fire watch - episode 003 - The Delilah fire mystery

part 22 The phone lines

When it was day 87.
Delilah was writing on her computer, while Tom was watching the trees and mountains drinking a beer just trying to find some peace. Oswin had left a long time before back to her tower. Oswin radioed "hey, why do I feel like all of this is somehow connected? Like the bears and your tower it just feels really weird, I can't really explain it" Tom radioed back "yeah, I have the same feeling, but it's just... how? How can it all be connected?" "Yeah, but I just can't think of how? It's just like there are facts and pieces of information and the lines connecting them are being formed. By the way, I have a job for you" "oh yeah? We could get out for a while" "thank God, that's good, so my phone isn't working at all, it just goes to dial tone. I would call out a man to fix it, but to do that I need a phone it's an endless paradox, I do not know how people call people to fix telephone wires it makes no sense to me. Anyway, I think the line is down, so could you go and like check it out, just see if there is any damage" Delilah closed her laptop nodding "okey, dokey... a phrase I have never used before and hopefully never will again... I don't know where that came from" they all laughed.
They got ready to leave.
They set off towards the phone wires. They talked to Oswin as they walked eventually getting to a huge canyon they would have to climb down. Tom looked down "that's a bit steep" Delilah looked over "steep? That's fucking vertical, what are we going to do?" Tom looked around "yeah, we're going to need some ropes to get down there, but I don't have one, do you?" she shook her head "no, we'll have to find another way down" Oswin radioed "no need, there might be a rope in a cash box, if not then come by to my tower, and I'll give you one. I have so many I can just leave them around" "so why don't you?" asked Delilah "you think I'm that nice" Delilah laughed "yeah, good point" "hey, I'm nice!" "If you were you would leave the ropes, and you were the one who said it" Oswin paused "I don't like these valid comebacks you're throwing at me. Now the cash point is about 80 to 100 feet to the right of you across the cliffs" Delilah nodded "alright, I'll go and get it"
'They got to the cash box.
Delilah radioed Oswin "Oswin, what's the code again?" "It's literally 1-2-3-4, you learn it in like year one" "well, I never expect it to be so easy as 1-2-3-4, could you not have come up with something better" "no not really, I set it simply because no one would expect it to be so easy, and it's easy to remember plus if someone opened it, it's not like there are secret government files in them the most they'll get is a thousand-year-old candy bar" "then why even set a code? Why even have a lock?" Oswin thought for a second "I don't know, it's a company thing, I just go with what the company say, not like a sheep some other cooler animal" Delilah opened it grabbing some ropes going over to Tom "okay, I didn't eat the candy bar this time, because that went so well the last time" Tom laughed "the first time was pretty funny though" Delilah shook her head "no, no it wasn't" Delilah and Tom secured the rope in a rock, and they started climbing down the rope. Delilah was surprised in herself she was able to climb down considering she hadn't ever one it before and was doing it pretty well, Tom was obviously guiding her to make sure she didn't fall down to her death.
When they got down.
Tom tapped Delilah on the shoulder "well done, for a newbi, you were very good" she smiled "thanks dad" they started walking eventually getting to the phone tower which the lines went from "okay, here we go, we've arrived at the phone tower" Oswin radioed "great, now just follow the line down and see if it's broken" "what if it's internally broken?" "Well someone will check that, but you may as well see if you can see something, so the man knows what he's looking for because that will make his life easier, I usually don't recommend making peoples lives easier but on this rare occation I am allowing it because if not I can't make calls and that makes my life harder" Delilah laughed "so you only make peoples lives easier if it makes your life easier?" "Welcome to Zarlum mate" Tom nodded "okay, you're the boss" "I like that I'm the boss, makes me sound cooler than I actually am" she chuckled to herself "okay, whatever you say, Oswin, whatever you say"
They began following the line.
As they walked Tom radioed "so, this mark suffered with PTSD, right?" Oswin said "yeah, why?" "Well it's just, I know what that is like, and I have been thinking about what it would be like out here alone with PTSD... all I'm saying is I do not want to meet this person" Delilah asked "how did you get PTSD?" "Well, just my... memories, memories that stick in my head forever" Oswin asked "memories of what? If I may ask, it may be hard to talk about, and I completely understand that" Tom paused then said "well, I have a lot of bad memories, would you like an example of one? They are a bit dark" Oswin replied "sure, do whatever you feel comfortable doing" "well I remember one time, we had prisoners of war in a desert camp and a sand storm rolled in. One of the prisoners took his chance and tried to escape into the sand, tried to stay hidden, but I found him... he was just a young kid about 15 or 16, so I tackled him to the ground he kicked me twice trying to get out of my grip however I told him I wasn't going to let him go but he didn't speak English, so I decided to stick my gun in his mouth the universal signal to shut the fuck up and do what I say. I didn't want to like... kill him I just wanted to show this kid who's boss and what happens if you try to escape, I just wanted to scare him... then someone called my name... and... by complete accident he kicked me again, and that made me pull the trigger, blew his head off. Blood went everywhere and I kind of felt dazed and horrible. After that...that kid woke me up every night in a cold sweat for about 6 years. Yeah, I know what it's like" Oswin radioed "I'm sorry, no one should have to have those memories, I feel so sorry for you" "I'm fine, I'm over it" they continued following the line talking about the past they went checking the lines for anything.
Half an hour of walking later.
They arrived at the damaged line, Tom radioed "okay, yeah Oswin the line is down" Delilah frowned going to pick up the wire. Tom grabbed her hand in a hurry "don't touch it, it could electrocute you!" she turned "I don't think it's live, if it was, we would see that, but look this is strange" he looked at the wire then radioed "err Oswin, this has been perfectly cut, yeah the wind no way, someone has cut this line" "who could've done that?" Delilah looked down the road "I know exactly who's done this" Tom looked up "who?" "Well look down there" she pointed. Tom went to the cliff "son of a bitch" he radioed Oswin "there are beer cans down here" Delilah looked guilty "I'm really sorry guys" Tom turned "what for?" Oswin radioed "you haven't done anything wrong" "for fighting them if I hadn't fought them none of this would've happened, it's all my fault" Oswin radioed "no, this isn't your fault, don't put all the blame at your door, they chose to do this, and they are fuckers. It's their fault not yours, do they not realize this is how people are killed? And what if a fucking ranger was hurt, and I had to call to help them? What if there was a fire and I couldn't call anyone for help? Could you go and take the long way round to find them?" "yeah will do boss" "this is a huge problem, I can't even call the forest service to get someone to repair the wire. I'm going to have to radio, and they rarely ever have their radios on them" they began walking to the tower. They were following the trail of beer cans, however there was a fence in the way which they must have climbed over, and they weren't going to climb after them. They had to pick up the cans seeing the girls must have been stumbling around because the cans were everywhere some of which still had alcohol inside.
About 3 hours later.
They got back to the tower, they radioed Oswin saying they hadn't found the women. When they entered the tower, it was night, so they ate their dinner. Delilah went to Tom "okay, I'm exhausted, I'm going to bed" "alright night Delilah" "night dad, love you" "love you to, monkey" she smiled then went down to her tower to sleep. Tom had a drink then tried to go to sleep but just couldn't drift off, so he started watching the night from his balcony. Oswin radioed "can't sleep?" The radio was on the desk behind him, he looked over to her tower seeing the light was on, He went to the desk grabbing the radio, going to the balcony again "yeah, I couldn't sleep, couldn't you?" "No, I rarely ever sleep until like 2 in the morning, I'm just drinking beers I just think this is all connected, everything" "but how?" "I don't know, something is going on here, and we'll figure it out"