The Effort by Claire Holroyde

The Effort by Claire Holroyde

Author:Claire Holroyde
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2021-01-12T00:00:00+00:00


AMY HAD TO ask Ben to slow down and enunciate into his phone. Whenever he got manic, Ben spoke too quickly for the majority of brains to comprehend. Only the Professor could follow in real time.

“Slower,” Amy insisted.

They argued more and more as time ran out, but really it was Ben shouting at her like he shouted at everyone else.

“Min-i-mal. In-terr-up-tion!” Ben said with exaggerated pause and menace.

Amy hung up and swallowed the lump in her throat.

No crying, she told herself.

This went against the advisement of Effort doctors, whose recommended procedure for extreme emotional turmoil was to (1) alert your supervisor to a necessary absence; (2) pick up a small pillow from dispensaries located at all major exits and corridors; (3) seek out privacy, because emotions are contagious; (4) cry, weep, and scream into your pillow for up to five minutes; (5) discard your pillow by the side of the dispensary; (6) alert your supervisor upon your return; and (7) continue your work.

No crying, Amy insisted, and skipped to the last part—continue your work. Amy had Troy Andrews from UN leadership reserve a small conference room in the Janus building right after one of the space flight team’s sessions. Amy and Troy took the same jeep to Janus and waited for the allotted time.

“You brought the drone footage?” she asked.

Troy nodded and lifted his leather briefcase. Amy could remember when she first met him, soon after he flew down from Manhattan. He had looked like a successful stockbroker with gelled hair and a sterling silver clip holding his designer tie in place. But that was the beginning of August. In the following weeks, Troy stopped shaving and started wearing cotton T-shirts, but he still looked alert, as if he still belonged to New York’s cultural and financial elite and was only playing safari. No longer. Troy was now haggard, sleep-deprived, and sweat-stained, like everyone else.

“Remember that silver tie clip you used to wear?” Amy asked, while they waited in the hallway for their allotted time.

Troy nodded. “The things I used to care about…”

Amy nodded. She still bleached her hair so that Ben didn’t worry over the creeping growth of her roots and the passing time that they implied, but she was otherwise unadorned: no makeup, no jewelry, no perfume. She smoothed her greasy hair back into a half-ponytail with elastics she kept on her wrists. Amy had also done away with regular clothes, like many of the engineers, and wore an unmarked camo jumpsuit. With her unblemished pale skin, wide eyes, and platinum hair, she looked like a Victorian doll, only inked with a tattoo and dressed in military fatigues. Instead of looking like a joke, it somehow fit Amy.

After checking her watch, Amy knocked hard on their conference room door. Sounds of scuffling and murmurs came from inside. After a brief pause, Amy opened the door and walked right in. The space flight team was bringing their meeting to a close while griping about getting the shaft with resources because they were last in the line of defense.



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