Harrison watches Huck, Quinn and Shireen winding down their session, impressed in spite of himself. It had been a symphony of a technical kind, data streams rising, falling in varying tempo, shifting swiftly from screen to screen until Harrison was dizzied from trying to keep up.
Huck was clearly the conductor, hands moving quick and sure over a dual keyboard, calling out and directing sub-routines to either Quinn or Shireen. Each woman took those calculations and made their own adjustments, sub-dividing the columns of data symbols, refining the initial calculations before directing them back to Huck.
Both Huck and Shireen started tossing questions at Quinn; even though he still didn't understand half of what they were saying, there was a fascination to the continual rise and fall of the symbols appearing, disappearing and reappearing on their screens while words like geosynchronous satellites and geostationary orbits and data retrievals were tossed around, leaving Harrison still amazed close to an hour later as Quinn and Shireen fed a few final calculations into their computers at Huck's direction. When they were done, Huck was ready and waiting and they all watched as he worked the last of their computations into his own digital schematics.
A few final cascades of symbols and numbers led Huck's screens to flash several times, then one after the other, each screen showed the same images, spinning globes on a map, each showing an image of the Americas, each one showing bright lines that concentrated on a separate part of the continent from the northern hemisphere to the middle and southern sections.
Huck sat back, his satisfaction showing in his eyes.
That was rare, Harrison noted to himself.
"Data sieves are operational." Huck announced.
Harrison thought that he'd understood that much, but he was still impressed. "That's why they pay you the big bucks."
"I don't know about y'all, but that's why they pay me the big bucks." Shireen said.
"It was a good script." Huck admitted. "Good bones."
"I thought it had potential." Shireen agreed. "I'm glad to see that thanks to you, I was right."
"I'm sure the Pentagon will be pleased." Huck said.
"I can cut you in on some of the praise - and the profits." Shireen said.
Something final closed in Huck's expression. "Thanks but no thanks. I'm good - I don't need the money. Or them."
"Oh?" Quinn lifted an eyebrow in Shireen's direction and grinned, deliberately lightening the mood before it could go dark. "If that's the case, tell me, Oh Obi-Wan Data-Datum - how do I get some of that big bucks energy?"
"Stay in your lane." Huck told her before Shireen could answer.
Harrison watched Quinn as she swiveled in her chair towards Shireen; Shireen raised her hands and shrugged her shoulders in a 'what can I do?' expression.
"The master has spoken." she told Quinn even as her eyes danced with amusement.
Before Quinn could say anything, Shireen glanced at Huck. "Maybe we should give her the chance to prove that she's worth a raise."
"We?" Huck asked. Despite that, he paused, seeming to take the time to consider Shireen's words. A long, long moment passed and then he tapped out a code on his laptop.
He swiveled his chair to look at Quinn. "Back us out of the geo-lateral conduits from the Americas' satellite array via the international space station sub-routes without being detected and maybe I'll bring the subject of the possibility of a raise up with Olivia."
"Seriously?" Quinn's eyes lit up. "Challenge accepted."
She bent her head to the task; Shireen took the opportunity to stand up and stretch before walking over to Harrison.
"So - mission accomplished?" Harrison read the satisfaction in her face.
Shireen glanced back at Quinn. "It seems that way." She turned her gaze back to him. "How about you?"
"My mission was to watch you all in action - and let's just say I've have a new-found appreciation for the digital realm - and all of its possibilities."
Her answering laugh was genuine and Harrison felt something inside him unexpectedly react - and then he found himself wondering why that suddenly seemed to matter - and that was just as unexpected as the first reaction was.
She was looking up at him, her dark brown eyes both amused and appraising. "Harrison, you have no idea of all the possibilities - it's why I love what I do."
"I can see that."
"Really?"
"Really."
"I wonder what else you see?"
As light as her tone was, Harrison caught the playful challenge in her voice and just maybe, a note of something slightly more serious beneath.
"Ah," he said. "All the possibilities…"
She laughed again and Harrison felt something in him lighten at the sound.
"Now I really do want to know."
There was a challenge in her eyes and Harrison paused before answering.
Don't read too much into it, he warned himself. Right now, Shireen is riding high at the end of a complicated and successful mission and he knew exactly how that felt, but on the other hand Harrison had also learned that Shireen had an overly serious streak to her and that meant that her thoughts were never far from the things that troubled her.
It made him even more determined to distance her from whatever troubling thoughts might be on her mind and at the same time distance himself from the kind of thoughts that were suddenly rising up unbidden from where he did not know.
Instead, he was determined to keep it all light, grinning at her. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
"Maybe I would."
"Just maybe?"
For a moment, it was as if it was just the two of them standing there, Harrison looking down into her eyes and Shireen gazing up into his.
That sounds like a challenge." She said.
It sounded like a lot of things. Challenge was one of them - possibilities - another. Before he could reply on either of them, Quinn interrupted with a triumphant shout. "Done!"
"Do you want to check her work?" Huck asked Shireen.
"I doubt that she needs it, but okay." Shireen gave Harrison a final sparkling but unreadable glance before she turned away to Quinn's station. Quinn slid out of her way and Shireen pulled her chair into place before the monitor. It only took her a few minutes to backtrack Quinn's work.
"It's done and done well." she told Huck. Shireen flashed Quinn a grin and the two women high-fived one another.
"Yes!" Quinn spun around on her chair, almost excited beyond words. "So what's next on the menu?"
"Wasn't tonight enough?" Huck said.
"Not even!" Quinn turned to Shireen. "Please tell me that I'm not the only one in here feeling lit? Let's go out and have a drink at least!"
"No, you're not the only one." Shireen knew what it was like to complete a new and complicated task successfully. To tell the truth, she was feeling more than a little jazzed herself, like there was energy dancing in her just beneath her skin. "I'm feeling up to a little somethin' somethin' myself…"
She looked at Harrison. "How about you?"
"I'm up for whatever you two are." Harrison said. "Challenge accepted."
"Come on, Huck." Quinn spun towards him. "Come out with us and have a drink."
Huck looked at her as though she'd grown a second head. "I don't do clubs. And Olivia wanted you to check on Annarosa, remember?"
"I haven't forgotten - she can come with us!" From the looks on Harrison and Shireen's faces, Quinn could tell that her enthusiasm was contagious. "And now you have no reason not to come - you can play bodyguard. Isn't that what Olivia would want?"
It was clear from his expression that Huck couldn't think of any reason to object.
Quinn turned back to Shireen. "Where should we go?"
"I don't know." Shireen shrugged. "What did you have in mind?"
They looked at one another for a minute, then they both turned to look at Harrison.
He laughed at their expectant expressions. "Yes, this does sound like something that is definitely in my lane."
"I don't know, Harrison - I am definitely not in the mood for a wine and cheese tasting vibe." Quinn declared.
Harrison did a quick review in his head and came up with a decision. "Aha. How about some P-Funk and some whiskey-tasting - how does that suit your vibe?"
"That sounds like something I could get with." Quinn said. "Color me impressed."
Harrison grinned at her before he looked at Shireen to see her reaction. "Well?"
"Hmmm…." Shireen said. "Color me intrigued."