8 Infinite Loop

Episode 5: Recap

Last Night: You message Future Steve to meet with his past self in ‘99 in Yosemite. You are in a helicopter now with Jobs and Woz.

“Hi I’m Steve. But you can just call me Woz since there’s two of us here tonight.” Woz extends a hand.

“Thanks for helping my friend tonight, sometimes he and Larry take too much and go a bit nuts. So what brought you out here tonight?”

You’re sitting in the front, and take a quick glance at Jobs in the back of the helicopter before answering.

Steve Jobs is mostly sober, coming down from his trip, and muttering to himself as he alternatively swipes and pecks away at the iPad.

You’re dimly unsettled by how unfamiliar the iPad seems to Jobs. He must have had the seed of this idea before he saw it, right?

“But it’s so obvious” you hear as he pinch zooms in and out of a map and rotates it, “It’s just all direct manipulation. Genius.”

Steve’s stroking the screen now. “You just push shit around and they move. With inertia.” He flicks a photo. “Boom. Magical.”

Woz snaps his fingers next to your ears instantly gaining your attention. “Uh yeah, so this is going to sound crazy and all but…”

You explain the story so far. The discovery. The chase. And the strangely scheduled appointment for tonight with Jobs.

But to be safe, you consciously leave out the part about its strange connection to the future.

Woz is nodding along. He’s smiling jovially. And he cracks up as you finish the tale.

“WOW, I don’t know what it is you guys take, but it must’ve been some really strong stuff tonight!” He doesn’t believe you.

“Haha, a computer from the future. Now that’s a great MacGuffin. It’d even make for an all right movie. I’d watch it!”

Woz’s guffaws die suddenly, and you’re conscious of how awkwardly and uniquely quiet a throbbingly loud helicopter can suddenly become.

He’s suspicious. “So cut the bull, how do you actually know Steve and Larry? I’ve never seen you before.”

You lean over the back of the seat and grab the iPad from Jobs’s hands, and show it to Woz.

The screen is blindingly bright in the dark, enough that it disorients Woz for a moment causing the helicopter to swerve back and forth.

But his eyes have adjusted and now the situation is even more dangerous. Woz is giddy and flying a helicopter is the last thing on his mind.

He’s rapid-firing questions. “How much memory does this thing have? Battery life?” The helicopter is moving in lazy, erratic zig zags.

“The whole display is touch screen? And you’re saying it works and detects all your fingers? At once! Wow. Amazing.” 

“Kid, this is the greatest discovery in human history. This could advance the state of the art a decade overnight. And at Apple!”

You still haven’t even explained how the device is seemingly entangled with the future via its internet connection.

“Do you have any idea how maddeningly frustrating the clock speed wars have been to Apple? This is the engineering quantum leap we needed…”

“It’s like the invention of gunpowder! Maybe even more significant.” Woz is animated now, not even looking where he’s flying.

“It’ll completely upset a losing stalemate, and over the next decade this will easily lift Apple out of the fray.”

“Good thing you found us. With Apple protecting it, I should be able to reverse engineer it. Man.” His eyes glaze over a bit.

“It’ll be like old times. I’ve been waiting for the next insanely great thing I’d work on, and here it is. Steve needs me again for this.”

Woz is holding the iPad up in front of his face, and you’re fearing your life. He’s jerking the copter back on course every minute or so.

“I was starting to worry I’d peaked early,” he explains, “That maybe I was never going to be able to work on something else insanely great…”

You actually sympathize with Woz. But you notice the helicopter is descending rapidly. He’s landing, and you’re nowhere near Cupertino.

“So where do you need to be dropped off kid?” He asks. “Me and Steve have a busy night ahead of us it looks like.”

You’re confused. They want to ditch you? They’re not even going to shelter you from the people after you?

Your mouth is suddenly bone dry, and your voice creaks to life. “I was uh, hoping to stay with you guys for a bit.”

