"Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this son of York." -- Richard, Duke of Gloucester, RICHARD III, I.i.1 (William Shakespeare) 31) --- Snowbound ----------------------------------------------------- "Bored... Nothing To Do!" -- Peter Spier SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 1994 Philip and Aerianne returned to the University of Maryland on the fifteenth of January. The last two weeks had been a blast, as far as he and Aeri were concerned. His family had gotten used to the fact that Aerianne and Philip were now _close_, although _how_ close was still a matter of some conjecture. But Philip and Aeri weren't about to tell. It was almost a shame that they had to go back, they wouldn't have _nearly_ as much privacy at the dorm as they did at home (namely because Philip had a roommate). Philip ruefully thought to himself. That one time when Christopher had burst into his room... Philip chuckled. Getting out of that one had taken all of their combined theatre skills to convince Chris that he had actually seen them rehearsing a scene for an audition... Aerianne raised an eyebrow as Philip chuckled to himself. He turned and smiled at her as he took her hand in his. "What is it?" she asked, smiling back. "Oh nothing... just you," he said, leaning on her shoulder as his dad drove the Suburban to UMD. The time that it took to unload the truck was much less than the time that it had taken for them coming home. His dad and Aeri helped him load in (also, Philip was returning with less stuff, which helped greatly), and once all of Philip's stuff was loaded into his room, his dad treated them to lunch at the Jerry's down Route One. "Philip, I didn't know you were _that_ hungry!" marveled Aerianne as he consumed an entire large pizza. "Just call me Audrey II," he smiled as leaned back, sated. "'Audrey II'?" "'Feed me Seymour, Feed me all night long!'" he quoted with a grin. Aerianne just shook her head. That afternoon, Philip unpacked. Aerianne helped him, after she had put her duffle bag of stuff back into her room. The books went back onto the shelves, clothes went back into drawers, files went back into cabinets, and the bed was remade. Finally, after several hours, Philip flopped into his bed with an exhausted sigh. Aerianne joined him. "Well, hello," he said with a smile as Aerianne snuggled next to him. "Well, now what?" "Unfortunately, a lot more. I've gotta get textbooks, notebooks, organize my papers, get my binders ready, prepare a resume," he stuck his tongue out at this, "and then do some review for Calc III..." "Calc III? I'm taking that," Aerianne interjected. "Oh? What section?" he asked with interest. "0201." "Oh, foof," he said as a small flash of disappointment crossed his face. "At least we can study together... Although now I doubt if we could ever study together again," he said with a grin. "I have a feeling you'd drive me to distraction." "No I wouldn't," she said in mock-protest, although her eyes and her sly smile said otherwise. "You know, you ought to get that smile registered as a weapon someday." "Perhaps I will." After this quick exchange, Philip pulled himself out of the bed reluctantly, and set to work on the tasks he had described. Aerianne stayed in his room a little longer, but then she got up too, since she needed to do some of the same things as he was doing. A quick kiss, and she departed for her own suite across the hall. That evening, after having dinner together at the Roy's in the Union, they watched Highlander (the series). Since it was _late_ at night (look, 10 pm is too late to be watching stuff if you need to get up at 7 am), and the TV was at the end of Philip's bed anyway, they sat in his bed and watched the episode. It was actually a pretty good episode, the one where a female immortal had sworn revenge on Richie. Aerianne especially liked the part where Duncan was teaching Richie how to use a sword, and the duel at the end. But finally, the show ended, and Philip got up to get changed for bed. He wasn't really surprised to see that Aerianne had stayed in the bed, but he decided to make sure, all the same (although, by this time, he was starting to look forward to it). "Um, Aeri, I _know_ we've discussed this before," he said with a smile, "But why are you sleeping here? You've got your own room; and besides, this _is_ only a twin mattress..." "Simple, silly... I'm comfortable here with you, and I don't feel like getting up. As for the size of the bed, I'm sure we'll figure something out," she said with her now-patented Sly Grin(tm). "Good point," he responded in kind. MONDAY, JANUARY 17 Philip woke up to the sound of the alarm. Sure, it wasn't a school day, but he needed to get into the habit