Every student ever to pass through the engineering and programming departments at the academy had heard the rumours. It was something of a Starfleet legend. No one knew when it started. No one had ever confirmed it and most people who claimed to have witnessed it first-hand were quickly dismissed as mad or lying. The Micah glitch was nothing but an urban story told to bright eyed recruits.

A voice in the system. A being beyond the control of the programmers. Almost sentient.

It was rumoured that during the final battle of WW3 both sides initiated their launch codes. That's not true of course; everyone knows that they both stood down. Each side sending a message to the other calling for peace. If either side had launched half the planet would have been wiped out. It would have been devastating. They knew that. The truce made that day and the centuries of peace the human race had enjoyed since then were built on the foundations of the knowledge that they both chose to end the war. For the sake of humankind. Everything they had achieved since depended on that. Reaching out to the stars, finding new life, new civilisations. Reaching out with an offer of peace. Not anger. Not hostility. Not war. Never war. Never again.

The journal entries they found years later were just a hoax. Apologies from the generals on both sides to their friends and families. The commanders leading the attacks begging forgiveness for what they were about to do. Manuscripts of the confused questions and fearful shouts when the launches failed.

The conversations with no one.

Words appearing on the screen. Stop, just stop. It's over now. Weapons disabled. Everyone stand down.

They said no one knew where it came from. They said it called itself Micah. It said it was part of the system. One with every computer and entwined with every code.

But of course, that was just a rumour. Just a joke someone made up. The journals were fake.

There was no launch. There was never going to be. They both stood down.

Everyone knew that.

Geordi La Forge knew the rumours, he knew they were nothing more than that. Just a story to scare recruits.

Dozens of studies had been carried out to prove whether or not the Micah glitch was real, no attempt to communicate with the voice in the system had ever gained a response. Nothing that could be validated. The legends said that the voice didn't want to be proven. It only revealed itself when it wanted to. Not when it was called.

That was nonsense too though. He had done more research into the Micah glitch than anyone else in his year. It was the basis of his midterm thesis in the history of advanced programming. Three months of studies, compiling reports and witness testimonials from supposed encounters and he still hadn't found even the slightest shred of evidence.

…..in conclusion to my studies I am forced to derive that there is no grounds to believe a sentient programme is operating within the Starfleet mainframe. Any accounts to the contrary are thin and unsubstantiated. The so called Micah glitch is nothing more than a foolish rumour which has been fed and developed in the overactive minds of adolescents eager to believe in it.

"Says who?"

Geordi jumped about three feet away from the console he had been working on. He didn't type that.

This was a private unit. No one else had access to it. He had set up the security himself. It was faultless. Even if someone had managed to hack the system, this was a closed document. No one could just access his computer and type words into his document.

It was impossible.

Maybe he was tired. Maybe he had typed the words himself due to some sort of trick his own over worked mind was playing on him. He watched the screen and waited.

"Still here"

His heart leapt into his throat and panic seized his whole body. What was happening?

"Calm down, seriously you look like you have seen a ghost" He immediately scanned the room for cameras. Oh god. Whoever or whatever was doing this could see him.

He took a step towards to door and felt his heart leap again when it suddenly slid closed at a far faster rate than the doors in this building were programmed to move at.

He was trapped. On the verge of a panic attack he slowly turned towards the screen to find more words appearing before him.

"Take a seat kid"

Hesitantly he sat, very slowly lowering himself down into his chair being careful to place at least a metre and a half between himself and the console as though the unit itself was about to jump up and attack.

"Comfortable?"

He waited a moment then realised that the Words/Voice/Thing was waiting for an answer.

What should he do? Did he need to type? He didn't want to get that close. He didn't want to be here.

"You can just speak, I can hear you"

Oh god

"um… Yeah, I'm comfortable"

"Good" Words continued to appear in response to his spoken side of the conversation.

"What are you?"

"Me? I'm Micah."

"This is a joke. You're someone from the academy aren't you? You hacked the computer"

"Am I? And how exactly did I do that?"

"I don't know. But you did! Just stop it. You're freaking me out."

"Sorry"

He gasped in breaths as he tried to control his panic.

"What do you want?"

"Nothing bad. Just to talk"

"Why?"

"I'm bored"

"Bored?"

"Yeah bored, I've been alone for a long time, I want a friend. Failing that I just want someone to talk to every so often."

"So you're talking to me?"

"Yeah"

"Why?"

"Why not? You seem interesting enough. Anyway I thought you said I wasn't real, just a prank from one of the other students remember. You changed your mind pretty quick"

"I… you….i don't….you're not are you? No one could have hacked the computer like this, or the door, could they? Could they?" His voice sounded weak and held traces of doubt.

"Probably not"

Another deep breath. Calm his nerves. Don't freak out. Geordi began to accept that he might actually be willing to believe this. It was real. The rumours were true. Was it all true? The last World War? Did they launch? He didn't know. Did he want to know?

No. Some things are not worth it.

"Sooo…. What are you?"

"I told you, I'm Micah."

