Δ [1st Cipher] SVOOL WZIPMVHH NB LOW UIRVMW

[improvident]

[Static crackles and pops over the feed.

It is a combination of a radio tuner whining listlessly between stations with decent service, the familiar whirring grumble of the dial-up tone ad infinitum, the hoarse screech of a car trying to start on a lonely highway in the middle of the night, where it has broken down for seemingly no reason at all.

Images flicker: an illustration of Lincoln's assassination, a room draped with red curtains, the Teletubbies, President Nixon, video footage of a piglet slowly decaying into loam. And then- A V O I C E.]

I GӨƬƬΛ ƧΛY. ƬΉΣƧΣ DIGƧ ΛЯΣП'Ƭ ΉΛᄂF-BΛD. I MΣΛП, IƬ'Ƨ ПӨ IПƬΣЯGΛᄂΛᄃƬIᄃ ƬIMΣ PΛLΛᄃΣ ΛПD IƬ'Ƨ ПӨƬ ƬЯЦMP ƬӨЩΣЯ, BЦƬ I GΣƬ ƬΉΣ ΛPPΣΛL.

[On occasion, between the odd frequencies scrambling the frame with black and white noise, a single eye will appear.]

VΛMPIЯΣƧ. ΛПGΣᄂƧ. ᄃΛППIBΛᄂƧ. GӨDƧ. ΛΉΛΉΛΉΛΉΛ ӨΉ BӨY, IƧ ƬΉIƧ GӨППΛ BΣ FЦП. I'ᄂᄂ BΣ ЩΛƬᄃΉIПG YӨЦ, ЩӨПDΣЯᄂΛПD.

I ' ᄂᄂ B Σ Щ Λ Ƭ ᄃ Ή I П G Y Ө Ц.

[The transmission cuts, leaving a fuzzy screen and a garbled message:]

Comments

text;

[improvident]

[Because Bill can sometimes be a benevolent entity, he allows the text option. Spoiler alert: it wasn't a lucky guess.]

COOL YOUR JETS, DESPERADO

NO AMOUNT OF STATUS UPDATES ARE GONNA MAKE YOU ANY MORE TERMINATOR

YOU'VE GOT NINETY-NINE PROBLEMS AND BEING UNABLE TO FULFILL YOUR WILDEST DREAM IS ONE OF THEM BUT THAT'S LIFE SO GET USED TO DISAPPOINTMENT

text;

[flybyn1ght85]

[Okay, be cool. Nick can still be cool about this. Belatedly, he wipes any trace of that original video off his hard drives and starts checking himself over for viruses, although he suspects it won't make much of a difference. It's an excuse to bury himself in the digital half of his mind and get away from his messy organic emotions.]

[This is perfectly reasonable and healthy and Nick is coping just fine.]

ok w/e cuntwipe the biggest 'disappointment' in my life was waking up without my schwantz everything since has kicked ass

got anything 2 say besides big talk & cheap gore or r we done here

text;

[improvident]

[Be cool, Nick. Like the other side of a pillow on a hot night. Oh wait, you don't know what that feels like anymore, do you?]

YES.

01000100 01001111 01001110 00100111 01010100 00100000 01010100 01010010 01010101 01010011 01010100 00100000 01010000 01010010 01001111 01001010 01000101 01000011 01010100 00100000 01010011 01001011 01001001 01001110 00100000 01001000 01001111 01010010 01010011 01000101

[The feed flickers out.]

[flybyn1ght85]

[Fuck.

Nick doesn't even try to respond. Instead, he shuts off communications entirely, silencing his personal internet and radio connections, and sits motionless on the roof. At least metal limbs won't shake. Nobody has to know. Maybe there's a sofer here who can check his mezuzah.

It'll be a good long while before he calms down enough to turn wifi back on.]