fast, since it was starting tomorrow. Strangely enough, Aerianne was still asleep. In a curious case of deja-vu, she was clutching Little Pooh close to her. Philip just shook his head and sighed contentedly. Life was _very_ good, and he had a feeling that this semester would be even better. He smiled at the thought of it. He stretched back his arms and yawned, being careful not to hit Aerianne. He lay there for several more minutes, just watching Aerianne sleep and enjoying her closeness. Eventually, Aerianne began to stir. "Morning. How's life?" he smiled as she woke. "How many times do I have to keep telling you, you're _not_ Vaughn?" Aerianne said with a yawn. "Thank the gods for that," he grinned. "Although I do admit it would be fun to be able to walk in space without a suit." "You know what I mean." "Sorry," he apologized. "No problem." She sat up and stretched. "So, what's on tap for today?" "Actually, not much. Just finish setting up my folders, check in with MARS, get breakfast, and relax... Oh yeah, and Rahel should be coming in sometime today." "He's your roommate, right?" Philip nodded. "I wonder what he'd think about..." "About what?" Aeri asked innocently. Philip whopped her with a pillow. "You know what I mean." Aerianne giggled at Philip's serious expression. Philip and Aerianne stayed in his room until about seven that night, when Rahel, Philip's roommate, finally got back from his break. He entered the room, laden with his belongings, looked at the two playing on Philip's bed, and blinked. After about five seconds, he cleared his throat. Philip looked up in surprise. "Oh, hi, Rahel!" "So... How was your break?" he asked, looking at Philip, then at Aerianne, then at Philip again. "Oh, ok..." Philip wiggled his hand in a so-so gesture, although his eyes said otherwise. "I hear you had snow..." "Yeah, we did, but we managed to keep warm." "Riiight," said Rahel with a 'I'll take you at your word, but I really don't want to know' look. Philip spent the rest of Monday evening in Aeri's suite. For some strange reason, Rahel was uncomfortable with Aerianne around (gee, I wonder why?). So, he ended up watching Tekwar with Aeri and company in the suite's living room. But eventually it ended, and Philip got up to go across the hall. "You could stay here, you know," Aerianne said as he was getting up. "As much as I'd _love_ to, I can't. My alarm's over there, and besides," he said, looking over to where Aeri's three raptor roommates were fighting over the remote, "I don't think I could sleep knowing that those three were around." "That wouldn't be a problem... You'd be in _my_ room..." "That'd be fine, except for the little fact that I have _classes_ tomorrow," he said with a smile and a wiggling index finger. "Picky, picky," she said with a smile as she hugged him. "Well, goodnight, Aeri," he said at the door as he was about to leave. "Break a limb, tear a claw, die well." "Goodnight, Philip... You too." They kissed, and went to their respective suites for the night. TUESDAY, JANUARY 18 *RIIIIIIIING* *RIIIIIIIING* Philip woke up and picked up the phone. "Hello?" he yawned. "Philip?" his mother's voice replied. "Mommy? What are you doing up?" "Philip, Channel Five announced that College park was closed for today due to the snow." "They did? Thanks, Mommy," he said with a yawn. He hung up the phone, and returned to bed. But unfortunately, Philip was not one to trust just one person's report on school closings, so he turned on his tv at the lowest volume possible, and watched until Channel Five repeated the closings. Yes, the University of Maryland was closed due to snow and ice! "Well, no _wonder_," he muttered to himself sarcastically. "It rained _last_ night after the freezing rain fell, so what did they expect with temps below 32? Oh well, at least I won't have to lug all this stuff around," he said as he unloaded his backpack of his school books. However, now that he was awake, it was sort of pointless to go back to bed. Philip made his way over to Aerianne's suite, and let himself in. Her velociraptor suitemates were still asleep; he could hear the snores coming from the first double room in the hall. Aeri's door was ajar, and he eased himself into her room. She was still asleep, apparently not aware of the weather announcement. Smiling softly, he eased himself into the bed next to her. Once Aerianne awoke (with a surprised look from her and a grin from him), they sat in bed for a while just talking about life. But, eventually they realized that although staying in bed was a _very_ attractive option, it was also a very _impractical_ option. For one, it's sort of hard to get breakfast when you're stuck in bed. It's also hard to get dressed (though not