2084 The End of Days Read Online Free PDF

is Oceanus signing off - over and out.”
    “Houston to Oceanus - Lex here - Houston copies that - over and out.”
    He noted the time. 01:55. Lex tapped his touch screen and switched over to call his supervisor, Irene DuPré, who was stationed a couple of rows behind him.
    “Hi, Irene - did you catch that on the Oceanus? The Big Baby docked safely at 01:55 CST.”
    “Yeah, Lex – that was a good job.”
    “Okay for me to sign off at zero two hundred as scheduled?”
    “No probs, Lex – oh, yeah - before ya shoot off? Ah just wanna remind you that we’re scheduled in for your Performance Appraisal on Friday 7 th next week, okay?”
    Lex groaned deep inside but replied as upbeat as he could muster, then lied to Irene.
    “Yep, eh, good for me on the 7 th – um, it’s in the diary.”
    “Good, ‘cos there’s an issue that I want to run by you then. Okay, g’night, Lex. You get off home.”
    Lex thought that sounded ominous but Irene switched the call off on her monitor before Lex could reply, or that was the impression that Lex got. There is an issue that Irene wants to run by me? It rung in Lex’s ear and buzzed in his brain. She must have cottoned on to his drinking. How? Maybe Jimmy suspected that he had been on the sauce or smelt it on him. Nah! Lex thought that it must be something else. He tried to convince himself to stop worrying but right then he felt a small tremor in his right hand. Suddenly, he felt a gentle elbow in his arm and he looked round a bit too sharply at Jimmy. Soderline laughed at Lex.
    “Hey, man, you goin’ home or what?”
    Lex nodded his head wearily. He started powering down his monitors as there was no relief post for his station tonight. He grabbed his stuff, tapped Jimmy lightly on the shoulder and made his way back to the locker room. He thought Irene looked rather grimly at him as he passed up near her station. She gave him a cursory wave acknowledging his departure. As he took his bag out of his locker, Lex groaned, God, I’m gonna need that drink when I get home.
    *
    Earthdate: 13:21 Sunday February 2, 2081 GMT
    Gary Mackintosh and Ewan Sinclair sat with their double espressos in Chuck’s iCafé just off the Royal Mile in the heart of Edinburgh. Ewan was daydreaming as he surveyed the scene outside the large picture window, looking out at the buildings which were still much the same as they were over 300 years ago. The street had been pedestrianised many years ago and because it was such a freezing cold winter’s Sunday afternoon there were only a few people walking outside the café. In fact, there had been a sprinkling of snow which added to help erase any signs of 21 st century modernity. Ewan thought to himself with a wry smile that he would not be surprised to see Rabbie Burns or Deacon Brodie walk in for a ‘wee café latte or twa’. Gary was otherwise deeply engrossed on his laptop, which had voice activation response built in. However, because they were in a public place, albeit the café was practically empty, Gary was operating the laptop with touch screen commands with the voice activation switched off. In fact, there were actually only two others in the café. A waitress called Michelle was reading behind the counter and an old well-known drunken ex-soldier called Buster had come in out of the cold for a sly kip. Gary and Ewan had been in the café for about an hour with nothing much said between them. Ewan was now feeling bored and beginning to perceive that nothing was being achieved with Gary faffing about on his computer.
    “C’mon, Gary, give that effing NASA thing up and let’s head down the Mile for a couple of pints.”
    “Och, will ye just gimme a minute, Ewan? Ah think ah might just be on to something here.”
    Ewan groaned loudly and the girl behind the counter looked up from her digital gossip magazine. Michelle quickly scanned the café for some sign of customer movement, but there was none. The old drunk was still blissfully asleep. Michelle