We Float

Who: Tereska Wasserbach and Katherine Athena.
What: Tereska meets Katherine for the first time, and gets to meet a double agent and a band of liberal whackjpbs at the same time.
When: July 10th, 2094
Where: The freeways of Seattle
Status: Closed; complete

"Katherine, just get in the car." Bart looked tired, his hand resting on his hip as he looked at his wife. "You're not solving anything by staying here."

"I don't want a security detail, Bart. I have a meeting at 3:30 with the Chinese trade delegation and a dinner at 6 with the Yakima Black Women's Collective. Those aren't the kind of appointments I can blow off. I've spent months trying to arrange a meeting with Joie Naughton." She glanced at her watch. "How many threats do I receive in a year? Sixty-three in the past six months alone since I co-sponsored the Huxley-Athena Bill. And you expect me to bow down to a bunch of liberal nutjobs who think that the presidency began and ended with Hillary Rodham Clinton?"

"Fine. I wash my hands of you." The gesture that followed was more expansive than Bart normally allowed in public. "I have a flight to catch." He leaned over, kissing her cheek with a faint wince. "Have a good weekend. Dear."

( You didn't receive any of that. )

Who: Alistair Icenhour and Katherine Athena.
What: Katherine tells Alistair of her plans to create a Wild Cards team.
When: early May, 2096
Where: Katherine's office in Seattle, Washington
Status: Closed; complete

For once, the office of Senator Athena was silent. No pale blue shadows on the wall, no buzzing whine of computer. The only sound to be heard was the scratching of a pencil on a thin piece of linen paper. Katherine liked the feel of wood beneath her hand. It reminded her of childhood- warm grass and muddied knees and all of the things that she had run so swiftly away from and into adulthood without meaning to at all.

( You can thank me when this is over. I'll appreciate it more. )