RESCUE
ME!
by
CQB
Chapter 2
The Chapters
“What was that?” Joe asked, cautiously opening his eyes and peering at the screen.
“I don’t know,” Frank said as he tapped the keys. “This is weird. Nothing is responding.”
“Maybe we should just shut it down,” Joe suggested.
“Yes, maybe you’re right.” Frank clicked the curser on the ‘shut down computer’ button, commanding the machine to shut down. Nothing happened.
“This is freaky, Frank. I’ll just pull the plug,” Joe said, reaching under the desk to grab the power cord.
PLEASE STOP!
“Joe! Wait,” Frank cried, peering unbelievably at the monitor.
Joe looked up. His eyebrows raised in surprise. He looked at Frank. “What’s going on?”
“I-I’m not sure, Joe.”
HELP ME FRANK!
HELP ME JOE!
“Ah…how does it know our names?” Joe asked, nervously. “I’ve never seen a game start like this before.”
“Let me ask it,” Frank replied. He typed: Who are you and how do you know our names?
I NEED YOUR HELP.
Again, Frank typed: Who are you?
WAIT. I NEED TO CHANGE THIS.
Frank and Joe exchanged a puzzled glance. The machine made a few strange noises, clicking and beeping. Again, the boys thought about shutting down the computer, but now their curiosity was aroused.
THERE. NOW YOU CAN SPEAK TO ME.
I AM NOW PROGRAMMED FOR VOICE MODULATION.
“You can hear our voices?” Frank asked.
YES.
“This is crazy,” Joe commented, shaking his blond head. “It’s like this game is…alive!”
THIS IS NOT A GAME.
PLEASE HELP ME!
“This is too weird for me,” Frank said as he tried again to shut the computer down.
“It’s not responding. Unplug it, Joe.” Joe yanked the power cord out of the outlet. The screen went blank.
“That was totally strange,” Joe said as he sat back in his chair, staring at the black screen.
“You said…wait,” Frank looked at the screen of the monitor and blinked. It couldn’t be.
Joe must have been thinking the same thing, because he checked to make sure it was still unplugged. It was.
“Battery back-up,” Frank muttered, clicking the mouse and tapping the keys, but the laptop wouldn’t respond to his commands. The small flicker of light in the center of the black screen began to grow. Suddenly, there was another burst of bright light, just like before.
PLEASE!
HELP ME!
The two Hardy brothers stared at each other, and then turned to face the monitor screen again. Frank lifted the machine and looked in the battery storage area. It was empty.
“This isn’t running on batteries, Joe.”
“So what do we do now?”
“No more playing games,” Frank said in a determined voice.
“What are you going to do?”
“First, I want to know who, or what, we’re dealing with here.”
“Okay, Frank. Go for it.”
“How can we help you if we don’t know who you are?” Frank cautiously questioned, facing the screen.
MY NAME IS
TIMOTHY GANTZ.
“Wait a minute,” Frank said slowly. “I know that name!”
“So fill me in,” Joe asked.
Frank crossed the room and began digging through a neat stack of magazines on his bookshelf. “Aha! Here it is!”
“What? What did you find?”
Frank handed the magazine to his younger brother. The cover story on the Computer News was about a gifted computer designer named Timothy Gantz.
“I knew I’d heard that name before,” Frank said toward the monitor. “Gantz is a genius!”
THANK YOU.
BUT THERE IS SOMETHING
YOU SHOULD KNOW.
“Yeah,” Joe stated, “like the fact that he’s dead.”
“What?” Frank asked, turning to face his brother.
“He’s dead, Frank. That’s what the article is about; a great designer that died prematurely. This is a recent edition; it says he died three weeks ago. Police say it was a suicide.”
“How can...what is a dead guy doing in my new computer?” Frank glared at the screen and ran his hand through his dark hair.
YES. I AM DEAD,
BUT I STILL NEED YOUR HELP.
“This is getting crazier by the minute,” Joe said.
“Okay. There’s a dead guy in my computer,” Frank said in a monotone voice.
Both Hardy boys jumped at the sound of the doorbell chiming.
“Oh man!” Joe glanced at his watch, “That’s got to be ‘Ness and Callie!”
“The party!” Frank cried. He looked at his laptop and bit his lip.
“Go answer the door, Joe. Bring the girls up here.”
“Are you going to tell them about the ghost in your computer?”
“Ghost, huh?” Frank raised his eyebrow and grinned.
TECHNICALLY, JOE IS CORRECT.
“Ha! Check out your laptop, bro!” Joe teased.
“Go get the girls, Joe.”
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Disclaimer
The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The authors have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.