Chapter 6

Helen turned to face her friends. Pointing to the pedestrian traffic light, she said, "Get ready, ... get set,... Go!" The light changed to "walk" as she said "go!".

As they started to cross the street, Joe asked Bob, "Why are you so interested in Grant's researching that neutrino source?"

"Ha! Joe, I know I don’t need to explain fundamental physics to you. When we meet Victor at the cafe, he'll have Grant's evidence that an alien space ship, approximately the size of a mountain, is hiding near or under our coastline."

Helen swiveled her head to meet Bob's eyes. "Didn't Victor say that Grant only believed a space ship to be near our town? Why is he so sure it's under water now?"

"His invisibility detectors used from aircraft, convinced him ..." A loud crash interrupted his speech.

Both guys looked toward the noise. They saw a green pickup truck and a large purple car, front bumpers entangled, vectoring right toward them. Joe grabbed Bob, and pulled him along with his own self back to the sidewalk. As they reached the sidewalk, Bob gasped out, "Where is Helen?"

Astonished, Joe pointed to the entangled vehicles coming to a stop much much quicker than expected. Helen, standing between them, calmly lifted the front of the truck to untangle the vehicles.

Bob yelled, "Helen, what are you doing!"

Helen answered in a less loud voice. "This is Victor's truck. We need to get him to the hospital. I've already called 911."

Joe jumped into the street toward Helen. He saw her reach up to open the door of the pickup truck; the door did not open at her touch; she frowned, glanced toward the door hinges, smiled, and then, grabbing the door handle, jerked open the door. As she released Victor's seat belt, he fell into her arms.

Helen addressed Joe. "Victor sprained his wrist because he tried to brace himself against the car impact. He also bruised his side against the seat belt restraints. When the side impact air bag popped up, it threw his fist into his jaw, knocking him unconscious. The truck's computer, VS, survived, and deflated the crash airbags properly."

Briefly, Joe wondered how Helen knew all of this. Then he dismissed the question as not urgent. He moved forward to help Helen carry Victor.

Helen nodded her head toward the other vehicle. "Check on the man in the car."

Joe looked in that direction. Bob had already opened the driver's side door, and was helping a young man out of the car. At first Joe saw only his thatch of blond hair. Only after the man was out of the car did it become clear that his blond hair completely covered his ears. Joe called out, "Are you all right?"

"Yes. I'm only slightly bruised. I'm fine." Glancing back at his car, he added, "I'm not so sure about my car. I think it died."

The police car and ambulance arrived at the same time. Helen carried Victor through the ambulance back door being held open by the EMT. The police woman asked in a loud voice, "What happened here?"

"It's my entire fault. I ran the red light, and crashed into that green pickup truck." The young man looked downward, then directly into the eyes of the police woman.

The police woman looked confused. "How is that possible? Why didn't your car's computer stop your car before the collision?"

"I guess this means that cars that fall in the lake don't have their computers functioning very well."

Meanwhile, Joe standing at the back door of the ambulance, nodded to Bob.

Bob, who still stood near the green pickup truck, responded; "Right! I'll keep track of Victor's truck. You and Helen go with him to the hospital."