The alarm blared. Bleary eyed, Lucas swatted at it, temporarily making it turn off. Today was a big day. It was the first day he was an official UEO employee instead of just a kid hitching a ride on a submarine. He was supposed to report to Katie Hitchcock at 7am promptly. He had set his alarm promptly, but then insomnia had hit, and he had spent the night talking to Wolfman on the InterNex. For the third time, his alarm sounded. "Okay okay okay," he muttered, throwing his legs out of bed. He stumbled a few steps then opened his closet door. He tossed his lucky Marlin's Jersey and a pair of jeans on his bed and got changed. Then he stumbled to the cafeteria and grabbed some scrambled eggs and toast. He ate it without noticing the flavor, then looked at his watch. 7:01. "Shit!" he swore, and then ran for the bridge. 7:05. He stopped, with his limbs splaying out a little, at Katie's seat. She pointedly looked at her watch.
"I'm sorry, Commander. I was so excited I couldn't sleep last night."
"Lucas, this is the military, no one gives a damn about your excuses. Don't let it happen again."
"Yes, commander, I'm sorry." He said again.
"Never mind. We seem to have a virus that is evading our virus scan software. We don't know what it's doing but we need it eliminated. It's causing popup ads on all of our consoles and if there were an emergency we could be delayed by stupid popup ads," she told him.
"No problem, I'll get right on it." Lucas "uh, where do I work?" he said, pausing temporarily.
"In your room, like you always have, Lucas," she gave him that smile that had won hearts at WestRidge farming community.