Chapter III

Cleo

    As soon as Hera got home she went straight to the back door and went out back. She crossed the yard and headed for her work shed. She looked over the gate at the main road. She wondered why she didn’t just come in through that way.

    Once the thought was over she shook it off and continued into the work shed. She put the shoulder cap on one of the tables and went to the back of the shed. She pulled back the bed sheet she had hanging from the ceiling and dropped down and opened her safe.

    She dug around for a while she found an old outdated transmitter for an AM radio, a shell to a phone she had once used as a wallet, and she found a tiny box filled with gold wire. In the back of the safe there was a folder. When she saw it she went to go grab for it but decided it was best to leave it. The safe starting ding slowly.

    “You have three more minutes before the safe signal jammer is cut off,” the computer announced.

    “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Hera said as she reached for a big tin box in the back of the safe. She pulled it out and stood up. As she was walking away she tapped the safe door closed with her foot.

    “Another phone lost,” the computer asked Hera as it scanned the box in her hands.

    “Don’t get smart,” she replied. “Did you get all of the files I backed up?” she asked.

    “Yes, and while I was browsing over them I saw something a little strange,” the computer responded.

    “Cleo how could you see something strange your just a computer?” she asked.

    “What did you just call me?” the computer asked.

    “I called you Cleo. You said you wanted a name so I gave you one,” she explained.

    “Oh,” Cleo said surprised. “Anyway as I was saying. The last thing that you uploaded was a woman eye cam. But I bet you didn’t notice that you also hacked into the one her baby had too,” Cleo said.

    “Wait a minute there was an eye cam in the baby?”

    “I know it’s a shame. Anyway while the mother was looking at the tragedy in front of her the baby saw something else,” the computer said pulling up the video. “If you look closely in the back you can see,” Cleo tried to explain before Hera cut her off.

    “Who’s the nerd with the laptop?” Hera asked.

    “Well that’s the strange thing I was trying to point out. Everyone is either running away from the area. Or watching the pool crack, but this guy seems fixed on something else. Or more like someone else.”

    “The woman and the baby?”

    “No,” Cleo said. “You he was looking at you. I believe this guy is the reason for your phone be breached.”

    “Well I got away okay so there’s no point in trying to pursue him. Also I need to get the shoulder cap fixed so I can get this new job,” Hera picked up a phone out of the tin and turned it on. Then she walked over to the shoulder cap and began giving it a closer look over. “Cleo could you please sync up the new phone, and update the security software?”

    “Yes, I can. Would you like me to keep you posted on anything?”

    “Yeah, could you let me know when they rescued the lady from the pool?”

    “They already have. They got her out just moments ago. Looks like her and her spouse were having an argument and things turned for the worse,” Cleo told her.

    “Huh,” she said. She just stood there staring off into space wondering if it really could be that couple from earlier on that day. “Cleo you can go to sleep now.”

    “You don’t need any help with whatever your working on?” she asked.

    “No, it’s pretty basic work I should be fine fixing it all by myself,” Hera told her.

    “Well just to let you know that I looked over the pictures you auto backed up of the shoulder cap and it looks like your going to need to weld the cracks. Would you like me to warm up the,” Hera cut her off.

    “You know for a computer you have a lot of opinions. One would think you were human,” Hera slyly said as she began warming up the welder.

    “Psht nah. You know I can’t stand the human race. You guys are so fragile and vulnerable,” Cleo explained.

    “This coming from something that can be shut down by a kitchen magnet,” Hera looked at the main screen with her hands on her hips.

    “I keep telling you there was a wire loose. You don’t put my power cord all the way in and it fell out,” Cleo whined.

    “Good night Cleo,” Hera waved as she powered her down,

    Hera then walked over to the back corner where the safe was and opened it. She grab the box of phones and put it back in. Then she bent down even lower than before and pulled out a brown box. She got up and tapped the safe door closed with her foot once more. Then she walked over to a lone table sitting at the front of the work shed and placed the box down. She then turned around opening one of her work cabinets and pulled out a solar panel. Then she returned to the box. She pulled out an old CD player and put it on the table.

