(xi.)

Lorelei sat, surrounded by half-empty coffee cups, and Pez wrappers.

The cold glow of the computer screen was the only light in the room.

She turned; looked back, to the old Grandfather clock in the dining room. 2:26.

She faced the computer again, rubbed her eyes, and kept reading.

Creak.

"G'morning," she mumbled, half-heartedly.
"You're still awake?" Ashleigh asked.
"Yeah. I... I couldn't sleep," she admitted, quitting Internet Explorer. "So, I wandered downstairs, thought I'd catch up on the news."
"Which news do you follow?"
"I beg your pardon?"

Ashleigh straightened her robe. "Well, there's a whole major thing going on right now, not too many people know about it yet, but there are going to be Senate Hearings for a lot of people."

"I think I already know where this is going. The Joint Commision on International and Interstate Espionage is all kinds of, 'Oh, you can't do that!', and now they're--"
"Wait, you know what I'm talking about?"
"Yeah, actually."

Lorelei checked the coffee cups, to see which was the warmest. The one with the cows was pretty warm, but... oh, the Hollywood mug was still pretty warm...

"Do you want more coffee? Like, hot coffee?"
"Actually, I don't drink coffee. These are, um, well, they had hot cocoa in them, before."
"Would you like some more cocoa, then?"
"No, no thanks, I'm pretty wired."
"Oh, okay."

Ashleigh began to head toward the kitchen.

"So, wait, Ash, how do you know about the Joint Commision?"
"Oh, well, I know about it because I used to be in a private company, that kept tabs on everyone else."
"Omnivion?"
"How'd you...? oh."

[chapter xii]