The Only Ones by Aaron Starmer Page B

wall. He took it down and looked at it closely. It was about the size of a fisherman’s tackle box. Three sides of the block were covered in writing. The fourth side was basically a door, with a small handle and keyhole. He began reading.
    KELVIN RICE
    Kelvin Rice was the founder of Xibalba. He
lived here on and before the Day, but he
never told anyone what Xibalba was called
before the Day. By the time everyone else
got here, its signs had been destroyed, and
evidence of its past removed. Kelvin was
the only person in Xibalba who didn’t have
an Arrival Story, but he began the tradition
of sharing Arrival Stories whenever a
Forgotten appeared. He also created the
Ring of Penance and it is believed that he
had kissed upward of fourteen girls. He
loved eating peanuts, and Chet Buckley
cooked them for him in a peanut roaster
near his greenhouse. In the days following
the Collapse, it was decided that Kelvin
should be banished for two months to the
Ring of Penance. Many loved the irony of it,
but Kelvin
    A knock on the door interrupted Martin’s reading.
    “Excuse me for a sec.” Felix made his way around thestrings until he reached the door. He turned the lock slowly. “Username?” he said.
    A voice came back: “You know who.”
    “Username!” Felix insisted.
    “You got island boy in there?”
    “Yes I do,” Felix said, “but I will require a username and password. Rules are rules.”
    The door flew open, knocking Felix to the ground. Henry stood there with a rifle slung over his back.
    “Forgot my username and password,” Henry said. “How ’bout you email ’em to me?”

—— 7 ——
The Marble
    “M artin!” Darla exclaimed, stepping into the room from behind Henry. “You’re out and about and surfing the web. Good for you.”
    “Good morning, Darla,” Martin said as he hung Kelvin Rice’s block back on its hook.
    “That Kelvin’s page?” Henry asked.
    “It is,” Martin said.
    “Beautiful,” Darla said. “Exactly what we came for.”
    Henry hurried around the strings, his rifle dangerously close to getting snagged. Darla put a hand out to Felix and helped him to his feet.
    “I cannot let any joker in off the street. Passwords are a requirement,” Felix told her.
    “This is important, Fee,” Darla crooned. “Gotta understand that.”
    “It’s always important with you, Darla,” Felix moaned.
    “I’m an important girl,” Darla chirped.
    “And, Henry,” Felix went on, “I’ve told you time and again, no guns in the Internet.”
    “No guns in the Internet,” Henry mimicked in a high-pitched voice. He stepped past Martin and pulled Kelvin Rice’s block off its hook.
    “We’ll need to get into Kelvin’s personal page,” Darla said. “With Martin showing up outta nowhere, we gotta see if this is another thing he kept to himself.”
    “No can doozy,” Felix said. “Need a password and authentication in the form of a signed note. You know this.”
    “He’s gone, and he isn’t coming back,” Darla said. “Besides, he gave up his rights to privacy when he lied to us.”
    “Yeah! And like you’re not peekin’ inside all the personal pages when you’re here all alone.” Henry snorted. “Puhlease.”
    “It’s called a code of ethics,” Felix said. “Something I work hard to maintain.”
    No one had been watching Martin this whole time, but Martin had been watching Henry’s rifle. Its muzzle was nearly brushing against Martin’s cheek as it angled from Henry’s back. Martin knew what was happening here. He had read about this type of situation. A gun was in the room. Before they left the room, that gun was going to be fired. It was inevitable. He surely didn’t want anyone to be hurt. With the exception of Henry, whom he was beginning to wonder about, they seemed like reasonable people. So he did what he thought was the best thing to do.
    Martin punched Henry in the face.
    Henry wobbled, stunned into submission. Martin grabbed for the rifle. When he yanked it