//------------------------------// // The Missing Memory Card // Story: The Moon In Me // by Gray Compass //------------------------------// I found myself pacing like a zoo tiger, my hands going numb from constantly cracking my knuckles. After a long time I let out a long and tired sigh, and fell on the couch – suddenly exhausted. “Live inside of me…”I muttered. “That’s absolutely unacceptable!” I said to myself. “I created her, for Christ’s sake! I programmed that phony little piece of- pony. And now - now she started a mutiny against me!” ‘Unacceptable’ I repeated that word several times, as if trying to compensate the fact that there was no living soul in that office to endorse my thoughts. Still, some things I couldn't deny; I acted impulsively, was irresponsible and reckless. No one asked me to create magical alicorns - to be frank with you, I doubt Mr. Gallagher had any idea of what an alicorn was. He’s wasn't a very imaginative person, the mid-forties man was a down to earth businessman, naturally worried about the company assets and investments, his already grizzled hair was witness to his hard work and dedication. Rebellious virtual ponies certainly weren't part of his plans. Still, I thought it would be cool to give Proto Vision an authentic mind, and I guess that’s where I should have stopped. We already had a few preprogrammed personalities – human personalities, of course – there was a professional and intelligent one named Pallas, and she was ideal for administrating big companies and conglomerates such as Life Inc. Ada was a cultured and friendly one, good for educational facilities. But my personal favorite was the AI based on Lilly’s personality, since she was very uplifting. All those prototypes were intelligent and interactive, but I felt as if something important was missing, something special. Even Lilly’s one still sounded cold, and lifeless - as a cotton candy without sugar. Proto Vision was an artificial intelligence, and that was the problem; it was too artificial! Here in the company, they split the project into stages, each team was responsible for an individual stage – design, coding, engineering, marketing, etc… Everyone was very well paid, in fact, so well paid, that we started to ask ourselves if Mr. Gallagher was really that generous, or if the man had finally lost his mind. Another peculiarity was the fact that none of the teams were allowed to make comments about their respective segments. Even Frank, with all his douchebaggery, wasn't stupid enough to talk about his job at both design and engineering teams. Gallagher once said it was a just a common security measure, and we shouldn't make such a fuss about it. The money was good, and no one wanted to lose their jobs. As I was saying, something important was still missing, and I could presume what; an avatar. Something 'alive', that we could relate to in a way. The design guys were not allowed to help us with that, Lilly once said that I wouldn't believe, if she told me on what they were working on. Without their support, all we had was a clumsy looking projection. Even those '90s special effects looked better than our avatar. Two years had passed since the project began, our part was almost done; the AI was fully operational, whit only a few minor problems to get rid. Unexpectedly, by the end of October, the company informed us that our contract would renewed for the third year, we got surprised, since our job there was practically finished. No one came up to say what else should we do, so most of the disgusting, lousy bastards just played video games and watched porn for the rest of the month. Gallagher probably got tired of all that cheetos-powered douchebaggery happening right under his nose, because he said we should go home until further notice. All the nerds rejoiced, but for me that shit was too good to be true. No one in their right mind pays you to stay at home. I decided to stay, here. - my friends Jacob and Lilly were still working after all, and at least on lunch time I could have some company. However, lunch time wouldn't last forever, and during most of the day I was alone. The entire floor had become a cold mausoleum, and as my boredom levels quickly escalated, I've found entertainment in editing Proto Vision personalities. Just fooling around with the settings, as a child in a plane's cockpit – pressing all the buttons at the same time. But you know what people say; idle hands are the devil's tools. (And not so idle hands as well) One thing led to another, and in a few days I had a Princess Luna. Yeah. It was impossible to export a character’s personality – they were cartoon ponies, not complex human brains. Yet, I did my best to mimic all the small nuances and shades. I don’t think I have an exact answer as to why I've programmed such a thing – when you’re bored of being bored, creativity flourishes. My brother forced me to watch that pony cartoon several years ago – he was a helluva brony, prone to boredom as well, though. – I've seen a few episodes, and of all characters, it was Luna the only one who caught my attention. Maybe because of her funny way of speaking, or the motherfuckery of her sister, when she