Chapter Five
Old Main College
Five Minutes before the Great Reset
Five minutes until the GRAPEVINE chat session, Dr. Timothy Maxwell thought, quickly stepping down the hallway towards his office. This was supposed to be a big one, with new information about The Awakening. More importantly, he was going to find out what his next steps were in dealing with this Stone Age fanatic college president he was stuck serving under. She was the last obstacle to him getting out of this backwater and into one of the capitals where he belonged. His brilliance was wasted here; GRAPEVINE needed him where the action was. But supposedly the ex–senator who served as president here at Old Main College still held some important role in opposing the mission of GRAPEVINE. And The Spaceship needed him to keep a close eye on her and make sure that her actions weren’t going to stop them.
Senator Julia Ruff posed problems to the allies of GRAPEVINE during her brief stint in Washington DC. And although she willingly resigned and returned here to lead Old Main, the leaders behind the GRAPEVINE project still suspected she might pose a problem in some way to the end goal of Continuity. So Maxwell had been placed here at the College on endowment in the Computer Science department. What appeared to be a public relations victory for little Old Main College provided cover for a covert spying operation.
Now Maxwell just had to last another few months, and he was promised a research post to continue his work on deep-space mining for rare earth materials. No more idiot bourgeois kids pretending they were at college to learn instead of to master drunken debauchery. He could finally get to the city, where there was a lot more going on for a man of his tastes. Small towns weren’t particularly inviting to men like him; he smiled slightly at the thought of all those new coeds to pick from.
Approaching his cracker box office, Maxwell noticed the hallway lights beginning to flicker intermittently. The flickering became more intense, and then, just like that, nothing. He reached around the doorway into the office and flicked the switch to turn on the overhead LED. Still nothing. He flipped again, and again, and again. Stupid old relics! Imagine this dump calling itself an institute of higher learning!
Maxwell swiped the screen of his new Wristband to call facilities; they would get a piece of his mind. As he pressed the talk button, though, there was no response. He knew it was charged, but the screen remained blank. It was dark as night in the office, with just the faint glow from the emergency exit to keep it from being completely devoid of light.
I’m going to be late for the meeting. What will happen to my post? I have to get out of here!
The room was getting stuffy; the whir of the circulation system was gone with no fresh air being circulated. Maxwell thought of a solution: he would go home to that sorry excuse of an apartment he rented a few blocks from here. He seldom even stopped there, just once every few days for a change of clothes and a shower. Otherwise, he spent all of his time here. The Wi–Fi at his apartment was in a sorry state, but he had no choice, he had to get onto that chat session.
He moved as quickly as his overweight frame would allow. Shuffling across the dark tile toward the exit door, he fumbled for his swipe badge. Maxwell led the faculty senate in pushing that all the doors be secured with coded identification. He convinced them the extra measures provided a safe zone against the rampant school shootings replayed constantly on NewsWatch. In reality, Maxwell wanted to make sure that no one was snooping through his office. His work for GRAPEVINE was too important to be discovered or interfered with. So he had insisted that only a select group be issued badges for access to this floor.
He located the security screen and flashed his badge in front. Nothing.
Again. Nothing. Again. Nothing!
Panic gripped him as he began to scream for help. More panic as he realized the time. Two a.m. and there would be no one around in the entire building. Even the cleaning and maintenance crews were instructed to stay away from this area overnight, Maxwell had insisted on that also. Almost every night found him working on something (or someone) up here and he didn’t want to be interrupted.
What was he going to miss on the chat? Would he be kicked out if they thought he had been compromised? What would happen to his Profile?
He was sobbing as he slid down the wall until his plump behind finally hit the cool tile. Glancing at the door that had become his prison, he wondered if he was going to die. He was trapped, with no food, no water, and missing the most important meeting of his life. Hyperventilating and panic-stricken, Maxwell curled into a ball on the floor and passed out just below the door’s emergency manual release switch.