This is a work of fiction. Names, and events are nothing more than the result of an overactive imagination and reading too many science fiction books as a child.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2014<\/p>\n
Scientists at the large hadron collider had to shut down operations today due to a computer error \u2014 Delhi Times\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s gotta be a very expensive joke. The same message appeared on every computer at the same time?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah Bill, all the servers too. Obviously the halt and crash addresses are all different, but the first line is always the same.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat about the data? You said the data flooded in, is it all the same?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUmm that\u2019s what is really weird. At first the IT guys thought it was some kind of randomizer virus that got in and corrupted everything. One of the IT guys got home after a 18 hour shift and caught hell from his wife because he wasn\u2019t answering his phone. The poor guy realized that in all the confusion his phone hadn\u2019t rung once after the event. That\u2019s when he put it together that the effect wasn\u2019t limited to just the lab computers. So like the curious geek he is, he started poking around at the data on his phone.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah? what did he find?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLike all the other systems, it looked like randomized bits. However, this particular geek had worked with data compression specializing in video in the very early days of video conferencing. Something looked familiar, so he dug up old specifications then hacked together a quick & dirty decoder program.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n Bill Haverstrom was getting impatient. As a technology specialist, he hated being called to investigate every remotely odd government computer crash. The only reason he was here now was the government funding that touched some of the LHC experiments. He was glad to see his old friend Glenn and hoped that this mess could be dealt with fast so the could catch up over a good dinner and better booze.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s where it gets really strange Bill. The decoder program ran, and the guys smartphone addressed him by name. The voice on the phone asked specifically for you. Then went into standby. Each time someone tries to access the phone the voice says \u2018You are not Bill Haverstrom,\u2019 then goes back to sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGlenn, you and I both know this has to be some kind of joke or hoax.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s exactly what I thought. So I dug up a picture of you from college. I held the photo in front of the phone and tried to wake it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBill, it told me \u2019That is a photograph of Bill Haverstrom, Please get this device to the living being,\u2019 then it went back to sleep. That\u2019s when I called you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell then, obviously the owner of the phone, what\u2019s his name\u2026\u201d Bill checked his notes; \u201cahh, Gunter wants to get my attention. Let\u2019s go find out what he wants to talk about.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMr. Johansen is being detained, and no doubt throughly questioned, by the Swiss authorities. But we do have the phone.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOk Glenn, lets go make a phone call. I\u2019m assuming it\u2019s been checked for explosives and other signs of tampering?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYep, it\u2019s completely clean.\u201d<\/p>\n They entered a small conference room. Inside the room, there were cameras of all types. Technicians busied themselves with final focus and sound checks as the two men walked in. Sitting on a nondescript table was a very average looking smart phone. \u00a0Bill sat down in a chair nearest the device and Glenn took an empty seat to the right.<\/p>\n \u201cGo ahead Bill, wake it up.\u201d<\/p>\n Bill touched a button on the face of the machine. At the touch, the display lit with a bluish white light.<\/p>\n \u201cWell? Glenn, you said it talked.\u201d<\/p>\n A face appeared on the display.<\/p>\n \u201cHello Grandpa, my name is Sean and we haven\u2019t met yet. This is a recording Grandpa, I wish it was interactive but neither of us have the technology to accomplish that. I don\u2019t think people in my time will ever be able to do it. Things are going very bad here.\u201d<\/p>\n Bill Haverstrom studied the young man\u2019s face. It was disconcertingly like looking at a family photo. Sean bore a striking resemblance to Bill\u2019s Great Grandfather. \u00a0Bill realized the young man wasn\u2019t talking. Instead, the recording had paused.<\/p>\n That wasn\u2019t quite true either, the young man on the screen appeared to be waiting patiently. He was looking into the camera and blinking with a wry smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. When Bill focused on the detail of the young man\u2019s face, the young man started talking again.