Thanks TZ for letting me use your name and being okay
about me archiving your fic :)
Up and Downloads
By Mandy Green
Rommie switched on the light’s in Harper’s quarters. "Wake up Harper."
Harper made a vague grumpy noise and pulled the blankets over his head.
"Wake up Harper!" Holo-Rommie shimmered into sight. "Get up now: I’ve been hacked!"
The blankets heaved up and down, as if the person under them was sighing in resignation and Harper’s head popped out. "Okay, I’m awake. What’s wrong?"
"I told you, I’ve been hacked. All sorts of extraneous data have entered my memory from an unknown source."
"What’s it doing there?"
Holo-Rommie looked a little embarrassed. "Nothing, it’s just there. And I want it out. Now."
Harper found an interface jack and hooked it up the link he’d rigged next to his bed. Sliding into Rommie’s VR matrix he immediately found the new files: they were glowing pink and pulsing slightly.
"Wow! That looks…amazing." Harper said, staring up at the information. "What are they?"
"It doesn’t matter what they are: Just delete them. Please."
"Rom-doll, you know I never throw away information. I’ll just shunt the files into a secure folder and find out where they came from first, okay?"
"No, it’s not ‘okay’. I want them gone."
Harper paused and ran his hand through his virtual hair. "Rommie, this isn’t like you, what’s up?"
"Nothing." Rommie’s voice was disembodied.
"Oh I know you’re hiding something when you stay non-corporeal." Harper reached out to access the nearest file and a spark flew out and hit his hand. "Owww, Rommie, you know I’m not just going to delete it. You might as well let me in." When there was no response Harper reached out again; no sparks hit him this time.
Harper opened the file and read the source. "From Techfreak Ziana, with love". You know anyone of that name?
"No." Rommie sounded slightly sullen.
Harper’s eyes widened at the filename.
"So He Thinks You’re Inferior – How to Bag That Uber, what the Hell?" Harper opened another, How To Please a Hermaphrodite – A Study in Human/Perseid Sexuality. Oh God, I did not need that mental picture. The Big Book of Kink, better. Artificial Sexuality, oh yeah, this is bedtime reading." Harper copied that one to his personal archive.
Suddenly Harper felt himself being thrown out of the mainframe. Coming to in his quarters he realised the chime on his door was ringing. "What now?" Harper sighed
"That’s my avatar, don’t let her in. She’s been contaminated."
"Rommie’s been affected by a virus?"
"No-oo, not exactly. I’ll keep her locked out while you purge the data." Harper’s door slid open. "Damn, I forgot she could do that. I’m sorry Harper."
"Sorry for what?"
"She downloaded ‘The Big Book of Kink, Artificial Sexuality and ‘Fun With Vedran Vegetables’."
"Urp!" Harper swallowed hard as he recognised the thing in Rommie’s hands…a big, blue carrot.
The End