It was never fully dark in their room, but this morning it was almost bright. Rob checked his phone.
Sydney 6G
Friday, 6 June
4:32
Notification centre
Email: 10+
He inched out of bed and put on some clothes. As he passed Nora’s side of the bed, she held out a hand and brushed the hairs of his leg.
“I wasn’t, umm. You know, it’s the, ah.”
“It’s okay, Nozzle,” Rob whispered. He put his hand on her side, just below the shoulder.
“Mm,” she said, burying her head deeper in the pillow.
Rob sat for a few more moments. The light from outside, faintly blue, waved with the curtains over Nora’s body. Looking down at her beautiful, scrunched-up face, he cursed himself. Again. He sniffed himself and smelt that scent. Again. He’d scrubbed and scrubbed but it was no good.
He made a coffee and went into the study. The light flooded through the window, sticking to the walls. As his computer powered up, Rob gazed outside.
In the sky above the rows of terraces, above the high-rise apartments of Potts Point and the city skyscrapers, a string of blue lights stretched from one end of the horizon to the other in a long arc.
Rob’s calendar app made a little trumpet noise. He forced himself to look down at the computer screen.
DEADLINE — ClaudCo subs (guillotine order)
The judge had a made a guillotine order last Friday, meaning that if their side’s written submission wasn’t filed and served by 5 pm today, the case was effectively over. The coffee scalded his tongue. He longed to crawl back into bed; Nora was so warm in the mornings. He had to tell her today. He’d spent weeks putting it off.
He opened his web browser. A headline blazed across the length of his home page, an international news provider.
SAT-DRONES TAKE UP POSITION IN GLOBAL CLIMATE INITIATIVE
New York City, 2:30 EST. We are all stargazers today, as the sat-drones of the USA/Polonius Inc.-led Atmospheric Pruning Project (APP) come into alignment. The APP, in a global first, sees an international coalition of governments and private sector leaders pool resources and expertise to present a united front against the catastrophic effects of climate change.
In an exclusive interview Mr Marque, the CEO of Polonius Inc., explained to us what he described as the relatively simple science behind the breathtakingly expensive and complex APP. “The atmosphere is a blanket for the Earth, made up of multiple layers,” Mr Marque said. “Imagine yourself sleeping in bed. If you get too hot, what do you do? You don’t try to get rid of the hot air already under the covers. You just take off a sheet. That’s the key idea behind atmospheric pruning. You peel off a layer. In this case, a very thin slice from the troposphere. There is, of course, a small risk that … ”
Rob switched tabs. He skimmed multiple emails from the solicitors, and read one email from Paul, the lead silk, to which only the barristers were copied. That email attached the latest draft of the 100-page submission. Rob winced as he scrolled through page after page of marked-up passages, peppered with questions in vivid yellow highlight.
He did what he could to divvy up parts to various solicitors, but it was clear he and Sarine, the other junior, would need to tackle most of the work themselves. After firing off a series of emails, he shaved and showered. As the sun rose, a high-pitched noise began reverberating throughout the apartment.
In the bedroom, Nora was sitting up, holding a hand to her ear. “What is that?”
Rob sat down next to her, dripping water onto the bed. “It’s just that pruning thing. It’s starting today.”
“Oh yeah. It’s so loud,” she said, frowning.
Rob summoned his courage. “Hey,” he said, touching her ankle.
She suddenly sat up straight. “Oh shit, I just remembered I’ve got that interview this morning.” She jumped out of bed. “I’d better run. Are we having dinner tonight?”
“Yes,” he said. “If I survive the day.”
Rob’s feet dragged on the steps at the entrance to his building on Phillip Street. In the elevator everyone was staring down at their phones. Inside, the whine of the sat-drones was fainter, waxing and waning like a roving mosquito.
Maybe there was no point in saying anything. If he just loved her and was kind to her for the rest of his days, wasn’t that enough? The office phone was ringing. He opened his eyes.
“Hello, it’s Robert.”
“Rob, Paul Sterling for you.”
There was some shuffling.
