The experiment

`You 've got a mail! ´

He clicked the button and read the message. 19.56 o'clock it said.
"Hey, Metaxom! You asked me for certain information. Well, it'll take me a while longer. Oh, man! I would like to tell you what's going on, but I don't have time right now because EVERYTHING is going off! I really need GLUE !!! "
Sandalphon

The young man, nicknamed 'Metaxome', clicked the 'reply' button and started typing.

"Sandy, it is important that I get the data by Wednesday, tomorrow, at the latest! Whatever happened, please hurry! There is a conspiracy going on here and the two of us may be the ONLY ones who know about it and uncover it I repeat: It is important! Our whole continent - maybe even the whole world - is at stake! "
Metaxome

He sent the message and then shut down his computer. It was only too late that he remembered that he hadn't encrypted it.But that didn't matter now. If they succeeded, they would all meet again in hell, he thought. And that would only be Sandalphon's fault, because the self-proclaimed, world's best hacker after 'The Seren' would not have managed to hack into YOU ​​'s central computer, find the information he was looking for and send it to him, Metaxom.
The sun was just setting and bathing Metaxom's one-room apartment in a rich, golden-red light. He looked at the window but avoided looking out. He was tired of seeing that gray, unsightly, misshapen thing called the big city.
He heard the noise of the cars muffled seven floors below. They didn't know about it and wouldn't know about it until one morning they woke up and looked out the window and instead of the ugly city bustle saw the hot, blazing flames of Hell - or something much worse. The boy took a cigarette, lit it, burning his fingers on the old-fashioned lighter, and pulled hard once.That was good.
"Oh, baby come to me!" Gigi D'Agostino was singing on the radio. New-fashioned junk, thought the boy who called himself Metaxom. A voice edited with the computer. Without a computer it would be nothing. How good were the REAL songs that were sung by REAL voices, such as 'The Connells' with '74-75' or 'Percy Sledge' with 'When a man loves a woman'.
He especially liked `Chris Burghs´` Lady in red´, which he was humming softly the whole time. Oh yeah! Those were the days, he thought. He regretted not having been born at that time, but he couldn't help it. And now that the continent was on the verge of being destroyed by a gigantic laser, would-be singers were playing their last songs to them. Those were great prospects! The rats behind the wall started pawing again. He pulled on his jacket because he wanted to pop into his favorite pub, turned off the radio, grabbed his wallet, went out the door and carefully locked it behind him.As soon as he was out of the house and about to cross the street, his computer gave a low whirring sound and started. The screen stayed dark for a moment, but then the green dot lit up, indicating it was on. In fact, after a short time, the screen also began to light up and the password prompt appeared. Eight crosses appeared in it. The password query disappeared and the standard screen appeared. In the middle, the message `You 've got a mail! ´. The radio played Melanie C.
"How did we fall? Can we get up at all? When it's cold is it your heart that keeps you warm?" her melancholy voice echoed through the room now flooded with red rays of sunshine. The rats were silent.
It was almost midnight when he came back. At first he did not notice the computer was running because it had automatically switched to standby mode after a quarter of an hour and the screen was now dark. The radio had caught his attention first."I turned that damn thing off!" he cursed softly and walked over to it, but stopped in mid-step.
"I was the one who let you know ..."
"Un ... impossible ...!" he whispered softly.
"74-75 ..." sang `The Connells´ on unmoved from the radio. The power indicator on his tower was green, the one on his screen was yellow. That and the low hum indicated that the computer was running. But he had turned it off before he left.
"What the...?" he ran his hand over the keyboard and paused two inches above the space bar. Seconds passed in which he pondered a possible solution.
"How on earth ...?" Hesitantly he pressed the space bar and the screen came on.

`You 've got a mail! ´

He automatically clicked the button for 'read'.

