“Alas,” I said, looking at Sanders. “I wasn’t there when it happened and didn’t own any stock when it did.”
Tipton chortled. “Bet you regret that now.”
“Well, I did get a fifteen percent discount at Duane Reade, so it wasn’t all bad.”
Tipton pointed at Sanders. “This one just became a billionaire from that. If I had his money, I’d be on the beach in Cancun with a big fruity drink in my hand. This one went back to work for his dad.”
“To be fair, I was on the board of Tensorial when I was CEO of füdmüd,” Sanders said. “I still kept a hand in. And now I’m here.”
“Yes, sweating our asses off,” Tipton said. “This place hasn’t gotten any cooler since the last time I was here.”
“No, I suppose not,” MacDonald said. She pointed toward me. “Jamie here will be in charge of your stay here, so anything you need, you can just—”
“Actually—and I apologize for cutting you off here, Dr. MacDonald,” Tipton said, and this is how I learned that Brynn MacDonald had a doctorate in something, “I’ve been tasked with getting a comprehensive overview of the KakKasuak Event—”
“The what?”
“It’s what we’re calling your exploding kaiju on the other side,” Tipton said. “I’ve been tasked with getting a comprehensive overview of the event as quickly as possible and returning as quickly as possible.” He nodded to Jones, who reached into the bag he was carrying and presented MacDonald with a clipboard with paper on it. “Here are the things we’ll need to be briefed on. We’ll need to have those briefings today.”
MacDonald took the clipboard and passed it to Tom without looking at it. “We have a full suite of briefings scheduled for tomorrow—”
Tipton shook his head. “Apologies again, Dr. MacDonald, but we have to be back on our way tomorrow morning.” He held a hand up, anticipating the objection she was about to make. “This isn’t me pushing you around and disrupting your schedules, I promise you. This is coming from my bosses, and also from their boss, and his boss. All the way up.”
“I don’t understand,” MacDonald said. “It’s not like we haven’t had kaiju go up before.”
“You have,” Sanders said. “But they’re not visible from Canadian airspace.”
I remember Niamh pointing out the flash that the Canadian drone was able to spot from the air, corresponding to where Bella was sitting on our side of the fence.
“It’s not a threat,” MacDonald said.
Tipton smiled. “You’re probably right about that. But it’s only a matter of time before it gets spotted by a commercial flight, or tourists—”
“There are tourists in Newfoundland? In October? In a pandemic?” I blurted out.
“—or by residents nearby,” Tipton said, looking at me, displeased. He was less thrilled about being interrupted than he was with interrupting. “And with no disrespect to your people here, Dr. MacDonald, not everyone back home is convinced that a pregnant kaiju squatting on the barrier between our two worlds is not a threat. I’m sure you are right, but I need information to convince others. And I need to have it today, because I’m expected at the White House early Monday morning.”
“The White House,” MacDonald said, skeptically.
“I’m reporting to the chief of staff. He’ll fill in his boss as necessary.”
MacDonald nodded. “Tom here will set up the meetings for today, then.”
“Thank you,” Tipton said. “And when can we see the site?”
MacDonald looked at me. “Martin’s ready,” I said. “We were going to take up one group as soon as possible. As soon as possible might as well be now.”
“Colonel Jones will stay behind to police our luggage and to coordinate with Mr. Stevens here,” Tipton said.
“All right.” MacDonald looked over to me again. “They’re all yours, Jamie. See you all in about ninety minutes.” She and Tom and Colonel Jones headed off, with Jones already pointing to things on the agenda.
I turned back to my charges. “You’ve been in helicopters before?”
“Of course,” Sanders said.
“And you?” I asked Tipton.
Tipton gave me a look. “I’m a major general in the United States Air Force. What do you think?”
* * *
Not too far off from the site, and while Satie and Tipton, who was in the copilot seat, were talking incessantly about helicopters, Sanders tapped me on the shoulder, took off his headset, and motioned at me to lean in. I took off my headset, was immediately reminded how much a pair of good aviation headphones blocked out helicopter engine noise, and leaned in as well.