Morning. Jessica dressed in a blue vest. Then, with nothing but her gravity board and the contents of her pockets, she made her way to the elevator.
As the elevator door slid open, it revealed a man in a sleek grey coat and glossy black shoes. Jessica almost thought he was an Azarean, judging by the uni-lens sunglasses and silky blonde hair. The stranger obliviously yelled into his phone before and after she entered. Even after she blasted music into her earphones, she couldn't ignore the man's conversation; he talked—ranted more like—all the way down: "I know I can get another one!
"But I just really needed those files and don't have the money for its unlock... Do you know of a way to get around it? I know I can Giggle it, don't you think I've tried that? Didn't think so... Yea, right now it's useless, as I will soon be... Whatever, thanks for nothing."
The elevator opened to the first-floor lobby, and Jessica followed the stranger and haphazardly poked him on the shoulder. He turned, wondrous.
"I couldn't help but overhear you need a new Vit!" she told him, then added, "I didn't mean to snoop."
Dismay over his face, the stranger adjusted his glasses and, presumably, looked her in the eye. "Misfortune," he replied. "Looks that way. Why so curious?"
"You could save money by wiping everything and starting anew. You won't keep your files, but I know a guy who could do it on the cheap."
"Well..." The man hesitated. "If the lock timer dials true, then I've got less than an hour before everything is erased. Surely, I cannot undo the virus in so little time."
So, it's malware. "My name isn't Shirley, but I'll tell you what, you can show it to me over a harmless cup of coffee. Unless you got somewhere to be right meow?"
"Generous." The man checked his watch. "No. Nowhere to be as of right now, but soon."
"To Dolcini-Cini's!"
Dolcini-Cini's was a humble café situated three blocks from Apple Mire apartments. Humbly furnished, the establishment contained five tables for two and five stools at the hardwood serving counter, which flanked the cash register. Five people were sitting and thirteen were in a queue.
Jessica found a seat and turned to her companion. "Tell you what," she started, "how about you get the drinks and I check out your Vit? It helps my friend to know what he's dealing with before giving an estimate. Here." She handed him her card. "That's so you don't have to worry. Get whatever you want and I'll take a frap: Mocha. Do it."
"Gratitude..." he replied, his glasses untinting as he examined the card, "Jessica." He reached into his over-the-shoulder satchel, retrieved the tablet in question, and handed it to her. It was yellow, which didn't match his attire in the least and completely startled Jessica's aesthetic sensibilities. But she recovered.
"Cool," she said in a hushed tone. "I. Will. Look. At. This."
"Do as you will. I could get nothing more than the same red screen." Thus, the young man took himself and her card to the register line, where a woman in a black apron and hat took orders from customers in thin coats. In witnessing the coats, Jessica temporarily forgot it was summertime.
Onward with the Vit. She unfolded the tablet and let the screen in front of her, leaving its holo-imaging off. The screen displayed nothing beyond a red background and letters with instructions for obtaining the decryption key: Your personal VIT and its files have been encrypted. Follow these instructions... A pair of black angel wings appeared over the input box.
"Typical," said Jessica. "And so solved typically."
Out of her pocket, she retrieved her miniature R2-D2, removed the head to reveal a USB stick, then extracted a chip to softly insert into the appropriate port.
"Shut down all the compartments..." She made beep noises for her own amusement, eventually entering a key code in the input box. Enter. It did away the red screen, replaced by an anime wallpaper. Alas, Jessica could not read the Japanese letters.
She sat quietly and awaited her 'frap,' which came no more than five minutes later. Her apartment kinsman arrived, trembling with two drinks in hand and setting her card down, going as far as to announce himself.
"Arrived I have. And hope you don't mind, I took liberties and got both of us decaf. I don't assume you have eaten and did not wish to leave you diuretic. Also, I assume you did not want whip crème."
Jessica's eyes fell on him like glaring bubbles. They spoke for the gigantic question mark burning through her head. "How fucken dare you," she muttered under her breath.