    The welder machine beeped twice signaling that it was almost warmer up. Hera hurried up and hooked up the CD player. Then she went to the bottom of the box and pulled out her favorite CD and popped it in, and just in time to. As the first track started to play the welder machine let out a long beep for four seconds, signaling that it was done warming up. Hera picked up the shoulder cap and thought to herself.

How hard could this really be?

Chapter II

Honest Earnest Shop

    “Earnest! Where is it? HUH?! Where is my money EARNEST?!” his ex-wife screeched like a chimpanzee while she frantically went through the drews in his office.

    “Women if you don’t stop yelling, you’re going to scare all my customers away,” Earnest tried to calm her. But she wasn't having it. She just kept stomping around his office in her four inch heels.

    “What customers Earnest? You haven’t had a single customer in weeks,” she yelled throwing her hands up.

    “Well if you knew that then why are you here badgering me for money,” Earnest wittingly said.

    “Don’t you get smart with me Earnest,” his ex-wife's head snapped to the side.

*Ding, Ding* The front door alarm went off.

    “Who’s that Earnest? HA! One of your whores? Cause lord knows that you don’t have any customers,” she said heading out of the office to go see who just walked in. Earnest sat in his chair for a bit shaking his head. He could hear the four inch heels making there way to the front of the shop. Earnest got up to make sure she didn’t cause any damages, or comotion.

    “HELLO!” she yelled out.

    “Hi,” the girl answered with a sign in hand.

    “Earnest now I know you aren’t hooking up with little miss. Jailbait over here.”

    Earnest walked up to the front unknowing of who his ex-wife was yelling at. As he walked up to the front he was thinking up some excuses but couldn’t think of anything solid enough. “Women what the hell are you yelling about now?” he asked his crazy ex-wife pondering how he ever ended up married to her. As he pondered he made eye contact with a young girl holding a sign. “Oh I apologize, my ex-wife can be a bit much at times,” he said as he grabbed one of her arms and began walking her to the door. His ex-wife began hitting his hand away but all of her efforts failed. “I’ll be right with you,” he said as he opened the door ready to toss his crazy ex out.

    She pulled herself away, “Oh hell nah Earnest! Who is this little girl?” she asked. Earnest honestly shrugged with no idea of who the girl was. His ex-wife turned to the girl and asked her why she was here.

    The girl flipped the sign she was holding in her hand to reveal the words NOW HIRING in bright green letters. “You still looking for someone?” she asked.

    Earnest had forgot that he put the sign up there. “Um yes just give me one second,” Earnest said while he tried to push his crazy ex out.

    “So you have money to pay her but you don’t have no money to give for your kids,” she yelled at him.

    “The twins both go to a boarding school, and there all paid up for the next year. So what money do you need?” he asked her.

    “Well,” she thought a bit. “What about JR!?” she spatted out.

    “Jr?” he asked in disbelief.

    “Yup, JR,” she nodded her head triumphantly.

    “JR is twenty eight years old with his own family. Why would you even bring him up?” he asked rhetorically.

    His ex-wife was furiatied she stomped her way into the middle of the doorway and turned around. “Don’t you worry I’m gonna get you Earnest. You just wait. I’m gonna get you.” She slammed the door closed.

    “I am terribly sorry about that,” Earnest apologized. “Please come with me so we can get this over with,” he made his way to the back of the shop and into his office. When he got to the door he opened it for her and pointed at a bi-colored folding chair. She made her way over and sat down. Earnest shut the and sat down in his chair. “So what kind of work were you looking for kid?”

    “You really don’t remember me do you?” she asked. Earnest gave the girl a look over. “Come on grandpa you can do it.” Something went off in his head when he heard her call him grandpa.

    “Wait a minute,” it slowly came together. “You’re the little rat that stole my trash cans a year ago!”

    “Yes siry, that was me,” she said sitting back in the chair with a grin on her face.

    “What did a girl like you need three trash cans for?” he too sat back in his chair.

    “Well if I’m going to tell the truth I stole four,” Earnest mouth dropped, “and I used them for some admissions project for some college.”