Woz is peering into dimly lit Northern Californian suburbia, looking for a place to land. He doesn’t seem so jovial or friendly anymore.

“Look we have a busy night ahead of us. I’m just going to drop you off right here, looks like a safe neighborhood.”

“Here,” he says while fumbling in his pocket. He hands you a wad of bills. “There’s a couple hundred there. Thanks, kid.”

The helicopter is touching down over a playground, and the swing set is shaking crazily in the night. Woz’s expression is now grim.

You make what may be the most reckless and terrible decision of your life. You rip the iPad out of Woz’s left hand.

And you deck him on the forehead with it. He slumps forward unconscious.

The helicopter is still a few inches above the ground, but comes to a jerky landing. Before you hop out you look back at Jobs.

He reaches up to you, his own reality still slightly distorted, and shouts. “Thank you. Thank you, for that amazing vision of the future.”

Jobs has apparently decided you’re more likely a figment of his imagination and acid trip than a real person with an iPad from the future.

You can’t really blame him. This is after all more unbelievable than any ridiculous tall tale you’ve ever heard.

Everything in the playground is shaking and spinning, even as the helicopter’s rotors slowly die down. And you’re gone.

You are running and running past identical suburban family homes in the dark, once again a fugitive with the iPad under your arm…

Episode 4: Recap

Last night: You communicate with Ted from the future. Ted gets help going on twitter using the hashtag #futureipad.

You awake with a start, suddenly noticing the bus has stopped moving.

You look out the window optimistically but it’s not daylight yet. This isn’t the Folsom St. Greyhound station.

“Sorry about this,” exclaims the bus driver over the intercom,” but it looks like we’ve got engine trouble folks.”About 15 minutes go by and the others on the bus appear to be getting restless.  The bus driver returns and makes another announcement.

“Looks like we’re going to be here for a while folks.” Everyone groans. “Another bus is coming but we’re looking at 3 hours at least.”

You begin to realize that you’re going to be cutting it close to meet Steve.  The Keynote is at 9 A.M. and it’s already 4.

You search through your bag and touch your hand to the iPad. Somehow, you half expect it to help you make it on time.

Then it comes to you that maybe it actually can help. Maybe you don’t have to meet Steve at Macworld after all.

You browse to Hotmail and log in. You already know his email address, and he surely hasn’t changed it in all these years.

Subject: I have your iPad. Where are you after Macworld 1999?

You fire off the email to future Steve, maybe into the abyss. He barely ever responds to anyone anyway.

Hours go by, still no bus. Still no response.

You watch a few middle schoolers excitedly playing Pokémon. You wish you were a Diglett so you could hide in the ground and forget all this.

Then, when you were about to abandon all hope, Mail chirps.

“Half Dome.” You decide to trust Google Maps on this and type it in… surprisingly it’s a short hitchhike’s distance away.

Six hours later.

You’re well into your hike and you’re approaching Half Dome. The sun is slowly starting to sink over the horizon.

With a start you realize you’re not alone in this Yosemite trail. There’s a man and he appears to be… dancing?

You’re a bit nervous, but he’s blocking the way up. A lit cigarette is dangling loosely from his mouth, its ash hanging precariously.

The figure is now pacing around back and forth muttering to himself. “They’re just so addictive, and fulfill fantasies.”

You’re hearing the rant more clearly. It still doesn’t make sense. He sees you now and is gesticulating wildly towards your direction.

“BUT STOP. You may as well, there’s only a sliver of a chance you’re real. Or I’m real. Statistically insignificant really.”

You’re in the woods alone with Larry Ellison and he’s tripping balls.

“Don’t you get it? The way things are going. And there could be trillions of sessions! We’re just the NPCs in these games.”

Larry’s loose collection of words and phrases has devolved into gibberish punctuated with jabs in the air with his glowing cigarette.

“Are you here with Steve?” you ask. Larry nods and looks up towards the peak. “Or is he? Maybe he populates only when you’re near.”

