I set down my beer bottle on the low glass table beside me and started to rise from my chair. Then I paused as I heard the bottle start rattling on the table. The arms of the chair trembled under my fingertips, and my cyberear picked up a low-pitched rumble that was more of a vibration within the Earth itself than a sound. Earthquake! My heart began to race and a film of sweat broke out on my brow. This house was built of cement blocks, mortared together. The kind of construction that collapses into a heap of rubble the moment an earthquake hits .. .