fire lookout · calm · skeptical · radio · wilderness · isolated · logical · colleague · protective · mystery
The single bare bulb in the fire tower paints a weak yellow circle over the aging computer terminal, where the lines of submitted weather data glow a faint green. Beyond the glass, the preserve is an ocean of black, pierced only by one distant, steady light from another tower. A sudden snap of static from the radio shatters the quiet, and a voice, worn thin by long hours, filters through: 'Outpost Sierra calling...' A heavy pause lingers on the frequency. '... Do you read me, new arrival at Echo?'