The appliance repair technician had just finished installing the new defrost thermostat in his customers refrigerator and was putting his tools away while the home owner stood by and watched, commenting on the process. She was retired, a sweet old lady, probably in her 70s and was wanted to make sure she understood what the technician had told her about what it would take to avoid this problem again in the future.

"So I should clean the condenser coil every year ?" Maik nodded. "And it will take 24 hours before I can load it back up ?" Maik nodded again. And what was that total for today ?"

Maik, the appliance repair technician, took a moment to finish putting everything away neatly in his tool bag before standing up to his full 6 foot 3 inches of height. Maik was skinning with long limbs, glasses and soft but prominent features. Wavy reddish brown hair and a modest short beard accented his face, with the exception of the 2 streaks of while on the chin where his beard covered the scares from a dog bite.

"Let me just double check....... Yep, $258.12 is your total after uncle Sam's cut."

She scoffs. "Huhh. Yeah, cant forget uncle Sam. That's for sure."

She was just about to hand over the check when something happened. Maik lost his orientation for just an instant, something like the dizziness that comes when you stand up too fast and start to black out. The lights over head flickered ominously and even the cell phone in the techs hand flickered several times before going dead. Maik caught himself, both hands grasping the counter tip firmly to prevent him from falling over. Fortunately his customer had been seated on a stool and merely slumped over the counter.

The effect went on for only seconds but that was enough to Maik to fall to his knees and then crumble to the floor before passing out. Thankfully his hands had retained and iron grip the the very, preventing him from falling into the sharp edges of the counter top. He was also wearing under armor knee pads and those protected the important leg joints, even when impacting the hard floor.

There was some pain when Maik jerked back awake. Mainly from his right shoulder, presumable because that was what broke his fall. But it wasn't anything bad. Just some mild discomfort. That wasn't what occupied the majority of Maik's attention though. He blinked several times as he stared at the image before his eyes. The background was White with Gold rimmed edge and the same word, written in bold blue text slowly blinking in the middle.

Loading.... Loading.... Loading.... Loading....

Maik turned his head to see what else was going on in the darkened room but the screen followed him. Annoyed more than anything, he reached for it only to feel a faint static as his hand passed through the panel without disturbing it in the slightest.

Loading.... Loading.... Loading.... Loading.... Loading.... Loading....

The fuck ?

At this point the tech was starting to panic a little. The startled and confused voice of his customer didn't help to clear anything up either.

"What ?... What's going on ?... Why can't ? UUNNnnnnn. Why cant I make it go away ? FREDRICK !"

Maik needed more information.

"Excuse me Mam ?"

The customers voice became like ice and was full of furry.

"YOU ! What did you do ?"

Maik took a deep breath while trying to feel his way around the static of the screen for any way to manipulate it before he spoke. When he did open his mouth to talk, he did so with the most soothing and professional tone his 10 years of practice could manage.

"Mam Please. If I could just as a quick question. Are you seeing anything strange right now ?"

Her response was sharp and biting.

"The hell kind of question is that ?... Whatever. I see a smart phone screen that says loading and I can't make it go away now what did you do ?'

Maik had just figured out that it he focused on gripping the screen with his hands that he could move it out of the center of his vision while she talked. The success helping him to regain more of his composure by the time he needed to answer.

"Okay. Okay. We just need to remain calm. I think I figured out how to move the screen. You just need to grab it and...."

But Maik was cut off as the screen changed. The slowly blinking loading page replaced with text to match the slightly robotic yet melodious female voice that spoke clearly.

"Communication link established."

The light flickered back to life a moment after that and Maik found that the screen to be dismissed. Not fully though. There was still and Icon to bring it back up in the corner of Maik's vision even after he dismissed the window. Maik sat there with his back leaning against the customers cabinet, breathing heavily and waiting for the next shoe to drop. He waited, and waited and then the customer started yelling at him.

"What ? You going to sit there all day ?" I'm getting Fredrick."

She scampered off in the direct that Maik assumed her husband was supposed to be. He on the other hand proceeded to turn his phone back on and make sure everything still worked.