impossible). However, once those tasks were taken care of, they decided to go to the computer lab in the hopes of it being open. But there was one problem. It was cold. _Really_ cold. Twenty degrees fahrenheit cold. To combat this Arctic weather, Philip was wearing his polar assault suit. He didn't even want to _think_ about what Trevor was going through in Pittsburgh. According to the weather, it was supposed to be below zero up there. Philip shivered despite himself. "Jeeze, Philip, you could fit two of you in there!" Aerianne commented as they prepared to leave the dorm. Indeed, his voluminous winter coat _was_ large, and he had to tie the waist tight when he put it on. "Yeah," he said with a chuckle, "but it keeps me _very_ warm." "Well," she said, sidling up to him, "_I_ could get in there with you... you'd be warm then," she smiled. "But we'd have trouble walking," he mock-protested, smiling in return. "Oh, you." She kissed his nose, which was the only thing she _could_ kiss. The rest of him was covered solid by coat, boots, scarf, gloves, jeans, shirt, hat, and sweater. Having finally bundled up, Philip and Aeri went outside. "Glaaah! Brightlight! Brightlight!" he exclaimed as he covered his eyes. The glare was impressive, and he reached inside his coat pocket for his clip-ons. Aerianne pulled out a nice pair of sunglasses from her trenchcoat pocket, and they walked to the PG2 computer lab. Well, considering all the snow, ice, and related precipitation on the ground, it would probably have been easier to ice skate to the lab. Easier, that is, if Philip had known how to ice skate, and if Aerianne had had any idea what ice skating was. "Will wonders never cease?" Philip proclaimed as he opened the PG2 doors. "It's open!" They looked around at the open, and empty, computer lab. "A gweep's dream come true! An empty lab, powerful computers, and the woman he loves at his side," he smiled. Aerianne softly elbowed him. "Ok, ok! 'and the man _she_ loves at _her_ side!" he chuckled. "That's better," she said with a sarcastic smile. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19 Philip relaxed in the Hoff theater, watching Jurassic Park with Aerianne. The administration, in their infinite wisdom, had closed school for the rest of the week, and the manager of the Hoff, in order to keep from having a mob of bored college students, had decided to give two free showings of the movie. During one of the (few) slow parts of the movie, Philip got up to relieve himself. When he got back to the theater, he was rather surprised (no, shocked) to find three velociraptors sitting in the aisle. Charles, Emerson, and Winchester (aka Charley, Emmy, and Winnie) turned their reptilian heads around and regarded their roommate's boyfriend. As this was not out of the ordinary (for them, at least), they returned their attentions to the screen. "Yay! Squish them good!" said Emmy as the T. Rex. approached the tour car on the movie screen. "Emmy, will you _stop_ rooting for the dinosaurs?" Philip insisted. "Yeah, and what if we don't?" retorted Winnie. "I'm going to... go back to my seat and pretend that you three aren't even here," Philip said sheepishly. "That's a good mammal," said Charley, patting Philip on the shoulder. "Where's Rahel?" Aerianne asked as they got back to his dorm room. "I guess he went home since school was cancelled." "So," she said, nuzzling up against Philip, "what are we going to do for the next two days?" Philip tried to give her a scolding look, but just couldn't bear to pass up this opportunity. "We'll think of something..." Wheel of morality, turn turn turn... [Due to the imposition of Senator Jesse Helms, in order to keep indecency out of this and all resulting stories, Thursday, January 20, and the events therein, have been censored. Use your imaginations, folks. -Ed.] FRIDAY, JANUARY 21 It was Friday, and, quite frankly, Philip Jeremy Moyer was bored. Modern science does not yet understand how this is possible. But anyway, he was, so he decided to do some doodling in his sketchbook. "Hey," Aeri said, looking at the finished drawing. "This is me!" "Well," he said, blushing, "It's not _quite_ you... I got the chin wrong, and some of the proportions aren't correct. I was mostly drawing from memory..." "Well, it's not _bad_. I mean, I can tell that it's me. I like it. I know," she said as she moved over to the doorway, "I'll pose for you!" She leaned against the doorway, arms crossed against her chest. "Wearing that?" he asked, not in reference to her state of dress (which actually was quite decent), but to the katana that hung at her side. Aerianne got a sly look on her face as she started to disrobe. "Well, if you want, I don't have to wear --" "NO! THAT'S ALRIGHT! REALLY!" Philip said in a state of near- panic. Aerianne glanced down to her waist as she restored her shirt to its regularly-scheduled position. "Oh, the *sword*..." 