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Yet Tully’s eyes were wide and hopeful.
And a little worried.
“Good news or bad news first?”
“I’d prefer neither, if I’m being frank.”
“Good news first then.”
I waited for him to continue, even though it became apparent he was expecting me to say something when I was not the one leading this conversation.
“Right then,” he added. “So the refit of the Darwin office is scheduled and confirmed to begin the week after next.”
“Oh, well, thatisgood news.”
Tully’s smile widened, and he nodded excitedly.
“We expect it will be a three-week job to complete.”
“Okay.” I wasn’t sure what he expected me to say. “One week to start, three weeks to complete. That’s reasonable.”
“It’s pretty good, actually. It’s a complete refit; all new wiring and cabling has to happen first. You won’t recognise your new office when you get back.”
The relief I felt was visceral. They were fixing my office! And they weren’t sending me away! But then I thought about what he’d said.
Uh...
“I’m sorry.” My eyes narrowed at my phone. “When I get back from where?”
Tully was no longer smiling.
“When I get back fromwhere?” I asked again, louder this time, when Peter still hadn’t replied.
“Well, that’s the bad news.”
“Peter,” I said flatly. “After the month we’ve had here, I have neither the patience nor the sense of humour for such games.”
“The remote weather station at Oxley Island,” he said. “As you know, we have a signal, but the radar system is offline. The local police said they could see by boat that the building is still standing but they don’t have access to assess the damage. Might just need a simple reboot for all we know. And well, you’re the closest manager on the ground... and you’re not exactly busy right now.”
The Oxley Island remote weather station.
Oxley Island was about three hundred kilometres from Darwin, situated off the northernmost tip of Arnhem Land. It was a small island with absolutely nothing on it but the automated weather station on the top eastern side. Which was, apparently, no more than a small, one-room brick building miles from anywhere and anyone.
The island itself had somehow escaped the direct path of Cyclone Hazer, but like most of the coastal parts of the Northern Territory, it had been hit by torrential rain and severe wind gusts. It just wasn’t razed to the ground like some parts.
So, not too far away—certainly not across the country—but damn, it sure was remote.
“How long am I expected to be there?”
Tully was still staring at me, his eyes wide but now filled with more uncertainty.
“Well,” Peter said. “We’re trying to arrange transport. It’d be a full day’s drive by four-wheel drive, and thereisroad access, but some of those roads have been damaged. Some are close to impassable if the last report was anything to go by.”
Impassable roads in crocodile-infested Kakadu and Arnhem Land. “I know a thing or two about impassable roads out that way,” I said flatly.
Tully grinned, nodding earnestly.
I glowered at him and shook my head.
