"No work on the schedule for today. Or tomorrow. Or for the rest of the week for that matter."
Kurt ran the tips of his fingers through his hair, lightly scratching his scalp.
"At this rate, we'll be out of house and home by the end of the month."
Kurt dropped his arms to his sides and let out a large sigh, fully reclining in his chair behind a cluttered desk. Aside a few empty boxes of chinese takeout, lights flickered on a silver PET's screen as a calm, tinny voice spoke up.
"Voice pattern: Kurt. Tone and pitch steady and low. Emotional Assessment: Depression. Compiling solution..."
An energetic dance beat forth from four half-buried speakers on each corner of the desk. Kurt raised a hand to his forehead and rubbed his temples lightly, his other hand lifting the navi in front of his face.
"Thanks Resonance, but I'm not depressed. Just a little frustrated about our current financial situation and lack of work."
"Acknowledged. Will associate tone and pitch with emotion frustration."
The music changed to a more soothing tune of waves crashing on a shore with a flute playing in the background.
"No... I.... Ugh... Nevermind Resonance.... Let's just get you some warmups in so you don't get rusty should work ever show."
Kurt tilted the PET slightly towards the computer sitting on the desk and Resonance vanished from the screen.
Harmonics: Sound Equipment and Repairs
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"Frequency: Erratic. Visual confirmation.... Signature: Viral. Identifying... Sound pattern: Unknown. Recording sound file. Requesting further instructions?"
Kurt could hardly believe what Resonance had just stated. An unknown virus? How the heck can one plan much of anything around an unknown virus? No movement patterns, defenses, weaknesses, attack motions.... attacks period!
Lost in thought, Kurt hardly realized that he'd leaned too far back in his chair. Crashing against the floor with a *THUD*, Kurt's PET flew from his hand and landed a few feet away on the ground. He rolled free of the tipped over chair and stood up, rubbing the back of his head.
"Son of a %&$*@. *%&^#$@ chair! You piece of $*^&!"
Kurt slammed the chair with the heel of his shoe, sliding it on its back a few inches. The sound of static poured out of the earpiece of his headphones, lending power to his growing headache. To combat the pain, he launched a few more choice words into the air until the faint voice of Resonance broke through the static for a brief moment.
"... engaging... Harmonic..."
Kurt walked over to where the PET had landed and picked it up, finding little more than a few scuff marks on the edges of the casing. The static broke up once more; a single solid note pouring through the speakers, which immediately trigged the auto-balance of the volume program, dimming the sound to a dull ambient whine. Kurt ground his teeth together at the sound.
"I'm getting some aspirin. Hang in there until I get back."
Kurt could hardly believe what Resonance had just stated. An unknown virus? How the heck can one plan much of anything around an unknown virus? No movement patterns, defenses, weaknesses, attack motions.... attacks period!
Lost in thought, Kurt hardly realized that he'd leaned too far back in his chair. Crashing against the floor with a *THUD*, Kurt's PET flew from his hand and landed a few feet away on the ground. He rolled free of the tipped over chair and stood up, rubbing the back of his head.
"Son of a %&$*@. *%&^#$@ chair! You piece of $*^&!"
Kurt slammed the chair with the heel of his shoe, sliding it on its back a few inches. The sound of static poured out of the earpiece of his headphones, lending power to his growing headache. To combat the pain, he launched a few more choice words into the air until the faint voice of Resonance broke through the static for a brief moment.
"... engaging... Harmonic..."
Kurt walked over to where the PET had landed and picked it up, finding little more than a few scuff marks on the edges of the casing. The static broke up once more; a single solid note pouring through the speakers, which immediately trigged the auto-balance of the volume program, dimming the sound to a dull ambient whine. Kurt ground his teeth together at the sound.
"I'm getting some aspirin. Hang in there until I get back."
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Kurt rummaged through the medicine cabinet with a look of irritation across his face. Popping open the bottle of aspirin, he tossed two in his mouth and swallowed, scrunching his face at the bitter taste.
"...audio...damaged... commands...autonomous survival mode."
Damn headache. I can't make out what he's going on about. Oh wait!
Taking a moment to pay better attention to his surroundings, Kurt noticed something in the reflection of his mirrored medicine cabinet. One of the covers on the side of his headset was missing and a few wires were sticking out in its place.
