Fake News by Jerry Hatchett

Author:Jerry Hatchett [Hatchett, Jerry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781952088001
Publisher: Red House
Published: 2020-01-14T16:00:00+00:00

Day 9

6:15 Pm

COG CITY

With my little tour of the town wrapped up, I found myself in the COG CITY COMMUNICATIONS CENTER. To get there, we had gone inside the COMMAND Quonset hut, then down a switchback stairway that by my count covered the equivalent of three stories, then opened up into a bunker-style room about the same size as the Quonset hut on the surface. Panels of ancient electronic controls filled the walls and work surfaces. One wall held an array of four televisions, tilted so that their clicky knobs and curved glass screens looked down upon what was obviously the main control console.

A guy who looked early twenties stood from the console, glanced briefly at me, then turned to Sadie. Before he could speak, Sadie said, "Wilson, Sam. Sam, Wilson."

Wilson stuck a hand out and I shook it. He said, "You're not old enough to have worked with equipment like this. You tinker with gear like this as a hobby or something?"

"Uh...no," I said. "I've never touched tech like this."

Wilson turned back to Sadie. "Thought you said he could help with this?"

Sadie grabbed the sleeve of my T-shirt and gave it a tug, then walked to a corner of the room. I followed.

She said, "Your freedom is contingent upon helping, so cut the shit, okay?"

I started to question her definition of freedom, but there was no point. "I don't know anything about equipment like this."

"Your uncle ran FLATT GOOD TV REPAIR for decades, and as a kid you hung out there all the time."

I rolled my eyes, but filed away the fact that they obviously had my full BAM file, the dangerous one. Pitt. "You think hanging out and watching my uncle work on TVs and VCRs gave me expertise in broadcast systems designed decades before I was born? Are you mad?"

She returned the eyeroll. "I think that's where you learned to love technology and I think you're resourceful enough to put it all together and make yourself useful. Be good and maybe I'll take you to bed again."

I smiled and leaned in toward her, used my most seductive whisper. "Sadie?"

"Yeah?" she said quietly, biting her lip, eyes dancing.

I said, "If we were on a desert island, the last two people on Earth?"

She nodded, waiting for the rest.

I gave it to her. "The human race would go extinct, you backstabbing skank."

Her face flushed and her eyes fired. I caught her open hand a foot before it got to my face. "Our truce is over," I said. "Get away from me and I'll do what I can here."

She stomped out of the room and up the stairs, her footfalls echoing around the concrete until they faded away. I went to Wilson. "Seriously, I have no expertise on this gear, but maybe two heads brainstorming is better than one. What are you trying to do, and what's stopping you?"

Wilson touched a modern laptop sitting on the console. "This is my video source." He laid his hand on the console of big buttons and switches.

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