H-1 UMAN-1

Chapter 13

"Well, well, looks like I'm going to have even more fun. You know, the Pentagon really ought to be more secure than it is. Ah, well. Well, at least I have your file, Miss Wilde. Goodbye now, enjoy!"

--

"Officer Pietro?" I asked, somewhat unsure of what to do now. We were standing in the middle of my living room, and everyone was staring at the TV in quiet shock, unsure of what to do next, and if seasoned police officers couldn't figure it out, how was I supposed to do it? Computers aren't my specialty. No, my parents always wanted me to play outside with the other neighborhood kids. When I was younger, I resented them for it somewhat, but now I realize that I'm better off for it. I've heard of kids who will sit on those screens all day, never once glancing away from the blue glow of their holoscreens. I guess it's now that that addiction is coming back to bite us...

"Yes, Electra?"

"What did you say the trouble is? I'm sorry, I know you gave me an answer, but I'm feeling a bit frazzled right about now, and I didn't hear you."

"That's all right," he said, taking a seat on the sofa behind me. "What I said was that whatever's going on with your television's probably a virus or something. How it would have gotten in there, I don't know. I've heard that there's some new bug spreading, but I don't see how that would have anything to do with your TV going on the fritz. I'll call in the computer techs. Do you feel safe to stay here, Miss Stehlen?" he asked

"Weeeel, Officer, to tell you the truth, not entirely, but if my electronics are on the fritz, what am I going to do? I mean, it's not as if they can do me any harm, right?"

Okay, now I know that that was a bad idea, because I'm now hiding away with three other people, hoping I don't die, and it sounds like the T-1s up on the ground above us are getting closer, and I don't think any of us remembered to bring any weapons with them. I know that I sure as hell didn't.

"Exactly, Electra. I'll be right back," Officer Pietro told me, walking towards the door. He gestured towards the front of my house. "Stay safe. Promise me that. As soon as I leave, you lock this door behind me, got it?"

When I didn't answer right away, he asked again. "Got it?", only this time with a touch of anger pinching his features.

"Yes, sir!", I nearly shouted. Then I noticed I was shouting, and so did Officer Pietro, I guess, because he had his hands over his ears. "Sorry, Officer," I said, ducking my head in shame as my cheeks and ears reddened in a blush. "I didn't realize that I was that loud..."

"It's okay, Electra, just be careful, okay. I do like my eardrums served intact." Then with a wink, he stepped out the front door, closing it behind him.

As soon as he had stepped out, I rushed over to the door as fast as I could without slipping- the rain hadn't helped anything. I slammed the door shut, then threw the deadbolt across and clicked the lock into place.

"Okay, Electra," I thought, "what do you do now? As yourself, I'd suggest going up into your bedroom and locking the door, or maybe the attic. What says you?"

Hrmm. I think that I'll just hide in my bedroom. There's too much must and mold in the attic. It hasn't been cleaned in decades, and with my allergies, it would be liable to give me an allergy attack and kill me. With my rotten luck, yeah, yeah it would.

Sounds like your bedroom it is, then, and with that, I dashed up the stairs, careful not to slip on the lacquer, and barricaded myself in.

--

Hurricane season always brings with it just the most wonderful weather, doesn't it?

No, don't answer that, it was rhetorical, and besides, anyone who knows me should soon come to realize that I have one hell of a penchant for being sarcastic. Most people, until I explain it to them, think I'm just being a bitch about it, but no, I pride myself on my kindness, even if the person who it's truly meant for is never around to sample it. Instead, I share it.

In my free time, I run a little bed-and-breakfast in the old keeper's house. It's not much, but it's some income, and it helps to supplement the meager scraps my husband gets. After the federal government declared bankruptcy- only the third nation to do so, surprisingly, after Greece and China, even with the global economic devestation that was wrought by the nuclear holocaust that was World War Three. How long ago that was, I've forgotten.

But now that it's getting colder with the coming of the first hurricane, there's no one coming. In fact, it's been like that for the last several years now, the weather steadily getting worse and the guests slowly coming less and less. Now, we might be lucky if we get two people a month, if that.

Beee...Beeee....Beeeeee....

A sound interrupts my thoughts. Beeee...Beeee...Beeee...

Huh, I wonder what that is. It's sure not a sound I've ever heard before...

Then a realization strikes me. Yes, Maria, you have heard that sound before, it's the collision warning, which means there's a ship about to hit the lighthouse! Run, Maria, unless you want to see a ship plowing straight into the rocks by the bottom of the light!

I dash out of the kitchen as fast as I can and run up the spiralling stairs to turn on the light. I manage to turn it on, but it's too late, and all I can do is watch as the boat plows straight into the rocks.

Crap.

Well, I can't just let them drown, the storm keeps getting worse, the waves are growing, and if I were to just leave those people out there, they'd drown! I can't let that happen, so I run down the tower and out the door, down onto the rocks. At least I'm wearing shoes, if not a rain slicker and cap. I dart towards the ship, being as careful as I can not to slip don the rocks, the ocean whipping up spray that wraps around me, slapping my face, and the foam laps at my toes.

Okay, now I'm down at the ship's level. From the lighthouse, it looked different- I thought maybe it was a tugboat, but upon my closer inspection, I don't understand how I could have thought that at all- it's a sailboat. I don't know how I bungled that one up so badly.

I reach up for the ship's rail, preparing to pull myself aboard, when a strong hand takes mine and hoists me the ten feet up onto the ship's deck.

When I'm aboard as sturdily as I can be in this weather, feeling the ship's slight rocking beneath beneath my feet. I look up to see four people before me- two male and two female.

"Well, nice to see you. Care to help us?"