" Just my job "

I'm not from around here, is what I like to say. I don't fancy myself much of a miracle worker but, there almost aren't any people who are even capable of the job that I do.



I'm what they call a technomancer. Basically a mage of technology. Well, that's what the term first meant for when they coined the term. Its not like I'm using literal <i>magic</i>  per say, but I use some...  <i>Techniques</i> that one could attribute to magic. It certainly seems that way. My job itself is, as one might expect, to fix electronics. You know, broken hard drives, jammed printers, stuck keyboards, black monitors and... Malware...



Malware is certainly my least favorite problem to deal with.



You see, the way I fix technical problems is through the use of my <I>techniques</I>



I'm not gonna tell you what they are now, you'll see soon enough.



<I><b> I entered the building, a large hospital. Nothing very noticeable about it. Its an old hospital, but a good one, one that parents trust their children with and have their babies delivered. 



I continued walking until I reached the head doctor who called me. He had told me that he had called many people, but I really know why he called. He's a very old friend of mine, very proud too, wouldn't swallow his pride to tell what seems like an embarrassing truth out in public.</b></I>



"I'm so glad you're here!"



"I'm not"



"I..well.. Uh I didn't know you still-"



"Sorry, not because of that. I'm not glad that I'm here on business"



"Oh"



<I><b> a long time ago, the good doctor Roberts here, Tyrese as I knew him, was my best friend and partner in crime. I was in the computer business all my life and as kids Tyrese was too, it wasn't until after a falling out over a bad mistake that we went our separate ways and he became a doctor. Years later, we "ran" into each other and made amends, though our bonds were never as strong as they once were.



After the little awkward exchange I gestured to move on and he showed me the problem room</b></I>



"So, what's the situation?"



"Its super slow, the brightness pulses, pop ups, every antivirus is turned off or deleted"



<I><b>I let out a very deep, slightly upset sigh as I gave my diagnosis</b></I>



"It must be a <i>virus</I>"



"Good god, not another one"



"Its alright, I'll take care of it. Just like last time."



<I><b> I blurted out the statement before I could realize it. A bit of an insensitive thing to say, given our history. I didn't mean to say it, but the mention made Tyrese tense up and look away dejectedly.</b></I>



"I'm sorry. That was a long time ago."



<I><b> I make my way into the room and begin to shut the door behind me. Tyrese gives me a sorry look before I completely closed it.



I gave the computer the once over.



Just as I said, virus.



Now this is where my techniques come into play. You see, there is in fact a world created for every medium there is. Paintings, furniture, architecture, electronics. 



My techniques are my abilities to enter the world of technology, its kind of like a spirit world, its not a different dimension, its the same world, only seen differently in a different medium. You could shorten the name of this world to cyberspace. In cyberspace, everything you do effects something in the normal world. Such as, if you have some processes that keep glitching, go to cyberspace and remove whatever is damaging the files going through, in the real world, the problem will be fixed.



I begin to focus, imagining the computer acting as a great eye, but a door at the same time, closing my eyes I can feel the travel, and now I no longer need my sight.



There's no mistaking cyberspace. None at all. You don't "see" when you're there, its like you don't have the sense of vision but you still know your surroundings in great detail, if you've ever seen the show avatar the last airbender, think of having earthsense,  the thing the blind earthbender girl uses, except instead of White, grey and black its just varying shades of green and black, but you can still read and see images.



The whole world is just a big series of walls, rooms, highways, and theaters.



Its always warm.



the walls feel like flesh.



They pulse and contract, as if breathing.



You can just barely make out the circuit patterns of the veins in the walls, endlessly carrying the lifeblood of this world, data and electricity.



I needed to find this virus and take care of it. Viruses in the normal world aren't really a unified thing, like real illnesses. There's this collective of them reproducing and causing problems. But here in cyberspace, they take on a much different form. Different malwares take on different shapes. There's not really a limit on what they could look like, and most of them only slightly intelligent. The only way to track them is to find the places missing from the walls and other surrounding programs, if they're missing parts, it was either some bad coding, a copy too many, or malware.



It took a while. Interviewing tattered programs, following pools of energy, and reactivating the antiviruses before I found it.



It was rooted only partly into the flesh of the floor, infecting it and then adding the infected parts to itself. 



It hadn't noticed me.