32) --- Buildup ------------------------------------------------------- "Stressed? I'm not stressed... I'm just a _complete_ and _utter_, _blithering_ *NERVOUS WRECK*!!!" -- Horse MONDAY, JANUARY 31 *BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!* *beep beep beep beep! beep beep beep beep!* *Beep Beep! Beep Beep!* Philip Moyer awoke slowly as the three alarms rang. He looked at the digital clock on the file cabinet next to his bed. "Seven o'clock," he muttered to himself as he got out of bed to turn off the alarms. Once that was done, he was awake, and seeing that he had nothing better to do, he got changed and ready for class. He put on his coat and his headphones, shouldered his backpack, and left the dorm for breakfast. <<>> His first class of the day was Math 241, aka Calc III. "What a way to start the week... A Monday with a two-hour math class..." After the class finished, Philip got up and proceeded for the outside, intent on going to the PG2 lab. However, as he was walking down the hall, he glanced at the Engineering Taco Bell. "Well, why not?" he asked himself as he walked over. It was 11, and the line was short, so Philip got in line and bought lunch. 6 tacos and a coke. Not the most nutritious of lunches, but humans had to eat, and besides, Philip _liked_ Taco Bell tacos. He made his way to a table and began to eat. "Aeri!" Philip noticed her enter, and waved her over. "What are you doing here?" "Eating lunch, same as you. Got a problem with that?" "None at all, none at all," he said with a wan smile. He sighed as Aerianne sat down. "'Why so pale and wan fond lover; prithee why so pale?'" she asked as he sighed again. "You've been listening to PDQ again, I see." She nodded, and Philip sighed once more. "Stress." "Hmm?" she asked as she sipped her Coke. "Well, I've got to go to a SUEP meeting, I've got to make a resume for SUEP, I've gotta start writing a program for 420 (for whatever the hell a MX-CIF quadtree is), gotta do the _written_ assignment for 420, finish reading _The Orestia_ for a quiz tomorrow, do my math homework, study for a math quiz, check my theatre citations, get resume paper, buy valentines, and I think my walkman is dying," he finished in one breath. "Glaah?" "_Exactly_." Philip's shoulders slumped. "I have a bad feeling about this week in general." "Well, I know something that should cheer you up," she said. "What?" he asked, curious. "Well," she moved over to his side of the table, "Rufus has been asking where you've been; he's got some things he's anxious to show you." "I'd love to, Aeri; but, like I said, I've got all this other stuff to do... I'm not sure if I can find the time..." "You could come after that meeting of yours... when does it end?" "Four." "There you go!" she exclaimed, hugging him. Philip was startled for a moment, and then hugged her back. After the SUEP meeting, Philip met Aerianne, and they walked over to the lab. As they entered, Philip was surprised to see how much of it that Rufus had taken over. At least half of the lab space had been taken over by the equipment "borrowed" from FOWL, as well as a mini- garage and a testing area. Philip spotted Gordo working on some sort of servomotor, and Rufus was hunched over, looking under the hood of the Citation. Gordo noticed them enter, and got up. "Good day, Philip! Welcome back to the 'salt mines'!" "Oh, hi Gordo," Philip said halfheartedly. "What seems to be the problem, scholar?" Gordo said, coming over. "Life." "Philip's been stressed lately," Aerianne said as an explanation. "Well, in cases such as these, one must always think of the alternative," Gordo said to Philip as he clapped a strong hand on his shoulder. "Heh, good point," Philip replied with a half smile as he straightened his glasses. "But you don't have to worry about me going _that_ far... just look at who I have to live for," he said, grinning and looking at Aerianne. "Why, thank you!" Aeri smiled as well, and curtsied. "Heh," was all that Gordo had to say. "Well, as you can see, Rufus and I have not been quiescent during your absence." "Oh, how so?" Philip and Aerianne said simultaneously by accident, prompting a surprised look from both of them, which soon broke out into giggling. "Ah... Well, we continued to work on the Cyclones... Horse had a few suggestions, as well as the 'Sisters Velociraptor'," he said as they walked over to the central work area, "and Rufus continues to try to make a viable fusion reactor..." "Good luck," Philip said with a sarcastic smile. "Hey, Philip!" Rufus looked up from where he was working. "What