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THE FALL OF WATER
Fall B1 by Jay
[Choose Fall B1 to wait and think.]
From the tone in Sky's voice, Diva sensed that the meeting would take place sometime soon... but when? As soon as possible?
She scrambled to play the message again -- "Hello, Waterfall. Yes, I think you know 'The Sky is Falling.' But you can call me 'Sky'. If you want to know what the Matrix is, then meet me at the corner of Rainbow and Lakeview."
"Dammit!" she cursed aloud, "When am I supposed to meet her?" Then added, "And what the f*ck is going on here?"
She leaned back in her squeaky computer chair, staring blankly at the monitor before her. "I have to think!"
'Wait a minute...' Diva thought to herself. 'Something's going on, something real. This Sky woman is real. And by the way she spoke, the Matrix could also be real... but...'
She rechecked her online connection, clicked through the message board, opened a few more browser windows. She was definitely still online!
She paused, spinning her chair away from the monitor. 'But how could she call while I was still online?... What kind of conspiracy is this?... And how did she control my computer like that? That's not like any messaging program I've heard of... or virus either...'
She spun back to her monitor, uttering, "What the f*ck am I getting myself into?"
"The signal was terminated before the trace could be completed," the subordinate agent informed Agent Greene.
"No matter," Greene replied, hand to his earpiece. "We've narrowed the next probable target point to within a 10-mile radius." From behind his mirrored sunglasses, his green eyes surveyed the twinkling nighttime cityscape from the topmost floor of the tallest office building.
The subordinate paused for a moment. "But it will take time--"
"Then begin the search now!" snapped Greene. Regaining his cool composure, he added, "Begin at the center of the target area... at Rainbow and Lakeview."
After nearly an hour of internal debate -- 'What will I lose?' versus 'What will I gain?' -- Diva finally concluded that it was worth the risk. All she had to lose was her life, that is, a life of endlessly punching clocks, mind-numbing data-entry screens, and dragging-on late-night shifts. Somehow, she was now convinced she needed to know the truth of "what the Matrix is."
'After all,' she wondered, 'if this was really important, she'd wait for me, right?'
So she rushed to her bedroom, grabbed some comfortable clothes off her unmade bed, and threw them on. Back in the main room, she found her scuffed sneakers, snatched the purse and car keys from her computer desk, and with one last hurried look at her computer, her TV, her apartment, she locked the door before bolting down the stairs to her old gray Toyota.
As Diva -- Clap! -- shut the car door, she happened to glance at the digital clock -- '12:57' -- and sighed, "Damn, I hope it's not too late."
Choose Fall B1A to think again, 'Forget it, it's too late.'
Choose Fall B1B to start the ignition.
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