Exit 51

                                                       

                                                                             Exit 51

Exit 51 was part of the Oklahoma City major junction. It's official designation was  J1OK-51 but it was known as Geronimo by everyone who worked there and most of the locals. It was one of the eight primary "feeder" exits of the junction and was located about 20 miles southwest of the center of the complex. Geronimo carried three complete transport conduits which included 16 lanes of ordinary civilian surface traffic and one high speed rail line each. Four of the surface lanes were high speed as well. A total of sixty miles of the exit run could be covered in less than five minutes with translucent fabric in the event of weather risk beyond safety tolerances. The average thru traffic of Exit 51 approached 800,000 tons a minute!

Mark Green was the executive director of Exit 51. Lauren Bielec was his administrative assistant. There were over 20,000 employees at Exit 51; more than half of them were full-time. The year was 2294. 

Mark stood on the roof of the observation building and took a wide look along the intersecting concrete and steel lines of the exit. It was late afternoon and lights were already coming up into the darkening blue gray sky from the exit thru-ways.  He finished a cigarette and gulped down the rest of a cup of coffee. He was worried about their budget and whether they would be able to improve their kiloton rate  this next quarter. He liked to gauge the traffic flow  by the sound of the traffic hum. He came back into the administrative office and hoped Lauren wouldn't notice his smoking. "It's moving along out there, but I don't think we'll see anything positive tonight She had turned in her seat, away from a broad bank of viewing screens and replied, " We'll take the pictures and analyze them as usual." She looked right at him, her eyes direct and kind and her pretty little face framed by dark curls and added, "You've been smoking again Mark, you know it's no good for you". He was annoyed at her familiarity. After all, he was the executive director. All he could think of was the half eaten snacks she left in her desk and the equipment she would sneak out of the office. Somehow he remembered her sensitivity and that she "lived" here and decided to ignore his reaction. "Yes, we'll just go ahead with the observations and hope for the best. Gosh, I hope they give us some feedback on our budget soon." Mark looked at her and saw his own anxiety reflected in her face. So much depended on the expansion program approval. "I'll talk to Sam again in the morning", he said, trying to reassure her. He had a very strong feeling that they'd been through this before, but all he could recall was a light green and gray colored room.