Harbinger

Finally have been able to sit for a short bit and write out a little more of my story.

For those who may need a short refresher, you will be able to find all the entries for this story under the Label "Crossing" on the left side column. The post headings are more closely related to chapters, even if short ones! Enjoy!

(conclusion of "Inaugural")

Brandon walked to the aft porthole, his attention drawn to the string of tropical storms and hurricanes so typical for this time of year. Today they could not match his dark mood, or the storms he knew were headed this way, 400 miles up. He could only hope they did not make landfall on his shores.

Even the visor’s thick shielding would not protect Margo’s eyes from the sun’s scorching brightness, so she closed her eyes and focused on the trio of unmelodious notes coming from her range-finder. Most people floating over 22,000 miles above Terra firma, with less than 3 hours of breathable air, and blinded by the sun would have panicked long ago. But then, she was not most people. In fact she disliked people, and would have chosen this isolated patch of space over anyone’s company. She had even been audacious enough to reject promotions for her exceptional abilities, fearing the confinement of a desk and the company of incompetents.
The scheduled third quarter inspection was still two weeks away, but the date had been moved up to satisfy some government bureaucrat. She thought them all fools, but was glad to be here nonetheless. This was her third inspection at the heart of Pinnacle’s tether; the only spot where you could truly experience zero G. Pulled by gravity at one end, centrifugal forces at the other, this magic spot was where the high tech tether “hung” in both directions. It seemed a rope at this spot suffered the same lack of a sense of up and down as people did. It also happened to be where the highest tension was exerted. All things being equal, this was where a failure would be most likely to occur. Physical inspections were the most laborious but fruitful means of ensuring the safety of Pinnacle.

With half her oxygen depleted, she heard the tell-tale beat frequency which indicated she was 1 meter from the tether. A quick jet blast and she hovered motionless alongside the East Tether, in the sun’s shadow again. She opened her eyes, and as her pupils adjusted to the contrasting darkness, was puzzled by what looked like reflected sunlight along the tether. It resembled the pattern one often saw at the bottom of a swimming pool. Even though this was not any of the problems she was trained to detect, and it might be nothing more than a reflection from a nearby satellite or some other space anomaly, she would need to record and report this. She removed the holographic recorder and comm’ed in that she would take longer to rendezvous with the rest of the team. She smiled, secretly pleased there was a reason to prolong her solitude.