You shrug and make your way up the trail… Larry’s finished his cigarette and is fumbling angrily with a lighter. The man is not quite here.

You are almost at the peak. The sun is about to set, and Yosemite explodes in warm hues. It’s just around the bend…

And suddenly you see him. Or rather a silhouette of him. Steve is sitting cross-legged in deep meditation, absolutely silent.

You don’t want to disturb him. But you see his shoulders relax, and he turns. Finally, you’re meeting Steve Jobs.

You can explain everything to him. And you hope he can explain everything to you. This is the man who invented this device after all.

As he peers at you through the dusk you walk towards him and extend your hand. “Mr. Jobs, I’m a big fan. I think I have something of yours.”

You hand him the iPad after quickly unlocking it. The screen is bright in the dusk, and basking Steve’s face with a serene glow.

He takes it from your hand. You let him handle the device. He’s caressing it gently, instantly seems familiar with it.

You explain somewhat awkwardly, “I found this. You create it in the future.” Steve is still focused on the iPad.

He’s clearly delighted as he taps and swipes quickly through apps. At one point he almost drops the iPad to clap his hands and laugh in joy.

Then he suddenly turns to you staring so intently it feels like he’s looking into you. And he says sprightly, “Well, butter my biscuit!”

Apparently Steve’s tripping on acid too.

Steve immediately places a phone call, hollering “Things are getting a little too weird here man! I need a lift asap.”

And immediately Steve is back and pecking away at the iPad. You don’t want to disturb his first experience with his future creation.

So you walk a little bit away and sit down against a tree. It just seems like each day is getting crazier and crazier… and you nod off…

This is a nightmare. The trees above you are swaying wildly, and there is deafening thunder. Steve is back in meditation pose in zen calm.

You realize a small helicopter is landing in a clearing. The man flying it might be Woz. Now you wonder if you’re tripping.

Steve is walking towards the helicopter. He gestures at you to come with, and you hop aboard.

The helicopter lifts off and you look behind to see Larry Ellison running up onto the peak, waving two lit cigarettes like flags.

Woz shrugs and yells over the din, “We can’t fit another. Larry’ll find his way back home after he comes down, he can call his own copter.”

You are on a helicopter with both co-founders of Apple Computers flying into the night towards Cupertino.

TO BE CONTINUED… MAYBE.

(Source: https)

Episode 3: Recap

Last night: The Bellavue MUG group helps you escape a shady follower. And you realize the iPad is still entangled with the future.

You’ve been on a coach bus for the past day. California is unexpectedly vast, and you’re killing time on the iPad. 4 hours left to SF.

A swipe on the screen accidentally sets open @beejiveim on the iPad. It has Steve Jobs’ credentials stored and immediately signs on.

Apparently mid-conversation, a message pops up from @philschiller “Everything seems to be clicking into place so why are you worried?”

A quick glance of Steve’s buddy list shows it is sparse and highly exclusive. Celebrities like Bono stud the “Family Friends” group.

An “Assholes” group lists Sergey and Larry, Mark, and a bunch of other unfamiliar names and faces. The only one you recognize is @billgates.

Suddenly you are disconnected with an error: “You have signed on from another location.” Whoops, you kicked Future Steve off and he’s angry.

And, as you try logging in as him again, you find he’s already changed his password. You’re now locked out of new emails too in Mail.

You idly log into AIM this time entering your own credentials. It logs in. Apparently you haven’t changed your password for it in 12 years.

Immediately an IM message pops in. It’s Ted from the MUG group. “DUDE!?”

“Whoa we haven’t heard from you since we split that night man! That’s like over ten years ago. What are you up to these days???”

You type back “I’m still here in ‘99 and fearing for my life. Headed towards Macworld to try to meet Steve and give the iPad back to him.”

At first Ted thinks you’re joking and just catching up, but you quickly convince him of the time gap and Ted is pondering your options.

“There are like 7 companies this year putting hundreds of millions of dollars behind individual tablet OS initiatives,” he explains.

