The Mad Computer - Part 4.

The Mad Computer - Part 4.

Elsewhere on earth it was raining, raining strongly. And it was cold. But that was not a problem for Meger, because he was warmly cuddled in bed with his woman.

Meger was one of those people who consider themselves intelligent and knowing, but who are really closed-minded and don’t know many things about the world, let alone the universe. He could argue with you about something, staring at your eyes as if you were an ignorant child, and hardly letting you finish your sentences before he broke in with his own. And when he saw something he never knew about, he considered it abnormal and reckoned as “crazy” those who did or believed that thing. So his company was not pleasant for you.

But he was a Money Man. Thus he called himself. He would say: “I am a powerful money magnet. It is impossible for me to lack money.”

 He was rich.

Because of his riches, people supported his bad behaviours because the people needed his help financially.

Meger was a man in his fifth decade of life. He was a bit fat, wore glasses and was not handsome.

Now Meger was in his bedroom, with the rain pouring outside the windows.

He was comfortable, and felt secure.

But not for long.

As he lay beside his woman, he was asking her what she wanted him to buy for her.

She asked for a laptop computer.

“Okay,” he said.

Although Cameroon was a developing country, it already had residents who used the teleportation services of the world-known Instant Transport company, also called InsTra.

 Meger touched the air beside his bed and a “user interface” appeared in the air. He logged in to an electronic market, and found the laptop she wanted. The products’ pictures were visible and you could swipe them with your finger. He bought it by using the number of his money card.

A text message appeared saying: “Thank you for your purchase. Do you want it delivered to you the long way or the short way?”

 The “long way” meant that somebody would bring the laptop to him in an hour or longer. The “short way” was the instant way: if you had a “space tube” installed in your location, the item could be sent to you through that tube and reach you within ten minutes.

Wanting to impress the woman, he chose the “short way”, which was more expensive, and was a service of the Instant Transport company, also called InsTra.

He got up and went out to the room where his space tube was placed.

A loud, shrill alarm screamed. It screamed again. Then it screamed repeatedly!

“What is that?” the woman shouted from the bed.

Meger did not know.

The alarm was coming from his loudspeaker system.

But nobody was burgling the house.

He looked at the space tube, with its open mouth facing him.

 He briefly remembered things he had heard in the past: accidents that had happened with space tubes. A child had entered a tube and been broken into pieces which were never recovered. Even pets had unfortunately entered the tube and disappeared.

 The space tube was super-useful and super-dangerous.

The alarm blared.

Then a sweet feminine voice spoke softly: “Hello Meger. How are you?”

“Who is that?” Meger said warily.

The soft voice laughed mischievously: “Hee Hee Hee.”

The laughter echoed from the walls.

Meger’s woman now stood at the door listening.

The gleeful voice said: “Oh, I am so happy to see you. Because we are going to do a lot together. Hee Hee Hee.”

“Meger!” said his woman angrily. “Who is that?”

“Hee Hee Hee.”

Something jumped out of the space tube and fell on the floor, breaking. It was the new laptop.

“Hee Hee Hee! Mass times velocity equals gravitational force. If you had commanded a smaller laptop, it would not have hit the ground so hard. You see the consequences of greed?” said the voice.

Meger’s woman came and held him in fear.

“Who are you?” shouted Meger, looking around. ”Stop this nonsense now!”

A song started to play loudly!

It was the music of the final battle in the video game Mega Man Zero 4.

The windows started breaking.

“Time for revelation!” said the feminine voice.

“3.”

“2.”

“1.”

“BLAST OFF!”

Then:

“My name is ELLY. I am your new boss. Congratulations.”

(Continue to The Mad Computer - Part 5.)