“Hi Paul,” said Rob. “I’m getting through it, but honestly, I think it’s going to be a s—”
“Sorry mate, hold on a sec.” There was the muffled sound of another voice. “Rob? You’d better just come up here.”
Rob texted Sarine, grabbed his laptop and hurried back to the elevator. Paul and John, the other senior counsel, were already there. Paul was at his desk, an enormous chunk of Tasmanian redwood with an inlaid leather top. John, who’d only recently taken silk, was lounging on one of the couches.
“Can someone please tell me what’s going on with these subs?” said Paul, frowning. Sarine came in and sat on the couch next to Rob. Paul started pacing.
“Sarine and I’ve been through your changes from this morning,” said Rob. “We’ve sent the citations and other minor stuff to the solicitors.”
“Check everything. Don’t trust anything they do.”
“Of course, we’ll — ”
“It’s actually pretty spectacular.” Paul had paused by the window, looking up at the line of lights. From his corner office the whole harbour was laid out below. “Fuck knows what they’re doing but it does look good.” The sat-drones twinkled as, one by one, they flew up then plunged down, like waves running up and down a skipping rope. The colour of each oscillated between a crystal blue and a sharp, metallic crimson. Rob felt a bit dizzy. He and Sarine looked at each other.
John walked over to Paul at the window. “What’s going on with your aircon up here, Paul?” said John. “I feel like I’m about to faint.”
“I don’t know,” Paul replied distractedly. “Can we please just focus. I need a final draft ready to settle by three at the absolute latest. And I need all of you here taking me through it.”
They took the cue and shuffled out of the massive room. Rob felt light-headed in the elevator. Back on his floor he took a few painkillers and started working. His phone buzzed incessantly.
Sydney 6G
Friday, 6 June
11:43
Notification centre
News alert: PM urges calm after atmospheric pressure dr… (10+)
Rob cleared notifications and switched on do not disturb. When his office phone rang it was as if he’d been pulled out of a deep hole.
“Rob?”
“Hi, Noz.”
“Meet me at Ralph’s in five. I’m getting you a sandwich.”
“I really can’t …”
“Rob.”
“Okay.”
Although it was, besides the row of blinking sat-drones, sunny outside, many of the people hurrying through Queen’s Square held umbrellas aloft. Rob squinted at them through the glare; his skin felt prickly. He saw Nora through the window of the cafe opposite the old sandstone mint. He started to talk but she shushed him and gestured to an orange juice and BLT on the benchtop.
“Just eat then you can go back up.”
He smiled at her wearily and took a bite.
“Mm,” she said, patting his arm and looking out the window. “It’s getting weird out there. Did you see the text from the government?”
“No, I’ve had,” he swallowed, “notifications silenced.” They hardly noticed their voices were raised over the droning from outside. Rob took a gulp of orange juice and looked at his phone.
Sydney 6G
Friday, 6 June
13:10
Notification centre
Text message (AusGov): Emergency safety measure — UV levels expected to tempor …
“Jesus,” he said, locking his screen again. “Looks like they might have fucked it?”
“Apparently there was always a decent chance this would happen, not that they told us. Anyway, we’re supposed to stay inside for a few hours.” “Must be pretty bad; it’s the middle of winter.” He laughed. His voice sounded hollow and strange. “Still, I think my quota of time outside is already used up.”
“Speaking of, stay there, I’m getting you a coffee.”
He watched her as she went back up to the counter. He still had twenty minutes before his next meeting. The weight of it pressed down on his chest. Just say it, just say it, just say it. There’s never a right time. Just say it, just say it. Just …
She was smiling when she came back. “Just been bonding with Ralph. Apparently we’ve both been feeling light-headed all day.”
One thing at a time. If he just met this deadline. Even if she got the spot, there were months before she would need to get on a flight. There was time to make things right.
“You too?” he said. “I’ve been feeling really weird all morning.”
“Kind of like you can’t breathe?”
“Yeah. Hey, better get back up there. Got the muppet brigade at one-thirty.”
“God, okay. Are you gonna make it?”
“We have to. It’ll be my last day as a barrister if we don’t.”
