BY SOLO
EPISODE 12
Written by Solo
Finally…the Time Machine has been found.
Solo is sitting at the computer terminal. The keyboard
rests on her
lap. Her feet are propped up against the desk and her right hand
rests
on a little mouse that is lying uncomfortably on the chair arm.
Solo
tapped the mouse - it squeaked… "Woops, sorry." Solo raised her hand
and
the mouse scampered away. She reached forward and grabbed the
electronic mouse from the desk and placed it on the chair arm.
Solo stared mesmorised at the screen before her, her left
hand
strayed only occasionally from the keyboard to grab a chocy biscuit
or a
glass of some frothing liquid. There was a strange looking clock
beside
the computer terminal…At the moment the clock was blank.
Flacco hovered at her shoulder. "Do you know what's
wrong with it?"
he asked for the twenty-third time in as many minutes.
Solo clicked the mouse button and groaned aloud.
"It looks like
someone's changed your configuration…I can't log onto the Internet."
"But if you can fix it then you can send us back?"
"Huh? Oh no, I just want to check my mail.
I should have messages
from Jenny, Mythor, Lisah, Noafro and a few others by now."
Flacco gave her a dirty look.
"Oh you mean about the Time machine? Well, I dunno
… I found the
file. I think it's corrupted - it's very possible that you guys
may
have inadvertently downloaded some kind of virus. I've tried
to cure it
but it's not working. The only thing I can think of is to reformat
the
entire program. But I don't want to do that if I don't have to…files
tend to get lost or deleted every time you reformat. I don't
know what
might happen. Cause it looks like this machine is actually connected
into the main support system of this entire ship. Oh hang on."
Solo
tapped a few buttons and then chuckled. "Now I know what the
problem
is. This is a system that was designed after the year 2000.
Therefore
it is not immunised against the Millennium bug. By coming back
in time,
your system has caught the bug…or virus…or whatever you want to call
it
and naturally you wont be able to go back into the future until the
bug
has been cured from the system."
Solo reached out and grabbed her drink. She took
a sip… "So what do
I do?"
Flacco shrugged his shoulders "Yip! How should I know."
He said.
"Ask the lads."
"How can I, I don't know where they are."
*****
Suddenly on three of the walls of the small room, three
small doors …
Well, two tall doors and one small door opened and the three lads in
question ran in. From behind Paul, there were the sounds of hundreds
of
screaming females. Paul slammed the door shut and leaned against
it
gasping for air. Behind Richard, a loud howling and growling
could be
heard. Richard also slammed the door shut and gasped for air.
Behind Tim was the ear-piercing sound of shattering mirrors.
He too,
slammed the door and gasped for air.
"What took you guys soooooo long?" Solo asked.
"I was attacked by a giant white cat." Richard gasped.
"I was attacked by a mob of screaming fans." Paul gasped.
"I was attacked by my own beautiful reflection." Tim gasped.
Everyone in the room stopped to stare at Tim.
"Long story." He replied in lieu of an explanation.
Solo turned back to the computer screen.
"Hey, you found it!" Tim exclaimed.
All three crowded around the young woman pushing Flacco
back out of
the way. Tim squeezed Paul away from Solo's side and pushed in
even
closer. "Tim you're crowding me." She said.
"Sorry." He replied but didn't move.
Paul threw Tim a dirty look before pushing Richard out
of the way on
Solo's other side.
Where the boys had stopped pushing and shoving each other
Solo
proceeded to tell them of what she had discovered.
"Well, If we want to get back we're going to have to try
it." Richard
said a few minutes later after Solo had explained twice more to get
the
details into their thick skulls.
"So you want me to reformat the system…damn the consequences?"
Solo
looked at Richard, he swallowed but nodded. She looked at Tim,
his eyes
darted around the room before he too nodded. She looked at Paul.
He
stared back at her, "What are you waiting for?" he asked.
Finally Solo looked at Flacco. But he had disappeared.
"Okay then…" she turned back to the computer and hit several
keys in
a random sequence. A box popped up onto the screen. It
said 'to Format
hit Enter.'
Solo hit enter.
Another box appeared on the screen, it read 'Are you sure
you want to
reformat?'
Solo hit enter.
Another box appeared, 'Are you really sure you want to
reformat?'
Solo hit enter.
'Are you really really sure?' it asked.
Solo hit enter.
'Are you really really really sure?'
Solo hit enter.
'Okay then.' The box said.
Suddenly a very small Bill Gates riding a Microsoft window
crossed
the screen. It rode it to the other side and turned to face Solo.
Through the speakers came a very geeky male voice. "You have
chosen to
reformat the system. Please back-up any files you wish to keep
as some
may be lost in the reboot process."
"Oh s hit." Solo said "Woops!"
Bill continued. "It will take thirteen hours for
the system to
reformat. When complete, for the changes to be initiated, you
must
reset the system. Turn off system…let cool for three minutes
before
turning back on."
"Well solo, you've got twelve hours and then you can go
home."
Richard said. None of the four looked very happy at that prospect.
Suddenly another large box appeared on the screen above Bill.
On the
right hand side a thin green line appeared. Below it a percentage
sign
showed 2% of the system had been reformatted.
"Well, what do we do for the next 12 hours?" Solo asked.
Paul turned to look at Richard and in a high voice, suggested…"We
could play a game?"
"Oh no, no Paul. I don't want to play a game…" Richard
said.
The clock slowly began to count down from 13:00,
12:59:59, 12:59:58,
12:59:57, etc. A screen saver flashed to the screen. It
was of a large
black smiley face on a yellow background. Beneath it, scrolling
across
the screen were the words… 'Have a nice Day.'
What can three good-looking guys and a beautiful young
woman do in
twelve hours?
What files will the Titanic II's computer supports system
lose during
the reformatting?
Will the Time machine be repaired and will it actually
send the
Titanic II back to the future??
STAY TUNED…