Bridge to Nowhere

Spherules

Wednesday Afternoon–Henderson, Nevada

Curtis sits at his desk littered with empty chip bags, candy wrappers, pizza boxes, and his Giant Gulp cup. A single desk lamp is the only light source other than light emanating from the wall-size thin screens in front of him and on the wall behind him.

Most people have a home office or a computer room. Curtis isn't most people. Curtis lives in the dining room, or what had been the dining room. The room is full of computers, monitors, his ham radio, portable electronic gadgets, figurines from Star Trek, Star Wars, anime, and other rare, and obscure collectibles. Products from his past hobbies fill the living room. Curtis likes his stuff.

He doesn't get out much, but people like to chat with him because he's friendly and almost always available, so he has lots of friends around the world. Curtis and Jin are members of the Slooh community, a group of astronomy enthusiasts who watch the skies looking for asteroids and share what they find with other members worldwide. Curtis also uses ham radio to communicate and make new friends. Most people have forgotten that ham radio is a worldwide communication system. But ham operators have not forgotten. Curtis has a complete setup with a large antenna on the roof of his house.

This afternoon he's working at his desk editing video streamed from Jin's All-Sky cam to their server, and posting the best, most dramatic, scenes of the sky storm to the Slooh forum when he hears a ringing chime. The image of Aman, his friend from India, appears on the screen.

"Hey, Aman. How's work going after that big promotion? You must go crazy managing hundreds of software engineers."

"No problem, Aman. It's the middle of the day here. But it must be late for you."

"I couldn't sleep. Maybe the job is getting to me. Your notes say Jin shot the video. Why didn't he post it?"

When Curtis attended community college, he befriended a young Indian boy named Raj. Raj was a skinny, shy boy overwhelmed with the American lifestyle. Jin was off to university, so Curtis and Raj became quick friends. It wasn't long before the two were eating pizza and going to movies together. A few months later, Raj died while taking a selfie at the edge of the Grand Canyon. Raj must have told his older brother Aman stories about his friend Curtis. When they met at the funeral, Aman treated Curtis as his family.

Curtis rummages through pizza boxes on his desk. He finds a piece a few boxes down the stack. How had he missed this one? He examines it. No mold. He flicks off a piece of questionable-looking Italian sausage. Hmm, looks OK.

"I'm posting because Jin was busy with his girlfriend last night. He's working today, anyhow." Curtis takes a bite of the pizza.

"Girl friend? Is this the girl named Becky on the forum? What's she like? Is she pretty? Is she smart, or is she smart and ugly? That is sadly too often the case. Sorry for saying."

"Ah, Becky's OK, and she's not ugly. She's smart and a quick learner, but that girl can get snappy if you say something she doesn't like."

Aman is older than Curtis. He wears large eyeglasses that slip down his long nose. His dark skin is wrinkling, and his hair is turning gray. "Girlfriends take so much time and money. It's no wonder you're picking up the slack for him."

"Me and Jin are good. No matter what, Jin is my lifelong friend. We're brothers, nothing changes that, but the way he talks, he's found true love. Good for him. He can do the couples thing. I'm going solo."

"You go, bro. My cousin, Hapreet, he got a girlfriend and after a while we never saw him. He used to be my bro, any seven days. After he fell in love, he does what she wants. He likes what she likes. He thinks the way she thinks. It's like his body was taken over by a virus. I don't know Hapreet, anymore."