No Emotion.

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"Welcome new User to the most intricate system available in today's Internet. Please fill out the form below. " 2

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Charlie laughed, he couldn't be any happier than he was today. He shifted in his computer chair, adjusting the headset he was wearing and began to fill in the needed information. He had been saving his extra pennies for six long months to buy this program and his excitement level was at an all time high. 4

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He held the box up to the light again and marveled at the fact that it was finally his. The box was a metallic gold with the name of the new Internet program splashed boldly across the face. "INTRA-LAZE , The only program available today that lets people know what you are saying and the emotion that you are feeling when you say it." The box proclaimed. "No more confusion, or hurt feelings. Let your grand-kids know how much you truly love them without leaving your home! Let the one you love know you really mean it! Crack a joke with your buddy in another country and he will get it!"6

 Everyone in the world had one of these programs it seemed. Even the police department, fire department, and the government were getting set up to use it for God's sake! The clerk at the video store had been amazed he didn't have it, and looked at him like he was some kind of freak or something. 7

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Well no more! "Charlie is stepping into the 23rd century people so watch my dust!", he said to himself as he created his user name and his password. He put in the product code and waited for his computer to access the Intra-laze web.9

 "Damned computer" Charlie sputtered. It always moved so slow. The simplest program took forever to load on the ancient dinosaur. Never enough ram, or crappy graphics card or some other kind of problem. Maybe now that he had the new program he should save for a new computer.He really needed a new one, but he just didn't have that kind of money. Charlie sat and day dreamed about a new gamers computer while he waited. Finally his computer connected and he sat, impatiently,  through the beginning of the tutorial. Getting bored he decided to skip over it and just wing it. After all, how hard could it be? Charlie logged onto the chat and began a search fro his buddy Joe from work.10

 He found his friend Joe under his username, wisecracker, in a large chat room called "The Lounge". Charlie clicked on enter and waited for his old computer to finally get its act together and drag itself into the room. He had told his co-worker the day before what he intended to use as a password so they would know each other when he got online.  11

 "Hey Joe!.. errrr I mean Hey Wisecracker!!" Charlie yelled into his mic. On the screen his words showed up, followed by the words EXTREME HAPPINESS.
 "Wow partyguy! Hey you finally got it up and running!" -EXCITEMENT12

"Yeah, hey this is cool... No typing at all "- AMAZEMENT. Charlie loved this program. His spelling wasn't the best and his typing was even worse.
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"Yeah, and hey, did you see the part where once once you're hooked up, you're connected ALL THE TIME!?"- CHEERFUL AND KNOWLEDGEABLE
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"No I didn't, hey that's cool. I just wish my stupid computer wasn't so slow"- MILD IRRITATION
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"So what did the boss want with you today?"- INQUISITIVE.16

 Charlie sat and silently fummed. He didn't want to tell Joe what the boss had wanted to talk to him about.  It was none of Joe's business, he was just being nosey. Charlie knew Joe was one of the biggest gossips in the office. He kicked his computer. The boss was nothing but a butthead anyway. How dare he accuse Charlie of padding his hours, stealing parts and threaten to dock his pay. 17

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Charlie knew he had to get his anger and embarassment under control. Maybe some parts of this program weren't so great after all. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, kicking his computer one more time for good measure. " Oh, nothing really.. he just wanted to discuss some invoices with me..." - NO EMOTION19

"Hey, careful there bud.. you don't want the computer to get the idea your a bot now" -LAUGHING. It just made Charlie more angry, knowing Joe was laughing at him. He knew what a bot was, but he didn't understand what Joe meant. Why would the computer think he was a bot? What did it matter if it did?20

"What does it matter if it thinks i'm a bot? It's not like these stupid computers can think anyway. Hell, mine can't even figure out how to shut down without me telling it to time and time again. I hate this stupid old computer! "--NO EMOTION21

Charlie blinked...stunned. 22

"Jesus Charlie! You wanna get disconnected from the system?"--ASTONISHMENT
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"Joe.. I swear.. I was ranting and raving here... It's GOT to be my computer. This stupid old thing, I ought tothrow it out in the dumpster! Good for nothing piece of shit!"--NO EMOTION24

Charlie stared at the screen. 25

"WARNING USER, YOU ARE RUNNING A BOT AND ARE UNDER WATCH. DISCONTINUE THIS PROCEDURE OR BE TERMINATED FROM THE PROGRAM."
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"Uhoh..Charlie ,maybe you should shut down your program..take it back to the store, see if somethings wrong with it"--ASTONISHMENT, SHOCK.
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"Screw that Joe!"--NO EMOTION. Charlie swore and pounded on his computer. 28

"WARNING.. WARNING..SYSTEM FAILURE..APPARENT MECHANICAL REPRODUCTION..CEASE RUNNING THIS PROGRAM OR YOU WILL BE TERMINATED."29

 Charlie glared at the computer, spat on the screen . "So what you stinking piece of shit computer. What you gonna do about it? HUH? Sue me??? I'll sue you you stupid fricking program! You can't treat me like this! Screw you and your whole system!!"--NO EMOTION.
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"I better go Charlie, why don't you get a grip" -DISGUST. Joe's user name dissapeared from the screen.31

"Yeah well SREW YOU TOO JOE!!"--NO EMOTION. 32

"WARNING, YOU ARE ABOUT TO BE DELETED FROM THE SYSTEM. YOU WILL BE PERMANENTLY REMOVED FROM THE DATA BASE WITHIN TEN SECONDS"
"Screw...
"TEN"
........you, you rott....
"NINE"
en damned son of a bitching m....
"EIGHT"
achine! Just wha...
"SEVEN"
..t do you thi..
"SIX"
..nk you're gonna..
"FIVE"
Charlie could hear a low buzzing in his headset.
"FOUR"
..do about it!?"
"THREE"
The buzzing in Charlie's ears increased. Rising over his angry screams.
"TWO"
He clasped his hands over his ears, grabbing the headset, attempting to rip it off his head.
"ONE"
He felt a wave of tremendous heat surging into his hands.
"AUTO DISCONNECTION"33

The screen went blank. 34

  The police officers stepped carefully around the body of the man laying on the living-room floor. The head and hands of the corpse burned beyond recognition. The scent of charred human flesh hung heavy in the air around them.
"Good thing this guy had his own teeth. We're pretty sure it's Charlie Smithers, but there's no way we can do a final identification with whats left of him." Said the Captain. "We'll have to wait for the cornor to get ahold of his dental records and verify that"35

 Officer Jones looked around the crime scene. " Hey Cap, looks like he was on-line when he was attacked. You thinking gangs maybe? I can't see where anything was stolen, not that he had much to take."  His gaze slid around the dank, sparsley furnished apartment. Disgust crossed his face at the trash on the floors and the bugs in the kitchen. 36

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The captain looked at the box on the floor. "Intra-Laze.. good program. The whole department will be hooked up to that program soon. We'll be able to monitor all our officers through wireless headsets. We'll know when an officer is in trouble before he can even tell us. " Captain Sthephens shook his head. "It's a shame, what happened to this guy, but no, I don't think we are going to find any evidence of gangs in here. Like you said.. what's to take. Hell what's to take anyway, even the computer's no good. Hasn't had nothing but static on the screen since we got here."38

Jones grimaced. "I hate computers" he said.39

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They turned to follow the rest of the crime scene investigators out of the room, shutting the door behind them. The body of a man who obviously suffered a painful death on the gurney in front of them. 41

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Behind them, in Charlies apartment the computer screen flickered, clearing and one line of text flashed across the screen... "NO EMOTION."43

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