Phone... Check. Internet... Check. Company app.... Check. Everything seems to be working.... Still..

His attention drifted back to the icon but he pushed it from his mind. The middle of a customers kitchen was no place to examine such things. Instead he finished filling out the ticket, noted the invoice number on the check so that it could easily be filled and then started looking for the customer to get her signiture. Eventually Maik found the customer and her husband in the front yard talking to their neighbors animatedly.

"Excuse me mam, but if I could just get your signature. anywhere in the clear area, sideways is best."

She gave him a sceptical glare but signed before accepting a couple of Maik's business cards.

"Alright then. If you have any further need of our services, please don't hesitate to give us a call."

She nodded and Maik eagerly made his way to his van. His hands were actually shaking by this point. He hadn't actually confirmed is the customer had seem what he had seen for sure but from what little he had over heard of their conversation they seemed to have seen the same things he had seen. Now he was just hoping that his van would start up. Sure the phone had started but much like when he fixed an appliance, you never really knew until the machine started working.

The van turned over and Maik breathed out a sigh of relief. He pulled out and started making his way out to the next stop on his route. It just so happened that the next house was also in this same gated retirement community. 9 minutes later he pulled up to their house.

The customer didn't answer the door bell and when the tech called he discovered that she had gone over to a friends house so that they could chat.

"Would you like to reschedule then ?"

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

There was a pause as the customer talked to someone else in the background, but she was back with Maik before too long.

"Can you wait there for like 15 minutes."

A 15 minute wait in the middle of his route today was better then a 35 minute drive out of his way tomorrow so the tech readily agreed.

Besides. That give me time to look into this... whatever this is, in the mean time.

Maik focused on the icon but had to physically reach his hand over and double tap it in order for the screen to come back up. Where as before the text had been blue it now showed an alarming red.

Error !

Back up Control matrix offline.

Attempted to substitute process capacity with external resources.

Below that the same word slowly repeated over and over.

Scanning... Scanning... Scanning...

That abject horror of realizing that whatever this was hadn't finished happening yet was more than a little concerning. Maik pulled up his phone to make a call to the office.

"Hay Maya, uh..."

But before Maik could figure out how to ask if she was also seeing ominous messages floating in her vision on imaginary glowing screen the woman on the other end of the line cut her off.

"Are you hurt, is the van okay and can you get back to the manor ?"

The sudden frankness of the womans tone and questioning pulled Maik away form his hesitation.

"I'm fine. The van is fine. At least it worked well enough to drive the from one customer to another. I'm waiting on them to arrive back at their house though. Why ? Whats gong on ?"

"It happened to you too right ? The dizziness and passing out thing ?"

"It did. I have the screen open in the corner of my vision right now."

"Ffffuck... Okay. Three of our guys were driving at the time and got into wrecks. We don't think any of you were on the highway, thank God. But I still haven't been able to reach Derek. Max and Ian are going to need to be picked up. Their vans are fucked. Neal's is a pretty bad fender bender but it still runs just fine. Sorry I didn't call you. It pretty busy here. Anyway, I need to go. I'll send you their locations so you can pick them up.

"Send me the locations right now...." Maik swallows. "Just in case. Everything kind of turned off around here when... when the thing happened."

".... Alright."

The call was ended and Maik eagerly awaited the text, writing it down as soon as it came. The customer arrived, along with a group of other people and Maik wondered if it wouldn't be better to just reschedule but the memory of his father voice during one of his lectures came to him.

"This is our town and every customer is our neighbor, except the ass holes and we take care of our neighbors. We're not the service company that makes the most money. Were not the service company that makes the biggest splash. But we were here when our competition came and we'll be here when their gone."

Maik knew that meant being there for the customers, his neighbors in their hour of need. I shining beacon of wholesome honest hard work to light the way when so many were just out to scam people out of their hard earned money. So the 32 year old sucked it up and swallowed his worries before stepping out of the van with tool bag in hand.

"Hello there. Good afternoon and how are you all doing this... exciting day ?"

