A Short Story on Dave, Patterson, and Some Events that Happened in 4159
“Echo!” said Dave, “Echo… Echo… Echo…” came the reply. He was having a good time at the Koaina Canyon, in 4159, but things seldom went the right way in this place. Moela showed up, and asked Dave why in the name of Kleuth was he shouting at nothingness? Why didn’t he continue doing his research, and sending messages back? Dave spun around, and told Moela, with a terrifying calm, that that’s what the Past Humans do. They shout at canyons, and “Koaina” is also coincidentally “Grand” in Loeania. Nostalgic.
Back at the base, Dave brought out the laptop, running Windows 3.1, the same one he showed to the descendants, and booted up the other operating system: PLATOS. “Ah… Finally back, aren’t we, old boy?” He murmured. He opened the Deep Aeon Vortex Manager, and attempted to boot up the Remote Activation Sequence, but all he got was “Error 2: Not Found”. What a cruel joke made by the universe… But then, the computer showed a message: “Error 59: Unhandled Exception”, it bleated. Dave looked at it in shock. He knew the manual by heart. Unhandled exceptions were 31, not 59, plus, the error codes they wrote only went up to 51. It was impossible… but yet it was there. He called for Patterson. No response. Deadly still air surrounded him. The air was so thick, yet so thin at the same time, as if it was a fabric of reality, easily peeled away. Dave stood up, and the feeling evaporated. He called again. Still no response. Dave suddenly remembered: Patterson was on a trip to visit some of the descendants’ homes, and that he would be alone today. He breathed a sigh of relief and then sat again. He closed the error box and tried again. Same error. He included it in his message back that day, but unknowingly, it was swallowed.
The next day, Patterson awoke to the alarm of the Deep Aeon Vortex clone. That was their ticket home. He ran out in his boxer shorts and PJ tops, only to be greeted with the scene of Dave and Moela beside the Vortex. Dave frantically fixing it, while Moela looking at him skeptically. A bear ran out of the nearby forest, and darted northwest, away from the base. Something caught Patterson’s eye. After a while, the alarm finally stopped. Dave went back, exhausted, while Moela pulled Patterson aside. “He’s been shouting at nothing,” said Moela. “What? Why?” came the reply. “At the canyon, ‘echo’, it sounded like”. “Oh, that’s a perfectly normal thing for people to do”. Moela listened carefully as Patterson explained about some of the strangest behaviors that 1993 people (Past Humans, in Loeania) do. From somewhere inside, “That error again!” came the shout of Dave in frustration. Patterson went inside, Moela following behind. “Impossible…” said Patterson, seeing the error on Dave’s computer. “I know!” It was a very confusing day indeed. It rained that night. Especially at Koaina Canyon.