“Honestly, none of them seem like they stand a chance. Just when they might be close, Apple pulls away. Like a cat toying with a mouse.”

“Anyways ok. Hang on man. You’re saying the iPad is freaking connected to the future through the internet? Now that’s crazy.”

Ted continues, “I can believe it… there’s been news about scientists entangling quantums or something in the LHC. I don’t understand it.”

“I figured you probably sold your iPad to Apple, but after years with not a single buddy believing me I was starting to question it myself.”

You ask how Apple’s doing. “Is it like the Apple utopia we dreamed about back in the 90’s?” Ted’s IMs start coming through quickly.

“Well… I hate to say it but I’ve switched. I’m an Android user now, I’ve always been against the empire you know? And Apple became it.”

“They just surpassed Walmart and Microsoft. Apple’s market cap is well over 300 billion dollars. Think about that.”

“Over the decade you’ve been gone, Apple made leaps in technology year by year leaving everyone behind. No one’s been able to catch up.”

“Honestly, I kept thinking back to the MUG group, and keep wondering to myself… You never HAVE seen the Terminator movies, have you?”

You agree with Ted on the possible devastating implications of a wrong decision rippling out into the future, and ask for advice:

“Ted, is there any way you can help me out here? I need strong options here… maybe I’m playing too fast and loose with my decisions.”

He has an idea. “I’m going to tweet out asking my friends what they think ok? We should get some solid ideas here. Give me a minute.”

“What’s a tweet?” you ask. “Nevermind, one sec man I’m tweeting this problem out to all my followers,” Ted replies.

“Ok, open that twitter app on your iPad there, and search for the hashtag #futureipad. I just tweeted out to my followers.”

“So, my tweet is: ‘You found an iPad. It’s 1999. What do you do with it? #futureipad’ Now anyone can help you with advice from the future.”

You open Twitter. There are tweets starting to populate a search for #futureipad. Within seconds suggestions start popping up… such as…

But the iPad battery is running dangerously low, and you decide to save its remaining sliver of charge for the final leg to San Francisco.

You sign off AIM and Twitter. Despite the worrisome thoughts running through your head, you drift off into a restless sleep in exhaustion.

TO BE CONTINUED?

Episode 2: Recap

Last night: You find an iPad in ‘99. Microsoft and Bungie are on your tail. So is future Steve. The local MUG group are your only allies.

The group is still stunned. “That’s not THE Steve is it?!” You nod and sheepishly show them Mail app, full of emails addressed to Jobs.

Two MUG members reflexively avert their eyes, unable to bear seeing Steve Jobs’s personal secrets spilled in front of their eyes.

“Don’t look through that. We’re not supposed to see it,” mutters one of the MUG members, and you quickly close out of Mail app.

Next up is the camera. Curiously and somewhat decadently there appears to be one not just on the front, but the back of the device as well.

“Does anyone have any tape?” You point towards the camera. Dan quickly covers the lenses up with a neat strip. “This is safe, not paranoid.”

He also holds up a patched together cable. “This was actually pretty easy to hack together. See if it charges now…”

The iPad chirps and lights up as it’s plugged in. It’s an awkwardly happy sound in a somber room, and you nod your thanks to Dan.

Ted clears his throat, “Am I the only one here who thinks it might be best to just destroy it and pretend we never found this thing?”

“iPad’s amazing and all, like something out of a dream, but this is all spinning out of control fast guys…” People are nodding their heads.

“I’m not the only one in this room who’s seen the Terminator movies right?” Ted asks nervously.

“In the wrong hands this could be the worst thing ever. Like robot apocalypse bad!” Ted finished dramatically.

Someone pipes up, “We should sell it to Microsoft or Dell for 100 million dollars and retire to private islands. Why are we not doing this?”

“I even heard of a guy who sold an empty box he claimed streamed media over the air to video rental companies for millions of dollars.”

“That’s what you can do with an empty box and a giant set of balls. Now, our situation is completely different. Our box isn’t empty.”

