As Michael sat in the lobby at BioDepth Cybernetics his spirits went from bad to worse, usually he was able to let most things roll right off of his broad shoulders, but this time it was different. He now had an implacable foe in the form of degenerative bio-ware, and this monkey on his back he could not shake so easily.
As was evidenced after the receptionist called his name, “Michael Smirnov?” Michael had attempted to respond but his twitching lip had morphed into a pronounced stutter as he stammered, “Ye-ye- y-es! That’s m-m-m-me!”
Sighing heavily, Michael then stood up and walked over to the reception area, where the young lady manning the desk glanced up at him before staring at the holographic display projecting from her desktop, quantum computer. After a few moments of looking at his file, she looked up, and her eyes again met his as she confirmed, “Our records indicate that you have a complaint with the app design management? Is that correct?” Michael hoping and praying he could keep it together long enough to form a coherent sentence nodded, “Yes ma’am. That’s right.”
Leaning a little closer over the reception desk as if he were revealing a shameful secret he then quietly explained, “My apps—they won’t update.” The receptionist let out a small gasp of surprise, before quickly clearing her throat and responding in her best sublimely professional intonation, “I see.” She then pointed toward the door on the adjoining side of the reception desk and informed him, “Straight through that door you will find reps for the development team behind the second door to the right.” She then forced a smile and added, “Hopefully they will be able to help you there.”
Michael then attempted to nod in acknowledgement but something went a bit haywire in between the gesture. Inexplicably, in mid-nod his head became stuck staring at the ceiling. Completely bewildered and dumbfounded that his faulty apps were rendering such an innocuous gesture so difficult. Michael still staring way up high over the watching receptionists head, tried with all his might simply to lower his star gazing face back to sea level. He seemed to be straining every muscle, but there was some kind of block.
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Again, he tried but all he did was cause his face to turn beet red from the strain as he let out an audible grunt, groaning, “Ughhh!!” as his head remained completely immobile. At this point every single person who had previously been patiently waiting in the lobby took notice and began looking at the strange sight of Michael as he stared skyward to the rafters. Partially restraining her dismay, and partially holding back a laugh at the ridiculous sight, the flustered receptionist let out another careful, “Sir?”
Michael feeling his blood boiling, out of desperation placed his hand on the back of his head and finally was able to manually push his head back to the proper position, as he anxiously mumbled, “I’m fine—I’m fine.” The woman behind the desk out of either routine pleasantry or sincere sympathy shoved a temperature-controlled metal tray filled with cups of fresh coffee in front of him, as she cheerfully chirped, “But before you go—you might as well have some hot SunBox coffee, courtesy of BioDepth Cybernetics. Just a token of thanks from us to you for your loyal customer service.”
Guessing from the hackneyed pitch she gave him, he figured it was mostly the latter. Nevertheless, Michael grabbing a cup managed to force a smile before he turned around, and headed down the hall toward the engineering department. Upon approaching the second door on the right Michael heard the sound of frantic whirring and buzzing. He figured was either hearing the inner machinations of the engineering wing of BioDepth Cybernetics or the drill from a dental office.
To be absolutely certain of what he was walking into, he used his ear apps to run a quick sound analysis. A split second later, his apps resonated their query right onto the surface of his tympanic ear drum, telling him in a knowing, soft whisper, “You are hearing the sound of several hard drives and cooling fans from a wall bank of Quantum Computers. The unique sound signature of the equipment indicates that they belong to developers of the BioStore”. As he turned the door knob to go in, he let out a sigh of relief, mumbling to himself, “At least my ear apps still work.”