Autumn Belfontaine had plenty of experience in doing interviews. One of her very first assignments as a reporter at the U of Minnesota student radio station had been to get man-on-the-street interviews at a political rally.
However, she was used to being able to talk with her interviewee face to face. Sure, radio was an audio-only medium, so the listeners weren’t losing anything. But as an interviewer, she really liked to be able to see the other person, gauge their reactions to her questions in a way she couldn’t when she had nothing but a voice on the other end of a telephone line. And no, videoconferencing technology didn’t really substitute for being in the same room with a person and being able to look them in the eyes.
Having it be someone she knew should’ve made it easier, but somehow she was finding it much harder. It didn’t help that she and Chandler Armitage had a rather complicated relationship. Genetically speaking, he was her uncle, since he was her father’s clone-brother. But they were so close in age that he felt more like the brother she never had.
Which is no excuse. You’re a professional, so act like it.
Still, there was no denying that things simply weren’t clicking, and it wasn’t just because the assignment had been sprung on her with almost no time to prepare. She was supposed to be getting his insights on the situation from his experience as a pilot flying to various settlements, but all his responses sounded stiff, even canned.
At least this is a recorded interview, not something we’re doing live. With luck, he’ll loosen up. Worst case, we 86 the whole thing.
Autumn was so tightly focused on it that she almost didn’t hear the tapping on the door. When she did, she turned to see who could be interrupting her. At least coming in on a recorded interview wasn’t like barging into the DJ booth while the DJ was on air — they could edit out such interruptions.
To her surprise, it wasn’t the music director, or the sales director, or even the general manager, but Ken Redmond himself. When the Chief of Engineering shows up at your door, you’d better answer, ASAP.
“Commander Armitage, we’re going to need to wind this up.”
At least he was understanding, but it still felt awkward to cut things short. And even more awkward after the call was completed, to go out there and see what Ken needed.