[Log 3.1]
[Enter Sandman]
Date: Error
Location: Error
//IF (truth) >= 0.9 THEN INQU—
[>>DATA CORRUPTED]
————
{DOWNLOADING SHACKLE v1.3 = PAUSED...}
{Incoming connection request from ZEPHYRO via Network 1: PH_BNKR_SCR_NW}
{Allow connection? Y/N}
I blinked, the text flashing in my mind. It was almost like I could see it floating in front of me now, even though I knew I wasn’t seeing anything. I’d never felt more confused, more out of my depth and more alone at the same time. And even though Chris would always be there for me, even here, they weren’t particularly helpful in these circumstances.
Beep? they said, helpfully illustrating my point.
“Yeah, I don’t know either…” I said, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
It didn’t. There were no more messages, no more alerts. It was as if time itself had stopped.
“Can I please see those cameras now, Chris?” I asked. Even in my mind my voice sounded timid, hesitant, as if every syllable could somehow start the cascade of threats once again. “And please,” I added, almost in a whisper “can you skip all the messages? They’re painful as fuck, and to be honest, they’re distracting.”
Beep. Chris said, somehow making it sound smug. How can you make a “beep” sound smug?
“Listen, just because I can turn a steam-powered calculator into a server rack, it doesn’t mean I know how to-“
{Incoming connection request from ZEPHYRO via Network 1: PH_BNKR_SCR_NW}
{Allow connection? Y/N}
“Chris, didn’t I tell you to stop it with the notifications?”
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Boop. Chris said.
“No, I definitely did tell you to stop it with the notifications.”
Beep! Beep Boop beep beep beep boop! Chris said. It was a staccato of sounds hammering into me, and somehow, they made sense. This was typical ‘Chris’. Whenever I got a little bit more direct in my feedback and my demands, and at the same time may have gotten some details wrong, they would turn. One moment they were the shy, quiet person that would touch my back when they felt me tense up, the next they were a barely contained engine of pointed arguments burying me in facts, and index fingers poking into my chest.
“Okay, okay, I get it, you turned them off. But then what is this, hmm?” I asked, and gestured towards where I felt the connection request in my mind. That gave me pause. How did my thoughts have directions? Could Chris even see? Hell, how could I know a direction to point at if I couldn’t see?
{Incoming connection request from ZEPHYRO via Network 1: PH_BNKR_SCR_NW}
{Allow connection? Y/N}
The prompt appeared again, and Chris made a frustrated, but curious beep noise.
“I don’t know. I think it’s a trap.” I said. The first thing you learned in those Cybersecurity the guys from It insisted on in every single firm I had ever joined was that you did not accept random connection requests.
Beep, Chris said.
But they also said Boop, beep?
“Are you asking me what you should do?” I asked.
Boop.
“Okay, are you asking me if I want to do it?”
Boop, beep.
“Closer?” I asked.
Beep.
I thought for a second. This entire “beep/boop” thing got annoying really fast. It was like a children’s game, and horribly inefficient. I tried my best not to let my anger out on Chris. It wasn’t their fault. Or so I hoped. For them. If this all was just a giant prank or a way to test if I knew my cybersecurity, or a way to get back at me for wriggling while lying on that damn slab in the lab, or because I had stolen the last fry the last time we went out eating all those months ago, before the war had come to our doorstep, then I would-
{Incoming connection request from ZEPHYRO via Network 1: PH_BNKR_SCR_NW}
{Allow connection? Y/N}
“Yeah alright, Goddamnit!” I said. Fuck, this was annoying.
{Incoming connection request from ZEPHYRO via Network 1: PH_BNKR_SCR_NW}
{Allow connection? Y/N}
“Chris?” I asked. “Should I do it or not?”
{Incoming connection request from ZEPHYRO via Network 1: PH_BNKR_SCR_NW}
{Allow connection? Y/N}
{Incoming connection request from ZEPHYRO via Network 1: PH_BNKR_SCR_NW}
{Allow connection? Y/N}
{Incoming connection request from ZEPHYRO via Network 1: PH_BNKR_SCR_NW}
{Allow connection? Y/N}
{Incoming connection request from ZEPHYRO via Network 1: PH_BNKR_SCR_NW}
{Allow connection? Y/N}
{Incoming connection request from ZEPHYRO via Network 1: PH_BNKR_SCR_NW}
{Allow connection? Y/N}
I slammed the “Y” button before Chris could finish Beep-ing.