"Hmm?"
"Nothing! I thought you said there was something wrong with this tablet."
"Yes, there is. Just look at the screen."
She turned and held the tablet for him to see, presenting nothing but an anime wallpaper decorated by app shortcuts. The young man almost dropped his coffee, eyes lighting up—so she guessed through the glasses—and mouth agape.
Setting his coffee down, Jeffrey practically seized the tablet and began tapping the screen with his skeletal fingers. "My files!" he said excitedly. "They're here! How is this—WTF!" And he nearly dropped yjr Vit. After confirming that it still worked, he finally looked at her. "Jessica?"
"My friends call me Jess. So yeah, you can call me Jessica."
"Jeffrey is my name," he said with an awkward smile. "And I thought with certainty that my Vit was undone by ransomware."
"Don't know what that is."
"Aha! Most randoms are ignorant of this common plague to our virtual interfaces, despite all the technology surrounding us. Ransomware is the terrible software installed by cyber hooligans to hijack our computer files, by encrypting them and selling users the decryption key, as I believed was the case here."
Jessica's mouth fell artificially agape, and she gasped while holding her head. "Are we all at the mercy of these people who can encrypt stuff?"
"Hackers, all of them. The worst sort of people if you ask me. Taking our technologies and using them against us. Not this day!" Jeffrey started quietly snickering. "Well, Miss Jess, I hope it goes without saying that I no longer have a reason to sell my Vit. But, I would very much like to thank you for offering your solution and for the coffee. I will definitely purchase my own cup next time."
Next time? "Welp, I'm just glad the issue's been resolved. May the Force be with you."
"And may the fourth be with you."
Jess glared at him, this time as he pompously exited Dolcini-Cini's.
"This tastes terrible," he said, so tossed the plastic cup into the recycle bin, but not before dumping out the hot contents, as he was the conscientious type.
Remaining seated, Jessica reflected on their interaction. She took a sip of her coffee. "Not bad."
Later on, down crosswalk after crosswalk under the morning sun, all the way until she reached Ninth Street, Jessica turned into Elysium Lane. Her gaze fell south, onto a wall of green: five square miles of tree and shrubbery inlaid within the city and long-winding roads that forked throughout the sylvan interior. It was like the terminus of the world. Her world. Of all places to get lost, there was none better in New Sumer.
Observing the asphalt road as it disappeared between two groves, she wondered if she would find more than the usual, the normal, and the canny. The tall elm trees had that effect on her, peculiar as they were to erect and bend as they did; they were like the incarnation of Uncertainty. She could have ridden into the groves with her gravity board, but she decided to walk.
Other pedestrians already frolicked about as she found herself roaming through hills. Joggers passed up and down the slopes, where no vehicles trespassed. More active bodies were playing with their pets, involved in picnics, or both. Jessica observed one couple laying out their all-in-one picnic, essentially a floating table with kitchenware—or viscous material hardened into the shape of kitchenware so as to discard nothing more than a biodegradable surface. Jessica was more distracted by the fox.
There was a fox playing fetch with, presumably, its owner. The critter eagerly chased after the same, small, bouncing ball that bounced betwixt dense trees, occasionally pausing to take a selfie from the owner's floating phone.
Down the road, Jessica crossed paths with a tall individual in black, a soul encumbered by padding and a jumpsuit. The padding was metallic, the person's face covered and concealed by a black helmet with a yellow visor. He was an Azarean, and Jessica lowered her gaze to the pistol magnetically adhered to his hip. She had never seen one fired. Not many people, if any, had.
Trodding up more tarmac and greenery, Jessica eventually saw grey. Her walk among critters, people, and nature turned into a walk amongst the dead. She entered cemetery that lay nestled beside the road and preceded another grove.
Over the rows of names and epitaphs, she stopped at a specific pair of gravestones:
Stephanie M. Leibniz 2088-2124. Gerald G. Leibniz 2084-2124.
Quiescence.
ns 15.158.61.20da2
