.""Yeah?"
"Yeah." Dar said. "I get it, because our entire company is built on a foundation I laid. I take that really personal also. But right now, they need to either get their heads out of their asses and be part of the solution, or be the ones who are going to answer to the damn politicians when their banks won't open on Monday. I'm not covering for them."
Scuzzy nodded. "That's pretty much what I told my cousin to tell those guys. 'Cause you know what? They ain't into seeing their pictures in the Times, you know?"
"Let's hope so." Dar pulled a pad over and started to scribble on it. "So. Let's see."
"Ms. Roberts?" A strange voice broke in.
Dar looked up, to find Charles somewhat timidly sticking his head around the corner of the bus. "Yes?"
He took that as permission to approach. "Listen, we're having a meeting with the city and union folks--would you mind stepping in and giving your view on the situation?" He asked. "There's some skepticism as to what our goals are."
Dar's brows lifted slightly.
"Okay, they all think we're nuts," Charles amended hastily. "I'm not having much luck convincing them otherwise. I thought maybe you'd have a better chance at it." He looked hopefully at Dar. "Please?"
Dar let him wait for minute, then shrugged and dropped her pencil. "Have it your way," she said. "The rest of you folks--let's get packed up to move back uptown. I don't care which lot of you stay here to work on the Exchange, sort it out among yourselves and be ready to head out when I get back."
"Yes, ma'am," Shaun said. "Will do."
"Let's go." Dar gestured for Charles to precede her. "I don't know if I can talk any sense into them, but I guarantee they won't have any question about what our goals are when I'm done." She glanced behind her as she felt a presence, not really surprised to find her father strolling along at her heels.
"Well, we're sure not getting any help from the politicians on this one." Charles shook his head as he walked quickly ahead of her. "They want us to fix the problem, but they don't want to help us do it."
"Now." Andrew mused. "Why is that, ah do wonder?"
"Maybe we can ask them that when I'm done with the rest of those guys," Dar said. "Should be an interesting answer."
"Should be."
KERRY WASHED DOWN a handful of Advil with a swig of water, then set the bottle down and shaded her eyes, listening to the chatter on the bridge without looking at her screen. Her cramps had returned with a vengeance. She was glad all she had to do was keep her ear glued to the activity and not do something more strenuous like move equipment around at the moment.
She knew there was a lot of activity going on around the bus. She could hear thumps and bangs, and voices through the thin aluminum walls. There was a flurry of coming and going through the bus's three doors, and the rumble of the truck engines of their little caravan was rattling the window near her shoulder.
"Miami exec, this is Vancouver hub."
"Go on." Kerry kept her eyes closed.
"Okay, we're finally back to normal traffic patterns. We released the last bandwidth advance for the airport." The Canadian hub reported."Everyone's rather chilling out we think."
"Good to hear," Kerry murmured.
"Miami, this is Houston ops."
"Go ahead."
"Miami, we're running into some pretty big issues with new contracts that were due to start this week and early next." A male voice answered."We've been told pretty much not to expect any circuit acceptance or demarc changes in the foreseeable future."
"In Houston?" Kerry's brows knit.
"Anywhere," the man answered. "We were told all the line techs-- for telco and power too--are being sent to New York to help out there, and anyway, some are going regardless because of all the work available."
"We had the same issue in Washington believe it or not," Kerry replied. "What is up with that? How many techs do they think they're going to need here? It's not that big an island. I realize there was a lot of damage done but there are only so many guys that can fit in a manhole."
There was a bit of silence when she finished.
"Well, okay, but what are we supposed to tell all these clients?" The voice from Houston asked finally. "I'm running out of excuses."
Kerry drummed the fingers of her free hand on the table. "Yeah. That's a good question. Rather than answer every one of our hundreds of thousands of customers, I think we should probably put out a note to everyone."
"Miami exec, are they really serious, that no one is going to get connected until whenever?" Another voice asked.
"Another good question. We have some of the head guys of the different companies around here, let me go round them up and see if I can find out. It could be that a lot of the local companies are putting everything on hold because they're not sure what's going to happen."
"That would be great, Miami exec," Houston said. "We sure could use the help, or at least, something we can tell all these people. We were supposed to bring thirty two branch offices of the local credit union here online, and the guy in charge there's my wife's brother-in-law. He's calling me every five minutes."
"Gotcha." Kerry reluctantly got to her feet. "Okay, folks, I'm going off-line for a few. I'll try to get us some answers."
"Hey Kerry?" Mariana broke in. "Where are you guys?"
Kerry paused. "Battery Park," she answered, finally.
'How is it down there?" Mari asked. "I know we saw on the television, but--"
How was it? Kerry let the silence lengthen as she tried to come up with an answer. "It's like a nightmare. The wreckage up close--it's overwhelming. The dust is overwhelming. The smell is horrific. "
"Wow." The man from Houston murmured.
"We went underground to see if we could spot any of the cables and I could swear I heard all those souls screaming."
Now there was dead silence on the bridge. Kerry took the moment to breathe, swallowing the lump that had come up in her throat. "So anyway," she continued, after the tightness relaxed, "Let me go see what I can find out from those telco guys. I'll be back in shortly."