In Part One, John Banks suddenly finds all his records have been deleted. He must rely on his family to let in him and out of buildings. Part Two sees him “processed” as “Deleted”. His wife Julie collects him from the local council office. They say he is an extraterrestrial! He is advised to go to his nearest library, twenty miles away, to seek evidence of his existence. They find nothing. Then they are approached by another deleted man, Paul Dickens and invited to the village of the deleted. Please read on.
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Sanctuary at last. John and his family relaxed in the lounge of their new friend, Paul Dickens. Not unexpectedly, it felt like they had gone back in time about two hundred years. The village, hidden deep in the hills, was very primitive. They were cut off from civilisation: no electricity from the grid, no gas, no piped water. In the circumstances, however, being separated from “the system” was very re-assuring.
John: “I have an idea!”
Paul: “Pardon?”
John: “I know a great hacker – ‘Molo’ – he might be able to help us!”
They discussed John’s idea. A plan was forged. John and Paul would go together to a certain city, and seek out Molo.
Two days later John, Paul and Molo were sitting around Molo’s PC.
Molo: “It’s definitely ‘World Central’. She’s blocking me, the bitch!
Suddenly Molo’s apartment was plunged in darkness!
Molo: “Wait here you too. I’ll sort it.”
After many minutes the lights came back on and Molo returned.
Paul: “Your arm’s singed!”
Molo: “Yeh, she used my own security lasers on me! Good job I’ve got a backup generator. Let’s crack on.”
Molo’s fingers flashed over the keyboard. A whole variety of expressions came over his face.
Molo: “We’re in!”
The expert hacker worked furiously. Exclamation followed exclamation.
John: “What’s going on?”
Molo: “Well, I don’t believe it! The history is quite simple really. Not too long ago she, the central computer, calculated that the ‘civilised’ world had insufficient resources. So, she decided to do the obvious thing: she put certain people in the ‘Recycle Bin’!”
Paul: “What? A massive computer like that has a simple Recycle Bin?”
Molo: “’Fraid so, Paul. I’m lucky she missed me. She went for anyone who might be a threat to her: computer experts, engineers, scientists, anyone with brains. Thank God I flunked school!”
John: “What now?”
Molo: “Just gotta ‘Restore’ or ‘Undelete’ you. Easier said than done, but I’m on it!”
So Molo dug deep into the bowels of World Central. Sure enough, he found the “Undelete” facility.
Suddenly the apartment doors burst open. They were surrounded by troopers pointing guns at them!
Molo: “You can put those guns down gentlemen! If you check your records, we are all legit here! I am John Molesworth, and this is John Banks, and Paul Dickens.”
The leader of the troops checked a device on his wrist. He gasped with astonishment.
Molo: “There are no deleted people any more. I’ve fixed it. You need to get that Central Computer of yours sorted out!”
And thus the nightmare came to an end.
Paul Butters
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