13. Night of the Soul
On the way home, traffic moved at a crawl, which was very frustrating considering it was almost midnight.
"Server, what the Hell is going on here?"
His server answered through the car's speakers. "Ransom, The State of Central Florida is repaving this road surface with a new solar power absorbing material that will contribute free electricity to the power grid. A joint effort by Fuzion Energy Corporation. Fuzion, we power the world. Also brought to you by Nippon Fullerene Corporation. At Nippon Fullerene, we're building the future one molecule at a time."
"Well thanks for warning me. Server, just tell me when it will let up."
"Ransom, traffic congestion should let up in three miles. Approximately, a twenty minute wait."
Shit. Just then, Ransom thought that he could smell something burning, like toast, or something. He became worried that his car might overheat from having to sit in traffic so long. To try and get his mind off of it, he asked his server to play a collection of songs his friend Rodney had picked out for him. Rodney had some weird tastes in music. But Ransom was in the mood for something different.
"I'm sorry, Ransom, but I am unable to connect with your home server."
"Huh? Well can you connect with Rodney's server?"
"No."
"Server, run a hardware diagnostic."
"Ransom, the transceiver is not responding. Please make sure it is connected properly."
Great. The car's transceiver is busted. That'll be a pain to fix. What a day.
"Ransom, would you like me to select some music from my onboard library?"
"Well I guess I don't have a choice, do I?"
"Ransom, warning, fuel cells are operating at a higher than normal temperature. Please take caution."
Shit. I don't believe this. Ransom looked left and right, He was completely boxed in by traffic. He figured he should just stay put. "Come on, baby. You can make it."
He got through the construction bottleneck and thought that he was in the clear. About a mile down the highway, his car began to "ping."
"Ransom, warning, please turn off motor immediately. Failure to do so could result in permanent damage to fuel cells."
Ransom pulled off the highway onto a side street flanked on either side by warehouses closed for the night. he looked under the hood and said the ef-word very loudly. Permanent damage had already been done. One of the fuel cells had overheated so badly that it melted a hole in the top of the plastic cover.
"Hey, you stupid hunk of crap, why didn't you tell me on of the fuel cells was fragged? That's over two thousand dollars!"
"Ransom, would you like me to contact a wrecker service?"
"No."
He fumed for a few seconds.
"Yes." said Ransom. "I want you to fucking call a fucking wrecker service. I was being fucking sarcastic. Why... why does everything have to be broken?"
"Ransom, I do not understand your question. Please rephrase."
"Shut up! I'm not talking to you. Why does everything have to be fucked up? Why doesn't anything work the way it's supposed to? I thought that the universe was made for order and beauty. What's the point of having a world where so many things are broken? Is shit the natural state of the world?"
Ransom felt like getting closer to God. So he stepped on the bumper and jumped onto the roof of his car.
He was yelling, pleading, arguing. "You could have attacked me instead. You could have fucked with my brain or spinal cord. I would have been fine if you went after me. But instead you went after my friends. Am I just supposed to feel guilty for the rest of my life? Why don't you just kill people instead of breaking them and allowing them to live only half a life? Do you keep them around to remind us how lucky we are? Is that what they are? Reminders? Or is this maybe just a test? You have another bet going with Satan? Are we all just some massive multi-player game for you?"
The car spoke, "Ransom, warning, you are exhibiting characteristics suggesting that you are suffering from road rage. I would suggest...
"Be quiet."
The car stopped for a few seconds. "I would suggest that you sit down and take a deep breath. You should..."
"I thought I told you to shut up!" He picked up the closest thing he could find, a hunk of concrete, and hurled it at his car. It bounced off the dent resistant body.
"Ransom, warning, you are exhibiting..."
He screamed with all his might. At that moment, there was no difference between Ransom and an animal.He charged the car with a piece of re-bar he found on the ground. To a passer-by on the highway, he looked like a strange parody of the legendary John Henry. His arms were a blur as he punished his car. The server was silent as the car absorbed the full brunt of the Ransom's abuse.
After he was finished, all the windows were broken, the body was covered with dings and scratches, and he had even managed to put a crack along the entire length of the hood.
He walked away from what was left of his car. He tossed away the re-bar and walked into a green spot covered in weeds and grasses. He leaned on the first tree he found. His breath grew ragged as he choked on his rage. Rage was only met with impotence. Then the tears came.