    “Huh,” he let out. “So what’s your name anyway?” he asked her.

    “I don’t know that depends if I’m hired,” she wittingly answered. She sat up in her chair with a grin on her face waiting for his response.

    He too sat up in his chair, put his elbows on his desk and his right hand on his chin. “Can you be here at seven tomorrow morning?”

    “The sign says you open at eight thirty,” she responded.

    “Can you be here by seven?” he asked again.

    “Yeah, but ..”

    “Then you’re hired,” he threw his hands up and sat back in his chair. “Now what’s my new employees name?”

    “Hera,” she said while she stood up getting ready to leave.”

    “Hera?”

    “Yeah, once upon a time my parents were obsessed with Greece,” she told him. Then she turned and headed for the door.\

    “See you at eight thirty,” Earnest called out as she left.

    Hera was about to turn around and ask him which time was it. But she just made an elective decision to come at eight to see what would happen. As she made her way to the front a the shop should couldn’t help but glance around. While glancing she passed something that was shiny. She looked back to see if Earnest was watching her. When she saw that it was clear she made her way towards the shiny object.

    She approached a work table and on it was a cracked shell to a left shoulder blade cap. Hera looked around once more and when she saw that no one was looking she picked it up. The bottom right quadrant was loose so when she picked it up it fell off. It clanked on the table and then hit the floor.

    Earnest who was watching from his office had seen enough and paged on the overhead, “We’ll do it tomorrow Hera, go home.”

    “Okay!” she yelled in no specific direction. She quickly pulled out her phone and took a picture of the shoulder cap, and left the shop.

    As she walked down the street she could hear a couple arguing about something. She looked up as they passed by her. She could see the man holding a piece of paper shaking it at her. The women was desperately holding onto her shoes.

    “I miss those days,” a voice came from behind her. Hera quickly threw her hand in her pocket reaching for her phone. Earnest came up from behind her. “Calm down little lady. It’s just me,” he said.

    She looked down and noticed the shoulder cap in his hand. “What are you doing with that?” she pointed at it.

    He lifted it up and gave it to her. “I estimated that the time it would take fix this to be three to four hours. There’s minor internal damage, but all you’d have to do is give the system a reboot. It’s the external damage as you can see that needs to be fixed. If you fix it then you can come in at nine. If you don’t then you might as well go look for another job.” She nodded her head in agreement. He gave a half heartedly salute then he walked back into his shop and turned off the lights.

    Hera started looking over cap while she was walking home. Luckily for her the shop wasn’t to far from her house, and with her JamTraffic mod she never hit a red light. As she crossed the street she felt a drop hit her head. Then another one, and another one. When she went to look up she heard something crash behind her. People started getting out of their cars to see where it came from.

    “OH MY GOD!” a lady screamed as she pointed up to the sky. Others looked to where the ladys finger was pointing. Hera looked as well. Someone's pool was cracking. Everyone on the ground ran out of the way while more pieces of the pool fell.

Everyone please don’t be alarmed. We ask that you all move away in an orderly fashion so that no one gets hurt. Our specialist are on their way now.

    People continued to push one another out of the way. Completely disregarding what the announcer had just said. Another person started yelling drawing attention back to the cracking pool. “SHE’S GONNA FALL!” they shouted.

    At the bottom of the cracking pool there was a woman. Hera looked up and squinted her eyes. She had recognized the woman from earlier on. Eventually a couple of street officers got to the scene and began clearing the area. As the officers cleared people out people kept shouting out about the women. But the officers didn’t seem to care.

    Hera just made her way down the street uninterested in the events playing out behind her. The crowd just kept staring at the woman. They were all recording through their eye cams. Hera slowly became interested in how it would all play out. BUt she didn’t dare to look back. As she passed a woman holding her child Hera wiped out her phone and hit the screen a couple of times.

    On her screen she could see exactly what the lady could see. At the bottom left of the screen there was a warning sign. Hera’s signal jammer was being attacked and someone was trying to shut down her phone for illegal hacking. She quickly backed up whatever she could. Once she finished backing everything up the through it on the ground and smashed her foot down on it.