Chapter 1 Beginnings

“Tonight will be the last night that the Leonids will be visible, so this is our last chance to see them for quite some time.” said the News reporter.

It was always like this around here. Here being a small town in the middle of nowhere, there just wasnt much to keep everyone occupied. Sure there was a bowling alley and pool hall, but that was only fun for a while. So the residents of Hills county California either became drunks or online Nerds. So whenever there was something that the town of Paradise could somehow connect to the world, then it was a huge event. Hence the meteor shower that was ending tonight was making a big fuss with the adults of the town, all 200 of them. The Teenagers couldnt care less, they’d get to see it anytime they wanted, all they had to do was download a video off of the Internet. But for a few of them, even that didnt interest them.

James Ben Joe and Paul were the latter uninterested nerds. All of them knew just enough about computers to use, install, and troubleshoot just about anything that involved computers. Along with being near master gamers they each had other interests.

James was a typical Mechanic type, he spent most of his time working on his 65 mustang, James could take the entire engine apart and put it back together faster than all of the guys at the local auto shop. Mostly because they fell into the drunkard category of the town, he was still a pretty darn good mechanic. Most of the people who knew him went to him instead of the repair shop. But after dark he booted up his computer and joined the others online.

Ben was the calm listener guy who wasnt really good at anything. It was near impossible to get him to become angry or sad, he was either expressionless or smiling. Most of this was due to his addiction to Star Trek, ike most Trekkies he idolized Mr. Spock and growing up had tried to imitate him. He did like to design things in his head, most of them he coulnd get to work. But being a bad imitation of Mr. Spock, a science officer, he enjoyed science and dreamed up some devious and mostly deadly weapons.

Joe was the shortest of the group. But was intellectually brilliant, but was more interested in games and Japanese weapons than actual schoolwork. Joe was the fastest and hardest to suprise with anything. He was always practicing with his Katana and Wakazashi whenever he wasnt playing any video game he could get his hands on. The best way to describe Joe is barely controlled Psychotic Beserker. That is, if he actually ever lost enough of his cool to beat up whatever Jock decided to pick on him. These events usually ended badly for Joe, he’d get suspended, the Jock or whatever fool would end up with a broken nose and near severe injuries. Never enough to get admitted to a hospital, but always bad enough that Joe became a feared hero in the school for a couple of weeks.