in the name of the egg happened to the Citation? It looks like it was in a battle!" "It was," Philip said with a shrug as he came over. "Trust me, it was _not_ fun..." Philip cut himself off as he noticed Rufus's glasses for the first time. "What is it?" asked Rufus, perplexed. "Well... Since when did your glasses _glow_?" he asked, pointing to Rufus's round wire-frame glasses. He could see several glowing lines and what looked like text on the lenses. There were also several attachments to the frames themselves, and a small cable that plugged into... his head? "Jeezus, you _cybered_ yourself?!" Aerianne exclaimed, mirroring Philip's reaction. "Well, I was experimenting with the cyberware systems that we had recovered from the FOWL outpost, and I decided that this was the best way to go." "But..But.. how did you get that interface jack installed?" Philip asked. "I simply asked the Raptor Sisters if they had any previous experience... it turns out that Charley had watched the gleepians while they were installing the 'ware in their lesser cousins. And it wasn't much of a surgical procedure itself, she just implanted the jack and the neural wires "grew" to interface with my brain..." Rufus was about to go into a blow-by-blow of how his cyberware had been installed when Philip cut him off. "Rufus? I was wondering... could you do that with plastic frames?" "I don't see why not... It might even give me some extra space to mount some new sensors I'm developing..." "Cool! I'll bring my spare pair over when I can get the chance. But," he said, pointing to Rufus's glasses, "I hope that you can make a set that _doesn't_ require hardwiring your head." "That shouldn't be a problem. I'll just use some of the neural sensors that we used for the Cyclones." Philip released the breath he was holding. "Now, what was that you were saying about a battle?..." "We need something that's strong and tough, and large enough to hold many weapons," said Aerianne after Philip had finished recounting his winter adventures. Well, the ones that were fit for general knowledge, anyway. "It would seem that a UPS truck would fulfill your needs perfectly," stated Gordo as a suggestion. "Nah, it's already been done -- I have a better idea..." Philip said with a smile. In FOWL HQ, Ray was overseeing the first phase of his world conquest plan. The initial computer taps into the UMD computer system had gone unnoticed, and through them, he had started embezzling, redirecting supplies, and building up his industrial base, all disguised as campus purchase orders and the like. The campus didn't even _care_ that last week, a shipment of plasma rifles had been delivered as "creative persuasion enhancers" for a Psychology class, even though the instructor in question hadn't even placed the order or received the shipment. And as for the "inevitable" inquiries into the changed campus policies by the Student, Campus, and City governments? Well, Ray had taken care of that too. In the previous city council and student council elections, a puppet candidate controlled by Ray had been placed on the ballot. And due to the general apathy of the voters involved, their placement into positions of relative power had been assured. As far as his buildup was concerned, everything had been going as planned. Except for two things. The first was a little problem with personnel. Due to an accident in the officer's lounge, his 'ace in the hole', Fred, was no longer available for his needs. Namely because he was dead. Ray immediately afterwards ordered that all transmissions of the sitcom "Roseanne" to his base blocked, to ensure that such an accident didn't happen again. But the loss of one of his powerhouses was unfortunate. Even now, Ray's agents were searching around the globe for a suitable replacement. But this could be dealt with. The second problem was -much- more serious. The disruption of his attempts to destabilize the campus, and the appearance of a group that was apparently the _cause_ of the disruptions, troubled Ray. Although they didn't appear to have any true organization, the potential was there. They didn't know who their enemy _was_, but if the current trend continued, they would soon form up to a true fighting force, and defeat his minions. Ray mused to himself. He smiled to himself, and allowed himself a small draw on his cigarette. "Mr. Ray?" asked a voice. Ray turned from the large monitor in his office to look at Korzon. "Yes, Korzon? What is it?" Ray said smoothly. "Do we have any more information on our little... problem?" Ray asked of Korzon, who sweated. The failure of his biotechs to protect their labs has not looked favorably on Korzon; he was little more than a gopher for Ray now, the rest of his gleepian