Continuum

I awoke to the sight of a strange man standing at the foot of my bed, which is definitely something I am not used to. Was he real or was he a projection? He was so still. His gaze upon me was somewhat like a biologist looking at an insect specimen.

"Are you going to introduce yourself, or will you just stand there?"

He walked over to my only chair and sat down. "I'm Mr. Lerno. The name means nothing to you now, but that may change. I am a Director of WinTel, and you are a very interesting person!"

Great way to start a Monday. I got up and paddled to the toilet, which had the only other door in my apartment. Once inside, I silently cried out.

"Mary! Abort now!" My thoughts silently screamed out into the Continuum.

"I have already gone, Stevo. They picked up my computer 42 minutes ago. I was out before we got to the street. When I moved my awareness to the Continuum, I left a few hundred thousand Nanobots behind to build a real WinTel motherboard and clean up any evidence of our existence. They will have self-destructed into silicone dust by now."

"I breathed a sigh of relief. No matter what happened from this point, there was no evidence of the existence of the Continuum for the good Mr. Director Lerno.

I flushed the toilet and waited an appropriate moment, then came out to face my inquisitor.

"Do I need to go with you, or is this just a social call?"

"Stevo is your name?"

"You must have already scanned my ID implant when you came in, so you know who I am. How did you get in, by the way? I thought Citizens still had some shred of privacy left."

"I go where I please. Although my salary is the same as everyone else, I do have Power, Stevo. Real Power. I can read your mail. I can trace you through all the surveillance cams. I have access to your every record, and I can even follow you where ever you go on the Hub. . . I also have access to Devices, Stevo. Powerful Devices."

He casually examined a well manicured nail on his left hand. "You might even say that I AM WinTel, Stevo.

I sat back down on the bed, there being no where else to sit but the floor. I thought furiously to myself, "Why is he here? What have I done that can be detected?"

"Mr. Lerno, I see that there is no 'Mr.' for me when you address me."

Only powerful and influential people wore the 'Mr.' in front of their single names. Proper names and Surnames had been banished decades ago. Still, among friends or peers, we addressed each other with the 'Mr.' I was only polite. Lerno's neglect of this propriety was intentional, and was in keeping with the way he looked at me, anyway. Me, Mr. Specimen!

Lerno leaned suddenly forward, his bald face only a foot or so from mine.

"How skillful are you in repairing computers, Stevo?"

My blood chilled. I feigned a composure I did not feel.

"I get by. I have robotic agents on the Hub, just like everyone else. When someone has a need for my services, I show up. Since I don't rate a Union job, and I can't afford to buy a Company position, I make do. What is wrong with that? Am I hurting your bottom line, Mr. Lerno?"

"I have found that there are a few people like you, who turn old worthless junk into serviceable WinTel boxes. And I could care less about the few people like you! You are all like parasites on our Worthy Society. If you were on the Dole, I could understand it. You would get your ration of Video and Services, but you would never even see or touch one of our awesome Computers!"

He practically spat that last line at me, but I suspected he wasn't quite finished.

"You, however, are something else, and I cannot exactly put my mind to it, to turn you inside out and see what it is that you really are!"

"I am what you see!" I stood up to face down at him. I was careful to make no move in his direction, but I was angry now. Mine was a righteous indignation that required no acting at all. I raised my voice.

"Why do you bother decent hard working people, who somehow in this society can find gainful employment? You have my ID, therefore you also know that I have the test scores to be an employee of the Company. So, instead of busting in on me to pick me apart because I am good at what I do, why don't you offer me a job?!"

Lerno stood and calmly faced me down. He was a bit taller. Those clear, ice blue eyes drilled themselves into mine.

"You drek! If I had wanted you, I would have had you brought to my office by night in the Citadel! From there you would have never returned. That is where we bring subversives and other computer criminals!

He paused, squared his shoulders, straightened his topcoat, and moved to the door to the hall. Opening it, he turned and smiled. He looked almost human.

"I am only being polite to you as a 'warning,' Stevo. I don't like you or your kind. You serve no useful purpose in my world. But, I will not allow my personal feelings to get in my way. I came to see you with my own eyes. I don't know what it is about you that is so strange, but I get the feeling that there is more to you than is apparent. Obviously, I have no proof of any wrong doing on your part, or we would have met under much different circumstances. You do understand?"