C.J. and Toby Trade Staff Boo for Probe Blackout Delay
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
C.J. steps onto the terrace, reporting to Toby about being booed by Gary Saunders, revealing workplace tensions.
Toby updates C.J. on Galileo V's potential antenna issue, shifting focus to the Mars probe crisis.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Frustrated by pettiness, escalating to anxious dread laced with desperate humor
C.J. exits to the quiet terrace, grips cell phone tightly while venting about Gary's boo, reacts with visible panic upon spotting Tad approaching, deflects with self-deprecating humor about the Potomac, her body language tense and evasive amid the cold air.
- • Seek commiseration from Toby on staff grudge
- • Elicit reassurance amid probe crisis
- • Avoid direct confrontation with Tad Whitney
- • Internal promotions strengthen team loyalty
- • Personal confrontations undermine professional poise
Calmly amused, projecting unflappable control amid bad news
Toby engages via cell phone voiceover, probes C.J.'s complaint with calm curiosity, delivers grim Galileo update on antenna blockage, chuckles lightly at her panic over Tad, then hurries to end call, his tone mixing pragmatism with amusement.
- • Update C.J. on technical probe delay
- • Downplay her personal drama relative to larger issues
- • Technical fixes demand patience over panic
- • Petty grudges pale against mission-critical failures
Raw hostility from professional rejection
Gary Saunders referenced as having just passed C.J. in the hallway and unleashed a mocking boo in retaliation for being overlooked for promotion, his petty hostility invading her terrace escape.
- • Express grudge through public jeer
- • Undermine C.J.'s authority
- • Promotion snub demands immediate payback
- • Personal slight justifies unprofessional outburst
Determined aggression toward spurned opportunity
Tad Whitney spotted approaching C.J. from behind on the terrace, his purposeful stride triggering her panic as she describes his 'tractor beams' locking on, forcing her evasive maneuvers.
- • Confront C.J. directly over rejection
- • Demand accountability for passed-over promotion
- • Direct challenge will force reckoning
- • His qualifications demand White House role
Neutral, as favored successor
Simon Glazer invoked by C.J. as her chosen internal promotee over Saunders and Whitney, his selection fueling the resentments now erupting on the terrace.
- • Secure promoted role quietly
- • Internal talent outperforms outsiders
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
C.J.'s cell phone serves as the vital tether linking her terrace isolation to Toby's remote updates, gripped tightly as she vents grudges and absorbs probe crisis news; it fractures her solitude, amplifying real-time tensions between personal pettiness and galactic stakes, ending the call abruptly as Tad nears.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Potomac River looms as C.J.'s hyperbolic comic escape hatch from Tad's approach, invoked in her quip about its seasonal frigidity to underscore aversion to confrontation; its dark, churning presence below the terrace heightens vulnerability, symbolizing a plunge into oblivion amid professional chaos.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
No narrative connections mapped yet
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Key Dialogue
"C.J.: "I'm out in back. I'm on the terrace. I passed Gary Saunders on the way out. He booed me. I swear to God. I passed by. He went 'boo!""
"TOBY ([VO]): "They're hypothesizing that the thing came down at an odd angle, and that its position might be preventing the antennae from establishing a downlink. They say it'll take a few days to try everything they want to try.""
"C.J.: "I'm not very good at confrontation." TOBY: "You have no problem with me." C.J.: "This time of year, is the water in the Potomac very, very cold?""