Hardcore Software: Part 1
Hardcore Software Part 1: The ".Rawr" File "Come on you stupid computer!" Anders said loudly to his computer. He was trying to get on to his e-mail for the past two hours, with no luck. He turned off his Internet, and paced around the room. After a few minutes, he turned it back on, and tried again. SUCCESS! He pumps his fists I the air. And then reads the messages, "Junk. Junk. Junk...this looks promising!" He reads the page: "Faster speeds, Easier Functionality, Better Connection. The UmbriX50 has something for every consumer to enjoy." Anders looks at his piece-o-shit tower and then to the image of a sleek laptop that comes in a range of colors and designs. He scrolled down to the bottom, and saw the price, "...now at the affordable price of $29999." He didn't think twice. {{{H}}}&{{{S}}} He walked into the store in the local mall that the e-mail had told him that they sold them at. He looked at the sign: "Hardcore Software. For all your computer needs." he reads out loud. "Does the name sound funny?" he jumped. He hadn't notice the man beside him, but now he had. He wore a black shirt with the company logo, and tight, dark jeans to match his jet-black hair. "I'm sorry, I seem to do that a lot these days. I'm Darren, the store manager, you need a new computer?" "Yeah, how did-" "We've been getting 20 customers a day with that one ad. You should check out the designs on some of those things." Darren led him inside and showed him the other things they sold before reaching the computers. As they were walking past some of the models, one catches Anders' eye. Darren stops, and looks at it too. It was a yellow and black one with a brown Dinosaur footprint on the front, "I think I'll take that one!" Darren takes the laptop out of the glass case, and looks at it. He opens it up and red note slips out, "Oh, here are the specs: better Connection to Internet, hassle free e-mail, Mobile hot spot, and the exclusive Dinosaur theme pack." "Sweet!" Anders says, taking the computer from his hands, "Can I purchase it now?" "Sure," they reach the counter, and he types the number into the UmbriX50 that sat at his desk. "What's that one? I never saw that design on the shelf." he looks at the pitch-black Laptop with a red pair of wings on the front. "Custom," he says pressing a few more buttons, "Perks of owning a select store that sells these," He hits a button, and the printer off to the side shoots out the receipt, "Remember that all transaction in S&H are non-refundable, along with any harm to person's self or possessions." Anders takes the paper, "Ohhhhkay...that's fine with me..." "Have a nice day," and Anders walks out of the store. Another receipt shoots out for the records, and on it, it says, "Exclusive file has been downloaded from main server." Darren smiles and he crumples up the second one. {{{H}}}&{{{S}}} Setting the laptop on the counter, Anders looks at the turn on screen. A buzzing sound, then an 8-bit roar sounds from it, "Cool!" he sees that the entire computer had been centered around a dinosaur theme, just like the paper inside promised. Three folders sat already on his desktop, which was centered on a skeletal head of a T-Rex. One was labeled "Apps," one labeled "Documents," the last one had a little foot print on it that said "Theme pack.rawr." He stared at it, ".rawr? Isn't it supposed to be .rar?" he looked in Documents, and sure enough there was a "How to use" document inside. He opened it, and it said, "...The Theme pack that came with the computer is to make the user more compatible with the technology. Please download user information to complete the customization." He went back to the file and double clicked the file. A black box showed on the screen. It had spaces for name, age, hobbies, and that type of stuff. At the very bottom was a box that said favorite dinosaur. He put in all the info, and then he reached that last one. It scrolled down a list of generic names, and he found it near the bottom, Tyrannosaurus Rex. He clicked it and then the enter button, and then a progress bar appeared on the screen, "Downloading user info to storage unit." He feels a tinge of pain creep down his spine, but it disappeared in an instant. The bar filled up and a done icon appeared, which was a scaly hand in a thumbs-up. He smiles and brings up a new Document that appeared on his desktop. He read the Text, "Thank you, Mr. Andrew Gills, you have been added to the group. Thank you for your time and talents. Your new life with UmbriX50 has started." {{{H}}}&{{{S}}} The effects were slow to take notice. First, there was the rash, and then there was the shedding. He walked into the bathroom a week after buying the computer, and half of his face was peeling off. He removed the dead skin and looked in the mirror. Hair falling out, and eyes turning from blue to yellow, he wondered if this had something to do with the computer. He looked into the bright light of the doctor's flashlight. He nods, "You seem fine, we can't seem to figure out why you changed since your last visit," he put the penlight away and takes out a strip of paper, "We can check to see if something happened to your genes, and try to see if we can take it from there." After he drew blood and put the data into a computer, he sent Anders home. On his way back he saw a person working on a UmbriX50. It had a tiger-stripe pattern on the front. But what startled him, was that she was scratching her hand, where orange hair sprouted. He walked over to her and asked, "Excuse me, but did to open the theme folder on that computer?" She looked stunned and turned to him, her eyes had a radiant glow to the amber color, "Yeah, how did-" He started picking his skin, and peeled off a part of his skin to reveal a layer of scales underneath, "I think something's really wrong with those computers!" * * *
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- * * Dude, put your skin back on! But, no, seriously. I posted this page as a side-side-side-side project i've been working on. I just can't shake the feeling that I might have ripped someone else's story off somehow. If I did, 'm sorry about that, and this is a three part saga as a side...ah, never mind.