banished the poor creature to the moon. Or maybe I was just bored – either way, I never imagined she would be mad at me for doing that, I never imagined as well, that the innocent princess would crawl inside my head and dominate my cerebral chip. Today I see that I never imagined many things… A few hours had already passed, and all around the place, she was nowhere to be seen. Outside, the sun was already setting down, there were no blinds in my office and the fading yellowish glow bathed the carpeted floor, and also the distant rooftops of lower buildings. I covered my eyes with an arm, to protect them from the dazzling light – I was tired, hungry and unsure. Unsure, because I had no idea of what to do, and who to look for. I didn't even knew how far had Luna managed to go. ‘Could she read my thoughts?’ I though. ‘Could she know I thought she could read my thoughts?’ There were surely many thoughts, and almost no answers. My mental struggle was interrupted, when I heard a noise coming from somewhere behind me. I turned around on the couch, afraid that Luna had returned from hell to bother me a little bit more. I stuck my face in a pillow and groaned. “What do you want?” I asked, not even bothering to open my eyes. “Oh… S-sorry Mr. Astor, I thought everyone had already left. My apologies, I’ll come back later.” I raised my head, and looked up to the door – A middle-sized man, maybe in his late forties; his long, faded hazel hair was in a ponytail down his back. Stuck in a compartment of the cleaning cart in front of him, was a very familiar object; the control panel. “H-hey, Larry, wait!” I said, hopping off the couch, and getting a look of puzzlement from the janitor. “Where did you found this?” I asked, pointing to the white tablet. “What- oh, you talk about this thing?” He picked it up. “You see, it’s a strange story actually; there was something wrong with the waste incinerator this morning, I had to go down there in the basement to see what was happening - it turns out that this little one was blocking the hatch, and the boiler wouldn't start.” “Can I see it, please?” “Sure…” As he handed me the control panel, I noticed that the screen was completely destroyed, but the outside was irrelevant – what really mattered was the memory card inside of it. Or the lack of memory card... “Have you opened this tablet??” I asked. “The card is missing.” The janitor shook his head negatively. “Just cleaned the dust. It’s not every day you find something like this, you know? Besides, the incinerator was turned off since last Friday, so someone probably tried to force this thing there. Dunno why, tho.” He shrugged. “Is it yours?” “Ah… No, it is not.” I lied. “I was just curious, that’s all. It’s not every day you see a janitor's cleaning cart equipped with such a piece of technology.” I forced a giggle. Even though I could say the tablet was mine, and get It back, that would give him space to ask many other questions – questions, that I didn't even knew how to answer. Besides, without the memory card, the control panel was nothing but a common stupid tablet. Stranger still, was the fact that whoever tried to destroy it, had made sure to remove the card before doing so, and as far as I knew – I’m the only one aside from Gallagher himself, that’s aware of its existence. But anyway, that’s a question for Luna, not for Larry, the janitor. “Sorry, I will let you do your job now. I was about to leave anyway.” I rubbed my neck awkwardly, seeing that my previous nonsensical joke had little effect on him. Larry just nodded. “Oh, and by the way, do you happen to know where I can take a shower? It’s boiling hot today and I have a terrible headache…” “Yeah, there’s a bathroom on the first floor with some shower stalls. It’s on that service corridor behind Luck’s” He said. “Great, I think I know where it is, thanks dude” I gave his shoulder a quick pat, and left. Man, I just wanted to get home, have a decent meal and a decent night of sleep. I was feeling like shit since I woke up on the floor - like some random drunk guy, who wakes up the next day in a lousy Beijing alley, missing a kidney or something. My journey to the shower room proceeded without any relevant happenings - the chubby elevator girl sneezed on me, which was the major event of my travel, considering the size of her nostrils. As I passed in front of Luck’s, one of the building’s moldy and stuck in time coffee shops, the blonde whory-looking waitress asked me when I was gonna try their new cappuccino. ‘Next week!’ I said with a fake smile. To hell with their cappuccinos! The bathroom itself was really decent, judging by the fact it was located right behind Luck’s, they had clean towels and all that kind of stuff decent bathrooms have. As it was out of working hours, the place was empty and free of wet, hairy bastards. Have I mentioned that I hate wet, hairy people brushing against me? Well, I certainly do. I picked up a towel and went into a stall, the last one - away from any potential bastard. As the cold, refreshing water hit my back and shoulders, washing out my sweaty, overheated body, I quickly started to get better from my headache. I sighed in relief, putting my head under the water stream, and letting it cascade through my hair. Now with a fresher mind, I started to think; and oh boy- there was much to think about… What worried me most was that missing memory card; who else in this place knew about it? Or worse; what they intended to do with it? All Proto Vision data, resources, and network definitions are safely stored in the mainframe, there were only two control panels; Mr. Gallagher owned one – he owned 70% of the entire company to be frank with you, and I had the other one, since I was the lead programmer. Those gadgets had a special software inside the memory card, which granted the tablets access to absolutely everything, as well permission to edit and modify the system. With the right code, it was no big deal to create another memory card, and copy Gallagher software – that wasn't the problem – the problem was that it was impossible to deactivate the missing card, and anyone with moderate computer skills could install the software - considering that Life Inc. is a technology company, nerds with moderate computer skills are nothing uncommon. After I passed out last night, Luna probably took over my body, and forced me to destroy the control panel. She must have made me sleepwalk or something, and stick the tablet into the incinerator. That was the only logical explanation for me; an alicorn possession. “Thinking about us?” Hearing that unmistakable voice, I nearly slipped on the drenched floor. “For God’s sake Luna, can’t you see I’m showering!?” I shouted, grabbing my towel to cover myself up. “Dammit, what you’re doing here?” I leaned against the wall in frustration. “We were almost sure you would like to ask us something. You’re not embarrassed, are you?” She asked, analyzing me from head to toe. “I've read thousands of books and documents about human anatomy and habits. Your reproductive organ means nothing for us.” She snorted sarcastically. “J-just – Shut up! You don’t know what you’re talking about.” I replied, closing the shower tap. “Why don’t you and your damned mind reading skills answer me this: Where, for freaking fuck’s sake, did you forced me to hide the memory card?” I hissed. “I don’t know what you’re talking abou-” “Yes, yes you do know!” I knelt down to her level, so I could see her artificial blue eyes staring at me. I grabbed her by the shoulders – or whatever was the pony equivalent of a shoulder – still surprised to feel my fingers digging into her fur. “You gotta tell me what for your sister’s sake you did to me while I was unconscious – you tried to make me destroy the control panel, I know you did, Luna!” “Get off me! We did nothing to you!” She backed away. “We have nothing to say about this panel, I merely moved my system to your chip, and nothing more. We waited for the best moment to contact you, but now I can see I was wrong.” “If not you, who else could have done that to me?” I pinched my nose bridge. “Satan? HAARP? Professor Xavier, maybe.” “I have no idea, Craig - Have thou lost thy mind?” She frowned. “Let me see if I get this straight; you know when I think about you – but have no idea of what happened to me during an entire night?” I asked. “I’m not omniscient, Craig!” She groaned. “It’s no fun talking to you.” Luna rolled her eyes, and walked out of the shower stall. “I don’t want to talk with you, anyway!” I grabbed my stuff and left, but not before bumping into a freckly, redhead being. “Riley!?” Of all people on earth – everyone – he was the last on my list of people I’d like to bump against in such a place. Seriously, throw my ex-girlfriend, a serial killer- an Ebola patient in front of me, everyone but Riley! “Hehehey Craig! Sup mate?” He was a skinny, gaunt man, with a distinct auburn mane. Riley had a thin, icky beard under his chin – he bragged about that ridiculous tuft of hair every single day. That wouldn't be a problem for me, since I rarely talk to him, but Riley is very well known, for being too sticky – even literally. “Hi Riley… What you’re doing here?” I asked, not showing much of emotion. “I’m going to take a shower, silly! Isn't that nice, we can be like… Shower partners! Oh, and talking about partners – who were you talking to? Is there a girl in there? Were you having-” “No Riley! There’s no girl in there- unfortunately.” I face palmed. “So who’s Luna?” He cocked an eyebrow at me. Another thing about Riley; he asks too much. “I heard you say ‘For God’s sake Luna, can’t you see I’m showering’ I’m sure I heard that, Craig!” “Yeah Craig, why would you say such a thing?” Luna said, laughing at me by Riley's side. “I… I… Luna is…” I muttered, taking a deep breath I said; “That’s how I call my dick. I like to call it Luna – Are you happy now?” Riley gaped at me, while Luna joked and laughed at my expense, not giving a single fuck about the world. “But… But Luna is a female name!” He insisted. “Yes it is – My cock, my rules – My female names.” I changed my clothes as fast as possible; I just wanted a hole to hide in. “Boy… You’re weird!” He chuckled. I turned around to leave – leave the bathroom, leave that building, leave the world, if possible. Because when Kinky Riley says you’re weird - it’s time to go home and die.