This publication is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
First edition, 2024
First published on 2024/11/13
Summary: Dan starts to realize the truths his cat companion tried to show him, and his neighbor finds out he is wanted on his many crimes against Summit, former President Hendrix, and now President Simmons.
"Well, time to check my e-mails!" I think to myself, before a wave of disappointment that can be seen from the Dr. Matthew Walker Space Exploration Lab's equipment hits me, as I find electronic messages fell into my e-mail inbox again. Thankfully my 5th keyboard this month arrived, so now I can continue to use the keybinds. Reading e-mails mean that I need to press the following keys in this exact order: tab, shift+down, shift+down, shift+down, shift+down, shift+down, shift+down, shift+down, shift+down, shift+down, shift+down, shift+down, delete, tab, tab, enter, tab, enter and that gets repeated for each message. Then again to move it from the potential-deleted folder to the trash, and then again to permanently delete to the deleted and recoverable folder. You get the picture by now, I hope. Unfortunately the devs are holding off on my patch that would simplify this process through the use of selecting multiple messages at once.
I hear a knocking on my door. It's my new neighbor that I don't get along with one bit!
"Hey... like... uh... like... Devin, can you, like, keep the, uh, TV volume, like, down, like I'm trying, uh, to, you know... uh..." he says not making eye contact, unless he was actually in the middle of doing an intense staring match with the floor.
I say, perhaps dismissively, "Not exactly, I can't really hear the TV over the upstairs neighbor running around all over the place."
"Well, I tried." he says before walking away. A few minutes later, some music starts blasting from his apartment and he screeches "WELL HOW DO YOU LIKE THIS NOW?" I recognize that radio station, and turn my clock radio to the same station. Now I get to listen to music in surround sound! This angers him though, and he starts to emit a high-pitch squealing sound. That's never happened before!
Going back to my e-mails which has more messages in it now, I see a dozen more e-mails. To my surprise, one of them is from the Server Team's general administration e-mail address, but still signed by Dr. Jenna Blevins herself. My application was accepted, and I passed the interview! This calls for louder music and a beer!
After a minute, there is knocking on the door, and three police officers are standing outside.
"We've received a noise complaint. And-"
I gesture into the room and say "come on in! I was celebrating my promotion to server team!" They enter, confused. Typically people in this building demand they stay out. One officer turns the volume to a "reasonable" level, and approaches me.
"You said you're on the server team. Right?"
"Yes."
"Can you remove the disk quotas for me and my buddies?" he asks, practically begging.
"I'll see what I can do."
"Thank you!! I'll check with the captain about possibly getting your record wiped clean, and we'll apply them to your neighbor that called us here to get him to stop harassing you."
I am now free of the neighbor!
Two more cops are called in and they arrest the annoying noisy neighbor who was waking up dozens of residents with loud music, as the call reported. He was also working on overthrowing President Nikki Simmons, which got his sentencing moved to the federation level courts. Another win for Summit and President Simmons!
Looking outside, I see cops standing around the trash pile, as a garbage truck scoops it all up. Maybe the horrible rotten smells on this side of the building will go away too.
Then, I hear a computerized voice start repeating:
Priority warning: radioactive waste materials detected. Building integrity may be compromised. Resident health may be compromised. Seek medical attention and alternative housing until further notice.
This was... probably from the small bit of uranium I borrowed from my old job for science purposes that was still in my coat pocket. But I can't leave my apartment now. I start my new job in less than 6 hours, so I need to sleep. Whatever happens happens, since tomorrow's another day.
For now, I just need to try and sleep off this headache.