scientists and troopers placed under other commanders. The biotechs who had fled were now janitors, 5th class, and Korzon knew if he wasn't careful, he would join them. "Ummm.. no sir. All the Felizian ships were destroyed, and there's no trace of their recording devices. As for the location of the 'problem', we've been able to narrow down the source to somewhere within the Greater DC Metropolitan area." "That is over 500 square kilometers, is it not?" "Yes, sir." Korzon nodded cautiously. "Very well. Dispatch spies to cover the major bases and airfields, as well as the schools. If any anomalies are detected, have them report to me immediately." "The schools, sir?" Korzon asked, confused. "Do I need to repeat myself, Korzon?" replied Ray with the smile of a shark about to feed. "Uh... No, sir." "Good..." Ray turned in his chair to face the monitor again, which Korzon took as his cue to leave. "Oh, one more thing, Korzon..." Korzon froze in his steps (or he would have, if he had feet). "Yes, Sir?" "Have you arranged our little surprise for the university's systems?" "Sir, it has been done." Ray smiled. "Excellent...." In the basement of the CSS building, computers hummed. Status lights blinked, tapes spun, and disks stored the megabytes of data that the students used. One particular computer began to hum erratically, and soon the other computers began to hum as well, filling the room with a cacophony of disk drives spinning. And then it was silent. Philip left South Campus Dining Hall hand-in-hand with Aerianne, the two of them heading towards Worcester Lab. Supper had been interesting (Philip usually ate pizza, but Aeri had 'convinced' him to expand his eating horizons), and they were now going to the lab to check their mail and news. Philip was happier than he had been earlier that day, probably due to a combination of factors. One, Rufus was coming up with some new cool techie-stuff. Two, Aerianne was there with him. All in all, perhaps he had been panicking a bit much. He probably _would_ get all his homework done. And anyway, if he didn't, Aeri would be sure to twist his arm to keep him from procrastinating... Aerianne looked at Philip as he laughed, putting his hand behind his head. "What is it?" she asked with a curious smile. "Oh, nothing," he said as he returned his arm to his side, and then on impulse, grabbed Aerianne in a hug. "_Nothing_, eh?" she said with a smile in her voice. "You'd better start explaining these in-jokes to me, or else I'll have to force them out of you..." "You wouldn't dare!" he laughed. Aerianne just continued to smile. "You wouldn't..." he said, his bravado starting to fade. Aerianne just winked as they entered the lab. Philip and Aerianne made their way towards the NeXTstations, and took stations across from each other in one of the little aisles. Peculiarly, there was no-one at the NeXTstations, but there were plenty of people at the Macs and IBMS. Philip shrugged, and sat down. Philip typed his name and password, and the looked over at Aeri's station. The Workspace Manager had already started up on her machine, and she was pulling up NewsGrazer to check Rec.Arts.Anime. Smiling, Philip turned back to his machine. Strangely enough, his account hadn't appeared yet. It was annoying, but not unheard of; in a few seconds to minutes, the system would finally realize that someone was trying to log on, and route the appropriate data to the station. Philip thought as the File Manager appeared. And then he blinked. There was nothing there. No files, no data, no folders, no nothing. Just a small house icon with his name under it, and the NeXT icon next to it. The application dock to the side was full, but that didn't help him. "What the..." He checked his account again. And again. A sick feeling came across his stomach. "K'HEST!" he exclaimed, hitting the side of the computer stall. Several other users glared at him. "What is it?" asked Aerianne, moving over to his NeXTstation. "Some K'hesting idiot wiped my account!" he replied vehemently. "_What_?" She leaned over him to look at the file viewer. Indeed, there was no trace of any files in his directory- just an open House icon that represented his home directory. "Have you checked pmoyer.backup?" "Good idea." He clicked on the aforementioned directory. "Shit!" he spat out in a rare burst of profanity. "The frigging idiot even got the backup dir!" "Calm down, Philip; calm down. It's not the end of the world as we know it-- look!" she said, clicking on the preferences icon and shifting to Expert mode. "You've still got your dot-files; you still have access." "Yeah, bloody good _that_ does me, without any files." "Well, think about it this way: It could have been worse." She smiled at Philip, who