"Wow," the woman said. "I never even thought of that."
"Can we ask our customers not to do that?" Don spoke up. "How can we? This is something where people really need to communicate with each other, like what we're doing. That global meeting is an amazing thing."
Dar folded her hands. "Very true. So no, we really can't ask them not to reach out to each other. So that's why I'm rooting around in the bits and bytes to see if there's anything I can do to optimize what's going through." She went back to the screen and reviewed the results of her last command. "Let's see--"
She focused on the black screen again, studying the flows. Then a memory surfaced, and she cursed to herself, flipping through parts of the configuration, searching through the code with rapid, impatient flicks of her mouse.
"Boy it's really getting stuffed," Don remarked. "I bet we get calls any minute."
"You'd think folks would just remember what's going on," the female tech on Dar's other side muttered.
Ah. Dar found what she was looking for. "I'm such a jerk sometimes."
"Ma'am?" Don turned and looked at her.
Dar sniffed and rattled her keyboard, muttering under her breath.
"Air Hub, are you picking up the feed from the ATC? They're on the line here saying you're dropping it." Kerry's voice crackled over the speakers. "And, LA Earthstation, stand by, I managed another 24 transponder channels for you from Hughes."
"Miami exec, this is LA Earth. We're standing by. We've got half dozen requests for upgrades from the government side."
"Miami exec, this is the Air Hub. Stand by please we're checking."
"LA Earth, this is Newark Earth, save a few for us, please. We have two dozen to your half," a harried voice answered. "Miami exec, any extra for us?"
Kerry's voice sounded apologetic. "Newark, we're trying. They're absolutely saturated The only reason we got west coast space is the airlines are moving again and the requests from Vancouver have slacked off."
"Miami exec, understood. Also be advised we were asked about our power trucks. The City wanted to know where we got them from. I told them they would need to talk to you."
Dar kept typing, one ear twitching at the flow of complaints. She could hear the strain starting again in her partner's voice, and resolved to attend to that critical issue next.
"Miami exec, this is Roosevelt Island," a new voice interrupted. "I have a cross-connect request here for new service? They said it was priority."
"Roosevelt, it is. Please provide them service at my request," Kerry answered. "We've provisioned a ten mg slice for them. It's data services for AT&T. Tunnel them through to our common carrier point in Philly, please. They're expecting it."
Dar looked up at the big board, her eyes lifting a little.
"Okay, ma'am, will do."
Dar wrenched her attention back to the screen, a set of changes already inputted, waiting for her confirmation. She hesitated then saved the changes without executing, and stood up. "Be right back."
"THEY THOUGHT I was crazy. " Nan set a large cardboard box down on the desk Kerry was using, as its occupant was retrieving another cup of tea. "They were saying what are you going to play with it--is it for a LAN party? Can you tell us where?"
Kerry chuckled as she returned, dropping back into her chair and rocking her head back and forth to loosen the tightening muscles in her neck. She glanced at her screen, then shifted her attention to the box and watched as it was opened releasing the scent of new computer equipment into the air.
Plastic off gassing mostly, but also a hint of the chemicals inside. As distinctive as a new car, and occasionally as expensive. "Bet they did," Kerry said. "If they only knew."
"If only," Nan agreed. "I told them I was buying it for my brother for his birthday," she admitted. "They wanted me to adopt them."
Kerry chuckled. "Nerds."
"They were glad for the sale." Nan opened the Styrofoam bag the machine was carefully encased in and slid it free, lifting it with both hands and placing it on the desk. "I was the only one in there."
Kerry folded her hands together and peered at the laptop. "Sexy," she said. "I think she'll like it."
"Like what?" a voice at the door surprised both of them.
Kerry looked across the room to see Dar entering, a cup in her hand. "Hey boss," she said. "How's it going?"
"It's going." Dar's nose twitched and she made a beeline for the desk as she spotted the boxes. "What do we have here?"
Nan's eyes widened and she stepped back from the desk, picking up the boxes and wrapping and getting hastily out of the way.
"Hm. I like the color." Dar hitched one knee up and took a seat on the desk, handing her cup over to Kerry as she reached over to take hold of the laptop. "Drink that. You're froggy again." She picked up the laptop with one hand and set it on her thigh, opening the latch and lifting the screen.
"Thanks." Kerry accepted the cup. "I've been drinking tea but it's not helping." She sipped the cold chocolate milk as she watched her partner. Then she shook her head a little, and glanced up at Nan. "Sorry. My manners went south there for a minute. Nan, this is Dar Roberts."
Nan cleared her throat. "Hello."
"Nan's been nice enough to run around for us the past two days. She went out to get your new toy, hon." Kerry unobtrusively gave her partner a nudge, distracting her from an apparently fascinating encounter with the laptop's BIOS.
Dar's eyes lifted and met the woman's. "We've spoken on the phone," she said after a moment. "You do the inventory recaps."
Nan blinked. "Um--yes, yes I do. Nice to meet you in person finally," she stammered a little. "I hope the machine's okay. It's pretty much the best they had."
Dar bent her head to study the machine's screen briefly. "I think it'll be fine," she said. "Good choice," she added, with a smile. "Thanks for doing my shopping for me. "
Nan smiled back. "Anytime."
"Okay." Dar got up and circled the desk, dropping to her knees and peering under it. "Got a cable, Ker?"
"Oh, wait, hang on-- I can do that--" Nan scrambled forward, hauling up as Kerry lifted her hand and waved her back. "But--"
Dar's head popped up over the desk's surface, and her eyebrows hiked. "What?" She rummaged in Kerry's briefcase and disappeared again, with a grunt. "I hate these kinds of jacks. What moron had them installed here?"
Kerry scooted out of her way a bit, and leaned on the top of the desk. "Miami ops, this is Miami exec. How are those transfers coming?"
"Miami exec, this is Houston Ops," another voice broke in. "We have a bulk backup request from Cheyenne Mountain to secure storage, and a database parse. "
"Acknowledged," Kerry said. "Are you mentioning it just because it's out of time range?" She almost bit her tongue when she suddenly felt warmth against the side of her knee and realized it was Dar's breath.
"Yes, ma'am," Houston answered. "We can give them their standard bandwidth but if something comes up while it's transferring we're tapped."
Kerry glanced down, to see twinkling blue eyes looking back up at her. "What do you think?"
"What do I think?" Dar drawled, pressing her cheek against the outside of Kerry's leg. "Hm--" She watched the light blush climb up her throat before she relented, moving away and coming back up from under the desk with the end of an ethernet cable in her fingers. "Houston, let them go for it. I'll keep an eye on the pipe and if you start stressing it I can throw some compression on it."
"Okay, uh--ma'am," Houston said. "Will do."
Dar remained on her knees, plugging the laptop into the ethernet cable after she scribbled some numbers off the bottom of it. "Let me get at your session for a minute," she told her partner. "Miami ops, this is Miami exec. Stand by for a high speed encrypted image transfer. You're going to redline. No one freak out please."