text: [Themes: sci-fi, female protagonist]
  
  You and Esmeralda spend another fifteen minutes pouring over the ship manifest until you finally hit upon the right rocket ship.
  
  "Here it is!" you exclaim, putting your finger on the familiar dark-haired witch. The Elizabeth Proctor. Says here the captain is one Harlan Zamora. Esmeralda, do you think you can go back to the customs official you got this from and see if you can get an address for this man? I'm sure he must live here somewhere in Coventown."
  
  "Right away, Mistress Sandra," says Esmeralda, scuttling away from the table and placing the book under her arm.
  
  Right away turns out to be twenty minutes as your robot tutor is forced to stand in line again. When she finally returns, now without the book, she has to wake you from where you've nodded off in your chair with your face in you hand.
  
  "Sorry," you say. "I didn't get much sleep last night. Too much cold water."
  
  "That's to be expected from a human. I understand, my dear. But I learned the address of this Zamora captain. He lives in one of the makeshift apartment buildings of Coventown. Sunrise Towers. The fourth floor. Apartment D-28."
  
  "Would he be there? I don't think he could have survived my attack on his ship. Unless he got away with the red-haired man..."
  
  "Regardless, we could talk to the ship's computer. I doubt Captain Zamora would have needed advanced calculations just to hop from one island to another. And his computer resides in the same apartment."
  
  "Wow, you got all that information from the customs official?"
  
  "Apparently he doesn't have a problem with your father's gold coins."
  
  You grin. "Esmeralda, you are one of a kind."
  
  Esmeralda cocks her head at an angle. "I hear a rocket ship."
  
  You spread your hands. "We're in a rocket port. You'll hear those things here."
  
  "No, but this one is descending in an arc, and I estimate it will hit this very building."
  
  "Well," you say, standing, "there's only one thing to do, then." You cup your mouth with your hands and yell: "Everyone! there's a rocket ship heading this way! We need to all evacuate the building this very moment."
  
  People at neighboring tables look at you like you're stupid or insane. Some people in the lines to the windows start laughing at you.
  
  Annoyed, you growl under your breath. Then you pat Esmeralda on the shoulder and shout: "My robot can hear it!"
  
  That seems to make all the difference. These folks aren't backwoods yokels; they know a robot has superior senses. A crowd of people immediately rushes to the doors in a jumbled mob. The customs officials yell from their windows for everyone to keep calm and to exit the building in single file. Of course no one listens to them and it's pandemonium. You realize you and Esmeralda won't be getting out anytime soon, not with these screwballs giving the doors the bum's rush. Soon you hear a high pitched whining sound coming from above.
  
  "Quick!" says Esmeralda. "Hide under the table."
  
  You grab your suitcase and quickly follow her under the metal table and crouch on the floor, your hands on your ears and your eyes closed. You feel Esmeralda's cold steel arms wrap around you protectively and realize she's trying to shield you with her own body.
  
  The whining noise gets louder and the people stuck in the building start yelling and screaming. There's a booming sound like thunder. You open your eyes and uncover your ears. Dust and chunks of concrete rain down on the linoleum tiles around your table. Esmeralda lets go of you and you crawl out into the open. To your shock, you notice the nose of the silver rocket ship jutting an angle through the wall at the end of the foyer. On its side are the hammer and sickle on the field of red with the letters CCCP. Oh, no, you think. I could have prevented this. Smoke plumes drift from sparking wiring in the walls and ceiling. Soon the entire foyer is drenched in fog-like mist. Red light from Esmeralda's glowing eyes comes up from behind you. You turn to look at her. She's holding your suitcase in one claw and scanning the area.
  
  "Follow me, dear," she says. "I can see through this smoke and guide us out of here."
  
  You follow her through the smoke, holding the lapel of your blazer over your mouth and nose to protect your lungs. The smoke is getting thicker and darker and your eyes are starting to burn. You wipe water out of them with your other hand and try to focus. The ruby light from your robot's eyes cuts through the smoke like high-beams. Ahead of you is sunlight from the glass double doors. You can see the silhouettes of people trying to go through them to the outside. You only hope it won't be long before you can breath fresh air again.
  
  There is suddenly a burst of blue light at the front of the double doors. You hear shrieks from the crowd milling at the doors. Then there's another flash of blue light. Coming through the now scattering crowd are men in black uniforms and helmets with tinted visors. They are carrying shiny ray rifles and firing at anyone who stands in their way. And they are walking into the fire.
  
  You have the terrifying realization that these are not Port Authority guards and that the rocket ship crash was probably no accident.
  
  What can you do?
  
  > run Back to the Tables and Hide
  "Esmeralda, let's get away!" you shout to your robot tutor.
  
  "Dear," says Esmeralda, "there's only one way out from the foyer."
  
  You run back to the tables and here the servos of Esmeralda's pumping legs as she follows you. The way ahead is almost black with ever-thickening smoke, occasionally lit by orange showers of sparks from above. Eventually, your running is halted as your midsection collides with the edge of a table. You immediately double over in pain. Your lungs fill with acrid smoke and start burning painfully.You spastically cough and close your eyes to protect them from the smoke. A cold metal arm wraps around you and you realize Esmeralda is embracing you protectively.
  
  "Will you never cease to be such a foolish, impulsive girl?" she asks.
  
  You want to reply with, no I guess not, Esmeralda, but you can barely even breath now. You soon feel tired and weak and dizzy. Your chest feels like it's on fire and the pain is overwhelming...but soon everything becomes peacefully silent and calm and you forget all your troubles....
  
  The End