They walked back out to Queen’s Square, joining the rush of people scurrying through the thin afternoon shadows.
“Jesus, Nora, your arm,” he said, holding her hand. Red welts were rising on the skin above her wrist. “You’re burnt.”
“But I haven’t even been …” She was interrupted by gasps from all around them. Everyone stood still, looking at the sky. Rob and Nora looked up.
To the west, a green haze spread wider and wider from the horizon, turning yellow, then flaming red, then melting back into blue near the sun. It was as if someone had thrown a bucket of boiling hot sand across the sky.
They stared at each other.
“What the fuck?” said Rob. He pulled out his phone.
Sydney 6G
Friday, 6 June
13:23
Notification centre
Email (Sarine F): Updated draft attached for discussion…
“Oh fuck, I’ve really gotta go,” he said. “I don’t know what the fuck this is, but please just stay inside. I’m worried about you.”
“Jesus, Rob, look at that.”
The green in the sky was spreading quickly, plundering into the blue.
“Noz!”
“Okay, alright, go.” She kissed him on the cheek. “You’ve got this. I’ll see you tonight.”
Rob dashed down Phillip Street and into the elevator of the solicitors’ building. A wind had picked up and the air was hazy, as if a very fine sprinkler had been left running. The meeting, predictably, was useless. Finally, John cut it short, raising his voice beyond what was polite, and summoning Rob and Sarine to leave.
Back in his room, Rob set an alarm for 2:55. His phone was flashing red.
Sydney 6G
Friday, 6 June
14:29
Notification centre
EMERGENCY ALERT: SEVERE STORMS EXPECTED; STAY INSID …
He shook his head and put the phone away, opening up his computer. Then he changed his mind and texted Nora.
See the government message?
Please stay safe. Love you.
One thing at a time, that’s all he could do. One thing, then the next. He opened the latest draft and raced through his section. He waited by the printer, fists to his eyes, grimacing. He pulled out his phone.
Sydney 6G
Friday, 6 June
14:59
Notification centre
Text message (Nora):
I love you too. Our building has been
locked down — I’m in the fir …
Documents done, phone away, Rob raced upstairs. John and Sarine were already there. Paul was wheezing as he held out his hand. “Got it?”
“Yes — this is the final draft.”
Paul put on his glasses and began reading. Other than the occasional riffling of pages, all was quiet in the big room.
Then Sarine gasped. “Oh my God.” She pointed out the window. Rob didn’t want to look, but felt his gaze pulled up beyond the glass.
Plumes of gas rose from the harbour, as if it were boiling. Beyond the Heads, the ocean was almost invisible behind a lowering mist, spiralling in a huge helix, circling the city like a plague of locusts.
“Jesus,” said Rob. “Maybe we should …”
“No!” said Paul. He was still reading at his desk. “We need to finish.”
“Paul, are you seeing this?” barked John, who was rooted to his position by the window. It was growing prematurely dark.
Paul looked up. He still had a full head of mostly grey hair. He’d missed a spot shaving above his lip. There was a deafening peal of thunder. The building shook, then seemed to sway.
“Now listen, all of you. If I’ve learnt one thing from this station of the cross that is life at the Bar, it’s that you just can’t let things like this distract you. So, there’s a storm, so Alan Marque has finally achieved his death wish and we’re all about to be plugged into the fucking matrix. I don’t care. You can only control what you can control. Now, are we going to get these subs done or not?”
They all nodded. As he sat back down on the couch and opened his laptop, Rob checked his phone.
SOS only
Friday, 6 June
16:01
“Looks like phones might be down,” he said, putting it back in his pocket.
“WiFi is still working,” said Sarine, who kept glancing between the window and Paul.
“Turn to page three,” said Paul. Sarine nodded at Rob and opened the draft. Rob came up and stood over her shoulder. “Change the first paragraph to this: In ClaudCo’s respectful submission, the ability of directors to manage the corporate enterprise without undue interference from authority is a key tenet, which the Court ought not circumscribe.”
If he just got through today, if he just got this done, he would devote the rest of his life to her. He couldn’t drop the ball now. He was so close, so …
“Rob! You okay?” Sarine was patting his shoulder.
