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Oh my god! He did not just call herwoman!
We were both about to die...
She lowered the bat and relented a smile. “Tully. Whatcha hidin’ that good-looking head of yours in those tinted windows for? Dumbass, I almost took m’bat to your fancy car.”
Tully gave me a nod, silently telling me to get my arse out of the car. “Brought someone to see ya.”
He shut his door and walked over to her, turned, and waited for me to get out, which I did. Still unsure if we were about to die...
“Doreen, this is Doctor Jeremiah Overton. From the Melbourne office.”
She eyed me. “Who’s your boss?”
“Brian Carling.”
She gave a nod. “Got your ID card on ya?”
In a panic, I fumbled my wallet, barely managing to hand her the card. She studied it, then me. “Doctor, huh?”
“Yes.”
A slow smile spread across her hardened face. “Why didn’t ya say that?” she said, grabbing my hand and shaking it, almost rattling the teeth in my head. “Come on inside.”
I wasn’t led in so much as accosted through the door, and I was too terrified to not comply. There was a small entry hall with a plastic plant, and a door that led through to a dark room where one wall was lined with radar, sonars, screens, and flashing lights, the other wall was lined with shelves full of gear. Old anemometers, a tripod, a machine that looked like a hygrometer from the ’60s; boxes of gear that belonged in a museum.
Jesus. How old was this place?
“Here’s the bridge,” she said, as if this was some ship that needed steering. Every single panel was something from the ’90s. Oh my god, it was older than me. Doreen must have noticed my face.
“Bet it’s nothin’ fancy like you’re used to. She’s old, but she ain’t ever stopped.”
The old air conditioning unit rattled and clunked, scaring me, and Doreen walked over to it and walloped it with the heel of her hand, which scared me even more. I was surprised it stayed on the wall, let alone kicked into gear.
Then something yipped and I almost jumped out of my skin until Doreen scooped up a small poodle-looking thing off the one and only seat in the entire room.
“This is Bruce,” she said. “Not scared of a little dog, are ya?”
Before I could answer—words were failing me right at that minute—Tully was behind me, holding my crate. “He ain’t scared of anything,” he said with a smirk. He put my crate down. “Well, maybe an amphibian or two, but a fifty-thousand-volt lightning strike don’t faze him at all.”
I was beginning to think I’d walked into a time warp. How was this station still operational?
“I gotta say,” Doreen said. “I’m surprised to see ya. I didn’t think anyone was ever comin’.”
I was still trying to get my head around any single thing that had happened in the last three minutes.
“Uh, my automatic weather station was taken out in a storm two days ago, and a power surge took out my hard drive,” I said. “I was hoping I could use your system to see if anything’s retrievable. I’d hate to think all my data is lost.” I looked at the console unit, doubting anything was compatible for me to use. Not without a time machine.
Doreen fished her keys from her pocket, and putting Bruce back on the seat, she unthreaded some keys and handed them to me. “I don’t give one fuck what you do, kid.”
Uh...
Um...
“P-p-pardon?”
“You’re my replacement, right?” she picked up a pink biker helmet and put it on, then nodded to the keys in the palm of my hand. “Keys. There’s only two. Front door, front gate. Lock ‘em both when you leave.”
I shook my head, confused. Bewildered. “What?”
