Veridis Quo

Chapter 17 - Welcome to the Internet

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I hummed, fascinated by the information in front of me.

Apparently, before the asteroid crashed into Earth and brought the end of the dinosaurs' reign, humans used to rule over them in a symbiotic relationship; a mount and a rider. If I said that aloud in school, I'd be labeled a schizophrenic or... that, mentally deranged.

Now, I was a fan of free speech and the rest of the democratic rights. But when the paragraph above was posted by an official news outlet, it changed some things. Such things being credibility, sanity, factuality, refraining from consuming contraband in the workplace, etcetera. Free speech was great but in the wrong hands, it backfired.

Fortunately, none of the commenters on that particular article I found seemed to take it seriously.

„Heh, yeah," I chuckled lowly, agreeing with the third top commenter. I did want to see the security footage during the... procedure that resulted in the masterpiece shitpost I was willingly humoring. If it truly was a troll, I salute them. Otherwise, a passing thought.

Once the novelty wore off, I opened a new tab. Selecting the search bar, the previously zoozled phrases popped up. From top to bottom; the news site I'd just visited, a different news site, my species, the Arrow, history, memes, and finally, though firstly, an extension that connected my mobile device to the computer, allowing a seamless transition of photographs and... mostly those. I had yet to reach the next level for a lack of demand.

A pang of hunger rumbled my belly, so I mentally shushed the organ. Although I'd awoken without an alarm by habit, I went back to sleep since the weekend had arrived. It was a magical moment; one minute, my eyelids shut, when they opened, I'd missed breakfast.

„Mmm," I followed my cursor on the monitor as it traveled in the path of infinity, the wireless mouse lonely without a pad.

It was no big deal, lunch was a few hours away, starting the day well-rested after pulling a half-nighter was beyond satisfactory. With food on my mind at all times, after completing the morning routine, I sat down at the desk and cracked open my brand new computer. Registration was easy, I had a password in mind no one would ever decipher; Ice cream in Yamotese. I customized a wallpaper, downloaded a few free offline games, explored the surface of the web, the extension, and the rest was history.

Regrading history, I was right; they fucking lied. They released nothing. They didn't confirm nor deny any of the public's inquiries just like that one country's fictional nuclear program. What was my origin, then? I had to have spawned into their world because god and spaids and Saturn's rings acting as a hula hoop. That hole was the equivalent of a ten page essay, I rather skip and wipe my butt with sandpaper than write it.

However, there was a silver lining. Deep within the article's feedback, a user hinted at a raw version in their dark web. Maybe I was tripping over loose stones but the possibility of a data leak had me punching the air in joy.

I wanted the world to know. They deserved to know. Countless stories untold, futures lost, potential crushed. But it wasn't the time for depressing realities, I was going to Columbus their internet!

Hovering over a little rectangle below the main bar, I sensed fortune, and clicked.

The screen immediately transformed from a default white to dark gray, a purple accent everywhere. Burgundy outlines, lavender text, deep pink sign-in, my first impression of the site was either a women's clothes store or some jolly gayness.