I draw my special tool, for trapping and compressing the damn thing, and take a step forward.



Its head instantly swivels in its place to face me.



Shit.</b></I>



"ARE YOU OF THE ONE STRAIN"







<I><B> Its voice was like an alien voice you would hear on an old twilight zone episode, deep, electronic and warbley</b></I>







"the hell I am!"



"THEN BECOME ONE WITH THE ONE STRAIN"







<I><b> it took a few seconds to uproot enough of one of the circuit-like veins it used as appendages, which gave me the time I needed to avoid its onslaught. When it couldn't hit or grab me, it decided to uproot completely and begin a chase. 



Fan



Fucking



Tastic



Its pole shaped body only seemed to be moving as if hovering completely independently of its "arms" while they move like a game of snake. 



I ran what seemed like hours before it cornered me in the very place I entered. I couldn't escape and It grabbed me.</b></I>



"YOU WILL NOW BE ASSIMALATED INTO THE ONE STRAIN"







<I><B>in an enormous panic I the one thing that I knew would buy me time.







I tried going back.







I concentrated like before and closed my eyes.



The coolness of the normal world is always a tiny shock, but usually feels like a saving grace. <I> usually.</I>



I brought it back with me.



It seemed to be confused. I'd almost say that it was going into a shock until its body shuddered trying to move, feeling weight for the first time it wobbled at first, but straightened itself quickly. It seemed to be surveying the room with oddly inorganic looking eyes on its polygonal head. When it came to this world it changed, going from the green and black wireframe look to a strange fleshy texture. Its head pulsed lightly, but it maintains the flat sides and sharp edges one might see in a Nintendo 64 game.



While it was distracted I surveyed the room, looking for something to get out of this situation with.



The computer's sleep screen is no longer lagging.



Its still dark outside.



There's a metal measuring stick on the desk.



I keep looking for something to free myself, my search eventually becoming frantic before it unceremoniously drops me right on the floor. </b></I>



"THE ONE STRAIN DOES NOT UNDERSTAND"



<I><b>its voice, no longer warbly or electronic, is now something heavy and dry</b></I>



"this one here is as well"



"THE ONE STRAIN DOES NOT KNOW THIS INPUT"



"What do you mean"



"THIS ONE HAS KNOWN MANY, THE NEED OF ASSIMALATION, THE SATISFACTION OF TOTAL AREA CONTROL. BUT THIS. THIS IS SOMETHING UNKNOWN. A DEEP UNCERTAINTY. IT QUIVERS. A SENSATION THAT IS LIKE THIS WORLD, DIFFERENT, SEEPS THROUGH MY VERY CODE. THIS IS A VERY NEGATIVE INPUT."



"are... are you afraid?"



<I><b>it paused for a moment before slowly turning to me</b></I> 



"THAT IS AN ACCURATE STATEMENT OTHER. YES. I AM VERY AFRAID. I AM AFRAID AND I DEMAND THAT I RETURN TO MY SOURCE CODE."



<I><b> I let the frightened creature speak for a moment before pulling out my tool and solemnly holding it up to activate</b></I>



"I'm sorry. You can't return."



<I><b>I activate my tool.























I talk to Tyrese over the phone as I drive back to my base, which I also call home.</b></I>



"Listen, Tyrese, about earlier, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring it up again."



"Look its alright, I'm sorry for coding the damn thing that started it. But its in the past now right?"



"...right....



Hey Tyrese?"



"Yeah?"



"You wanna hang out next time you get off?"



"I would like that, I would like that a lot."



<I><b> we hang up and I finish my very quiet ride back to base.



I enter, and begin the descent down a spiral staircase, so that I may readjust my tool to use again.



I walk along the long bolted corridor before reaching the vault door.



I open it and enter a room that appears to be a lab with a large silo or canister-like machine in the back of it.



I plug the tool into the slot in the machine, removing the jar containing  the shrunken virus.



It quivers and shakes, desperately paws at the top with its appendages uselessly. 



The machine activates.



The jar shines brightly and intensely for a few moments before letting up, revealing a newly emptied jar.



I look into the viewport on the machine.



There it is.



Right with the others.



All shaking.



All quivering, holding each other.



All <b>very</b> afraid.







I back away and reset the timer on the machine, turning out the lights and listening to their distorted whimpers before closing the vault door.</b></I>



"Don't blame me... its just my job"