Fred returned to his cubicle and eyed the computer. A smile spread across his face as he realized the picture on the screen was not a still picture chat room avatar. It was a moving, live video stream.

“Well. If it’s not one miracle it’s another.” Fred sighed as he slid into the chair to face the monitor.

Hannah's image smiled back from a small pop-up window.

She, too, grinned as Fred entered the cubicle and shifted into view.

“Fred!” Hannah’s voice exploded from the speakers.

Fred had not expected the sudden, incredibly audible outburst. He dove for the volume dial and cranked to the lowest possible setting. He twisted in his chair to throw a nervous glance at the cubicle opening to check if anyone, especially Evan, had overheard.

Fred fished within his own boxes of connections and devices. From beneath a tangle of wires he drew a dusty headset. Wireless headsets no longer worked since the crash. Turning back to his work station, Fred fumbled with the audio jack and the openings along the monitor frame. At last the pin found a home and an audible click announced the audio shifting to the headphones.

“Hannah?” Fred eyed the streaming video of the owner of Conscious Connections.

Hannah’s lips moved in the video, yet there was no audio. Fred leaned to the speaker dial again. He rotated the dial, to no avail.

Hannah gestured calmly.

“Ahh!” Fred drew his hands to the wire connecting headset to monitor.

His fingers fumbled along the cable to pause on a small switch and rotated a miniscule dial until Hannah’s voice could at last be heard at a reasonable level.

“Fred. I can see you!” Hannah’s excitement seemed more subdued with the low volume. “Can you see me too? Can you hear me okay? Say something so I can hear you. This is exceptional! You’re the first one I have been able to video conference with since all these glitches started.” Hannah rambled joy into Fred’s ears.

Fred stared at the woman. It wasn’t the first video conference he had experienced, yet it felt like a new discovery. Systems between them appeared to be behaving as before the crash.

“Hannah. I can see you. And I can definitely hear you, but how are you getting through?” Fred adjusted the headset as he whispered to the woman on the screen. “Even internal networks here at ITower aren’t getting a feed solid enough for streaming.”

Fred could tell his words fell on ears with little knowledge of networking system function.

It wasn’t that Hannah lacked the savvy for business and social applications. To the contrary, Hannah took pride in how much she learned on her own. Self-taught, yet aware only of what she needed to keep her business running.

The inner workings didn’t mean much.

Fred had little desire to waste time guiding Hannah to a greater understanding of technology. Yet, he wished she understood enough to be able to explain how she had rigged a streaming chat session.

For the moment, however, it was far more important to share his concerns with the last online chat he had experienced with the stranger, Coach333.

“Never mind the connection stuff for right now.” Fred shook his head. “I can explain it to you later. As exciting as this is, I have a more pressing concern. I’m glad we can talk about it instead of trying to make sense of it in text.”

Fred shifted in his seat, concern knitting his brows. He could only imagine how the encounter he experienced would be perceived in an email.

Hannah fumbled with the volume controls on her end. It was clear she finally realized Fred was whispering and would likely not be raising his voice.

“I’m concerned.” Fred’s voice rasped over the speakers. “I have reason to believe the security and integrity of your Conscious Connections shop and the NDE support group have been compromised. A spy perhaps, from ITower, trying to catch me at something the company might see as troublesome.”

Hannah’s image shook her head. “Well, that’s a fine way to shift a conversation.”

Hannah’s smile sparkled as Fred worked to keep the woman focused on the immediate concern.

“Are you okay, Fred? Do we need to talk more privately? Maybe you can come by the shop later today? No meeting, just to chat.”

Fred shook his head. “No, no, no. I think this is okay for now on my end. This might even draw out the spy. And you should be fine where you are, no one pays any mind at information centers.”

He glanced over his shoulder once again, to be certain no one wandered by. He adjusted the headset, uncovering an ear to monitor the sounds around him as he continued his exchange with Hannah.

