Originally shared by David Klein
Story Prompt
You’ve just punched in for your shift at RelaXX Incorporated when your netdaemon chirps its breaking news alert. The headline scrolls across your Sungsam™ HUD: Bobby Alaska, the infamous hacker, has been found murdered in his Glasstown Heights apartment.
Why aren’t you surprised by this news?
Somebody already tried to pay me to do it, a lot. I owe Bobskis from way, way back though, and I got word to him, but he seemed unconcerned. “I have too much dirt on too many people for someone to take me out, Dallas,” he’d said.
Now I’m just waiting for that dirt to leak.
I wave away the alert with a look of apathy as I push the mop further down the hallway, spreading wetness across the floor. The Daedalus TechLube added to the bucket should make the entire space a hazard.
I look left and right. No one coming. I swipe the badge on the unassuming door in sublevel 6. “Identity: Bobby Alaska. Please verify.” The plastic bag has already started to stick to the gel of the decomposing hand, but I maneuver it out and place it on the verification pad. With a whoosh, the door slides open to the central RelaXX client database – every person in the world, every politician, every banker, every executive who has ever used RelaXX services and products has their deepest darkest secrets stored here.
For what seems like the first time in years, I smile.