Flick. A hundred news channels flash by. Pick one, turn up the volume. Nothing interesting. Flick. Another hundred or so channels pass by. Pause, go back fifteen channels. Traffic jams in and out of town. Flick. Police radio network. Car pileup across two lanes, one fatality, three in critical states, Ambulances on the way. They were going to be late. Not their fault, but it messed with his schedule. He'd have to have his lunch late and it wouldn't taste as good.
Gary looked down at his breakfast. It was Wednesday, so it was bacon and eggs with wholemeal toast and a half glass of chilled apple juice. Wednesdays were good days, it was egg salad and green tea day. Flick, twist of the wrist to zoom in. Track Dr Rosen's car through the CCTV network.
"Gary, no news at the table please." Gary's mum calls from the kitchen.
Gary picks up his fork and carefully eats a mouthful of his eggs, looking thoughtful.
"Dr Rosen's going to be late. Car pileup out of town, somebody's gone." he says bluntly.
"Oh, sweetie, I wish you wouldn't say things like that."
"But they're gone. That's just how I deal with it."
"I know, just… not at the table, honey." she sighs, rubbing his shoulder.
Dr Rosen slid open the door of his car and Gary looked at him out of the corner of his eye. He flicks his hand, twists it, looks at the images in front of him that nobody else can see.
"You're late." he says, focusing on the image.
"I'm sorry the traffic has been hell this morning." Dr Rosen replies with a sigh.
Gary jumps into the back of the car and clicks his seatbelt into place.
"Good morning Rachel." he says as he idly flicks through the newspaper headlines for today, looking for something, anything perceived as odd.
Rachel smiles at him from the front seat.
"Morning, Gary." Her smile was off, not her usual bright self.
Gary hardly noticed though, he was too busy doing his morning trawl of the newspapers from around the world. Dr Rosen pulled away from the curb and looked at the mirror, right at Gary.
"Anything interesting this morning?" he asks kindly.
"Car pileup, that's why you were late." Gray replies.
"Hmm, I meant more of an Alpha kind."
"No, but you're about to get a call from the FBI."
Dr Rosen's phone began to ring as Gary mentioned it. Rosen put his phone in its cradle on the dashboard and put it on speaker.
"Dr Rosen speaking." he says curtly.
"Rosen, we have a situation you and your team are suited for." says the agent on the other end of the phone.
Gary closes his eyes tightly and shakes his head nervously. He taps Dr Rosen on the shoulder frantically.
"Dr Rosen, Dr Rosen, please don't talk on the phone while you're driving. It's dangerous." he says frowning.
"Yes, yes Gary. Can you call me back in approximately ten minutes-"
"Make it twenty, the traffic on this route is busy because of the pile-up." Gary says loudly at the phone. Dr Rosen just smiles at him in the mirror.
The office is already busy, Bill is sat in his office drinking his usual cup of tea and eating a bagel. He nods as Dr Rosen passes his office, already talking to the agent.
"Earl Grey this morning, Bill?" Rachel smiles as she walks past.
Bill smiles and lifts her cup to her. Gary hovers nearby for a second and then just shakes his head.
"Bill, the humming's back, you need to shoot it." he says, pouting.
Bill shakes his head, returning to his e-mails.
"No guns." he says loudly.
"You don't need to shout at me, I heard you. I can hear you, I can't connect with you socially, but I can hear you, Bill." Gary replies, wandering off.
Hicks is in his office, typically bouncing a pen off his wall and catching it as it flips through the air, returning to him like a boomerang.
"The humming is back." Gary sighs.
"You want me to get another baseball?" Hicks asks.
"Anything. I can't concentrate."
"Give me a minute." Hicks gets up and heads for the roof.
"The ugly grey one." Gary yells after him.
Hicks nods as he walks into the elevator as Nina walks out. They share a look and Nina speeds away from him to her office.
She smiles at Gary through the window of her office and he smiles back, waving sweetly at her before walking into his own office. He liked his space, it was simple and best of all nobody could come in without his say so.