...."wait, hang on, I didn't call YOU -- I called the second shift guy. Dammit, Wendell, you're so confused you got ME doing it! Get out of here before the plant manager sees you."
"But what about the particle count?", Wendell stammered.
Carl eyed him suspiciously. "How in hell do you know about that? Was it on the news this morning? I bet that damn Russian Goesky has been snuggling up to that skanky reporter again...that's all I need today!"
He shoved Wendell into his private office to get him off the main floor and out of sight.
Wendell's cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He checked and saw that Alice, his neighbor who works for the local animal shelter had sent him a text message..... "hey, W, how about a cat? We've run out of space...??? weirdest thing... strays, give-ups, you name it. Come on, you know you want one!"
Wendell knew what he had to do. He called Alice back, "Cats, yes, Alice, you couldn't have called at a better time. Look, I'll call you back in a minute, my boss is ragging on me just now. But, yes, I would love a cat...iin fact, I'm going to want LOTS of 'em...yeah, I'll explain that when I call back. Hang onto those cats!"
“Carl, listen for a second. I'm here now, and fairly lucid at the moment. I don't know what happened with the call, but Jonathan hasn't shown up yet, anyway. I have an idea about the cats...I can use the intern's cube, he's not in a today and the big boss wouldn't get caught dead down there in at the low rent district."
"OK, but you gotta keep a lid on the incident this morning."
"What happened, anyway?"
"It was those damned Russians, again. One of those clowns was on the board when the Southwest Net shed a bunch of load without bothering to warn us first. Unit Two got caught with a lot of excess heat. And this guy must think a control rod is what's hanging between his legs. Damn HR must have gotten a package deal on all these ex-pig-boat reactor wipers after the Evil Empire collapsed! So we had a nice little power excursion that tripped all the detectors. The software over-rides worked, though, which is why I am still here instead of hauling ass down the road in my truck. At least they didn't mash the "fuck-me" button...this time. Management is still honked-off about the SCRAM on Unit One that your predecessor pulled..."
"Why did Southwest shed load? They usually want more power this time of day, not less. And they always tell us ahead of time, anyway."
"They lost the big 400KV superconducting transmission line out of Lake Mead. Nobody knows why."
Outside the birds continued to gather in the parking lot, on the road, on the sidewalks, in the grass. They began to sway in unison. There was a low hum. Those in the facility could feel it in their feet.
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