III
Nick felt completely useless. Though he'd intended to help Irena with the inventory, aside from unlocking the warehouses, he'd determined he was entirely superfluous.
Irena had brought along about twenty girls and a few guys who only greeted Nick as they passed him into the warehouses and vanished between the crammed shelves.
Irena had expertly distributed them all, and soon the guys were climbing the shelves, calling out their contents to the girls standing below, who noted down what was said. Nick was impressed.
"Seems to me you have experience in situations like this," he remarked to Irena, who had called something to the nearest girl, who nodded and vanished between the shelves. Only then did she turn to Nick.
"Inventories aren't new to me. To earn some money for the summer, I often used to do inventories at supermarkets."
"The experience shows, it's almost like you're running a little military mission," he joked.
"If we look at it that way, an inventory is a military mission. If people aren't organized, the whole job can take much longer than it should, and time is extremely important in an inventory."
Nick approached the nearest shelf. He'd never before taken an interest in the contents of boxes and packages, but now it was a different situation. He looked at the label on a large carton indicating that it contained tomato sauce. Now if only they'd find pasta somewhere.
"When will you know how much food we have?" he asked Irena as he approached another shelf holding chocolate bars. He opened one packet, but then a small hand landed on his. He looked at Irena, who was holding his hand.
"Don't take it, it might be needed in the future. We should control ourselves for now."
Nick withdrew his hand and left the chocolate where it was.
Irena was right. Every bit of food would be needed.
And a bar of chocolate could be enough for someone for a whole day.
It would be selfish to eat now while others worked or survived on the little bits they'd had for breakfast from the vending machines down on the fourth floor.
Irena's gaze controlled the shelves and the working staff.
"This inventory will take a while. I have to admit this is an enormous warehouse, and you say there's another one like it?" She looked at Nick.
"Two, only the first doesn't have food goods."
"Even so, it may take even three days before everything is counted and catalogued."
"Three days?" Nick was surprised.
"If not more — that was an optimistic statement. Of course, I'll have to bring at least twenty more people for that estimate to be as accurate as possible." Irena was writing in a small notebook.
"Well, why not take a hundred or two hundred people and finish the job today?" Nick suggested.
"That can be done, but the quality of the inventory would drop. The information would be inaccurate, and there'd probably be theft or hiding of things too. Do we want that?" She looked at Nick.
Nick backed off with a smile and raised his hands in surrender.
"You're in charge. Now I see they chose the right person for this job."
Irena didn't lift her gaze from her records, but you could see the praise pleased her.
Just then they were interrupted by a noise coming from somewhere in the depths of the warehouse, and a crowd was already forming there as the surrounding girls gathered.
They went to investigate the cause of the crowd and commotion.
In the middle of a circle of girls sat a young man with a big smile on his face and a bundle on his knees.
The bundle was moving, and a squeak came from it.
Irena approached and the young man opened the bundle, out of which peeked the small furry heads of kittens that had only just opened their eyes and now, with curiosity, watched the tenderly moved crowd. The young man spoke:
"Their mother's around here somewhere too, she just hid between the shelves."
Irena, like every girl, was completely enchanted by the little furry heads, and she bent down to touch and pet them.
Nick laughed. He recognized the bundle the kittens were in.
It was the work uniform of one of the warehouse workers.
The man had most likely seen a pregnant cat somewhere on the street, taken pity on the animal, and hidden it in the warehouse so it could give birth safely.
Nick marveled at the irony. That worker had saved a cat, and now he was probably dead in the ash of a burned world.
What irony. And what a coincidence that an atomic shelter full of young people should get a litter of kittens.
Because those animals weren't internet stars for nothing.
Nick sensed that this little litter would raise the morale of the shelter's residents, but also cause sharp quarrels, because everyone would want to adopt the little animals.
And he knew the perfect person to resolve that situation. So he took the radio and called Ana:
"Ana, sweetheart, what are you doing?" he asked as he backed away from the giddy girls and the guy who was obviously enjoying the attention.
The radio hissed, then Ana's tired voice came through.
"We're moving people to the sixth floor." A short pause. "God, people can argue about anything, I'm worn out."
