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10:18 pm - Broken

It all started when I accidentally knocked the rusty old droid over.



It was stooped and hobbling and I honestly didn’t see it until I’d run into it. With a terrible clatter of under-lubricated parts, it crashed to the sidewalk, its anodized skin scraping roughly on the concrete. With a terrible creak, its head pivoted around and its lenses whirred momentarily, until it focused its gaze on me.



“Broken!” it hissed.



“Sorry,” I said, thinking that it was pointing out its own infirmities to me. How wrong I was, but I would not realize it for some time. Anyway, it was just a stupid obsolete robot. I thought nothing further of it as I went on my way to finish my errands.



But a few minutes later, as I reached my car, I was surprised to find that the keyless entry wasn’t working. The door wouldn’t open for my pocket fob at all. I finally had to call a tow service to come out and override it so that I could get in… only to discover that the entire electrical system in the car was acting up. Wouldn’t start. Wouldn’t stay running after the tow guy jumped it. Dashboard controls all lying, every panel and gauge and dial.



So I decided to have it towed to my mechanic… but my phone, which had been fine minutes earlier for calling the tow truck, was now refusing to connect calls through. Erratic signal at best. Then, suddenly, it panicked and wouldn’t reboot. Totally dead.



Fortunately, it was normal business hours. The tow guy dragged my car over and I was able to get it into the shop without an impromptu appointment lined up.



After the repair shop had dropped me back at home, I set about making something to eat… but every light I turned on, burned out instantly. One… three… five. Then the toaster shut off after only a few seconds and refused to turn back on again. And the oven did the same.



At that point, I started to realize something was wrong.



The TV was nothing but dead-air blue. No internet, either. Everything that I tried to reboot not only didn’t come back working, it didn’t come back at all. All the clocks were blinking 12:00. The refrigerator made a terrible wheezing gasp, then stopped running at all.



No landline. No way to get ahold of anyone for help from here. Sun’s going down; it’ll be dark but there are no lights here anymore. I am going to walk down the road to my neighbor and see if I am able to use anything of his without destroying it, too, but I am not hopeful. I think I have been cursed; I think my life has been infected with a virus.



I do not know when I will next be able to use technology. I’m not sure how one eats without it, or stays warm. I am sure there are books and references about such things, but they are all online, which I cannot get to.



I am starting this journal on paper, with a pen. I hope it does not document the rest of my life.



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For consideration: spent all day yesterday wrestling with a dead car up in the city