"Robert A. Metzger - Quad-World" - читать интересную книгу автора (Metzger Robert)

A power outage.

That had to be it. No powerтАФno lights. I nodded to myself, banging my head against the window. That
was the answer. I had the flu, and there had been some sort of monstrous power outage. I could rest
now. It all made sense. I stared out into the dark.

Think you moron!

The voice echoed in the back of my head.

The Pacific Coast Highway should be a sea of cars. Cars have headlights and taillights.

I smiled. Of course. The answer was obvious. The road must be closed. There had probably been
another damn rock slide that had shut down all four lanes. Suddenly all the pieces came together. There
must have been an earthquake. Just as the flu had nailed me and I had passed out, an earthquake had hit.
It had knocked the power out and rock slides had closed the highway. It even explained the state of the
conference room.

What timing. I never got sick. But the day some killer flu snuck up on me and kicked me square in the
ass had to be the same day that тАЬthe big oneтАЭ hit.

Carefully walking back to the table, I dropped into a chair. I would wait until someone returned for me.
Wrapping my arms around my chest, and trying not to cough, I closed my eyes.

Pzzzzt!

Reflexes tossed me out of the chair and threw me onto the floor. Rolling on my shoulder, and feeling no
pain, I came to my feet. My body was crouched low, my hands reaching forward, and my fingers flexing.
I felt the wall at my back.

Lights were on.

Sparks shot out from the wiring of the dangling bank of fluorescents. The arcing and hissing wiring had
been what had startled me.

Standing, I could feel that my head was almost clear. For the first time since waking, I was able to take a
deep breath without my lungs burning. Smoke began to drift down from somewhere in the ceiling.
Trotting over, totally amazed at how well I was feeling, I went toward the door and ran my hand along
the wall in the direction of the light switch. If I killed the power, it might just stop whatever was smoking
in the ceiling.

The light switch by the door was gone.

Every Tuesday morning for the past three years I had flicked on that light switch.

I suddenly felt dizzy.

тАЬWhere's the goddamned light switch?тАЭ I leaned against the wall, feeling hot and flushed. The fever was
on me again.