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Message - C | >
| GATEWAY-PUB
The Resident - GATEWAY-PUB
The Resident
'You just visit the WEB, I live here.'
Copyright 1995 by Mike DeSanto
You are awake. The clock says it is 2: 30 AM, so thee must be a reason you are awake. Trusting your instincts, you get the Beretta handlaser from the end table.
You move silently toward the bedroom door. There are people who hate you, but most of them don't know who you are, and you just moved in here. A change of residence and name come with every completed job. There have been no hitches or displeased customers lately.
Just as you reach for the door these thoughts are shattered. The door disappears in a blinding, searing light. Through the agony you feel the dresser opposite the door hit you in the small of the back, a trivial pain to the fire in the front of your body.
Then something else starts. A pushing feeling starting at your right hip. It continues diagonally to your left shoulder, leaving sharp points of suffering, like ten thousand bee stings across your body. You feel yourself falling, but never feel the floor.
With a start, you are awake. Looking around, you see the red traceries and yellow disks of the WEB stretching out all around you. you must have fallen asleep on line again.
Your left arm itches, you must be laying on it. You reach for the LOGOUT button, and find nothing. The logout is gone. Looking around a little more, everything is gone! Your programs, even your Icon! You spent hours on that icon. Getting just the right amount of five o'clock shadow, just the right tackiness to the slippers. It was a masterpiece!
Just as you are starting to get nervous, a message appears on your deck. Strange dreams just before strange messages make you unhappy. At least you have your backups at Bob's.
You are standing in a standard Public node. The 'ground' is a neon yellow disk, large enough for everyone present to fit, no matter how many people are here.
In the center of the disk is a red pole with arrow shaped signs. This is the transfer point to all connected nodes.
Next to the Transfer Point is a large sign which reads "INFORMATION" in tall block capitals. You can not read the rest without looking more closely.
As usual, there are hundreds of people moving through this node. Since this is where everyone starts when they log in, it tends to be a busy place.