GIORGIO KEPT his eye on the red LED numbers of the clock on the wall. It read 4:58 PM and seemed to be stuck at that time for the past two minutes while he closed all the applications on his holo-screen. The droning sounds on the office floor had already died down as others closed their workstations and prepared to leave. He was getting impatient. Why are the last two minutes before the start of a long weekend always the longest?
The administrative offices of the World Government were going to be closed for three days. Giorgio had his entire weekend planned, but it depended on him making it on the next shuttle out. If he missed this one, then the fifteen-minute wait for the next shuttle would mean he would miss his 5:45 PM flight to Parisio. Because of the long weekend, the next available flight wouldn’t arrive at the vacation city until well after midnight.
Sharla was already in Parisio, waiting in the luxury suite Giorgio had booked months before. He had planned a romantic evening, starting with dinner and then dancing. Dessert would surely follow later, something he was looking forward to more than an expensive dinner.
When the clock changed to 4:59 PM, he breathed a sigh of relief and pulled out his briefcase, ready to dash out of the office in less than a minute. His co-workers were already starting to move toward the exit doors. That was when his computer uttered a small ‘bleep’ and his holo-screen lit up from sleep mode.
Giorgio stared at the flashing icon on the computer screen. “Dammit. Wonder what that’s all about?” he said mainly to himself. There was a glitch in the waste management system. These server farms, can’t live with them, can’t trash them. When they were first implemented way back when, they worked beautifully. Very few problems and only a small number of hiccups here and there.
Over the years, as capacity was added to handle new divisions, increased traffic, and data processing, the piecemeal build in the system architecture resulted in the use of patches to mend the seams between various systems. But the damn patches weren’t meant as a long-term solution. Each one weakened the whole system.
As per protocol, Giorgio called his supervisor, Clarence, who was not going to be happy after last month’s cyber fiasco. He hoped Clarence was still in his office. Otherwise, he would have to call his supervisor on the emergency line.
From past experience, Giorgio knew Clarence would never answer his emergency personal communicator outside of work and preferred to respond to voicemail at his leisure. It could mean at least a half-hour delay before Clarence would return the call. Hating himself for not ignoring the glitch and dashing out the door, Giorgio held his breath as he listened for the line to connect on the other side. One, two, three rings.