<\/p>\n \u201cGrandpa, it\u2019s a little software trick. I\u2019m really not able to see or hear you. The camera on the phone is watching you and there\u2019s a very tiny bit of AI software that\u2019s able to determine you\u2019re not focused on what I\u2019m saying. \u00a0I\u2019d guess you were struck by how much I look like your Great Great Grandfather. Oh, by the way, When I\u2019m eight, playing in your office at the lake house, I really didn\u2019t mean to knock his picture off your desk. I\u2019m sorry about the frame, I know it was something Grandma gave you shortly before she died. I don\u2019t know if I ever apologized for that. So for what it\u2019s worth here\u2019s a long overdue, I\u2019m Sorry<\/em>. \u00a0From your perspective though, I guess we\u2019ll have to call it an apology on-account.\u201d<\/p>\n Bill looked up at Glenn, \u201cWhat the hell?\u201d<\/p>\n The image on the phone once again \u201cPaused\u201d the illusion this time was as if Sean was waiting politely for a conversation that he wasn\u2019t part of to conclude.<\/p>\n Glenn was visibly pale, \u201cI have no idea Bill. If this is a hoax it\u2019s a damn scary one.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGlenn, I\u2019m not even married. I sure as hell don\u2019t have children much less grandchildren. This can\u2019t be real.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBill, I\u2019m not saying its real but how many people outside your very small circle of friends know about the lake house? What, two, maybe<\/em> four people in the entire world?\u201d<\/p>\n Bill considered for a moment, \u201cExactly three people Glenn. You\u2019re one of them and so I have to ask. Are you in on this?\u201d<\/p>\n Glenn\u2019s eyes told the story.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sorry Glenn, it\u2019s not that I don\u2019t trust you, but I can\u2019t trust that,\u201d Bill said gesturing at the image waiting patiently on the little screen.<\/p>\n \u201cGrandpa, I hope your friend Glenn is there. You once told me he was your most trusted friend and that he was the single smartest man on the planet. You guys are going to have a lot to talk about. For now I have two things to ask. \u00a0First, please let Gunter Johansen go. He needs to be a father to the child his wife is carrying. Gunter had nothing to do with this, we targeted him because he was most likely to recognize the data as compressed video. Second, all the computers are loaded with history from our perspective, and the future from yours. Don\u2019t let them start reformatting systems. Now pay attention, I have something you need to see.\u201d<\/p>\n The young man faded from the screen to be replaced by a picture of The President. Sean\u2019s voice continued, \u201cYou know who this person is. You\u2019ve gotta stop him. He\u2019s the reason it all goes bad.\u201d<\/p>\n The audio switched over to what appeared to be a press conference where the President was speaking. The image quality was varying, as if the press conference was from a damaged tape.<\/p>\n Ladies and Gentlemen, we are in a time of serious crisis.<\/p>\n Our country is being attacked from within and without. Put simply our way of life is threatened by forces and acts that were until recently beyond our ability to imagine.<\/p>\n With many sure and certain threats to our country looming in the distance, I hereby suspend the electoral process and declare martial law until this crisis is past. There will be no elections for any national office and your government is recommending that all local elections be suspended as well. Now is simply not the right time to have a change of leadership. \u00a0I believe that attempting a change at this time places our country at unacceptable risk.<\/p>\n The government is reclaiming control of the communication system effective immediately. For news and information I direct you to your local television and radio stations. Within a few short weeks, the federal postal service will be fully operational. Contrary to any rumors you might have heard, the federal post is not a branch of internal security and they are not reading all your mail.<\/p>\n I must remind you that smart phones will be unusable when the cell network is turned off. Every citizen should have installed by this time, a hardline phone. You are reminded to turn in all wireless communication devices by the end of this month. This includes all walkie talkies, HAM Radio sets, WiFi routers, cell phones and any other transmitters.<\/p>\n Exempt from this list are receive only radios. You are reminded to have the WiFi radios removed or disabled from your computers as well. Every computer must have a security seal which certifies that the computer is safe. Cell phones or GPS devices built into newer vehicles are to be removed where ever possible, If such a device cannot be removed from the vehicle or disabled, the vehicle must be turned over to the nearest government official.<\/p>\n Regrettably this will leave some folks without vehicles. We call upon all local municipalities to increase the number of busses or other forms of mass transit to enable folks to keep working.<\/p>\n Failure to comply with any of these rules will, under marshal law result in immediate imprisonment and confiscation of your property and possessions. Property is defined as your home, vehicle or vehicles, or anything else deemed to have material value.<\/p>\n Travel restrictions are in effect immediately. All air traffic is grounded. If you are more than 30 miles from your home you must have a government issued identification.<\/p>\n Folks, we\u2019re trying to root out the evil in our midst, to do that we must deny that evil the ability to communicate in any secure way. We must prevent our enemies from freely moving about the country. I remind you all what happened at several shopping centers recently. Our experts have determined that the bombs were triggered with cell phones and other communication devices.