Out of the Black - Lee Doty [115]
If she played online games while she worked out, that was because she liked to work out and was bored. If she was in love with a computer geek, it was because he was sexy in his own dorky way, because he was wise and infuriating. If she cried when she lost her online wedding ring when that Morgoth Dragon ate her, well...
From the lower bunk, a polite but urgent voice counseled her to "seek medical attention" for the hundredth time today.
Around them on the walls we holos of Pachinko Molasses and several other Anime characters she didn't recognize; all big eyes, improbable hair, and comic relief animal sidekicks with names like Yabbachu. On the top of a nearby dresser were intricately painted figurines of all the major characters from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy.
The room, until recently occupied by Ari and Mir Olafsen, ages 7 and 9, seemed the archetypal dwelling of suburban preteens. However, Rae couldn't shake the feeling that this was a geek spawning ground. This was an unkind thought, especially since the children's father was currently risking his life to shelter them. But she couldn't keep the thought at bay, or the warm smile that it brought with it. Someday she would admit that she was a geek lover... not out loud so Alex could gloat, but inside... maybe... someday.
Soon after her arrival here, the boys' father had admitted that his sons' full names were Aragorn and Faramir. Shooey.
There it was again- that stupid smile.
"Seek medical attention." The synthetic-tinged voice repeated from below. She looked at the clock radio mounted to the wall near her head: 12:30 AM.
She was tired, but couldn't sleep. She had the worst kind of cabin fever: the kind where a vast conspiracy of killers was looking for the cabin, and everyone dear to her was hanging out on death's rickety porch, sipping lemonade with the reaper.
Lying there in her fear and desperation, the smile broadened as she thought more on the boys' father: Barbarian by night, VP of marketing by day. In cyberspace, he was a burly barbarian with a wicked axe and a penchant for destruction. Out here in meatspace though, he was a family man with two sons and a sweet, round wife. He was fairly round himself, since he used a cutout to play from home instead of in a gym's VirtuaTrainer like she and Alex preferred.
He was possessed of an infectious smile and a red, round nose. Beardless with graying hair, he looked like Santa's son asserting his individuality. Yet within him beat the heart of a lion. Sure, online Rygar knew no fear, but there was no reason for fear there. Out here in the real world, though, when Rae had shown up on his doorstep with two vegetables in a shot-up microvan, Jerry Olafsen had taken them in. Though technically she'd never met him before, he'd turned out to be a true friend.
She'd located Jerry through the account information that Alex had hacked from their favorite game server way back when he was scheming for a date with her. Alex still had contact info for almost everyone in their online clan stored in his address book. Jerry was the only one within a three state radius. It was odd to think how much she owed to that little cache of illegally obtained info. Back then it had led Alex to her. Now it had led them all to shelter.
She really hadn't been thinking much when she came here. She only knew she couldn't use her Uni for fear of being tracked. This ruled out everything from refueling the car to buying food. Going to the hospital for Alex and Ping was out too. She couldn't shelter with friends because the hunters would search there first.
Desperate, she had finally delved into the loosely connected realm of geekdom for help. She'd been pleasantly surprised to find such warm welcome in the home of an online acquaintance.
"Seek medical attention."
In a weird way, she had relished unfolding their predicament to Rygar... er, Jerry. She had enjoyed seeing his skepticism melt