Rogue *EDITING*

Fried

I open my eyes. I squint as my head still hurts. I look at my phone. It's 2:30 am. Around my field of vision is the words "service immediately" ugh. Can I self service myself? I tried to remember what father would do. I had a hunch and tried something. I pressed hard on my right wrist. After five seconds the skin slides apart and a USB cable slides out. I get my laptop, and turn it on. It starts humming rather loud. Please don't wake anyone up. I beg silently. It stops sounding like it's going to blast off and I sign in. I plug in the cable and a pop up comes on my screen "USB drive inserted." I click OK and a window comes up, saying "Automated Virtual Intelligent System service program not detected. Download?"
Automated.... Virtual... Intelligent... System. A.V.I.S. Avis. My name is a fucking code. I click yes and wait for the download, on bated breath. It completes and starts immediately.
"One file open to self service. 45 open to Dr. Silverman."
"Father." I whisper. The one file is a text document, titled "from simon" I open it up and read it.

"i hope that you are reading this in good circumstances avis. there isnt much time now. if you are reading this it likely means you are out and safe. i am adding this impending the termination of my job. if you need anything else in this remember your mothers name.
simon"

My mother's name, I wonder. Why is that important. I get curious and try to get into father's files.
"PASSWORD" it demands.
Mother's name... Mother's name... it starts with L.
"Laura"
"Incorrect"
"Lisa"
"Incorrect"
No... it's longer.
"Lorraine"
"Access granted"
Finally. File after file comes up. The first one is "AVIS diagnostic tools" I click on that and start a test. It finally finishes and shows the problem "system overload caused by system patch 04826: emergency learning override. Solution: remove patch 04826. Goto: patches" I click to go to the patches and see a list of different program patches added over time to improve functionality. The last one is the one giving me issues, added a year or so ago. I inspect it, and it's an intentional bug, triggered by learning anything on a "restricted list" I apparently triggered it yesterday. After the inspection, I remove the patch and save changes. It says to shut down and remain plugged in. I carefully hide my laptop under the covers and close my eyes, hiding my odd arm.