didn't look convinced. "And _how_, pray tell, can you be sure of that?" "You could have lost _me_," she shrugged. "Yeah, but _only_ if you were an accidental product of a hyper- advanced computer system with the ability to create inanimate objects on purpose and living objects by accident. Seeing as you haven't 'derezzed' in the past couple of days, I can sort of discount that theory," Philip replied with a sarcastic smile. "At least I hadn't started any of those new projects, or I'd really be up a creek." "Good point... Also, you've got disk backups, right?" "Yeah... but they're for all my older stuff... khest," he muttered again, "my story was backed up four days ago- I've made changes." "You've got printouts." "Ah, once again, you show me the light at the end of the tunnel, and I can see that it's not a train. Thanks, Aeri... I owe you one." He gave her a hug, which she returned (with interest). "Even so, I've _still_ got a bad feeling about this..." Peter Gordon was working a late shift in PG2's first aider station when he looked up from his NeXTstation, which had just shut down inexplicably. There was a line of people outside the dutch door. A _long_ line. The fact that the first-aider phone was ringing off the hook didn't help. 33) --- Valentines ---------------------------------------------------- "Your mood and your robe/Are both a deep blue, You'd bet that Job/Had nothing on you, But don't forget that when you get to heaven you'll be blessed Yes, it's all for the best!" -- Jesus of Nazareth, "It's all for the best", GODSPELL <<>> Indeed, that week was one of the most interesting ones he had had all semester. And considering that it was still early in the semester, it didn't bode well for the rest of the marking period. What made it interesting was the fact that it was a study in contrasts. A new OR story had come out. That was good. However, the time he spent reading the story took up the time that he could have used for homework. Therefore he was up all night finishing written homework for 420. Fortunately, there was a TAS meeting that weekend, so he had something to look forward to. However, this little plus was nullified by the fact that the CSC had started charging for printing. 10 cents per page. Philip couldn't see how it would cut down on multiple copies and printer usage, since the campus copiers were _twelve_ cents a page, but he knuckled down and got a Terrapin Express account to hold the money. The next week was much a repeat of the previous, but with "minor" variations. For one, a new UF:FI story came out, which was nice. But this little good thing was nullified by the little matter of the weather. It snowed. Twice in one week. The wednesday math class was cancelled due to the snow, as well as his honors class. Although he had had a written review due in the honors class (which was now postponed to next week, which was good), this also meant that his math class was becoming even _further_ behind than last week. And considering that a math exam was scheduled for friday, that would make it even harder to study, because Philip had been so hoping that he could ask some questions to the teacher. Fortunately, it snowed on Friday. But unfortunately, that meant that the libraries were closed as well, making it impossible to do research for Theatre 111 that he had put off. And getting behind on the research projects for Theatre history was something that Philip _desperately_ wanted to avoid. Fortunately, Sharon had been sick on Thursday, so that maybe the project would be delayed. But it still meant that Philip had to deal with stress that he didn't want to deal with. And to top it all off, the Erasable Inc. workshop that had been scheduled for that weekend had been cancelled as well. Fortunately, it was postponed to the next week, but that still didn't make him feel any better. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16 Philip sat in his dorm room, reading _Everyman_ and trying to figure out what he'd do for the rest of the week. He still had the Quadtree program to write, and readings for Honors, plus his still- unfinished math homework. Oh yeah, and a written assignment for his other compsci class. Philip muttered as he turned a page in his play book. he consoled himself. He reviewed his calendar. Yes, it was. But Aeri _hadn't_ asked him what it meant... "Oh great," he muttered out loud. "_Not only_ do I forget that I have a girlfriend and owe her something for Valentine's day; but I've got all this frigging work to do, so I _can't_ do anything! "AAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Philip began to apply his head to his desk. Aerianne sat in her dorm room, humming to herself as she wrapped the gift she had purchased for