Pitch And Moment
"Evenin', Mrs. Beauchamp."
"Good evening," I take my place in Leoch's AV control room, two chairs over from Rupert, "We about ready to go?"
"Aye. Jus' waitin' for the last few signals tae go online." He hands me a speaker headset, and a small com controller, "Ye evar done one o' these jaunts before?"
I settle the earbuds into my ears, and give the speaker a quick check, "Not quite like this. I've worked on farms where every crop regulator had a comm connection, and they could talk back and forth with each other too – but it's quite remarkable how little farm equipment has to say to each other, most days."
He smirks, "Ye don' say?"
"That's right," I deadpan, looking over my control boards and flipping a few switches, "And neither did they." I hold down a button and click my tongue a couple of times, "Test test, one two three, this is a test, can everyone hear me? Call signs please, this is Control, repeat, test is active, call signs please."
There is a small pop and a crackle over my headset, and a blip on one of the screens highlights itself in red.
"Red Lead here, loud an' clear Control."
Dougal's voice.
Another blip lights up.
"Red Two, all clear."
Angus's voice this time.
And another lighted blip, and another, and another, all with voices I know.
"Red Three, signal nominal."
"Red Four, signing in."
"Red Five, all clear."
"Red Six, signal's good."
"Blue Lead, loud an' clear."
The call signs go on for another minute or two, each one lighting up a blip on the screen, showing Rupert and I where each signal is coming from. The members of Dougal's campaign team are scattered all over Leoch, in three separate groups – Red, Blue and Green – to test the efficiency of the coms I've just finished upgrading. It took me longer than anticipated, and this test is much closer to Yule than either Dougal or I would like, but at least it did get done – and appears to be going well, so far.
"Green Three, here."
I can only barely recognize Jamie's voice. There's quite a bit more static than I was expecting. I'm unsure if it's the signal, or the weather – since it is December, and the Green team are all outside – but since the Red team wasn't static-y, and they are all inside buildings, and none of the Blue team had any interference, and they're in cars, I'm guessing it's probably the wind. I adjust a couple of the signal gains monitors, just to be sure.
"Green Ten, ready to go."
That's it. There are six people in Red, six in Blue, and ten in Green.
"This is Control," says Rupert, "We're go here." He gestures at me to go ahead.
I take a deep breath. Stage One of Jamie's and my war with Dougal went very well. Stage Two was also a success. And now. . .
"We are go for Stage Three. . ." I murmur, too low for Rupert or anyone else to hear. Then I raise my voice, "Engaging security upgrade Overlay One, in three, two, one. . ." I flip a small row of switches, and push two glowing buttons. The map screen full of coloured dots flickers once or twice, but nothing else changes.
"Security upgrade engaged," says Rupert, "You are go for Testing-Protocol One, repeat, you are go for Testing-Protocol One."
"Red Lead to Green Lead, what is the state of the roads out tae Cranesmuir? We expected ice-"
Dougal's voice is overridden by several sputtering and popping sounds from the other coms on the security network.
Well, it is Dougal's voice, clearly, the call sign and mannerisms of it make that clear, but he sounds like one of those chipmunks from old comedy cartoons, high and squeaky, and utterly ridiculous.
Rupert is practically collapsing into giggles, and gestures wildly at me.
Perfect. All according to plan. . .
"Thank you Red Lead," I say, unable to keep the amusement from my own voice, "That confirms this overlay's pitch shift glitch. We have a baseline. Switching to Overlay Two." I punch a couple of buttons, and wait a moment or two, "Overlay Two engaged. And thanks for taking one for the team, Red Lead. I know you were worried about changing the factory settings to get rid of that."
There is a long pause over the coms.
"Of course, Control," comes Dougal's restored voice, "You can never be too careful."
"No indeed," I check my readouts, "Overlay Two appears to be performing at optimal security efficiency, despite the settings change."
"Good tae know, Control. Are we go to continue Testing-Protocol One?"
"You are, Red Lead."
"Good. Red Lead to Green Lead, how are those road conditions?"
I lean back in my chair, and let Rupert deal with the rest of the com tests. They are completed without further incident.
When everyone has signed off, Rupert takes off his headset, and heaves a great sigh before turning to me, more serious than he habitually is.
"Sassenach, may I ask ye a question?"
I smile, "Shall I point out that that is a question, or just say yes?"
He looks a little abashed for a second, but sobers quickly, "There's a rumour goin' round, ye see – that ye'er part Scot. An' I wanted tae ask ye. Is it true?"
I pause a minute, wondering how such a rumour might have gotten around. . .
Oh well. It can only make things better for me. At the moment, at least.
"Yes. It is."
"Oh."
Rupert doesn't look surprised, but he does look much more thoughtful than I would have expected from him.
"Whi-"
"Clan Moriston."
"Oh."
"It never meant much to me growing up, but now. . . well. . ." I shrug, "I'm not sure what it means to me now, but it does mean something."
He nods, "Weel, we've all been there."
"Not as much of a shock that I ate haggis without question now, is it?"
"Nae, no' quite as much. . ." he turns a contemplative look to me, "D'ye plan on being at Oathtakin' on Christmas Day?"
"I don't know yet. I may look in, if there's room on the balcony. Jamie can't be there at all, of course, so I certainly won't stay."
He raises his eyebrows, "Only on the balcony then?"
"Well, yes. To enter on the ground floor would be to enter The Presence, would it not? And doing that means tacitly declaring an intention to take the Oath. And since Jamie's a Fraser, he can't do that, and I don't intend to either."
"Weel, ye'ev ceartainly done yer research."
I snort, "Hardly. That's just what was written on the first page of the first search result when I put in "Oathtaking". It's practically common knowledge."
"Jamie's real last name isnae common knowledge. His stated Clan allegiance isnae either."
"And is it very shocking that I know those things?"
"Shocking? That? Nae, it isnae," he puts out a hand, "Alba gu Bràth, Mrs. Beauchamp."
"Indeed," I take his hand and shake it, briefly, "And my friends call me Claire."
He grins, his expression going right back to mischievous so quickly it's as though the contemplative Rupert never existed, "I think I'll stick tae Sassenach, if ye dinnae mind."
"Oh, I do mind. But I doubt that'll matter much to you," I stand up, and lightly punch his shoulder, "Just so long as I can call you PertDragRacer, we're all good."
He chuckles, "We were in this verry room when ye hacked us that time. I've hardly dared get on Leoch's chat-app evar since."
"Healthy fear is good for the soul, Rupert," I say, breezily, and go out into the hall.
I pause, halfway down the passage.
Stage Three went surprisingly well. That little bonus conversation with Rupert was quite unexpected, and very encouraging.
Rumours that I'm part Scot, eh?
I turn down a different hallway, determined to go find Leticia, and talk to her about Stage Four.