“Here, mate, drink this.” John passed him a glass.
He had to use two hands to hold it to his lips. He shuddered. “What happened?”
“You just collapsed. You feeling alright?”
They were all taking rapid, shallow breaths. The world felt oozy. Another deep boom, then thick sheets of rain began to fall. Paul was still reading at his desk.
“Yeah, I’m fine, I just. How long have we got?” He checked his phone.
SOS only
Friday, 6 June
16:17
“We’re fine,” said Paul. “Here.” He handed Sarine a marked-up copy of the document. “Put these in, then print a clean copy.”
For a while all they could hear was the sound of Sarine typing, the pounding rain and the intermittent boom of thunder. Rob held his head in his hands. Clouds squeezed against the window of the corner office.
“John,” said Rob quietly, “can you please help me get on the wi-fi? I need to text my fiancée.”
“Of course,” said John in a low voice and entered the password. Sarine finished typing and strode out of the room to the printer. Paul was gazing at the grey glass. Rob checked his phone.
Sydney — no signal
Friday, 6 June
16:31
Notification centre
Text message (Nora):
Robbie? Please text me. It’s getting cold
in here, can y …
Sarine raced back into the room and put the printed version in front of Paul. He began to read. The others hovered behind him. A loud crash resounded from outside. They ignored it. At last, Paul looked up and said, “It’s good. Get it filed.” He signed, held it out to John, who also signed, then handed it to Sarine.
Rob and Sarine ran out of the room, leaving Paul and John side by side at the window. Outside, the deafening wail of an alarm punched through the corridor. The elevator door wouldn’t open, so they took the fire exit down the six floors to Rob’s office. As soon as they opened the fire-escape door, a rush of freezing air engulfed them.
“Can you scan it?” Sarine shouted as the fire alarm whined into life overhead.
Panting, Rob nodded and ran to the scanner. Another crash came from outside. He thought he saw a flash of red through the clouds. He clicked the button then checked his phone.
Sydney – no signal
Friday, 6 June
16:51
Notification centre
EMERGENCY ALERT: PM TO ADDR …
Abruptly the fire alarm cut out. Everything went dark.
Rob grabbed the submission and clutched the way back to his room. Sarine’s silhouette was by the computer. “Wi-fi’s gone.”
“Is there no …?”
“No. It’s dead.”
“How are we going to file?”
She stared at him, then shrugged.
He looked at his phone.
SOS only
Friday, 6 June
17:01
Rob heard Sarine leave.
Rob stood, feeling the building sway. Another spine-jolting crash felled him to the floor. His phone flew from his hand and the screen shattered.
Now, he realised. It had to be now. It was painful to stand up. He swayed over to the window but the haze outside was impenetrable. He picked up his office phone but there was no sound — not even the flatline metallic ring.
He tore a page from a notepad on his desk and, hesitating, wrote something down in the dark. He felt something warm, the first bit of warmth he’d felt since that night, begin to build inside him. She was only a few buildings away. Another crash and, like a drunk man, he spooled out of the office and down the corridor.
Down the freezing lift well Rob stumbled, grazing, pressing himself on. Through the emergency exit door; the outside air was bitterly cold. A river ran where the street had been, but it was moving slowly, as if made of tar. The wind scored and whipped his face. Fire burned all along the row of buildings opposite. He saw a hole the size of a train carriage on the second level, smoke pouring down. One by one, the lights in the sky were going out. Every few seconds a mighty blast reverberated, now closer, now further away. Still, he ran along the high part of the pavement, down Phillip Street towards Nora’s building, shouting her name, clasping the note he’d written.
He stumbled again. He couldn’t breathe. The warmth within him turned cold.
Didn’t it matter that he thought himself a good man? Didn’t it matter that he’d always had good intentions?
As he tried to get up, the note flew out of his hand and up into the darkening sky.
Anyway, at best it was all a bandaid over a rotting wound.
The temperature plummeted. Colours lit up the Earth and sky. The rest was silence.
