Chapter 19 Part 2

As she continued her walk, she felt better that whatever yesterday was, it was an isolated incident that probably meant she needed vacation time. Maybe if she took a trip to the beach she would feel better? It would likely need to be the actual beach as the holonospheric one always had a somewhat hollow feeling to it.  

Rei walked through the front door and made her way to her desk area as she was accustomed. She opened her interface to see if anything work wise needed her attention immediately.  

Everything looked pretty normal in her interface. She did not see any urgent messages or any system bulletins she needed to keep in mind.  
As she settled into her desk, she could hear conversation nearby. She only caught a few words of it at a time, because she wasn't really wanting to listen to it in the first place.  

"...Restricted..Section...Today.." Rei heard in alternating tones a conversation taking place between a man and a woman. Rei perked up her ears to try to hear more of the conversation, but couldn't pick anything else relevant out.  

If someone were monitoring Rei's stress response, they would have recorded a slight uptick when she heard the conversation. She went back to her work at her desk. She was somewhat relieved when a gentleman came to the desk looking for some information.  

"Oh, hey," said the man. "I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of the restricted section?"  

Rei looked at the man and turned a little pale. There was nothing special about him. He was of medium height, with blonde hair, and blue eyes.  

Rei hesitantly responded to the man. "Who, who sent you?"    

The man furrowed his brow. "Look, I just need to get to the restricted section to check out a book for research. I suppose my curiosity ultimately sent me. Now, could you point the way?"  

Rei pointed her finger in the appropriate direction. "It's just that way, but you should know that it is guarded and that people who are not supposed to be there will not have access."  

"Oh," said the man, "I'm not worried about that. I've got a feeling today is a special day!"  

Rei wanted to say more to the man, but the words caught in her throat. As soon as he had the information he needed from her, he turned and started along his way.  

On the graph of Rei's stress, this incident would have had the effect of causing an even larger crest of activity. Rei was becoming irritable. She wanted to return to the safety of her familiar world, but it seemed like everything was conspiring against her to remind her of something she would rather have filed under "very strange, but over."