<\/p>\n I know this sounds worse than the disease. These are harsh measures, but we are a resilient people, were are strong and we will prevail.<\/p>\n Thank you.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Bill and Glenn were staring dumbfounded at the screen. The date shown on the video was 3 years in the future.<\/p>\n The image of Sean re-appeared, \u201cSee Grandpa, part of this you\u2019ve lived and I\u2019ve lived all that came after. You\u2019re at a place, and more importantly at a time where you can change history.<\/p>\n Growing up, I remember you telling me that you wished you had been able to make a better world for me. Now you can. We used a quantum gateway the LHC accidentally created. It acted like a wire between my time and yours. The hard part was sending you all the data about how history unfolded.<\/p>\n Grandpa, you should know, the data probably won\u2019t last, we sent it only because there\u2019s an outside chance it might be persistent.<\/p>\n Get one of the big brains at the LHC to explain causality and you\u2019ll understand why. We think that your brain will hang onto enough that you might be able to sense the danger and change things even if you don\u2019t know why you\u2019re doing it. To be honest, this is a Hail Mary.<\/p>\n Oh, one more thing, I want you to know I love you, we never said that enough. Paps, you were the smartest man in my world. I love you old man.\u201d<\/p>\n The phone emitted a puff of acrid smoke, the screen went dark and Sean was gone.<\/p>\n For some inexplicable reason Bill was emotional when it became obvious the phone was slag.<\/p>\n Bill blinked a few times, he had the distinct feeling that he\u2019d lost or forgotten something. Glen sat to his right with a confused look.<\/p>\n Around the lab, various screens came back to life. Several servers and most laptops didn\u2019t escape unscathed.<\/p>\n All the clocks in computers that returned to normal operation, were 32 and one half hours slow. The exact amount of time that had elapsed since the system event, Bill\u2019s arrival, and the end of the message. This detail went largely unnoticed.<\/p>\n \u201cGlenn, save the dead laptops and any other dead systems, I\u2019d like to have them sent to the forensic data teams. \u00a0Hopefully the analysts can figure out what kind of virus we\u2019re looking at. I\u2019m guessing it\u2019s something from Syria or Iran. I just can\u2019t figure out why they\u2019d target the LHC.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSure thing Bill. Uhh Bill is everything alright?\u201d Glenn said quietly, \u201cit looks like you\u2019ve been crying man.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I\u2019m fine Glenn, guess I got something in my eyes. Do you smell burning circuits?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBill, it looks like this is a wild goose chase, I don\u2019t know why they sent you to check it out. Hey, when we\u2019re done here, I found a great new restaurant. I\u2019m not taking no for an answer they have 100 year old Scotch.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSure Glenn, you\u2019re buying!\u201d<\/p>\n Casually, Haverstrom slipped the charred ruin of the smartphone into his jacket pocket.<\/p>\n In the coming years he\u2019d look at it often, wondering why it was important to him.<\/p>\n Three years later, Bill Haverstrom \u00a0walked to a podium during a press conference and very clearly said, \u201cNot on my watch<\/em>\u201d then put a single bullet squarely in the chest of a man who aspired to become a King. Haverstrom\u2019s action touched off a civil war that historians agree, resulted in the reboot of the republic.<\/p>\n Haverstrom himself suffered a head wound during the assassination and spent the rest of his life confined to a wheelchair.<\/p>\n In 2032 President Glenn Johnson extended executive clemency to Haverstrom. Following Haverstrom\u2019s release from federal custody he retired from the public eye to a lake house he owned. Haverstrom never married.<\/p>\n An old man sat in his office watching the spring sun rise over a glassy lake. Occasional concentric rings marked the passage of fish catching their breakfast.<\/p>\n Life support equipment in his wheelchair beeped plaintively. The old man\u2019s shaking hand silenced the alarms. \u00a0The man\u2019s alert eyes began to dim, his breath became ragged and eventually stopped.<\/p>\n Falling forward, his head bumped an aged picture off the desk, shattering the frame on the floor. A moment later, a burnt bit of plastic and glass about the size of an old smartphone fell from limp fingers landing next to the handsome man smiling in the photo.<\/p>\n Written on the burnt plastic was \u201cSean\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is a short bit of fiction by Brody Kendal. Enjoy\u2026 Message from Nowhen This is a work of fiction. Names, and events are nothing more than the result of an overactive imagination and reading too many science fiction books as a child. Copyright 2014 Scientists at the large hadron collider had to shut down … <\/p>\n
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Message from the year 2045 via Quantum transmission. Please don\u2019t delete this data %$%%&#*($<\/span><\/span> System\u00a0overload<\/span><\/span> Disk Full\u2026<\/span><\/span> Memory full\u2026<\/span><\/span> ** Halt **<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n
![\"Burnt](\"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Burnt-phone.jpeg\" "\\"Burnt")
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