“This iPad is actually a magical device from the future. This thing is worth loads of money, and I don’t think it’s a scam to ask for it.”

Whoever this profiteering dick is, he’s charismatic and gaining support from the MUG group. He continues.

“I mean think about it. Since we’ve determined it’s from the future, who’s to say anyone else owns it? We’re the ones who found it.”

“Right? What’s stopping us from extorting Apple anyways? What will they do, argue they own it because they’ll invent it in the future?”

“The buyer we should avoid is Microsoft cuz they’re evil. If we sell it should be to Yahoo or something – a giant that’ll last 50 years.”

Ted interjects, “Meanwhile there’s Bungie. Which we love. How do they even fit into this… well, for lack of a better word, conspiracy?”

“You were saying they were going after you? And talking to… Bill Gates? No offense but disregarding the iPad It just all sounds schizo.”

“Look,” you say exasperated. “There are people chasing us trying to recover this device. Every giant tech company in the world wants this.”

“Nintendo, Sony, HP, IBM, Intel, Sharp, Panasonic… Maybe they’d even be willing to kill for it.” This silences the group temporarily.

“What about a dead man’s switch?” Ted pipes up. “You know, we take photos, document all this information on the iPad.”

“We give it to friends, family. I know a guy planning this awesome Mac rumors site Spy Mac. And if shit goes down…”

The profiteering MUG guy contributes, “Yeah, and I know this guy @dmierau, he’s working on the Mac version of Napster. He might be our guy.”

“We could probably proliferate this file, just change it to a .mp3 file and name it some popular song. Like All Star. Password protect it.”

“Not to be grim about this but,” Ted makes a slitting motion across his throat, “if they’re after you, this’ll give you a bargaining chip.”

“Just make sure they know you have this set up, or else it’s nothing but death insurance. We’re spreading this info now.”

The group continues bickering over possible plans while swapping AIM screen names, writing them on AOL trial disks.

But amidst all the activity a dark, still car outside the window suddenly catches your eye. A man inside the car glances away quickly.

Dan’s looking out the window too. “Yeah I noticed him come in about an hour ago, he’s just been sitting out there…” And cold terror sets in.

INTERMISSION. Story will resume after a late dinner. Feedback welcome!

Live tweets resumed ~7 hours later after I passed out for a long nap.

“I think we need to get out of here,” you say urgently. “It’s like 11 at night, there’s no reason for that guy to be here.”

“Everyone split up… we need to make sure he doesn’t get his hands on this.” After deliberation an escape plan is hatched and set in motion.

The group solemnly high fives., and the 7 members of Bellavue’s MUG split up onto the night…

3 bikes and two cars and take off in separate directions one by one, and the mysterious car follows, speeding off.

After counting to 100, you peek your head out the window to make sure the man is gone, then creep out the back door feeling rather clever.

You’re on your own for now, but safe. The plan is to meet up with the others a few miles away at a diner Ted and the others frequent.

Before setting out you open your iPad and use the maps app for directions, powered by a service you haven’t heard of. Google something?

The diner and designated safe house is apparently just a couple miles away, straight down Layton road.

Except Layton road is not there.

You look around. You’re right in front of it according to “Google”. And it simply does not exist.

So you turn back to the iPad, and open Safari again. You visit the MUG group’s geocities page written down on your AOL free trial disk.

Uh, what? Geocities is closed? Something’s not right… you quickly type CNN into Safari, a lump rising in your throat. http://t.co/aoZbLWc

You’re at CNN.com. 

The site looks different from what you remember. It’s talking about news you haven’t heard of…

Disaster and a nuclear incident in Japan. A giant investigation at Apple involving the federal government looking for a stolen iPad. 

Hmm.

You click. This is about you. “Investigation has been underway for days and Apple is pursuing all options to recover this device.”

Then your eyes casually flick to the date on the article. March 16th 2011. 

WTF?!