“I have to tell you what happened yesterday. I was on this chat. A supposedly anonymous metaphysical chat board. New login and username. I was posing questions to a user with the handle Coach333. I asked what he thought about ITower using current technology to connect to global consciousness, you know, the Akashic records thing you talked about in group.”

Hannah’s face lit up. As if that was possible, as bright as the young woman’s smile always seemed to be. “Fred! You are paying attention when I go off on my little tangents about the way technology could be used to move humanity forward in truly communicating with one another and multiple dimensions!”

Fred’s anxiety plowed through the woman’s excitement. Hannah’s face fell slightly, as the man’s concern dawned on her.

Fred continued his retelling of the incident in the metaphysical chat. “This Coach333 guy got even more strange. Along with weird responses, he started talking about me, and you, and attending the group. He mentioned you by name, Hannah.”

Hannah’s image froze a moment as she composed herself. She waved a hand between herself and the camera.

 “Fred. Relax. Are you centered? Take a few deep breaths. Are you grounded, do you have some means of grounding?” Hannah clasped her hands. “When you mentioned Coach333 there was a shift. It’s curious. I’m getting some strange energy.”

Fred sighed at the maternal tone in Hannah’s voice. “Yeah, yeah. Grounding. Yes. And took my pills. Drank lots of water.” He snagged a half empty bottle of water from the desk and shook it within view of the camera.

Fred took a few deep breaths and blew each one out at the screen. “I’m fine, Hannah. And I’m not kidding about that guy. He was an odd duck. He also said something about laws of the physical realm. He made it sound as if he wasn’t on the planet.”

Hannah’s lips pressed together at the mention of other worlds. She narrowed her eyes and Fred noticed her shoulders seemed suddenly burdened.

“Hmm?” Hannah looked into the distance. She rose from her chair in front of the camera. “Wait a second Fred. Let me get a quick read on this.”

As Hannah moved out of the camera frame revealing the room behind her. Fred stared at the familiar string of fairy lights and glass shelves heavy with crystals, shells, and small statues. The display cases behind the register at Conscious Connections.

Fred frowned into the camera as he leaned to see more clearly.

“Hey. Wait, Hannah. Are you at your shop?” Fred called out, forgetting for a moment to whisper.

As Fred continued to try to make out the background image, Hannah returned to the frame.

She waved a deck of tarot cards in front of the camera. “This will be fun. I haven’t done an online reading in at least a month. So many more face-to-face, and phone readings lately.”

Hannah glanced at her cards as she laid them out off-screen.

“Hannah.” Fred’s surprised tone drew the woman’s attention.

She looked from her cards. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did you say something when I walked off?

Fred waved at the screen. “How is it possible you’re in your store and connected?”

Hannah thumbed over her shoulder, confirming she was indeed perched at the counter in the retail portion of Conscious Connections.

Hannah jabbed a finger toward the second floor of the shop.  “I am always connected, Fred. It must be great, I have customers coming in so often complaining about service outages plaguing GlobeNet, and I’ve never lost access to my files. It’s difficult to contact others via messaging systems, though.”

Fred shook his head. “No, no, Hannah, I’m serious. I mean your computer, our connection. How can your computer be connected to the network outside of a wired network center?”

Hannah’s confusion rose as her face fell to the cards laid on the counter top. “Um. Well.”

Turning from the camera Hannah turned a card from the top of the deck. When her gaze rose to meet Fred her eyes were wide. She displayed the card to the camera.

Three figures in long robes held a trio of goblets above their heads.

Hannah lowered the card to show her face once more. “I think you know the answer concerning the chat room, and maybe our current connection as well.”

The tinkling of the doorbell at the store jostled both Fred and Hannah from deciphering the potential meanings of the card. Hannah turned her head to call out a welcome to the entering customer.

Turning her attention back to Fred, Hannah offered a short wave. “I gotta go, Fred. I’ll ask a bit about the Akashic and chat rooms. We’ll talk later, okay? I’m super curious about this!”

The chat box closed on Fred's screen before he could utter a response.

Confusion and a renewed sense of need to reconnect with Coach333 overwhelmed Fred.