Internet (hyperlinks) wrote in forgotten_gods, @ 2011-09-07 22:32:00 |
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Entry tags: | internet, telecommunications |
Dead Zone
Who:Telecommunications and Internet
What:Internet gets a flat tire and no signal
Where:Middle of nowhere, upstate New York
When:Sept 8th, Thursday afternoon
Internet's ride back to the city from securing himself another donor upstate was pleasant. Summer was on the cusp of autumn and he had the windows of the limo down, letting the breeze move across his physical form. Joshua was not a nature lover, but he didn't hate the things of the earth. He would just rather see them from a picture or read about them on a wiki page. He had his laptop on the seat next to him, typing with an idle hand and drinking some bottled water when he felt, more than saw, his signal fail. He clenched his jaw. It was one of those dead zones on 87 they warned you about. Being without signal made him itchy. It made him nervous that he was missing something important.
He cast an irritated glance up to the driver, "Step on it. You drive like a granny." The sooner they got back to signal the better. Hell, he'd even take 2G.
"Yes sir." The driver, Joshua didn't remember his name, replied evenly, and sped up on the gas.
The sound of the tire bursting was muffled and the limo gave a lurch, making the driver grab at the wheel and start to slow down.
"Dammit! You idiot! Keep going!"
"I can't, sir. We have a flat. We'll wreck if I keep going at this speed. Let me pull over and change it."
"Here?!" Joshua looked out the window at the trees, the powerlines, the cows. And still no signal. He was going to strangle this driver.
The limo pulled off the highway and came to a stop and the driver got out, removing his black gloves as he walked around to the trunk.
Internet waited, drumming his fingers impatiently, nervously, on his knee and staring at the bars on his WiFi widget. The lack of bars.
"Sir?" The drive poked his head in the window. "The spare is flat as well. I have to call roadside assistance." The man took out his cell phone to place the call. "Ah damn, no service."
Joshua lost his patience.
The loss of another driver was a small matter. They were easy to come by and, with the unemployment rate so high, cheap. He could get another one when he got back to civilization. The limo still on the side of the road and the driver nowhere to be found, Internet walked off the exit to the nearest gas station, checking his Blackberry for signal, raised in the air, laptop under his arm.
Shit.
The gas station came into sight, at long last, but signal had not returned to him. It appeared these mortals were still living in the stone age. What sort of two bit town didn't have WiFi? He'd even take a locked network and go through the trouble of unsecuring it at this point. Maybe they used dial up? A quick scan of the gas station located the place where the powerlines connected to the building. A blue covered dusty pay phone from the 1980's and very well used was sitting off kilter just outside the gas station, the phonebook hanging and waving slightly in the breeze.
Salvation.
He was feeling the disconnection strongly now. His hands were shaking like an addict needing a fix as he lifted the receiver from the hook and placed it against his ear. The dialtone was like honey. He dialed the only number he knew from memory.