The Whisperers

Crash! There was a loud noise on the other side of the office. Peter quickly spun around in his office chair to see what made the loud noise. He was working late on a hot, stormy Friday night. He had just gotten off the phone with his wife to tell her that he would be getting home late once again. It was not unusual for Peter to be working late. This was only his second week at the NSI, where he was working late almost every night because of recent, alarming activity involving the company. The National Security of Intelligence is a defense to protect government-use-only technology that would be disastrous to the whole world if it got into the wrong hands. Recently there was a group that called themselves “The Whisperers,” and they were trying to breach the mainframe to access the new technology being made. Before working at the NSI, Peter struggled to get hired, and on the rare occasion he did, he found it difficult to keep the job. 

As Peter spun his chair around, he was on the edge of his seat, spinning his head viciously, trying to find where the sound came from. He was supposed to be alone in the office; his last coworker left over an hour ago. He could not see anything suspicious, but he heard muffled voices, two, maybe three, unrecognizable voices. He could not decipher what they were saying, but he assumed they were trying to hack into the database from one of the office computers. Peter slowly moved behind his L-shaped desk, trying not to make any noise to give away that he was there. After getting behind his desk, out of sight, he decided he had two options. Option one is to call his brother Daniel, who is an FBI Agent, and have him deal with the individuals. Option two is to figure out a plan himself and take care of the situation. Daniel is much more successful than Peter, and his family likes to remind him of that. His dad sees Peter as a failure, a loser, and has punished him for it. Peter is no longer invited to any family get-togethers and has not spoken to his dad in years. If option two was successful, it would allow for Peter to prove to his dad and the rest of his family that he is just as good, maybe even better than his brother, and most importantly, that he is not a failure.

Peter was scanning the room very analytically to come up with a plan to take the intruders out. He knew that he would not be able to take them on all at once. He had to lure them away one by one somehow. As he was scanning the room, he saw it. Recently the government was developing a police robot. They were going to use the robots in place of the police. In the year 2048, being a police officer was a very dangerous job. Almost everyone carried around deadly weapons, and they were used often. There was no peace left in the United States, and this one was of the government’s inventions to help revive the peace. They started development on it only two months prior, and at this time it was not fully functional. If Peter would be able to make it talk, or make any noise, it would for sure lure one of the intruders over there. Then he thought to himself. After I lure him over there, then what? How am I going to take him out? What are the other guys going to think when their partner doesn’t return?

He had no weapons, he didn’t know karate, he had nothing. Once again, Peter looked over the room, searching for any kind of weapon. In the opposite corner of the room that the robot was in, he saw a broom. Normally a broom would not be the best weapon, but he thought he could make it into a club. Each desk had binder clips that he could put on the broom handle to act as spikes on a spiked club. Peter thinks this will be enough to knock the guy out if he hits him hard enough. All Peter had to do now was construct his weapon and make the robot talk, and part one of his plan will be complete. 

After crawling across the room, stopping at every desk to pick up binder clips and tape, he finally made his way to the broom. He taped 16 large binder clips to the broom handle, his weapon was ready. Now he had to make his way to the robot. He had to be very stealthy as he crossed the room, he could still hear voices from The Whisperers. As he got to the police robot, he hooked up his laptop and got to work. He had to go into the code and fix what would make the sounds. It took him under five minutes. He was now ready to test it. Peter set it off, it worked, the robot started talking, and the intruders heard it. He got into position behind one of the nearby desks, ready to knock the guy out. The intruder slowly approached, searching the room for any suspicious activity. Once he reached the robot, he put his weapon down and was trying to turn it off. Peter snuck up behind him and knocked him out cold. Part one of his plan was finished, now he needed to think of part two. The guy had a walkie-talkie on him, so he was going to use that to lure another intruder away from the computer. I can lure another to the cafeteria, which is on the other side of the building. That would leave me one on one with the last guy. I need to act fast. They will be in the database any minute now and will have all of the information that we are supposed to be protecting. Peter looked up at the ceiling. They were having new air conditioning installed, and the ceiling was exposed. He could climb up into the rafters and jump down on the last guy. There was loose wiring in the rafters that he could use to tie the guy up. 

Peter found a ladder and climbed into the rafters. While crawling through them he picked up all the loose wire he could. Once he was close to the last two intruders, he called over the radio that he needed help in the cafeteria, acting as their partner. Now that there was only one guy left, Peter jumped down from the rafters, crashing down on the intruder below him. He then wrapped the wire around him, tieing him to a support beam. He ripped off his jacket to stuff the guy’s mouth so he could not alert his partner. Peter was going to use the guy as a distraction to take down the last one. Once his partner came back and saw him tied up, he went to untie him. Peter took this opportunity to knock him out and tie him up as well. After tieing up the two intruders and stuffing their mouths, Peter checked the computer. They had started downloading the data but by the looks of it, they didn’t get enough to cause any damage. He quickly stopped the download and went to get the first guy he knocked out. He was still laying on the ground unconscious. Peter grabbed him by his long legs and pulled him over to the other two. He was not a little guy so it was harder than he expected it to be. Out of breath, Peter ties up the last intruder. Once all three of them are tied up he calls the police and tells them what happened. 

The next day Peter was all over the news, he was doing interview after interview. He was a hero, saving the world from utter destruction. Soon he was getting phone calls from everyone in his family. They were all telling him how proud they were and how happy they were to have him in their family. Even his father called him and congratulated him. Peter was no longer the loser in the family or a failure. He was a hero.