HalfWorlder #Wattys2017

Chapter 24-Thawing out and heating up

After Alexandra and I finished rebooting Neter's system from the Matrix, Neter herself gave a throaty growl and she began to purr like a happy cat after a long nap. The tunnel we sat in had been calm and quiet for hours. None of the usual loud rushing black energy to give me a headache. And when her engine revved back up; I was never gladder for a migraine in my life.

Neter ran at us – energy coursing through her. The black crashing noise rising to a fever pitch around us. She stopped and stood motionless, looking sideways, distracted again.

Did it work?

My stack of processes began recoding. Neter stared at them, everything else tuned out, including us. The deck of cards shuffled itself, restacked, and flew away into the dark tunnel, lost in whatever lay at the end of the vortex.

She stopped. "Not bad for hybrids, but there were some errors. Probably some more over here."

I realized then I was holding my breath.

"We did it!" I jumped up and hugged Alexandra. I didn't even give my actions a second thought. "We got her working!" I shook her by the shoulders.

"Thank the stars!" She hugged me back and paused to look at me, letting me go quickly. But she had held my gaze one second too long.

I noticed. And she knew it too.

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Everyone was sitting in the lounge watching CNN. It was nice to have things back to normal again – well, relatively speaking. The world was still on a countdown to planetary destruction and all, but at least the TV was working. Everyone clapped when we walked in, drowning out the male anchor's voice. I took an overly-dramatic bow, nodded to Alexandra, and went to get a drink. The volume went back up on the TV. Everyone chatted pleasantly. Things were looking up. The heat was even working, but then CNN cut to an image of Alexandria's beach, so of course the room went silent.

"Oh my," Seshat said.

A helicopter videographer panned the area to show the world the ice wave in all its perilous beauty. I could just make out Neter's shape covered in snow and the blue ice I encased her in near the ice river. Nature had done a good job of disguising her from the world's eyes. Thankfully her real camouflage would be fully functional in 10 minutes. I checked my watch. The picture changed to show the shore crowded with Egyptians. They had come to see the thing that would have killed them. Some were even trying to get into small boats, but a few officials on shore were holding them back. It was time to get out of here.

Despite it all, the male anchor was calm. I wasn't sure how he was managing to stay so composed considering everything happening on the planet this week. Earthquakes, snow storms, heat waves and now ice waves. If it wasn't doomsday a few days ago, it clearly was now.

He spoke. "People are comparing it to the movie The Day After Tomorrow when sudden atmospheric thunderstorms flash froze anything caught outside in -150° F temperatures. Metrologic critics panned the science behind the film, but now, people are talking. Let's go to our guests, Jeff O'Keefe, with the National Weather Service, and Mindy Striker, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Mindy, I'll throw to you first." Oh, now I understood; that was the Showbiz Tonight guy reporting.

Wep muted it. "How long until we can take off?"

Neter appeared on the interface panel. "Approximately 2 hours, 25 minutes."

I sat up straight. "Wait a minute Neter; we fixed you. What's up?"

She crossed her arms on the screen. "There was some unrepaired damage to the relay mechanism which will require additional time to repair."