Before the panel on stage, the audience was abuzz with the murmurs of confusion and occasional sniggers. The conference that had been meant to showcase the quality and competency of global satellite communications and navigation systems had somehow lost contact with a mere fishing boat with a previously established connection.
This was a humiliating blow.
The host of the conference saw that things were getting out of hand and immediately changed the display to connect with another target. This was a research vessel in the Arctic they had also set up a connection with beforehand. However, the research vessel's connectivity was even worse than the fishing boat's—the image was grainy and the connection dropped midway.