Philip. "He's going to be so _surprised_!" she exclaimed to herself, which got an interesting glance from Winnie as she passed Aeri's single. However, Aerianne ignored the glance, and finished wrapping the package, topping it off with a red ribbon the color of her hair. She picked up the box and got up, and whistled to herself as she approached Philip's door. she smiled to herself as she knocked on his door. POUND POUND POUND Knock, Knock POUND POUND Knock, Knock POU-- ? Philip's head stopped in mid-POUND when his brain finally realized that someone was knocking on his suite's door. Wondering who it could be, he got up, rearranged his bandanna to hide his bruise, and went to open the door. "Happy Valentine's Day, Philip!" Aerianne exclaimed with a broad smile as she handed the gift to him. "UhErAh... Thank you!" Philip managed to stutter out. It was the only thing he _could_ say. An awkward silence of several seconds ensued as Philip's mind, once again pressed to perform beyond mortal limits, tried to figure out what to do next. Aeri looked back at him with a smile on her face, apparently totally oblivious as to why he was so apprehensive. Philip's mind reported. "Wow, thank you, Aerianne!" Philip said, beads of sweat trickling down his face. "Just hold on a second, and I'll get you your gift...." And before Aerianne could react, he had closed the door. A little bit harder than necessary, to be sure, but he was currently panicking, so it was understandable. Aerianne blinked as Philip's door suddenly slammed in her face. she asked herself. This was odd, even for Philip. Usually Philip left the door open when he was talking with someone or getting something for them, and he _certainly_ wouldn't go so far as to slam the door in their face. Curious, she tried the doorknob. Locked. Undaunted, she tried knocking once again. "Philip, what's going on?" she asked through the door. She could hear various things being turned about. "Oh, nothingnothingnothingatall!" "?" Philip continued to perspire as he searched his room for something, _anything_ that he could use as a gift for Aerianne. However, most of the things in his room Aerianne _knew_ were his, so they were out of the question. Then his eyes caught on the new walkman. he asked himself for a second. he answered himself. Having made that decision, he then looked for something to put it in. He found a box that he had been given earlier, put the walkman and instructions, etc., inside, and then taped the box shut. "Not pretty, but it'll have to do," he said to himself as he approached the door. Aerianne looked up as Philip opened the door. He looked even more dishevelled than he usually did, and he held a plain brown box in his hands. "Uh... here," he said as he handed the box to her. "Happy Valentine's day," he stuttered out as she took it. Aerianne took the box in both hands and unwrapped it (not hard to do, mind you), and looked at the walkman inside. "Cool!" she said as she clipped the walkman to her belt and put on the headphones. "I've never had one of these before! It's even got bass boost! Thanks, Philip!" she exclaimed, embracing him suddenly in a "tackle hug". "Yrmwelcomph!" he managed to get out as she continued to hug him. "Oh!" Aeri said as she remembered something, and broke off the hug. "Aren't you gonna open _your_ gift?" she asked the still slightly overwhelmed Philip. "Huh?... Oh, yeah, sure!" he said, remembering. "Berightback." He went back to his room, and brought out the box that she had given him. "I hope you like it," Aeri said as she hovered over him as he fumbled off the wrappings on the box. "I had a heck of a time trying to decide what you'd want, and then you were complaining about how your--" Aerianne's words went unheard as Philip finished opening the gift and stared. Inside the box, nestled on a nice pad of pink tissue paper, was a walkman. The exact same model that he had "given" Aerianne. Unbidden, tears came to his eyes, and he appeared to be ready to cry outright. "Philip?" Aeri asked. "What is it? What's wrong?" "Nothing's wrong," Philip said, his apparent sobs turning into laughter. "Everything's just PERFECT!" he exclaimed with a smile as he grabbed Aerianne in a ferocious embrace and kissed her. "Gee, glad you feel that way!" Aeri attempted to say between kisses, before Philip gave her a kiss that made all the others pale in comparison. "Oh, and Philip?" Aerianne smiled as their lips finally parted (for air, if nothing else). "Hmmm?" Philip replied, stealing yet another kiss from Aerianne. "Just so you knowmmmm..." Aerianne said as she stole the kiss back. "Mmmyes?" Philip attempted to reply. Aerianne's eyes gleamed as she said, "You'd better not forget Valentine's Day _next_ year..."