[ computer(s) text / potential college computer lab action? ]

[struckout]

[ Kallie's never been the type to enjoy the first of April much, that cursed day after her birthday. Twenty-one years so far of gag gifts and flat-out birthday-themed pranks - no matter how intolerant she is of them - will do that to a girl. A cautious and frowny sort on the pseudo-holiday, she's generally pretty set on distancing herself rather than running the risk of becoming a victim.

When she absent-mindedly puts in the number that's been occupying her mind all day into her iPad between classes, at first she thinks she's stumbled onto some sort of joke- inadvertently accessing some sort of app designed to confuse.

Then she realizes that these sound like people instead of AI... and her iPad isn't connected to the internet.

Rather confused now (needless to say, a state she's reluctant to admit to herself), she simply fiddles around without replying for a while. Rereads and listens. On a slowly-growing hunch, however, it's then she tries the number on her iPhone as well. Same thing.

A few minutes later she's settled down in front of a distinctly Windows-based desktop in one of the university's computer labs. Number put in, same thing. She briefly quizzes some of the other people there over noticing anything weird, but obviously they're busy with their own things and don't know what she's talking about, so... ]

Is this some joke by the compsci dept or something? hacking into all the wireless devices on campus? I JUST got this ipad and its not even connected yet.

[ And with that she's frowning and running a hand through her dark hair, staring between both desktop and the tablet computer sitting beside it- wondering just what in the world is going on as the same messages continue showing up on both. ]

Comments

[chalicejoker]

Somehow I'm not surprised. If it works on a cash register, I guess it would work on anything.

Any ideas on what it's for? It just seems like it's confusing everyone more than it's actually being useful.

[struckout]

No.

[ ... And that's she has, all she can think to offer until the rather alarming but numbly-typed: ]

It's in our brains.

[chalicejoker]

[This is kind of more than he wants to deal with on top of suddenly having neon green blood.]

Like this is some sort of shared hallucination and we're all just losing our minds?

[struckout]

How else would you explain it?

[chalicejoker]

[The reply takes a little while to come. Give him a moment to think on this, even if he's growing increasingly more frustrated with the whole thing.]

I don't know.

Aliens.

[That was meant very sarcastically, but sarcasm doesn't always transmit well via text...]

[struckout]

There's no such things as aliens.

[ That was taken as and replied to ... very seriously, yes. ]

[chalicejoker]

For all you know the aliens are the ones beaming these transmissions into our brains.

[He's still being so, so sarcastic, because this entire thing is making him go into grumpy jerk mode.]

[struckout]

[ ... Kallie's tolerance, as low as it is at the moment, doesn't have the patience for talk of something as absurd as aliens. She doesn't reply, simply choosing the time-honored tradition of sulking in silence instead. ]

[chalicejoker]

[If she's going to be silent, he's not going to encourage her to speak up again.

He will, however, feel the pointless sense of victory one feels when one thinks one has won a really, really stupid argument on the Internet.]