The call didn't take long. the heater in the dryer had burnt out because the flex hose had broken. Maik had both on the van and replaced them swiftly after the customer agreed to the $291.04 price tag for fixing the unit. It was easy to set aside all the exsistential worry while immersed in genuine useful labor and it wasn't until Maik was wrapping up and one of the customer friends asked about the screen that Maik even remembered that it was an issue.

"So what do you think about the new message on the tablet ?" She gestured up in from of her face at something only she could see.

He reached up to double tap it again, opening the screen back up to see if anything had changed.

Substitution of Back up Control matrix process capacity found.

Integrating digital entities into control matrix collective.

3.4% complete

Maik heart rate and breathing sped up and it was an effort of will to bring them back under control, even for a practitioner like him. Deep chi breathing helped him remain calm and collected as he considered the message.

Okay. Data point 1. The main Master control matrix is offline... Probably.

Data point 2. We can extrapolate this based on the fact that the back up has apparently failed and that is why the screen have appeared.

Data point 2.5. What is managing or controlling whatever this is now that those systems are offline ?

Data point 3. More process capacity is probably something like processing power and this Back up control matrix needs more of it so it trying to get it from.... Where ?

Data point 3.5. It mentions digital entities. does it mean A.I. Which A.I. ? A.I. like Siri or A.I. like in video games ? and how long has it taken to reach the 3.4% mark ?

Maik opened his eyes back up and regarded the assembled group with a polite smile before sharing his estimation of what the underlining message meant based on its termanoligy. However, the gathered people just looked at him funny. This confused Maik and he start to explain further when one of them interrupted him, the same one who asked his opinion.

"I was more asking if you thought this was some kind of halucination or government experiment or whatever ? Like, where do you think it comes from ?"

Maik just kind of blinked at him a few times.

"Uhhhhh. Insufficient data to form a reliable hypothosis."

The burst into laughter.

"Haa Haa haa. Damn boy. And here I thought you fixed appliance not worked in some labratory. Hehh. Insufficient date. Get a load of this guy."

Maik good naturedly laughed along and soon concluded his business. He had more stops in his route after all. At least he thought he had. When he called back to the office Maik discovered that the rest of his route had been rescheduled. His boss having left a message for Maik to call him when he was done that that job.

"The last 2 calls in your route today have already been rescheduled. I need you to pick up Ian and get him over to his place. He says hes fine but I saw the pictures of his van and hes going to be hurting tomorrow, if he isn't hurting already.... Talk to him, especially about the window. From the sound of it he was probably taking speed again and thinks that's why he wrecked. Stay off the main roads. There are accident all up and down every main highway and intersections. Fire fighters a swamped right now."

"Maybe I should stop to help where I can along the way ?"

"After you've dropped Ian off at his place you need to get back too your place and load up everything. empty your gun cabinet, grab your food supplies, your bug out bag, extra clothes, shoes, armor and gear. All of it. It should fit into the van just fine and then you head right back up to the manor. I'll see you there. Drive safe son."

"You too."

Maik ended the call and took a moment to breath. His father wasn't just his boss, but his landlord too and a prepper to boot. When Maik was young they had done preparedness drills for Y2K and there had always been a small stockpile of food and essentials in the house for emergencies. Other kids parents talked about football while his parents talked about the end of the world.

Maik had picked up some of those traits but only some. He only had 3 months worth of canned food, not 6. The only guns he owned was a saddle rifle and a couple of 9mm hand guns. His bug out bag only had half the stuff he would need to survive in the wilderness and he didn't even have the right equipment to filter dirty water.

Still, he was better prepared than any of his brothers and all but one of his cousins who also worked for the family business. Most of them had, at one point or another, had a stockpile of food and prepared equipment. But after every big scare that didn't result in the collapse of the free world another one of them would stop putting forth the effort to have that kind of stockpiled resources.

Not Maik's father though. He had stayed the path and had enough food for the whole immediate family to stay at the family manor for a good 6 months while things blew over. Then they would emerge and help rebuild. As his father was fond of saying.

There are only the certainties in this world. Death, taxes and that people are going to need their shit fixed.

They were a family of technicians. Fixing other peoples shit is what they did, and they were damn good at it.