System Reboot (Sequel to System Failure)

Epilogue

Initially, there was chaos.

There were no computer servers, no phones, no games, no electricity, nothing that ran on code or machines. In one night, the whole world completely shut down, leaving everyone in darkness as cities struggled to get into contact with each other. Luckily, the police force managed to quickly shut down those who tried to take advantage of the chaos, and medical centres always had back-up plans for if the power went out which, in a way, was exactly what happened.

It took a week or so for everyone to come to grips with the change and the dramatic, sudden shift the world had gone through. But after that, swarms of people took to the streets, talking with strangers they had never noticed before, admiring the trees and birds and parks they had never enjoyed before, realising that even if the internet and electricity and technology was gone, we could still function as individuals and as a society. We learned how to lie down at night and enjoy the stars, and how to love life the way it was supposed to be lived; not living half of it completely consumed and controlled by technology.

The world became simpler. Without the confusion and fear of data and files being accessed or destroyed, we all started to worry less, and the internal panic that came with being so perfectly secure faded. It seemed that after people came to terms with the way things were now and with what they had lost, it made us happier as a community.

The best technicians and thinkers came together to try and resurrect the mainframes, but their efforts were fruitless. Everything had been destroyed, with only the barest if foundations left. And funnily enough, while we had the materials to start rebuilding it, there was no real push to do so.

For the first few weeks, the Glitches spent their days rounding up the last of the viruses who had come to the real world, but the ones we found came without a fight. They didn't seem to care what we did with them, and I don't think there was one among them who was angry at being imprisoned for a few years at least. If any of the Glitches suspected Adam and Alesa's involvement in the destruction of the mainframes, they didn't say anything.

After that, the Glitches gathered one final time in their base, taking everything they needed and saying a final farewell to the place before closing and locking it forever. They went home, hung up their weapons for good, and spent their lives as ordinary people, getting new jobs as bakers and scientists and transport managers. They still gathered together frequently and although they were no different to the rest of us - especially now that the mainframes were gone - there was always something about the way they held themselves set them apart from the crowds.

One day, the world might come together and pick up the pieces of the mainframe and assemble codes to create a system and bring back technology to aid in medicine and research, but never to the scale that it once was, where it controlled our lives. Because now that we've been freed of that, now that we can see the world with our own eyes and not through a screen, everyone seems to have realised that that, the world of technology and systems and code, that wasn't life.

This, feeling the wind on your skin, the sun on your face, the grass under your fingers and the soft chatter of hundreds of others in the same situation as you... This is life. Life as it was supposed to be lived.

And in a city far away on the other side of the world, a man stepped out of his apartment and onto the balcony, looking down at the full streets as people planted trees along the empty grass strips, watering flowers that had been ignored for years, and repairing relationships they had previously thrown away. The sounds of laughter and music reaching his ears when days before there had only been the roar of cars. A nation of people were coming together, uniting to fix the world they had neglected for so many generations.

He sighed, relaxing against the railing, faintly smiling. After so many years of effort, his work was finally, finally, done.

The End.

So.

That's the end of the world of Glitches and viruses.

I don't think I have much to say here other than another thank you to Littlewolf65 for not only letting me write the first book but also giving me a whole pile of ideas and notes that gave me the main plot of this book, which was very very nice of her. 

I've been sitting here for five minutes and I can't think of anything else to say to finish of this book so... yeah. Thanks for reading!

If you would like to keep reading a few of my books, I have just published To Die A General, otherwise I might see you around.

Bye!
~Storm