The Cyber Plague

By Michelle Ward

A large red window popped onto one of the screens in front of Gadget as he sat waiting for the surveillance program to load. On the wall of screens several more of these windows popped up around him: "WARNING: To all cyborgs and robots of any year or make, this is the cyber plague (Anthradigitus). The amount of time you all have left is 048:59:09 and counting before all of your systems shut down." At first Gadget was unsure of what was going on, never in his life time had he encountered a major threat. Realizing that all of his race was in his hands at this moment he began panic. Gadget slammed his heavy metal fist on the big red button that is used only in emergencies. An alarm blared to life and his boss came over the intercom.

"Sprocketfield, what's going on down there?" he barked.

"Come here now! You need to see this!" Gadget cried frantically into the microphone.

"Gadget, I was in the middle of an important phone call. Do you seriously think that I can be bothered with this? You do know that I am a very busy man, Sprocketfield," he huffed as the speaker on Gadget's end crackled. He grew irritated at his boss's response.

"Sir, it's a virus," Gadget blurted.

"I hired you to fix it, stop calling me on every little thing, now do your job!" his boss shouted, and hung up.

Flashing screens caught his eye as the screen blinked the count down clock and another message. "YOU ARE DOOMED!" Gadget glared at the screen as his iris lenses adjusted to the changing in light.

"No kidding," he breathed. Standing up from his stool he placed his hands on the desk and hung his head debating on what he should do. Huffing in frustration, he straightened out and stormed out of the control room. Gadget had never even heard of antradigitus in all of his studies as a company hacker. How was he supposed to deal with something he has never heard of?

He clanked down the stainless steel corridor as fast as he could to the CEO's office. The sound of releasing air welcomed him as the glass door slid open to the reception area. Jillian Gearson sat at the desk typing away with her metallic fingers. Gadget paused for a moment taking in her glow before speaking. "Jillian I-I need to talk to Mr. Digit personally," he stammered despite himself.

"What's the problem, Gadget?" she turned in her chair extending her wrists and leaving her hands typing at the keyboard. Her voice was like a series of silver bells going off in his head.

"Anthradigitus," was all he could get out, his mind was turning at top speed trying to comprehend what was happening.

"Gadget, slow down you're going to overheat," she said in a calm voice.

"Could you please let me in to see Mr. Digit? It's important! Anthradigitus is sometime I have never dealt with nor heard of," he said slightly slower.

"What is anthradigitus?" she asked.

"I-I'm not sure exactly, I have never heard of it. Technically I shouldn't be telling you this, b-but the window said it was the cyber plague," he explained. Gadget was distracted by Jillian's cute nose and sparkling smile.

Jillian gasped and retracted one of her hands and hit a button under her desk. A voice over the intercom rang through the building: "This is an emergency!" repeated over and over again. Mr. Digit emerged in the door frame to his office.

"What's going on here? Sprocketfield! What is the commotion all about?" Mr. Digit rolled out of his office. His rounded chassis bumped into the desk knocking a mug of oil over.

"We have forty-eight hours and thirty-nine minutes before we all become scrap metal!" Gadget asserted.

"What are you getting at?" Mr. Digit demanded as the tacked on moustache turned slightly.

"Anthradigitus," Gadget replied frantically. Mr. Digit looked at him quizzically for a moment.

"What in all of cyber space is that?" Mr. Digit asked.

"The cyber plague," Gadget retorted. Mr. Digit's eyes bulged from their sockets.

"That's something I've never heard of, call Frank Jitterbox from the head programmer, he'll know what to do. In the meantime Miss Gearson call all of the local software dealers and notify them of this," he ordered.

Gadget exited the office and clanked his way back to the control room. He pulled the tip of his thumb away revealing a special plug. On the keyboard there was a matching outlet, inserting his thumb he called up Frank Jitterbox. His ears rung as he waited for Jitterbox to pick up his internal receiver.

"Frank Jitterbox, how may I help you?" Frank picked up his receiver.

"We have anthradigitus on our hands. I have never heard of this. What should we do?" Gadget demanded.

"That's a new one, what exactly popped up?" he inquired.

"WARNING: To all cyborgs and robots of any year or make, this is the cyber plague (Anthradigitus). The amount of time you all have left is 048:59:09 and counting before all of your systems shut down. Is exactly what it said, and moments after that message appeared a second message began to flash across the screen saying YOU ARE DOOMED," Gadget clarified.

"I will see what I can do," Frank returned.

"Hurry the entire cyborgs race depends on it! We only have forty-eight hours and twenty-two minutes," Gadget added.

"Got it," he replied. "I'll get back to you as soon as possible." As the line went dead Gadget sat there nervously clicking his fingers together. The screens around him continued flashing his impending doom.

All night Gadget sat in the control room fretting over what he should do. Finding a manual he flipped through it and tries to find anything he can on anthradigitus. After flipping through the manual twice with no success Gadget tossed the heavy book in the corner. Slowly he could feel his battery cells deplete and became drowsy. Gadget faded and fell into sleep mode which allowed his batteries to recharge.

024:30:59

Gadget slowly became aware of someone shaking him frantically. Jillian's face came into focus. "Gadget!" she exclaimed. Gadget realized that she was holding herself up with the desk.

"Jillian are you okay?" he asked noticing that her knee joints where locked up.

"It's progressing fast! Everyone has something locked up or ceased. Mr. Digit's wheels no longer work," she cried. Gadget stood and tried to move his arm but it was stuck in place. Looking closer he realized his exposed hand was rusted.

"We don't have much time. Quick, I need your help, it will hit the older model's first. Call Jitterbox," he demanded. Jillian wobbled her way to the desk to make the call. They worked together frantically. Gadget tried every attack he knew but nothing hacked through the virus.

"Gadget," Jillian called.

"One moment," he quickly typed another attack into the computer, "Yes?"

"Frank's gone," she cried. Gadget cursed under his breath.

"Come here and help me, type any defence you know," he ordered her. With a quick nod she crawled over to the keyboard, both legs now seized into place.

018:10:09

Time was running out, and both Jillian and Gadget were working double time to try and weaken anthradigitus, but nothing worked. Jillian was fading rapidly, her voice module was slowly going. Gadget's hair filaments started to fall out and he could no longer move either of his arms. Mr. Digit was scrap metal and Gadget feared that both he and Jillian would soon join him. All over the city cyborgs and robots began to deteriorate, some had already started to shut down. It was only a matter of time before the cyborg race was obsolete.

00:59:01

Gadget sat awkwardly on the floor beside Jillian. Jillian was gone and Gadget was loosing his mind. One by one sensors and chips and valves blew causing oil to leak out of his ears. A puddle formed on the floor as Gadget watched his life slip away. His inner pump sputtered weak, leading to Gadget's slow demise.

00:00:00

Afterword

A small green being underground sat plodding away at a computer, his devious plan had worked to kill off the entire cyborg race. Now it was time for his people to move in, to take over the earth. One by one they dug their way to the surface to emerge in the junk yard of the once operating cyborgs.