Slow Day

Gid sat idly on the transistor, his pole hovering in the datastream.

“How’s the fishing?” Lati drawled.

“Pretty bad,” Gid said. “It’s been a quiet day today. Not sure what to make of it.”

“Mebbe it’s on sleep mode.”

“Still ought to have some traffic. We’re right off the main branch here.” Gid shook his head. “I hope it hasn’t been… unplugged.”

“Naw. We’d be dead’n’gone.”

“Internal motherboard battery. We could be isolated here and never find out.”

“Well, crap. That’s kinda a downer.”

“Yeah.” Gid sighed. They sat in silence, watching the gate for any sign of a spark.