Your mind is spinning. This is impossible. But so is everything about the past few days. The iPad. The men in glasses. Steve Jobs.

But this must also mean… that man you talked to before. Could he have been Steve Jobs from the future? Steve from the year 2011?

Meanwhile you’re keenly aware from reading time travel sci-fi that you’ve already caused irreparable damage to the space-time continuum.

There is no reversing the events so far. The weight of everything suddenly bears on you. This is heavy.

But something tells you there is a grander purpose to the iPad. For the first time in days you feel certain of what you need to do.

You decide to skip the diner. You understand now why shadowy men are after you. This is a window into the future. Worth killing for.

There’s one person who might understand why this is happening. Who might have a glimmer in his head, now, of this device from the future.

You need to visit Macworld and speak to present day Steve Jobs. 

You have two days to get to San Francisco.

To be continued. Please tweet feedback @8InfiniteLoop

(Source: twitter.com)

Episode 1 Recap

Last night at around 3 a.m., inspired by this act of retro nostalgia I asked a rhetorical question/scenario in a tweet: “Geek fantasy: You discover an iPad in the woods in 1999 as a kid, fully working with charger. What do you do?”

Over the course of three hours I ended up expanding this into the starts of a crazy, Apple-conspiracy sci-fi story with strong fanfiction undertones, pretty much spooled out one tweet at a time in stream of consciousness. You’ll have to trust me on this, but I guess the story gains a certain charm when you’re pulling to refresh and receiving updates every few minutes. 

Stay tuned later tonight if you want to experience that first time, as I’m now committed to providing episode 2 later tonight on twitter.com/8infiniteloop.

In the meantime, here is this is the first night’s installment in chronological order as tweeted.

You discover an iPad in the woods in 1999 as a kid, fully working with charger. What do you do?

The iPad comes loaded with Star Walk, iMovie, Garageband, & VNC app connected to Steve Job’s future computer that mysteriously still works.

It’s in fact Steve Jobs’s personal iPad. Contains his last 50 emails too.

You try calling Apple.

“It says 10 hours left on the battery.” 

“Real cute, kid. Stop pulling my leg and wasting my time.” *click*

Also Gizmodo does not yet exist, ruling out the clear option #2. So what do you do.

You select option 3: Trek out on a quest to deliver it across the country back to Steve Jobs and the mothership, as you are an Apple fanboy.

This is known as a vision quest, or a walkabout in other cultures. A spiritual journey if you will, for an Apple geek.

While on your journey to Cupertino, you pick up a trailing car with Redmond plates… they motion you over carrying a large silver briefcase.

“We won’t take no for an answer” they say, as they open a briefcase packed with a state of the art 1999 Windows laptop and $5000 in cash.

You laugh and turn away, and they tighten a grip on your shoulder. But you break free and melt into the crowd, losing them for now…

While waiting for a bus you open the Screens VNC app. Steve Jobs is using his Mac in 2011. He’s writing a frantic email about a stolen iPad.

You accidentally tap on the screen and the cursor shifts. Steve suddenly stops typing. The connection fails.

You’re not sure at this point where to go. As a Mac gamer and huge fan of Bungie, you decide to email them photos asking for advice.

Miraculously, they set up a meeting, even promising to entertain you showing off Halo for Mac while they take a look at the iPad.

On the way to Bellevue, WA to visit the Bungie offices, you accidentally sit on the charger cable on the bus. It no longer charges the iPad.

Though you turn the iPad fully off to conserve its charge you are kicking yourself for draining 40% of its battery playing Angry Birds.

After what felt like a neverending bus ride, you’re abruptly in front of Bungie’s offices. No one appears to be following you. You walk in.

The secretary looks towards you and quickly dials a number. “They’ll be with you shortly.” And in moments you hear excited chatter growing.

You are whisked into a small meeting room, and suddenly you’re with the founders of @bungiestudios. They look at your expectedly. “Well?”

Everyone visibly leans in as you pull out the iPad and turn it on. Their hands are already all over it. You’re handed a weird controller.