8.10 p.m.
"Metaxom! Things are escalating! They found me! I have to get somewhere safe. Hey, you didn't tell me what we were messing with here."They'll find me! They know where I am !! They'll kill me !!! "
Sandalphon

`You 've got a mail! ´ still blinked. A rat cried out loudly, ripping the young man, nicknamed Metaxome, out of his petrification. He shook his head and clicked 'read' again.

11.55 p.m.
"I hacked myself one last time because the thing never let go of me. Dangerous but worthwhile. I saw the real plans. The laser was just a cover! They have something much worse before! They want people through the computer with it , infect them through the Internet and turn them into invincible fighting machines. There is only one catch: one becomes a mindless creature over time. We ... "Metaxom read the following lines with increasing astonishment. He wanted to send the newspaper a copy of the email first thing tomorrow - or even better today. Suddenly the message copied itself and was sent to various addresses in newspapers."... if that's true, we have to do something before we lose control. A force ..." Chris Burgh sang "Lady in red, is dancing with me." "... with which you could control everything! Manipulate everything just with your thoughts! Just the way you want it! "
Sandalphon

`You 've got a mail! ´ flashed again. The message appeared without Metaxom even looking at the mouse or button.

0.02 a.m.
"There was an explosion in the building I am in. You have me. Meta, we are only subjects, it was all planned! But I will not allow myself to be abused! I will wrinkle my wrists with any of the parts lying around cut open or I'll throw myself into the fire here! "
Sandalphon

Metaxom was shocked. Without lifting a finger, he pressed the 'reply' button. The message wrote itself. It was the third time in a row that the radio played `Lady in red´.

"Sandy, what are you writing about?If there really was an explosion in the building, why are you still inside and emailing me? Which computer are you emailing me from anyway? "
Metaxome

Even before the last words were written, `You 've got a mail! ´ flashing again. The message opened again by itself.

0.03 a.m.
"That's what scares me, Meta. I don't have a computer anymore."
Sandalphon

END

So, an older story from me. I thought to myself, I'll upload something that I wrote myself to sweeten the waiting time until Eien where at least something. Although I honestly don't know how you will react to this short story. It's more sci-fi, which I like a lot too. I still have different stories with UFOs, aliens and alien planets in store, but to sort them all in my head and then type them ... well, I'll probably spend the rest of my miserable, alcohol-drenched life with that! ^^
Do you know Psi Factor?The idea for the story came to me after watching one of the episodes. It was about a man who sent an SOS to a friend's computer from the desert (??? Here my memory is getting a bit weak ...). In the end, it turns out that he is sitting in a crevice somewhere and has no computer at all. Well, I found that pretty exciting and that's when the idea occurred to me that there might be some secret government project where they create super people. And since computers and robots etc were somehow THE topic back then, I just let my imagination run wild. I know, you could say I stole the idea and ... um ... it's even true! ^^ At that time I read a lot of Stephen King (I'm starting again. This time I'll take the Dark Tower) and you can somehow notice that in my writing style (furnishings, characters, etc.). In the past I was often inspired by Stevie and Co. ^^Well and the names ... so where Sandalphon comes from, all AS fans can surely guess! ^^ It's more difficult at Metaxom ... honestly, I had a nightmare flash at the time and in one of these dreams I got a text message on my (then) new, great Siemens cell phone (may you rest in peace forever , my beloved sweetheart, with whom I share so many happy memories! * Expressing crocodile tears *). This SMS said something about "You are coming (...), difficult tasks, puzzles and any decisions". The whole thing was signed with the name Mesotaxom (read: "MEH-SOH-TÄK-SEM"), which I found stupid and then changed to Metaxom (read: "ME-TÄK-SEM") for the story. Well, I think it sounds kind of cool. ^^
What sick dreams I have ...
Well, I would still be happy about (nice ^^) clerks. Hopefully I didn't scare you with the picking here, but my loyal readers know that I have a crack in the bowl!^^
See you in a couple of weeks!

Your sci-fi tiger