He rushed to the door and no matter how hard he pushed, it would not budge. So, he broke through one of the windows, and scurried to hide behind the counter. The drones lost sight of him at that point. Their red lights changed to green, and they dispersed. 485Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVsFsMzS0nK
Ian got up to see if they were really gone. He pushed on the door to peek through its small window, and suddenly it moved away, nearly tripping him. Turns out the door wasn't locked, he just needed to pull on the handle. 485Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVOdl9HMiEx
Ignoring the fact that this decrepit journey was driving him mad, he turned on the lights to look around the place. For a store selling tech in a tech giant of a city, it was surprisingly empty. There were a few products on the shelves but they looked old and were enamored in dust. The place seemed completely abandoned, so unwanted that the previous workers seemed to not even bother with locking it down for good. He tried searching for some sort of scanner so he could finally verify his phone. He looked under the counter and found a tiny button hidden away.485Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRHG9on55iV
Pushing it revealed one of the shelves to actually be a hidden gate to a staircase going deep down. He went down the stairs to find a long hallway painted and luminated obscenely white. It was like going down a path made of light. The end of the hallway led to another door. When opening the door, he found the scanner in a far corner, integrated over a table, and also a very old looking man sitting adjacent to the door. Ian felt like he just barged into some stranger's private area, so he asked politely,
"Hey, is it okay if I can come here? I need to use that scanner over there."
The old man cleared his throat for a bit and then responded, "why, yes you can!" Ian stepped forward, phone in hand, and began stepping towards the scanner gleefully.
"But," the old man continued. Apparently, he still wasn't having it easy. "I believe you have a bigger desire than simply fixing your phone."
"Erm.. no," Ian responded, slightly con-fuddled, "just for my phone here. Unless you want something in exchange?"
The old man laughed asthmatically, and said, "oh no my boy! There's no way you could've spent this much energy getting here, all for a crummy phone for which you could have an easy replacement delivered to your doorstep! I believe fate has chosen you for a much greater purpose! If you can stop to listen to the story of this dying old man, you might understand just a little bit." 485Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0zI1LX5YsN
Ian knew this was just another form of a time waste, but he couldn't just say no to someone this helpless. So, he gave the permission.
"Alright, let me tell you my story first." He began monologuing, "My name is Doctor Fitzgerald Marcus the third, grandson of someone with the same name. And he was the one who laid the foundation to all that you see today! Those drones, the endless servers, that metallic architecture, all blueprints by him! His work has been passed down from generation to generation, and I'm the last one to be taking care of this whole project, specifically the servers. If these go down, the rest of the world goes with it."
While the doctor was absorbed in his narrative, Ian slowly shuffled towards the scanner, conspicuously placed the phone down onto the scanner, pushed one of the buttons and waited for his goals to meet an end. 485Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ89cJkHf5A2
"But erm, I don't really like how the world has become." He continued, "Nobody seems to do any work for themselves anymore, nobody gets out, nobody gets in. Nobody doesn't even do nothing! Everyone's that desolate these days, isolating themselves with these wretched phones while these damned drones take care of everything! It's a horrible responsibility I've been assigned and I thought this would never change for the better. But you? You're different! You went outside, came into my little store, and talked to someone, me! You're the kind of energy I need to stop this nightmare once and for all!" 485Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAl2122dp1s
Ian pretended to not have activated the scanner, but listening to this old man's talk made him queasy and even more confused. There was nothing special in him. He saw himself as purposely selfish, isolating and introverted to himself.
"You", the doctor continued, "you can shut down these servers for me! It's just this button, right next to me." 485Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUaLpiGA49i
He lifted his elbow to show a stained-glass shield that protected a large red button. 485Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfOYJhj75Yn
"After you do this, we could help each other and plan a better system for humanity and-" 485Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnSRewfy5mQ
He was then interrupted by the scanner spilling an artificial string of words, "SCAN COMPLETE". 485Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmcb6WTiOkV
Ian picked up his phone, put it in his pocket, and responded, "Look guy, I'm sorry, but I'm not interested at all. I'm just a normal person, not that special. Also, I'm not sure why you need me for something you could've done yourself a long time ago."
The man, suddenly furiously red, shouted, "Are you serious!? How could you care this less about humanity!? You're insane for even suggesting I, a dying man, take over and change everything!" 485Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ohV6thpYT
Ian, frustrated and tired at this point, simply said, "I'm sorry, but you're the insane one for not doing anything about it for your whole life and just sat here waiting for someone to just push a button. This isn't my problem." 485Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡabTGMdOhto
He turned his back and walked away, leaving the old man in a raging stutter.
Walking up the stairs, he felt a bit sorry for the doctor, but kept his mind off of it. His phone was fixed, now he just needed to get back home. There could possibly be nothing else that could slow him down, he thought to himself. 485Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPVH5duqCaD
Technically, he was right about not being slowed down, because now he had to run more than ever as his life depended upon it.
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