“Here, you can play Halo on this while we figure out what this is ok?” The controller is large and unwieldy.

The game is really cool! The fat controller is hard to get used to, but you slowly adjust and start enjoying the third person shooter.

Strangely the game is on a television screen and not a Mac display, but this is easily ignored as you fall in love with the world of Halo.

You hear behind the closed doors their hushed conversation. “Bill? We’ve stumbled onto something huge. Come down here asap.” Panic rises.

“We have something from the future. I’m not even joking. This kid just walked into here with it.” The hushed whispers grow more animated.

“This is like, billions of dollars big. You wanted your killer app, we have the mother of all killer apps just sitting here.”

“You won’t like the logo stamped on the back of it. Or maybe you will.” 

Some static. Speakerphone. And suddenly, Bill Gates’ reedy voice.

“Sign the papers for ten times your asking price. If what you’re saying is true we have this generation and one after that.” *click*

Suddenly without thinking your walk quickly into the room, grab the iPad out of a man’s surprised hands, and just start running and running…

Once again men in dark sunglasses and suits are chasing you as you run through corridor after endless corridor, all the same at Bungie.

You are still running, your heart beating wildly, panting for breath. Every corridor looks exactly the same, sometimes maddeningly familiar.

And suddenly you realize that you actually have been looping back, and running backwards. You veer to the left.

Suddenly an exit sign! Blinding but welcomed sunshine at least, and an open fence exit to the sidewalk. You don’t look back once.

A welcome sign is visible in the distance, through the misty parking lot. The dependable, safe place for Apple nerds.  http://t.co/gB5tGYI

Disoriented but seemingly safe for now, you walk towards the local CompUSA, looking for any sympathetic Apple geek, sorely needing help.

Walking towards the back of the store you’re at the Mac section, and you find a disgruntled geek… He walks over. “Hey I’m Ted,” he says.

“Hey man, ok this is going to sound crazy.” But then you pull out the iPad and unlock its screen, and you have Ted’s rapt attention.

“So, ridiculous, right? You don’t know the half of it…” and over a half hour you quickly recount the events so far: http://t.co/eAK0xWk

You’ve earned Ted’s complete trust and awe. “Come to my MUG tonight” he implores you. “We can keep this TOTALLY quiet, and figure this out.”

2 hours later the MUG room is silenced as you pull out the iPad. Ted interrupts “NOTHING can leave this room ok guys? Circle of trust.”

You turn on the iPad and run through some of the fun demos. Star Walk and Photo Booth particularly impress. Suddenly, low battery warning.

“The charger cable’s broken, I busted it on the bus ride here…” you explain. Ted motions a friend over to look at it. “Let Dan look at it.”

“I’m pretty good with this stuff, might actually just be able to bend it back in shape… worth a shot at least.” Dan takes it under a light.

“Ok it’s going to be more complicated. I think I’m going to have to splice this into my only USB cable, and these are REALLY expensive.”

“But I got this.” Dan continues explaining in the background while he works and your fingers drift back to the softly lit iPad screen.

“Oh you guys have wifi here?” A MUG member nods. “Yeah we’re all hardcore early adopters here.” The iPad is on the unprotected network.

Though it hasn’t worked in days, you idly type the Screens icon again on the iPad, and suddenly it’s working. You’re on Steve’s future Mac.

Suddenly words start appearing in an open document. “Who are you?” Steve types. “Type it here.”

“No” you type nervously, thinking to yourself how crazy this is. Steve quickly writes back.

“Tell me who you are right n-“

“No” you type nervously, thinking to yourself how crazy this is. Steve quickly writes back.

“Tell me who you are right n-“

You panic & close the app, consciously holding your hand over the camera just in case. Could’ve sworn the light flickered ever so slightly.

And you’re left with a cold pit in your stomach. What if he knows who you are? What information is this device sending off into the air?

TO BE CONTINUED (maybe?) send me feedback.