Hugh Howey: Shift

The view pulled back further until other floors appeared above and below, empty floors he would eventually fill with storerooms, hallways, more apartments. Entire other floors and mechanical spaces had been left empty for Anna—

‘Donny?’

His door opened — the knock came after. Donald’s arm jerked so hard his mouse went skidding off the pad and across his desk. He sat up straight, peered over his monitors and saw Mick Webb grinning at him from the doorway. Mick had his jacket tucked under one arm, tie hanging loose, a peppery stubble on his dark skin. He laughed at Donald’s harried expression and sauntered across the room. Donald fumbled for the mouse and quickly minimised the AutoCAD window.

‘Shit, man, you haven’t taken up day-trading, have you?’

‘Day-trading?’ Donald leaned back in his chair.

‘Yeah. What’s with the new set-up?’ Mick walked around behind the desk and rested a hand on the back of Donald’s chair. An abandoned game of Freecell sat embarrassingly on the smaller of the two screens.

‘Oh, the extra monitor.’ Donald minimised the card game and turned in his seat. ‘I like having a handful of programs up at the same time.’

‘I can see that.’ Mick gestured at the empty monitors, the wallpaper of cherry blossoms framing the Jefferson Memorial.

Donald laughed and rubbed his face. He could feel his own stubble, had forgotten to eat dinner. The project had only begun a week ago and he was already a wreck.

‘I’m heading out for a drink,’ Mick told him. ‘You wanna come?’

‘Sorry. I’ve got a little more to do here.’

Mick clasped his shoulder and squeezed until it hurt. ‘I hate to break it to you, man, but you’re gonna have to start over. You bury an ace like that, there’s no coming back. C’mon, let’s get a drink.’

‘Seriously, I can’t.’ Donald twisted out from his friend’s grasp and turned to face him. ‘I’m working on those plans for Atlanta. I’m not supposed to let anyone see them. It’s top secret.’

For emphasis, he reached out and closed the folder on his desk. The Senator had told him there would be a division of labour and that the walls of that divide needed to be a mile high.

‘Ohhh. Top secret .’ Mick waggled both hands in the air. ‘I’m working on the same project, asshole.’ He waved at the monitor. ‘And you’re doing the plans? What gives? My GPA was higher than yours.’ He leaned over the desk and stared at the taskbar. ‘AutoCAD? Cool. C’mon, let’s see it.’

‘Yeah, right.’

‘Come the fuck on. Don’t be a child about this.’

Donald laughed. ‘Look, even the people on my team aren’t going to see the entire plan. And neither will I.’

‘That’s ridiculous.’

‘No, it’s how government shit like this gets done. You don’t see me prying into your part in all this.’

Mick waved a hand dismissively. ‘Whatever. Grab your coat. Let’s go.’

‘Fine, sure.’ Donald patted his cheeks with his palms, trying to wake up. ‘I’ll work better in the morning.’

‘Working on a Saturday. Thurman must love you.’

‘Let’s hope so. Just give me a couple of minutes to shut this down.’

Mick laughed. ‘Go ahead. I’m not looking.’ He walked over to the door while Donald finished up.

When Donald stood to go, his desk phone rang. His secretary wasn’t there, so it was someone with his direct line. Donald reached for it and held up a finger to Mick.

‘Helen—’

Someone cleared their throat on the other end. A deep and rough voice apologised: ‘Sorry, no.’

‘Oh.’ Donald glanced up at Mick, who was tapping his watch. ‘Hello, sir.’

‘You boys going out?’ Senator Thurman asked.

Donald turned to the window. ‘Excuse me?’

‘You and Mick. It’s a Friday night. Are you hitting the town?’

‘Uh, just the one drink, sir.’

What Donald wanted to know was how the hell the Senator knew Mick was there.

‘Good. Tell Mick I need to see him first thing Monday morning. My office. You too. We need to discuss your first trip down to the job site.’

‘Oh. Okay.’

Donald waited, wondering if that was all.

‘You boys will be working closely on this moving forward.’

‘Good. Of course.’

‘As we discussed last week, there won’t be any need to share details about what you’re working on with other project members. The same goes for Mick.’

‘Yes, sir. Absolutely. I remember our talk.’

‘Excellent. You boys have a good time. Oh, and if Mick starts blabbing, you have my permission to kill him on the spot.’

There was a breath of silence, and then the hearty laugh of a man whose lungs sounded much younger than his years.

‘Ah.’ Donald watched Mick, who had taken out the plug from a decanter to take a sniff. ‘Okay, sir. I’ll be sure to do that.’

‘Great. See you Monday.’

The Senator hung up abruptly. As Donald returned the phone to its cradle and grabbed his coat, his new monitor remained quietly perched on his desk, watching him blankly.

TROY’S BEATEN-UP plastic meal tray slid down the line behind the spattered sheet of glass. Once his badge was scanned, a measured portion of canned string beans fell out of a tube and formed a steaming pile on his plate. A perfectly round cut of turkey plopped from the next tube, the ridges still visible from the tin. Mashed potatoes spat out at the end of the line like a spit wad from a child’s straw. Gravy followed with an unappetising squirt.

Behind the serving line stood a heavyset man in white overalls, hands clasped behind his back. He didn’t seem interested in the food. He concentrated on the workers as they lined up for their meals.

When Troy’s tray reached the end of the line, a younger man in pale green overalls and probably not out of his twenties arranged silverware and napkins by the plate. A glass of water was added from a tightly packed tray nearby. The final step was like a ritualised handshake, one Troy remembered from the months of orientation: a small plastic shot glass was handed over, a pill rattling in the bottom, a blurry blue shape barely visible through the translucent cup.

Troy shuffled into place.

‘Hello, sir.’

A young grin. Perfect teeth. Everyone called him sir, even those much older. It was discomfiting no matter who it came from.

The pill rattled in the plastic. Troy took the cup and tossed the pill down. He swallowed it dry, grabbed his tray and tried not to hold up the line. Searching for a seat, he caught the heavyset man watching him. Everyone in the facility seemed to think Troy was in charge, but he wasn’t fooled. He was just another person doing a job, following a script. He found an empty spot facing the screen. Unlike that first day, it no longer bothered him to see the scorched world outside. The view had grown oddly comforting. It created a dull ache in his chest, which was near to feeling something.

A mouthful of potatoes and gravy washed away the taste of the pill. Water was never up to the task, could never take away the bitterness. Eating methodically, he watched the sun set on the first week of his first shift. Twenty-five more weeks to go. It was a countable number phrased like that. It seemed shorter than half a year.

An older gentleman in blue overalls with thinning hair sat down diagonally across from him, polite enough not to block the view. Troy recognised the man, had spoken with him once by the recycling bin. When he looked up, Troy nodded in greeting.

The cafeteria hummed pleasantly as they both ate. A few hushed conversations rose and faded. Plastic, glass and metal beat out a rhythmless tune.