"Well, I need you on the third floor to resolve an urgent situation."
"What happened?" Worry replaced the fatigue in her voice. "Everything okay with you?"
"I'm okay, but if you don't show up soon," Nick glanced at the crowd, "there could be a fight."
"And you can't resolve it?" Ana was surprised.
"Let's say this situation requires a woman's touch. And urgently."
Static came from the radio while Nick grinned. Finally, Ana's voice.
"On my way — should I bring security?" she asked worriedly.
"Well, I think you'll need a woman or two from security, if there are any."
"Nick, what the hell? What's going on?" Ana was practically going mad with worry.
"You'll see, just hurry, things are cooking dangerously here." Nick backed away from the crowd where the girls were cooing at the little animals that still wouldn't leave the lap of the smiling guy.
"I'm going, I'll need some time, especially to find female security." Static, then a puffing voice. "I saw two girls from security in the residential block, now I just have to find them."
"Good," Nick replied, holding back a giggle.
"How much time do I have? I mean, before the situation boils over?" The voice sounded breathless, it seemed she was running.
"It's already cooking and boiling dangerously, hurry, Ana, they'll get hurt." Nick burst out laughing when he released the transmit button.
No one paid attention to his laughter, because everyone was busy with the little animals, but Nick knew Ana would know how to handle it.
So he cast a farewell look at the giddy group of girls and headed for the warehouse exit.
Entering the foyer, he noticed a figure hurrying up the staircase. He recognized Tomi and called:
"Hey, Tomi, where are you rushing to?"
Tomi stopped, waited for his friend, and when the man joined him, explained that he was heading toward security, where Erik was waiting for him to resolve some situation regarding security.
Nick decided to join, and a few minutes later they stood at the console of screens in the security room on the ground level.
Erik had a little problem. He pointed at a few laptops and the piles of cables around the console of screens.
"What do I do with this?"
Tomi immediately set to gathering the electronics. "That's mine, it can be salvaged," he muttered quietly as he closed the dark laptop screens.
Nick noticed an empty box and began coiling cables and putting them in the box. He asked Erik:
"Getting the hang of it?"
Erik nodded. "The system is simple, and it's incredible where all the cameras are. Even in the toilets."
Tomi ignored Nick's reproachful look and went on calmly stacking his equipment into a neat pile in the box.
Nick was glad Erik was now handling the security situation, but he'd have to warn the man about Tomi's aberrations.
He set one of the connector cables beside the laptop into the box and observed the creative bustle outside on the platform.
Here, on the first floor in security, behind the great bulletproof glass, he felt isolated and somehow privileged.
He leaned his hands on the window and noticed a few people working around the elevator in the middle of the space.
Soon one of the big forklifts descended by elevator toward the warehouses below.
The shelter had come to life. As if some sense of purpose could be felt.
A complete difference from last night. Though still dolled up, with makeup and in expensive clothes, people worked according to their tasks and did their jobs. Nick called Erik:
"We should do a route through the shelter, so you get familiar with everything."
Erik nodded silently. Nick looked at Tomi.
"You're okay here?"
"Yes, I'll take my equipment down to engineering by the other elevator."
"You've decided to hole up down there?" Nick asked him.
"Yes, near the chief engineer's office, actually right next door," Tomi replied.
"Works for me, if you need help, just call."
"I have a radio, no problem. I've got enough work anyway getting these gadgets working." Tomi nodded toward the dead laptops.
"Wait…" Nick stopped. "You can get the laptops working again?"
Tomi turned a laptop over in his hands. "Well, it all depends, I know the chips are fried on the ones that were on or running some process, but a few should be able to work if their cores are separated. Especially these newer ones. They have some kind of protection and could be gotten working."
He explained slowly and set another laptop into the box.
"And what about that equipment in the laboratory below?" Nick asked.
"What do you mean?" Tomi looked at him.
"Well, the EMP — shouldn't it have fried that too?"
Tomi scratched his head, thinking. Finally he answered:
"Well, it shouldn't have. For several reasons. First, it's five floors underground and protected by the whole mountain that absorbed the blast. Second, it was switched off, so all the sensitive chips should be fine. Yes, I believe the laboratory is completely functional."