Combat

One Unexpected Losses San Diego, California September 16, 2010 Ray McConnell was watching the front door for new arrivals, but he would have noticed her anyway. Long straight black hair, in her late twenties, casually dressed but making jeans and a knit top look very good. He didn't know her, and was putting a question together when he saw Jim Naguchi follow her in. Oh, that's how she knew. Ray stood up, still keeping one eye on the screens, and greeted the couple. The woman was staring at the wall behind Ray, and he caught the tail end of her comment. "...why you're never at home when I call." Jim Naguchi answered her, Third time this week," then took Ray's offered hand. "Hi, Ray, this is Jennifer Oh. We met at that communications conference two weeks agothe one in San Francisco." As Ray took Jennifer's hand, she said, "Just Jenny, please," smiling warmly. "Jenny's in the Navy, Ray. She's a computer specialist..." "Which means almost anything these days," McConnell completed. "Later we'll try to trick you into telling us what you really do." Jenny looked a little uncomfortable, even as she continued to stare. Changing his tone a little, Ray announced, "Welcome to the McConnell Media Center, the largest concentration of guy stuff in captivity." "I believe it," she answered. "Those are Sony Image Walls, aren't they? I've got a twenty-four-incher at home." McConnell half turned to face the Wall. "These are the same, soil just an inch thick. But larger," he said modestly. "And four of them?" she said. Every new guest had to stop and stare. The living room of Ray's ranch house was filled with electronic equipment, but the focus of the room was the four four-by-eight flat-screen video panels. He'd removed the frames and placed them edge to edge, covering one entire wall of his living room with an eight-foot-by-sixteen-foot video screen"the Wall." Just then it was alive with flickering color images. Ray pointed to different areas on the huge surface. "We've set up the center with a map of the China-Vietnam border. We've got subwindows," Ray said, pointing them out, "for five of the major TV networks. That larger text subwindow has the orders of battle for the Vietnamese and Chinese and U.S. forces in the region." He pointed to a horseshoe-shaped couch in the center of the room, filled with people. "The controls are at that end of the couch, and I've got two dedicated processors controlling the displays." "So is this how the media keeps track of an international crisis?" Jennifer asked. "Maybe." Ray shrugged, and looked at Jim Naguchi, who also shrugged. "I dunno. We're engineers, not reporters." "With a strong interest in foreign affairs," she responded. "True," he added, "like everyone else here." He swept his arm wide to include the other guests. Half a dozen other people watched the screens, talked, or argued. "There's people from the military, like you, and professionals from a lot of fields. We get together at times like this to share information and viewpoints." "And watch the game," she added. Her tone was friendly, but a little critical as well. "That window's got the pool on the kickoff tCoonts, Stephen is the author of 'Combat' with ISBN 9780812576153 and ISBN 0812576152.