It was never fully dark in their room, but this morning it was almost bright. Rob checked his phone.
Sydney 6G
Friday, 6 June
4:32
Notification centre
Email: 10+
He inched out of bed and put on some clothes. As he passed Nora’s side of the bed, she held out a hand and brushed the hairs of his leg.
“I wasn’t, umm. You know, it’s the, ah.”
“It’s okay, Nozzle,” Rob whispered. He put his hand on her side, just below the shoulder.
“Mm,” she said, burying her head deeper in the pillow.
Rob sat for a few more moments. The light from outside, faintly blue, waved with the curtains over Nora’s body. Looking down at her beautiful, scrunched-up face, he cursed himself. Again. He sniffed himself and smelt that scent. Again. He’d scrubbed and scrubbed but it was no good.
He made a coffee and went into the study. The light flooded through the window, sticking to the walls. As his computer powered up, Rob gazed outside.
In the sky above the rows of terraces, above the high-rise apartments of Potts Point and the city skyscrapers, a string of blue lights stretched from one end of the horizon to the other in a long arc.
Rob’s calendar app made a little trumpet noise. He pulled his gaze from the window down to the computer screen.
DEADLINE — ClaudCo subs (guillotine order)
The judge had a made a guillotine order last Friday, meaning that if their side’s written submission wasn’t filed and served by 5 pm today, the case was effectively over. The coffee scalded his tongue. He longed to crawl back into bed; Nora was so warm in the mornings. He had to tell her today. He’d spent weeks putting it off.
He opened his web browser. A headline blazed across the full length of the screen on his home page, an international news provider.
SAT-DRONES TAKE UP POSITION IN GLOBAL CLIMATE INITIATIVE
New York City, 2:30 EST. We are all stargazers today, as the sat-drones of the USA/Polonius Inc.-led Atmospheric Pruning Project (APP) come into alignment. The APP, in a global first, sees an international coalition of governments and private sector leaders pool resources and expertise to present a united front against the catastrophic effects of climate change.
In an exclusive interview Mr Marque, the CEO of Polonius Inc., explained to us what he described as the relatively simple science behind the breathtakingly expensive and complex APP. “The atmosphere is a blanket for the Earth, made up of multiple layers,” Mr Marque said. “Imagine yourself sleeping in bed. If you get too hot, what do you do? You don’t try to get rid of the hot air already under the covers. You just take off a sheet. That’s the key idea behind atmospheric pruning. You peel off a layer. In this case, a very thin slice from the troposphere. There is, of course, a small risk that … ”
Rob switched tabs. He skimmed multiple emails from the solicitors, and read one email from Paul, the lead silk, to which only the barristers were copied. That email attached the latest draft of the 100-page submission. Rob winced as he scrolled through page after page of marked-up passages, peppered with questions in vivid yellow highlight.
He did what he could to divvy up parts to various solicitors, but it was clear he and Sarine, the other junior, would need to tackle most of the work themselves. After firing off a series of emails, he shaved and showered. As the sun rose, a high-pitched noise began reverberating throughout the apartment.
In the bedroom, Nora was sitting up, holding a hand to her ear. “What is that?”
Rob sat down next to her, dripping water onto the bed. “It’s just that pruning thing. It’s starting today.”
“Oh yeah. It’s so loud,” she said, frowning.
Rob summoned his courage. “Hey,” he said, touching her ankle.
She suddenly sat up straight. “Oh shit, I just remembered I’ve got that interview this morning.” She jumped out of bed. “I’d better run. Are we having dinner tonight?”
“Yes,” he said. “If I survive the day.”
Rob’s feet dragged on the steps at the entrance to his building on Phillip Street. In the elevator everyone was staring down at their phones. Inside, the whine of the sat-drones was fainter, waxing and waning like a roving mosquito.
Maybe there was no point in saying anything. If he just loved her and was kind to her for the rest of his days, wasn’t that enough? The office phone was ringing. He opened his eyes.
“Hello, it’s Robert.”
“Rob, Paul Sterling for you.”
There was some shuffling.
