Forty-SevenThe Xs on the calendar have annihilated all but one hundred days. Theresa stands on the captain’s deck and below her the control room is crowded with people. She has welcomed the press for this symbolic occasion, although the countdown toward Waterloo is anything but reassuring and the whole gathering has the strange flavor of a Day-of-the-Dead carnival. While the odds on the betting board fluctuate wildly, Hasschler and Matsushima huddle. The chief engineers are present, D’Abro too. Krieg-Zuber, whom Theresa has inexplicably allowed to be present, paces in greater agitation than the others. Today even Death has shown up, someone dressed in a skeleton costume, clasping a scythe. Very funny. The only persons missing are Nathaniel Machuzak and a Russian.
Watching from exile, Mach
