Blue Skies and Bliss

The alarm beeped. However, it wasn’t really necessary, since the curtains on the window were torn and old, so sunlight was already creeping its way in, which woke a man. He rolled out of bed in his buttoned pajamas, got dressed, put on his smart glasses, and went over to the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee.

The aroma of the hot coffee spread throughout the old house, along with a slightly overcooked piece of bread he had just toasted.

The man shuffled through the house and went into his small lab. He stepped over the wires and cords of the cluttered devices and picked up a nametag–which stated his name, Mr. Torren–and clipped it to his collar. He got his equipment ready and strapped it to his belt.

A few years ago, he started a business clearing out old and worn devices and other outdated electronics from people’s houses. Well, not only houses, but also places like hotels, supermarkets, and even old arcades. People had always wondered why he was so interested in tech. Often, he didn’t know how to respond.

Mr. Torren sat down in his armchair and began sipping his coffee. The soft hum of machines emerged. A Roomba stirred, its servo motors whirring as it strolled across the house. The wooden floorboards creaked faintly, as he had lived in this house for a while. It was rather cluttered, to say the least. That was one reason why Mr. Torren doesn’t have many visitors at his house, the combination of wires and cluttered devices could be a tripping hazard.

He looked out the window and into the picturesque urban landscape, then looked out the other window and saw the hills in the distance, stretched out and bright, under a perfect morning sky. The sun was starting to shine more and captured shadows as they inched its way into the lab and danced along the walls.

He sipped his coffee again, the warmth spreading throughout his body. His morning routine was usually the same–check the systems, adjust the wires, and make sure the devices’ code was stable. It was comforting in a way that he liked his job. Comforting like the morning it was today, which was rare and he often longed for.

A gentle buzz on his phone interrupted the quiet. He got up towards the kitchen counter and picked it up. A notification popped up. He scanned it. It said: Reminder–Clear devices and electronics today @apartment. He sighed and put his phone into his back pocket. Another long day ahead.

The old apartment had collected years of forgotten equipment–Mr. Torren knew that there would be hundreds of discarded electronics, outdated devices, and tangled wires almost impossible to untangle, almost like a spiderweb. He knew that it was tedious work, but he decided it was just worth it to get the job out of the way.

Mr. Torren gazed out the window one more time before he left. The city just seemed very peaceful this morning, which wasn’t that common, but once again, it’s past rush hour.

He grabbed his car keys and exited the house. The air was crisp, with the smell of morning dew lingering in the air. His car stood some feet away–a small, old 2022 SUV model of a Subaru, showing some signs of age, as he had owned it for over a decade now, but still reliable for a drive. He turned the engine on and backed out of the driveway.

The drive was smooth sailing until about halfway to the apartment, where it seemed to be the end of the road for his car. It coughed and sputtered out car exhaust before dying halfway down the street. Mr. Torren muttered under his breath, got out of the car, and walked to the apartment building, which loomed overhead.

Once he got to the aged building, he saw that it was older than he thought, with broken bricks and dirty glass. Inside, the lobby smelled like dust and mildew. It was cluttered with all sorts of gadgets and robots. He got to work and began sorting cables, checking the electronics’ data, and all sorts of whatnot. As he worked, he noticed a small trapdoor hidden under a worn rug, behind a sofa. Curiosity attracted him to explore. He had never explored the basement under the apartment before.

He moved the rug and opened the trapdoor, making a creaking noise. It revealed a thin wooden ladder hanging from the basement’s ceiling. It groaned when he descended into the basement.

Mr. Torren did not know what was down here. It was too dark to see. He searched around the room, trying not to trip over anything, and found a string that illuminated a single lightbulb when he tugged at it. The basement turned out to be a lab full of cluttered devices. Dust bunnies scampered around the lab, and there were cobwebs in every corner.

Broken robots were scattered around the floor, and some leaning against the walls, with their wires hanging like vines. Next to a desk, a monitor blinked under layers of dust, electronics, and more clutter.

He uncovered the jumbled mess and froze–this was the antique Microsoft Windows XP model. The screen flickered on. The nostalgic background of Bliss stared back at him. The rolling green hills and the blue sky with clouds in the background instantly struck him with nostalgia. The computer was perfectly preserved. App icons brightened the screen, relics of an era a long time ago.

Out of the corner of Mr. Torren's eye, he saw something strange–it was a new file in the corner of the screen. It was strange indeed, as it also had a strange name labeled .forbidden. He had never created nor downloaded it. Where did it come from? He wasn't sure. In fact, nobody was. He tried to delete it. Nothing happened. He tried again. Still nothing. He tried a third time. Still nothing. However, a few seconds later an old television on the other side of the lab rebooted and flashed on. The exact file was shown on the screen. It switched to a news channel and showed a reporter talking about the downloaded file.

Then, the strangest thing happened, something bad–this unknown file had kept a record of Mr. Torren’s current location. Not only that. The reporter also stated that the government agents had been alerted and were now tracking the location.

Suddenly, a soft yet sharp beep echoed through the lab. Captions showed up on the old computer in bright red. It read: “Smile, Mr. Torren. You’re on camera”. An unknown entity had arrived, downloaded the file into the cloud, and refused to be deleted.

Panicking, Mr. Torren tried deleting the file manually multiple times. Failure. Then he came up with a possible solution. Maybe he could get one of the robots to try and delete it. He first tried an old Samsung microwave. It broke down forever. The entity taunted. “Beep beep! Looks like dinner’s ruined now.”

He tried an iPhone 4 next. Another failure. It taunted some more. “You can’t call for help, anyhow.”

He attempted another device. This time, it was an old Xbox 360. It failed, but it also caught on fire. The entity taunted even more. “Level complete. Well, now it’s burned in a flame!”

The fire spread throughout the basement very quickly. “Your little helpers are useless, they’re all the same!”

Mr. Torren had to act fast, because the fire was going to the upper floors of the building and the government was on the way.

The devices and gadgets around the lab were catching on fire. The old computer was not yet burned to smithereens. The remaining electronics chattered about.

He realized that the robots were indeed useless, and that the entity was in fact correct with that part. However, he still noticed a pattern in the entity itself. Every time he turned on a device, it corrupted its system. When he rebooted the device, the entity would transfer elsewhere, starting in the Windows XP computer and then going to other computers to taunt and corrupt.

Sparks flew everywhere and alarms went off, but the entity went everywhere that Mr. Torren expected it to.

The computer, still turned on, blinked once more, and the file disappeared. No more of the file or entity. No more chaos. Silence, except for the crackling of the raging fire that had seemed to settle a bit.

Sirens blared in the distance. The fire being put out by firefighters left the apartment in ruins. Government agents, equipped with gray bulletproof shields, stormed through and broke through the ceiling into the basement. They arrested Mr. Torren and took him to a holding cell where he spent the night. The chaos outside was faint, and that was a note he took as the remainder of the day continued.

The next day, interrogations confirmed that the file had been banished. He was released, but the government closed his lab and shut down his business.

He stepped outside. The sun shone on the green hills under the bright blue sky with the city in the distance. The Bliss background glowed in his mind, a memory from long‑ago screens. Technology had failed, but his reasoning saved the day.

The world seemed calm again, but happiness didn’t last forever. So, to make it last, Mr. Torren walked towards the hills under the blue skies.