Must've come off when I fell. No wonder I can't hear him.
Scooping back up the PET, Kurt hurried back to his desk and tipped his chair upright with his foot. He then set the PET down next to one of the speakers and began remedying the problem.
"My headset's on the fritz so I'm making some modification to the audio system temporarily.
Headset.... Disabled.
Near left speaker.... Audio channel reversed.... Now acting as a microphone....
All other speakers set to mono... Done.
Can you hear me any better now Resonance?"
"...audio...damaged... commands...autonomous survival mode."
Damn headache. I can't make out what he's going on about. Oh wait!
Taking a moment to pay better attention to his surroundings, Kurt noticed something in the reflection of his mirrored medicine cabinet. One of the covers on the side of his headset was missing and a few wires were sticking out in its place.
Must've come off when I fell. No wonder I can't hear him.
Scooping back up the PET, Kurt hurried back to his desk and tipped his chair upright with his foot. He then set the PET down next to one of the speakers and began remedying the problem.
"My headset's on the fritz so I'm making some modification to the audio system temporarily.
Headset.... Disabled.
Near left speaker.... Audio channel reversed.... Now acting as a microphone....
All other speakers set to mono... Done.
Can you hear me any better now Resonance?"
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Kurt gently reattached the rear panel of the PET with a *click*. Although the damage was not nearly as much as he had feared, it still took quite a bit longer to perform the necessary repairs. Kurt wiped his brow with the back of his sleeve, glad to be finished. Shoving aside some disassembled speaker parts from aside his desk, he returned his PET toolkit to its normal resting place. Kurt nudged the PET's power switch back to the on position.
A lone monitor was aglow in the far corner of the room connected to a small workstation. Within moments of the PET booting up, a message popped up upon the monitor followed by a small chime. Without bothering to even glance at the monitor, Kurt picked up a small antenna and walked over to the workstation. Reaching around to the backside of the workstation, he attached the antenna to a wireless card. Almost immediately another chime sounded, this time from the PET, followed by a familiar tinny voice.
"It's good to be back home."
"Repairs took longer than I had originally thought, but I fixed everything up, good as new. Also left you a little update to your Harmonic Barrier System. Your reaction time seemed a little slow while it was up last time so I made some adjustments. Should make things a little more streamlined."
A small soundbyte not too dissimliar to a hammer pounding on steel played for the next couple of minutes as Resonance updated his defense systems. Kurt simply tuned out the sounds and waited for Resonance to finish
"I don't feel much of a difference."
"You'll notice a difference when you're up against some nastier viruses. But for now, why don't you head over to the NetSquare for a little. I need a bit of a break and feel like heading out to the park for some fresh air."
"Sounds like a plan."
And with a slight tilt of the PET, the tinny voiced navi was sent into the net off to net square and Kurt headed out the door off towards ACDC park.
*~Moving to thread "The Road goes ever on and on"~*
A lone monitor was aglow in the far corner of the room connected to a small workstation. Within moments of the PET booting up, a message popped up upon the monitor followed by a small chime. Without bothering to even glance at the monitor, Kurt picked up a small antenna and walked over to the workstation. Reaching around to the backside of the workstation, he attached the antenna to a wireless card. Almost immediately another chime sounded, this time from the PET, followed by a familiar tinny voice.
"It's good to be back home."
"Repairs took longer than I had originally thought, but I fixed everything up, good as new. Also left you a little update to your Harmonic Barrier System. Your reaction time seemed a little slow while it was up last time so I made some adjustments. Should make things a little more streamlined."
A small soundbyte not too dissimliar to a hammer pounding on steel played for the next couple of minutes as Resonance updated his defense systems. Kurt simply tuned out the sounds and waited for Resonance to finish
"I don't feel much of a difference."
"You'll notice a difference when you're up against some nastier viruses. But for now, why don't you head over to the NetSquare for a little. I need a bit of a break and feel like heading out to the park for some fresh air."
"Sounds like a plan."
And with a slight tilt of the PET, the tinny voiced navi was sent into the net off to net square and Kurt headed out the door off towards ACDC park.
*~Moving to thread "The Road goes ever on and on"~*