“Hi Paul,” said Rob. “I’m getting through it, but honestly, I think it’s going to be a s—”
“Sorry mate, hold on a sec.” There was the muffled sound of another voice. “Rob? You’d better just come up here.”
Rob texted Sarine, grabbed his laptop and hurried back to the elevator. Paul and John, the other senior counsel, were already there. Paul was at his desk, an enormous chunk of Tasmanian redwood with an inlaid leather top. John, who’d only recently taken silk, was lounging on one of the couches.
“Can someone please tell me what’s going on with these subs?” said Paul, frowning. Sarine came in and sat on the couch next to Rob. Paul started pacing.
“Sarine and I have reviewed your changes from this morning,” said Rob. “We’ve sent the citations and other minor stuff to the solicitors.”
“Check everything. Don’t trust anything they do.”
“Of course, we’ll — ”
“It’s actually pretty spectacular.” Paul had paused by the window, looking up at the line of lights. From his corner office the whole harbour was laid out below. “Fuck knows what they’re doing but it does look good.” The sat-drones twinkled as, one by one, they flew up then plunged down, like someone was running waves up and down a skipping rope in the sky. The colour of each oscillated between a crystal blue and a sharp, metallic crimson. Rob felt a bit dizzy. He and Sarine looked at each other.
John walked over to Paul at the window. “What’s going on with your aircon up here, Paul?” said John. “I feel like I’m about to faint.”
“I don’t know,” Paul replied distractedly. “Can we please just focus. I need a final draft ready to settle by three at the absolute latest. And I need all of you here taking me through it.”
They took the cue and shuffled out of the massive room. Rob felt light-headed in the elevator. Back on his floor he took a few painkillers and started working. His phone buzzed incessantly.
Sydney 6G
Friday, 6 June
11:43
Notification centre
News alert: PM urges calm after atmospheric pressure dr… (10+)
Rob cleared notifications and switched on do not disturb. When his office phone rang it was as if he’d been pulled out of a deep hole.
“Rob?”
“Hi, Noz.”
“Meet me at Ralph’s in five. I’m getting you a sandwich.”
“I really can’t …”
“Rob.”
“Okay.”
Although it was, besides the row of blinking sat-drones, sunny outside, many of the people hurrying through Queens Square held umbrellas aloft. Rob gazed at them in the glare; his skin felt prickly. He saw Nora through the window of the cafe opposite the old sandstone mint. He started to talk but she shushed him and gestured to an orange juice and BLT on the benchtop.
“Just eat then you can go back up.”
He smiled at her wearily and took a bite.
“Mm,” she said, patting his arm and looking out the window. “It’s getting weird out there. Did you see the text from the government?”
“No, I’ve had,” he swallowed, “notifications silenced.” They hardly noticed their voices were raised over the droning from outside. Rob took a gulp of orange juice and looked at his phone.
Sydney 6G
Friday, 6 June
13:10
Notification centre
Text message (AusGov): Emergency safety measure — UV levels expected to tempor …
“Jesus,” he said, locking his screen again. “Looks like they might have fucked it?”
“Apparently there was always a decent chance this would happen, not that they told us. Anyway, we’re supposed to stay inside for a few hours.” “Must be pretty bad; it’s the middle of winter.” He laughed. His voice sounded hollow and strange. “Still, I think my quota of time outside is already used up.”
“Speaking of, stay there, I’m getting you a coffee.”
He watched her as she went back up to the counter. He still had twenty minutes before his next meeting. The weight of it pressed down on his chest. Just say it, just say it, just say it. There’s never a right time. Just say it, just say it. Just …
She was smiling when she came back. “Just been bonding with Ralph. Apparently we’ve both been feeling light-headed all day.”
One thing at a time. If he just met this deadline. Even if she got the spot, there were months before she would need to get on a flight. There was time to make things right.
“You too?” he said. “I’ve been feeling really weird all morning.”
“Kind of like you can’t breathe?”
“Yeah. Hey, better get back up there. Got the muppet brigade at one-thirty.”
“God, okay. Are you gonna make it?”
“We have to. It’ll be my last day as a barrister if we don’t.”
