Kerry turned her head and looked at the men, then swiveled back to face Dar. Her brows lifted. "Is this something maybe you can come up with a fix for?"
"Probably not."
"Hon? Is there a reason you want these guys to work all night doing this then?" Kerry asked, gently. "I know you hate to give up, so do I , but there's a lot of work they could be doing too, huh?" She laid a hand on her partner's arm to ease any sting from the words.
Dar merely lifted her shoulders in a mild shrug, though. "I can't just tell them to stop," she said. "Even if I know it's probably going to be a waste of time."
"Probably?"
"Well--" Dar removed one hand from her pocket and raked her hair back from her eyes. "I know the physics of it, Ker. But let's go back to the Rock, and I'll get on the phone with some of the eggheads I know up at our network vendor and see what they say."
Kerry studied her face cast in the shadows from the skylight's grill.Even she could see the doubt in her partner's eyes, and from her own knowledge of the technology she faced, the understanding that this time Dar really was just tossing crap in the air.
Sobering.
"Okay." Kerry said, after they were both silent for a minute. "We really don't have much choice, do we?"
"No."
"Then let's boogie." Kerry turned around. "Scuzzy? You around here? We've got to get going."
Scuzzy trotted down a set of steps in the center of the curve. "Man, this is amazing," she said. "I ain't never seen nothing like this place. You know what this is?" She came over, full of enthusiasm and oblivious to the nerdish gloom around her colleagues. "This is like the very first station in the subway."
"Is it?" Kerry looked around again. "It's really interesting."
"Yeah. I found a plaque over there." Scuzzy pointed. "This is where it started, you know? The first station where all the trains left from back in like in 1904. " She looked up. "Man, they used to make things cool, huh?"
"Why don't they use it anymore?" Dar spoke up. "Seems like a waste to leave it here."
"Oh." Scuzzy pulled out her phone. "Hang on a minute, that driver told me to like call him when we needed to get out of here. Walking down the track is not cool." She dialed a number, turning her head to one side and covering her ear as she waited for it be answered.
Her decision made, Dar turned her attention to her surroundings. She walked over to the plaque and studied it, tipping her head back to look at the mosaic sign above. There was an elegance and an architectural beauty to it that surprised her, and she allowed herself to be distracted by the artistry in the tiles and the arches.
She felt a moment out of time, hearing the echo of a different era as Kerry walked quietly up behind her coming to stand at her side, sliding the fingers of one hand into Dar's front pocket.
The silent support in the motion both charmed her, and made her feel more than a little guilty. She glanced to the side, catching Kerry's profile in the dim light from the work lamps.
After a moment, Kerry sensed it and turned her face a little their eyes meeting. "Know what I think?"
"Bet I'm about to," Dar wryly answered.
"I think Heaven is really going to be a plane seat heading home."Kerry tugged her a little. "C'mon, boss. Let's get out of here. I think I hear our chariot approaching."
"Here we go." Scuzzy confirmed it, pointing down the track. "Man,I wish I'd took pictures down here. This was freaking amazing."
"I have some. I'll share." Kerry clasped Dar's hand with her own and started toward the edge of the platform. Ahead of them, on the far side where the track seemed unused, the men were already working their way along, flashlights casting odd bursts of light against the soot darkened walls.
"That's cool." Scuzzy joined them at the edge of the concrete. "I mean, I know this is real serious and all that stuff, but I think New York is the coolest city, and I love seeing stuff like this. Like, you been over Brooklyn Bridge?"
"I have," Kerry responded, since her silent partner wasn't looking likely to. "It's an amazing construction," she added. "I know the head of the office here--who died in the attack--was also a big fan of the city wasn't he Dar?"
"He was," Dar said. "I'm sure he would have loved to have seen this place."
The train pulled slowly into the station, its bright number six prominent in the gloom. Scuzzy tilted her head back and looked up at the skylight."Like that stuff. Today, we put these lights everywhere. Back then, they were smart. They used what they had, you know? Got all kinds of light in here from that."
"Using prisms." Kerry waited for the door to open, then she hopped inside.
"Prisms," Dar repeated, as she joined her.
"You people done with all this now?" The driver poked his head out. "My boss said I can't do this no more. They got real pissed at me."
"We're done," Kerry said. "Thank you very much for picking us up."
"Yeah, that was really cool." Scuzzy went over to him. "This place is great."
The driver shrugged. "It's just a tunnel." He went back in his cubicle and closed the door, then closed the outside doors and put the train in motion. They sat down as they left the old, unused station and pulled around, shuttling through only a short period of darkness before they were pulling into Brooklyn Bridge.
Dar settled back in her seat to wait out the ride, folding her arms over her chest as she half closed her eyes and thought about light.
And prisms.
Kerry felt her phone buzz, but she left it on her belt content to merely sit and share Dar's space as she let her mind go blank. There would be time when she got back to the office to continue her never ending problem solving.
Right now she could use the tunnels as an excuse to rest her head against Dar's shoulder and think about something trivial, like the pretty mosaics on the wall back there, and how warm her partner's skin was.
There was no real point in wondering what they were going to do about the problem of the cable. If Dar didn't know what to say about it, no one did.
She really had no idea what they were going to do.
DAR RESTED HER forearms on the mahogany wood surface appreciating the sound proofed walls and the stillness of the office.
On the desk was a phone and her laptop which was closed. The rest of the office was fairly sterile and empty, a spare the staff had rapidly found for her when she and Kerry returned from the subway, moving from an active part of the work back to something a bit more administrative.
For once, Dar was glad. She didn't really want to be around the fiber guys and Mark, who were setting up the gear needed to make the connection she knew wasn't going to happen when it was all said and done.
She didn't want to say anything to them, but she was finding it hard. It was an odd mix of embarrassment, anger, and frustration at the situation and self disgust at her part in it.
Ugh.
She looked at the phone, then removed her PDA and opened it, flicking through the address book as she searched for a specific entry. After she found it she exhaled, studying the phone pad for a long time before she made a move toward it.
A knock at the door stilled her hand in the act of dialing. She released the line and put her hands back on the desk. "C'mon in."
Alastair poked his head in at the invitation. "Hello, there."
"Hey." Dar waved him forward, guiltily glad of the interruption. "How was the interview?"
Her boss smiled briefly. "Well, that went just fine. But you know they followed me back here. Really want to talk to you."
Dar made a face. "Alastair, I'm busy."
"I know," Alastair said. "But they're right in back of me, lady. Don't make me turn around and boot them. They're not bad folks. Just want a few minutes of your time."
Silver linings. Dar sighed. "Okay, sure. Might as well get it over with before I get on a conference call." She shifted and rested her chin on her fist. "Bring them in."