"Server, what the Hell is going on here?"
His server answered through the car's speakers. "Ransom, The State of Central Florida is repaving this road surface with a new solar power absorbing material that will contribute free electricity to the power grid. A joint effort by Fuzion Energy Corporation. Fuzion, we power the world. Also brought to you by Nippon Fullerene Corporation. At Nippon Fullerene, we're building the future one molecule at a time."
"Well thanks for warning me. Server, just tell me when it will let up."
"Ransom, traffic congestion should let up in three miles. Approximately, a twenty minute wait."
Shit. Just then, Ransom thought that he could smell something burning, like toast, or something. He became worried that his car might overheat from having to sit in traffic so long. To try and get his mind off of it, he asked his server to play a collection of songs his friend Rodney had picked out for him. Rodney had some weird tastes in music. But Ransom was in the mood for something different.
"I'm sorry, Ransom, but I am unable to connect with your home server."
"Huh? Well can you connect with Rodney's server?"
"No."
"Server, run a hardware diagnostic."
"Ransom, the transceiver is not responding. Please make sure it is connected properly."
Great. The car's transceiver is busted. That'll be a pain to fix. What a day.
"Ransom, would you like me to select some music from my onboard library?"
"Well I guess I don't have a choice, do I?"
"Ransom, warning, fuel cells are operating at a higher than normal temperature. Please take caution."
Shit. I don't believe this. Ransom looked left and right, He was completely boxed in by traffic. He figured he should just stay put. "Come on, baby. You can make it."
He got through the construction bottleneck and thought that he was in the clear. About a mile down the highway, his car began to "ping."
"Ransom, warning, please turn off motor immediately. Failure to do so could result in permanent damage to fuel cells."
Ransom pulled off the highway onto a side street flanked on either side by warehouses closed for the night. he looked under the hood and said the ef-word very loudly. Permanent damage had already been done. One of the fuel cells had overheated so badly that it melted a hole in the top of the plastic cover.
"Hey, you stupid hunk of crap, why didn't you tell me on of the fuel cells was fragged? That's over two thousand dollars!"
"Ransom, would you like me to contact a wrecker service?"
"No."
He fumed for a few seconds.
"Yes." said Ransom. "I want you to fucking call a fucking wrecker service. I was being fucking sarcastic. Why... why does everything have to be broken?"
"Ransom, I do not understand your question. Please rephrase."
"Shut up! I'm not talking to you. Why does everything have to be fucked up? Why doesn't anything work the way it's supposed to? I thought that the universe was made for order and beauty. What's the point of having a world where so many things are broken? Is shit the natural state of the world?"
Ransom felt like getting closer to God. So he stepped on the bumper and jumped onto the roof of his car.
He was yelling, pleading, arguing. "You could have attacked me instead. You could have fucked with my brain or spinal cord. I would have been fine if you went after me. But instead you went after my friends. Am I just supposed to feel guilty for the rest of my life? Why don't you just kill people instead of breaking them and allowing them to live only half a life? Do you keep them around to remind us how lucky we are? Is that what they are? Reminders? Or is this maybe just a test? You have another bet going with Satan? Are we all just some massive multi-player game for you?"
The car spoke, "Ransom, warning, you are exhibiting characteristics suggesting that you are suffering from road rage. I would suggest...
"Be quiet."
The car stopped for a few seconds. "I would suggest that you sit down and take a deep breath. You should..."
"I thought I told you to shut up!" He picked up the closest thing he could find, a hunk of concrete, and hurled it at his car. It bounced off the dent resistant body.
"Ransom, warning, you are exhibiting..."
He screamed with all his might. At that moment, there was no difference between Ransom and an animal.He charged the car with a piece of re-bar he found on the ground. To a passer-by on the highway, he looked like a strange parody of the legendary John Henry. His arms were a blur as he punished his car. The server was silent as the car absorbed the full brunt of the Ransom's abuse.
After he was finished, all the windows were broken, the body was covered with dings and scratches, and he had even managed to put a crack along the entire length of the hood.
He walked away from what was left of his car. He tossed away the re-bar and walked into a green spot covered in weeds and grasses. He leaned on the first tree he found. His breath grew ragged as he choked on his rage. Rage was only met with impotence. Then the tears came.
posted by Graham at 4:55 AM
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