Three weeks. If took three weeks for Toll to go completely
stir crazy at the San Pedro Shelf Command Compound. The first week was easy.
Rusty had fallen in with the group of scientists attempting to use the ring
system for long range communication. Toll watched old videos from the pacific
free zones data network. The second week was harder, the movies no longer held
Toll's interest. Rusty had begun sleeping in the lab space he was using to
scour the code that operated the rings. Against his better judgment Toll asked
if there was something he could help Rusty do. This led to easily the worst two
hours of his life. Scanning lines of code for specific command prompts. At 96
minutes he went out for coffee and never came back. He roamed the compound
often enough that members of all three guard shifts knew his name. By Thursday
of week three he was beginning to contemplate stealing a sub to go on a joy
ride. Instead he went back to Rusty's office. The door was locked, he tapped
the door chime. There was a crashing thud followed by a groan from inside the
office. Another moment and the door opened revealing a barely awake Rusty.
“Toll, whats up?” rusty asked while wiping the sleep from
his eyes.
“I'm bored, entertain me.” Toll demanded while trying to
look as pathetic as possible.
Rusty shook his head. “Sorry man, I got work to do.”
“Yeah, I've seen your work, I don’t blame you for falling
asleep.” Toll leaned back against the far wall.
“I don’t know what to tell you dude. Why don’t you see if
Carter or Ophelia need any help?” Rusty asked.
“Because they’re both super busy with super important sciency
ambassadorial importantness.”
“I'm busy as well Toll.”
“Yeah, busy sleeping.”
Rusty stooped leaning in the doorway. “Unless you want to
help me look for specific segments of code, I’d suggest you go annoy someone
else.”
Toll stood up off the door way, “Yeah fine i'm going, I’m
going.”
Toll set off down the hall toward the main labs. Attempting
to run into Carter was as good an idea as any. He knew the command level of the
compound was restricted the same as most of the labs that Carter spent his time
in but it was entirely possible that Ophelia would be able to get him temporary
access or possibly let Carter know that Toll was looking for him, Or maybe
Ophelia would have something for Toll to do. Toll turned the corner and nearly
ran right into Carter.
“I was just coming to see you.” They both spoke at the same
time.
“What did you need?” Toll asked.
Carter took a deep breath from the nano printer hanging from
his mouth. “Word on the street is that you're bored.”
“We're under water.” Toll replied.
“What?” Carter asked, caught off guard.
“There's no streets under water.” Toll explained.
Carter pinched his nose between his thumb and forefinger to
relieve the pressure of the randomness. “Not that it matters but it's slang.”
“Of course it matters!” Toll exploded. “You're a person of
great importance, you can't just go babbling about under water streets and not
expect people to wonder if you've lost your mind.”
Carter held his hand up to stop Toll. “do you want the job
or not?”
Toll's shoulders slumped. “Yes please.”
Carter turned and headed back down the hall. “I thought so.
Follow me.”
Toll trotted to catch up. “Where are we going?”
“To show you you're new job.” Carter offered with no further
explanation.
“Fine keep the mystery alive then.” They walked down the
hall for a moment in silence. “Hey Carter?” Toll asked.
“Yeah?” Carter sighed.
“I'm pretty sure that 'word on the street' is a
colloquialism not slang.” Carter pressed the pad next to a door and it opened
with a hiss, revealing a small two man electric cart sitting on a road that
headed up a large tunnel. “Or there's a literal street and I need to shut up.”
Carter sat in the drivers seat of the cart. “And get in the
cart.” Toll nodded and scrambled to get into the cart before Cater took off.