They walked back out to Queens Square, joining the rush of people scurrying through the thin afternoon shadows.
“Jesus, Nora, your arm,” he said, holding her hand. Red welts were rising on the skin above her wrist. “I thought you said you hadn’t been in the sun?”
“I haven’t, I …” She was interrupted by gasps from all around them. Everyone stood still, looking at the sky. Rob and Nora looked up.
To the west, a green haze spread wider and wider from the horizon, turning yellow, then flaming red, then melting back into blue near the sun. It was as if someone had thrown a bucket of boiling hot sand across the sky.
They stared at each other.
“What the fuck?” said Rob. He pulled out his phone.
Sydney 6G
Friday, 6 June
13:23
Notification centre
Email (Sarine F): Updated draft attached for discussion…
“Oh fuck, I’ve really gotta go,” he said. “I don’t know what the fuck this is, but please just stay inside. I’m worried about you.”
“Jesus, Rob, look at that.”
The green in the sky was spreading quickly, plundering into the blue.
“Noz!”
“Okay, alright, go.” She kissed him on the cheek. “You’ve got this. I’ll see you tonight.”
Rob dashed down Phillip Street and into the elevator of the solicitors’ building. A wind had picked up and the air was hazy, as if a very fine sprinkler had been left on in the garden. The meeting, predictably, was useless. Finally, John cut it short, raising his voice beyond what was polite, and summoning Rob and Sarine to leave.
Back in his room, Rob set an alarm for 2:55. His phone was flashing red.
Sydney 6G
Friday, 6 June
14:29
Notification centre
EMERGENCY ALERT: SEVERE STORMS EXPECTED; STAY INSID …
He shook his head and put the phone away, opening up his computer. Then he changed his mind and texted Nora.
See the government message? Please stay safe. Love you.
One thing at a time, that’s all he could do. One thing, then the next. He opened the latest draft and raced through his section. He waited by the printer, fists to his eyes, grimacing. He pulled out his phone.
Sydney 6G
Friday, 6 June
14:59
Notification centre
Text message (Nora):
I love you too. Our building has been
locked down — I’m in the fir …
Documents done, phone away, Rob raced upstairs. John and Sarine were already there. Paul was wheezing as he held out his hand. “Got it?”
“Yes — this is the final draft.”
Paul put on his glasses and began reading. Other than the occasional riffling of pages, all was quiet in the big room.
Then Sarine gasped. “Oh my God.” She pointed out the window. Rob didn’t want to look, but felt his gaze pulled up beyond the glass.
Plumes of gas rose from the harbour, as if it were boiling. Beyond the Heads, the ocean was almost invisible behind a lowering mist, spiralling in a huge helix, circling the city like a plague of locusts.
“Jesus,” said Rob. “Maybe we should …”
“No!” said Paul. He was still reading at his desk. “We need to finish this.”
“Paul, are you seeing this?” barked John, who was rooted to his position by the window. It was growing prematurely dark.
Paul looked up. He still had a full head of mostly grey hair. He’d missed a spot shaving above his lip. There was a deafening peal of thunder. The building shook, then seemed to sway.
“Now listen, all of you. If I’ve learnt one thing from this station of the cross that is life at the Bar, it’s that you just can’t let things like this distract you. So, there’s a storm, so Alan Marque has finally achieved his death wish and we’re all about to be plugged into the fucking matrix. I don’t care. You can only control what you can control. Now, are we going to get these subs done or not?”
They all nodded. As he sat back down on the couch and opened his laptop, Rob checked his phone.
SOS only
Friday, 6 June
16:01
“Looks like phones might be down,” he said, putting it back in his pocket.
“WiFi is still working,” said Sarine, who kept glancing between the window and Paul.
“Turn to page three,” said Paul. Sarine nodded at Rob and opened the draft. Rob came up and stood over her shoulder. “Change the first paragraph to this: In ClaudCo’s respectful submission, the ability of directors to manage the corporate enterprise without undue interference from authority, are key tenets, which the Court ought not circumscribe.”
