Kerry waited for Michelle to stop walking then she made the most of her few inch height advantage. "If you can the Joe Friday routine, I'll rent you one of the lines. Otherwise, take yourself out of my administrative space, please. I have work to do." She was very aware of the camera focused on her, and the wide eyed stares coming from her people inside the office, but she kept her even gaze on Michelle's face. "And for the record, my forethought does not equal your sabotage. Now take off."
"Forethought? No one knew what building we'd be in." Michelle shot back.
"That's right. So I had lines dropped in all of them." Kerry replied. "Now, if you're interested in that rental, we'll talk price. If not, goodbye."
"And help you recoup the cost you'll have to charge the client? Over my dead body." Michelle moved around her and motioned for the cameraman to follow her. "We'll find another way." She brushed by Kerry, coming very close to making physical contact before she got past and headed for the door. The port agent hurried after her, but not without giving Kerry a frazzled look.
"Nice way to start the day." Kerry exhaled, turning back to the office. "Brenda, give the other two piers a call. Offer them use of those lines for a pass through cost, with a two percent administrative charge for our carrying them and paying the bills."
"Yes, ma'am." Brenda went to a phone immediately and dialed after consulting a small directory.
"Smooth, boss." Mark commented. "Slick idea to trip them all up."
Kerry sat down on the edge of one of the folding tables. "Wasn't really the plan. I just needed to be sure we'd have a line on startup. I had no idea they were short on pairs." She admitted wryly. "Ah well. How are we doing here?"
Mark came over and sat next to her. "Pretty good. The line's up to the office, and I just got the router in place. This room is crap for security, though."
Kerry looked around and had to agree. The office had light plasterboard walls and a single door with a simple bolt lock. No alarms, no reinforced panels, nothing. They were putting in six computers and the requisite network gear to support them, and aside from the need to protect corporate data, there was also the question of protecting the hardware itself from being taken. "Can we put a monitoring rig in here?"
"Sure," Mark said. "But when it goes off, it'll take us about twenty minutes to get down here before it all walks off. Not to mention, the line comes in to a public Telco punch down."
Ugh. Worse and worse. "Okay, put a full encryption suite on the data." Kerry sighed. "I'll see what we can work up to put security out here. Otherwise we'll have to make these boxes boot to the network, and keep everything at the office."
Mark nodded. "See what I can do." He got up and went back to work. Kerry remained where she was for a few minutes watching the activity, then she got up and left the office to head over to the ship.
The port agent entered from the front just as she was heading up the escalator. She paused at the top waiting for the woman to catch up with her. "Hi."
"Listen, I'm really sorry about that." Agnes apologized. "I had no idea Ms. Graver was going to do that or that she'd bring those men! What's this all about?" The woman seemed very agitated. "The port didn't bargain for anything like this!"
Where to start? Kerry decided no amount of explanation would really be adequate. "It's business." She explained shortly. "Just try to steer clear of it."
The woman eyed her. "Was she right? Did you do that to stop those people from working?"
Kerry blinked. "That's really none of your business," she replied. "I'm telling you--don't get caught up in this. It's just going to be messy for the port if they try to get involved."
The woman's radio spluttered and she listened intently. A man's voice came through sounding rather desperate, asking for her to come mediate another dispute on the next pier. "That might be easier said than done." She told Kerry. "So far it seems like all you people want to bring here is trouble." She turned and headed down the steps two at a time, talking into her radio.
"Yeesh." With a shake of her head, Kerry went to the outside door and pushed it open, emerging into a blast of shimmering sunlight.
She had plenty of time to look at the ship in the daylight as she walked along the endless outdoor passage that eventually led her to the gangway. The bottom was painted a dark blue and the upper part was once apparently white, but now rust covered a good portion of the exterior and it was more a mottled yellowish gold color.
It looked sad and worn, and she wondered again if all the work obviously needed to make it functional would be worth it. She ran a hand along the railing, the chipped paint spots feeling harsh and almost sharp against her fingers. The port showed its many years resting here on the waterfront. Its concrete was pitted from wind and rain, and the walkway she was on had cracks both near the railing, and more ominously, near the wall.
Kerry eyed a large split as she walked past, and reasoned that if it had held legions of cruise ship passengers en mass, it probably was fit to hold her hundred and thirty five pounds, but she scooted past it anyway just to be sure.
There was a guard hanging around the end of the gangway, but he just nodded as Kerry showed him her corporate badge and went on gazing listlessly down the pier, watching men with forklifts move boxes around.
Kerry walked up the gangway and across the metal bridge leading onto the ship. The railing had been folded back, and she found herself on the outside deck about mid way up the vessel.
She looked down and found worn, salt scoured teak that in some places was so discolored it was almost impossible to see a grain. But it was teak nonetheless. She recognized it from her experience with the Dixie, and as she walked toward the inside doors, it oddly comforted her.
Inside the doors her first impression was one of overwhelming mildew. She stopped short and stifled a sneeze, staring around her in disbelief. The interior of the ship was, to put it mildly, a wreck. She was standing in what was apparently the main reception area, and all she could see was broken, dusty furniture, a ceiling in pieces, some of it hanging down almost to the ground, and dozens of rotting wooden boxes.
The stench was disgusting. It got inside her throat and she could taste it on the back of her tongue, leaving a tinge of bad sewage lingering on its edges. "Ugh." Kerry swallowed hard, glad she hadn't stopped for lunch before coming over. After a moment, she got control of her stomach, and proceeded on picking her way carefully through the debris. The interior of the ship seemed to be a total disaster, and it appeared to her that everything would have to be rebuilt to be usable.
This would work for her purposes since she'd have to put cabling in ceilings and walls and that was always easier when they were being constructed. But she had to wonder, yet again, at Quest's purpose in refitting these old vessels. Surely it would take more money than the darn things were capable of recouping.
A man appeared dressed in white overalls. He spotted Kerry and stopped, looking her up and down with frank appraisal. "You want something?" he asked, in an odd accent not quite German.
"IT contractor." Kerry responded briefly, holding up her identification.
The man grunted and turned his back on her, continuing on his way without a further word.
Kerry edged down a partially blocked hallway and almost collided with another white jump-suited body. "Oh, sorry. Hi there. Can I help you?" A slim, good looking man with curly blond hair turned around. "Are you looking for something??"
Kerry stepped back a little. "Not really," she said. "I'm from the IT contracting company. Just looking around to see what we're going to have to do."
The man scratched his nose. "Oh, okay," he said. "It really looks worse than it is." He turned and peered back the way she had come. "The old girl's really got solid bones. It's all cosmetic stuff out there."