Plutonium's Revenge by Jonathon Waterman - HTML preview

You Don’t Say

Chapter Thirty-Four

Over a month had passed since Paul and Tim’s freshman year at Gibsonville had come to an end. However, instead of playing outside, riding their horses and enjoying the warm summer breeze blowing throughout the countryside, this peculiar afternoon both teenagers were sitting on the floor of Tim’s bedroom, their backs against the side of Tim's bed, watching Tech TV - via the Internet.

“Can you believe it?” Tim said, clambering to his feet seconds after this week’s episode concluded.  “Krypton actually filed a Chapter 11.”

“Yep.” Paul grinned. “And hopefully after they reorganize, they’ll think twice before they steal somebody’s game and try to sell it as their own.” He then slightly tilted his head. “But I do have to admit, Tim. I’m surprised that none of their programmers discovered my Golden Rule Trojan. I guess hiding it in the primary battleship’s self-destruction module was a good way to fool them.”

“I agree,” Tim replied, taking a seat in front of his computer desk, so he could switch his computer’s display settings to the system's monitor. “It was.” He then selected the envelope-shaped icon designed to access Windows Live Mail. “My guess is … they must have been in such a hurry to convert our game into Alien Warfare; they didn’t examine its code close enough to realize that if a user selected the main battleship’s self-destruct button, it would destroy the computer's memory, video card, system board and processor.”

Paul laughed at the thought of Krypton’s sudden surprise. “You know, Tim. I actually have you to thank for that idea.”

“Oh?” Tim twisted his torso, so he could face him. “How’s that?”

“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten the scheme you and my mother pulled last Christmas?”

“Oh, that?” Tim chuckled. “That was really cool. Before then, I had never tried to destroy a PC via WiFi. Who would have guessed it could have been done – especially since your computer didn't have an Internet connection yet?”

“I know.” Paul briefly frowned, then got to his feet and strolled toward Tim’s computer desk.

“You’ve Got Mail,” All of a sudden blared from Tim’s computer speakers.

Paul immediately looked at his friend as if puzzled. “Are you using AOL?”

“No.” Tim replied with a shake of his head as he left-clicked his mouse, so he could open the email he had just received. “I use Windows Live Mail … but I changed my system’s mail notifier so it would use AOL’s sound bite. By the way, look who this is from.”

Paul leaned over his friend's shoulder and took a close look. “Who’s that? I don’t recognize the sender.”

“It’s Reverend Graham. Our Pastor,” Tim answered. “And according to this, he just got back from Conover. Apparently, he drove over there to see how Butch’s adjusting to boot camp.”

Paul straightened himself up and then took a step backwards. “Oh? I would imagine he’s doing okay.”

Tim glanced at his friend, before resuming reading the Pastor’s lengthy email. “No. Not according to this. Evidently, Butch doesn’t like taking orders. And because of the trouble he’s causing, the camp’s director's about to kick him out unless he starts flying right.”

“You’re kidding? Doesn’t Butch realize if he messes up, he’ll get sent to prison?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he’s forgotten or just doesn’t care. Either way, it seems like the adventures regarding our local gangster hasn’t ended like we thought they had.”

“Oh really?” Paul presented Tim with a look that expressed; he really didn’t know what to say.

“By the way,” Tim continued since his friend didn’t seem to have anything to add. “Reverend Graham also mentioned that Stan and his gang kept their promise and brought him Gibsonville's football trophy. Now, our Pastor wants to know if we want to be the ones to return it or just let him to do it.”

Paul hesitated. “I don’t know. What do you think? I really couldn’t care less about the fame. As long as it's back in the trophy case, I'm happy. Don’t you agree?”

Tim nodded. “Fine with me. I’ll go ahead and send a reply letting Reverend Graham know he can do it the next time he’s in town.”

*****

“Hey, boys,” Joe Hegler greeted several minutes afterwards, upon entering his son’s bedroom. “Did you hear the news about Krypton Software?”

“Sure have, Dad. But do you think they’ll be out of business long?”

Joe frowned and shook his head. “No. They’ll probably be out of commission for only two or three months. Soon afterwards, they’ll be back in the software business again. … However,” Joe then added, before pausing. “That’s not really what I came in here for.”

“You didn’t?” Tim lifted an eyebrow.

“No. I came here to see if you could get in touch with all the other computer club members.”

“I guess I could. But why should I? We’re not going to have anything to discuss until school starts.”

Raising a handful of official-looking documents he was holding his left hand, “Well, boys,” he said, smiling. “I have an announcement. Since Alien Warfare is permanently off the market and Krypton Software is temporarily out of business, Titan Industries has decided to use Plutonium’s Revenge as our top-selling game this upcoming holiday season. … Therefore, I’m going to need all the Gibsonville School computer club members to stop by so we can sign some contracts.”

“Contracts?” Both Tim and Paul beamed. “So how much are we going to get off this one, Dad?”

Joe gazed at his son, and his lips transformed into an ear-to-ear grin as he placed his hand on top of Tim's shoulder. “That all depends, boys. But according to the figures in these documents, the person who has contributed the least will be walking home with no less than a cool fifty thousand dollars – and it only gets better from there.”

“Wow!”

THE END

Thanks for reading Plutonium's Revenge, and please keep watch for my future novels.

Also, for more information on items referenced, but not fully explained in this novel, please read Plutonium’s Revenge prequel, The Question. It’s available either FREE or at a low cost at a number of outlets like Amazon, Barnes and Nobel, and Lulu.com.

JW

 A Personal Request

Today, most people determine if they are interested in a novel by reading the reviews others left.

If you enjoyed Plutonium’s Revenge, please take a few minutes to stop by wherever you obtained this eBook and leave a review.  Your sharing your positive opinion of this novel will be greatly appreciated.

JW