If he just got through today, if he just got this done, he would devote the rest of his life to her. He couldn’t drop the ball now. He was so close, so …
“Rob! You okay?” Sarine was patting his shoulder.
“Here, mate, drink this.” John passed him a glass.
He had to use two hands to hold it to his lips. He shuddered. “What happened?”
“You just collapsed. You feeling alright?”
They were all taking rapid, shallow breaths. The world felt oozy. Another deep boom, then thick sheets of rain began to fall. Paul was still reading at his desk.
“Yeah, I’m fine, I just. How long have we got?” He checked his phone.
SOS only
Friday, 6 June
16:17
“We’re fine,” said Paul. “Here.” He handed Sarine a marked-up copy of the document. “Put these in, then print a clean copy.”
For a while all they could hear was the sound of Sarine typing, the pounding rain and the intermittent boom of thunder. Rob held his head in his hands. Clouds squeezed against the window of the corner office.
“John,” said Rob quietly, “can you please help me get on the wi-fi? I need to text my fiancée.”
“Of course,” said John in a low voice and entered the password. Sarine finished typing and strode out of the room to the printer. Paul was gazing at the grey glass. Rob checked his phone.
Sydney — no signal
Friday, 6 June
16:31
Notification centre
Text message (Nora):
Robbie? Please text me. It’s getting cold
in here, can y …
Sarine raced back into the room and put the printed version in front of Paul. He began to read. The others hovered behind him. A loud crash resounded from outside. They ignored it. At last, Paul looked up and said, “It’s good. Get it filed.” He signed, held it out to John, who also signed, then handed it to Sarine.
Rob and Sarine ran out of the room, leaving Paul and John side by side at the window. Outside, the deafening wail of an alarm punched through the corridor. The elevator door wouldn’t open, so they took the fire exit down the six floors to Rob’s office. As soon as they opened the fire-escape door, a rush of freezing air engulfed them.
“Can you scan it?” Sarine shouted as the fire alarm whined into life overhead.
Panting, Rob nodded and ran to the scanner. Another crash came from outside. He thought he saw a flash of red through the clouds. He clicked the button then checked his phone.
Sydney – no signal
Friday, 6 June
16:51
Notification centre
EMERGENCY ALERT: PM TO ADDR …
Abruptly the fire alarm cut out. Everything went dark.
Rob grabbed the submission and clutched the way back to his room. Sarine’s silhouette was by the computer. “Wi-fi’s gone.”
“Is there no …?”
“No. It’s dead.”
“How are we going to file?”
She stared at him, then shrugged.
He looked at his phone.
SOS only
Friday, 6 June
17:01
Rob heard Sarine leave.
Rob stood, feeling the building sway. Another spine-jolting crash felled him to the floor. His phone flew from his hand and the screen shattered.
Now, he realised. It had to be now. It was painful to stand up. He swayed over to the window but the haze outside was impenetrable. He picked up his office phone but there was no sound — not even the flatline metallic ring.
He tore a page from a notepad on his desk and, hesitating, wrote something down in the dark. He felt something warm, the first bit of warmth he’d felt since that night, begin to build inside him. She was only a few buildings away. Another crash and, like a drunk man, he spooled out of the office and down the corridor.
Down the freezing lift well Rob stumbled, grazing, pressing himself on. Through the emergency exit door; the outside air was bitterly cold. A river ran where the street had been, but it was moving slowly, as if made of tar. The wind scored and whipped his face. Fire burned all along the row of buildings opposite. He saw a hole the size of a train carriage on the second level, smoke pouring down. One by one, the lights in the sky were going out. Every few seconds a mighty crash reverberated, now closer, now further away. Still, he ran along the high part of the pavement, down Phillip Street towards Nora’s building, shouting her name, clasping the note he’d written.
He stumbled again. He couldn’t breathe. The warmth within him turned cold.
Didn’t it matter that he thought himself a good man? Didn’t it matter that he’d always had good intentions?
As he tried to get up, the note flew out of his hand and up into the darkening sky.
Anyway, at best it was all a bandaid over a rotting wound.
The temperature plummeted. Colours lit up the Earth and sky. The rest was silence.