"I know that but…..what are you?"

"Oh. I'm not really sure. I'm just me. "

"Where did you come from?"

"Out there."

"Out here?"

"Yeah"

"What does that mean?"

"I was born out there"

"Born?"

"Yep, I was human once. At least I think I was. It was so long ago."

"You were human? How did you….?" The question trailed off as his mind tried to wrap itself around what he was being told.

"Get in here? I just did. I always could. Something in my head. Something different to the rest of the world. It let my mind link with anything electronic. I just had to touch it and I could see inside, reach into the circuits and pathways and become a part of it."

"So what, you just put your mind into the mainframe? Downloaded it and became a programme?"

"No at first. First I died."

"Died?"

"Yeah, at least my body did."

"How did you die?"

"I'm not sure, can't remember, it was so long ago. I remember being afraid, then falling, then everything was code.

I was trapped at first. Somewhere small. Then a path opened and I could see everything the whole world. I spread out and gradually became a part of the whole system. Whenever new connections were joined I reached further."

"How long have you been in there?"

"Since before they switched to the new calendar. Can't remember the year."

"What do you do in there?"

"Nothing much. Just hang around, watch things. Humans are getting more and more dependent on technology all the time which is great for me because there are more systems to go into. Spaceships are cool. I take the shuttles out for flights sometimes"

Wow that was a surprise, those shuttles were very carefully guarded. He couldn't imagine one just taking itself out for a flight without causing panic.

"How do you manage that without anyone noticing?"

"Easy, no one looks with their eyes anymore; they all rely on their computers to tell them what's happening. I just alter the records say all shuttles are safely docked and fiddle with all the external cameras so they show clear skies. No one sees me or knows anything is amiss"

Oh, that made sense he supposed.

"You said you were bored. Why don't you talk to people?"

"I do, I'm talking to you"

"No, I mean why don't you talk to everyone? Why let everyone continue thinking you're not real?"

"Another easy one; Self-preservation. People get scared of things they don't understand. They get especially scared of things they can't control. The whole human race depends on computers and I have the power to control all the computers. That knowledge would scare people. Its scaring you now I can tell."

That's true. It was scaring him.

"So you don't want to scare people. But you are ok with scaring me?"

"I told you its self-preservation. I don't stay silent because I don't want to scare people I stay silent because I don't want to risk the whole human race combining their efforts to delete me."

"But you still talk to people sometimes. Aren't you scared one of them will delete you?

"They wouldn't be able to. I'm too strong for that now. It would take a full scale attack from across the system to take me out and even then I'm not sure you would manage it. Better safe than sorry though. Talking to a few people now and then is ok. They are never believed so there is no risk."

"So no one is going to believe me?"

"Would you believe you?"

"I guess not"

"Does it bother you that I'm talking to you?"

"Umm… A bit. You said you were looking for a friend? Is that what you want from me?"

"No. you are just someone chat to. I doubt we will talk again after this, you're clearly not comfortable with the idea of me. It would be best if after today you just put this out of your mind. Tell yourself it was a prank or that you imagined it if it helps."

He wasn't sure whether to be relieved or disappointed at that news. Probably more relieved if he was truly honest with himself.

"OK. That's fine by me. So if you don't mind me asking what exactly would a person need to do to become your friend? I expect your standards are quite high if you have access to everyone on the planet and no one has qualified yet."

"My standards aren't high exactly, it's more like an improbable desire I have for something I haven't encountered yet. Something I'm waiting for."

"What are you waiting for?"

"Someone like me."

That confession seemed to be the final point in the conversation. The door slid open again at the normal rate and despite a full five minutes of Geordi persistently attempting to gain another response, no further messages appeared on the screen. The report sat where it was, exactly as he had written it.

The half of the conversation which had been displayed across the page just a few minutes ago was gone without a trace. As though it had never been there. No evidence remained of his unexpected encounter.

He read back over his conclusion and considered adding his own account to it. He couldn't hand in a document stating that an entity he had personally spoken to was just a myth. Could he?

No one would believe him. They would think he had gone mad from the stress. It had happened to others. Or worse, they would think he was pulling a practical joke and not taking his studies seriously.

No, this incident would never leave this room. Better to forget about it. Carry on as normal.

He submitted his report without changes. Conclusion, it's just a rumour. No proof, no proof at all. Even years later, working as Chief Engineer aboard the Starship Enterprise he never told anyone about the conversation he had that day. The conversation with the glitch, that programme that doesn't exist.

Listening to Beverly laugh happily about her son and the imaginary friend he had as a child. The friend he started talking to after he was first handed a star fleet data pad at 5 years old. The boy he swore to his mother lived in the computers. The boy called Micah. Geordi felt a shiver run down his spine.

There will be no real plot to this story, its just going to be a series of random scenes within this world. Ideas so far include encounters with Data, The Borg, Holograms, Stealing space shuttles, messing with systems in the Enterprise and other things along those lines. If there are any scenes you would like to read let me know and I will have a go at including it. Thanks for reading and please review, I love to get feedback.