Cloud to Cloud

Episode 9: Sleeping Through the Tech Crash

Fred's momentary dip in the data stream had passed as weeks in the physical realm.

"Reports are scattered at best as news of major losses to the cellular network signals are expanding from localized centers in outlying areas to more densely populated cities and business districts. This could be a slow week in the business world as we cope with lack of communication and steady decline of connectivity. It is difficult to say where the issues have stemmed from, but there are many who see this as a global problem and hold out for government and higher powers to create a safety network for transportation, banking, and important emergency services. Is this an attack by Wave7 or similar organization, or evidence we are overstepping the current capacity of our technology?"

Evan flipped the channels on the television mounted in the corner of Fred's hospital room.

According to the doctors there were many more signs, but there had been little change since the incident on the train.

He thumped his head into the high back of the reclining chair. His eyes watered as he squinted sleep away from his mind.

It was not too late. He wagered from the fading light through the hospital room window, it was barely near seven in the evening. He had not eaten since lunch, before that he was served the announcement his job was nowhere near as secure as the now faltering networks he had worked so hard to protect.

"Well, it's all down now, so there you have it," Evan mumbled at the muted television. "Fat lot of good that did, firing me. I'm not so great a scapegoat after all."

Evan stretched his legs out on the lift of the recliner. He rolled his head to face the hospital bed opposite the chair.

Machines flickered, wires and tubes creating a sort of network all their own. An IV bag offered the steady drip to mark the passing of time. Within it all Fred lay on his back, thin hospital blankets covering his nearly motionless body. The steady rise and fall of Fred's chest was the only sure sign of life.

Evan clenched and released his right hand. His fist ached at the joints, though the bruising had gone down considerably since his overreaction on the train.. He remained grateful the emergency medical technicians on the train had been so willing to comply when Evan claimed the stranger threw the first punch.

Having a relatively intact military service history versus the apparently spotted record of the stranger in the damaged uniform likely helped Evan's case quite a lot.

Many of the other passengers who had witnessed the confrontation between Fred and the strange man in the uniform jacket also backed Evan's cause. Evidently the man had been menacing others on the train prior to his argument with Fred. Evan felt bad for the guy for all of a minute as police escorted him off the train directly behind the gurney carrying Fred.

It felt to Evan as though the moment marked the beginning of the spiraling doom his life had become in a matter of a few days. A busted hand. Communication brownouts. A security lockdown. A furlough of indeterminate timeline looked more like a firing of most of the security team at ITower.

Evan was left to wonder how long it would last and how far down this spiral would plummet as he continued to ponder the wires maintaining life support systems to his uncle Fred. He fixed his gaze back on the television. He watched as the flickering stream of data could blink out again at any moment delivered news and weather.

Rising from the chair, Evan stretched his legs in a slow pace around the room. He plucked his tablet from a wheeled table set in the corner of the sparsely furnished room.

There were no messages on the queue of either text or voice. He wondered if this was how his life would be now he found himself jobless. It was a furlough. Things could pick up, if the issue was due to a larger problem─hackers, tech terrorism. This was certainly even more than a security breach. Once ITower realized this, they would need him more than before, and his paycheck would certainly reflect it.