Taste the Book: SU-MA

"I've got it," Sara said, over Su-Ma's greeting. "Gabe's phone. But I can't hold onto it for long. I followed him to the coffee shop and it fell out of his pocket. He was pacing around, waiting for Haley, but she didn't show. He called her and she didn't answer, and he didn't watch what he was doing when he put it back in his pocket. Are you ready?"

"Uh -- Gabe -- the phone. Right." Su-Ma looked around for the instructions Sophie had written out yesterday. All she had to do was click on the screen where the program was ready to run and download from Arc's computer, over the Internet, into Sara's phone, and then into Gabe's phone, which she had plugged into hers. She didn't quite understand how Sophie and Joan had figured out a way to use the power cord socket on the phones to share information, but then, she wasn't the resident technical miracle worker. "Got it." Her hand felt oddly steady on the mouse. Two clicks and it was ready to go. "All plugged in?"

"What's up?" Jenni said, coming into the communication room. Su-Ma held up a finger, signaling for her to wait.

"Hooked up and ready," Sara responded.

"And... launching." Su-Ma turned from the monitor, breathing a sigh of relief. She had feared she would mess up. "Sara got her hands on Gabe's phone."

"Should I get Joan? I saw her taking breakfast to Sophie."

"Yeah, just so she can get right to work on whatever we find."

"Something going on?" Sara said, as Jenni left the room.

"Sophie had a scare last night. I'm not really sure on the details."

"Tell her I'm praying, and give her my love."

Su-Ma focused on the clock hanging on the wall over the monitors. She wished she hadn't indulged in that bit of silly whimsy and bought Taz. Right now he looked positively gleeful about the problems they were facing. She promised herself, as soon as she was allowed to get around on her own two feet again, she was going to climb up and take that stupid clock down off the wall. The second hand crept slowly around the face, the ticking growing louder, fighting with her heartbeat for dominance. The data scrolling across the screen seemed to slow down, so just a few characters appeared with every tick of the clock. Then it was two ticks. Then three.

"Danger, danger, Will Robinson," Sara muttered. "Sorry, but he's on his way back. Gotta disengage. Did we get anything good?"

"I don't know!"

"Signing off."