Yay! Five reviews for one chapter! Thanks a lot, everyone. Aaand, here's
chapter two! Uhh... seven months after chapter 1...
Thanks again to everyone who reviewed, and thanks again to my sister who edited this.
I dedicate this chapter, or actually this whole story, to Genko and Theta, who unfortunately disappeared from the guild. We miss you a lot. *sniff* (I know that didn't make much sense for all you non-Exiles out there... Just ignore it.) -------------------------------
Genko looked at the screen, his hand hovering over the keyboard. "93%... 94%... 95..." he muttered, even though he couldn't hear himself over the ringing. He looked like a cat watching a mouse, ready to jump.
The operator's hand shot out and grabbed the piece of metal off the button. "Ninety-nine percent loaded. Continue? (y/n)" window stayed on the screen. Genko pressed the "y" button and took his headset off.
Theta looked at it. "The current situation is making me regret not having chosen to become an operator," she commented.
Genko smiled. "You can have the headset for a while if we have to reboot again." Pressing "y" one final time, he started reading through all the pop-ups and pressing "n". "Black and white... New features coming up in the next version..? 3-D codes? Agent backgrounds and screen-savers?! Are they crazy?!"
He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. "Theta, could you fill in for me for a while? My head's exploding."
The pilot walked over to the computer and started reading quickly though the features. "I believe this is all useless to us. I am tempted to press 'n' continuously, but some things later on might be useful."
"This? Useful? Quit dreaming," Genko advised. He picked up his headset, waged a quick inward battle, and handed it to Theta, then picked up the piece of metal and put it on the "n" button.
The ocean of pop-ups quickly started to dissipate. In a minute only five of them were left, then four, three...
Genko gasped and knocked the piece of metal off the keyboard, but it was too late. The computer powered down.
For once Theta looked surprised. Seeing her expression Genko almost smiled. "I'm not sure, it was gone too quickly, but I think it said something like 'are you sure you want the computer to load?'"
-------------------------------
Three hours later, having learned all the start-up traps, Genko and Theta finally rebooted the computer without any adventures.
Matrix coding loaded easily and looked perfectly normal, and Genko was almost starting to cheer up. But then he looked at the screen more closely and his jaw dropped.
He was an operator for long enough to be able to see the mental images without having to decipher the symbols, and now a truly horrid picture appeared before him mind's eye.
Everything was out of place. An old man had only one eye, and a woman walking beside him had her face on the back of her head. A dog without legs was hovering in the air, chasing a dog-legged cat.
Genko squeezed his eyes shut, and when he opened them again, the computer displayed a message.
"Error 13666. Press any key to reboot. Press 'i' to ignore. Press 'd' to debug."
Genko sighed. "Theta, could you look if there's anything in the manual about error 13666?"
The pilot flipped through the booklet and then read aloud, " It is a well- known fact that the Matrix programming routinely encounters errors and glitches. In the past, this, together with multi-channeling of data, caused representation symbols to be distorted. In Windows3000 the possibility of those glitches affecting your perception is minimized, so the operator's work isn't disturbed by the Matrix's bug-filled programming. As soon as you switch from old DOS or LINUX to Windows3000, you will never encounter error 13666 again."
Genko rubbed his temples. "Helpful, isn't it?"
"Extremely," replied Theta. "I believe we should try to debug. "
The operator nodded. "Yea, let's see what's inside this... thing. It's better than rebooting, and definitely better than trying to work while the readings are jumping all over the place."
He pressed "d". The computer powered down.
"Oh," he muttered. "I should've guessed. 'Any key' includes 'd', doesn't it?"
-------------------------------
Well, here's an extra short chapter! :) Please leave a review, and I'll send you a virtual muffin!
Review replies:
Agent Embar – Thank you for reviewing! And not only this, everything else as well.
Riffraff - Heh. Glad you share my point of view. Thanks or reviewing!
maestro3 - Thanks for your review. And I like your story! When do you plan to continue it, anyway?
Demented Peach – Many many and even more thanksies for reviewing absolutely everything! And for introducing me to this site in the first place. And for all the wonderful stories you write. But you don't have to review here. I mean, you're in the guild, and you tell me what you think there. Repeating yourself in the reviews must be pretty boring. Still, thanks loads.
Alocin - Wow! Alocin reviewed my story! THE Alocin! The one who wrote "Project Koala" and "Freeway Frolicks"! Thank you sooo much! One of these drinking birds, eh? Heh, that'd work. Didn't think of that.
Thanks again to everyone who reviewed, and thanks again to my sister who edited this.
I dedicate this chapter, or actually this whole story, to Genko and Theta, who unfortunately disappeared from the guild. We miss you a lot. *sniff* (I know that didn't make much sense for all you non-Exiles out there... Just ignore it.) -------------------------------
Genko looked at the screen, his hand hovering over the keyboard. "93%... 94%... 95..." he muttered, even though he couldn't hear himself over the ringing. He looked like a cat watching a mouse, ready to jump.
The operator's hand shot out and grabbed the piece of metal off the button. "Ninety-nine percent loaded. Continue? (y/n)" window stayed on the screen. Genko pressed the "y" button and took his headset off.
Theta looked at it. "The current situation is making me regret not having chosen to become an operator," she commented.
Genko smiled. "You can have the headset for a while if we have to reboot again." Pressing "y" one final time, he started reading through all the pop-ups and pressing "n". "Black and white... New features coming up in the next version..? 3-D codes? Agent backgrounds and screen-savers?! Are they crazy?!"
He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. "Theta, could you fill in for me for a while? My head's exploding."
The pilot walked over to the computer and started reading quickly though the features. "I believe this is all useless to us. I am tempted to press 'n' continuously, but some things later on might be useful."
"This? Useful? Quit dreaming," Genko advised. He picked up his headset, waged a quick inward battle, and handed it to Theta, then picked up the piece of metal and put it on the "n" button.
The ocean of pop-ups quickly started to dissipate. In a minute only five of them were left, then four, three...
Genko gasped and knocked the piece of metal off the keyboard, but it was too late. The computer powered down.
For once Theta looked surprised. Seeing her expression Genko almost smiled. "I'm not sure, it was gone too quickly, but I think it said something like 'are you sure you want the computer to load?'"
-------------------------------
Three hours later, having learned all the start-up traps, Genko and Theta finally rebooted the computer without any adventures.
Matrix coding loaded easily and looked perfectly normal, and Genko was almost starting to cheer up. But then he looked at the screen more closely and his jaw dropped.
He was an operator for long enough to be able to see the mental images without having to decipher the symbols, and now a truly horrid picture appeared before him mind's eye.
Everything was out of place. An old man had only one eye, and a woman walking beside him had her face on the back of her head. A dog without legs was hovering in the air, chasing a dog-legged cat.
Genko squeezed his eyes shut, and when he opened them again, the computer displayed a message.
"Error 13666. Press any key to reboot. Press 'i' to ignore. Press 'd' to debug."
Genko sighed. "Theta, could you look if there's anything in the manual about error 13666?"
The pilot flipped through the booklet and then read aloud, " It is a well- known fact that the Matrix programming routinely encounters errors and glitches. In the past, this, together with multi-channeling of data, caused representation symbols to be distorted. In Windows3000 the possibility of those glitches affecting your perception is minimized, so the operator's work isn't disturbed by the Matrix's bug-filled programming. As soon as you switch from old DOS or LINUX to Windows3000, you will never encounter error 13666 again."
Genko rubbed his temples. "Helpful, isn't it?"
"Extremely," replied Theta. "I believe we should try to debug. "
The operator nodded. "Yea, let's see what's inside this... thing. It's better than rebooting, and definitely better than trying to work while the readings are jumping all over the place."
He pressed "d". The computer powered down.
"Oh," he muttered. "I should've guessed. 'Any key' includes 'd', doesn't it?"
-------------------------------
Well, here's an extra short chapter! :) Please leave a review, and I'll send you a virtual muffin!
Review replies:
Agent Embar – Thank you for reviewing! And not only this, everything else as well.
Riffraff - Heh. Glad you share my point of view. Thanks or reviewing!
maestro3 - Thanks for your review. And I like your story! When do you plan to continue it, anyway?
Demented Peach – Many many and even more thanksies for reviewing absolutely everything! And for introducing me to this site in the first place. And for all the wonderful stories you write. But you don't have to review here. I mean, you're in the guild, and you tell me what you think there. Repeating yourself in the reviews must be pretty boring. Still, thanks loads.
Alocin - Wow! Alocin reviewed my story! THE Alocin! The one who wrote "Project Koala" and "Freeway Frolicks"! Thank you sooo much! One of these drinking birds, eh? Heh, that'd work. Didn't think of that.